THE DAY EMPEROR: 阳明王 【The Night Emperor Book 2】

Chapter 39 Blessed Union

With her hand still cocooned in Xi Chen's, Ye An, without an ounce of hesitation and the force of a thousand certainties, breathed, "Let's get married tonight."

In the space between seconds, Xi Chen reached a tender hand to the nape of Ye An's neck, pulling her into a kiss so gentle like she was the world's most precious gem that he was afraid to make even the tiniest scratch on. He nipped at her bottom lips carefully before sweeping the smallest of his tongue lightly at the corner's of Ye An's lips to coax her into allowing his entry and she relented immediately. The kiss was warm like the mellow morning sun and sweet like the dulcet tones of guqin, each brush of lips and each glide of tongue like the soothing caress of a longtime lover. When it was over, they rested their foreheads on each other to catch their breaths. Their ardent gazes only held each other as if they were the only two people who existed in the entire world. Xi Chen, with the softest smile sprouting on his face, answered, "Let's do that. Let's get married tonight." 

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Since then, the day had transformed into a whirlwind of activities. The head monk took it upon himself to plan the ceremony when Ye An and Xi Chen had informed him of their decision. With the limited time, the head monk concluded that it was enough to organize a simple ceremony and it was quickly decided that the ceremony will take place at the top of the temple under the audience of the moon and the stars as the head monk officiate the union.

When Ye An had come to, half of the day was gone. The light filtering in through the window of her hut was closer to dusk than noon. Ye An was alone with Auntie Yu Lan as she sat at the bamboo table with the elderly woman standing behind her as she combed Ye An's hair. Auntie Yu Lan had brought with her a small copper mirror of which Ye An was watching the elderly woman through the reflection on its uneven copper surface. 

Up until half an hour or so, Auntie Yu Lan had been busy decorating the hut that they were currently in with a few of her friends who were also around her age. Traditionally, the marital night was supposed to be spent at the husband's residence. But since Ye An and Xi Chen were already sharing the hut, this place would be where they would spend their first night as a newlywed couple. Therefore, the walls were peppered with red papers with the words "Double Happiness" to bless the newlyweds. From the corner of her eyes, Ye An could also spy the set of wooden mandarin ducks with their beaks touching each other on the neatly-made bed. Besides the wooden mandarin ducks,  a canopy of red tulle was also draped over the entire bed with a thin string holding up the middle of the fabric so that the material tented over the bed frame. Ye An blushed as her thoughts strayed to her upcoming wedding night. She gave herself a mental shake as she returned her focus to Auntie Yu Lan.

"Thank you for doing this for me." Ye An uttered quietly. Both Xi Chen and her had announced their decision to be wed to only a select few people. She knew that she wanted a simple wedding and announcing it to the entire community would've escalated the wedding to something less intimate. Despite the smaller pool of people, her heart was full at how everyone welcomed the news so readily. Well, most of them anyways. She had informed Prince Adlai because she felt the political obligation to and because he was Xi Chen's cousin and by extension, Sze Chang was also invited to the ceremony. Prince Adlai was ecstatic, but Sze Chang's reaction was a little lackluster if a bit surprised. Not that it bothered Ye An. She still didn't know where their friendship stood, much less their familial ties. But she wasn't going to allow that to dampen her spirits when Auntie Yu Lan was more than happy to volunteer to prepare Ye An and help her dress for her wedding when she and Xi Chen broke the news to her.