Chapter 68
It was the eighth day of the sixth lunar month, and it was still dark.
The room began to bustle with servants and maids gathered around, helping Yue Qingning wash her face and comb her hair. Her own mother was also beside her, dressed in a crimson gown, surrounding her. She would cry if she looked at her for a moment longer.
Qingzhe looked at her face through the mirror for a long time, and insisted on carrying her out. A group of people quickly stopped him and made up a lot of impromptu customs to persuade him.
Qingtang was still young, and after seeing her for a while she went out to find someone to play with.
After her hair was done up, Mrs. Zhong carefully put the last piece of headgear on Yue Qingning and covered her with a red veil, and then everything was complete.
Before she left the house, Sister Teng dipped a peach branch in water and sprinkled it in front of her, implying that she would get rid of disasters and evil and live in harmony with her family.
As he swung her, he chanted, "A match made in heaven, a perfect couple. Joyful sounds fill the banquet, auspicious mist fills the hall. May the two of you be together forever under the full moon."
Yue Qingning couldn't see what was in front of him, so he could only bow lightly in her direction.
Sister Teng quickly supported her and said, "Your good fortune is yet to come! I was wrong before. Que Ming is indeed your beloved."
Yue Qingning listened to her words and suddenly realized how difficult all these years had been. When she finally realized that there would be a day when she would get married, tears welled up in her eyes.
She was supported as she walked forward, and felt that there was another person beside her. The large palm held her firmly, and each step she took became more and more stable.
Yue Qingning couldn't help crying, and shook his hand and said, "Thank you, father!"
But Yue's father didn't say much, he just held her arm tightly and walked to the end of the gate.
"If you have any problems in the future, come back to me. I'm always here and will always support you."
After hearing this, tears couldn't stop rolling down Yue Qingning's face. Before she could figure out who was under her feet, she was pushed into someone's arms, and her tears were splashed onto his shoes.
He held her very carefully, and asked cautiously in her ear as if leaning close to her.
"But you can't bear to leave? We'll come back often in the future and won't make you sad."
This reassured her that he was as considerate as a hair and cared for her more like her own family than her own family did.
With such a person around, she feels that she will not be afraid no matter what happens in the future.
She couldn't help but laugh again. The tears on her face had not yet been wiped away, and she smiled brightly again. Through the red silk, she just wanted to hug him.
Copper coins and wedding candies were scattered all over the place, and the people on both sides were happy to join in the fun and witness the wedding of the top scholar, so they followed the tall horse happily.
In fact, the two houses were not too far apart, but the groom could not go back and had to go all the way west. He went around half the city before returning to his own house.
There was a saddle at the door. Que Ming dismounted, invited the bride out, and stepped over it, which meant a stable and prosperous life.
There was originally a brazier, but he took the initiative to remove it. In his eyes, the bride was not plagued by any disaster, but he himself should step over the brazier more often.
Entering the Mingtang, there were two seats, one sitting on the Minister Yue and the other sitting on the Princess Royal who was invited with great kindness.
At first, Minister Yue did not dare to sit with the eldest princess, but she insisted that she wanted to share in Yue Lingshuang's joy and came alone, which invisibly made up for his lie and allowed him to sit in front of Que Ming with peace of mind and accept his greetings.
Everything seemed to be slowing down in the long tune of the ceremony. Que Ming lowered his head following the sound of the ceremony, but felt that everything was going on as if in his own dream, peaceful and smooth without a single problem.
He wondered if I was still dreaming.
How can it be so beautiful without any mistakes?
However, until the bride entered the bridal chamber, he still hadn't found anything wrong.
Outside, people were singing at the flower banquet, and inside the court, people were toasting each other with cups and glasses, and the next step of the wedding banquet was slowly proceeding to the tune.
Most of the visitors were unknown court officials, but because they were eager to curry favor with him, none of the auspicious words they said were repeated.
Que Ming didn't want to be unconscious, so he drank a little and signaled Lian Zhou to help him block the wine. When the guests had left and were surrounded by people laughing and walking into the room, he pretended to be drunk and pushed everyone out to prevent them from making trouble in the bridal chamber.
After hearing that everyone had left, he finally dared to take off his mask, walk around the screen, and take a closer look at his bride.
She was still wearing the red veil and said nothing, as if she didn't notice he had come.
Que Ming thought about it, hesitated for a moment, picked up the weight on the side, and slowly walked towards her.
"Xiao...Qingning, are you hungry?"
He still remembered what she said that day, so he corrected his mistakes as soon as he realized them. These two words made him chew them with extra tenderness.
He walked closer with the weight in his hand, hooked the veil and lifted it up.
He had been prepared, but there was no such preparation.
The woman under the veil had a rosy face and red lips, and was as graceful and charming as a fairy from heaven, and as seductive as a mountain goblin. He almost thought he had married the wrong person. He stepped back for a moment and was about to go out and change her back.
But the girl under the veil called him softly, "Queming."
He suddenly couldn't move, and the unnecessary movements in his body began to make him embarrassed.
Que Ming took off the veil hesitantly. Seeing her hair full of jewels and jade, he didn't even dare to touch her for a moment. He just sat respectfully beside the round table, holding her veil in his hand, and even forgot the next step.
Yue Qingning was not surprised to see him like this. After all, he always acted like a fool in front of her, not knowing what to do.
So she stood up and sat next to him, pouring a cup of wedding wine for herself and him.
