Ling Jingshu had long since been helped into her elaborate, ornate red wedding robes. Wearing a thick red veil draped over her head, she sat quietly at the edge of the bed.

The laughter and commotion from outside filtered through the door and into the room, every sound perfectly clear.

The two ceremonial matrons exchanged a glance, barely suppressing their amusement. Bai Yu and Qiao Yun were so entertained they were pressing their lips together, smiling to themselves.

Under the veil that concealed her face and head, Ling Jingshu silently curved the corners of her lips upward.

Ling Jingyan’s sharp and eccentric questions kept coming one after another, catching Wei Yan completely off guard. He found himself in a bind — to answer was impossible; to refuse to answer was even worse. It wasn’t appropriate to lie, but saying the truth plainly was also difficult to get out.

Watching the handsome, composed new son-in-law grow so flustered that his face turned red, the gathered female guests all covered their mouths and laughed.

Ling Jingyan held her head high with great self-satisfaction. “Just a moment ago, Son-in-Law was saying he would answer everything without reservation. How come now he’s a sealed gourd that won’t make a sound? If that’s how it is, don’t blame me, your Elder Cousin-in-Law, for being merciless — today, Son-in-Law should not even dream of going in and taking the bride.”

Jiang Rongyue laughed and chimed in: “Quite right. You cannot blame us if the son-in-law can’t answer.”

Very well!

Losing face today would just have to be accepted!

Wei Yan steeled himself, cleared his throat, and bowed with clasped hands. “Dear Sister-in-Law, dear Cousin-in-Law — it is not that I am unwilling to answer. It is simply that these matters take a long time to tell. In front of so many people, I ask that Sister-in-Law and Cousin-in-Law spare me just a little dignity and let me through. I will surely repay this kindness generously another day!”

His skin really was thick.

Just like that, he had gone straight to “Sister-in-Law” and “Cousin-in-Law”!

Ling Jingyan had only been making merry, and of course had no real intention of blocking him from entering. Seeing that Wei Yan had put on a sufficiently good show, she felt both amused and genuinely heartened.

Wei Yan really did have an accommodating temperament — being given all this trouble and not growing even the slightest bit annoyed. He showed such deference toward her and Jiang Rongyue, clearly out of consideration for Ling Jingshu. From this, one could see that Wei Yan’s feelings for Ling Jingshu were genuine.

“Very well — I’ll let you off this once.” Ling Jingyan exchanged a glance with Jiang Rongyue, and the two of them stepped aside with laughter.

The other female guests moved aside as well, amidst laughing and teasing. Wei Yan pressed down the tension and excitement in his heart, bowed and expressed his thanks all around, which drew another round of laughter from the gathered female guests.

……

Amidst the laughter, Wei Yan pushed open the door.

He looked at once, impatiently, toward the edge of the bed.

A young woman in brilliant red wedding robes, wearing a red veil, sat quietly and upright at the edge of the bed. Though the veil concealed her face completely, Wei Yan somehow felt certain that she too was raising her head to gaze at him.

Wei Yan’s heart gave a trembling flutter — as though he had drunk down a cup of richly fragrant honey, the sweetness soaking all the way into his very soul.

From today onward, he was her husband, and she was his wife. They could finally walk side by side, and there was no one in the world who could separate them anymore.

A’Shu — I am here!

I have come to marry you!

Wei Yan did not know how he crossed the room to the edge of the bed. A ceremonial matron seemed to say something, but he did not catch it. He simply stood before Ling Jingshu, gazing at her in a daze for a long while.

The people who had crowded in to watch the excitement saw the new groom in this state and all burst out laughing.

On the day of the wedding, a groom being overjoyed was the most natural thing in the world. A moment of improper conduct was understandable. No one had expected, however, that the Imperial Physician Wei — famed for his composed and steady manner — would make so many laughable blunders on the day of his wedding.

Wei Yan showed not the slightest embarrassment; he paid no attention to anyone. He lowered his head and whispered at Ling Jingshu’s ear: “A’Shu — I have come to marry you.”

Ling Jingshu gave a soft sound of acknowledgement, her voice faintly choked.

The ceremonial matron, suppressing her smile, pressed the red silk wedding ribbon into Wei Yan’s hand. “New groom, quickly take your bride to bow farewell to her family, and let’s get her into the wedding sedan soon!”

