On the fifth watch of the night, in the southern courtyard of the Xie’s mansion.
Xie Jing slept late and woke early; his night filled with chaotic dreams; half sweet, half nightmarish. The rooster’s crow jolted him awake, cold sweat soaking his sleeping robe and back, his heart hammering wildly in his chest like a beating drum.
While submerged in the steaming wash water and holding his breath, Xie Jing dimly thought that it was most likely caused by his father’s words the night before.
After stepping out of the bath and drying himself, Xie Jing stood behind the screen while the servant boy attended to him, changing him into festive crimson robes embroidered with gold-threaded peacocks, so vivid they looked as though they might take flight at any moment.
Turning into the bedroom, he sat down facing south in front of the dressing table, and the maidservants filed in to comb his hair. Xie Jing had not yet come of age, so he didn’t need to bother with the difference between a young girl’s coiled bun and a married woman’s cloudy coiffure, nor did he need to wear a phoenix coronet or a veil, he only needed to gather his long hair with a red silk ribbon, and adding a gold hairband and a gold hairpin was enough.
The maid noticed Xie Jing’s exhaustion; normally his complexion was like jade, and he didn’t need to apply powder, but at this moment, it appeared somewhat pale against the wedding attire.
So, she quietly asked if he wanted to apply a little makeup. Xie Jing had never tried such things and shook his head, but then remembered he didn’t have a veil, and he would be staring at all the way when he went out later. A poor complexion would also be against etiquette and needlessly worry his family, so he beckoned the maid holding the rouge and powder, took a thin piece of vermillion flower-shaped rouge, and touched it to the pearl of his lower lip, then pressed his lips together, In the mirror, it looked exactly like a drop of blood falling onto the center of his lips.
Coupled with his refined, deep-set eyes and thick eyebrows, it instantly overshadowed the luxurious clothes, showcasing stunning and noble elegance.
Once the maid saw that Xie Jing had finished getting ready, she called in Lady Yao and the felicitous woman who handled the ‘opening of the face[mfn]A ritual done for the bride.[/mfn]’ ritual. The woman was around forty, her eyes completely disappeared when she smiled. She first spoke a whole string of auspicious words upon entering, then took a cotton thread and a copper coin before removing the fine downy hair from Xie Jing’s cheeks and neatly trimmed the wispy stray hairs at his temples. She didn’t stop even when she saw Xie Jing wincing in pain, only smiling.
Lady Yao watched as well, her brows knitting as she drew in a sharp hiss, then softly reassured him, “It’ll be over soon.”
The wedding matron sent by the Prince’s Mansion was Lu Lingcong’s maternal aunt, and according to custom, she was required to rush the bride three times; Xie Jing refused twice, and for the last time, he still had to wait for a while before opening the door to leave, the reason being to show his attachment to his maiden family and reluctance to marry.
Xie Jing mused that sometimes “rushing the bride” might not just be a custom, he had witnessed Lady Yao’s head full of jewels when she married years ago, given that complex arrangement, she might indeed need to be rushed three times to barely finish getting ready in time.
But he himself had little left to prepare. After the woman finished performing the face-opening ritual, she withdrew. His mother then entered, and the three of them; his mother, Xie Jing, and Lady Yao, sat there together, doing nothing but waiting idly.
For a moment there was silence, Xie Jing listlessly lowered his head and sniffed his sleeve; there was a faint, lingering fragrance of plum blossoms. He usually didn’t have the habit of using incense, he didn’t know whose idea this was, but presumably, they had found out that Prince Zhao had always loved plum blossoms, and the mansion even planted dozens of rare varieties, so this was done to cater to his preference.
Madam Xie had intermittently given too many instructions over the previous few days, and at this critical moment, she was somewhat lost for words. After thinking hard for a long time, she suddenly said, “When you were nine, it was this same season. I took you to kowtow on New Year’s Eve, and there we saw His Highness in the West Palace.”
Xie Jing raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes: “I don’t remember at all.”
Madam Xie seemed a little emotional: “Back then, we took it as nothing more than a chance encounter, who would remember whom? Altogether, we stayed for less than half a day.”
Xie Jing was somewhat incredulous: “Every inch of time is worth an ounce of gold in the palace, half a day must be worth a hundred taels.”
Madam Xie was amused and laughed before extending a finger to lightly tap his nose: “What are you afraid of? You didn’t lose face or make a fool of yourself anyway; His Highness even gave you snacks to eat and took you to have a snowball fight.”
