Translator’s Note: EID MUBARAK TO THOSE WHO CELEBRATE IT!🌙✨ Hello, and sorry for going MIA for so long, guys! There was an unfortunate incident in the family which took a toll on my mental health. Moreover, I had to move and do OT for 4 months straight (heck, I even had to go to the office every alternate Sunday!) I couldn’t come online these past few months for this. Fortunately, things have finally started falling into place. I sincerely thank everyone who waited for me and asked about my well-being. I am doing fine now (I guess?). I thought of uploading last week but my sleep-deprived a** lost access to her brain. Sigh. Anyway, here’s the chapter. Enjoy! (Psst! Triple uploads today!)
According to the customs followed in a typical wedding, when a woman got married, her parents would remind her to be polite and modest as a wife, manage household duties well and so on. Shen Ying held her daughter’s hand and softly said, “Take good care of yourself. In this world, nothing is more important than your own well-being.”
After saying this, she turned her head slightly to look at Chen Wang and caught no displeasure on his face. She performed a respectful bow and said, “Thank you for your trouble… Your Highness.”
“Please don’t worry, Mother-in-law. Son-in-law will definitely take care of Jiuzhu,” Chen Wang said, discreetly holding Jiuzhu’s hand under the cover of his sleeve. He smiled at her, “As long as I’m here, I will not let anyone bully her.”
“Okay.” Shen Ying pretended not to see the two holding hands. She bent to pick up a pastry from the table and used chopsticks to bring it in front of Jiuzhu’s mouth, “May your future life be as sweet and carefree as this pastry.”
Once Jiuzhu swallowed the pastry, an official from the Ministry of Rites announced loudly, “The bride has to get into the sedan chair!”
Seeing Ming Jiyuan stoop down before Jiuzhu, Chen Wang stepped forward and said, “Elder brother-in-law, let me carry her.”
Ming Cunfu could no longer hold back. He stepped forward to block Chen Wang, saying, “Your Highness, you truly cannot do this.”
Seeing Ming family’s resolute opposition, Chen Wang regretfully gave in, “Alright then.”
The eight mingfu-s and all the women of good fortune had nothing to say. They silently turned their heads, pretending not to see anything. How could a prince perform these rituals with the bride during his wedding?
The eight mingfu-s, who often dealt with the world of fame and fortune, understood imperial matters better than the women of good fortune. Ever since Su-shi was bestowed with the title of empress, many began to suspect that the emperor would soon make Chen Wang the crown prince.
A prince who would very likely become the crown prince, risked being criticized by the officials for not following customs and insisted on personally fetching the bride and even called upon several other princes to cheer for him—what kind of devotion was this?
They looked at Ming family’s Young Miss, who was being carried by her elder brother. It was rumored that Empress Su was extremely pleased with this Chen Wangfei. They initially thought it was just a matter of courtesy. However, her being willing to let her son go this far was outside their expectations.
After a woman got married, getting along with her mother-in-law was quite often challenging. But to be appreciated by a mother-in-law who was also the Empress? Miss Ming was indeed exceptionally fortunate.
Huai Wang walked behind, trying to squeeze out a loving smile of that of an elder brother for his younger brother.
“This situation is a bit problematic ah,” An Wang said with an anxious expression as he trudged, “If my Wangfei finds out that fifth younger brother personally came to the Ming family to fetch the bride, she will definitely make trouble for a long time.”
Huai Wang clicked his tongue, “If she dares to make any noise, just go sleep in your concubine’s quarters. As the child of the Emperor, are you afraid of a woman?”
An Wang laughed awkwardly instead of giving an answer. He wasn’t afraid of women in general but he was afraid of his own Wangfei.
“Eldest brother, second elder brother doesn’t have a concubine,” Jing Wang reminded in a low voice. “Second Brother… is henpecked.”
“D-don’t speak nonsense. It’s not that I’m henpecked; I just have no interest in taking a concubine,” An Wang hurriedly denied and changed the subject: “The bride is about to cross the main gate. We should hurry and catch up.”
“He doesn’t want to have a concubine so Lu Zhaoyi[mfn]T/N: Refers to An Wang’s mother. She is one of the Emperor’s mid-rank concubines bearing the position of a ‘Zhaoyi‘ [昭仪] which translates to ‘Lady of Bright Deportment’.[/mfn] let him only have the Wangfei in his backyard?” Jing Wang murmured quietly, then turned to Huai Wang and said, “Lu Zhaoyi truly has such a good temper.”
Huai Wang didn’t have much impression of Lu Zhaoyi. He only remembered her as a quiet woman whose appearance could at most be considered somewhat delicate and pretty. She was originally a second-rank palace maid serving the Empress Dowager. One day when their Father Emperor went to pay respects to the Empress Dowager, she was bestowed upon him.
