Ch.4- Married
No one in the Marquis’ household bothered to consider what kind of betrothal gifts the Li family will send over for the bride price. They all knew that no matter what was sent, it could not be good enough to enter their eyes.
However, even if each of them understood this truth irrefutably, when the gifts were finally delivered, it still caused ripples among the household.
This was the first time the people of the Marquis household saw betrothal gifts like these.
After one glance, they all sighed in their hearts and pitied the Sixth Young Lady. She was going to have a hard life going forward.
Such a noble and distinguished daughter had fallen into such misfortune.
Oh, how fickle life is.
Who could have ever expected that the arrogant and overbearing Sixth Young Lady would end marrying such a family because of disgraceful reasons.
Furthermore, she is a proper Di daughter. The Shu daughter of the First Household, the Third Young Lady, had at least married a high-ranking official’s son, one of the youngest sons of an official from the Court of Judicature and Revision.
Naturally, many people also laughed at her misfortune.
Second Furen tears had already dried from all that crying, and so when she saw the betrothal gifts, her face did not change much except her eyes grew a little colder.
She desperately stuffed even more things into her daughter’s dowry and brought out as many things as she could.
There were eight sets of finely crafted headpieces, earrings, and bracelets of various colors that were filled into the boxes until they were stuffed to the brim.
She also hired a tailor to create a few more dresses for her daughter, a total of four different sets of clothes for the few seasons along with two boxes of fine silk brocades and six pairs of embroidered shoes.
There were many more things in her dowry, but to list them all would take too long.
The girl had always been a lover of all things beautiful, so her mother paid special attention to these things in fear that the husband’s family would not be able to afford these things in the future.
In total, 64 palanquins were packed to the brim with the Sixth Young Lady’s dowry.
The sedan that will carry the bride was decorated in swaths of big red silk and on the outside it seemed like it was a truly joyous occasion.
On the day of the marriage, the dowry was carried and paraded in the streets, and the people who watched enviously from the side couldn’t tell just how many boxes there were from a glance.
The Sixth Young Lady cried one more time before getting into her sedan.
The First Furen had always been proper and upheld the family’s reputation, so with a smile on her face, she told the several women beside her that the girl was crying because she couldn’t bear to part with her parents and her family.
The women listened and all praised Sixth Young Lady Gu’s show of filial piety.
The trumpets and suonas warbled joyously through the streets, all the way from the Marquis’ household to the new residence of the Li family.
The entire residence was filled to the brim. When the relatives of the Li family saw the procession, they grew speechless and their eyes were full of envy and jealousy.
Goodness gracious! The Li family had practically married a golden bodhisattva!
Zhang-momo, who had followed the Sixth Young Lady since Miss Gu was a babe, stared at them closely for fear that in the middle of the chaos something might get stolen or lost.
After all the dowry arrived, she ordered the servants to carry everything into the new residence’s west courtyard. She carried a list in her hand and counted each gift. After everything was put in place, she sent everyone out and then took out a large brass key to lock the door securely behind her.
After the bride finished paying her respects and observed the wedding bows in the main courtyard of the old residence, she was sent over to the new residence.
The groom met his wife for the first time, they drank their nuptial wine and then the groom was immediately dragged out by his friends to drink.
The female relatives and friends of the Li family finished the last touches of the wedding ceremony when the gong rang to signal the beginning of the banquet.
The wine and food for the wedding were placed in the original Li residence and the voices over there were loud and joyful, which could even be heard from the new residence.
There were large and red ‘双喜’ (TN: double happiness, a Chinese traditional ornament design, commonly used as a decoration symbol of marriage) posters hung everywhere in the residence, and red lanterns hung from every door.
In the bride’s room, the dragon and phoenix candles had already been lit and the new bed was covered in red bed sheets with a red dragon and phoenix embroidered quilt on top.
Once the guests and relatives all left, one of the aunts brought some food over for the new bride. As someone with experience and wisdom, she understood that the new bride was probably hungry by now.
The two main maidservants that came with the Sixth Young Lady, one named Yu Zhu and the other named Yu Chuan, accepted the food box politely and thanked the aunt before sending her away.
Sister Zhang returned to the main courtyard of the new residence and then handed the key to the west courtyard to Yu Zhu for safekeeping.
