Annual Ceremony

Chapter 12: Spring Equinox (Part )

Not far from Defeng Pavilion, in Jifang Study, a figure was sitting by the window. It was Shuyi.

The first wife, the third wife and Yang Jinniang were also there. They looked at the young man in the pavilion from time to time and whispered something. Shuyi lowered her head shyly from time to time, but did not dare to lose her manners.

After hesitating for a long time, Shuyi mustered up her courage, quietly turned her head, and looked towards Defeng Pavilion through the half-open carved window.

The breeze is blowing gently and the willows are swaying.

Just as Shuyi was looking over, the young man in the pavilion also turned around and looked over. Their eyes met in the deep spring, and both of them were stunned for a moment.

Vernal Equinox, the first sign of the year, the arrival of the Yuan bird.

Yuan bird is a swallow.

A swallow flew over and passed through the intersection of their lines of sight, like a flash of lightning in spring, which suddenly woke people up and made them quickly look away.

Soon, Shuyi followed her mother and two aunts out of the study, and bowed silently in the direction of Defeng Pavilion from a distance.

The young man and his father immediately raised their hands to return the greeting.

As the young man saluted, he saw from afar the girl's lotus-colored skirt with elegant orchids embroidered on the edge. He seemed to smell the fragrance of flowers as she walked, but he didn't know whether the fragrance was real or an illusion.

Only after Shuyi and her mother walked away did the boy slowly stand up.

The eldest wife and her entourage passed by the rockery and saw Wang Yuan and his companions hiding behind it.

When the eldest wife saw her son, although she did not say anything out loud, she already cursed him harshly with her eyes. She turned around to look at Defengting and quickly raised her hand to drive him away - what would it mean if the guest saw her?

Wang Yuan curled his lips, feeling very aggrieved, and muttered softly: "If my father hadn't forbidden me to get close, I wouldn't have peeked."

Although he is handsome, his father thinks he is not presentable and is afraid that he will damage the family's image.

Wang Yuan, who was driven away, could only lead his younger brothers and sisters away. Anyway, he had seen the whole thing.

But Orange ran in the completely opposite direction.

Zhenyi whispered urgently: "Orange!"

Orange stopped running and started walking, slowly raised his furry tail, and walked gracefully into Defeng Pavilion.

It's not as embarrassing as Wang Yuan's.

It's a cat.

If you have a cat at home, people will look at you with respect - this is the case in modern times.

But what the orange did was not something that people could look upon with high regard. It walked over gracefully, came to the side of the young man, raised its head and sniffed his robe, then lowered its head and carefully smelled his shoes and boots.

The young man subconsciously took two steps back.

Wang Xichen was afraid of disturbing the guests, so he raised his hand to drive the orange away.

The fortune teller Juzi jumped out of the pavilion and quickly followed Zhenyi.

Orange doesn't hate the boy. For a cat, not hating him is already a high compliment.

But Orange hated the old lady who came to visit a few days later. She was the young man's grandmother.

The little old lady looked Shuyi up and down. When Shuyi came to her and bowed, she held Shuyi's hands and patted them gently. Her eyes first looked at Shuyi's earlobes, then at her cheekbones, nose and lips, and finally at her feet under her skirt. She smiled and praised her.

Although it was a compliment, Orange sounded very annoyed, but everyone present smiled along, including Shuyi, who lowered her head and smiled shyly, as if she had received the most glorious recognition.

Yang Jinniang looked at Zhenyi who was standing next to Old Lady Dong, and a trace of melancholy appeared in her eyes.

After the guests left, Mrs. Dong and the third daughter-in-law said, "The Wen family is pretty good. It's not a bad thing for a woman to marry a lower class woman. The most important thing is that she can respect Shuyi in the future... The men all said that the Wen family's boy is a very good seedling."

The Wen family was indeed an official family. The father of the young man Wen Yiheng was the magistrate of Jiangning County in Jinling City. However, the family was poor and had just entered the officialdom.

In contrast, Wang Zhefu was once a prefectural governor. Over the past few decades, his family had cultivated a scholarly background. Shuyi's father was also a county magistrate. If Wang Zhefu had not been dismissed from office, this marriage would never have been considered.

The Third Madam knew that this was an excellent choice. Although the Third House was not the wife of the Old Madam, her mother-in-law's words were not selfish and were very practical. Old Madam Dong did not make excessive decisions. She said, "The Qingming Festival is approaching, and the Third Master will be back soon... Let him take a look at it then. In the end, it is up to you two to make the decision."

The third wife nodded respectfully.

Five or six days later, the Wen family father and son came again, this time with very formal gifts. Father Wen smiled and said that he brought his son to ask the prince for advice.

Wen's father had been dating Wang Xirui for several years, and this marriage was arranged through them.

