Chapter 96 Chapter 96 The King of Qin's Wedding and the People's Celebration
Fang Ying returned to the mansion and first went to see Li to report what she had seen and heard at the Zhou residence: "...it was truly packed. The sedan chair hall was crammed with people waiting to see her and give her gifts. Madam Zhou was busy accommodating the relatives who had come from her hometown, so she couldn't attend to them for a while. Sister Zhou's place was relatively quiet, so the two of us had a quiet chat for a while."
"She's the princess, how can ordinary people get close to her?" Li said with a smile, then asked, "Does she like the gift?"
"I like it very much," Fang Ying relayed Zhou Congshan's praise for the desk screen. "He also said he wanted to keep it by his side and admire it all the time."
Li smiled and said, "That's because of you. If it was given by someone else, even if she liked it, she might not actually put it out for display."
Fang Ying smiled. This was true. Zhou Congshan came from a certain background and married into the royal family. It was impossible for her to have so many small ornaments like this.
She chatted with Li for a while before leaving and returning to her room, where she changed into casual clothes, drank tea and rested.
In the afternoon, Ji Yanlang returned home. As soon as he saw Fang Ying, he excitedly said, "The emperor has issued an edict that the people will celebrate the King of Qin's wedding. From the 28th to the 30th, there will be no curfew in the city. I'll take you out to play then."
"But weren't you going to accompany the King of Qin to welcome the bride that day?" Fang Ying asked.
"Come back..." Ji Yanlang stopped talking mid-sentence when he remembered that he would have to attend the wedding banquet after returning from the wedding. He could only change the subject, "If it's too late, we can go out on the night of the 29th. I heard that famous opera troupes from all over the country have come to Beijing, so it will definitely be a lively occasion."
Fang Ying was also moved after hearing this and agreed with a smile: "Okay."
During dinner, Ji Yanlang told Li about it again and asked his mother if she wanted to go and watch the fun.
"I'm already so old, and I still enjoy this kind of excitement?" Mrs. Li glanced at her son, then looked at Fang Ying and said with a smile, "You guys go ahead. This kind of excitement is rare. You young people should go and take a look."
Fang Ying agreed with a smile, and told her second and fifth sisters-in-law about it the next day. Yue Qing'e stroked her swollen belly and sighed, "I can't go, but Fifth Sister-in-law is fine. Why not ask Wu Lang to take you with him?"
Gao was cautious by nature, so she only smiled faintly upon hearing this and said, "It's a pity that Wulang doesn't like crowds."
In fact, Fang Ying told them about this matter because she thought that if her fifth sister-in-law also wanted to watch the fun, they could discuss going together. But since Gao said so, she didn't say much and soon talked about other family matters.
The 28th arrived in a blink of an eye. Ji Yanlang went to the camp early in the morning, while Fang Ying dressed up and accompanied her mother-in-law Gao to Zhou's house to express congratulations.
The Zhou Mansion was decorated with lights and red silk was hung on every door and wall. There were also many carriages and horses gathered on the street outside the gate. Fortunately, they arrived early, and the steward went over to say hello. The Zhou Mansion quickly cleared the way for them to enter first.
After getting off the carriage and entering the hanging flower gate, they saw Madam Zhou. Li congratulated her first. Madam Zhou said a few polite words and invited Li to take a seat. Then she said to Fang Ying, "The princess should be free at the moment. Why don't you go and talk to her for a while?"
"Okay, go ahead." Li agreed, "The princess probably wants to talk to someone right now."
Fang Ying smiled and agreed. Madam Zhou immediately ordered someone to lead the way. She bowed and took her leave. As she was leaving, she heard Madam Zhou say, "Other families have sisters accompanying them right now, but it's a pity that our princess doesn't have any sisters of the same age. Fortunately, Liu Niang came early."
Yes, Fang Ying walked out of the hall, looked at the blue sky outside, and sighed softly in her heart. Zhou Congshan was just like her, the eldest daughter who had lost her mother, and had no sisters to support her. Only if she went there could she have a few heartfelt words with him.
