The rest of the journey was relatively peaceful. However, as an episode, the incident of the little white bird was still talked about for a long time later. Gossips even wove a sad and touching story about the bird and Princess Shuanghua who had married into Dayong. Of course, this is a story for later.
Few people knew that the little white bird did end up with Princess Shuanghua later. Although the process was rather arduous, with Shuanghua's various awkwardness, Weichi Yanyan's series of objections, and all kinds of frictions during their time wandering in the jianghu. However, the most difficult thing to stop in the world is love, and the most unpredictable thing is also love. That's why there is the line in *The Peony Pavilion* saying, "Love starts without knowing why and goes deeper and deeper."
Of course, this was what Ji Feiyu would sigh about many years later. At that time, she was lying on the imperial concubine's couch, squinting and fanning herself, slowly telling someone the story of that year.
...
The bustling carriage finally brought Ji Feiyu to Dayong. When approaching the border, Ji Feiyu looked back at Beihan for the last time. She thought that this departure felt quite different from the last one. Truly, the world is full of uncertainties.
Just as she was lost in thought, the sound of galloping horses approached. The wedding procession suddenly stopped. Ji Feiyu lowered the curtain by the window. Just as she was about to ask what was going on, suddenly there were footsteps. A delicate box was delivered to the door of the wedding carriage. She couldn't help but be curious about what it was. The person outside had already spoken, "This is a silk pouch from the King of Beihan for the princess. The King of Beihan asked this subordinate to tell the princess that from now on, the road ahead will be long and far. The princess should be careful in everything."
Ji Feiyu immediately reacted and said in Shuanghua's voice, "Shuanghua thanks the elder brother king."
The person who delivered the box soon left with the sound of horseshoes. Only then did Ji Feiyu open the box. Inside, besides a letter, there were three silk pouches.
Ji Feiyu reached out and first opened the letter.
It read, "Xia Ling, when you see this letter, I believe you are about to step into the land of Dayong. I know that all the way here, you must feel that you've been schemed against again. I'm really sorry. This time, Shuanghua made a big mistake because I didn't teach her well. I have nothing to compensate you with, only these three silk pouches. I hope they can help you.
"There's one thing that I haven't even told Ran Wei. That is, Shuanghua actually already knew your real identity. The first thing she did after returning to Beihan was to plead with me to cancel the engagement, but I didn't agree. Because I wanted to tell her that she should take responsibility for the trouble she caused.
"Fortunately, she later faced her mistake directly and thought of a way to solve it. She told me that she would disrupt the wedding and then tell the Emperor of Yong that you were in Beihan. I thought that if that happened, you couldn't escape anyway. Returning to Dayong was mostly just a matter of time. I also didn't want to cause trouble for the Emperor of Yong and Beihan. So I took the liberty to replace her. Actually, Shuanghua was unaware of this.
"For these three silk pouches, you can open the first one as soon as you step into Dayong. You can open the second one on the second day after you enter the palace. As for the third one, open it when you encounter difficulties. Go back to the Emperor of Yong with peace of mind. Since his eyes were cured and the country was stable, he has actually been looking for you. It's just that because I promised to keep it a secret for you, I deceived him.
"Don't blame him for agreeing to marry Shuanghua. Because it was I who advised him to give you up in the letter to the king. I told him, 'Actually, when you pushed her away again, you should have thought that there would really be no future for you two. Since that's the case, why don't you look forward? Why can't you let go? Why do you still look for her? You are the king of a country. Your people need a queen mother, and you should also start a new life. If you keep dragging on like this, the two of you will always be in pain.' You see, if he really got married, you could still let go. Moreover, you had already thought of the way back to Liuyun. So it's not impossible for you two not to be together, right? But since you even have the courage to give up, why don't you have the courage to start over with him? The worst result would be to separate again, right? Since I've sent you back, why don't you go and see how he is now? Then tell yourself whether you want to stay or not. Always being the bad guy, Weichi Yanyan."
When Ji Feiyu read to the end, some sad thoughts welled up. She couldn't help but shed a tear. But when she saw the signature, she almost burst out laughing. Ji Feiyu composed herself, folded the letter, and carefully picked up the three silk pouches. Did this Weichi Yanyan really think he was Zhuge Liang reincarnated?
Soon they arrived in Dayong. Ji Feiyu opened the first silk pouch. Inside, there was a piece of paper densely recording the heads of the aristocratic families who had supported the legitimate rule during the rebellion of the vassal kings. It detailed what they had done during the rebellion, the changes in their official positions before and after, as well as their preferences. Since Weichi had also participated in suppressing the rebellion back then, it wasn't particularly difficult for him to obtain the information of the allies. Ji Feiyu looked at this information and didn't understand what Weichi Yanyan meant.
It wasn't until she read to the end of a piece of news that she found the last sentence: Among the family, there is a daughter named Zhang Caiyi. She entered the palace in the first year of Tianhe in Dayong and is now Concubine Ru.
Ji Feiyu immediately understood what Yanyan had given this to her for... It was simply telling her that the reason why Yong Yaxuan still kept these people in the harem was because the heads of the aristocratic families behind them were all meritorious people.
But what was the purpose of giving her the information about their preferences? Ji Feiyu pondered for a while and suddenly realized. Did he tell her the preferences so that she... Ji Feiyu then read this piece of paper carefully. As a result, she really gained a lot.
Yanyan, he was really something! Ji Feiyu couldn't help but admire him a little.
After entering Dayong, Ji Feiyu started to study these aristocratic families all the way. This way, time passed quickly and the carriage soon arrived at the imperial city.
To show his solemnity, Yong Yaxuan sent his personal guards to greet them at the city gate. Then everything developed as expected. After a short rest, the grand wedding took place.
Actually, when marrying a secondary queen, there didn't have to be a wedding ceremony. One could directly welcome Shuanghua into the palace and then confer the title and seal. However, Yong Yaxuan seemed to attach great importance to Shuanghua. So he specially prepared a wedding for her. The court officials originally wanted to remonstrate, but they also kept their mouths shut out of respect for Beihan. After all, their infatuated emperor was conferring a queen again. It was a good thing! So everyone turned a blind eye.
The complicated wedding rituals made Ji Feiyu seem to be back eight years ago. However, her state of mind was completely different from then.
Ji Feiyu put on the bridal veil and was like a marionette, being led to complete various ceremonies. Finally, she was led to his side to pay respects to heaven and earth. She didn't even dare to breathe loudly under the veil. She seemed to be able to hear her own heartbeat. He was right beside her, so close yet so far. God knew how much she wanted to lift the veil at that time and tell him that she was back. But in the end, she didn't do anything impulsive. She just silently counted her heartbeats under the veil, then was obediently supported back to the bridal chamber to sit down, completely relaxing her tense nerves.
It's all over, isn't it? It was she herself who didn't want to escape, wasn't it? She still missed him, didn't she? Then face her own feelings and tell him everything later.