“The first comb brushes to the end; the second comb symbolizes being a devoted couple to the end of their lives…” The empress’s mind seemed to be wandering as she listened to these words. She closed her eyes as if in repose.
At this time, several female officials surrounded the empress and went around and around her. Even her two attendants, Qing Yuan and Hong Luan, were pushed to the side.
A few others were decorating the interior of the palace.The blankets on the couch were changed to red, and the couch was surrounded with a red cloth. A curtain with images of a hundred kids was hung outside the red cloth while a blanket with images of a hundred kids was put on the couch.
Although the fertility rate of the aboriginals wasn’t high, people tended to be idealistic.
Red candles with golden felicitous characters were put on the side table.
The sky was starting to brighten, but the preparations had been going on all night, and the whole palace was decorated with lights.
After a short while, the empress’s hair was twisted into numerous plaits with a golden bell placed on the end of each plait. Any movement of the hair would cause the bells to tinkle clearly.
The original plan was to style her hair as a phoenix crown and to use golden phoenixes and jade as accessories to adorn the bun.
However, the empress chose the hairstyle favored by the aboriginal girls and added golden bells as ornaments.
Because the phoenix crown was often used by the ladies of Great Xia for formal occasions and she was the ruler of Dayao, she chose not to use it at this time.
As for the wedding hairstyle of the empress… it had still not been designed yet!
There were hundreds of plaits on her head, and a red band, inlaid with red gems, was used to tie her hair into the shape of a horsetail at the top of her head.
“Your Majesty, it’s done.”
Hearing this, the empress opened her eyes and saw the exhilarating beauty in the mirror.
“Whatever the hairstyle, Your Majesty always looks beautiful!” a female official said with a grin.
This was a heartfelt compliment as even women swooned over the empress’s beauty.
“Even I don’t feel like blinking my eyes when I look at Your Majesty. I really want to see the expression on Zhao Prince Consort’s face when he sees you.” Qing Yuan laughed happily.
Hearing their praise for her beauty, the empress also wanted to know what Ren Baqian would look like when he saw her.
As she got up from her chair, a group of people surrounded her to change her clothes.
The main thematic color was red with a golden phoenix and flowers embroidered on the gorgeous robe that had large sleeves.
This robe would look familiar to Ren Baqian.
It was very similar to the robe that he gave her before.
This change of clothing brought about another round of admiration.
The crowd followed the empress to the main hall where the official documents were on display. The imperial edict was on the table. A cow head, cow legs, and a cow tail were hung on top. Shi Qing, Kou Zhehai, and others were standing at one side, and everyone wore a red sash.
The empress walked to the front of the desk and looked inquiringly at Shi Qing.
They had gone through the procedures thoroughly before, but she suddenly couldn’t remember anything…
“Your Majesty, please wait for the official time.” Shi Qing smiled at the empress.
The empress raised her head in the direction of the clock tower which showed that it was three o’clock and seven quarters… The clock was divided into twelve double hour periods with each period equal to eight quarters.
After a quarter, Minister Xuanhua walked to the front of the crowd and announced, “It’s time for Your Majesty to pray to heaven and to your ancestors!”
The empress offered the joss sticks and read the imperial edict that married Ren Baqian to her. She conferred the title of prince consort to Ren Baqian and proclaimed this to heaven and to her ancestors.
Xuan Hua stroked his beard. This ceremony didn’t look complicated… but they had spent a lot of effort doing the research. In the Ministry of Rites, the Honglu Deputy had the task of receiving envoys from other countries. The Taichang Bureau had never played a role, but for the marriage of the empress, they had finally done something.
In particular, the empress was a female. Even in Great Xia, there was no precedent. As a result, there were very few examples to refer to.
“The time has come. Your Majesty, please set out!”
The empress was relieved to hear this because she had never had to behave so formally before. She steeled herself as she still had a lot to do today.
She had to go to the Tong Residence to fetch the groom.
100 guards were stationed in front of the palace. Qishui had a red cloth tied around its neck and was idly lying on the ground. It roused upon seeing the empress and shook its head.
There were many onlookers further away. Many aboriginals had been waiting for several days, the citizens of Lan City were also present, and these areas were filled with people.
When the empress saw this big crowd, she grew flustered.
Previously, regardless of the situation or the number of people, she didn’t feel concerned at all.
However, today was different!
Other people looked radiant on their wedding day, but the empress was very anxious.
In a flash, she was on the back of Qishui. She took a deep breath to calm herself and announced, “Let’s go!”
100 guards were in front to clear the way, followed by the empress and then the people from the Ministry of Rites.
“Your Majesty!”
“Her Majesty is here!”
As the team moved forward, the voices from the crowd rang out.
“I wish you many offspring! 100 children and 1,000 grandchildren!”
Some idiots uttered this phrase, and the rest followed.
By right, this wasn’t wrong, but the problem here was that the empress was a female…
100 children and 1,000 grandchildren? At one child every year, it would take 100 years!
The guards paving the way had strange expressions.
The mood of the empress was going from sunny to cloudy.
As the group passed by the crowd for more than 100 meters, a large number of fresh flowers were thrown down by the people standing on the courtyard walls.
Suddenly, a loud voice was heard coming from the front that said, “Hey! This road was built by me… The trees were planted by me. If you want to marry the prince consort, you will have to defeat me first!”
There was a burst of laughter all around. It was unknown whether this was due to the first half of the sentence or due to the reference about marrying the prince consort.
Many people only now realized that it was a woman marrying a man, and they looked puzzled.
The face of the empress turned black with rage.
This Qin Chuan was asking for a beating!
Like a red cloud, the empress rose into the sky toward the cocky looking Qin Chuan.
Bang! The punch sent Qin Chuan straight into the ground, leaving only his head unburied.
“Let’s go!”
After moving for another 100 meters, someone blocked the road again and declared, “Your Majesty, if you want to marry the prince, you have to pass this round!”
Minister Zhuo Yan, who was wearing sunglasses, crossed his arms and looked up.
The empress was more lenient this time and used three moves to remove the obstacle before continuing forward.
Not far from the Tong Residence, someone else blocked the road again.
“Your Majesty, you shouldn’t have come!” Hong Wu stood there shaking his head.
Not only was he there, but he was also carrying a long metal staff. Everyone felt it was strange that he carried a weapon. This kind of reception was just a formality, so there was no need for weapons.
Did he really want to block Her Majesty?
The empress became angrier.
“Must I retreat?”
“That would be for the best!” Hong Wu affirmed.
The empress was really angry this time, and her face turned red.
He was the one who used to tell her to choose a husband and have children. Why was he here at this time to make trouble?
“I haven’t dueled with you for a long time,” the empress said.
Hong Wu flourished his staff a few times and said, “As long as you defeat me, the prince consort is yours!”
The empress suddenly felt that something wasn’t right. It seemed to appear that she was the one pursuing Ren Baqian to marry her.
