The cool moonlight came in through the half-open windows of the bedroom, illuminating a blurry curtain in the hall. In the corner of the tent, Xuyu suddenly woke up from her dream, and she could only hear the reminder "Don't come back" that was carried by the wind, lingering in her ears.
She hadn't had that dream for a long time, but tonight she woke up again to the sound of her lover coming back.
Her heart was pounding and her thoughts were in a mess. She slowly sat up, hugged the quilt, and curled up in the dim corner of the couch, her body motionless.
Tomorrow is the wedding day.
The emperor's daughter's marriage was a sudden event and the preparation time was short, but the Ministry of Rites and the Zongzheng Temple took care of it. The ceremony of accepting the betrothal gifts, asking for gifts, accepting the auspicious date, etc. was all busy but orderly. Three days ago, the dowry for the room was also delivered to the Yongning Prince Consort's house where the princess would live after marriage. It is said that the dowry was selected by the emperor himself in the inner palace treasure house. The peacock blue jade night-shining pearls presented from the Western Region Haixi Kingdom, the ten thousand pearl curtains made of ten thousand pearls tributed from the southern Zhenla Kingdom, the windproof golden and green tent that stretched for more than ten feet in winter, the twelve-branch lamppost with gold as the platform and zither as the pillars, which was taller than a person's head, the tortoise-shell coral fragrant wood bed for the princess and the prince consort to make a new room, and the hundred-child mandarin duck quilt embroidered with gold foil and silk thread... All of them were treasures among treasures. On the day of delivering the dowry, the carriages were connected head to tail, stretching for several miles. When the leading car was about to reach the gate of Yongningfang where the Pei family's prince consort's residence was located, the trailing car was still driving on the street near Xing'an Gate of the Imperial Palace, attracting half of the city's people to line the streets to watch.
The betrothal ceremony is so grand, so one can imagine how grand the wedding scene will be.
While countless people outside were discussing and busying themselves with this marriage, Xuyu's life was unusually peaceful.
After Cangshan returned to the palace, apart from following up on the murals in Shenshu Palace every day, she spent the rest of her time accompanying the emperor or being alone, painting, and never went out.
She thought she wouldn't have too many mood swings, and that was true.
These days, she didn't feel much joy about this wedding that she planned and obtained herself, but she didn't feel any sadness or regret either.
However, tonight, the old dream came again unexpectedly, and she woke up to the sound of her mother's admonition in the dream. It must be that the moonlight coming in through the window was too cold, and the new bedroom she moved to seemed too desolate. For a long time, she still felt uneasy. And suddenly, she missed her grandfather very much.
The man who will become her husband tomorrow is the one that her grandfather had chosen for her.
She finally married him as her grandfather wished.
If Grandpa knew, he would be extremely happy, right
Xuyu recalled the scene when Grandpa talked to her about the engagement, and he praised the young man of the Pei family endlessly. The corners of her lips could not help but curl up slightly in the night. Then, before she could react, her eyes suddenly felt sore again.
She finally couldn't control herself anymore and her eyes became a little blurry.
She didn't like this. She threw off the quilt, got off the bed, lit the lamp, put on her clothes and went out. Yang Zaien, who was guarding the princess on the last night before her wedding, led people to follow the princess with palace lanterns, silently passing through palace gardens and corridors, and finally found to their surprise that they had come to the ruins of Yong'an Palace in the palace, which was considered a forbidden area.
Yang Zaien watched the princess walk alone across the wasteland in front of the palace covered with lush autumn grass, climb the broken white jade steps covered with ivy with almost no place to stand, pass several broken pillars with carved dragons that required several people to surround, and finally stop in front of a broken wall at the deepest part.