Chapter 367: Three Lives of Bonding
After entering the palace, there was another long wait. It was not until the court session was over and all the officials had left that the important ministers arrived at Baifu Hall one after another. Only then did the wedding begin.

Cui Yu was led by Yang Lihua’s hand to the emperor Yang Guang and the empress Xiao. Yang Lihua smiled and said, “It’s not convenient to kneel down in a wedding dress. Just bow your head.”

Cui Yuying bowed and Yang Guang smiled and said, “You are really my good daughter-in-law. I hope you will give birth to a son soon and give me a big fat grandson!”

Cui Yu blushed and bowed slightly. Empress Xiao took off a gem bracelet from her wrist and handed it to Cui Yu, saying, “This is a gift from your husband. I will give it to you as a gift for meeting you.”

Cui Yu took the bracelet and bowed again, “Thank you, mother, for your gift!”

Yang Guang nodded, “The wedding is about to start, let’s get ready!”

Cui Yu bowed again and retreated.

After the emperor and the empress took their seats, the wedding began. Royal weddings are ceremonial and solemn, completely different from the lively and festive weddings among the common people.

The hall was very empty, and everyone sat in a circle far away. Although it was decorated with lights and colorful colors, the hall was too large and still looked empty and solemn. In the middle of the hall there was a large green tent, which was decorated with lights and filled with all kinds of festive items, with a huge “囍” character hung in the middle.

There was a table in the middle of the Qinglu tent. The master of ceremonies shouted, “The newlyweds are having their hair tied!”

Amid the sound of drums and music, a newlywed couple came out holding colorful satin with a colorful ball tied in the middle. Their clothes were gorgeous and luxurious, very eye-catching. Amid warm applause from both sides, two palace maids led them to the table.

The hair-tying ceremony is one of the three ceremonies of Han marriage. It is extremely important and is usually presided over by the oldest female family member.

A white-haired old lady came to the table with the help of two palace maids. The old lady, Wang, was the only surviving concubine grandmother of the Cui family. His wife died early due to illness. She raised several brothers of the Cui family. Everyone in the Cui family regarded her as their grandmother.

However, she had lived in the house of the eldest son Cui Hongdu for many years and rarely showed up. Xiao Xia had only heard of her, but this was the first time she had seen her.

The old lady was over seventy years old, but her ears were not deaf and her eyesight was not blurry. She was in charge of the hair-tying ceremony for all the Cui family members when they got married. She skillfully cut a lock of hair from Xiao Xia and Cui Yu’s heads, tied a knot, and placed their hands on the knot with a smile.

“Although you are not related by blood, your hair has bound you together, connecting your hearts. From now on, you will be inseparable, never leave each other, and love each other till old age.”

The two men bowed to the old lady together, and the crowd applauded warmly.

The master of ceremonies Yang Gongren shouted again: “Let’s proceed to the second ceremony, the wedding ceremony!”

Several palace maids came forward carrying a golden tray with sake, gourd, melon knife and red silk ribbon on it. The wedding ceremony was still performed by the old lady, but there were two more assistants, one from the groom’s family and one from the bride’s family, both of them were close relatives and elders. The groom’s assistant was the aunt Yang Lihua, and the bride’s assistant was the mother Zheng.

Gourd is a bitter gourd, or bitter melon. The bitterer the better, which means sharing the joys and sorrows. Zheng skillfully cut the gourd and tied a red string to the two handles of the gourd. Yang Lihua then filled two gourds with wine.
The old lady smiled again and said, “Although the melon is bitter, the heart is sweet. Don’t look at this melon as only growing for one season. Husband and wife are together for three lifetimes. They share the joys and sorrows in the wine and spend a hundred years of life together. Drink it up, young couple!”

“Thank you grandma!”

Cui Yu picked up the melon gourd and rolled his eyes at Xiao Xia, who quickly smiled and said, “Thank you, grandma!”

He also picked up the melon gourd, and the two of them clinked their melon gourds together and drank the wine in one gulp. Zheng then put the two melon gourds together and tied them tightly with a red rope.

Everyone left, the maid moved the table away, and the master of ceremonies shouted, “The third ceremony is the worship ceremony. Please prepare and worship heaven and earth!”

Xiao Xia took Cui Yu to the entrance of the main hall, knelt down and kowtowed to the heaven and earth, then stood up and returned to the Qinglu tent. The master of ceremonies shouted, “Bow to your parents twice!”

The seats had been arranged in the big tent. Sitting in the front were Emperor Yang Guang and Empress Xiao, sitting on the left were Cui Hongzhou and his wife Zheng, and sitting on the right were Yang Lihua and her grandmother Wang.

The old grandmother Wang originally did not have one. Emperor Yang Guang was moved by the old lady’s white hair, amiability, and the fact that she had protected Cui for fifty years, which reminded Yang Guang of his deceased mother. He specially requested to add a seat for the old lady temporarily, and Yang Lihua invited her to sit with him.

Xiao Xia and Cui Yu knelt down and kowtowed to the three relatives one by one.

The MC shouted, “Husband and wife bow to each other!”

The two knelt down and kowtowed to each other, and there was warm applause all around, which meant that they were officially married.