Fang Ying followed the maid all the way to Zhou Congshan's yard, and when she entered the room, she saw that she was alone.
"You're finally here." Zhou Congshan stood up and took Fang Ying's hands. "I've had nothing to do since breakfast. I'm so bored."
Fang Ying smiled and said, "The auspicious time hasn't arrived yet, so we have to wait." She added, "When I came here, I saw that the dowry boxes were all laid out in the yard."
Zhou Congshan nodded, turned around and pointed inside the house, "I packed up all the things I usually use yesterday."
"Have the hairpins and robes been delivered?"
The princess will wear a flowery hairpin and a phoenix robe for her wedding, and all of these must be made and sent over from the palace.
Zhou Congshan pulled her into the inner room to see: "It was also delivered yesterday."
This kind of thing was something you couldn't touch lightly. Fang Ying looked at it from two steps away and asked, "Have you tried it?"
"Yeah." Zhou Congshan didn't care much about these things. He pulled Fang Ying to sit beside the couch and whispered, "Last night, I dreamed of my grandmother."
Fang Ying looked at her quietly, waiting for her next words.
"Grandmother sat in her room just like when she was alive," Zhou Congshan glanced at the flower hairpin and phoenix robe beside her, "I wore these and went in to see her. She was very happy..."
Fang Ying opened her arms, put her arm around her friend's shoulders, and whispered comfortingly, "The Madam must be watching over you from heaven."
Zhou Congshan didn't say anything. After a moment, he said in a very low voice, "But I haven't dreamed of my cousin since this marriage was decided... Does he blame me?"
Fang Ying tightened her arms and thought for a moment before saying, "I don't know your Highness's character, so I don't dare to speculate. But both you and I lost our mothers young, and our fathers remarried. Given my mother's temperament, she certainly wouldn't blame my father."
Zhou Congshan thought about his mother's temperament in his memory and he certainly wouldn't blame his father for remarrying, but he said: "It is natural for a man to remarry after his wife dies."
"You're being too hard on yourself." Fang Ying released her hand, stepped aside slightly, looked into her friend's eyes, and asked softly, "Are you scared?"
Zhou Congshan lowered his eyelashes to block his gaze, neither saying yes nor no.
Fang Ying held her hand and said, "When Ji Liulang came home, our wife wanted to give us a wedding ceremony. I was scared too. Do you remember?"
Zhou Congshan nodded slightly.
"At the time, I was only thinking about fulfilling our lady's wish and repaying her kindness. When the time comes, I will just hold on. No matter how scared I am, it will all pass."
Zhou Congshan still didn't say anything, but slowly leaned his head on Fang Ying's shoulder.
Fang Ying did not speak again and quietly accompanied her friend for a while until the maid came to report that close female relatives were coming to see the princess. Then the two of them went out to the hall and took their seats.
She stayed here with Zhou Congshan until the afternoon, and only went back to Li when the newlyweds were about to take a bath and dress up.
When Fang Ying saw Zhou Congshan again, she had already put on a phoenix robe and a flowery hairpin, waiting for the King of Qin to come and pick her up.
"The princess is so beautiful." Fang Ying praised with a smile.
There were other people in the room, so Zhou Congshan just smiled slightly.
Fang Ying didn't feel comfortable saying anything else, so he quickly left and followed Li to sit down at the table. Not long after, he heard a report from outside saying that the King of Qin was only two blocks away.
They were only guests, not close relatives, and it was inconvenient for them to watch the ceremony up close, as there was no large enough space for them to do so. So they all stayed in the banquet hall, listening to the music playing outside and the ceremonial officials singing the ceremonies. It was not until the night was completely over that Madam Zhou returned to the table happily and said that they had seen off the King of Qin and the Queen.
Everyone raised their glasses to congratulate and drank two rounds of wedding wine before leaving one after another.
On the way back, she could hear the hustle and bustle of the market from afar. Li ordered her maid to draw aside the curtains, took a look, and said with a smile, "It's really lively. I wonder when Liu Lang will be back?"
