Like deja Vu, Yanhui woke up to someone shaking her calling out;
" Young miss, young miss, you have to get up" the voice said hurriedly.
" Leave me alone it's not 6:00am yet" Yanhui answered sleepy.
" Young miss, you have to get ready for your marriage"
At this Yanhui jumped up, all sleep vanished from her eyes remembering the events of yesterday realizing that she transmigrated here and had to marry the emperor and engage in harem fights. Yanhui let the maids wash, dress, do her makeup, style her hair and adorn her with heavy ornaments that almost broke her neck, one being a phoenix crown though beautiful but also heavy. When she was finally dressed up, all power had been drained from her.
" Madam" Yanhui heard the servants greet.
She turned round and saw her mother entering her room, dressed in bright colors and wearing a happy smile.
" My daughter is finally getting married, mother has come to comb your hair, this ritual must not be missed. Your father has gone to the palace to offer tribute and your brothers will escort you to the palace." she said as she picked up a comb.
""First comb, smooth wishes; second comb,Wishing you a happy marriage, with children and grandchildren filling the halls; third comb, white-haired till old" she combed smiling.
Yanhui couldn't help but notice her reddish eyes, it seems this madam loved her but at the same time wanted to gain power through her; she became frustrated at this weird family dynamic of the noble families in China.
The red veil was put to cover her face and she was led out the mansion by her dowry maids; xiao xiao and xiao qi. As she was helped into the sedan chair, she felt a chill; she turned to look around and noticed a set of eyes belonging to an handsome man putting on blue and excluding a scholarly charm glaring at her as if looking at her soul, she shrugged it off as a problem for later and got into the sedan chair.
Her brothers escorted her to the palace in a grand procession. On arrival at the palace, she was greeted by palace officials and eunuchs and led to pays respects to the empress dowager her aunt, who gave her a blood jade bangle, next she was taken to the the ancestral house of the royal family to pay her respects. She was then taken to the grand weeding hall to me the emperor.
Yanhui was already tired and her neck felt heavy, like it could beak anytime and her feet hurt and worst of all, she could see nothing as her face was covered. She heard the emperor was 27 years old and had no children even though he had 3 concubines and 1 consort. She wondered if he was barren but couldn't care less, after all she didn't plan on being with him, she just wanted to be a salted fish and live out her days in peace or maybe fake her death to escape the prison walls of the palace. Thinking as she walked, she almost stumbled but was held up by a hand; through her rumbling thoughts, she had no idea she had gotten to the hall.
" Thank you" she mumbled a she shook his hands off gently.
" Hmm" a deep voice filled with authority answered.
Yanhui cringed; "don't tell me I met he emperor through such a cliche way". She noticed his hands were strong and powerful although, she couldn't see his face by the little she could make, she knew was very handsome; "why are they all handsome, jez I'm swooning" .The emperor was quiet all the time with his lips in a straight line; "I mean who would be happy being forced into marriage,I guess that makes the two of us". After the emperor and empress meet, exchange vows, and performed the wedding rituals, then came the (cè fēng) ceremony: The emperor officially declares the her empress, with officials reading out her new title. Afterwards, she was led to her new quarters : the kunning palace for the empress.
" I'm so tired and hungry" Yanhui mumbled as she reached out to remove her veil.
" Empress you can't" xiao hurriedly stopped her, " only the emperor can remove to your veil"
After numerous failed attempts and failing to convince Xiao Xiao that she didn't care if it was bad luck or not, she finally gave up and sat on the bed dejected waiting for the dog emperor to arrive. She was sleeping when she heard the door open.