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Little Rascal
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Lu Qi Yang carried Shen Lan Chi horizontally as he stepped out of the An Duke Manor. The bridesmaids chased out after him, hastily questioning him, unwilling to give up.
“First say whether the bride normally likes sweet or salty? If you don’t answer, you’re not allowed to leave.”
“What color does the bride like?”
Lu Qi Yang laughed and replied, “She’s very picky with food. Whether it’s sweet or salty, she doesn’t like either that much. However, she certainly likes eating wontons.”
When the bridesmaids heard, they all blanked.
Wontons?
How come they’d never heard that this young lady of the An Duke Manor likes to eat wontons?
While they were still dumbstruck, Lu Qi Yang already had the person carried away.
In any case, the two families lived close by, so the procession just needed to exit this gate, and then pass through another gate.
Because the heir was marrying today, Zhennan Wang Manor was very lively, the red lanterns hung high. After passing through Zhennan Wang Manor’s gate, Lu Qi Yang had the girl in his arms placed down, whispering by her ear, “The road the ahead, you need to walk together with me.”
Shen Lan Chi straightened the veil, but didn’t speak, just reaching out to hold onto one end of the red silk.
The ceremonial music sounded in the surrounding, extraordinarily lively. A bunch of Lu clan descendants came to join in on the fun, the teasing sounds rose one after another.
“Brother Qi Yang, you’re being unfair, when did you secretly ask for Miss Shen’s hand in marriage?”
“To silently have the person married away without a word, you simply didn’t have us treated as brothers!”
“Today, if you don’t drink a few more cups, you’re not allowed to leave!”
The couple slowed down their pace and walked to the main reception hall, first bowing to the heaven and earth. Afterwards, Shen Lan Chi got escorted to the bridal chamber.
Although it was already her second time going through the marriage rites, it was still Shen Lan Chi’s first time being this nervous.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
In the past, when she married Lu Zhao Ye, she didn’t have that much joy, just wanting the wealth and splendor of the crown princess. And now that she has genuinely married, she realized that a bride would also be this uneasy and restless.
She sat upon the wedding bed, hazily sweeping over the objects covered in red before her through the bright red wedding veil. The tall red candles were burning, producing a crackling sound. Landing in her ear, it was able to easily stir up her heartstrings.
Recalling the past life, she faintly fell in a daze——-Lu Qi Yang who’d frantically looked for her the night before her wedding in the past, wanting to elope with her, has now married her and became her legitimate husband.
Thinking to here, she slightly clenched her hand.
Unknown as to how long she waited, the bridal chamber’s door finally got pushed open. A figure walked in from outside, the sound of the footsteps light and shallow.
There was a crisp sound, like pearls falling on a tray. Turns out, he’d lifted the low-hanging pearl curtain. The strings of pearls on the curtain struck against one another, producing a sound like music.
Finally, the bright red figure stood before Shen Lan Chi, holding a wedding scale[1] in hand. With a gentle flick, he lifted the wedding veil.
Shen Lan Chi looked up at him, seeing the heir carrying a warm smile. That smile seemingly was about to melt into the depths of his eyes. He placed down the wedding scale and bent down, leaning by her ear and softly whispering something.
“Finally married you. I’ve thought of you for two lifetimes…..Come, let’s hear you call out husband.”
His voice was extremely light, like a soundless puff of air, tickling her earlobe.
Upon hearing this, Shen Lan Chi half lowered her head, somewhat shyly squeezing out from between her lips, “…….Husband.”
The beads before her forehead slowly swayed, the vermillion dot between her brows was as vibrant as a lotus core.
Clearly, it was just a simple word, yet it caused the room to overflow with a heart-racing intimate atmosphere. Her cheeks instantly turned red, even her neck all dyed with a bit of pink.
Lu Qi Yang, however, wasn’t satisfied, using his finger to brush a strand of hair hanging from her temple, saying with a smile, “Call out husband again.”
“Husband.” This time, her voice was increasingly low.
“One more time.” He said.
“……husband.”
“Again……..”
“…………”
Shen Lan Chi was annoyed, lifting her eyes to shoot him a glare. Afterwards, she reached out and boldly embraced his neck, saying: “The cold night is short, so why not rest early?” Getting pressed to continuously call out ‘husband’ truly was embarrassing to death.
Lu Qi Yang glanced at her and said, “What, unwilling to call me ‘husband’?”
