The main hall of the imperial palace was filled with festive red silks hung high and countless red palace lanterns.

When he entered the bedroom, Zhu Youxiao saw Empress Zhang sitting on a carved wooden bed, as quiet as a white orchid waiting to be picked.

According to the rules of the palace, there would be someone serving the emperor in the bridal chamber.

At this time, there were many palace maids waiting in the room.

However, Zhu Youxiao had no habit of inviting people to visit, so he waved his hand and asked them to leave.

At this time, Empress Zhang also stood up, her face slightly red, and walked gently to Zhu Youxiao's side, saluting her own emperor, her husband.

Zhu Youxiao reached out and helped the petite Empress Zhang up.

At this time, both of them were wearing casual clothes, which they had changed into when drinking the wedding wine.

Looking at Empress Zhang in front of him, Zhu Youxiao really felt his heart pounding. This might be the legendary feeling of looking at a beauty under the lamp, the more you look, the more energetic you become.

"It's getting late, let's go to bed early." Zhu Youxiao said with a hoarse voice.

Empress Zhang nodded gently, a little shy, her face slightly red, but she still let Zhu Youxiao hold her hand and walk to the side of the couch.

Zhu Youxiao smiled and reached out to lower the gauze curtains on both sides of the couch. This small world was thus isolated from the outside world.

This is their little world.

Reaching out and pulling Empress Zhang onto the couch, Zhu Youxiao stared at her intently and praised her, "The Empress is so beautiful."

After hearing what Zhu Youxiao said, Empress Zhang blushed slightly and said timidly, "The Empress cannot be praised for her beauty."

After hearing her words, Zhu Youxiao smiled gently.

In this era, there is a universal value called marrying a virtuous wife and taking a beautiful concubine. To put it bluntly, for a man, a virtuous wife is more important, while if he takes a concubine, then beauty is more important.

But for a husband, isn’t it better for his wife to be beautiful?

Virtue and beauty are not contradictory.

Zhu Youxiao took Empress Zhang's hand, patted it gently, and coaxed her gently, "As for this, we'll discuss it with the Empress slowly when we have time later. Right now, we should do something more important."

Empress Zhang naturally knew what the emperor was talking about. Her face turned red and even her slender neck turned pink.

Zhu Youxiao looked at the shy little girl in front of him and gently pushed her down on the couch.

Empress Zhang blushed, bit her lips lightly and turned her head to the side.

For Zhu Youxiao, the wedding was not actually over, because he still had a lot of things to do.

The next day, Zhu Youxiao and Empress Zhang still had to wear formal clothes to pay a visit to the Empress Dowager.

Although Zhu Youxiao did not have a queen mother, there was a concubine named Zhuang living in Kunning Palace, so Zhu Youxiao took Queen Zhang with him.

You should know that Concubine Li's status in the palace was not low. She was the one who raised Zhu Youxiao and his younger brother, Emperor Chongzhen.

On the third day after the wedding, Zhu Youxiao had to wear the imperial crown, while Empress Zhang still wore formal attire to pay respects to the Empress Dowager. If the other party was the Empress Dowager, then the Eight Bows would be performed; but Empress Dowager Zhuang was only the Empress Dowager, so the Eight Bows were not required, but the proper etiquette still had to be observed.

On the fourth day after the wedding, Zhu Youxiao needed to wear the imperial robe and go to the Huagai Hall. The prince bowed eight times, and the official in charge of the wedding bowed five times. Then they went to the Fengtian Hall, where civil and military officials presented congratulatory messages and performed a grand ceremony of celebration.

On the fifth day after their marriage, Zhu Youxiao and Empress Zhang had to perform the "washing ceremony" (serving the elders to wash and eat). This ritual originated in the Song Dynasty and continued in the Ming Dynasty.

At this point, Zhu Youxiao's emperor wedding was completely over.

After the wedding, Zhu Youxiao felt exhausted and didn't want to do anything but sleep.

But it wasn't possible, because the wedding between Zhu Youxiao and Empress Zhang was over, but he still had two concubines to favor.

If you don't go to the concubine, it would be against the rules.

So Zhu Youxiao had no choice but to drag himself and go to the concubine.

Zhu Youxiao's two concubines, one surnamed Yuan and the other surnamed Tian. When they were conferred the title of empress, both of them also received their own titles, all of them were concubines, and they also had their own palaces.

In fact, there were quite a few people in the palace watching, wanting to see which palace Zhu Youxiao would go to first, because this represented who Zhu Youxiao liked more.

But there has to be one before and one after, and Zhu Youxiao didn't like anyone more. But this kind of thing couldn't be avoided, so how could he call the two together?

So Zhu Youxiao went to Concubine Tian's place, which was closer to the Qianqing Palace, and the next day he went to Concubine Yuan's place.

On the third day, Zhu Youxiao went nowhere, not even to Empress Zhang's place.

He was going to return to his own palace and have a good sleep, not wanting anyone to disturb him.

He is a little tired.

It took three days of rest for Zhu Youxiao to feel that he had recovered.

He felt somewhat helpless, as his body still felt a little weak. However, it might also be because he had been a little too indulgent, as he tossed and turned quite a lot every night after all.

After drinking a mouthful of porridge and eating a bite of refreshing sour radish, Zhu Youxiao felt much better.

I was so exhausted a few days ago that I didn't even have an appetite to eat, but now I've finally recovered.

Putting the bowl away, Zhu Youxiao looked at Chen Hong standing aside and said, "What happened recently?"

Although I don't have to worry about anything because I'm getting married, it doesn't mean that nothing will happen. Now that I've recovered, it's time to ask what's going on.

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