"You eat for me."
When she arrived at the banquet site of the Marquis Lin'an's Mansion, Jiang Xuesui was very hungry, so she thought of having some pastries to fill her stomach. Lotus blossom cakes, mung bean pastries, jade dew dumplings, crab-and-shrimp dumplings, iced cold yuanzi... She took a few bites of each, and as she tasted them, she started eating heartily, gradually forgetting the real reason she had come. Dressed as a Daoist nun, Wen Yuanjia approached with a whisk in hand. Seeing Jiang Xuesui burying herself in food, she chuckled, "Eating like this now, you'll be stuffed before the formal banquet even starts." Jiang Xuesui was just taking a small bite of a crab roe biluo, the fresh flavor filling her mouth. "I slept until afternoon and missed breakfast and lunch. I heard that Xiao Lin and Xie Nongyu—" At that, she slapped her thigh, suddenly realizing that she had been so focused on eating that she had forgotten to find Xiao Lin. She shoved the unfinished crab roe biluo into Wen Yuanjia's hands, "Hold this for me. I'll be right back." Wen Yuanjia looked at the biluo in her hand, then at Jiang Xuesui's retreating figure, blinking in confusion. The direction Yuanyuan had taken led to the kitchen courtyard in the mansion—what was she going there for? Was she dissatisfied that the pastries on the tables weren't freshly baked? Soon, Wen Yuanjia saw Jiang Xuesui walking back while tapping her own forehead. "Jiajia, that door leads to the kitchen courtyard. Which door goes to the courtyard where the newlyweds are?" Jiang Xuesui asked. Wen Yuanjia turned and pointed to a door, explaining the route clearly, and Jiang Xuesui finally found the Hundred Sons Curtain where the bride and groom were sitting. Xie Nongyu's head was covered with jeweled hairpins, and she was laden with gold and jade treasures. She held a round fan to cover the lower half of her face, her exposed eyes curved into crescent moons as if smiling, but deep within there was endless sorrow. He Lanlin wore his wedding robes, clutching a round pomegranate on his knees, his whole being like a walking corpse—dazed and numb. Yet whenever someone came to congratulate him and Xie Nongyu, he would return a stiff, fake smile. The reason He Lanlin sat there obediently was that Emperor Zhengshi had arranged the marriage, and he dared not defy the imperial decree. Jiang Xuesui waited until everyone had finished offering congratulations to the couple before she stepped forward. She took a fresh green willow branch handed to her by a maid and flicked it at the newlyweds, sprinkling the blessed water onto them. This ritual was called "Sitting and Scattering Blessings"—a unique wedding custom from north of the river. The "crying marriage" on Jiang Xuesui's wedding day was a custom exclusive to Jiangnan. That's beside the point.
Xie Nongyu: "Have all the cousins from your maternal grandmother's family arrived?"
Startled by Xie Nongyu's unexpected question, Jiang Xuesui paused before replying, "I came from the ladies' flower hall. I don't know if they've arrived."
He Lanlin said listlessly, "Xie Nongyu, I've accepted my fate. Why won't you? Even if Wen Yu comes, so what? Our marriage is decreed by His Majesty. If he disrupts the wedding, he'll surely be punished." He thought for a moment and then spoke his mind. "Why do you have to be so difficult? Now that things have come to this, even if it proves that Wen Yu is willing to be brave for you once and that you two have had a passionate love, His Majesty can't back down. You're just like my cousin—completely pretentious with a screw loose."
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