Shen Lan Chi said: “Naturally willing. Why do you have this much nonsense to say?”
After a brief moment of being bashful, she just revealed her true colors, starting to act high and mighty in front of her husband. Lu Qi Yang also got shocked by her, immediately not daring to say more. He obediently tucked his neck and sat onto the wedding bed, exchanging the wedding wine with her.
Shen Lan Chi held the little gold cup and used her sleeve to cover her lipsFinally, the bright red figure stood before Shen Lan Chi, holding a wedding scale[2] in hand. With a gentle flick, he lifted the wedding veil.
, slowly drinking the wine. As she was about to have the little gold cup placed back onto the table, Lu Qi Yang’s hand reached over, pressing down her hand and swiftly having the little gold cup pushed far away.
“What?” Shen Lan Chi turned her head and asked.
“……” Lu Qi Yang didn’t answer, suddenly clenching his hand that was pinning down hers.
In the next moment, she got pressed against the pillow by him.
Even if the two of them had long done the deed, when it really came to the wedding night, she was still a bit embarrassed. She could only push him and softly say, “Husband, you better be……..gentle.”
The curtains of the wedding bed fell, covering up half the charm in the room.
• • •
According to etiquette, the next day after the wedding, Shen Lan Chi needed to go before her mother-in-law Zhennan Wangfei to offer tea. However, Zhennan Wangfei took pity on the newly-wedded young couple, so very magnanimously exempted them from this matter, just saying to let Shen Lan Chi nicely rest and that it’s not too late to offer tea when she gets up later.
Shen Lan Chi indeed was tired. She’d gotten tossed around for half the night. The next day, she just wanted to die in bed, never getting up again in this lifetime. Just, her body was covered all over in sweat, ultimately somewhat uncomfortable, so she still forced herself to get up to bathe and wash up.
Once she changed and returned to the room, she saw that Lu Qi Yang had also gotten up. He was standing by the window, seemingly waiting for something.
He half pushed open the window, gazing out at the verdant scenery in the garden outside the window. A few newly sprouted vines hung down from the eaves, swaying in the wind. The sunlight filtered through the emerald leaves, faintly casting a green tint around the window.
“Husband, what are you looking at?” Shen Lan Chi curiously asked.
“Waiting for you.” Lu Qi Yang heard the sound and immediately turned around, flashing out an eyebrow brush in his hand, saying, “I want to help……help my wife draw the brow.”
Shen Lan Chi blanked, and shortly after, used a doubtful look to size up Lu Qi Yang.
It’s true that the heir was proficient in military tactics and archery, but a grown man like him can even draw eyebrows?
Even if very doubtful, she still obediently sat down, even taking hold of the bronze mirror.
She was already mentally prepared. Lu Qi Yang surely will draw something earth-shatteringly shocking. Perhaps, it will be like two unbridled wild horses galloping across her face. If she must go see Zhennan Wangfei with such ugly eyebrows, then she will also accept her fate.
Lu Qi Yang rolled up his sleeves and put on a serious look. The brush carefully swept over her brows a few times, actually really drawing a slightly curved willow-leaf brow, neither crooked nor lopsided, the thickness just right, making Shen Lan Chi greatly surprised.
“I’d practiced before.” Lu Qi Yang placed down the brush and said with a smile, “Did you think that I was no good?”
“Practiced before?” Shen Lan Chi frowned, immediately discovering that this matter wasn’t simple, “Where did you get the opportunity to draw eyebrows for women?”
Lu Qi Yang who was wagging his tail, waiting to be praised, blanked for a moment. He completely didn’t expect that her focus would be this different from others. After blanking for a moment, he honestly answered, “I didn’t draw for other women. I just practiced drawing on the servant boy for a period of time. For the sake of drawing for you, I’d practiced for a long time.”
When Shen Lan Chi heard, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “The heir’s servant boy truly is quite pitiful.” She said.
The two of them chatted for a while, and then headed to the main courtyard together to go see Zhennan Wangfei.
When the wangfei saw Shen Lan Chi, she smiled from ear to ear, saying: “Aiyaya, never thought that our family’s little rascal would really be able to marry Lan’er, truly blessed by fate.” After saying this, she slipped off a jade bracelet from her wrist and shoved it to Shen Lan Chi, “In the future, if Qi Yang bullies you, just tell mother. Mother and father will help you beat him!”
Shen Lan Chi: ……
No, no need!
How come she felt that Lu Qi Yang was very pitiful!
