Wedding

"Don't you think you had better unveil me, before you fall down onto the floor?"

Yue Ling's voice was no less clear, issuing from beneath the veil. It sounded even and perhaps a little amused, even as Wuying lifted his head from the table beneath it, turning to look at his matrimonial bed. She was seated in the centre of the same, and there was a red veil that covered her head, and the ornate headdress that she wore. Which more or less matched the embroidered and bejeweled red wedding dress on her.

"I am aware that I'm supposed to sit here quietly and just wait for you to get around to lifting this pathetic piece of cloth from my head. But it is rather uncomfortable, not being able to see anything. I don't suppose that I can convince you to ... do that first? Before you get on with ... other matters of concern?"

Wuying staggered to his feet and shuffled over to the bed, where he half-collapsed onto the edge. "Er... Sorry about that. The ... My head is still reeling, after all of the alcohol that the old men had me drink. Especially Master Xiang," Wuying apologised as he squinted at his wife, seated beside him, "If this is the sort of thing that happens in a quiet, naked ceremony, I don't think I'd survive the full one."

It took him a little while more, and a few tries, before he finally managed to get to the bed. And to pull the veil off Yue Ling. Whose face broke into a wide grin when she saw the state that he was in. "Oh! They have really done a number on you! I don't think that I had ever seen you this drunk before! Not even when we celebrated Uncle Ling's seventieth birthday! Do you remember how much you had to drink? You'll have a really bad hangover tomorrow, unless I'm mistaken. Here, let me help you sit down properly."

She took his arm then, and pulled him up from where he was almost sliding off the edge, to the softer middle of the bed, where he promptly fell over. He laughed as he did that, and that was enough to set her off as well. "Here! I was supposed to just fall down onto the floor and spend the night there, wasn't I?" he asked her in an exaggerated whisper as she recovered from that, "That was your plan? Wasn't it? At least, that was what your brother told me."

And that was enough to set her off again. "If that was the plan, he certainly did not discuss it with me! Are you certain that it wasn't uncle Duan Jiu that you were talking to? This certainly sounds like one of his little tricks."

Wuying scowled as he thought back. It had been a rather confusing four hours, he had to admit. And there was a lot more movement and activity than he could properly account for. Especially what happened after that mess that took place at the Audience Hall!

He couldn't remember who was the first one to bring up the wedding, to please the spirits and ensure a long life for the old lady. But it had gone down well, among all the relations there. And even Baisheng had to admit that it was a good idea. It was his word that tore away the last excuse that Yue Ling had, and he could only vaguely recollect how the two of them had been bundled off by everyone else. To make ready for the ceremony, no less!

To tell the truth, he did remember agreeing to the wedding, after Baisheng and Merchant Xiang had added their voices to the argument. More or less. And that they had taken him aside and started dressing him in a groom's outfit. He had thought it simply a ceremony just to appease the disease spirits at first. But he should have known that the old lady wasn't really ill.

"I think Great-grandmother just got tired of waiting for Ling mei to make up mind and get on with it - the marriage, I mean. After all, she's already seventeen, as you are. I don't see why she is in such a rush," Baisheng had said, earlier when the three of them were getting him prepared.

Merchant Xiang however, disagreed with him. "When most of the youngsters are getting themselves hitched at sixteen or younger? You can be certain that the old woman is worried. And your sister does have a bit of a reputation, you remember? She beat up those boys at thirteen, here in Kangning City, all by herself. So you can be certain that your great-grandmother was going to make sure that she held to her word."

"And my promise too, no doubt," Baisheng had sighed, then laughed at the memory of it. Before he turned back to Wuying. "I am sorry for putting you through all of this trouble though. Like everyone tells me, I usually forget to tell people about the small details. And I thought that the old men back at the Manor would have filled you in."

"Well, they didn't. Not that I blame them," Merchant Xiang laughed too, "They were probably warned not to by Ling er herself! No doubt she had some scheme to keep our poor Wuying dangling until he finished his first five years as a Guard. Or something similar to that!"

Baisheng made a noise in his throat then, and shook his head at the fat man's words. "I think you are right about that. It is just like something that she would think of," he agreed softly.

Which drew another peal of laughter from Merchant Xiang. "In any case, you should blame Wuying here for not seeing through his disguise. Especially after that hint that I gave you, regarding my nephew actually being my niece?

"Although I think your sister is going be very happy to find out about this, when she shows up. You are in for a relentless bout of teasing, I am afraid!"

"He'll be lucky if she doesn't kick him off the bed and onto the floor!" Baisheng laughed, as he handed Wuying the bright red groom's shirt. "If she does that, I'll get her to apologize the morning after. Although she might make you sleep on the floor, in any case. She isn't too fond of the heavy smell of alcohol."

