Red.
Stretches and stretches of red.
Xia Chuli lowered his head to look at the thin red string in his hand. His eyes were dull as he followed the string, only to see that the other end of the red string was tied to the little finger of a hand as fair as jade.
That hand was very dainty, spotlessly white, and as soft as if boneless. It was truly worthy of the description of "tender shoots". As it was obvious, this was a woman's hand, the hand of his Crown Princess, Qi Mengmeng.
Xia Chuli grinned. The fake smile on his lips had been maintained for a whole day. Now, even the slightest movement made his muscles ache. It seemed that his facial muscles had become fixed. He wanted to let his mouth corners droop, which should have been a very simple action, but it was extremely difficult for him to do.
He smiled brightly, looking like a man on a happy occasion. He walked into the main hall of the Eastern Palace smiling, took that tender hand smiling, and then knelt down three times smiling.
The first bow was to Heaven and Earth.
Xia Chuli never thought there was any point in bowing to Heaven and Earth. He never believed in Heaven, nor in Earth, nor in the gods. Since his days in the Cold Palace when he was young, he had stopped believing in such things. So he sneered inwardly and knelt down without hesitation. Since he didn't believe, bowing or not bowing didn't matter to him.
The second bow was to his parents.
Xia Chuli only had a father but no mother. The former empress, Princess Liuli, had long been buried in the royal mausoleum. Qi Yan was only his nominal step - mother. He looked at King Xia Jie, who was sitting on the high dais with a gloomy face, and Qi Yan, who had a strange look on her face. With a "thud", he knelt down. At the moment of bowing, instead of the humiliation and unwillingness he had imagined, a surge of resentment welled up in his heart, overwhelming his thoughts like a violent storm.
Qi Yan. It was this woman who deliberately placed a spy from the Qi family by his side. And she even put on a lofty and motherly pose.
Suddenly, he remembered many years ago when he was kneeling in front of his mother's spiritual tablet. The young Shen Qingfeng hugged him tightly from behind.
"Don't be afraid..." he said.
"Don't be afraid, A Li. You still have me."
"Now, bow to each other as husband and wife!" Chen Qi's voice was shrill and ear - piercing. Xia Chuli couldn't help but look up at him. He saw that Chen Qi was wearing his usual eunuch's clothes, standing on the high dais in a pompous manner and shouting.
This was actually against the etiquette. On the occasion of the Crown Prince's wedding, all the accompanying officials should wear wedding clothes for good luck. King Xia Jie and Qi Yan were both wearing red - tinged clothes, but Chen Qi didn't. This clearly showed King Xia Jie's attitude.
It didn't matter, Xia Chuli thought. He was already used to such cold treatment.
From many years ago, he had known that in the entire Bian Palace, the only person he could trust was Shen Qingfeng.
Xia Chuli looked at the bride in front of him covered by the red silk. Her hands were so white, as white as Shen Qingfeng's. Xia Chuli paused for a moment, and his heart suddenly twitched. He subconsciously wanted to reach out his hand to see who was under the red silk.
But his hand suddenly stopped in mid - air.
He knew that the person opposite was not Shen Qingfeng. The one with the red silk was Qi Mengmeng, the person from the Qi family who was always against him.
Xia Chuli's heart was filled with a jumble of emotions. He stood there stunned, as if struck by a thunderbolt, as stiff as a stone statue.
Seeing that Xia Chuli didn't move, Chen Qi frowned and shouted again in a shrill voice, "Bow to each other as husband and wife!"
Xia Chuli suddenly came back to his senses. He looked at the girl in front of him for a while, then the fake smile appeared on his lips again. He bent down, knelt, and stood up.
Like a puppet controlled by thin strings.
"The ceremony is complete—!"
Outside the main hall of the Eastern Palace, the drums and music resounded. Firecrackers popped and cheers filled the air. Xia Chuli only felt his ears ringing and his head throbbing. It seemed that all the outside sounds were blocked by water. He sank to the bottom of the sea, and through the thick water curtain, he heard the congratulations and music that were supposed to make him happy but actually didn't.
Chen Qi started to read a long congratulatory speech on the high dais. Shen Yu from the Bu Si Hall led the officials in slowly and conducted a blessing and sacrifice ceremony in the hall, praying for the harmonious marriage of the Crown Prince and for the well - being of the common people in the world.
Xia Chuli was already in a daze. He was pushed up by others and stiffly bid farewell to his parents. Then, with a smiling face, he shuttled among the officials who were full of flowery words, drinking the wedding wine that was supposed to bless him and listening to the congratulations.
The wine spilled on his bright red wedding clothes. Xia Chuli seemed not to notice. He staggered while drinking, and his mind seemed to be covered by something. He was shouting, but his voice was too low for anyone to hear.
No one.
Well, maybe there was one person?
Shen Qingfeng. He must be able to hear, right?
"Do you think he can hear?" That strange voice appeared in his mind again.
Xia Chuli was stunned. His body that was curled up at the bottom of the sea stretched out. With timidity and panic, he looked uneasily at the darkness around him.
"Do you think Shen Qingfeng is still the same Shen Qingfeng as before?"
"Who are you!" Xia Chuli looked around. He reached out his hands and groped frantically in the darkness, but he couldn't catch anything. "Come out! Stop hiding!"
"Hahaha... Xia Chuli, Xia Chuli. Why didn't I notice before that you are such a coward now?" The voice started to sneer.
Xia Chuli was stunned. He stopped groping and stood still in the darkness, murmuring, "You know me?"
The voice laughed softly and said in an irrefutable tone, "Not only do I know you, but I know you better than you know yourself."
"Who on earth are you!"
"You don't need to know." The voice came from all directions again, as if it was gradually wrapping around Xia Chuli's consciousness. The sense of oppression and fear made Xia Chuli curl up his body again and shrink to the deepest part of the sea of his consciousness.
"All you need to know is the things I tell you."
"I don't want to listen!" Xia Chuli's lips trembled. His subconscious told him that this voice was very familiar. He must have heard it somewhere, but he couldn't remember. However, even though he had no impression, his instinct told him that this voice was very dangerous. "Don't tell me! I won't listen!"
"Do you want to listen if it's about Shen Qingfeng?"
Xia Chuli was stunned. "What... did you say?"
"Go and look for him?" The voice suddenly laughed softly. The laughter was as happy as someone watching their prey slowly walk into the trap they had designed. "Go to the Dingbei Marquis Mansion and have a look..."
"You... What did you say? Where is he?!"
"Dingbei... Mansion..."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince!"
Xia Chuli was startled by this voice. He suddenly woke up and found that he was lying on his own bed in the Eastern Palace. Qi Mengmeng was kneeling anxiously beside the bed, holding his hand and softly calling, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, what's wrong with you... Did you have a nightmare?"
Xia Chuli looked at her with cold sweat all over his body. Then he propped himself up and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at his body still wearing the wedding clothes.
Had he just... gotten drunk?
Then had he and Qi Mengmeng... consummated the marriage?
Xia Chuli looked up at Qi Mengmeng who was still kneeling on the edge of the bed. He saw that Qi Mengmeng was still wearing that complicated wedding dress. It was extremely difficult to put on, and she couldn't have dressed herself. Now there were only the two of them in the huge hall, and there were no other maids. Presumably, they hadn't consummated the marriage yet.
Xia Chuli paused for a moment. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his head. He couldn't help but cover his head and groan softly.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince drank too much. Your concubine has asked someone to prepare the sobering soup. Your Highness, drink some?" Qi Mengmeng picked up a small bowl from the table beside and held it in front of Xia Chuli.