TGP Chapter 36.1: Getting Married

“He would protect her, Her Imperial Highness — his Grand Princess.”

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On the night before the wedding, the whole Palace was busy at work from top to bottom. No one was able to sleep soundly. Only Li Rong, who slept all the way until daybreak, was full of vitality and in high spirits with her skin glowing.

She had nothing to worry about. The only thing she was somewhat concerned about was the message that the Princess’s mansion had relayed to her last night, saying that Pei Wenxuan was going to give her a gift and that she didn’t need to thank him.

She felt a little panicked when she heard these words and always had the feeling that Pei Wenxuan was going to do something unreasonable.

But what shall come, will come, and so she didn’t think too much about it.

When she rose early in the morning, she started on her dressing and makeup routines, and then she went to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, Emperor and Empress in turn. After the afternoon meal, she changed into her wedding robes and waited for the auspicious hour to arrive.

All of this was not much different from the previous life, but in the previous life, she actually didn’t know what kind of person she would be marrying. Her heart was full of anxiety, hopes and expectations as well some concerns about the future.

So she kept asking the people around her what kind of person Pei Wenxuan was, was he really as good-looking as he appeared in the painting, what was his family like, and he… 

Recalling her former self in the previous lifetime, Li Rong couldn’t help but laugh aloud. At this moment, a ceremonial officer’s singsong voice sounded from outside, announcing that the auspicious hour had arrived. Jing Lan came in and smiled as she said: “Princess, the hour has come. Please rise.”

Li Rong responded with a hum of acknowledgment and lifted the golden round fan with peony embroidery in her hand to cover her face.

The round fan covered up everything in her line of sight ahead. Li Rong lowered her eyes, sensing that there was someone on her left and right supporting her up. Li Rong advanced step by step, dressed from head to toe in a heavily layered and magnificent ensemble. If it were an ordinary person, perhaps she would already be trembling under the crushing weight. However, Li Rong was actually rather at ease. She stood tall and upright as bamboo, her every step like a lotus in bloom, reflecting her dignified and elegant bearing as well as a majestic aura that ordinary people could not hope to match.

Perhaps you might not be able to make out the difference on most days between individuals from the Heavenly imperial family, century-old noble clans, and ordinary regional families, but the moment they put on ceremonial robes, you will pick up on the subtle difference. It was like making tea with clear spring water and the water from any mountains and streams. There is a distinct difference between the two when they reach the lips and teeth.

Li Rong followed the lead of the people beside her. She could sense herself stepping onto a soft, red carpet and countless flower petals falling down all around her. The moment she walked past, the ceremonial officials lined up on both sides of the carpet recited verses of blessing, and not too far away came the sound of joyous music.

She walked for a long time and didn’t know where she had arrived, so she stopped. Off to the side, Jing Lan reminded her: “Your Highness, this is at the palace gates.”

Li Rong responded with a hum of acknowledgement. After that came the sound of a ceremonial officer’s voice, instructing her to pay her respects and thank the Emperor and Empress.

Supported by the maids at her side, Li Rong turned towards Li Ming and Shangguan Yue in their regalia. Then, Li Rong slowly knelt down with the assistance of others and kowtowed to Li Ming and Shangguan Yue in salute.

Her movements were quite steady, and even when she bowed her head and bent down, the jewelry on her did not move in the slightest. Li Ming watched as Li Rong kowtowed to him, his voice hoarse as he recited the blessings he had prepared.

Then the ceremonial official called out for her to bow to Shangguan Yue again, and Li Rong bowed towards Shangguan Yue once more.

Shangguan Yue looked at her Li Rong with red eyes, but she still maintained her composure, though her voice carried traces of sobs as she said her blessings to her daughter.

Once the ceremonial official finished reciting the blessings, the attendants helped Li Rong up. Li Rong had just gotten up and was about to turn and leave with the maids’ lead when she felt someone coming towards her and suddenly taking her hand.

“Rong’er,” Shangguan Yue’s voice was choked with sobs, “You have to live well, promise Mother Empress that you will live well.”

When Li Rong heard these words, a wave of bitterness couldn’t help but wash over her. She suppressed her emotions and gently said: “Mother Empress need not worry, erchen will come back and visit Mother Empress every day from now on. It will not be any different than what it was in the past. Mother Empress need not to be too upset and lose her composure.”

