When a royal princess reaches the age of 15, according to etiquette, there will be a coming-of-age ceremony, which is complicated and grand. According to the rules, both the emperor and the empress will attend, but not every princess will have one. To put it bluntly, there has to be someone willing to worry about it for you, otherwise it will just be a hastily held ceremony in the harem, with the empress just showing up.
But as Huo Qijing said, she will marry as a servant in the future, so it is best to hold the coming-of-age ceremony at the Yan family.
Meng Min discussed it with the Imperial Concubine and decided the matter.
The ceremony for a girl to come of age is mainly attended by the parents of the girl, as well as the main guest, who is usually a female elder. The "yousi", usually a ceremonial officer, serves as the tray for the girl and assists the main guest. The "zanzhe", usually a friend or sister of the girl, assists the main guest in completing the ceremony. The "zanli", is equivalent to the host.
The rest were guests watching the ceremony, and most of them were women.
Because Yan Shiyue's situation was rather special, Yan Chengyuan was simply not allowed to show up. She and the Imperial Noble Consort were the "hosts", Princess Yongkang was the main guest, and the Crown Princess was the sponsor. A female official could be hired to sponsor the ceremony, and the officials could just ask Sheng and Qiao to do it.
After it was decided, Meng Min called Yan Shiyue over and told her about it.
Yan Shiyue had no objection. Meng Min said to her, "I asked you to come here mainly to talk to you about the third room."
She hesitated for a moment and said, "Your third uncle passed away early, leaving behind only a daughter named Yan Ronghua. I'll ask her to come over for you to meet her someday. Yesterday, your third aunt came to me and begged me to ask Yan Ronghua to be the sponsor, but I refused."
She paused for a moment and said, "I feel really bad. Your Third Aunt and I were good friends in the boudoir and have always been very close. At the beginning, I was the first one to marry into the family. Seeing that your Third Uncle was a good person, I thought of bringing the two of them together and managed to get them to meet. Then your Third Uncle took a liking to her and asked someone to propose marriage to her."
...
...
As she spoke, she sighed, "Who would have known that within three years of marriage, your third uncle would be gone, leaving only your third aunt. The child was a posthumous child. When your third aunt heard the news of your third uncle's death, she was so anxious that she lost her fetus and gave birth half a month prematurely. Fortunately, she managed to bring the child back to life."
She paused, "Because of this, I have always felt a little guilty towards her."
"Now that the emperor has granted us a mansion, we have moved out of Prince An's mansion. However, because of... that beastly incident, the young lady in the family has a bad reputation. When you went to Xuzhou, your third aunt also came to find me. In fact, even if she didn't come to me, I would have gone to find her. Ronghua is already seventeen years old, and it's time for her to talk to someone else. If we don't help, she's a widow and it's not easy for her to go out. I'm afraid it will be difficult for her to find a husband in the future."
She clapped her hands and said, "This is an idea in my mind. I want to take care of her. But no matter what, she can't compare with my Yue'er. The coming-of-age ceremony is a serious matter. She lost her father before she was born. It's unlucky, so she can't be a sponsor. What I mean is that I want her to come and watch the ceremony. When the time comes, you can talk to her, which can be regarded as asking her to show her face."
Yan Shiyue responded.
In fact, she didn't really believe in it, but the coming-of-age ceremony was mainly a show for outsiders, and she couldn't bring in someone who was obviously inappropriate, because then everyone would probably think something had happened.
After the discussion, Yan Shiyue came out, and at the same time she remembered to instruct Wei Bo to remember to call her little apprentice Tang Xiu to join in the fun.
As she was speaking, someone came over and bowed to her: "Yan Ronghua greets Your Highness."
Yan Shiyue turned around. Yan Ronghua seemed a little nervous, and when she turned around, she lowered her head.
Yan Shiyue reached out and helped her up: "You and I are sisters, you don't have to be polite."
Yan Ronghua said anxiously, "Thank you, Your Highness." Only then did she stand up.
She had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a round, smooth face. He raised his eyes carefully and glanced at her: "Ronghua has long heard of your great name and always wanted to meet you. Fortunately, I can meet you today."
Yan Shiyue nodded: "Yeah."
Yan Ronghua said, "Second Aunt was so kind that she invited Ronghua to attend His Highness' coming-of-age ceremony. Ronghua thought about coming to see His Highness. I wonder if His Highness knows about this?"
Yan Shiyue said: "My mother told me, you can just come directly when the time comes."
Yan Ronghua didn't say much, and said goodbye tactfully: "Then I won't bother you anymore, Ronghua will take his leave."
Yan Shiyue nodded and turned away.
She prefers cute and well-behaved girls like Tang Xiu, or straightforward girls like Qin Shiyi Niang. She doesn't like girls like Yan Ronghua... how to put it, too orthodox. She can't flirt with them!
However, it shouldn't be difficult to find her a good husband in the traditional sense.
Yan Ronghua slowly retreated.
She and Sun are now staying in the Prince's Mansion. Meng Min is kind-hearted and understands that they are having a hard time in Prince An's Mansion. She took the initiative to invite them to stay for a while, and they have been living there for several months.
When Sun saw her, she asked, "Can you see her?"
"I have seen it." Yan Ronghua whispered, "There is a Panlong pendant hanging around her waist!"
Sun was surprised. After a while, she said, "I didn't expect that the emperor really dotes on her so much."
She paused: "Is she easy to get along with?"
"He looks OK," Yan Ronghua said, "He's dressed in men's clothes and behaves in a free and easy manner. He shouldn't be the kind of petty person."
"That's good," Sun gently stroked the back of her hand, full of tenderness: "My son, mother is in this state, I can't help you, everything depends on you... With my son's intelligence, it won't be difficult to take advantage of Yan Shiyue's favor. I heard that Yan Shiyue even protects the maids around her. As long as my son can please her, let alone marriage, I'm afraid he won't have to worry about his life."
Yan Ronghua nodded slowly: "I know, don't worry, mother."
Originally the guests for the coming-of-age ceremony had been decided and the invitations had been sent out, but a small incident occurred.
Empress Su requested to see the Emperor and expressed sincerely that she was willing to be the guest of honor at the Prince's Mansion.
Originally, it was more appropriate for the Imperial Concubine to be the host and the Empress to be the guest of honor than Princess Yongkang. However, when Emperor Ming Yan thought of Yan Shiyue saying, "I will only give it to someone I like," he felt a little overwhelmed.
But it is commendable that the queen would take the initiative to do so.
So Emperor Ming Yan said very kindly: "It's good that you have this intention, but Yue'er's coming-of-age ceremony will be held as a daughter of the Yan family, so it doesn't have to be like this."
The queen then withdrew.
After such a long time, it was rare to see Emperor Ming Yan in such a good mood. I felt secretly proud in my heart, thinking that this move was right.
Her pride only lasted until the afternoon.
When the Empress Dowager heard about this, she summoned the Imperial Consort and said that she wanted to be the main guest.
Even Emperor Mingyan was surprised. He didn't expect that the Empress Dowager was so interested.
Although it may seem a bit of an exaggeration, it's rare that the Empress Dowager is happy, and I as a youngster can only serve her with utmost fear and trepidation!
So everyone could only take a step back one by one. The Empress Dowager would be the main guest, the Crown Princess would still be the promoter, Princess Yongkang would be the ceremonial promoter, and the Third Prince's wife and the Fourth Prince's wife would be the officials.
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