Chapter 52 The wedding is so jarring!
On May 21st, the day before Shen Yan's wedding to Qi Jingxuan, Li Yaozhi and Gu Niannian came to help Shen Yan with her makeup, and reluctantly left as darkness fell.
Wedding arrangements are inherently complicated, and royal weddings are even more so. Shen Yan will be getting up early tomorrow morning, so she plans to rest early today.
Previously, the Shen family did not have servants, and she was not used to having someone serve her. However, later the palace arranged for several palace maids to come and require them to serve Shen Yan personally.
It was said that they were serving her, but in reality, it was to prevent her from committing suicide. It wasn't until she got engaged to Qi Jingxuan that they truly stayed to take care of her, instead of keeping a close watch on her as before. The number of people on night duty was also reduced from two or three to one.
The maid Qinglian should be on night duty tonight, but for some reason, it is Qinghe who is accompanying Shen Yan now.
Shen Yan didn't care who served her, so she didn't take it too seriously. She just assumed that the wedding arrangements for tomorrow were too complicated and Qing Lian had been called away to do something else, so Qing He was temporarily arranged to come over.
But when she took a bath and changed clothes before going to bed, she found that Qinghe always looked preoccupied, as if she wanted to say something to her several times, but in the end she didn't say anything.
Having spent two months with these maids, Shen Yan had come to know them somewhat.
Qinghe was the most taciturn but also the most obedient. She was clumsy with words and not good at speaking, but she would do everything her master asked her to do perfectly.
The Shen family didn't actually have many chores, making it much easier than working in the palace. The most "difficult" job was actually guarding the gate.
Because Qi Jingxuan would come over from time to time, and as a prince, it was difficult for the maids to stop him, but without the Shen family's permission, they dared not let him in. Therefore, they were always trembling with fear, not daring to let him in but also afraid of angering him and being retaliated against when they returned to the palace.
With such worries, he couldn't help but be apprehensive and had to repeatedly confirm with the Shen family whether they really wouldn't let him in.
But whenever Qinghe was guarding the gate, she would always keep Qi Jingxuan out without any prompting from the Shen family.
Therefore, Qi Jingxuan disliked Qinghe the most, but the Shen family of three all liked her the most.
Shen Yan was not one to meddle in other people's business. Although she noticed that Qing He's expression was off, she did not want to get involved in any more palace secrets, so she did not ask at first.
After washing up and getting ready, she lay down on the bed. Qinghe opened her mouth again, as if to speak, and even her eyes were glistening with tears. In the end, she said nothing, but quietly lowered the bed curtains.
Shen Yan looked at the top of the tent and closed her eyes. A moment later, she heard suppressed sobs coming from outside the tent. The sound was very soft, obviously being suppressed, but it could still be heard clearly in the room at night.
She rolled over, but finally couldn't bear it any longer. With a sigh, she propped herself up and sat up, lifting the bed curtains to ask, "Qinghe, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
Qinghe was startled, thinking that her crying had disturbed her, and quickly knelt down: "This servant deserves to die, for disturbing Miss's rest."
Shen Yan frowned slightly as she looked at the tear stains on her face: "What happened? Why are you crying like this? Did someone bully you?"
Qinghe shook her head, then seemed to nod, but stopped after moving her neck, tears streaming uncontrollably from her eyes.
She was torn, but thinking that Shen Yan was getting married the next day, and that if she missed this opportunity, she might never have another chance, she couldn't help but bow down and kowtow several times.
"Miss, Miss... could you... could you please ask the Prince to let me stay?"
She choked up as she spoke.
She had wanted to say this for a long time, but she had never dared to bring it up, let alone speak directly to the prince.
Because she knew that the prince was always very cold to his servants and didn't care about the people serving him at all, she knew that he wouldn't listen to her and might even misunderstand her as having ulterior motives, and would immediately send her back to the palace.
Therefore, she could only tell Shen Yan that she would only stay if Shen Yan agreed.
Shen Yan was very puzzled: "Why don't you want to return to the palace if I leave you here?"
Although Qinghe and the others are still by her side, they are ultimately people from the palace.
The Prince's residence has its own servants. After Shen Yan's marriage, Qing He and the others will return to the palace, and Shen Yan will have other people to serve her.
Shen Yan and Qi Jingxuan's marriage was only a sham, so she didn't care about the servants around her and could leave anyone behind. Therefore, she never intended to keep Qinghe and the others, but she didn't expect that Qinghe would take the initiative to ask to stay in the palace.
"This servant...this servant just wants to stay by your side and serve you, Miss. I don't want to...I don't want to go back to the palace."
Qinghe replied, sobbing, not daring to speak too loudly for fear of being overheard by those outside.
Upon hearing this, Shen Yan frowned even more. Although she didn't know much about palace affairs, she knew that anyone sent to the Shen family at this time must be a reliable person trusted by the emperor or Consort Shu.
Even if their status in the palace wasn't high, it wouldn't be too low either; at the very least, they were valued by their masters.
Serving in the Prince's mansion might be a good job for other servants, but for Qinghe and the others, it was definitely not as good as returning to the palace.
If that's the case, why give up a promising future and choose to stay in the Prince of Ping's mansion?
Shen Yan wanted to ask more, but then she saw Qing He start kowtowing again, her voice trembling as she repeated, "Please, Miss, keep me here. Please, Miss, keep me here."
Seeing that her forehead was red from banging her head, Shen Yan quickly pulled her up: "Don't do this, be careful not to break your forehead and leave a scar on your face."
As soon as she finished speaking, the girl she was holding suddenly jolted, as if she had been startled.
Shen Yan was puzzled and confused. Her gaze fell on Qing He's face, and suddenly her heart skipped a beat.
