What he said that night was of course a joke. Today is no longer the time before the founding of the country when the aristocratic families looked down on the royal family. Successive emperors have intentionally or unintentionally suppressed the power of the aristocratic families, and new nobles from humble backgrounds continue to emerge in the court. The so-called glory of the aristocratic families has inevitably declined, and sooner or later it will become the lavish praise in history books, which just sounds nice.
Even though Li Qishen was poor and destitute, he was still the emperor in name. He still held the tiger talisman that could dispatch garrison troops, and he had the support of Princess Changning and Prince Ning. Even if Xie Zhou was dissatisfied in his heart, he had to put on a smile and say that this was the emperor's personal visit to bring honor to the family.
After all, it was a marriage proposal. Although he was poor, Li Qishen still managed to squeeze out some money for food, and the rest was all from the men he met in Chang'an City during the past two years. Especially Chu Er's group of playboys, although they were unreliable, they were really sincere to their friends. He had previously used half of his private money to supplement his military pay, and now he took out the other half to raise money for his brother to marry a wife.
"Your Majesty, we have known each other for such a long time, let me be honest. You must marry this one. If you marry another, we will probably have to sell our pants in the pawnshop." Chu Er's eyes were filled with tears on the day of collecting money. "There is another thing. The situation in Chang'an City is like this now. We have grown up to this age and have no proper jobs. Can you be flexible?"
"Don't worry, I will never marry again." Li Qishen's eyes were also filled with tears, and he patted Chu Er's shoulder very moved, "You should study more books first, and then take the imperial examination. Choose the Mingjing subject, which is easier to pass."
Chu Er: “…”
Brothers who pooled money: “…”
In short, Li Qishen pieced together the betrothal gifts according to the customs of Chang'an City. All the necessary items were there, except that the amount was a little less. Some of the particularly expensive ones were only put in as a token of his appreciation, and that was the end of the gift list.
The betrothal gift was so shabby that Xie Zhou and Xie Yunzhi cursed in their hearts. However, Xie Wangzhi was hanging on Li Qishen with a rope, so they could only agree reluctantly. They were particularly attentive when preparing her dowry, and they wished they could use gold, jade and other jewels to make clothes for Xie Wangzhi and use the jewels to slap Li Qishen in the face.
Xie Wangzhi knew that her father and brother were just being angry, and she felt that there was really no need for that. Firstly, although the family was well-off, a lot of their wealth had been spent after half a year of turmoil, and she would feel embarrassed to take so much just to get married; secondly, given Li Qishen's shameless personality, he would not blush for such a generous dowry, and might even tease her.
She had tried to persuade her father and brother, of course, with all sorts of high-sounding reasons, but Xie Zhou and Xie Yunzhi insisted on doing so, and Wang also added extra dowry, so Xie Wangzhi had no choice, and in the end the dowry still filled more than a dozen boxes.
Since they had decided to keep everything simple, there was no need to worry about other rules. This was the only auspicious day predicted by the Bureau of Astronomy, and since both parties did not want to delay it any longer, the wedding was scheduled to take place on the same day as Changning's wedding.
Changning's dowry was really sufficient. She was given the title of Princess Changning and nominally enjoyed the privilege of a thousand households. After the dowry was sealed in boxes, it was loaded into a long line of carriages, which was really as grand as the "Ten Miles of Red Makeup". The boxes were filled with rolls of silk, which were sealed with gold. Together with Changning herself, they were the reward for Xianyu Khan and the Uighur army who came from three thousand miles away.
They had met once when they were young, and later lived in his mansion. Xie Wangzhi knew that unless something serious happened, Changning would never return to Chang'an City. This meeting before departure would be a farewell forever. She was somewhat reluctant to let Changning go, and she said goodbye reluctantly when she sent Changning to the carriage, and she didn't hand over the fan in her hand for a long time.
Chang Ning still looked nonchalant. She looked cold and had put on the makeup of a bride. The corners of her eyes were red, but she didn't look coquettish. Instead, she looked cold and murderous. She glanced at Xie Wangzhi with a half-smile: "Why, are you still holding the fan in your hand? If you don't give it to me, people will think you are trying to steal me."
"… What nonsense are you talking about." Xie Wangzhi held back the bitterness in his heart, fearing that crying would bring bad luck, and handed the fan to Changning, "Then give it to the princess."
Changning smiled, took the fan from her hand, half covered her face, and sat upright in the carriage. Covering the face with a fan was a custom of the Han people in Chang'an. Once a girl covered her face with a round fan, it meant that she was getting married. The accompanying maid took a look and immediately pulled down the curtain.
The curtain fell, hiding the girl in green. At that moment, Xie Wangzhi heard Chang Ning speak softly, without sadness or joy: "Take care."
She wanted to answer, but somehow she choked. When she swallowed her saliva, Changning's carriage had already left, and she could not hear what she said. In the end, Xie Wangzhi was unable to return the words "take care" and was unable to give Changning anything from Chang'an City.
Even though it was a wedding, there was no reason to chase after her. As soon as the carriage left, the maid accompanying Xie Wangzhi stepped forward and hesitated for a moment about what to address her. In the end, she chose a name that would not go wrong: "Madam, it's almost done."
After seeing Chang Ning off, the next thing was her marriage. Xie Wangzhi suppressed the bitterness and said, "Okay, let's go."
"Madam, please follow me." The palace maid lowered her head and responded, leading her towards the direction of Penglai Palace.
Xie Wangzhi took a few steps and somehow, he suddenly turned his head and saw a familiar figure.
The man in a formal suit stood alone in the distance, watching the carriages lined up to Danfeng Gate. It was too far away, so Xie Wangzhi couldn't see Li Qishen's face. He only saw the wind blowing his long black hair into his sleeves, making his dark suit look like a feathered robe of a god.
