47. Reds And Golds
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Tong helped Weiyan into the complex red and gold hanfu, and then placed a red veil over her head, which covered her face. Then she led her outside to where the wedding carriage waited.
But they met a crowd at the gates.
"Such a clear difference!" Many of them were saying.
"I guess this is a reminder that one child is adopted!"
It wasn't hard to see what they meant.
There were two bridal sedans, both red and gold, but one was gilded and elaborate, while the other was small and plain.
"Xu Linhua! What's the meaning of this?!" Tong had turned to challenge the second bride in gold and red.
Weiyan's bridal sedan had been the same as Linhua's the previous evening, but somehow it had changed to a small and plain sedan.
Linhua just turned to Weiyan speaking from behind her own red veil, which was ornately decorated in gold.
"Father and Mother are already waiting at the Zhang residence, so father can't help you now. Do you want to raise an issue here? Do you think you deserve to have the same things as me?" Weiyan said nothing and Linhua continued.
"Hmph. I also took all the gifts father bought for you. As a beggar, you should go without anything to escort your sedan!"
"Xu Linhua! Don't go too far!" Tong took a step towards Linhua, but Weiyan put a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder.
"A-Tong. Let's go." She turned and allowed one of the bearers to help her into the sedan, and Tong hesitantly took her place beside the sedan.
Linhua smirked as she settled in her own sedan. 'Hmph! Enjoy the shameful ride to the Zhang Residence!'
"Lift!" The leader of the bridal procession called out, and the bearers lifted both bridal sedans and began the trek to the Zhang residence.
However, they had not gone more than a few steps, when they saw their way blocked by a person.
He turned and everyone saw it was a young man, plainly dressed in light blue robes.
It was Meng Qiu, Luoyin's head housekeeper.
"Flowers envy flowers!" Meng Qiu loudly recited. "But all flowers envy this beauty! Beauty that 'drowns the fish, and falls the goose from the sky'!"
By now a crowd had gathered to witness the spectacle, and Linhua stuck her head out of her carriage.
"What's going on? She asked her maid. "Did Cheng gē ge plan this?"
"2nd Miss, who else can this be for?" The maid said proudly.
But Meng Qiu heard them and smirked.
"All hail Xu Weiyan! Our beautiful White Swallow! Loved by her husband, who has personally come to escort her to the wedding venue!" The young man clapped his hands, and music began playing.
Weiyan stuck her head out in surprise.
At a turning up ahead, a band of musicians and a troupe of beautifully dressed dancing ladies entered the street. They were followed by a long line of servants carrying more than two hundred gifts!
Behind them, Luoyin appeared, dressed in red and gold finery, with a silk red mask covering his lower face. He sat on a horse, and he was followed by an empty red and gold sedan, far more exquisite than Linhua's own!
'How is this possible?!' Linhua raged. 'How can Luoyin afford to do all this?!'
Meanwhile, Weiyan stared mutely as Xu Lin and Xu Wen came forward with the new sedan.
"Sister Weiyan, please get in this carriage!" They said at the same time, raising the flap on each side.
From a nearby roof, Xu Min spiralled down in a spectacular display of qinggong, and the crowd oohed and aahed as he landed right next to the plain sedan, and gestured to the bearers, who gently dropped it.
Then Xu Min held out a hand to Weiyan. "Little Sister, come with me!"
Weiyan was still frozen, but Tong nudged her through the window.
"My Lady! Go!" Tong said, unable to contain herself, and Weiyan mutely put her hand in Xu Min's hand.
He guided her to the elaborate new sedan, and they helped her into it.
Luoyin led his horse to the carriage. "Xu Weiyan, I apologize for being late with my gifts!"
He said loudly, so the crowd could hear.
"I was out of Yue City, because I wanted to find the most precious gifts for you!
On my journey, I found it was customary in some regions, for the groom to escort the bride, so I decided to do things this way!
"Please let me lead you!" Once he said those words, there were fireworks, and petals were showered down from the roofs, along with tiny pieces of pure gold!
The crowd rushed to pick the gold pieces, now cheering for Luoyin!
"Is he the deity of wealth?!"
"Wah!"
"Xu Weiyan is so lucky!"
"What a grand wedding!"
"As befitting our White Swallow!"
Luoyin took the lead, the sedan followed, then the servants with gifts, and finally all the performers followed them, leaving Linhua and the original bridal procession behind.
Linhua felt like a flaming cauldron, boiling over with rage. 'What just happened?!!'
Meanwhile,inside the new elaborate sedan, Weiyan was struggling to control her emotions.
She wasn't one to think too much or expect a lot.