Xie Jing caught the key point and frowned: “Can there even be a snowball fight with this little snow in Jinling?”
Lady Yao laughed and scolded him: “At the very least, there will be one or two big snowfalls in a decade as well. Do you think there’s only snow north of the Yangtze River? Talk after you’ve lived in the capital for ten years.”
Xie Jing quickly changed the subject: “No, why would I have a snowball fight with him?”
Madam Xie just shrugged: “How would I know? After the Lantern Festival, it was time to go back to Chenliu, and you were making a fuss not to go back, saying you wanted to go into the palace to find that gege.”
Xie Jing was going crazy, he knew it was highly likely his mother couldn’t completely remember what happened back then and was just making things up about him, but he couldn’t rule out the one-in-ten-thousand chance that this was true, but how could he call Lu Lingcong ‘Gege’? How dare he call Lu Lingcong ‘Gege’. He knew his own older brother was much older than him and was strictly disciplined by his grandfather in Chen Commandery, and his own cold personality meant he had always had few friends and was quite lonely and solitary, but he wouldn’t go so far as to call Lu Lingcong ‘Gege,’ would he?
Lady Yao was laughing so hard she was leaning on the table and couldn’t get up, she finally caught her breath and said, “This is called ‘what is destined will eventually be yours’. What is meant for you is yours, others cannot force it even if they try.”
Madam Xie laughed once, then said, “I’m not saying these things for any other reason, I just think His Highness is ultimately a person of good nature, but being young and spirited, temporary conflicts and disagreements are unavoidable. If you treat others sincerely, people will always treat you sincerely, but if you really can’t exchange sincerity for sincerity, then just let go, you should live a more comfortable and joyful life and let others worry about the other things instead.”
Xie Jing was stunned for a moment. He had never considered the situation of “not being able to exchange sincerity for sincerity,” entirely because he hadn’t tried to offer his sincerity yet. His mother and elder sister-in-law in front of him should be the relatively lucky ones who “exchanged sincerity for sincerity,” he just didn’t know if he himself would have such luck.
Outside, Lu Lingcong’s maternal aunt came to rush the bride for the third time. Lady Yao broke the silence and whispered, “It will be soon now, after you go to the main hall for the goose presentation ceremony, it will be time to get into the sedan chair.”
Thinking of the goose felled by a single arrow from Lu Lingcong, and then of himself and Lu Lingcong being ‘brought down with one shot’ by the Emperor, Xie Jing couldn’t help asking, “Isn’t using offerings for the dead terribly inauspicious?”
Lady Yao covered his mouth, telling him to spit and not say inauspicious words, and then explained, “Who told you that? The ones presented are live geese. Your elder brother told you to focus on your studies, yet you obviously didn’t take it to heart at all!”
Xie Jing was puzzled: “Weren’t the ones sent as betrothal gifts—?”
Lady Yao sighed: “How many days have passed since the betrothal gifts were sent? Two geese constantly causing a ruckus at home. How could we live with that? That pair on that day was merely going through the motions, for your sake, and for our family’s prestige. The pair for today’s goose presentation ceremony are genuinely alive and well.”
Alright, Xie Jing thought to himself that the geese were indeed innocent. The previous pair had died, and that was the end of it; as for this pair, after the ceremony, they could be released under some pretext, to gain a good omen.
They waited for nearly another half hour; it was almost noon, and Xie Jing was so hungry he was seeing stars, so he pleaded with his mother, “It must be about time by now.”
Madam Xie chided him with “Why is your heart so untamed now?” but she also knew well that the person outside was His Highness Prince Zhao. He was an imperial nobility, not an ordinary person, and keeping him waiting too long was also against etiquette, so she had to nod.
Xie Jing then rose to his feet. The maids came in once more to straighten his attire, and then, supported between Madam Xie and Madam Yao, he left the room. From the South Courtyard to the Central Hall required passing through two doors and one courtyard; the entire way was filled with congratulations from the servants of the mansion and one layered announcement after another.
Without the obstruction of a veil, Xie Jing could see the path beneath his feet clearly, and he didn’t need his mother and sister-in-law to support him either but facing such a display for the first time still made him a little awkward. Fortunately, Madam Xie, who was shedding tears as they walked, quickly drew away all his attention, leaving him no time for shyness or embarrassment.