She suddenly remembered that Qinghe was not only the most dull and obedient of the palace maids, but also... the most beautiful one.
In a daze, Shen Yan seemed to understand something. She was unsure, but dared not ask again. After a long while, she slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and said, "I will ask the prince to speak to the palace and see if it can be done. If the palace agrees, you can stay."
Qinghe was taken aback, then overjoyed. Ignoring any attempts to stop her, she kowtowed several more times to Shen Yan, repeatedly saying, "Thank you, Miss! Thank you, Miss!"
She was just a lowly palace maid, while Prince Ping was His Majesty's most favored prince. If he asked, His Majesty would surely grant his request.
In that case, she wouldn't need to return to the palace!
Shen Yan sighed helplessly and pulled the person up: "Alright, go wash your face and tidy yourself up. You don't need to serve me here."
Qinghe nodded, wiped her face sheepishly, and bowed as she withdrew.
After she left, Shen Yan lay back on the bed, silently looking at the top of the tent. Sometimes she thought about her current situation, and sometimes she thought about Qing He who had just cried. She didn't know if her decision was right or wrong.
Lost in these random thoughts, my head gradually became heavy, and I don't know when I finally closed my eyes.
………………
Amidst the deafening sounds of gongs and drums and the crackling of firecrackers, the wedding procession proceeded from the Prince Ping's Mansion all the way to Yangliu Hutong.
The alley was narrow, so in order to ensure that the wedding procession could pass smoothly and not get stuck inside, the palace sent people to clear the area in advance.
Some people were acquainted with the families living in Yangliu Hutong and had slipped inside long before the wedding procession arrived. Now, they were all perched on the walls watching the spectacle, and not a single courtyard wall in the entire hutong was empty.
Those who couldn't get in crowded outside the alley, chatting and laughing, waiting to see the bridal sedan chair bring the bride out.
Although the Shen family had only been in the capital for a short time and didn't have many relatives or friends, this was, after all, a royal wedding. To make the scene look better and not too deserted, quite a few people stood up to help block the door.
Grand Secretary Li came with his granddaughter Li Yaozhi to join in the fun. Although he didn't participate in setting the questions, just standing there was enough to make the wedding party break out in a cold sweat.
Gao Pei, as Shen Mingshan's good friend, naturally came as well. However, the people who came to fetch the bride with the groom were all Qi Jingxuan's friends, who were also Gao Pei's juniors. He had studied for more than ten or twenty years and was now working in the Hanlin Academy. It was not appropriate for him to make things difficult for them and appear to be bullying the younger generation.
He had originally only planned to take a look, but Gao Zheng had come to Beijing a few days ago and came along today.
Gao Zheng was already acquainted with the Shen family and didn't get along with Qi Jingxuan, so he naturally sided with the Shen family.
Qi Jingxuan was furious the moment he saw him, feeling that he was there to cause trouble and prevent him from marrying Shen Yan smoothly.
However, he was also well aware of his own limitations and knew he was no match for his opponent. So he quickly tugged at Xu Jinyu's sleeve and gritted his teeth, saying, "Show me your true skills and teach this brat a lesson! Make him admit defeat wholeheartedly!"
Xu Jinyu, as the heir of the Marquis of Cheng'an, was a man of exceptional talent and learning. He was a renowned scholar in the capital and the most learned among all of Qi Jingxuan's friends.
However, Gao Zheng also came from a prestigious family and was well-known for his talent in the Jiangzhou area. Xu Jinyu really didn't know if she had any chance of winning.
Fortunately, to save face for Qi Jingxuan, he called over a group of his friends. Even if he couldn't win, they could brainstorm and eventually get the door open!
But they were all overthinking it. Although Gao Zheng didn't want Shen Yan to marry Qi Jingxuan, he also didn't want to embarrass Shen Yan in public on such a occasion.
He stepped forward only to bolster the Shen family's reputation; he didn't intend to make things too difficult for them, merely posing a few standard questions.
Qi Jingxuan wanted to receive the bride smoothly, and the Shen family didn't want anything to go wrong either. So, everyone tacitly maintained the lively atmosphere, exchanged a few couplets, composed a few poems to urge the bride to get ready, and had the young men in the wedding procession who were skilled in martial arts shoot a few arrows for good luck before preparing to enter the house to welcome the bride.
Just when everyone was happy, a person suddenly appeared from behind the roof beam not far away.
This person moved nimbly, leaping and bounding across the walls. With a few bounds, he arrived at the Shen family's courtyard wall. With a slight push from his calves, he landed lightly at the Shen family's gate like a swallow. The dark blue mark on his forehead was very conspicuous in the sunlight.
Even though Qi Jingxuan had already met A Qing and knew his identity, his sudden appearance still reminded him of the eight times he had been chased for thousands of miles. Instinctively, his eyes widened, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Assassination..."
"It's so bright!"
The moment Aqing jumped out, He Yuan realized that something bad might be about to happen.
As expected, just like last time at Yanliang River, the prince immediately shouted "assassin."
Today is the Prince's wedding day with Miss Shen. His Majesty is waiting for news in the palace. If the Prince were to shout "Assassin!" in the street, everything would be in chaos! He wouldn't be able to explain it to His Majesty!
In a moment of desperation, He Yuan pulled Qi Jingxuan back forcefully and shouted out the words she had just uttered, suppressing Qi Jingxuan's cry of "assassin."
Everyone's attention was originally focused on Aqing, who had suddenly appeared, but when he suddenly uttered those words, they all turned to look at him.
He Yuan stood there awkwardly, forced a smile, and pointed to the setting sun: "Today's sun... is so dazzling."
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A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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