As a child, he had heard that Lu Zhaoyi was an informant placed by the Empress Dowager next to Father Emperor and this was the reason why she had never been favored by him.
In fact, ever since he ascended the throne, Father Emperor had favored Empress Su alone. But the other consorts were not treated any better than Lu Zhaoyi.
As an impetuous youth, he had once asked his Mother Consort why Father Emperor favored Su-shi and Yun Duqing so much. His mother did not answer; she just looked at him quietly. It was not until he lost the courage to ask further that she uttered a few words of comfort to him.
【Love is not worth mention because those in power possess the right to choose whatever they want.】
“Eldest brother? Eldest brother?”
Seeing Huai Wang lost in thought, Jing Wang softly reminded him, “The bride is about to get on the sedan chair.”
Huai Wang came back to his senses and looked at the sedan chair at the entrance, feeling a pang of bitterness. Yun Duqing used a sedan chair carried by twelve bearers when marrying his Wangfei, while he got a sedan chair with only eight bearers for his own wedding.
Both of them were princes but their differences were quite significant.
Ming Jiyuan carefully placed Jiuzhu into the sedan chair and put the jade ruyi held by one of the mingfu-s in her lap.
“Elder brother.” Jiuzhu whispered, furtively removing the face-covering tuanshan fan from her face, and blinked at Ming Jiyuan: “Don’t be sad, and don’t worry about me. Lean in, I want to tell you something.”
Without caring about how others regarded him or having any second thoughts, Ming Jiyuan bent down and leaned closer to Jiuzhu.
“Go back and tell Dad and Mom that Jiuzhu isn’t leaving the family but is simply going to bring back an extra His Highness.”
Ming Jiyuan’s pupils trembled, and he looked at his meimei with a newfound, unspoken admiration.
“Elder brother understands.” Ming Jiyuan took a deep breath, “Meimei, you must, must remember to take good care of yourself.”
“En.” Jiuzhu nodded.
“Lord Ming, the auspicious time has come; it’s time to lift the sedan chair,” a mingfu said, forcing herself to approach Ming Jiyuan and whispering a few words to remind him.
Ming Jiyuan took one last look at his meimei, slowly lowered the curtain and turned to look at Chen Wang.
After the latter saluted his elder brother-in-law with clasped hands, he swiftly mounted a horse adorned with a large red flower and called out, “Lift the sedan chair.”
He glanced back at his three elder brothers following behind.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the three princes maintained their stiff smiles and shouted, “Lift the sedan chair!”
Huai Wang: “May you live in riches and honor and be like twin lotus flowers on one stalk[mfn]T/N: Twin lotus flowers on one stalk [并蒂莲/ bìng dì lián] represent a devoted married couple who support each other through thick and thin.[/mfn].”
An Wang: “May joy, blessings and happiness fill your home.”
Jing Wang: “May you be in perfect harmony like a dragon and phoenix soaring together.”
“Lift the sedan chair.”
When the twelve strong bearers expertly lifted up the dragon and phoenix bridal sedan chair, the sound of firecrackers went off. It was as if the entire capital had come to life.
The Ming family stood at the entrance gate. Ming Jingzhou seemed unable to throw out the water from the basin in his hand.
“Who says that a married daughter is like spilled water!” He took a deep breath, turned around and splashed the water at his own residence’s doors saying: “My, Ming Jingzhou’s, daughter, is still my daughter, even if she’s married.”
“Father, third Uncle hasn’t cried yet; why are you crying?” Ming Cunfu found his family’s old man[mfn]Old man [老爹] – Sometimes, ‘old man’ (lǎodiē) is used to refer to one’s father or to respectfully (contrary to how it is in English) address an older man, kinda like saying ‘Mister’ before names. Here, it refers to the first case.[/mfn] secretly wiping away tears when he turned. He quickly pulled out a handkerchief and softly comforted him: “So many people are watching.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Ming Jinghai’s fierce eyes were filled with tears: “It pains my heart to witness Zhuzhu, the only girl within three generations of our Ming family, marry into the imperial family.”
Thanks for reading ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶! If you found any typo or want to suggest some corrections, feel free to do so in the comment section or on our discord server. And if you like my translation, please consider rating it on NU and supporting me on:
Huh it’s been a while but it sounds like Lu Zhaoyi’s trajectory in the harem has actually been remarkably good.
A lot of the other concubines have good maternal families and backgrounds, so their starting point was, “If you get really lucky and play your cards right you could be the next empress Dowager.”
Lu Zhaoyi was an obvious plant from someone the Emperor has/had an adversarial relationship with, so her starting point was, “if you get really lucky and play your cards right you won’t end up discarded or killed.”
A lot of the other concubines and their sons are unfavored and have no shot at the throne because they messed up, Lu Zhaoyi and An Wang are alive, safe, healthy, etc. because she did extremely well.
Belated welcome back … I hope your life will be peaceful in the future!