Meanwhile, Yu Chuan took out the contents of the food box and served it for her mistress to eat. The food box contained a bowl of rice, a bowl of simmered chicken soup, a bowl of cooked braised pork, a stack of assorted tofu, a stack of steamed, then shredded radish, and a cup of white herbal fungus with lotus seed and longan soup.
The banquet hosted by the Li family today had no shortage of food and so the aunt had picked a few at random and brought them over.
However, this food was rough and tasteless compared to the exquisite food that Sixth Young Lady Gu had eaten all of her life.
Gu Qingci lost her temper just by looking at the food and almost flipped over the table, but Zhang-momo was able to stop her before she was able to do so. After calming down, the girl finally let the reality sink in. She was no longer in the luxurious Marquis’ manor.
This is where she will be living for the rest of her life.
Zhang-momo had already inspected the entire residence. Although it was a little small, it was at least separated from the other residence. Although the residence was connected through a path from the side door, the separation of the two residences meant that the Young Lady would be left well alone for most days.
The servants were able to adapt to this new lifestyle, but the girl could not adapt to such a shabby life.
Yu Zhu picked up a bowl of the white herbal fungus soup and tried to coax the Sixth Young Lady into eating it.
Zhang-momo watched from the side and opened her mouth, “There is a kitchen somewhere in the courtyard. I will get someone to clean it up and it will be prepared by tomorrow. Miss will be able to eat anything you want then.”
If Gu Qingci had married the right person today, Zhang-momo would’ve never had said such a thing.
Such a thing goes against the established costumes and rules.
What kind of new bride sets up a private small kitchen for themselves as soon as they enter their husband’s residence? When a new bride steps through the door, they should be cautiously standing to the side and serving their in-laws. By setting up a private kitchen, it would only anger the mother-in-law and the newly-wedded wife would be simply asking for misfortune.
Only in the Li family, such a poor family, could they do something like this and no one would dare to comment on the matter.
Thinking like this, Zhang-momo realized that one of the benefits of marrying such a poor family was that at least the Miss wouldn’t have to worry about facing the in-laws’ wrath or bullying.
Gu Qingci’s complexion improved slightly when she heard that, and Zhang-momo went off to arrange some other logistical details.
Not many servants followed Gu Qingci when she was married over and so there were only ten of them in total.
Adjacent to the main chamber were two side rooms. Zhang-momo would reside in one of the rooms by herself and the other room was to be occupied by Yu Zhu and Yu Chuan. The rest were arranged to live in the south courtyard where there were at least five rooms, just enough if they have two people cohabiting each room.
Yu Chuan respectfully bowed after receiving her orders, and dragged Xiao-man and Gu Yu with her to go clean up the other rooms. There was no need for them to stay here.
Then, Zhang-momo caught wind that there were no other servants in the Li family.
Being a poor family with no servants may just be a good thing for the servants from the Marquis’ household.
No servants meant there were no outsiders living in the residence, so the girls made their arrangements without any fear of confronting anyone. There were no conflicts, nor was there a need to be on guard against spies that may be hidden among the servants in the household.
The sky began to grow dark and Young Lady Gu’s patience was running out as she waited for her new husband to arrive.
Her new husband had never entered her eyes, and even now she only felt disgust towards the man.
She felt that the man didn’t deserve to be with her!
Yu Chuan removed the heavy finely crafted headpieces on the girl’s head while the two kitchen maids prepared the bath to which they had boiled the water early on. After the hot water was prepared, the Sixth Young Lady bathed and waited upon by another maid waiting in the bathing room.
After bathing and putting on a new set of embroidered clothes, Gu Qingci entered the inner chamber where Yu Zhu had already arranged everything on the bed.
At this moment, the sound of footsteps could be heard from outside.
The banquet had finished and Li Chengze had finally arrived.
The sound of footsteps gradually grew louder and Yu Zhu and Yu Chuan clenched their fists unconsciously. They both wondered what kind of man their new master was.
There were no maids waiting outside the door, so the curtain was drawn to the side by the person himself.
Swiftly, the heavy, navy-blue curtain was forcefully pulled to one side.
Then a man dressed in a large red brocade robes walked in, bringing with him the stench of alcohol.
Zhang-momo took a step forward with a smile on her face and bowed before asking if the Master would like to take a bath.
On the other side, Li Chengze had drank too much wine and was feeling rather impatient. His eyes narrowed like he was annoyed by the old servant and looked at the few people in the room.
