On the second day of the lunar new year, the imperial edict conferring the title of Noble Lady on Su Xiaozhu indeed arrived at the Li family's residence.
"Let Su Xiaozhu, a daughter of the Su family in Yongzhou, with a noble birth and a gentle and respectful demeanor, be conferred the title of Noble Lady—"
The eunuch's peculiarly shrill voice pierced through the black - tiled eaves and green moss of the Li Mansion. Four palace maids in crimson robes were standing in line outside the drooping - flower gate, holding gilded dressing boxes.
After the eunuch in the round - collared red official robe finished announcing the edict, he ordered someone to take Su Xiaozhu to the post - station of the Ministry of Rites to prepare for her marriage.
After all, she had the surname Su, so it was inappropriate for her to marry from the Li family.
However, her home was far away in Yongzhou, and it was impossible for her to get married from there. So, following the old practice of the palace draft, she was allowed to temporarily stay in the official post - station of the Ministry of Rites and then get married from there.
The subsequent ceremonies were not complicated. Everything would be arranged by the Ministry of Rites. Su Xiaozhu just needed to wait patiently.
She could enter the palace only after Lu Songyuan's grand ceremony of being conferred as a concubine was completed.
However, once a woman enters the nobleman's mansion, it's like entering a bottomless sea. From then on, she would never be able to leave that imposing vermilion - walled palace city.
Su Xiaozhu straightened the plain bead flower on her temple and slowly walked towards the carriage that had come to pick her up. Her moon - white brocade jacket made her figure look even more slender.
While waiting for the carriage before leaving, Su Xiaozhu suddenly turned around and grabbed Li Wanming's wrist. Her fingertips were colder than the moss on the eaves. "In the future..." Her voice choked in her throat. "...You must come to see me often..."
Su Xiaozhu's family members all held low - ranking official positions and were not allowed to enter the imperial palace.
Looking around the world, only Li Wanming, the future princess of the Prince of Ning, might be able to enter the palace city to visit her in the future.
Li Wanming held her cold fingertips tightly and in turn handed her a small gilded hand - warmer with intertwined branch patterns. She smiled and said,
"Don't worry. I'll go to the post - station to play with you tomorrow. I still have a lot of things to buy for my wedding. You can come out with me then and help me take a look."
The eunuch beside them frowned slightly. "Princess, this may not be in line with the etiquette..."
Li Wanming squinted at him. "What? Are you going to stop me?"
The eunuch quickly lowered his head to apologize. "This lowly servant doesn't dare."
Since Li Wanming was about to become the princess of the Prince of Ning, a female relative of an important court official, he didn't dare to offend her. Of course, he had to follow her words.
Chuntao had already brought over a small embroidered purse. Li Wanming took it and then handed it to the eunuch. She softened her tone and said,
"Eunuch, I'll trouble you to take good care of Xiaozhu during these days in the Ministry of Rites. If there are any deficiencies in etiquette, please forgive us and don't take it to heart."
The purse was quite heavy, weighing at least twenty taels of silver.
The eunuch immediately cheered up and nodded repeatedly. "Princess, you're being too polite! With a close friend like you, I'm afraid no one in the entire post - station would be so blind as to neglect Miss Su."
Li Wanming nodded and then said to Su Xiaozhu, "Go. I'll come to play with you in a few days. If you need anything, you can send Ruier to find me."
Tears welled up in Su Xiaozhu's eyes. She had a thousand words in her heart but couldn't say a single one. She just choked out an "um" and then resolutely turned around and got into the carriage.
The ceremonial procession that had come to announce the edict blew and beat all the way into the distance.
Li Wanming stood at the door, feeling a deep sense of melancholy.
She really didn't expect that during this Spring Festival, the lifelong events of herself, Su Xiaozhu, and Lu Songyuan would all be settled.
Two of them would enter the palace, and one would enter the mansion.
From then on, their fortune and misfortune would all depend on their own fate and abilities.
"Let's go back."
Li Wanming said dejectedly to Chuntao.
She didn't have much time to feel sad for Su Xiaozhu here. She still had a whole bunch of troubles to solve on her own.
For example, her upcoming wedding.
The Prince of Ning's mansion was not an ordinary family, so this wedding couldn't be taken lightly.
The three letters and six etiquettes, the four betrothal gifts and five gold items, the eight - sedan - chair procession, and the ten - mile long bridal dowry... Just thinking about it gave Li Wanming a headache!
Did getting married have to be so troublesome?
Back then, she could have just tied Xiao Jingnan over and gotten married!
Simple, rough, and effective.
Li Wanming even felt a bit regretful. Maybe she should have cooked the rice thoroughly with Xiao Jingnan back then. Perhaps the current process could have been simpler.
...
Yuan Jinqiu specially asked someone to invite a senior embroiderer from the Imperial Textile Bureau to teach Li Wanming needlework at home.
Although she was the princess of the prince, she didn't really need to sew her wedding dress by herself according to the ordinary wedding customs. However, at least one or two items, such as the big red wedding veil on her head, the jade belt around her waist, or the embroidered shoes on her feet, should be sewn by the bride herself.
This was the last bottom - line of the wedding customs in the Great Sheng Dynasty, and she couldn't escape it.
It was a pity that with Li Wanming's level of needlework, just the wedding veil on her head would take her a whole month to embroider!
"Move this stitch up a bit and make it denser... Hey, hey! No..."
Li Wanming clicked her tongue and once again frowned and put her bleeding finger into her mouth.
In one afternoon, she had pricked eight of her fingers and ruined twelve pieces of fine silk red cloth.
Now, all eight fingers were wrapped with cloth strips, making them even less dexterous. The lines she embroidered were getting more and more grotesque.
"I told the young lady to lift the needle up, but why did the tip of the needle go straight to the left..."
The embroiderer held up the crooked work and looked at it under the candlelight, looking rather helpless.
She had been working in the Imperial Textile Bureau for twenty years and had never seen such a clumsy girl.
"It... It doesn't matter. At least we embroidered more than a dozen stitches this time. Look at these stitches... Well, at least we can tell it's a line... It's much better than before..."
The embroiderer forced a smile on her face and still tried to encourage her.
"Aunt Li, if you can't praise, don't force it!"
Wanmo was sitting beside the brass charcoal brazier, roasting chestnuts with a fire - tong wrapped with a cloth strip.
"We know what level our little sister is at. Even if she embroiders for another ten days and pricks all ten of her fingers, she won't be able to embroider a complete pattern, let alone a high - difficulty embroidery like a wedding veil."
"Oh dear, what shall we do?" Aunt Li was a bit anxious. "Madam gave me an order to teach Third Miss satin embroidery within a month!"
The wedding veil used for the wedding was made of the finest red Su silk.
Satin embroidery had fine and dense stitches, which was most suitable for embroidering on this gorgeous silk. At the same time, it was also one of the most commonly used techniques in women's needlework.
To put it simply, Yuan Jinqiu's requirement was not high, and she had fully considered Li Wanming's current level.
It's just that she probably didn't expect that Li Wanming's foundation would be so terribly poor...
Aunt Li said worriedly, "I originally planned to teach the young lady chain stitch and seed stitch. Who knew that after spending an afternoon, she couldn't even learn the simple plain stitch on satin..."
"Haha! Seed stitch?"
Wanmo grinned from the hot chestnuts but still laughed loudly when she heard this. "Auntie, you really think highly of her! Why don't you say you'll teach her double - sided embroidery?"
Aunt Li pursed her lips and whispered, "I did want to teach, but I just didn't have time..."