Ling Zhaowen, who was inwardly sighing for recollection and at the same time feeling happy for Ling Zhang, couldn’t help but nudge Ling Zhaowu and breathe, “Seeing Zhang’er smiling, I feel some contentment as well. What about you, Big Brother?”
“If he smiles like this every day, nothing would stop me feeling content, and his mother would be gratified too.”
Ling Zhaowu looked at his son, his eyes full of fatherly love. On this day, his son’s wedding day, there were a lot of words he wanted to say to his deceased wife, and he had said all of them inwardly. The greatest wish of Ling Zhaowu, a man who had been through a rebirth, was that his son would have this kind of smile on his face every day for the rest of his life. If anybody tried to take this smile away from his son, he would ruthlessly destroy them.
Ling Zhang’s robes were the most formal and also the hardest to put on. It took him a lot of time to change into them, but Ling Zhang himself was unaware of it, because he was immersed in his memories of what had happened in the Infinite Fortune Palace that day, including how Yuwen Tong had looked in his wedding robes.
The two boys, Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong, had been excitedly watching on the side since they’d been dressed. Seeing Ling Zhang smiling constantly, the two of them snickered with their hands over their mouths, casting Ling Zhang occasional glances. The two kids were clothed very festively, bearing a striking similarity to the two boys in a New Year picture, one of them taller than the other, both quite good-looking.
Ling Zhang had originally been absorbed in his reminiscences, and it was not until he accidentally glimpsed the two boys who were sneaking glances at him and snickering that he hastily pulled himself back to the present only to find that everybody else present was doing the same thing, including his father and uncle. His face instantly started burning.
“It’s okay. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Today is your wedding day, and everything is supposed to be festive, so smile whenever you feel like it.”
Ling Zhaowen even bantered with his nephew. The moment he finished speaking, everybody else in the house burst into laughter, filling the house with joy.
Ling Zhang’s face had been burning all along. “Uncle Zhaowen!”
As the Ling family were laughing, Yuwen Tong in the palace changed into his robes with the help of a couple of eunuchs.
As though the two of them shared some kind of telepathic bond, when Ling Zhang was looking at his wedding robes and smiling, Yuwen Tong also recalled the day when he helped Ling Zhang put on his wedding robes one by one, longing gradually filling his eyes, a fire blazing in them.
Morning still hadn’t come. Time seemed to have slowed down considerably, which struck Yuwen Tong as somewhat unbearable.
“Yao Yi, are there any messages from the Ling Mansion?”
Yao Yi hurriedly walked inside, looking as if he had just rushed up to the palace from somewhere. “Childe Ling has woken up. When the message was delivered here, the man said that Childe Ling had just awoken. Now I think he’s probably changed clothes already.”
Yuwen Tong inclined his head and studied his outfit from head to foot, turning left and right in front of a mirror to check the robes from different angles. “Am I wearing these robes in the right way?”
“Yes, yes, Sire. It’s perfect. You look even more handsome in your wedding robes.”
Yao Yi quickly answered the question and even complimented Yuwen Tong on his handsome appearance without hesitation. After all, this was his first time seeing Yuwen Tong turn left and right in front of a mirror to check how he looked. He was so astounded that even the speed of his speech was faster than usual.
Yuwen Tong straightened his back and looked into the mirror again. It was not until he confirmed Yao Yi wasn’t lying that he walked away from the mirror, looked up into the sky outside the window and furrowed his brows in displeasure. “How come dawn still hasn’t broken?”
Yao Yi cautiously swallowed, glanced over his shoulder at the sky and replied, “It’ll get light soon. It takes only a short while for morning to chase away darkness.”
While he was speaking, Yuwen Feng showed up, some staff members of the Ministry of Rites following in his wake. At the sight of them, Yao Yi felt a sense of relief. These people arrived just in time, for his master would stop complaining about the seemingly delayed daybreak when he was otherwise engaged.
“I’m honored to kneel before you, Your Majesty.”
Yuwen Feng looked at Yuwen Tong and then added, “Today you look exceptionally imposing and attractive, Your Majesty. Your presence overshadows that of everybody in this city.”
Yuwen Tong flicked him a glance, as though finding this compliment quite pleasant to the ear, his displeasure at the tardy morning dissolving noticeably. “Why did you come here with them?”
“I’m your cousin. How could I miss your big day? Cousin Hong and some others should also be here in a few moments.”
Yuwen Feng made a reply, a smile on his face. His previously sunken cheeks were now slightly fuller, and the shadows under his eyes had dwindled considerably. He seemed to be getting more energetic by the day and finally looked like a living person now, and he’d regained much of his original presence as well.
Before long, Yuwen Hong and some others arrived at the palace as expected. Yuwen Hong, Yuwen Han, Yuwen Qian and Yuwen Jin, all four of them came. Yuwen Jin, on his arrival, excitedly walked once around Yuwen Tong.
“Way to go, cousin. You look so dashing and handsome and elegant in these robes. I can guarantee you Brother Zhang won’t be able to take his eyes off you once he claps eyes on you!”
Yuwen Tong lifted his eyebrows. He had tried these robes on in the presence of Ling Zhang, who had indeed been struck dumb and stared unblinkingly at him at that time.
“You look fantastic indeed. The Ling family will definitely be very satisfied when they see you,” Yuwen Hong also observed.
The four cousins of Yuwen Tong’s circled him again and again, sensibly complimenting him repeatedly, which gave Yuwen Tong a manifestly good mood.
When the imperial palace began to hum with life, residents in different areas of the capital city also started to light their oil lamps. It was well before sunrise, but the whole city woke up earlier than usual and soon became animated. This was the day of the imperial wedding ceremony.
