Three days later, a red sedan chair arrived at the gate of Wuya Mansion. Two sedan chair bearers, four people struggling to carry the loads, a nanny, and two maids made up the entire wedding procession.
Uya wore a light orange-red bridal gown; as a concubine, she couldn't dress too brightly. A red headscarf covered her head, and she was helped out of the house by Cuiyun and Xiangcao.
After settling Uya into the sedan chair, Uyadodon and his wife said a few more words of thanks to the matchmaker, then slipped her a bag of silver before letting them go.
Along the way, the sedan chair bearers tried to choose quiet places, perhaps to avoid crowds and disturb Lady Wuya inside. Cuiyun followed the sedan chair, walking on the inside. Lady Wuya sat in the sedan chair, her head covered by a veil, her heart filled with excitement. She could finally be the Fourth Prince's woman. When she entered the palace at the age of twelve, she first saw that cold-faced young man in a blue robe at Yongyong Palace, and she fell in love at first sight. He had long eyebrows that reached his temples, eyes like morning stars, a high and imposing nose, and a tightly pursed, slender mouth, making him seem so out of place among his surroundings. At first, his gaze was hesitant and distant, but once you entered his heart, you realized he could be so passionate!
Unfortunately, her status wasn't high enough. Even though his mother was her aunt, the Uya family, being bondservants, still didn't qualify her to become the Fourth Prince's primary wife, not even a princess. She was truly unwilling to accept this, but she was too young back then. If she had used that method to become his woman, her aunt might have helped arrange for her to be betrothed to him.
Thinking of all this, Lady Wuya pursed her lips, suddenly feeling incredibly thirsty. She involuntarily licked her lips, thinking to herself: Everything I didn't get back then, I must get back. His primary wife has no children; as long as I can bear him a son, anything is still possible.
With these thoughts in mind, Lady Uya kept trying to reassure herself throughout the journey. When her red sedan chair arrived at the side gate of the Fourth Prince's residence, the gatekeepers refused to let them in.
“If you don’t open the door soon, you’ll miss the auspicious time for the wedding procession. You can’t afford to take responsibility for that. The bride in the sedan chair is the Fourth Prince’s newlywed bride.” The matchmaker was sent by the head nanny. She didn’t usually come to the gatehouse, so the gatekeepers didn’t recognize her.
"I've been guarding this place, but no one told me anyone was going to leave here at this time today. Do you have any written instructions?" The gatekeeper was clearly unwilling to compromise, because he had indeed not received any notification that anyone was going to enter today.
Seeing that she had been waiting at the door for a long time without any movement, Wuya became suspicious. She lifted her veil and asked Cuiyun, who was standing outside, "What happened? Why did you stop?"
Seeing that the matchmaker had been negotiating with the gatekeeper for a long time and hadn't returned yet, Cuiyun became anxious. When she saw Wuya asking, she quickly said, "Master, I'll go and find out what's going on. Don't worry!"
When Cuiyun went forward to listen, she saw that the matchmaker had already finished speaking and was turning around to walk down the steps.
"Matchmaker, what's wrong?" Cuiyun asked, seeing the matchmaker's helpless expression.
"Oh dear, I don't know what the higher-ups did. They didn't say today was the day the newlyweds were to enter the house. I had to go through the main gate first, ask Consort Niu, and get a written order before they allowed the bride to enter! You'll just have to wait here for now," the matchmaker said.
"How can that be? There's an auspicious time for entering the manor. If you go back and forth, and also have to get the concubine's edict, won't that cause a delay?" Cuiyun's tone turned sour upon hearing this. She and Wuya had been eagerly anticipating entering the manor as soon as possible, but they encountered this situation at the gate, and their first reaction was anger.
"What should we do? Without a written order or instructions, we can't just let anyone in." The matchmaker also felt this was a problem, but since there were no instructions from above, she could only let these little chatterboxes run themselves ragged.
"Then, how long will that take? Our master even asked?" Cuiyun asked anxiously.
"It will probably take an hour. This Fourth Prince's mansion is huge; it's at least a twenty-minute walk from here to the main gate," the matchmaker said with a bitter face.
Seeing that things had come to this point, Cuiyun knew that arguing with the matchmaker would be pointless, so she had no choice but to send her to obtain the imperial edict. Actually, the blame lay with the Fourth Prince. He hadn't informed Lanqin and Nianshi about this matter at all; he had only told them about Wuya's arrival in the mansion, without entrusting them with the specifics. He had assigned the head nanny to handle it, and she had probably forgotten about it, or perhaps the Fourth Prince himself had forgotten.
After the matchmaker left, Cuiyun had no choice but to walk to Wuya's sedan chair and whisper the situation to the person opposite her.
When Uya heard that there was no written order, she became anxious. Her own people had already reached the door, but they were being blocked at the entrance.
Meanwhile, the matchmaker walked towards the main gate, but when she arrived at Lanqin's place, Lanqin was not there. The matchmaker then went to Nian's place, where Nian was, but she said that she had not received any instructions from the Fourth Master regarding this matter, and told her to go find the head nanny.
The matchmaker wandered aimlessly around the mansion like a headless fly, finally arriving at the head nanny's place and obtaining her written instruction. Normally, the head nanny shouldn't have been the one to issue the instruction, but since the Fourth Prince hadn't returned yet, she had no choice but to take the blame.
Meanwhile, Uya and several sedan chair bearers had been waiting at the side gate for quite some time, but the matchmaker still hadn't appeared.
"The auspicious time has passed, why hasn't anyone come yet?" The sedan chair bearers whispered among themselves as they sat on the curb by the roadside. This was the first time they had ever encountered such a situation.
Inside the sedan chair, Uya's face fell, feeling like a rejected shipment placed outside the door.
The matchmaker had finally arrived after running all the way. She couldn't very well walk directly from the house to the side door on this side, as that would be considered unlucky.
"Here it comes, here it comes, we finally got it!" The matchmaker was panting heavily from exhaustion.
She handed the edict she had obtained from the head nanny to the gatekeeper, and only then did the red double door open. The sedan bearers quickly got up from the ground, lifted the sedan chair, and carried Uya Shi inside.
They carried the sedan chair to the west courtyard, and when they reached the gate, the sedan chair bearers lowered it. The matchmaker quickly said to Uya, who was inside the sedan chair, "Bride, we've arrived. The master has arranged your accommodation here. Please step out of the sedan chair."
As soon as Uya stepped out of the sedan chair, Cuiyun quickly helped her out. The matchmaker also helped Uya walk up the steps to the west courtyard.
When Wu and Geng learned that the house where Yin had been living had finally welcomed a new person, they wanted to see it too, so they stood at the door watching the Uya clan and their servants walk in.
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