"The wedding ceremony is a celebration of a happy marriage."
She finished, handing it to him and motioning him to continue with the next sentence.
The champion thought for a long time as if a string had been broken, and finally uttered the next sentence: "May you and I be together forever."
After saying this, he almost drank the wine himself, but Yue Qingning quickly pulled him back and clinked cups with him before he finished the drink.
From then on, they were a couple who shared joys and sorrows. Que Ming couldn't help but cover his eyes and laugh when he thought of this.
He finally got what he wanted and got the bright moon he had always admired. Now that the bright moon was in his arms, he cherished it so much that he wanted to hold it in his mouth and carefully nurture it.
After laughing for a while, he whispered, "Are you hungry?"
Yue Qingning was really hungry. He had secretly eaten a lot of peanuts and dates on the bed while sitting, and now he was a little too hungry.
Que Ming got out of bed, asked someone to prepare dinner for her, and then went to the small room alone to wash up.
After a while, he changed into a moon-white coat and came in, carrying a whole set of food boxes. He put them on the table and took out food for her one by one.
Yue Qingning was watching him from the other side. His hands were clean and neat. He took each item with extreme care and placed them gently and quietly on the table, on the side closer to her.
Watching him busying around, her stomach suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. It was bloated with something, not sure what it was, that filled her chest.
Que Ming handed her a bowl of vegetarian noodles, indicating that she could start eating. There was no bowl or plate in front of him, only a pair of chopsticks, and he served her the food.
After noticing such a small thing, she suddenly felt a pang in her heart and couldn't eat anymore.
The sweet smell of alcohol in her stomach turned into a hot trail, rushing up from her stomach, making her whole body red.
She had too many feelings today, and she didn't want Que Ming to laugh at her, so she put down her chopsticks, pretended to be drunk, and held her forehead without moving.
When Que Ming saw her holding her forehead, he naturally thought that she had never touched alcohol before, and it was obvious that she couldn't hold her liquor after drinking a glass in one go.
So he came over and carried her to the bed.
She was panicked for a moment when she was hugged by the waist, but she also looked at the fire avoidance map and put it down after looking at one. She always felt that people like Que Ming did not have the lower body of those men.
His lower body should be clean and empty.
However, Que Ming, who was thought to be a god by her at this moment, did not think much about it. He did not even expect that the young lady would be close to him just because she became his wife.
She is still the moon in the sky, hanging high above. He can just stand under the moon and look at her brilliance, without having to touch the moon.
So the two of them tacitly agreed not to take off their clothes.
Que Ming simply helped her untie the pearls and jade on her hair, laid her flat on her back and covered her with a crimson brocade quilt. He also lay down beside her with his clothes on. They didn't share the same quilt, but they were husband and wife after all.
As he was thinking this, he remembered something and went to the outer room to turn off the lights, then came back and lay down again.
He noticed that the young lady had turned her face and stretched out one hand to rest on his quilt. When he looked at her face again, he found that she had opened her eyes towards him.
Que Ming was afraid that she was hungry, so he asked again. This time she shook her head to indicate that she didn't want to eat anymore.
But she seemed unable to sleep. Her eyes were shining brightly in the darkness. She blinked again and again but refused to close her eyes.
So Que Ming came closer and covered her eyes, counting one, two, three, four, and letting go when he reached twenty. He repeated this several times, and she finally couldn't stand the boredom anymore and closed her watery almond eyes.
The room suddenly became quiet. After a while, Yue Qingning asked him.
"Queming, are you asleep?"
In fact, he was afraid that he would not be able to sleep tonight, so he closed his eyes and replied, "No."
Yue Qingning turned over again on the inside, as if facing words that he could not say, he could say them again in the dark background.
She said, "At first I never thought that you and I would have this fate. It's true that things are unpredictable!"
Que Ming said in his heart that this relationship was obtained through my hard work, and it was not a natural outcome, so he could not reply to her.
Yue Qingning continued to talk to himself, "When I was just sixteen, I felt like the sky was about to fall and I was so desperate."
Que Ming then asked, "What caused it?"
She didn't answer his question, but instead said: "Because of myself, because of my family, because of you, because of the prince, and because of the imperial power of the heavenly family."
"I always feel like the days have no end in sight, and I remember the poem my father taught me in my early years: 'Looking up the river, I see a floating raft. The big ones have the material to make beams for boats, the small ones have the material to make wheels, shafts, rafters, and beams.'"
She is not a pillar of the country and can only be used as a wheel, but as the saying goes, even a floating raft has its own destination. Maybe she can float downstream and reach the shore!
Que Ming also rolled over behind her, facing closer to her, but he didn't move. He just chewed on these two lines and said, "If it weren't for the man who was endowed with the elegance of heaven and earth, and contained the pure essence of the universe, who could bear the stature of soaring to the clouds and the sun, and embrace the bones of snow and frost?"
Yue Qingning then thought of the virtues that he recited every day and praised every night, and she was about to smile again.
"Ling suits you very well. If you had a given name, it would probably be something like accumulated snow and frost."
She indirectly praised him for his outstanding talent and pure spirit, which enabled him to possess such noble qualities, but Queming felt that he did not deserve her praise. Only the two words "Queming" were very good and resonated with him.
He just smiled and said nothing. After a long silence, Yue Qingning could no longer bear the loneliness and was about to fall asleep. She felt her forehead move slightly. He exhaled deeply and persuaded her, "Go to sleep! Tomorrow is a new day!"
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