Once they entered the Central Hall, no more private words could be spoken, and later going to the Prince’s Mansion would truly be going to someone else’s house. Madam Xie felt that the time for her youngest son to serve her was clearly coming to an end, which was why she was grieving and weeping.
Xie Jing said gently, “Mother, don’t cry; you’ll see me again the day after tomorrow when I return home. The Prince’s Mansion is only a few streets away from Wuyi Lane; coming back is even closer than entering the Palace. It will be easy to visit every few days, just like Saosao and Uncle Yao’s mansion, right?”
This single sentence also stirred Lady Yao’s emotions, and her eyes reddened. Xie Jing was at his wits’ end, left with no choice but to comfort one and then turn to comfort the other.
So, after the master of ceremonies recited the wedding poem and dropped the gold lock, the central door slowly opened, and what Lu Lingcong, who had been waiting for a long time in the Central Hall, saw was a Xie Jing who was completely unfamiliar to him.
His expression still held a hint of helplessness, and the look he cast toward him was somewhat absent-minded, likely because his thoughts were elsewhere or he was preoccupied with something, and thus, his not-so-eager, glittering expression would not steal the spotlight from his snowy skin and bright eyes.
It wasn’t that Lu Lingcong had never seen Xie Jing dressed in red; on the contrary, the first time at Qinhuai Spring and the second time in Yong Lane, Xie Jing had always been cladded in crimson. Yet none of those moments were as soul-stirring as today.
He reminded him of the vermilion glazed tile phoenix sculpted on the screen wall of Linhai Hall. Ethereal, and therefore also proud and solitary, eternally confined within the world’s four directions; only on the day the walls collapse, and its body is destroyed will it be reborn and take flight.
But Lu Lingcong would not speak of Xie Jing resembling a bright and pathetic phoenix; Xie Jing was his wife. What treasonous intention would it be to say his consort resembled a phoenix?
But perhaps he could find an opportunity to tell Xie Jing as a means to cheer him up, although he didn’t really think Xie Jing would be particularly happy because of it.
Unlike ordinary grooms who are always heavily challenged and obstructed by their in-laws’ relatives when fetching the bride, no one would dare to stop Prince Zhao even with ten times the courage, so Lu Lingcong walked smoothly from the front gate of the Xie’s Mansion all the way to the Central Hall, without facing teasing, jesting, or any physical attacks, making the wait seem particularly long and difficult.
He hadn’t expected Xie Jing to actually apply makeup, only sensing that he looked a little different from the clear, bright image he remembered. And it wasn’t until Xie Jing stood still by his side that Lu Lingcong realized the speck of cinnabar on the other party’s lip must be the source of this excessive, alluring brilliance.
A pair of pitiful wild geese, bound with red silk and with their beaks also wrapped, knelt side by side as the wedding matron recited a poem once more. Lu Lingcong rose first before raising an eyebrow to signal, then Xie Jing placed his hand in his palm, letting him help him up. Then, hand in hand, they walked out of Central Hall toward the main gate.
This feeling was very strange, because only a few days ago he had been leaning on Lu Lingcong’s arm, swaying back and forth as if it were an armrest, now holding hands so formally, the unfamiliar yet not entirely unfamiliar touch, temperature, and strength made Xie Jing feel very peculiar inside.
Just as he was wondering if he should say something to break the deadlock, Xie Jing’s stomach let out a timely rumble.
Lu Lingcong: “……”
The guests and servants attending the escort and welcoming parties were either on both sides or behind, so no one should be able to hear what they were saying; thus, Lu Lingcong spoke boldly: “Under the soft cushion in the sedan chair, there is a small box. It contains a few plum blossoms steamed dumplings, but they might not be very hot anymore.”
Xie Jing kept his gaze forward, yet his face subtly angled toward Lu Lingcong as he spoke in a low, understated tone, his lips moving rapidly: “How do you know I haven’t eaten a single grain of rice since I woke at the fifth watch? Did you make them again? How do you even have time today? How many kinds of dumplings can you actually make?”
Lu Lingcong didn’t reply, perhaps tacitly agreeing. After a moment, he said only, “There’s no handkerchief, just use your sleeve to wipe after you eat. Be careful not to smudge the rouge on your mouth.”
Xie Jing responded happily with an “En,” stepped out of the second gate, and as the voices grew a bit louder, he suddenly remembered to ask, “What about that pair of geese just now?”