Wuying frowned as he shrugged into the shirt, and turned to look at Baisheng with a puzzled expression. "Alcohol? But ... I don't smell of alcohol."

Master Xiang slapped his knee at once, even as Baisheng began to guffaw loudly. In fact, he was so busy laughing that it was the rotound merchant who had to explain what he meant in the end:

"You don't smell of alcohol now, my dear Wuying. But after we are done ... Heh heh heh. You will be absolutely reeking of the stuff!"

And it appeared, the fat man had been absolutely correct!

Yue Ling made a face as she looked down at his supine form. And after she sniffed at his wedding robe. "They have really done a job on you tonight! Well, at least you got to eat something. I have had to sit here for hours, waiting for them to get you properly drunk," she complained.

"That is something that I don't quite understand. Why did they bother to do that? Get the groom totally sozzled, I mean. Why do they always do that during weddings?"

"I don't know. I find it rather stupid myself. Since the bride has to sit here by herself, while her stomach is growling, rather than eating with the other people who are so busy stuffing themselves silly. How can this not be stupid?"

She did have a point, Wuying thought. She had already gotten up, and had already removed the heavy headdress that she had been wearing. It looked really heavy too, when she placed the elaborate thing on the small round table before the bed. Then she began peeling off the red wedding dress that she had on.

He knew that he should turn away then. But he had never seen her in a woman's undergarments before, so he could make himself look away. And judging from her slightly flushed appearance, she was well aware of his scrutiny.

"You are tall for a woman," he blurted, after a while. It had to be the alcohol talking. He had never been so blunt before. And judging from her red face, she had certainly not expected him to say anything like that.

"I mean, you are almost my height. I never really noticed before, since you were a man. I mean, you looked like a man. No ... that isn't right. I mean ..."

Yue Ling interrupted him then, as she waved a hand at his feet. "Don't put them on the bed! You are still wearing those indoor slippers!" she warned, as she stepped forward to pull his feet back down again.

She was already down to her duduo and her inner trousers by then, and he was staring at her bare shoulders as she reached out, and dragged his feet away from the bedcovers, and back onto the floor. And he could see the blush that started from her cheeks go all the way down until it covered her collar bones.

"Now don't move. I'll help you get your clothes off now," Yue Ling instructed, in her old Young Master voice.

And he found himself obeying at once. He promptly sat back upright, with his back straight. Or rather, as straight as he could manage. And let her fiddle with his shoes. His eyes, on the other hand, were still staring at her bare shoulders.

His actions seemed to have amused her somewhat. And she was grinning at him, with a rather strange expression on her face, when she spoke next:

"You must really have drunk too much. Those relatives of mine have done too much, making you so ... They must want you to be so delirious that you would fall asleep at once!"

She shook her head as she said that, which made him stop and think for a moment. At least, he tried to.

"Well, I think it was mainly your uncles and cousins. Baisheng ge and the rest tried to help me block some of the toasts. But I would certainly just drop off if I lay down now," he sighed then, "And like he said, you can't trust any of them to be on your side. At least, they won't help you keep your secrets, not from your Great-grandmother."

"He should have! We are only in this fix because of that idiot older brother of mine!"

"That doesn't sound very right. He was just ... He wasn't fighting at his best, but you have seen how I look back then, haven't you? I didn't look as if he needed to be at his best, did I?"

Then Wuying stopped talking, and tilted his head to stare at her face. Why had he not noticed before?

Which made the young woman frown at him. "What is it? Something on my face?" she asked, even as she started to pull the embroidered red overcoat off him.

"You might say that. I don't think that I've seen you wearing make-up before."

"That's not true. I was wearing some when I ... No, no. I think you're right. I didn't wear any around the old house. And I've never dressed like a woman around you either. I don't think you've ever seen me in any guise except as a gangly boy. A rather over-proud, gangly boy!"

"A handsome, gangly boy, if you must know. There's a difference. And here! I was worried that Xiao Tao would become infatuated with you! But you had actually told her your secret, didn't you? I think she must have enjoyed watching me treat you like a man!"

"The first opportunity that I got! And that was on the first day that you arrived at the house. I remember now! That was when I put on my dress, to show myself off to Xiao Tao! But not to you! To tell the truth, I was more worried about you, coming into the house with my betrothal blade in your hands. I was half-expecting you to ..."

She cut herself off then, and he was clearly not so drunk that he didn't notice that. He laughed and pointed a finger at her reddening cheeks. "What were you expecting me to do? Challenge you to fight? Or to demand your hand in marriage at once?

"Wait! I didn't get to do that! You were the one who told me to marry you!"

