"Huh?"

"Will you marry me?" TaiFeng said a little louder this time. She wasn't really sure where all this brazenness was coming from, but hey, she couldn't exactly back out now.

"B-but I'm supposed to ask you that!" Xichen spluttered, looking terribly conflicted and embarrassed.

"I'm supposed to set up a picnic in a field of flowers with all your favourite foods and then propose as the sun sets. It's supposed to be really romantic!"

"This isn't romantic? I'd light some candles, but I ran out a while ago."

Xichen, all of a sudden, started laughing uncontrollably as he buried his head into TaiFeng's chest. The tension in his shoulders melted away as his laughter shook through him.

"What's so funny?" she asked, blinking in confusion.

"Qian TaiFeng, you really are one of a kind. I never thought that my future wife would be the one proposing to me."

"Does that mean it's a y—" TaiFeng got cut off by another kiss.

"Yes. Yes, and even more yesses."

"Well, good. I'm not taking any more chances. From now on, total..." TaiFeng paused as she bit her lip. Total honesty, huh? That seemed a bit more complicated. But if watching Asian dramas had taught her anything, it was that lack of communication always led to someone getting hurt—or straight-up dying.

"TaiFeng?" Xichen sensed something was amiss, and it was probably a bit more than a lack of scented candles.

She took a deep breath. "If I told you that I was from another world, would you believe me?"

Xichen stiffened. He pulled back just enough to look at her properly. "...TaiFeng, are you... You're not joking, right?"

TaiFeng's silence was all the answer he needed.

His heartbeat pounded in his ears. His thoughts spun wildly, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Her odd way of speaking, the casual way she predicted events, how she always seemed to know things she shouldn't.

"How?" he asked finally, his voice quieter.

"I remember going to sleep and then waking up in a forest in Yunmeng. I panicked for a good half hour before deciding I needed a backstory. It would be suspicious if a weird-looking girl with a weird-looking skin color just showed up, claiming she was from another world. I'd probably get locked up or something. And then Jenni turned into Qian TaiFeng."

"Jenni?... Is that your real name?" Xichen's mouth went drier than the Gobi Desert.

"Mn. It's short for Jennifer. I think it means 'blessed spirit' or something. Never really looked into it."

"Jennifer." Xichen let the name roll off his tongue like a foreign delicacy.

"Do you know how you ended up here?"

"...Well, I was watching a... play... About Wei Ying and Wangji, actually."

Xichen froze. "I'm sorry, what? A play? Like with costumes and actors on stage acting out a story?"

"Um, yeah. So basically, in my world, Wei Ying's and Lan Zhan's relationship is, well, pretty much one of the greatest tragic love stories of all time."

Xichen went dead silent.

"Why... is it tragic?"

"Long story short, those two idiots didn't know how to confess to each other. Wei Ying died, Lan Zhan went into mourning for thirteen years, raising their adopted son alone. But then Wei Ying gets resurrected, and they live happily ever after. I was in tears by the end of it. It's truly a love story for the ages."

Xichen closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. "For some reason, I can actually... believe that."

"Wait, am I a character in the play too?"

"Yep. Everyone is. I remember feeling so dissatisfied at the end. I even threw some things around my room. So many people who could have been saved... It just didn't sit right with me. And then I woke up in the forest."

Xichen let out a soft chuckle. "So that's why you knew the future. You saw everyone's pain and wanted to change the outcome."

"You're not mad?"

"Surprised? Absolutely. Mad? No. For starters, Wangji isn't going to be a widow raising his son alone for thirteen years. And I got to meet a truly out-of-this-world woman."

TaiFeng snorted. "Hey, is the stage actor who plays me handsome?"

"Hmm, no. I think my soon-to-be husband is a lot better." TaiFeng laughed, her heart warm. Liu Haikuan was good-looking, but her Zewu-Jun was an eleven out of ten on the hottie scale. There was no one better in her eyes.

Xichen blushed at her words. "Ah, this is crazy." He stroked her hair.

"Yes, it is, but in all honesty, I think I'm so used to having a crazy life that if I were suddenly normal, that in itself would be crazy."

Xichen smiled softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too, Airen." TaiFeng whispered, drifting off into peaceful sleep, Xichen following shortly after.