one hundred and twelve
When the Ministry of Rites presented the detailed procedures of the wedding, You Shu still felt like he was dreaming.
What? Am I really going to be the queen
Huachun brought people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Imperial Clothing Bureau to measure and make clothes for him. She was now a proper aunt in charge of the palace, and acted more steadily and properly than before. Xiao Weixin had thought of marrying her off, but Huachun did not want to marry just any mediocre man. She only wanted to pursue her career, so her lifelong event was temporarily delayed.
"What are you thinking about?" Xiao Weixin held his forehead with one hand and watched the whole process of the clothing department measuring You Shu's clothes. His eyes were full of gentle smiles. After the people left, he asked him softly, "Aren't you happy?"
You Shu scratched his face lightly, coughed lightly and said softly: "It's not that I'm unhappy, I'm just not ready."
After all, he is a man, and he would never have thought that he would one day become the queen of a country. It would be too fantastic to tell others about it, and it could only be seen in novels. It is absolutely impossible in reality, but Xiao Weixin really did it for him.
"You don't need to prepare anything. Didn't I tell you that Xiaoshu just needs to wait?" Xiao Weixin waved at him, motioning him to come over and sit down. "The Ministry of Rites has already arranged everything. You don't need to worry."
You Shu obediently walked over and sat beside him, placed her hand on him, and responded softly.
The news of the Emperor and Empress' wedding finally spread, and almost all the people in Daliang knew that the Emperor was going to take a Empress, and that person was actually a real man. For a while, the streets were in an uproar, and there were discussions everywhere. Except for some pedantic scholars who gathered together to denounce the current Emperor's absurdity, most of the people were just there to watch the fun, and they were all curious about what kind of beauty this man could be who could make the new Emperor give up everything to make him the Empress.
The old ministers who were sick at home also received written notices and had no choice but to accept them.
Besides, the person who planned this wedding was Prince Liu. As the only brother of the late emperor, there was no one in the court with a more noble status than him. He had agreed to the marriage and was even going to preside over it himself. What could the ministers say
According to this, there are still twenty-eight days until the ceremony of enthroning the queen.
That night, You Shu sent the palace maid away and was about to sleep with Xiao Weixin. The two had just gotten into the mood, with Xiao Weixin holding You Shu, ready to go, when they suddenly heard some noise outside, followed by the palace maid's report that Lieutenant General Yang wanted to see him.
Xiao Weixin's forehead was full of veins and he almost crushed the bed. Xiao Shu took the initiative tonight and was very cute, but he didn't expect to be interrupted alive. He wanted to throw all those palace servants out to feed the fish.
"It's General Yang. It must be urgent." You Shu pushed him, got up and put on his clothes, "You should get up too."
Xiao Weixin suppressed his rage and stood up, putting on only his robe and walking out of the inner hall.
Soon, the palace servants brought in an anxious Yang Nanruo. As soon as she stepped into the inner hall, she knelt down and said, "I know that I have disturbed the emperor's peace and deserve death, but I have no choice but to enter the palace to see him. I hope the emperor will punish me."
Xiao Weixin had always admired Yang Nanruo, and knew that she was very steady in her dealings with others. If it wasn't a very important matter, she would never rush to the palace at night. He suppressed the anger in his heart and said calmly, "Qing Yang, please get up and sit down."
Yang Nanruo stood up from the ground, but refused to sit down. He just lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, Yinxiu... is gone."
"Xia Yinxiu?" Xiao Weixin frowned. "I remember that when I dealt with Xia, I let her go on her own. What do you mean by that?"
Yang Nanruo's brows were filled with anxiety. She told them everything that had happened during this period in detail. "The emperor was merciful and let Yinxiu out of prison quietly. I also went outside to meet her and took her back to the general's mansion. I settled her in my yard for a while."
"Everything was fine. Although Yinxiu was depressed every day, there was nothing unusual about her. Until yesterday, when I returned from Zhenbei Camp and didn't see her, I looked for her everywhere and found out that she had left the mansion alone."
"I sent people to look for him all day but there was no news, so I rushed to the palace to see Master You."
When she said this, she set her eyes on You Shu, "I remember that the last person she saw before the incident at the Xia family was the young master, so did she say where she might go?"
You Shu shook his head. "No, that day Miss Xia just gave me the things and asked me to pass them on to the emperor. She didn't say anything else."
The expectation in Yang Nanruo's eyes suddenly dimmed.
"But..." You Shu hesitated and said, "Maybe, I really know where she is."
The same plot appeared near the end of the original novel, but at that time Xiao Weixin had just ascended the throne and was very busy. Xia Yinxiu was tormented by her inner suffering and extreme self-loathing for her betrayal of the Xia family, and suffered from severe depression. She secretly ran away from home while everyone was busy, intending to commit suicide to apologize. Fortunately, she was found and rescued in time, otherwise the hero and heroine would have been separated forever.