In fact, she had learned to swallow embarrassment from an early age, so she didn't even have a problem going in the plain carriage without a single gift.
So why did she feel immeasurably touched by Luoyin's bridal procession? And why were tears threatening to fall?
'Do I deserve to be this happy?!' She wondered, as the procession headed to the Zhang residence...
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Xu Weiyan's glamorous procession was the talk of the town, and word of it hurried ahead of the bridal procession, reaching the Zhang residence before the brides even arrived!
"Hao!" Lord Xu applauded, when he heard the news. "Hen hao!"
Zhang Luoyin had sent him a note early that morning, stating that he would make Weiyan Yue City's most envied woman today!
'Heh! That fellow didn't disappoint!'
On the other hand, Xu Furen was a bit annoyed, and she eyed her husband. "A marriage should be a girl's special day! Aren't you considering how your own daughter would feel about this?!" She asked in a whisper.
"My pretty Lady, wasn't A-Lin the one who insisted on getting married today?" He whispered back. "I can't order the original couple to change their plans because of her!"
Lord Zhang was also rather angry. How glorious it would have been, if Luoyin had pulled such a grand move while still under his roof!
But the most comical reactions came from Zhang Furen and Zhang Cheng...
Zhang Cheng resembled someone standing on needles, and Zhang Furen had the tightest of smiles on her face, making her look like she swallowed an entire potato whole.
In a stroke of inspiration, Zhang Cheng turned and smiled at the guests. "I'm happy to hear this about my younger brother." He said, pacing the front of the hall.
"For years now, my younger brother has lived like a ghost, hiding behind a mask. At least he is coming out of his shell!"
"Yes." Zhang Furen put in. "We had planned something spectacular for Linhua as well, but we thought we would let our A-Yin have today!"
"Ei? Mother and son have a talent for weaving!" A voice exclaimed at the doorway. "Almost a thousand li of thread to weave such lies... Even the Weaver deity might be envious!"
All eyes had turned to see Luoyin at the doorway in his impeccable red and gold finery, and a spatter of chatter erupted at his words.
Were Zhang Cheng and Zhang Furen indeed lying?
"Hmph." Luoyin strode towards the front where Zhang Cheng stood, but he spared a glance at a corner of the hall, where an invisible Yinying stood, holding up an impressed thumb.
~"Xiaobai! The crowd here are so impressed!"~ Yinying had come ahead to monitor the sway at the crowd.
Luoyin grinned ~"Hmph. Zhang Furen tried to embarrass her great grandfather!"~ He turned back to Zhang Furen and Zhang Cheng.
"My dear mother and brother, if you indeed wanted me to 'have today', then why did the Zhang family only send gifts for Xu Linhua?" He challenged, and the guests' chatter only increased, making Zhang Furen a bit uncomfortable.
"You unfilial son! What are you doing on such an important day?!" Lord Zhang yelled.
"Don't just hurl accusations at us!" Zhang Cheng defended. "Mother prepared your gifts, but you weren't around to go and deliver them!"
"Hao. Then you should have no problem bringing them out now?" Luoyin said.
"W- What is the point?" Zhang Cheng shrugged. "We hear you bought almost two hundred gifts already!"
"Heh!" Luoyin smiled beneath his veil. "Hao. Let's forget the gifts. Why was Xu Weiyan in such a plain shabby sedan, without any gifts?"
'Plain sedan?!' Lord Xu looked annoyed.
"A-Yin, what are you saying? The groom's family has nothing to do with the bridal carriage." Madam Zhang pointed out with a kind smile.
"Exactly! Do you dare question your In-laws about it?!" Lord Zhang challenged.
"I don't dare, I don't dare!" Luoyin said. "But that is because I already know Sect Leader Xu prepared the exact same sedans for Weiyan and Linhua, and he even prepared more than a few gifts for Weiyan. So why did Weiyan suddenly appear in a shabby sedan with no gifts?"
"A-Yin, siblings fight all the time." Zhang Furen quickly jumped in.
"Perhaps Linhua was annoyed to be getting married on the same day as her younger sister, so she took the gifts and the carriage. We can't blame the poor child. She was engaged to our A-Cheng first, only to have him snatched away, and then wronged by Weiyan. It was a harmless prank."
The guests were still muttering, but Zhang Furen smiled in satisfaction. They were evenly split, but most of the guests that mattered thought Luoyin was making unnecessary trouble!
Luoyin simply cupped his hands and bowed perfunctorily. "I Apologise, Mother. I see you are knowledgeable about the entire issue!"
"The second bride is here!" A voice announced and with that, the wedding began...
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