Yue Ling giggled again, and stuck her tongue out at him. "So I did. Now get into bed. It's time that you lie down, and get some sleep. It's been a busy day. For the both of us."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I think I can undress on my own. And given the state that you're in? I think I should give Master Xiang and Uncle Duan a scolding for getting you to drink so much!"

He grinned back at that. Then let his eyes close. That should warn them not to do it again. He had never been good with holding his alcohol. And he had told them that already! It was their fault for letting those people get to him like this!

"Hey! Don't fall asleep! I'll beat you up if you do!"

That was enough to sober him up. Slightly.

Yue Ling sounded really angry, when she said that. And he definitely did not want her angry with him. So he looked up, and tried to heave himself off the sheets with a little more effort. While she seemed to be muttering something, as she stripped off her too-elaborate wedding gown.

"And here I thought that I would be able to get away with it. Who knew they would play this sort of trick on me! And drag Great-grandmother in on it too!"

"What do you mean?"

She looked up at him then, even as she started to take off her inner shirt. Her hands paused for a moment, as she realised that she had given voice to her grouses against her family.

"I don't think you'd understand. This isn't anything to do with you."

"I think I might understand it better if you just explained it to me now, rather than ... Well, it's not like we have anything else better to do right now," he told her with a grin. For some reason, he found it impossible not to smile. Was it because of the alcohol?

Yue Ling, on the other hand, simply yanked his shoes off in a huff. "What is there to explain? I didn't want to get married to someone that I didn't know, much less like. So I conned my brother to make me a promise. Who knew that a farmer from White Tiger Gate actually managed to hit him once?"

"Well, he certainly didn't expect it himself!"

He laughed as he shook his head then, and threw up his hands. "Honestly, neither did I! It just seemed like a good idea at the time! He was too strong and too quick, you see? So I had to try a risky move, just to stand a chance. Who knew that it would connect?"

Yue Ling rolled her eyes. "Like you said, he certainly didn't. Anyway, that's why I ended up marrying you. There! Are you satisfied?"

"Satisfied? What do you mean? You haven't told me anything!"

Wuying shook his head again, and pointed a finger at her. "I want to know why you don't want to get married. I mean, you are seventeen, aren't you? Uncle Duan told me that most girls here in the White Tiger Sector would get married when they are between fifteen and sixteen. So you are considered a little late already.

"Why didn't you ... go out and look for someone that suits you? I'm saying, you had disguised yourself as a boy rather well, so you could have ... You know, look for your own husband? Surely that is acceptable?"

That sent her hands flying to her mouth. Which puzzled him slightly. Until he saw her shoulders shaking. Was she laughing?

"You are rather useless at telling men apart from women, aren't you? None of the uncles at Yue Manor were ever fooled by my cross-dressing. And even my servant girls were able to tell at once when I started to wear men's clothes four, five years ago.

"Only you were so utterly hopeless that I had you fooled for almost a year!"

"Really? I thought that ... Well, I thought you were just prouder than most, and a little more handsome. I really didn't expect you to be a woman in disguise."

"You thought that I was handsome?"

He nodded at that. And pointed at the door to their so-called bridal chamber. "At least, you are better-looking than your brother. He has a rougher, tougher appearance, you know?"

"Oh."

Yue Ling looked a little lost then, and suddenly walked over to a cupboard beside the bed. And hid behind the open door. He didn't know what she was doing until she returned a moment later, with a man's inner shirt cover her top.

"There. This way, you won't get too distracted," she declared proudly, as she stepped over to him again. "Let me help you get your trousers off."

Which she did, before he could raise a hand to stop her. Fortunately, the alcohol in his system kept him from having too much of a reaction, so there was nothing to see, after she pulled his red and black wedding garments off.

"There! You can lie down now!"

And Yue Ling lay herself down beside him, and nudged him in the ribs with one elbow. "Just so you know, I am going smack you if you fall asleep on me. I'm not finished yet. And you are the one who wanted me to tell you my story so you had better stay awake and listen!"

Wuying nodded at that, while he pinched himself on the thigh. It seemed to work, he thought, as the pain made him a little more alert.

"Well, it's really Baisheng's fault. He was always so busy training that he didn't really have the time for me, and the uncles wouldn't let me stay in the training yard with him. They said that I had no place there. So I dressed myself up as a boy and snuck in. And I got away with it for three days before any of them caught me.

"By then, I already learned to traditional family sword moves, so they decided to train me up as well. My mother was still alive back then, and she supported that decision."

She sighed then, while Wuying did his best to keep awake. But he had to admit that it was getting harder now. It was really comfortable, lying there on her bed.

"But she died, in the end, when I was thirteen, and just started my ... Well, she died, and I started dressing like a boy more frequently then. Even after Baisheng left to join the Royal Guards. It was something that was expected of him, after all."