**
Penglai Palace.
This wedding was really simple. Only the Linde Hall was used for the banquet. Not many guests were invited. The bedroom used as the bridal chamber was not decorated much either. Only the bedding and bed curtains were changed, and a pair of bright red wedding candles were placed on the table, which added a bit of festive atmosphere to the room. It was obvious that this was where the newlyweds would sleep together.
The palace had just been reorganized, and most of the gold, silk, pearls and jade were asked to be taken to Huihe by Changning. Even a decent and suitable round fan could not be found. The one in Xie Wangzhi's hand that she used to cover her face was a fan that Cui Shi had temporarily painted. The painting showed a moon rising through the clouds, light and clear, with only a few peach blossoms in the corner, which matched her face, which was not heavily made up.
It was indeed shabby, but Xie Wangzhi thought it was good. She had seen the extreme luxury of the daughters of aristocratic families, and had also worked in the palace by lamplight, calculating accounts. She had experienced both wealth and poverty. To her, money was nothing. She and Li Qishen had walked on the edge of a knife, waiting for the sun to rise tomorrow. What would fall to the ground would either be a stone weighing on their hearts or a head.
After going through this life and death experience, it was really meaningless to worry about betrothal gifts and dowry, and a dispensable ceremony. Even if Li Qishen could not take out any betrothal gifts, and asked for marriage by pointing to the bright moon in the sky and the gentle breeze on the river, she would agree without hesitation.
However, with Li Qishen's straightforward mind, he probably wouldn't think of these things at all. If he really had nothing in his hands, God knows what he would come up with.
Xie Wangzhi stroked the peach blossoms on the round fan and smiled for no reason.
Before he could put away his smile, a tall and slender figure appeared outside the screen. Xie Wangzhi knew it was Li Qishen at first glance. He quickly put away the fan to cover his face, his heart pounding as he waited for the figure to come around.
This was the scene Li Qishen saw when he came over. A girl in green was sitting on a couch, with a bed curtain embroidered with mandarin ducks and lotus flowers half hanging beside the couch, and red candles illuminating the room with shadows. It should have been a festive occasion, but the round fan Xie Wangzhi used to cover half of his face was plain, and his exposed eyebrows and eyes were indifferent, with only a hint of red at the end of his eyes, as if to add a touch of earthly air to the goddess.
It is always said that the most beautiful time for a girl is when she gets married. Now, with a round fan covering her face, her full appearance could not be seen at all. However, when Li Qishen was looked at by those eyes, his breathing stagnated and he touched his collar in panic.
"… What's wrong?" Xie Wangzhi didn't see anything wrong with him.
A man should wear red clothes when getting married, but he wore a black suit, the same suit he wore when sending Changning off for marriage. He looked like he had just bathed, his long hair was slightly wet, and the suit was loosely draped over his pajamas. With this outfit, he looked a bit like a playboy from his youth, and those who didn't know him would think he was a playboy who lingered in Pingkangfang.
This look was naturally beautiful, but it didn't look like a married couple. Xie Wangzhi didn't despise him, but it was their wedding night after all, so she was a little timid and proud like a girl. She just moved the fan slightly, waiting for him to recite the fanning poem first.
But when Li Qishen gets stupid, he is really stupid. He stood there motionless, staring at her for a while, then slowly lowered his head, awkwardly smoothed out the slight wrinkles on his dress, and said softly, "This is the only dress I have. I didn't get a new one during those years in Fengzhou, and the ones in Qingsi Palace were the ones I wore when I was fourteen or fifteen, and I can't wear them now."
Xie Wang was stunned, and then he knew why the man stopped moving forward.
Li Qishen was such a proud person that he would never admit defeat to anyone and would directly ridicule anyone he disliked. Now that he was newly married and standing in the light of a burning red candle, he was afraid that Xie Wangzhi would despise him for being shabby and that he was so poor that he couldn't even afford to buy a set of clothes.
"… So stupid." Xie Wangzhi muttered in a low voice, and then raised his voice slightly, "Come here, why are you standing there like an idiot? No one will praise you for standing straight."
How could Li Qishen dare not disobey his newlywed wife? He hurried forward, hesitated for a moment, sat down beside the couch, and looked at her cautiously: "You really don't dislike me?"
"Why should I dislike you?" Xie Wangzhi spoke through the round fan in a muffled voice, "I have been with you in the palace for so long, and I know how tight the money is. All places need military pay, and we also need to allocate money and food to stabilize the people's hearts. If you do it in a big way, I will be annoyed."
"Don't lie to me." Li Qishen lowered his head, aggrieved, "If you are upset about this, you might as well say it now, so as not to keep it in your heart in the future."
The words were nice, but they sounded wrong. Xie Wangzhi looked at the man sitting beside her on the couch and felt that the scene was familiar, reminding her of what happened when she exposed Li Qishen's identity when she was young. She always felt that this was a routine, but she just fell for it. When she saw Li Qishen's aggrieved look, she wanted to press him into her arms.
"This dress suits you quite well..." Xie Wangzhi gave in and didn't argue with himself. "Anyway, as long as I like it, you can recite the poem quickly."
Li Qishen smiled slightly, but when he looked up he looked a little worried. Just as he was about to speak, a pitch-black cat jumped out from the bed curtain and slapped him hard in the face with its claws.
The author has something to say: Coal balls are angry about receiving wages bushi
Once again, I forgot to update because of playing games. Games hurt people, games hurt people (.)
Thanks to everyone for contributing to the last chapter. This chapter will give out happy candy! Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2019-11-30 18:20:09~2019-12-01 12:34:51~
Thanks to the little angels who threw the grenades: Yu Hehe and Niu Niu;
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