“It’s up to your esteemed mansion to decide.” Lu Lingcong glanced at him. “Do you want them? Maybe tomorrow we can quietly ask for them back to the Prince’s Mansion to raise.”
Xie Jing shook his head: “The geese are confined to the garden. I don’t think they can be kept, it’s best to find an open space and release them.”
Lu Lingcong readily agreed: “The weather is too cold now, and they can no longer fly south. Wait until spring warms up, and I will take you to a place to release them.”
As they spoke, they had already reached the main entrance. Xie Yi and Madam Xie, Xie Yan and Lady Yao, along with many relatives and friends, were already waiting outside the door.
Xie Jing successively bid farewell to his parents, older brother, and sister-in-law, and looked back toward the outside of the mansion; the Prince’s Mansion’s carriages and sedans were magnificent, and the procession of people and horses stretched as far as the eye could see. He also saw Yi Yun standing obediently on the steps looking at him, and now he understood why Lu Lingcong had her escort him back to “recognize the gate” that day.
The moment he stepped out of the threshold, the real sense of entering a completely strange new role and new situation finally swept over Xie Jing, making him clearly realize that this time, when the carriage left Wuyi Lane and he returned on another day, he would be a guest of the Xie family.
Until the auspicious time approached, neither the emperor nor the Empress appeared at Prince Zhao’s Mansion, they merely sent Zhong Zhao to deliver an imperial decree, ordering Lu Lingcong’s maternal uncle and aunt to temporarily act as the parental figures to receive the second bow of the newlyweds. It was also difficult for Noble Consort Wu to leave the palace to attend the ceremony by herself, but Lu Lingzhang did come, peering and craning his neck from behind Wang Shu.
The guests In the hall were in an uproar over the Emperor and Empress not attending in person, presuming that the Emperor was still taking out his anger on Prince Zhao because of the New Year’s Eve incident, and perhaps to deliberately curb the sharp edge of his eldest son, he did not attend even such an important moment.
But this contradicted the rewards and respect shown to the Xie family within the palace. Although Zhong Zhao had also conveyed that His Majesty wished for Prince Zhao and the new Princess Consort to enter the palace for the customary audience tomorrow, saying it would be the same to meet then, how could it possibly be the same? After all, without bowing to proper parental figures, for Xie Jing, it always felt somewhat inconsistent with his status as the openly married Princess Consort.
The crowd felt apprehensive because they couldn’t guess the emperor’s will, but the two people involved—especially Lu Lingcong—seemed completely unconcerned, even subtly relieved, they simply bowed to Heaven and Earth, his uncle and aunt, and then faced each other and bowed with heads lowered, all according to the procedure and with a normal expression.
Seeing that Prince Zhao did not mind, the guests also gradually cheered up; the absence of the Emperor and Empress conveniently eliminated many rules and constraints, and there was no need to be overly formal either. Everyone had long heard of the brilliance of Young Master Xie’s appearance, and since there was no veil to lift, everyone wanted to take a few more looks, so they didn’t rush him to the bridal chamber, only smiling and jeering, demanding that Xie Jing accompany Lu Lingcong in toasting once before they would let him go.
Xie Jing was always fearless of drinking, He had nibbled on a small snack in the sedan chair earlier and, knowing that the banquets in Jinling mainly served rice wine and fruit wine, which were mild, he drank every cup offered, swallowing several in quick succession.
Lu Lingcong saw him drink so readily and took a moment to poke him with his elbow; Xie Jing initially didn’t understand what he meant, but after toasting a few tables, he suddenly felt his face getting warm, only then realizing that this wine was very potent and he had been tricked, so he immediately stopped forcing himself, allow Lu Lingcong block a few cups for him, and then pretended to be overcome by the alcohol and asked to be excused to leave.
The good thing about being the Princess Consort was this: apart from the emperor, the most others dared to do was toast him; no one had the guts to stop him from leaving either.
As the Prince’s Mansion servants and maids led Xie Jing back to the rear courtyard, Lu Lingcong took the opportunity of turning around to see him off to put a palm to his neck and make a gesture. Xie Jing guessed the meaning, which was probably to tell him not to worry about him and to sleep if he was tired.