Hearing Li Rong’s reassurance, Shangguan Yue slowly let go of her hand.

Li Rong turned away and followed the people supporting her to the horse-drawn carriage. She felt a pair of steady hands reaching out to help her: “A-jie, I will clear the way for the sedan for you.”

The wedding banquet was to be held in the Princess’s mansion, so Pei Wenxuan went with members of the Pei family to make arrangements in advance.

There is a custom in Great Xia where commoners will stop the sedan and ask for money on her way from the palace to the Princess’s mansion. The palace would send a special person to lead the way and give out money to the common people, clearing the road for the sedan. Li Rong originally thought that they would just arrange for a ceremonial official, but she didn’t expect that the Crown Prince himself would be the one throwing money to clear the road.

Li Rong didn’t know why she was like this. She obviously felt that she should not be having so many emotions after having lived for so many years, but when she heard Li Ming’s hoarse voice, felt Shangguan Yue holding onto her hand, and helped up by Li Chuan, Li Rong felt as if she had suddenly returned to the age of eighteen.

It seems she has received so much love that she could feel such joy and sorrow just with a few words from her family.

She sat in the sedan as the palace doors slowly opened bit by bit. She had been trying to suppress her emotions and make herself think about things that would make her calm down and happy.

For instance, once the palace gates open, Pei Wenxuan would be standing before the gates, waiting for her.

This wretched dog Pei Wenxuan will have to say something pleasing to the ears about her in a bit.

The party responsible for escorting the bride was actually supposed to be made up of Pei Wenxuan’s brothers. Pei Wenxuan only needed to kneel in front of the Princess’s mansion to welcome her along with the rest of the Pei family.

However, in the previous life, Pei Wenxuan did not have a single trustworthy brother. Pei Wenxuan did not dare to leave such an important matter to any of his fellow brothers, and perhaps not a single brother was willing to help either, so Pei Wenxuan came by himself and wrote a piece called “Leading the Phoenix,” which was later widely circulated. He stood in front of the palace gates and recited it as a celebratory speech, the general idea being that it was a blessing from the Heavens that he could marry her, and he dare not fail to live up to such a blessing bestowed upon him, so he wanted to come and escort her himself.

She didn’t think much of it at the time, but now she wanted to question this made-up logic.

At that time, she was sitting in the bridal sedan chair and listened as he recited poetry, feeling shy and happy, so she didn’t give it much thought either.

Had she given it more thought at that time, she would have known how difficult it was for Pei Wenxuan then.

If it weren’t for the fact that he was all alone and had no one to rely on, why would he resort to such crowd-pleasing sensationalism?

When Li Rong thought about it, she felt that Pei Wenxuan was also somewhat pitiful for a while. Such emotions slightly diminished her own sadness. She took a deep breath and heard the sound of someone outside rolling up the curtain in front of her. Then, the sound of a rather familiar voice reached her ears: “This humble official Su Rongqing is here on the behalf of his fellow brother of the Pei clan, Pei Wenxuan, to welcome Princess Ping Le.”

Li Rong’s eyes suddenly widened when she heard this. She was frozen in place and proceeded to hear Su Rongqing begin to recite the lines of admiration and praise that Pei Wenxuan had written.

Since Su Rongqing came, Pei Wenxuan naturally would not compose the piece: “Leading the Phoenix” from his previous life but properly stylized parallel prose for Su Rongqing to read aloud as he calmly stood before her.

Li Rong was quick to calm down after her initial shock and listened as Su Rongqing recited words of praise until towards the end, she heard Su Rongqing’s voice slightly falter, but he continued to read aloud: “Yearning as if chasing the sun and moon, promising to see the peach blossoms in the coming year.”

This was from the love poem that Su Rongqing gave her in the previous life, and Pei Wenxuan incorporated into this prose.

Although this piece of parallel prose was not written by Su Rongqing, it bore a shadow of Su Rongqing.

Li Rong could not express what it was that she was feeling: regret and bitterness entangled with some helplessness that could not be put to words as well as a vague sense of closure she could not fully describe.

She had been with Su Rongqing for twenty five years in her previous life, but she could not say that she understood what kind of relationship it was that they had.

But once in a while, there will be a few regrets indeed.

She felt that perhaps Su Rongqing should be given an identity and acknowledgement. 

However, at this moment, this kind of regret was like a gap being filled up by invisible forces and in a way…to bid farewell.

