Chapter 40: The big tent of fireflies and dusk snow is located in the big tent of Dorji...
Muxue's tent was located next to Dorji's tent, to the east of the king's tent.
In order to welcome the princess who came from afar, when setting up the tent in his hometown, Tushetu Khan specially cleared a large area to wait for her. After all, it was the first time for the princess to come to the country in the entire Mobei region. It was not from any other tribe, but from their Tushetu Khan tribe, which was enough to show the emperor's favor. Correspondingly, the Tushetu Khan tribe would also show enough respect to the princess.
While the princess and the princes were feasting, some of the maids and eunuchs accompanying the princess and the dowry came here first to set up tents.
Madam Wu and the eunuch in charge followed the princess, and Madam Zhao took the order to take charge of the situation first.
The first thing, of course, was to set up the princess's big tent with the help of the accompanying soldiers, and the next step was to set up their own small tents.
Because everyone knew they had arrived at the place, everyone was willing to choose a good place to set up the tent, and there were some disputes, so the process was a little slow.
While Mother Zhao was keeping an eye on the furnishings of the princess's tent, she was also concerned about the tents of the eunuchs and maids on the other side. There were also a few dowry girls who had some intricate connection with her from somewhere, and they instigated eunuchs from the same hometown or maids who were of the fifth degree of mourning to find a good place by bypassing the head of the dowry.
There were so many people and so many things to do, it was a mess. Mother Zhao was so annoyed that she was in a big mess. And they brought many Mongolian maids, saying that they were female slaves awarded by Tushetu Khan to serve the princess.
For a moment, Mongolian, Manchu, and Chinese were lingering around the camp, and it was not easy to pull the linen yarn apart. The head of the banquet, Shi Musen, who had left the banquet early, came over to take a look and immediately called Mother Zhao over: "Is it not possible to set up the tent like this? Why is the tent for the dowry so far outside?"
"But in the past, when they were in Beijing, they all lived in the suburbs. The princess likes quietness, and these people all have families with them. If they stay too close, they might ruin the princess's peace." Mother Zhao explained.
"It's a different time now," Mu Sen rarely interfered with the decisions made by the housekeeper, but at this time he was particularly insistent. "Tell them to move their tents and move back to the outer circle near the princess's tent."
He put his hands behind his back and said seriously, "We are in a foreign land. We are all family and must stick together."
If it were really in the capital, in his own territory, he, the chief secretary, would have gone back home to find some peace and quiet. But this was in Mobei, the completely unfamiliar Tushetu Khanate. Once the prince and the Eight Banners soldiers left, there would only be two hundred of them on the entire grassland! Was he crazy or something, and still scattered everywhere?
Not to mention the princesses, whose status was noble, so the prince consort and Tushetu Khan would protect them no matter what. However, the princesses were human beings, and if they were to live scattered outside and come into conflict with the local nobles, it would be a big trouble.
Mother Zhao understood immediately after hearing this. "It's my fault. I was so busy that I didn't think about it. I'll ask someone to move it right away."
"Wait a moment." Mu Sen remembered that he had seen the guard Huang Zhong making friends everywhere while drinking just now, so he called another guard of high rank, Tong Shoulu, and asked him to lead a dozen guards to follow.
The soldiers of the Eight Banners would not stay with them. When they were in Beijing, the Princess's Mansion recruited 50 vagrant soldiers as guards. On the way, under the Princess's orders, these guards were led by two imperial guards, Huang and Tong. They ate, lived and trained with the soldiers of the Eight Banners. After a few months, they looked like they were in good shape. They were just in time for use.
When Tong Shoulu heard this, he grabbed his sword and ordered the men to leave without saying a word.
With him, this black-faced man, and a dozen sword-bearing guards, the speed of setting up and dismantling the tent was much faster.
The moon reached its zenith and the banquet ended.
Mu Xue watched as the Fourth and Fifth Princes were escorted back to their respective tents. She also told their followers to be alert during night shifts and take good care of Prince Beile. After giving them some instructions, she prepared to return to her own tent.
Dorji was waiting for her under the stars.
"Are you settled? Let's go home."
When he said "let's go home", his tone softened unconsciously, as if it was the same beautiful and quiet summer night a few years ago when Eji and Abba called him to go home.
It had been a long, long time since anyone had been able to make him say "let's go home".
Mu Xue nodded. When Dorji came out to persuade them to drink, she and the Fourth and Fifth Princes all appreciated his kindness. Although the word "home" was a bit awkward for her, how could such a completely unfamiliar place be called home? But seeing that Dorji seemed to be in high spirits, she did not refute him, but just said, "Okay, let's go home."
Summer nights on the grassland are extremely quiet, with only the sound of wind and the occasional chirping of insects.
Mu Xue was thinking about what she had seen at the banquet, and wondering whether her dowry had been settled. She happened to see Dorji, who was also absent-minded, with a faint smile on his face. Perhaps he was recalling something happy.
"What are you thinking about?" Mu Xue asked.
Dorji asked her, "Do you see the fireflies over there?"
I reined in my horse in the snow and squinted my eyes to look carefully. There really were tiny dots of light in the distance, which were probably fireflies.
She looked for a while, then gently pulled the reins, and the white horse walked slowly.
“It looks very nice.”