He then waved his hand and said, “No need to wait upon me, all of you, get out!”
Zhang-momo still felt a little worried but she had to listen to her new master’s words. This was also the newlyweds’ wedding night, a night she dared not interrupt. She could only leave with Yu Zhu and Yu Chuan following behind her.
As soon as the door closed, the sounds inside the chamber became muffled. Zhang-momo, Yu Zhu,
and Yu Chuan stood guard outside the door.
They guarded the door with trepidation, the anxiety in their heart rising as time went on. They feared that Li Chengze would hurt their Miss in his currently drunken state.
Who knows how much time went by and suddenly a bang rang out in the room. Something seemed to have fallen. Then a scream followed.
“Ahhh–!”
Yu Zhu panicked, “It’s the Miss!”
Zhang-momo also jumped in a panic and ignoring all rules and courtesy, she yelled hurriedly, “Miss, Miss!”
It seems like the person inside couldn’t hear her so she could only grit her teeth and push open the closed doors.
She quickly entered the inner chamber and when she saw the scene inside, she stood there in shock.
The groom was still drunk, but now he was also lying unconscious, face-down on the ground. After a closer look, she saw blood bleeding down the side of his face!
The Sixth Young Lady was holding a porcelain pillow in her hand, her face ashen with fright.
Seeing that Zhang-momo had come in, she trembling called out, “Momo, momo…..”
Li Chengze could make out a din of voices, but they were talking so quietly that he couldn’t make out a single understandable word.
His head hurt like crazy, and before his eyes even opened, he instinctively raised his hand to touch his head.
Then he felt something wet dripping down and felt even more uncomfortable.
He strenuously tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids wouldn’t listen and his head began to throb even more.
It was like something was rolling inside his head, going back and forth while bumping against his skull. A flood of memories rushed into his brain.
Li Chengze was in so much pain that he almost begged for death to come.
After waiting for the tide of information that had swelled in his head to subside, he was able to gather his bearings and finally realize that something was fundamentally wrong.
He didn’t know how much time passed, but Li Chengze had a bad premonition in his heart and he didn’t want to believe the fragments of memories that had suddenly popped up in his head.
And so, he finally opened his eyes.
He laid on the ground for a long while and frowned like he was in deep thought, his brows furrowed.
A little while later, he raised his right hand in front of his eyes.
The hand was covered in crimson, dark-red blood.
Sticky, wet, and smelly.
He raised his hand higher and carefully felt around the wet stuff on his forehead. There seemed to be a wound on his forehead.
Li Cheng slowly and calmly stood up, his eyes cold and unfamiliar. He didn’t even look at the girl and the servant who were anxiously waiting in the room.
He only pressed the wound on his forehead, lifted the curtain, and then strode out.
Zhang-momo grew flustered and grabbed Gu Qingci’s hand with a bitter expression, “Miss, how could you hit the Master like that!” The situation just now was incredibly scary for the old woman. She had seen how the master had just laid there on the ground with a bloody head and was seemingly not breathing.
Fortunately, the Master woke up or they would’ve been in real trouble!
However, when Li Chengze really did wake up, Zhang-momo was really afraid that he would hit Gu Qingci, but fortunately he did not.
It’s just that…his entire demeanor and aura seemed to have changed.
He didn’t even say a single word and his lack of a reaction put fear in her heart.
Gu Qingci never thought she would hit someone like that. The hard porcelain pillow was shattered now and there were blood stains on them as well. She looked down at it, then threw the pillow onto the ground like it had nothing to do with her.
Zhang-momo ordered Yu Zhu to come in and clean up the mess before asking Yu Chuan to go find where the Master went. She prayed that the man didn’t report what happened to his family and stir up chaos.
Yu Chuan went out quickly, and returned after a while, “Master has not left, he is in the East chamber.”
Zhang-momo breathed a sigh of relief, and then called for one of the servants, “Gu Yu, to go outside and quietly invite a doctor over.”
Master has a big wound on his forehead. Who knows what will happen if someone sees his wound tomorrow?
The hearts of everyone in the residence were thrown into pandemonium.
They were afraid that the Master would hate and despise the Miss for what she did and they didn’t know what this meant for the future.
TN Notes: Sunoas look like this
Twin Dragons Translations 