There were too many mixed emotions. Emotions from the previous life piled on, layer by layer, throwing her mind into a rare state of complete disarray.

Fortunately, there was not too much that she had to do, so she held onto the fan in her hand and quietly sat in the sedan chair. Soon after, the ceremonial official and Su Rongqing announced the end of this part, and the sedan curtain in front of her was lowered.

Before the curtain of the sedan chair was fully lowered, she quietly lowered her round fan and saw Su Rongqing not too far away.

He was just as she remembered in his white robes and a jade coronet as he quietly looked at her carriage.

He seemed to sense her peeking at him, Li Rong hastily assumed her previous movements, feeling a little flustered.

Fortunately, the carriage slowly began to move forward, so her momentary panic did not last long. She heard the commotion of the commoners all around, calling her name in loud voices. She kept her eyes forward and only heard Li Chuan up ahead, he sounded happy as he tossed out money and auspicious sayings before asking the commoners to give way.

At last, she finally arrived at the gates of the Princess’s mansion by nightfall. She was sitting in the carriage when she heard Pei Wenxuan’s all too familiar voice: “This humble official Pei Wenxuan greets Your Highness.”

After that came the sound of many people kneeling down in succession.

Li Rong did not move. She heard someone lift up the curtain in front of her, and then the maids came up to help her out of the carriage, one on the right and one on the left. After that, Pei Wenxuan came forward and placed a piece of red silk in her hand. Pei Wenxuan walked in front of her, leading the way, as the maids beside her supported Li Rong, helping her step over the coal brazier before walking all the way into the main hall.

After that, they stood shoulder to shoulder, each holding one end of the red silk. Pei Wenxuan lowered his voice and quietly asked: “Did you like the gift I gave you?”

“We’ll talk when we get back.”

Li Rong heard a hint of pride in asking for credit in his tone of voice and felt her anger building. 

She suppressed those emotions and could only give him a cold warning.

Pei Wenxuan felt a bit of an ominous premonition form in his heart as it skipped a beat, but once he thought about it, he felt that it might take some time for Li Rong to understand. This was also something he had done on his own accord, so it was only normal for her to blame him. Later on, when she looks back, Li Rong will surely understand.

He let out a silent sigh and heard the ceremonial official’s next announcement. Much like in the previous life, once he and Li Rong bowed to pay respects to the Heavens and Earth, they would bow to pay respects to each other.

Pei Wenxuan clearly remembered how Li Rong’s phoenix crown stabbed his head when they bowed to each other in the previous life, so he was prepared this time and stood a little further away from her.

However, Li Rong had a burning desire to vent her anger in her heart, so she bent over a little further than usual, trying to force the phoenix crown a little closer to him, thinking she could get it to stab him in the head like in the previous life, and he would have no choice but to endure.

Pei Wenxuan sensed her intentions as she bent down and wanted to take a small step back, but Li Rong lowered her voice and threatened: “You dare?!”

Pei Wenxuan also knew there were many people around them now, so he didn’t dare to move back anymore. He could only brace himself to take a hit from Li Rong’s phoenix crown.

Once Li Rong knew Pei Wenxuan had been hit, there was suddenly a bit of contentment in her heart. After she straightened back up, the maids helped her go into the rear courtyard. Pei Wenxuan was then released outside to drink with the guests. Pei Wenxuan couldn’t help but lift a hand to cover where he had been stabbed on his forehead. Li Chuan walked up from behind him and took a look at him, then he said: “What are you holding your head for? Is your brain broken?”

Pei Wenxuan: “…”

These siblings really do mock people in the exact same way; they really did come from the same mother.

“Your Highness must be joking,” Pei Wenxuan put his hand down, “Please have a seat first, Your Highness. This humble official has to entertain guests in a bit.”

“Entertain what guests?” Li Chuan lifted his sleeves “Let’s go. Gu will help you entertain those guests today. You exercise some self-control because in no way are you to go and see my sister drunk.”

Having said that, Li Chuan dragged Pei Wenxuan away, along with Su Rongqing, who had been just chatting with others, to greet everyone at the tables.

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Autumn: Part 2 will be the last release of this mini-marathon. Trying to translate 32 pages worth of daily partial releases quickly became overwhelming, so Part 2 will take an extra day. Level of difficulty definitely increased—they aren’t just bickering all the time anymore, and it’s getting kinda deep…

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