Chapter 361 Wedding (1)
The white-robed monk slowly turned around.
In the Zen temple, shadows of flowers overlapped, and the monk's face was as bright as the autumn moon, with his eyes slightly raised. It was Xie Xuchi.
Chen Lezhi stood there in a daze, not daring to call out confidently, "Your Highness... Your Highness the Crown Prince?"
"Princess, there's no prince here. He's just an ordinary monk from the Zhenguo Temple." Xie Xuchi put down the kettle for watering the flowers and looked at Wen Xingluo with a smile. "It's rare for my sister to come visit me. Could it be that good things are coming?"
Wen Xingluo stared at his phoenix eyes that looked exactly like his mother's.
After a long while, she handed over the invitation and said softly, "In half a month, it will be the day for Ziheng and I to get married. I would like to invite my eldest brother to the Zhenbei Palace for a banquet and to see me off."
Xie Xuchi took the invitation card with a bright red peony and gold painting.
His eyes fell on the two names that were placed next to each other, and Xie Xuchi said vaguely, "If mother were still alive, she would definitely be happy for my sister."
Wen Xingluo was silent.
"I will definitely go." Xie Xuchi put away the invitation, turned back to the meditation room and brought back a stack of letters. "It's just that Ningning, you're here today. Please pass these letters to Ayan for me."
Wen Xingluo: "...My second brother seems reluctant to communicate with you."
Wen Xingluo had heard a little about the affairs of Xie Xuchi and Xie Yanchen during this period.
Xie Xuchi never tires of writing letters to her second brother, but her second brother is unwilling to pay attention to him and never replies.
"That's fine." Xie Xuchi took out another stack of letters and stuffed them into Chen Lezhi and Wen Xingluo's pockets respectively. "This one is for your elder sister, and this one is for Xie Guanlan."
Chen Lezhi collapsed slightly, "...Your Highness, you've become a monk, and you still want to communicate with my eldest sister. Be careful that the abbot will criticize you for your impure six senses! Besides, you don't even know my eldest sister well, what can you talk about?"
"Your elder sister and I are just pen pals. What we talk about is just the common people, not romance."
Wen Xingluo was at a loss for words. "It seems like you and Ziheng don't have much to talk about, right?"
"Ningning is wrong. My brother-in-law is very interesting. He is the one who is most in tune with me among all my pen pals."
Xie Guanlan is very interesting?
Do you have a mutual understanding with Xie Xuchi?
Wen Xingluo racked his brains but couldn't figure out what was so interesting about Xie Guanlan.
She was very curious about what Xie Guanlan, who was a man of few words in front of outsiders, talked about with her elder brother in the letter, so she asked Xie Xuchi to show her Xie Guanlan's reply.
After she finished reading them one by one, she fell into silence.
Chen Lezhi couldn't help but complain, "Your Highness, are you sure this is a normal correspondence?!"
Xie Xuchi was bewildered. "He always replies to my letters, which shows how much he cares about me. Such a good friend is no different from Ziqi and Boya."
Chen Lezhi: “…”
Wen Xingluo: “…”
In fact, Xie Guanlan's first few replies were quite normal.
However, perhaps because Xie Xuchi was too long-winded in his letters, Xie Guanlan gradually became impatient in his replies, and even later on, every one of his replies consisted of the same sentence:
——Don’t write to me anymore, it’s annoying.
After replying to more than a dozen letters, Xie Guanlan's handwriting became more and more perfunctory and sloppy. Finally, he was too lazy to write at all. He only replied with a letter with a big red cross on it. At first glance, it looked bloody, like some kind of silent threat.
"Um..." Wen Xingluo looked at Xie Xuchi sympathetically, "Brother, you should stop writing to him."
She was afraid that Xie Guanlan would get impatient and chop off Xie Xuchi's head.
When he returned to the palace from Zhenguo Temple, He Yu happened to be leading officials from the Ministry of Rites to deliver wedding clothes.
Chen Lezhi looked at the young man standing under the tree and whispered, "I heard from my elder sister that He Yu's situation in the court is very embarrassing."
Not only did she betray the Wei royal family, she wasn't entirely loyal to Xie Zhe, and she even asked to marry Wen Xingluo...