If this went on any longer, who knew how many more amusing scenes would unfold.

Wei Yan finally came back to himself. He tightened his grip on the red silk ribbon in his hand, and amidst the crowd of well-wishers and attendants, he led the girl he loved to bow farewell to the elders.

……

In the Ling household’s main hall, Wei Yan and Ling Jingshu, at the ceremonial matron’s indication, knelt side by side. First they bowed farewell to Ling Old Madam, then to Ling Daye and his wife, then to Ling Siye and his wife, and finally to Ling Wuye and Li Shi.

Li Shi had been forewarned beforehand and dared not say anything carelessly on this day, nor did she dare to put on any expression. She forced out a smile and said: “A’Shu, after you have married, don’t forget your family at home — visit often.”

Since the bride was not permitted to open her mouth, Wei Yan stepped in to respond on her behalf: “Yes — in the future, this son-in-law will certainly bring her home often.”

When it was Ling Wuye’s turn, Ling Wuye opened his mouth and launched into a long string of words — admonishing Ling Jingshu to follow the Three Obediences and the Four Virtues after marriage, to serve her husband faithfully, and so on.

Ling Jingshu followed custom and bowed her head, murmuring a soft sound of acknowledgement.

The bowing of farewell to those of the same generation was far less formal. Once Wei Yan rose, he simply gave a clasped-hands bow in the direction of the Ling Family’s peers, and that was sufficient.

When a daughter married, her feet could not touch the ground of her family home — she had to be carried by her family’s brother to board the wedding sedan.

For this, of course, there was no one more fitting than Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao bent down, and the two ceremonial matrons supported Ling Jingshu and guided her forward, helping her settle steadily onto Ling Xiao’s back.

With Ling Jingshu properly secured, Ling Xiao walked slowly toward the wedding sedan.

The distance was not great. No matter how slowly he walked, it did not take much time.

Ling Xiao had been keeping himself composed all along. But once he saw Ling Jingshu settled inside the wedding sedan, he finally could not hold back any longer, and he cried aloud: “A’Shu! A’Shu!”

He truly could not bear to let A’Shu go away and be married. Though the siblings could still see each other often in the future, a married woman was, after all, someone else’s daughter-in-law — it would no longer be the same as when she had been a girl in her family home.

Hearing Ling Xiao’s sobs, Ling Jingshu felt a pang in her heart as well, and she too began to cry softly.

A bride weeping at her wedding was itself one of the customs of the time.

The ceremonial matron took no particular notice of it. She smiled at the people on Wei Yan’s side and said: “The bride is reluctant to leave her family — that is natural. The auspicious hour has come. Give the order for the sedan bearers to lift the sedan.”

In the earth-shaking sound of firecrackers, the sedan bearers steadily raised the wedding sedan.

Ling Old Madam turned her face away and shed a few tears.

Ling Jingyan was most reluctant of all. She threw herself into Jiang Rongyue’s arms and wept loudly. Zhang Jian was left turning frantic circles at her side: “A’Yan, you are carrying a child — your emotions must not be too agitated. Please don’t cry anymore…”

Ling Jingyan paid him no mind whatsoever and cried herself a thorough, satisfying cry.

Ling Xiao, too, wept for a long while.

All of this — though Ling Jingshu inside the wedding sedan could not see it with her own eyes — she could well imagine what it would be like.

Ling Jingshu sobbed, unable to stop herself, for a long while. Marriage was, for a woman, both the happiest moment of her life and the most bittersweet and difficult day. The joy of finding a worthy husband to entrust one’s life to, mingled with the dazed reluctance to leave one’s loved ones — an impossible tangle of the complex and the subtle. Only those who had been through it themselves could truly understand the feeling.

She did not know how much time had passed before the ceremonial matron’s voice reached her from outside the sedan: “Miss has cried the whole way through — you ought to rest a while now. If you cry until your makeup is ruined and your eyes are red, then when you arrive at the Wei household and the veil is lifted — you’ll be laughed at.”

Wei Yan would never laugh at her.

Ling Jingshu thought this in silence. She listened to the ceremonial matron’s counsel all the same, and stopped crying. She drew out her red handkerchief and gently dabbed at the tear-stains on her face.