In the Ling Mansion, Ling Zhang was still in his chambers. Xia Feng, along with some servants, delivered his breakfast to him.
“Young Master, you should fill your belly first. Soon you’ll be too occupied to find any time to eat.”
All the breakfast foods had been specially prepared by the cooks under the supervision of Fu Caiwei who had got up very early this day.
“My aunt got up so early? How is she? Have someone deliver a message to my aunt. Tell her to rest and leave this kind of things to the others.”
Ling Zhang was worried about Fu Caiwei’s physical condition. She had a fairly strong constitution and Mr. Mu had been keeping an eye on her, and it hadn’t really been a tough pregnancy for her, and she could even do some exercise, but Fu Caiwei was of a certain age after all, so Ling Zhang feared that getting up so early to bustle around would take a heavy toll on her.
“When I was there a while ago, Second Mistress seemed to be in a good mood, and there was a smile on her face all the time. She’s accompanied by some middle-aged handmaids. If Second Mistress feels any discomfort, they’ll stop her, so there’s no need to worry, Young Master. Second Mistress has always seen you as her own son, and today is your wedding day, so even if you have Second Mistress go back to her room to rest, she wouldn’t have complete peace of mind. You might as well let her walk around from time to time, so that she’d feel more at ease.”
Ling Zhang looked at him. He really had never thought of any of these things that Xia Feng had just told him. Maybe his aunt would be happier if she could be of some help. Given the circumstances on this particular day, if he were in his aunt’s shoes, he wouldn’t be able to just sit and do nothing either.
“I think you’ve got a point. Send someone there to tell my aunt not to exhaust herself.”
“Yes, Young Master,” Xia Feng answered and then instructed a servant to relay the message to Fu Caiwei.
Since it’d been Fu Caiwei who supervised the cooks preparing the breakfast, naturally all the foods were Ling Zhang’s favorites, which was why he failed to restrain himself and enjoyed them to his heart’s content. After realizing that he’d have much fewer chances to eat meals prepared by his aunt after the wedding, he valued this breakfast even more.
Seeing as Fu Caiwei was now pregnant, there was no doubt she would no longer be able to do any of these things in a couple of months. Also, he would soon move into the palace. After he became the empress, it would surely be inconvenient for him to leave the palace and return to the Ling Mansion on a frequent basis. On top of that, his aunt would have to move to Shengzhou after she was delivered of the baby and nursed back to health, and there was no telling when they would see each other again after that.
Though the moment of parting hadn’t arrived yet, Ling Zhang, for some inexplicable reason, felt a pang of sorrow and heartache.
Unexplainably, Ling Zhang came to understand the scene previously described to him by someone else in which a bride and her mother wailing in each other’s arms before leaving home. Although he wouldn’t really cry, he could faintly feel what other brides might’ve felt on their wedding days.
Ling Zhang ate this breakfast in such a careful way as though it were something valuable, which was why he was quite full when he finished it and couldn’t help but stand up with the intention to go for a walk.
Everybody else in the residence was busy. Ling Zhang’s courtyard house, however, was rid of bustle. When he was fully dressed and had finished his breakfast, the presiding official of the Ministry of Rites still hadn’t arrived, because it was not the time yet. Compared with other parts of the residence which were full of hustle, this courtyard house was much quieter.
Ling Zhang wanted to go outside to help but was stopped by Xia Feng and the others.
“Young Master, today is all about you. How could you go out there to help others at this point in time? What you should do is patiently stay here waiting for His Majesty to come and pick you up.”
Waiting for Yuwen Tong to come here to pick him up? Ling Zhang looked at the color of the sky and saw that it had just begun to lighten in the east. How long would he have to wait?
Yuwen Tong was asking the same question. He had been staring into the sky for quite some time. After what felt like a lifetime, the sky finally began to brighten, but Yuwen Feng told him that he still had to endure a long wait before the scheduled departure.
Yuwen Tong, who had also seen the wedding plan, naturally knew that there was still a long time before the scheduled departure, but every time he stopped pacing the floor, it struck him that time was going slower than usual.
Yuwen Feng, Yuwen Si and Yuwen Chi, was somewhat amused to see Yuwen Tong behave like this, who had always been collected and unhurried but on this particular day had been frequently looking at the color of the sky and pacing up and down in the room.
“When I was on my wedding day, I never acted so anxiously as he does,” Yuwen Hong told his brother and cousins.
Except for Yuwen Jin, they had all got married and found Yuwen Tong’s reaction quite understandable, but on their wedding days, none of them had ever been so fidgety as Yuwen Tong was at this moment.
“Tell me about it. As far as I could tell, his mind has wandered to the Ling Mansion already, but he has to stay in this palace. He looks so anxious as though he could break out of here at any moment.”
“Alas. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen him like this before. On one occasion, he’d just returned to the capital city when a dispatch was delivered to him saying that something urgent came up in the borderlands. At that time all courtiers were startled, but he didn’t even blink and unhurriedly returned to the borderlands, as though his countenance wouldn’t change a bit even if the sky fell. Look at him now. What a striking contrast.”
“That’s why I told you he has deep feelings for Ling Zhang. Previously he was indeed uninterested in this kind of stuff, but now he’s in love. It’s indeed true that no man can extricate himself from love once he’s in it, no matter how puritanical he is. Tsk, tsk.”
“No hero escapes the charm of beautiful women. Haha…”
The four of them jested about it on and on. Yuwen Feng, listening on the side, shook his head. Looking at Yuwen Tong, he inwardly sighed, amazed how dramatically a romantic relationship could change a man.