Although the plot has now changed beyond all recognition, Xia Yinxiu is still worried about it. She might still go back to the ruins of the Xia Mansion alone in the middle of the night, just like in the book, and end her life there.
"She may have returned to the Xia Mansion. Do you want to go and see her? I think you should be able to catch up." You Shu said, "General, I think Miss Xia must have been in pain for a long time. Sometimes living is harder than dying. If you see her, please be gentle to her."
Yang Nanruo nodded hurriedly: "I will definitely not blame you!"
The original mansion of the Xia family had been ransacked long ago, and all the places were sealed off, so no one could get in. Yang Nanruo couldn't figure out how she got in, but she planned to follow You Shu's advice and look for it. "Thank you, sir!"
"Wait a moment." You Shu suddenly thought of something, turned back and went back into the house to look for a while, then came out holding a box, "This is something that belonged to the late queen. Please pass it to Miss Xia for me, General."
Speaking of the late queen, Yang Nanruo naturally knew it was Xia Lingwei, but she didn't expect that she actually left something for her. She quickly stood up and took it respectfully.
You Shu whispered, "Tell her that her sister once said before she died that she hoped she could find someone close to her and live a good life with him. This is the last gift for her."
Yang Nanruo knelt down and kowtowed with the box in his hands, then hurried away with the box in his arms.
The palace door was opened and closed, bringing a cool breeze. You Shu stood there for a while, feeling a little emotional for some reason. It seemed that this book was really coming to an end.
When he turned around, Xiao Weixin was still sitting there, staring at him intently, and after a while he said, "Xiao Shu, your secret... still can't be known by me?"
You Shu's heart skipped a beat and she subconsciously looked into his eyes.
Under the light, Xiao Weixin looked very calm. There was no emotion in his eyes when he looked over, as if he was just calmly waiting for his answer. However, only You Shu could see that underneath his pretended calmness, there was a sincere heart that wanted to be honest with him.
Honesty... You Shu still had a hint of hesitation. Apart from loyalty to each other, the most important thing between lovers was probably honesty. Without this, all lovers would eventually go to opposite ends of the road and drift apart.
He didn't want there to be a rift between Xiao Weixin and himself, but if he really cared about her, sooner or later he would not be able to hold back, which would be an extremely torturous thing for him.
You Shu thought about it and finally made up his mind after seeing Xiao Weixin's eyes as dark as a deep pool. "If you really want to know, I can tell you, but you have to promise me - no matter what incredible words you hear, don't doubt me at all."
Xiao Weixin's eyes lit up, and he even stood up from his chair excitedly, walked to him in two or three steps, and said anxiously: "How can I doubt you? I know that Xiao Shu never lies to me."
"You really want to tell me everything?"
You Shu nodded, "If you want to hear it, I can tell you everything tonight."
He could tell him all the truths, including those that sounded far-fetched. After all, they still had decades of life to live in the future, and perhaps this was the time for them to truly begin.
The two returned to the inner room of the bedroom, both snuggled in the warm quilt and leaned against the bed. You Shu looked at the flickering candlelight outside the green gauze tent, sighed softly, and spoke slowly.
"Where do I begin?"
"Let's start with... a book."
That night, the lights in the Hall of Supreme Harmony remained on until late at night. The palace servants guarding the door had no idea what was going on inside. They only guessed that the emperor might not have slept all night until the first cock crowed in the early morning of the next day.
When it was time to get up and go to court again, Xiao Weixin remained silent, but his hand never left You Shu's. When he heard a knock on the door, he suddenly hugged him tightly: "Xiao Shu, I..."
“I never thought the truth would be like this.”
"I will not doubt your words, but if that is all, then am I just a ghost in the writings of mediocre people who can be arbitrarily assigned a fate?"
You Shu's heart skipped a beat when he heard his words. He hugged him back and whispered, "Don't talk nonsense. How can you be a ghost?"
"I am a living person, and so are you. From the day I appeared here, you are no longer someone else's creation. Or, we are both people created by others, but so what?"
"Right now, you and I are both alive and well, and we are going to get married. This is the real world."
“We are all real people.”
Xiao Weixin shuddered slightly all over, and without saying a word, he just buried his face in You Shu's shoulders and neck.
He thought he was powerful, but no matter how powerful a person is, it is impossible for him to recover immediately when faced with the sudden truth, especially someone as proud as him, who could not accept the fact that he was just a character in a book.
Although You Shu regretted that he shouldn't have said so much, he also felt that maybe he would have to get through this stage sooner or later.