At noon, the Wang family invited the Wen father and son to have lunch. After the meal, Wen's father, the Wang father and son, and Zhan's father had tea and talked. Wen Yiheng was dragged by Wang Yuan to the garden to appreciate the flowers, and Wang Jie and Zhan Mei also accompanied them.

Compared with the officials' families in Jinling, the Wang family's garden is not big, but it is well managed by Wang Xichen, with flowers, plants and vegetables, most of which can be used as medicine.

As they were strolling and chatting, they happened to meet Shuyi, who was sitting on a rock by the pond, picking willow branches and making a wreath with her second sister.

Seeing Wen Yiheng, Shuyi hurriedly handed the half-woven willow branches to her second sister, hurriedly stood up, straightened her dress, and bowed nervously.

When he looked up, he saw his elder brother pulling his younger brother Wang Jie with one hand and Zhan Mei with the other and walking away quickly, leaving Wen Yiheng standing there awkwardly to return the greeting.

The marriage between Wen Yiheng and Shuyi was almost a done deal, but up to this point, the two had never really spoken a word to each other.

The rebellious Wang Yuan thought this was totally unreasonable. When he was out and about, he often saw Manchu women going in and out of teahouses in the streets, never avoiding people and not binding their feet. However, Han women stayed at home all day long, and many of them could only see whether their husbands were fat or flat on the wedding night. This was even more bizarre than the poem he wrote.

In the end, Wen Yiheng walked closer and bowed to Shuyi again.

Juzi climbed up the willow tree and took a nap, while Zhenyi sat on a rock holding a willow branch. The cat and the man looked curiously at the two people who were standing side by side by the pond and talking, but neither dared to look at each other.

Knowing that Shuyi also reads poems, in order to relieve his tension, Wen Yiheng thought of reading a poem that fits the scenery of the season to her: "The late sun makes the mountains and rivers beautiful, the spring breeze makes the flowers and plants fragrant, the mud melts and swallows fly, the warm sand makes mandarin ducks sleep..."

Hearing this, Shuyi's eyes suddenly widened, she turned her head away in shame and anger, said "Pooh" with a red face, and turned away in annoyance.

The young man came to his senses and felt extremely embarrassed. He was at a loss as to what to do: "I... this..."

Fortunately, Shuyi didn't go far. After all, she didn't want to abandon her second sister. She stood back beside the stone, grabbing the hanging willow branches, her face as red as if blood was about to drip out.

Wen Yiheng did not dare to follow her rashly, for fear of angering her again. It would also be disgraceful to speak loudly, so he could only wave to Zhenyi in a hurry.

Zhenyi slid down from the stone and walked in front of him.

Wen Yiheng bowed to the little girl in front of him and asked her to pass on his message. Finally, he said to Zhenyi, "I hope the second sister of the Wang family will turn around and not tell anyone else."

"Yes!" Zhenyi nodded, came to Shuyi, and said earnestly: "Big sister, Master Wen said that he didn't mean it, and he wants to ask for your forgiveness. It's fine if you want to beat him or punish him, but I just ask you not to be angry."

Shuyi's face turned even redder, and she whispered, "Go and tell him that I'm not angry anymore... but he should be more careful with his words in the future, so as not to annoy others and make himself look reckless."

After he finished speaking, he told Zhenyi not to tell anyone else about this.

Zhenyi agreed, and soon she returned and said to her elder sister, "Elder sister, he said thank you for your reminder, and he will think twice before speaking, and there will be no next time."

Shuyi turned her head slightly to look, and when Wen Yiheng saw her looking at him, he quickly bowed and apologized sincerely.

Shuyi was no longer annoyed. She slowly tore the willow leaves in her hands and said softly, "Second sister, go tell him that I also like Du Zimei's poems..."

After a while, Zhenyi came back and said, "Big sister, he said he has a collection of Du Fu's poems. If you like them, he can give them to you."

Shuyi lightly rebuked: "How can you be so anxious to give it to me... I'm just afraid that it will give people something to talk about. Look, he just said something and he said something wrong again."

After Zhenyi conveyed the message, Wen Yiheng apologized again.

Juzi squatted on the tree trunk, his head moving with the running of Zhenyi, listening to Wen Yiheng and Shuyi talking to each other, and seeing Zhenyi in a green dress, Juzi felt that Zhenyi was like a spirit.

The spring breeze blew the willows, and the orange yawned.

In the following days, Shuyi stayed in her boudoir most of the time doing needlework. Zhenyi went to see her a few times and saw that the things her elder sister was embroidering were very bright and the silk threads were bright in color, which was very suitable for this spring day.

At the end of the spring equinox, Shuyi's father, Wang Xipu, returned.

Wang Yuan told Zhenyi that he calculated with his fingers and there would be a happy event in the family soon.

　Weekly update is coming~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)