Li Wanming shook the extremely heavy crown on her head. The pearls and jade ornaments clinked against each other.
She sat in front of the red sandalwood dressing table by the window and began to impatiently tug at the crown on her head. At the same time, she gave Xiao Jingnan a disgruntled look:
"All you do is laugh! You've sent Chun Tao and the others away. Who's going to help me remove my makeup? Do you know how heavy this crown is?"
"Of course... it's up to your husband to help you remove it." Xiao Jingnan walked over, suppressing his laughter. His slender fingers stroked her hair. "When it was custom - made back then, I only thought about giving my wife the most beautiful jewels in the world. I overlooked its weight and made my wife suffer."
His hands had distinct knuckles but were extremely dexterous. Soon, he took out one hairpin and clip after another from Li Wanming's head.
The red - gold and kingfisher - feather phoenix crown that had been pressing on Li Wanming's head seemed to turn into scattered pearls and jade with Xiao Jingnan's movements, tinkling as they fell into the ebony tray covered with red silk in front.
When the last filigree gold hairpin was pulled out, Li Wanming could even feel the slight tremor of her hair from being tightly bound to loose, like a willow branch suddenly stretching after the spring rain.
Suddenly, the pressure on her head was relieved, and she could breathe more smoothly!
Ah...
Li Wanming let out a long, satisfied breath, rubbed her sore neck, and cheered from the bottom of her heart.
But when she turned her head and suddenly caught sight of the wedding bed with the water - red magpie - on - a - branch pattern, her face instantly flushed. The hot feeling quickly climbed from her neck to the tips of her ears.
Now that everything was done, it was... time to get down to business, right?
But... how should she do it?
She couldn't just pounce on him...
"Um..."
Li Wanming cleared her throat. Her voice was as sticky as if soaked in lychee wine. "We..."
However, Xiao Jingnan's smile faded.
He sat silently at the table, his crow - feather - like eyelashes drooping slightly, casting a shadow on the bridge of his nose.
A hazy mist suddenly filled his pupils. They were dark, like the last glimmer of light disappearing in the setting sun, leaving only boundless darkness.
"You..."
A bad premonition suddenly rose in Li Wanming's heart. She remembered again Lu Ping's panicked cry of "Young Master" just now...
Damn it!
After Xiao Jingnan came back just now, he had been so calm and composed that she had actually ignored the strangeness of this night!
Xiao Jingnan avoided her gaze, got up, and walked to the window. He reached out and pushed open the carved window lattice.
The hustle and bustle in the yard had ended. The night breeze was slightly cool, bringing the faint fragrance of early lotus from afar.
The moonlight outside the window was cold, hanging high in the sky like a taut bowstring, and the ground was covered with silver frost like snow.
Li Wanming's heart tightened until it trembled.
This scene was vaguely and suffocatingly familiar.
Just a few months ago, on the Chinese New Year's Eve when the whole family was reunited, Xiao Jingnan had also stood by the window like this, facing the rustling cold wind and the cold moonlight, and said the words she least wanted to hear in her life.
"Wanming..."
He called her.
His expression was sad and desolate, just like that night.
A loud noise rang in Li Wanming's head. A voice was screaming desperately: "No! Don't say it! I don't want to hear it!"
Unfortunately, she was a step too late. Xiao Jingnan still said it.
"Wanming, I have to go."
"The Anluo Kingdom has invaded our southern border again. The Empress Dowager has ordered General Feng to lead an army to fight. I'm the army's staff officer and will set off tonight."
Suddenly, his silhouette by the window was sharpened by the moonlight. The golden threads on his bright red wedding robe were steaming, like the soaring flames on the battlefield.
All the words in Li Wanming's stomach suddenly got stuck in her throat.
The room suddenly became very quiet. You could hear a pin drop. Even the sound of the dragon - and - phoenix wedding candles as thick as a baby's arm burning seemed a bit harsh.
For a moment, Li Wanming suspected that she had misheard.
The Anluo Kingdom had invaded the border again?
General Feng was going on an expedition?
Xiao Jingnan was the army's staff officer?
He was leaving... tonight?
She opened her mouth, but her throat was so dry that she couldn't make a sound.
"I'm sorry..."
Xiao Jingnan lowered his eyes and said softly.
His gaze fell on the red - gold brocade pouch with ruyi patterns just sealed on the table. It sparkled in the candlelight and instantly stung his eyes.
The patterns on the brocade pouch were fine and even, slightly raised. It was the work of the best embroiderer in the weaving bureau and had taken a full five days to finish.
It was said that as long as a lock of hair from each spouse was cut off, wrapped with a red thread, and placed inside, it could bless the couple with a lifetime of love and never part.
Never part?
But they had just finished their wedding ceremony and were about to be separated.
Xiao Jingnan's eyes felt a bit astringent.
The red - gold curtains, the bright red wedding candles, the wedding clothes with the pattern of a phoenix and a mandarin duck in harmony, and the blessings of "a harmonious life" and "sweet love" in the room all turned into barbed chains at this moment, nailing him in the speckles of light like broken gold on the ground.
Li Wanming dug her fingertips deeply into her palm. When the buzzing in her ears finally faded, she heard her fragmented voice: "When did this happen?"
"Today."
Xiao Jingnan stood in the shadow cast by the window lattice. His bright red wedding robe was like a cinnabar seal nailed in the night. Even his breath carried the chill of ice chips.
"The military report from Anluo... was sent to the palace this morning."
Suddenly, a night crow was startled from the eaves. The flapping sound was like a sharp blade cutting through silk. Li Wanming saw her reflection in his pupils distorting, just like the moon scattered by the cold wind on Chinese New Year's Eve.
This morning?
She felt as if she had been burned. Her heart suddenly started pounding.
The military report only arrived this morning, and they were going to dispatch troops for an expedition tonight?!
Li Wanming suddenly pounced on him, knocking over the fine porcelain teacup on the table. The tea splashed on the wedding clothes spread along the gold - lined hibiscus pattern, like the continuous beacon towers on the ridges of the border mountains.
"You can't go!"
She said urgently.
When an army sets out, it needs to allocate military funds, prepare food and forage, distribute weapons, and settle the horses... It would take at least a month to prepare an army for war!
But this time, the imperial edict inside the palace walls was even more urgent than the beacon smoke on the border. They had made a decision in just one day, dispatched troops, and selected the army's staff officer...
What a joke!
Since she could remember, she had never seen the court act so vigorously!
Moreover, it was Empress Dowager Kang who was in charge now...
"Empress Dowager Kang has always advocated peace and disapproved of going to war with the Anluo Kingdom. That's why over the years, every time the Anluo Kingdom harassed and probed in the southern border, she just sent envoys to appease them."
Li Wanming grabbed his sleeve, her whole body trembling.
"This time, she has acted completely out of character. Not only does she approve of sending troops, but she also made you the army's staff officer and the vanguard. This is clearly... clearly..."
Li Wanming's throat was dry, and her tongue was stiff. But those words were as heavy as a thousand pounds, and she just couldn't say them.
She trembled for a long time. In the end, she still tightly grabbed his arm and repeated: "You can't go!"
"This is clearly," Xiao Jingnan held her hand. A storm rose in his dark eyes as he filled in the last few words for her, "... trying to kill me."