Chapter 3
The golden sun sank westward as dusk closed in.
My eight-bearer bridal sedan made a steady circuit through half the city.
Commoners happily scrambled for the lucky coins scattered by the maids.
Their blessings for a happy marriage added to the bustle of the wedding procession stretching farther than the eye could see along Vermilion Bird Avenue.
Red lanterns blazed, suonas wailed, and gongs and drums thundered.
In the capital, the grandeur of a wedding showed how highly the groom’s family valued the bride.
The Cuis had not looked down on me for coming from a humbler household.
That alone told me I had made at least half the right choice by marrying him.
When the bridal sedan came to a stop, the matchmaker cheerfully lifted the curtain.
A fair, slender hand appeared beneath my red bridal veil.
I slowly raised my hand and placed it in his.
His large hand closed firmly around mine.
A gentle, clear voice sounded above my head.
“Watch your step. Don’t be afraid. I’ve got you.”
I murmured a soft acknowledgment.
He was just as considerate when we reached the fire basin.
Seeing my fear, he slipped an arm around my waist
and simply lifted me over it.
I instinctively clung to his arm,
only to discover a delightful surprise.
Cui Lanzhang looked lean,
but his muscles were surprisingly firm.
I wondered what other surprises might be waiting beneath his clothes.
With the red candles burning high, we bowed to Heaven and Earth.
And I became a wife of the Cui family.
Not long after I was escorted into the bridal chamber,
good-natured laughter from the Cui family’s relatives and friends rose outside the door.
Cui Lanzhang took the ceremonial rod from the wedding matron
and lifted my veil.
The bridal chamber erupted into raucous celebration.
Amid the laughter and chatter, I raised my eyes to Cui Lanzhang in his red wedding robes. He looked like an immortal descended to the mortal world, so handsome I could not tear my gaze away.
When I saw him looking at me with laughter in his eyes,
even someone as thick-skinned as I was could not help feeling shy.
I blinked, then smiled at him. “Do I… look pretty?”
Cui Lanzhang paused. The next moment, his face softened into a smile as warm as a spring breeze.
“Very beautiful.”
After everyone left,
silence returned to the bridal chamber.
Yet beneath that silence,
my heart seemed beyond my control, pounding on and on.
His words—very beautiful—kept echoing through my mind.
No wonder, back when I still lived in my maiden chambers,
my close friends would whisper that Cui Lanzhang was like an alluring spirit who bewitched all the noble young ladies of the capital.
One compliment from him had made me blush.
If that did not make him a male siren, what did?
Still, I was terribly spineless.
When Cui Lanzhang returned, his face was flushed.
I could not tell whether he had drunk too much or was merely embarrassed.
Only when I met his perfectly lucid eyes
did I realize
that embarrassment had made him blush all the more.
After washing up, the two of us sat at the edge of the bed,
both somewhat at a loss.
At last, I could not help speaking.
“Husband, shall we rest?”
Perhaps the red candles were too bright, or perhaps it was because someone lay beside me,
but no matter what I did, I could not fall asleep.
I tossed and turned for a long while
before the man beside me finally asked,
“Can’t sleep?”
I gave a muffled hum of agreement.
“I’m not used to this bed.”
And I missed home a little.
The next moment, a large hand settled on my back.
He patted it in a slow, irregular rhythm,
just as my mother used to soothe me when I was little.
For some reason, it made me feel strangely safe.
Before long, I began to doze off
and slept remarkably soundly.
When I woke the next morning,
I suddenly remembered.
I had not even consummated my marriage last night! How could I have fallen asleep?
I instantly felt as though I had suffered a tremendous loss.
When I went to pay my respects to my mother-in-law that morning,
Mother dismissed everyone else.
With concern written across her face, she asked, “You didn’t consummate the marriage last night? Is there some… hidden reason?”
I scratched my head awkwardly and admitted with some embarrassment,
“Well, I accidentally fell asleep.”
Mother immediately breathed a sigh of relief and muttered under her breath,
“I thought… I thought… Lanzhang couldn’t perform…”
Before she could finish, she came back to herself.
Taking my hand, she said earnestly,
“Lanzhang has always been shy. Sometimes you can take the initiative. Let me tell you, it is a wonderful thing. Enjoy it while you’re young, or when you’re older, the spirit may be willing but the flesh weak.”
I listened with my eyes wide.
Having no idea how to respond, I could only nod emphatically.
She looked at me and smiled a little self-consciously.
“I have a private collection here. Take it back and have a look. Do your best to give me a plump grandson to play with by next year.”
The moment she finished speaking, she hurried to her feet
and pulled a chest from beneath the bed.
When she opened it, I saw that it was packed full of books.
Assuming they were storybooks, I perked up at once. “Mother, you like reading storybooks too?”
Mother glanced at me, an oddly unnatural blush spreading across her face.
“Oh, everyone was young once…”
Delighted, I accepted the chest.
That afternoon, I took the books out for a little entertainment.
At first, I found them novel. These storybooks even had illustrations, so I assumed they must have been expensive.
But the longer I read, the more I sensed that something was amiss.
It turned out these were an entirely different kind of storybook.
By the time I finished flipping through them, my face was burning,
and a restless heat had risen inside me.
Only after several cups of cold tea did it finally subside a little.