She turned her head to look at him then. And he could see her sad expression at once. But before he could say a word in response, her gaze had already returned to the ceiling of the bed.

"That was when I started to avoid all of my aunts and granduncles. Great-grandmother warned that they would not have my interests at heart. And some of the uncles said the same. As expected, they tried to marry me off to their friends and relations the first chance that they had. So Baisheng ended up beating some of them up, when he finally got his first furlough."

Yue Ling giggled at the memory. And turned to him with the first real smile that he had seen on her face.

"That was when we made that promise, about my groom having to beat him in combat, before I marry him. And needless to say, no one had any success for years. That is, until you came along."

"Oh."

"Frankly, I wondered what sort of man you were, when you appeared at my door with Green Dragonfly in your hands. Then you offered to give it back to me! You can well imagine how furious that made me! Was I so ugly that you would reject marrying me?

"Then I remembered what Xiao Tao told me, when I went to visit her. About how you mistook Jingjing ... I mean, Master Xiang's niece! You mistook her for a boy, when they ... visited your farm. So I thought ... You didn't notice that I was a woman, did you? Not until I wore that dress, in Great-grandmother's Audience Hall?"

The glare that she turned on him then was frightening, to say the least. It was certainly more than sufficient to wake him up fully!

"No, no ... I er ... I didn't notice at all."

Yue Ling nodded gravely at that admission. And her voice turned a little softer, a little less ... incensed. "I had thought so. But I couldn't believe that you had really beaten my big brother. So I arranged for ... Ninth Uncle to take a look."

"And he was the one who convinced you to ... accept me? That's why you brought me to your Ancestral Hall, wasn't it?"

It made sense now that he had the missing piece. So that was the reason why she had dragged him there! It had been worrying him all this time.

"Yes. And you can hang onto Green Dragonfly when you head off for your ... You are still intending to join the White Tiger Guard, aren't you?"

His answer was swift and firm. It was his singular dream, after all this time, after all. "Yes. I will be heading to sign up, after the New Year."

She nodded gravely at him. Which was a much better reaction than he had hoped for. "Just as I expected. You have been obsessing about that for all the time that you were at Yue Manor. And the uncles who were training you were rather certain that you were quite mad, since you would take a life of service to the Crown, instead of living a life as a Manor Lord."

"Ah. Well ... er ..."

He had never thought about that. Not even after he came to know about Yue Ling's true sex and identity. Now that she had mentioned it ...

"It doesn't bother you then?"

"Not really. I will just go on, pretending to be my Young Master Ling. While you can head off to your White Tiger Gate, and get yourself killed protecting the Kingdom. You realise that more than a quarter of the White Tiger Guards die there, every year, don't you? And about half the people who join that group have been forced, one way or another?"

She turned her glare back on, as she faced him again.

"Er ... if you put it like that ... I am guessing that you don't really want to take the risk, to end up a widow then?"

Her glare softened slightly, and he felt the pressure on him abate. Well, a little.

"What are you suggesting?"

"That we don't ... go through with the whole ... Er, I mean, I think you are good-looking and I'm sure that there are many who would be pleased to marry you ... But I ..."

"But?"

Wuying sighed. "Like you said, I am likely to get myself killed there, at White Tiger Gate. So I am willing to ... just get married to you in name? So you can sue for an annulment once you receive word that I am killed? Or once three years have passed?"

That was a rather firm custom, and since the two of them haven't done the deed, it would make for an open and shut case, if it came up to any Magistrate. Yue Ling's eyes were wide, and from the surprised look on her face, it seemed she did not miss the nuances either.

"You are willing to ... do that? For me?"

He shrugged, as he looked away from her, and stared at the bed-ceiling. "I am likely to die there, at White Tiger Gate. Or spend my whole life there. So it would be ... selfish to hold onto a wife who doesn't really want me.

"Besides, I owe you for Xiao Tao."

Yue Ling seemed to understand where he was coming from, when he turned to look her way again. She seemed relieved too, now that that was out of the way.

"Agreed. Let this marriage, this farce, be simply a ... We can say that we went through this to bring my Great-grandmother luck, so that she would have a nice long life. It is more or less accepted, in this day and age. And we won't even tell Baisheng da ge. Or anyone else!"

He agreed with her terms. How could he not? Some might consider it a grave insult, after all. And would probably try to stab him to death with a pair of scissors! He decided that he should be grateful she was taking things so calmly.

"So ... what do we do now?"

She was clearly blushing again, for all that she was using her Young Master voice again. Wuying sighed, as he closed his eyes. He was feeling more tired than she knew, although he could well imagine that she was feeling drained herself.

"Go to sleep, I suppose."

* * *