In the past, at home, Lu Qi Yang’s mother was strict, while his father was mean and fierce. He was the one at the bottommost rung. Now, he has finally taken a wife, yet his wife seemingly has a higher place than him in the family…….
So pitiful, lord heir.
• • •
Not long after Lu Qi Yang returned, the two of them just married. After the bride’s first return to the maiden home, it was the Lantern Festival. The Zhennan Wang Manor headed to the palace to attend the banquet.
When Shen Lan Chi arrived at the palace, she first went to Ziluan Palace to pay respect to the Empress Ji Fei Xia. Arriving in Ziluan Palace, she discovered that Lu Zhi Ning was also present. Lu Zhi Ning was wearing a tender willow green dress, sitting next to Empress Ji, still dressed as an unmarried young maiden.
Among the noble young ladies that were relatively close, Princess Yong Chun married off to a distant land, Liu Ru Yan eloped with Shen Ting Yuan, Ji Fei Xia entered the palace as the empress, and Shen Lan Chi who was slow to marry also married, becoming Zhennan Wang heir’s consort. At present, only Lu Zhi Ning still hasn’t married.
Seeing the girls by her side all with the hairstyle of a married woman, Lu Zhi Ning’s eyes slightly flickered, turning away.
She was almost twenty years old. This already wasn’t something that can be brushed off with ‘my mother wants me to marry in Jiangxia’. Sure enough, there were a few noble madams next to Ji Fei Xia that passive-aggressively opened their mouth, “Jiangxia Junzhu is already this old, yet wangfei still hasn’t let junzhu marry. This truly is unacceptable.”
The titled madams all gathered in their own cliques. Those of the capital gathered together with others of the capital, secretly looking down on those women from outside of the capital. Seeing this junzhu and wangfei from Jiangxia, they inwardly felt that they were uncouth, coming from the countryside.
Seeing the madams talking one after another about Lu Zhi Ning still not getting married, Ji Fei Xia was somewhat anxious, hurriedly saying, “Women don’t necessarily need to marry. Could it be that if a woman marries a few years later, her status will be reduced?”
“Isn’t that the case?” A madam used the white of her eye to look at Lu Zhi Ning, “What reason is there for a woman to not marry! To be this old, yet still staying at home, could it be that there’s some shameful secret, thus unable to marry?”
Lu Zhi Ning’s face stiffened. She got up and asked to take her leave, saying that she wanted to go out to clear her mind.
Ji Fei Xia revealed a worried look. However, Shen Lan Chi pressed her hand, softly consoling, “Forget it, arguing with these women won’t work, just let them be.”
The curtain of the night has already descended, thousands of lanterns clashing in brilliance. Shen Lan Chi followed Ji Fei Xia out of Ziluan Palace and heard ‘his Majesty has arrived’. Lu Zi Xiang got off the sedan chair and said to Ji Fei Xia, “This emperor wants to travel together with empress, don’t know if empress will grant this honor?” After saying this, he sized up Ji Fei Xia with a mischievous smile.
Hearing this, Ji Fei Xia revealed a shallow smile, two faint dimples showing on her face, appearing very cute, “How can this wife dare to disobey your Majesty’s command?” As she said this, she had her hand placed into the emperor’s palm.
The emperor and empress slowly walked side by side, their figures gradually receding into the distance. When the women in the surrounding saw, they were very envious.
“How many throughout history can amass the favor of six palaces in one?”
“To be this blessed, really beyond envy…….”
As they chatted, Lu Qi Yang came over too. He approached Shen Lan Chi and said, “Let’s also go admire the lanterns.”
“En.” Shen Lan Chi said.
She walked a few steps, but discovered that Lu Qi Yang didn’t move. She turned back and asked in confusion, “Are you coming, little tiger?”
“We can admire this lantern.” After saying this, Lu Qi Yang took out a silly-looking rabbit lantern. The rabbit’s face had two bright red blush that was brighter than peonies. He held the lantern and lifted his sharp brow, “I know you will certainly like this kind of lantern.”
Shen Lan Chi: ……..
No, wait, how come this lantern was a bit familiar-looking?
Didn’t you already give one before ages ago?
[1] This is used to lift the wedding veil. It’s the handle of a steelyard. It has an auspicious meaning to bring happiness and good fortune.
[2] See example below. People in ancient times cover their mouth when drinking wine. It’s for both maintaining their graceful bearing and also out of respect for the other party.
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