The master of ceremonies shouted: “Finally, let’s perform the ceremony of spreading the tent!”

The ceremony of scattering the tent is a blessing ceremony. During folk weddings, relatives and friends would circle around and scatter copper coins and candies onto the small tent. However, this was not the case in the imperial palace. In the imperial palace, hundreds of palace maids would perform the ceremony.

Six elders came out of the Qinglu tent, and the palace maids began to lower the curtains. The young couple sat down holding hands in the tent.

Hundreds of palace maids picked up the gold coins with red ribbons and threw them into the big tent, singing at the same time.

“When the tent is spread to the east, the candlelight in the boudoir is red, the good air is lush and lingering, and the hall is filled with spring breeze every day; when the tent is spread to the west, it is said that the golden light shines auspiciously, tonight we meet in Wushan, and next year the dragon and the phoenix will add double happiness; after the tent is spread, the couple will become a harmonious couple, and the husband and wife have always been in harmony, so don’t roar like the lion in the east of the river.”

Amid the enthusiastic applause of the guests, the master of ceremonies shouted again, “The ceremony is over, send you to the bridal chamber!”

Led by pairs of palace maids, the young couple walked along the red carpet towards the Qinqin Building at the back.

The wedding ended here. The lighting in the bridal chamber was soft, and Ah Chu and Xiao Qing had cleaned it up. Xiao Qing knew that her husband had not eaten all day, and only had a bowl of lotus seeds at noon, so she specially prepared more than a dozen side dishes and a pot of wine.

“Sister Xiaoqing, do you think the young master will let us keep watch tonight?”

“We definitely need to keep watch. They sleep upstairs and we sleep downstairs. If the young master wants to find us, just pull the rope and the bell will ring.” Xiaoqing pointed to a rope extending from the upstairs.

Ah Chu whispered, “I’m just afraid that the mistress will be shy and won’t let us sleep down there.”

“But if we are not allowed to sleep downstairs, we have nowhere else to go. Besides, I have already cleaned up downstairs, and it is soundproof, so it won’t disturb them.”

As the two were talking, there was a light outside, followed by the sound of footsteps. The door opened, and the palace maids escorted the newlyweds into the bridal chamber.

“Thank you very much, everyone. You can go back now! We will take care of this.”

After a tiring day, the palace maids were also exhausted. They bowed and turned away.

Xiao Xia walked into the house and smelled the aroma of wine and food, which immediately aroused his hunger. He put his arm around Cui Yu’s waist and said with a smile, “Let’s eat something first!”

“Are you hungry, husband?” Cui Yu’s address was unconsciously upgraded from Xia Lang to husband.

“I am a little hungry. Since I woke up this morning, I have only had a bowl of lotus seed soup at noon.”

Cui Yu pursed his lips and smiled, “I’m a little hungry too!”

“Well, let’s sit down and have a drink.”

The couple sat down, Xiao Qing poured them some wine, and Xiao Xia asked, “Are you guys sleeping downstairs tonight?”

Xiaoqing nodded, “Sir, there is a bed and bedding in the room downstairs. Ah Chu and I will sleep downstairs. If anything happens, just pull the rope and the bell will ring.”

Cui Yu smiled and said, “You have worked hard today, let’s eat together!”

The two shook their heads, “We have all eaten, we are resting, if the Master and Madam need anything, you can call us anytime.”

The two of them went downstairs and into the house.
The two of them lay down on the bed, and Ah Chu suddenly frowned, “Sister Xiaoqing, I want to pee!”

“Oh! Didn’t you bring in the clean bucket?”

“We prepared for them but forgot about it ourselves.”

“I’ll get it!”

Xiaoqing turned over and found the clean bucket was right at the door. She could just open a crack in the door and take it in.

She tiptoed to the door, quietly opened it a crack, glanced at the small table, her face turned red, and she quickly closed the door.

“What’s wrong?” Achu asked.

Xiaoqing held out two index fingers, put them together and pressed them tightly, and Achu covered his mouth and laughed secretly.

At this time, Xiaoqing felt that they were going upstairs, but why was there only the sound of the young master’s footsteps? She changed her mind and suddenly realized that the young master was carrying the bride upstairs.

Hearing the sound of the door closing upstairs, Xiaoqing hurriedly opened the door and brought in the clean bucket. Ah Chu could no longer hold it in, so she lifted her skirt and sat down, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Not long after, the sound of a bed shaking creaked faintly from upstairs. Although it was soundproofed, it was still clearly audible in the quiet night.

The two looked at each other, their faces suddenly turned red, and they quickly covered their ears and crawled into the quilt.

The wedding night!

In the Xiulou of Xiao Cui’s mansion, Cui Mei also quietly sneaked into her elder sister’s room, proudly opened a box, and found an embroidered bag. This was her elder sister’s personal belongings, and it would be sent to Taipingfang tomorrow.

“Hehe! Even if you don’t let me see it, I still saw it, right?”

Cui Mei lit the oil lamp and began to flip through the album. She was stunned and her pretty face turned red, but her big eyes stared at the picture without blinking. She bit her lip and couldn’t help turning to the second page and the third page.

“So this is my sister’s wedding night! It looks so scary.”

(End of this chapter)