Unlike yesterday when the princess' wedding ceremony was held in the Taiji Hall to show solemnity and grandeur, today the emperor met the princess and her husband in the East Hall of Ziyun Palace where he lived and accepted their thanks, to show that the royal family is just like ordinary families, with loving, filial and kinship families.
But obviously, this was just a good wish. The expression on the emperor's face when he looked at his son-in-law was not what he meant.
After the princess and her husband entered the palace, the newlyweds walked side by side and bowed to the emperor. After the emperor ordered them to stand up and gave them seats, his eyes remained on his daughter, from her head to her feet and from her feet to her head. His gaze, full of pity and concern, mixed with a bit of helplessness and sadness, gave people the illusion that the emperor had counted her hair before she got married yesterday and was now checking to see if she had lost any hair overnight.
As for the prince consort, the living man Pei Jialang who was sitting right under his eyes, he seemed to have not noticed him at all. It was not until the prince consort stood up from his seat, bowed to him again, and apologized to the emperor for what happened this morning that he seemed to have just noticed the other party's existence. He glanced at Pei Xiaoyuan's face, hummed through his nose, and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's only half a day late."
After saying this, he did not ask anyone to stand up, but turned to Zhao Zhongfang who was standing beside him, and seemed to be chatting casually, but also seemed to be sighing out of emotion:
"Young men nowadays are incredible! They look strong and powerful, and have the ability to capture dragons and tigers, but they are a little too delicate. If they have a headache or fever, the sky will fall. Back then, when I was suppressing a rebellion, I was shot in the chest. However, the military situation was urgent and I could not rest. I just asked the military doctor to hastily pull out the arrow and apply medicine to stop the bleeding. Then I immediately mounted my horse and appeared in front of the soldiers, and continued to lead them to charge into battle. Only then did I stabilize the morale of the army and win the battle that day. If it were the young men nowadays, what would they do? If they don't rest for three or two months, and bring their new wife to take care of them, I don't think they can do anything!"
Zhao Zhongfang was embarrassed. Seeing that the prince consort was still kneeling and leaning forward, with his head bowed deeply, motionless, he hurriedly coughed to cover up, "Your Majesty led the troops in the past, and all the armies obeyed. Prince consort Pei must also admire Your Majesty very much and will follow Your Majesty's example. Your Majesty, rest assured, the prince consort is different from those dandies who only know how to fight cocks and ride horses nowadays."
"Zhao Zhongfang, are you getting senile? Why are you mentioning the prince consort? Of course I am not talking about the prince consort! I was just talking casually!" The emperor said with an emphatic tone and laughed.
Xuyu couldn't stand her father's harshness, so she called out to all the palace guards who were still standing in the palace, leaving Zhao Zhongfang alone. She then came to the silent Pei Xiaoyuan and tried to help him up from the ground, but she felt that his body was as heavy as a rock, and she couldn't help him up at all. It was obvious that he was unwilling to get up without the emperor's order.
She gave up, then knelt beside him and told him how he was stabbed and injured by the Wei River the previous evening.
"He didn't tell anyone and held on for a whole day. It was only last night when he couldn't hold on any longer that I discovered him. This morning I forced him to rest for half a day. Otherwise, he would never have been willing to delay even a moment. I had originally thought of giving up today and not having him enter the palace, but he refused and insisted on coming."