Fang Ying understood what her mother-in-law meant and said with a smile, "We agreed that it's too late today, so we'll go tomorrow."
Li nodded with a smile and said to Gao, "If Wu Niang wants to go, just go with Wu Lang. The next time we have such a lively event, we'll have to wait until the Lantern Festival."
"Thank you, mother." Gao bowed with a smile.
After returning home, Mrs. Li refused to let her two daughters-in-law see her off, saying that it was late and they should just go back to their rooms.
When Fang Ying returned to her room, it was already three o'clock in the morning, and Ji Yanlang had not returned home yet. She guessed that he would definitely not go out tonight, so she changed her clothes, washed her hands and face, and was about to soak her feet when Ji Yanlang came back.
"Hey, are you done washing? I wanted to pick you up for a walk." He said as soon as he entered the door.
Fang Ying smiled and said, "I don't know when you'll be back. It looks quite late, so I'll wash up first. Let's go tomorrow."
Ji Yanlang sighed, "I knew I probably wouldn't be able to go today..." He showed his hands from behind his back, holding a tightly wrapped oil-paper bag between his fingers, "Didn't you eat enough at the banquet?"
"What is it?" Fang Ying asked with a smile.
Ji Yanlang placed it in front of her and motioned her to open it, "I'm not full either. His Highness and the Princess went to the palace to pay homage to the Emperor's Queen, and we just drank in Kaifeng Mansion." Then he asked the maid to go to the kitchen to see if there was anything ready to fill her stomach and get some food.
Fang Ying opened the oil paper package and found a bag of fatty chicken that had been torn into pieces and smelled fragrant.
"I was passing by and smelled the tempting aroma from this stall, so I went over to try a piece. Thinking you would definitely like it, I bought a pack. Come and try it." Ji Yanlang said as he sat down on the other side.
Seeing that he was eager to see her eat it, Fang Ying smiled and picked a piece of meat. "Hmm, it's really fragrant and tender."
Ji Yanlang was satisfied. "It's a little salty. Eat two pieces first. They will bring the food soon."
As he spoke, he stood up and went into the inner room to change out of his official robes. Fang Ying asked the maid to fetch some water so that he could wash his hands and face. However, Ji Yanlang did not need it. He washed himself and sat back down opposite Fang Ying, asking her about her experiences in the Zhou Mansion.
Soon, noodle soup was brought to the kitchen. The two of them ate fatty chicken with the noodles. After eating, they felt that they could not sleep like that for fear of indigestion. They sat and chatted for a while before going to bed.
The next day, Ji Yanlang did not wait until nightfall. He came back from duty, said hello to Li, changed out of his official robe, and took Fang Ying out.
"The autumn scenery is pleasant. Let's walk around first. When we get tired, we can find a place to eat. It will be dark after we finish eating, and it will be time for the acrobatics to start." Ji Yanlang was very excited.
Fang Ying rarely left home at this time of year. As she strolled along the Bian River, she watched the setting sun cast a crimson glow across the water. A line from a poem came to mind: "So this is a ray of setting sun spreading across the water, half the river rustling, half red."
Ji Yanlang didn't like reciting poetry, so he laughed and said, "So reciting poetry does have its benefits. It's really different when you recite it while enjoying the scenery. For example, I can't think of any poems, so I can only say 'beautiful scenery'."
"Now you understand my mother's painstaking efforts, right?"
"I know, I know." Ji Yanlang nodded repeatedly, "When we have children, I will definitely watch them read and recite poems."
Fang Ying: “…”
We're out for a good time, why are you saying something so depressing?!
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The author has something to say: The poem is from Bai Juyi's "Song of the Dusk River"
Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I had planned to update again this month and even went to Kaifeng to find inspiration. But when I got home, I started to have a low-grade fever. I thought it was positive at first, but the antigen and nucleic acid tests were both negative, and I had no other symptoms. The low-grade fever lasted for 8 days, and the blood test showed no problem. I am really speechless...
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