"Indeed," Dorji said, "When I was a kid, I once ran out to play, deliberately getting rid of the guards. As a result, I couldn't find my way home when it got dark. Later, I followed the direction of a few fireflies and happened to meet my father who was looking for me with a torch."
Mu Xue asked with experience: "You are going to be beaten, right?"
"I was really scared at that time," Dorji said, "My father is very scary when he is angry. I saw that he looked unhappy, so I turned my horse's head and ran back."
This guy is really naughty since he was young. Mu Xue imagined the scene at that time and laughed out loud.
Dorji also smiled softly.
"In the end, he was caught up. I was young at that time and couldn't run faster than my father." He smiled, "He caught up, but my father didn't beat me. He just said - Dunduobuduoerji, your mother was so worried that you couldn't find your way home that she cried."
"My mother was a very brave woman. When she was young, she killed a wolf with her bare hands." Having said that, Dorji switched to controlling the horse with one hand and took out a wolf tooth from his collar.
"This is what she left me, along with a knife. Now it belongs to you."
He kissed the wolf tooth and put it back into his collar: "Before this, I have never seen her cry. I was very scared when I heard her cry."
"Later, Eji heard the news and came over. She didn't say anything harsh to me, but just said, 'Let's go home.'"
The story ends here.
He didn't say anything else, just smiled wistfully.
Mu Xue knew the unfinished ending of his story, and then she remembered what he had just said to her, "Let's go home," and her heart was moved for a moment.
They rode slowly forward, no one spoke, until they saw where they were staying.
Dorji's tent and Muxue's tent stood side by side in silence in the night. There was also a small curtained city outside, with tents and soldiers stationed. The person on duty tonight was someone Muxue was familiar with, Monk.
He saw the two of them coming back and said happily, "The master and mistress are back!"
Someone immediately passed the message inside and asked the servants to get ready.
It was too late to visit Dorji's tent, nor was it convenient to invite him into his own tent.
So Muxue said to Duoerji, "My place is probably a mess, so I won't invite you in to sit down. I'm going to go back and rest first. Good night."
Dorji nodded: "There is nothing important tomorrow. I guess the prince will wake up late. You should have a good rest and it will be fine if you sleep a little longer."
"I know. If we can make it in time tomorrow, we can have breakfast together."
Dorji smiled and said, "With the princess' words, I will definitely make it in time."
The two of them walked towards their respective tents.
Mother Zhao, who had come to settle the place earlier, led people out to greet us and briefly explained the situation:
"... After all, we have to set up the tent and settle down first, and the rest of the gifts will be packed up later."
The more than one hundred people Mu Xue brought with her as a dowry set up tents in the outer city, outside the curtained city on the side close to her tent. The tents of the princess's chief secretary, guards, eunuchs, maids, and others were all around the tent, wrapping her like a small circle.
Mu Xue looked around and nodded: "That's good."
Mother Zhao did not take credit for it, and said with a smile, "It was the chief secretary who ordered us to arrange it this way."
Chief Secretary Mu Sen? Is this gentleman finally willing to take care of things? Mu Xue glanced at the big and small tents of her own people in the distance, thinking that although her chief secretary was lazy, he was still relatively steady when it came to major matters.
She then asked: "What about the Mongolian merchants? Where are they settled?"
"The one called Yunqi reported to me that these merchants wanted to stay as close to our dowry people as possible for safety reasons, so we let them set up their tents opposite the dowry people first."
“That’s good.”
As she was speaking, Mu Xue, surrounded by her followers, had already walked to the front of the big tent. She was surprised to find that there was a circle of golden lotuses planted around her tent, swaying gently in the night breeze.
She stopped and stared for a long time.
A round-faced girl who looked like a Mongolian maid came forward and bowed to her with a smile: "I heard that the princess likes this flower, so the prince sent someone to tell them to plant it in advance."
The golden lotus flowers under the moonlight easily brought back memories of Dorji riding across the river to pick flowers.
She reached out and picked two bouquets of flowers, brought them into the big tent, found the imperial white porcelain vase she brought from the palace, filled it up, and placed it on the incense table in front of the bed.
Sitting down in front of the diamond-shaped mirror, Rong'er led the maid to help her take off her headdress and change into pajamas.
Mu Xue asked: "I seem to see some Mongolian girls outside."
"They said that Tushetu Khan and Efu were worried that you didn't have enough people to serve you, so they sent these maids over."
Mu Xue looked at herself in the mirror. There was another her in the mirror, with two overlapping images.
She calmly ordered: "Let them serve in the outer room first, and don't let them come into the inner room."
Rong'er took off the last agate hairpin from her hair.
"Yes. That's what Mrs. Zhao told me before."
"That's it? Good."
She changed into a silk nightgown, the material sticking to her skin, as cool as water. Mu Xue lay on the couch, Rong Er drew down the curtain, and she took a last look at the golden lotus on the incense table.
The flowers are blooming very beautifully.
But Muxue suddenly recalled what the strange Mongolian maid had said just now - she called her "Princess" instead of "Princess".
Tossing and turning, she pulled open the bed curtain in annoyance and stared at the golden lotus, feeling a little sad in her heart.
After all, it was a political marriage, and there were countless connections between them, and undercurrents were surging. The pure love that she had hoped for in her girlish feelings was probably hard to come by.
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