For the first time in his life, Xie Jing set foot in Prince Zhao’s Mansion, and for the first time, he walked within this residence that he might have to consider “home” for the next few decades, yet due to the alcohol, his eyes were a little blurred, and he had no time to look closely, only knowing that it was much more spacious than the Xie’s Mansion, with several layers of courtyards, winding and deep. In the small courtyard housing the bridal chamber, four corridors surrounded a shallow pond at its center, there was an exquisite stone bridge over the pond, beside the bridge were several pieces of Taihu stone, and a few white plum trees were planted by the stones, which were in season, the old snow had not yet melted, intertwining with the blooming white plums into an indistinguishable whole, making it feel as if he was in the mythical Kunlun immortal realm.
In any case, time was abundant, and it wouldn’t be too late to look again tomorrow morning.
The maidservants, polite and attentive, noticed Xie Jing’s fatigue and didn’t linger; they brought hot tea and hangover soup, then gently drew back the layers of wedding curtains and quietly slipped away.
With no one else around, Xie Jing let go of all restraint, sat by the bed for a moment, and felt the surface beneath him was incredibly soft. To conclude, the bedding must be very comfortable. He then gradually lowered his upper body before gazing at the canopy above for a while. The more he tried to count the fiery red pomegranate flowers embroidered on it, the dizzier he became, so he simply shut his eyes, kicked off his shoes, tucked his feet onto the bed, curled up, and drifted off to sleep.
Xie Jing slept deeply, oblivious to day or night, and was awakened by sharp, grating screeches. The sound moved from far to near in his dream. The tone was initially very comical, gradually sharpening, and what it shouted was: “Audacious wretch! Why don’t you kneel!”
Xie Jing: “?”
He opened his eyes in a daze, half-sitting up, unsure of the day, and saw that night had deepened outside; the room flickering with candlelight.
There came another cry: “Audacious—wretch—why don’t—you kneel—”
This time, Xie Jing pinpointed the source of the noise, staring in that direction in confusion for a long while, and finally saw that behind the half-open window and the flickering palace lantern light, an emerald-green parrot, so vividly green it seemed to drip, was stretching its neck, shrieking tirelessly in a fit of tantrum.
Xie Jing: “……”
He could now be certain that Lu Lingcong’s words about dearly loving the mansion’s two “concubines” were not false; otherwise, this bird probably wouldn’t have the audacity to speak so wildly and brazenly to the principal wife on the very first day.
“Did it wake you?” The window was suddenly pushed fully open from the outside. Xie Jing shivered, instinctively shrinking further into the bed, only then noticing that he was covered with a brocade quilt.
The one who pushed the window was Lu Lingcong. He stood outside the corridor, holding a silver spoon and a small bowl, seemingly feeding the parrot. Xie Jing had checked their birth dates: Lu Lingcong was more than half a year older than him and likewise had not yet come of age, and he wore his hair tied up in the same style, secured with a gold hairpin just like Xie Jing’s. A faint flush lingered on his cheeks from entertaining guests, yet he was at most three parts drunks, like a drunken jade tumbling from a mountain, looking all the more striking and ethereal in the sparse candlelight.
“She was just hungry; the maids were so busy this afternoon they forgot to feed her.” Lu Lingcong explained as he touched the parrot’s claw with his knuckle.
Xie Jing pulled the quilt up higher and asked, “Does she only say this one sentence?”
“En, I once came across her in the Imperial Garden. I don’t know which palace she was cast out from; I suppose she never learned anything good, only how those mistresses scold people, and so she was disliked.”
Xie Jing narrowed his eyes while examining the bird’s sleek feathers carefully, and said, “This kind of parrot is called ‘Infinite Azure’. It’s a rare bird bred in the Western Regions and very intelligent, it shouldn’t only know this one sentence.”
Lu Lingcong looked at him and smiled: “Lu Ai was thrown out once; she must have been scared. If you’d like, you can try teaching her later.”
Xie Jing frowned: “Good mugwort is silver in color, poor mugwort is green[mfn]Lu Ai means green mugwort.[/mfn], why give it this name?”
“A common name makes it easier to keep it alive. Have you forgotten how the first three parrots in the mansion died?” After finishing feeding the bird and giving it water, Lu Lingcong set down the bowl and spoon, then planted a hand on the window lattice and flipped straight in from the corridor, the corner of his red robe lifting and fluttering in the dim light.
He brushed off his hands, went straight to the bedside and sat down, smiling as he looked at Xie Jing, who had grown a little tense from the sudden closeness, and asked, “Are you still sleeping? If not, come down and drink the Hejin wine[mfn]It refers to the ceremonial nuptial wine shared by the bride and groom.[/mfn]. Once we do that, the rites will be complete.”
