16 Heaven, Earth and Spouse! (II)
Akagi's wedding procession had arrived, it consisted of a musical band and several clansmen carrying a redwood sedan, according to tradition, she had to cry with her mother as a sign of reluctance to part ways and leave home...
However, since her mother had passed on, she was to do so with her sisters.
Akagi could not fake it, they always had a place in her heart, she would be missing her lovely sisters dearly...
The youngest, hugged Akagi, she could not even hold in her tears and had been crying since the very beginning.
"Big sis, please don't go!" She wailed, not wanting to let her go.
"I can't do that now can I? Big sis will be coming back to visit you often, so don't worry, okay?" Akagi comforted, her eyes were red and showed signs of tearing.
"Daughters, we need to go now..." Hōjo Ikki informed the trio, they walked away, sulking over the future of their sister and them...
"Mistress, please get in" Akagi's maid helped her up to the sedan, smiling in elation.
"I will be missing you, mistress..." Her maid spoke sadly, to which Akagi raised an eyebrow.
"Who said you are not coming with me?" She asked her maid with amusement evident on her face.
"Ah?!" Her maid was shocked, she then wiped away her tears.
"It will be my pleasure to serve you, Mistress!" She spoke reverently. Akagi pat the girl's head and turned to the clansmen who nodded at her in understanding.
The sedan then moved, their destination was the Qiu clan compound...
•••••
"To think you are already unfaithful to your wife-to-be..." Matriarch Qiu muttered, her voice had taken a darker tone as Xieren whimpered in fear.
Xiao Ling nodded, she did not understand much but knew enough to understand that her master was in the wrong.
"Now! Now! My dear wife and cute Xiao Ling girl, let us depart and let the young man enjoy his life." Duke Qiu hoped to get his wife to leave it as it is.
"Bye Bye master!" Xiao Ling covered her mouth in amusement, walking over to the Patriarch who gave her some candy and smiled when her eyes brightened.
"The poor girl..." Xieren's mother shook her head, "Do whatever you want, but if I see Akagi cry, I will send you to be an eunuch!" She threatened.
"That's right! Both of us will send you!" Duke Qiu sided with his wife, and walked away while mouthing, "Thank me later." Xieren then remembered Mei, feeling guilty about Akagi...
"I feel like I'm heading towards the harém route..." He sighed, the red wedding attire had been wrapped around his body, tightly fitted and showed his enviable masculine body figure.
"Young Lord, the bride has arrived" Mei informed, her face seemed lovelier than ever before as if she had been rejuvenated and free of stress.
"Thank you, Mei" He grinned, according to custom, when the groom is to meet with the bride, he would have to go through a set of difficulties set up by the family.
Therefore, Xieren was excited, he was hoping to pass it with ease as there shouldn't be anything too hard and violent in nature...
thwack!
He rolled his eyes to see an arrow that had been stuck to the wall.
"..."
"Mei, what is the first task set up by father?" He asked his lively maid curiously.
"Escaping an assassin!" She replied in her usual cool tone.
"This shouldn't be too hard" He mumbled to himself.
•••••
Hearing Xieren's hysterical screams, Akagi felt as if something was amiss.
Her heart ached when she heard heard several gasps and shouts of plea...
However, it was not the case now, Xieren is an hour late and she tapped her foot on the sedan impatiently, a small pout formed at the edge of her red lips.
Her maid had been sent to check up on her fiancé and she had just arrived, her face was pale and drenched in sweat.
"Well?" Akagi encouraged her maid to speak up.
"Mistress, he really is trying his best, please give Lord Qiu some time..." She replied, her face was full of pity as she turned to the manor and prayed.
•••••
"Akagi!" Xieren shouted, waving his hand with a smile on his face, however, Akagi frowned.
His eyes were dull, but if he was not willing to speak about it, she would let it be...
Once he got on, he hugged her tightly and cried in her embrace.
"They hired an assassin that I had to escape from, forced me to eat pig feet and drink goat blood, then they threw me into a room..." Xieren complained and looked at her pitifully.
She could only pat his head comfortingly, hoping nothing terrible happened.
"The room was infested with cockroaches" Just as he said so, she pushed him away and screamed in disgust, wiping her dress which came into contact with her fiancé.
"I covered myself with Qi, but the cockroaches buzzed, I could hear them flap their wings right next to m-" Xieren curled up into a ball and sobbed silently...
"Stop! Stop! I don't want to hear it!" She covered her ears and closed her eyes, the clansmen from both sides that overheard the conversation looked at each other and snickered.
•••••
"Why did you do that?" Matriarch Qiu reprimanded her husband who shrugged playfully.
"You know how much our boy fears those nasty critters!" She shook her head and glared when Duke Qiu laughed.
"But maybe it serves him right, for what he did..." She trailed on and covered her mouth to hide her amused smirk.
"Right? I wish I heard his girly screams!" Duke Qiu complained, Xiao Ling with them, specifically on the Matriarch's lap.
"Your master is such a silly boy" She turned to Xiao Ling.
"No! master is the kindest person I know!" Xiao Ling refuted with an angry pout.
"Hahaha! Maybe... but to tell you the truth, I'm going to miss him" She wiped a few tears, Duke Qiu pat her back to which she gazed at him in appreciation.
"Thank you, dear" She then kept quiet, doting on Xiao Ling...
They had arrived at the wedding hall, an ancient building in the clan compound area, where important events were held.
Qilin city was divided among clans and normal civilians, the clan district was the autonomous region which Tang Fan wants removed...
Several guests from the Wu, Hōjo and Yang clans were seen conversing together, the atmosphere was pleasant, much to the surprise of several personages that had believed it to be otherwise tense...
"The Bride and groom have arrived!" Someone alerted, the guests stood up and gathered around the red carpet that was put on for the couple.
Akagi and Xieren walked hand in hand, side by side, standing tall and proud under the scrutinizing gazes set upon them...
The pressure was immense, one mistake and it was all over, Xieren knew that Akagi would prefer something prim and proper in nature and did not let anything mess the wedding ceremony.
Once they were at the podium, a man walked towards them, usually it would be someone from the Imperial family that would oversee the marriage and register it as genuine, but due to certain problems, they went with someone from the Wu clan...
"Kowtow to the Heavens!"
"..."
"Kowtow to the Earth!"
"..."
There would be a long set of procedures, Including Kowtowing to the parents and then the spouses, after which they paid respects to the Jade Emperor and their patron family deities...
•••••
Xieren and Akagi were then escorted to the bridal chambers and left alone while the banquet had started progressing.
"That was so tiring..." Xieren fell on the bed, Akagi sat down next to him elegantly, flushing red over what was to come at night...
"M-Milord, do you mind helping me?" Akagi asked bashfully, turning her back on him, her hairstyle(1) was a simple loose bun and untied hair at the back...
Xieren coughed violently but inched closer to her, he would not decline such an enticing offer, and slowly took off the pieces of clothings that was on her dress.
Helping to dress her up in her formal clothing, Xieren smiled gently at her and cupped her cheeks, pecking her nose and walking away to change his own attire...
••••••••
(1): I'm not so sure of the hairstyle as I did not find a specific name, but please do refer to "Han dynasty hairstyles", I've seen them use it a lot in movies...
PS: Personally, I found it through Quora, "What were some popular female hairstyles in ancient China?" And the best answer shows the images(hopefully you too would search it through to get a much-needed visual imagery of what exactly I meant to say!)