"But our new emperor is very generous. Not only does he not hold the fact that he once asked to marry you against his will, but he continues to use him. Now, at such a young age, he has been promoted to the position of Minister of Rites. Who knows what his future holds!"
Perhaps having heard Chen Lezhi's muttering, He Yu turned around and nodded, saying, "Miss Wei, Princess Chen."
The young man came from a prominent family, and he was as handsome as a moon and as graceful as a jade under the osmanthus tree.
Chen Lezhi coughed lightly and returned the greeting, "Master Xiao He."
He Yu looked at Wen Xingluo, and his hands behind his back tightened unconsciously.
People in the government and the public said that Xie Guanlan had forgotten the past and was still using him, but only he knew that Xie Guanlan was clearly doing this to humiliate him.
He placed him in the position of Minister of Rites and asked him to personally arrange the wedding of the emperor and empress, just to make him see the reality and give up on Wen Xingluo completely.
Xie Guanlan...
Although he could be considered a wise and capable ruler, he was also vindictive and had a strong desire for control.
He Yu sighed quietly in his heart, knowing that there was no hope for him to be with Wen Xingluo in this life.
He didn't look at Wen Xingluo any more, but only bowed and said respectfully, "The wedding dress has been delivered. Miss Wei, please try it on. If there is anything that doesn't fit, you can take it in for alterations in time."
There were several sets of wedding dresses, including the queen's auspicious dress.
Xie Guanlan planned to welcome Wen Xingluo into the palace according to the folk wedding process, and then hold the ceremony to crown her as queen. At dusk, the wedding would proceed as normal again.
Because of this matter, the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple had a dispute, believing that this move was against etiquette and law, but Xie Guanlan insisted on his own way, and no official in the court or the country could persuade him.
The Imperial Clothing Bureau worked day and night without any delay. Eighteen palace embroiderers managed to embroider one set of wedding dress, and the other two sets were still being made.
Wen Xingluo tried on the wedding dress and said, "It fits perfectly."
Chen Lezhi held up his face and said enviously, "Come to think of it, Ningning, you're already three months pregnant, right? You don't seem to have gained any weight at all, and you look great in any clothes."
"I gained weight." Wen Xingluo changed out of her wedding dress with the help of the palace maids. "It's just that the wedding dress is big and complicated, with layer after layer. Lezhi, you just didn't notice it."
Chen Lezhi arched his brows and stepped forward to pinch Wen Xingluo's cheeks. "Who told you to have such a small face? Your cheeks never grow any flesh!"
As they were talking, Cuicui hurried in. "Miss, guess who's here?! News of your wedding has spread to Jiangnan, and Miss Cousin and the Third Young Master have both returned home! They're currently sitting in the Dowager Consort's room!"
"cousin?"
Wen Xingluo was surprised and quickly rolled up her skirt and hurried to Wansong Courtyard.
The small hanging flower hall in Wansongyuan.
The old concubine leaned against the seat at the head, took Wei Ying's hand affectionately, and asked her to sit next to her.
The old man gently stroked the back of Wei Ying's hand and said lovingly, "I've heard Third Brother mention Yingying a long time ago, but today is the first time I officially meet you."
Wei Ying half-closed her eyelashes.
She didn't like physical intimacy with outsiders, so she felt a little uncomfortable in front of the old concubine.
The old concubine took off the jade bracelet on her wrist and put it on her hand herself. "Now that you are back in the capital, you won't go to Jiangnan, right? Ningning and Ziheng are getting married soon, and I always thought that the third brother and you would be able to..."
"Your Highness," Wei Ying interrupted the old concubine and returned the jade bracelet seriously, "Xie Zan and I are not in the relationship you think."
Xie Zan, who was sitting nearby drinking tea, chuckled softly and said quietly, "Yes, grandmother, my grandson and this Miss Wei are innocent. If you want to urge a marriage, you should ask my second brother. I don't know how my marriage will go yet. Maybe one day, if I feel happy, I'll shave my head and become a monk with Ah Chi."
When Wen Xingluo arrived outside the Chuihua Hall, he heard the conversation between the two.
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