48 Avoiding the Tail
It was finally the day of the Qingming Festival and most young people in Yinchuan were already in town or happily preparing to head out. The Qingming Festival was also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day. The morning was spent tidying up one's ancestors' tombs and paying respects with offerings. Some of the richer families would also burn paper money so that the deceased would have an easier time in the afterlife or their next life. This part of the day was rather quiet and serious.
Once the duties towards the ancestors were completed, the rest of the day was much more festive. Booths were set up in town selling kites or food to enjoy while walking around and admiring the flowers and foliage.
Yan Qiu Yue had been allowed to participate in the morning festivities, accompanying her family to clean up the Yan family graves and burning paper money. Even if the occasion was solemn, she was happy for an excuse to leave her courtyard for a while. As she knelt and burned the paper money, she contemplated her past and future. The Ning family had always been rather independent. The dukes, Yan Qiu Yue's father included, had always respected traditions while also prioritizing their family members' happiness. Had it not been for the emperor's decree, Yan Qiu Yue would never have been forced to marry someone she didn't love.
However, it was also these outstanding ancestors who had made the family as prominent and strong as it was. Without that status, the emperor would not have considered the Ning family's daughter as a marriage candidate for a future prince. In the end, Yan Qiu Yue could not find fault with her family nor her own conduct. This was merely a sort of fate. At least Wei Tian Ao seemed like a serious, upstanding young man. She understood that with this marriage partner, she was far luckier than many girls her age.
After she'd burned all the paper money and finished helping her mother clean up, her Qingming was over. For the rest of the day, she was stuck inside of the Duke Ning compound working on her embroidery. Actually, she wasn't horribly opposed to this. At first, when her mother had more or less put her under house arrest, Yan Qiu Yue had scoffed at the idea that it would take several weeks to get the embroidery done. After all, how hard could it be to embroider one dress?
Now that the wedding was barely two weeks away, she was thinking that perhaps she had been a little too lax with her pacing. At this point, she had finished embroidering the sleeves as well as the lower part of the dress going towards the hem. However, the area of fabric around her torso was still mostly bare. This was where she had to do the largest multi-layered peacock tail. Truth be told, she had purposely been procrastinating on it. The clouds, stars, and smaller peacocks on the rest of her dress had already been difficult enough. For this part, she had finished the peacock's body, but the tail fanned upwards and covered a large area. Knowing it would be difficult, Yan Qiu Yue had thought to save it for last. Now that it was the only thing left, all she felt was dread.
"Young miss, don't forget you still have to do a bit of embroidery on the veil!" Yi Mei pointed out. The red silk veil would be draped over her head during the ceremony, to only be removed by her husband on their wedding night. Yan Qiu Yue had finished the edging but still needed to embroider some flowers on it. The veil was quite visible during the wedding ceremony, so it would not do for it to be plain.
Smiling, Yan Qiu Yue put down the dress. "You're right! I certainly can't forget about the veil. I'll finish the dress later, then."
"Young miss..." Yi Mei frowned, fully realizing Yan Qiu Yue's intention to further procrastinate on the peacock tail.
* * *
Outside the Ning Estate in the city, Sun Fen Fang was not nearly so carefree. She was standing outside the Crisp Pear Bakery with a maid and her retinue of guards, wringing her hands and constantly fixing her veil in anxiousness as she waited for Song Lu Li and her brother to show up. A few days before, Lu Li had visited again to tell her that her invitation to have the young men dine with them had been a success. In fact, her elder brother Lu Ming had even suggested that they all walk around the festival together for a while. Thus, while they would be in a group, this would give Sun Fen Fang ample opportunity to talk to Yan Qiu Heng. She had not seen him in a long time and was both excited and nervous at the prospect.
After what felt like hours but surely was less than one incense stick's worth of time, Sun Fen Fang saw Song Lu Li and her brother approaching. That is, Lu Li was wearing a veil, so Fen Fang reckoned it was her only because she recognized Song Lu Ming beside her. She waved at the brother and sister pair, all smiles as Lu Li came up to her and took her hands. "It's good to see you, Fang'er! So you went with this dress."
"Your advice has always come through for me, so I saw no need to go against it," Sun Fen Fang replied before turning to Song Lu Ming. "Fen Fang greets young master Song!"
Song Lu Ming chuckled. "There's no need for such courtesy. I feel rather stuffy to hear 'young master Song' from someone I've known since she was a baby!"
Sun Fen Fang laughed in response, shaking her head. Song Lu Ming was only two years older than Lu Li, making him three years older than her. How could he possibly remember what she had looked like as a baby?
"Yan Qiu Heng and Hua Yan Ting should be here shortly. Is there anything in particular that you girls wish to see?"
Sun Fen Fang tilted her head, letting out a long "hmmm" as she thought. "It's still light out. Perhaps we could go fly kites?" She didn't particularly want to go through the shops and stalls just yet. Snacking too much now would only ruin their dinner later.
"Oh~ That sounds like a good idea," said a bright voice.
"Song Lu Li greets young master Hua and young master Yan!" Lu Li said while curtsying. Fen Fang quickly echoed her friend. Hua Yan Ting and Yan Qiu Hue bowed and gave their greetings, as well.
"It'll be quite novel to fly kites. I don't think we did that last year," Yan Qiu Heng supported the girls' plan. Last year, his sister had been very particular about what kind of kite she wanted. When she couldn't find the exact design that she'd envisioned, she'd given up on the whole endeavor. Thinking about this, he couldn't help but smile. It was a shame that she couldn't accompany them this year, but he saw no need to dampen the mood by pointing out his sister's absence.
"Shall we go peruse the stalls, then?" Song Lu Ming suggested. Everyone agreed on this, so the group set out. Sun Fen Fang and Song Lu Li were in the front, chatting away as they walked, while the trio of young men was behind them. They made for a rather eye-catching group, drawing attention from passersby. Sun Fen Fang and Song Lu Li were not nearly as picky as Yan Qiu Yue, so they quickly decided on their kites. Sun Fen Fang had a red koi-shaped kite, while Song Lu Li's was a blue dragon. The two kites looked striking when flown together. Hua Yan Ting preferred more to watch than to fly a kite himself, but Song Lu Ming and Yan Qiu Heng both picked out kites of their own. The group ran around flying these kites on the banks of the river, playing until they were winded and their faces were red from both exertion and laughter.
Song Lu Li, slightly apart from the group, was sitting down, her feet dangling in the river. It felt cool and refreshing, especially after all that running around. When she thought about their current state, she couldn't help but shake her head. This was all so terribly childish! Were they really at the age to still be flying kites? Then again, none of the young men in the group had had their official adulthood ceremony yet. The eldest, Hua Yan Ting, was still a youth of 18. She and Sun Fen Fang had already had their hairpin ceremonies and so were considered "adults", but they were really still young girls. She thought about Yan Qiu Yue cooped up at home embroidering her dress for a wedding that was a scant two weeks away. "...This is fine," she thought. "It's good to enjoy being childish while we are still children." She suddenly felt that it was meaningless to affect maturity and put on airs.
Just then, she heard a loud cry from nearby followed by a splash. She turned her head to see a young boy flailing around in the river. Alarmed, Song Lu Li looked towards the group, but they had resumed flying their kites and were further away. "Young miss..." her personal maidservant furrowed her brows in concern.
The panicked sounds of the young boy were starting to ebb. He clearly couldn't swim and was sinking into the river. There was no choice for her. "I've got to help. I know you can't swim." Song Lu Li pushed away her maid's concerns and removed her outermost layer of clothing before diving into the river towards the boy.
