The alcohol has faded, the warmth and disorientation somehow a distant memory. Xichen squares himself, loosens his hold and stands with shoulders squared and back straight. Like this, he feels nearly like Zewu-Jun again though that mask is still hidden from the world.

It is poor form, unconventional to ask without a courting gift attached.

"Would you allow me to show you my affections properly, Jiang Cheng? To court you properly?" To fix that blunder, to show that this is not a joke to both the man before him and the cultivation world beyond the safety of Cloud Recesses' walls.