Youthful Glory

The journey back to the mansion was eerily quiet. The crescent moon of the Qixi Festival hung faintly in the sky, its tranquility like still water. Ming Tan, wearing a veil hat, followed Jiang Xu from a distance of about ten feet.

Initially, Jiang Xu had mentioned sending someone to escort her home. Yet somehow, after leaving the Bieyu Tower, it turned into him personally seeing her back.

Though termed as an escort, it felt more like he was merely leading the way.

Both maintained proper decorum, keeping their distance. Apart from midway when Jiang Xu noticed Ming Tan struggling to keep up and paused briefly, he never looked back or uttered an extra word the entire way.

Ming Tan endured in silence throughout the journey. By the time they reached the back gate of the Marquis Jing'an residence, her legs felt nearly broken, and the soles of her feet burned with pain. Unable to hold back any longer, she cursed inwardly, "Brute!"

After all, who could have imagined—His Highness Prince Dingbei, in all his dignity, would choose to escort someone on foot.

Not a carriage in sight, not even a horse. The several-mile trek from Bieyu Tower back to the Marquis Jing'an residence was a distance she usually wouldn’t cover in months, yet tonight she had walked it all in one go.

"Thank you for your escort, Your Highness."

Standing at the gate, Ming Tan suppressed the ache in her legs and curtsied from afar, offering her thanks in a soft voice.

Jiang Xu gave a slight nod and turned to leave.

Ming Tan couldn’t resist calling out again, "Your Highness…"

"What is it?" Jiang Xu paused.

Ming Tan had initially wanted to explain the misunderstanding from earlier that night, but the words stuck in her throat. Instead, she said, "Nothing, it’s just… During the Lantern Festival, it was also Your Highness who came to my rescue and had someone escort me to the back gate of the mansion. A Tan remembers and is deeply grateful."

At this, Jiang Xu lifted his gaze and asked a few more words, "How did the young lady know it was me who intervened that night?"

Ming Tan: "…?"

Back in the forest, she had asked, "Husband, was it you?"

Had he not heard?

Jiang Xu had indeed heard, but at the time, he assumed the Fourth Young Lady was merely surprised by his sudden appearance.

Ming Tan, however, secretly sighed in relief. It’s better he didn’t hear, she thought. After all, the embarrassment of that "husband" remark was no less mortifying than being caught with the fire prevention manual earlier.

She hurriedly explained, "Because when Your Highness rescued me in the forest last time, you also used a sash. Though the colors were different, the fabric, weaving technique, and even the hidden patterns were identical. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the newly tributed Zhiwu brocade from Suzhou over the past two years. As for the hidden patterns, the one from the Lantern Festival used black-gold threads, while the one in the forest had black-silver threads. The embroidery techniques included scattered stitches, scale stitches, ice-pattern stitches… Zhiwu brocade is exceedingly rare, with only about ten bolts tributed annually, usually reserved for the imperial family. My father once received a bolt as a reward from the palace, so A Tan recognized it."

Jiang Xu paused briefly.

He hadn’t realized a simple sash could carry such intricacies.

The young lady of the Ming family seemed quite the connoisseur on the matter.

Ming Tan also realized she might have said too much. Moreover, regarding this very sash, she had once tricked her future husband.

At the thought, her ears burned even hotter. She hadn’t even explained tonight’s incident properly, and now she’d dragged up the previous one. Too ashamed to face her future husband any longer, she quickly lowered her lashes and stammered, "In any case, thank you for saving me, and for escorting me tonight. A Tan will take my leave now. Your Highness, please take care on your way back."

From the back gate all the way to her courtyard, the heat in Ming Tan’s cheeks refused to fade. Only after Suxin fetched a cold compress did she finally calm down somewhat.

After washing up and retiring to bed, Ming Tan tossed and turned under her ice-silk quilt, unable to sleep the entire night.

I’m done for, utterly done for!She was clearly a dignified and serene young lady from a noble family, so why did she keep embarrassing herself in front of her future husband? With such an image, she might as well not live! After marrying him, she should dutifully arrange a few concubines for him and voluntarily retreat to avoid his sight! And when he said, "The young lady is fine, this prince does not think so," he must have been trying to spare her further humiliation—in truth, he probably already thought of her as a shameless girl who lacked any sense of propriety!

She clutched the corner of the quilt, burying her face in it, torn between frustration at her own foolishness and admiration for her future husband’s kindness.

The maid keeping watch outside was new. Ming Tan had been restless all night, startling at every sound, leaving the maid at a loss. By midnight, she finally gathered the courage to fetch Suxin.

Suxin arrived, hastily draping her outer garment over her shoulders, just in time to hear Ming Tan whimper softly. She knocked lightly on the door and asked with concern, "Young Miss? It’s me. What’s wrong?"

"Nothing. All of you, go rest."

Ming Tan poked her head out from under the embroidered quilt and replied gloomily.

Though she claimed "nothing," after the Qixi Festival, Ming Tan seemed to wilt. Gone was her usual high-spirited enthusiasm for trivial matters. Not that it mattered—she felt her image had already been irreparably tarnished by repeated embarrassments.

After Qixi came the Ghost Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Double Ninth Festival, followed by the Winter Solstice, the Emperor’s Birthday, and New Year’s Eve. One major occasion followed another, yet Ming Tan barely left the house. The only exceptions were the weddings of Shen Hua and Ming Chu, where she, as their younger sister, had to make an appearance.

Ming Chu married into Hezhou, too far to return for the customary three-day visit—effectively out of sight, out of mind. Shen Hua, married from the Marquis Jing'an’s residence, remained in the capital and naturally returned there for her post-wedding visit. Seeing Shen Hua radiant and her husband attentive during the visit only deepened Ming Tan’s gloom.

Shen Hua noticed something was off, but when she asked, Ming Tan couldn’t bring herself to explain. How could she admit she had already humiliated herself repeatedly in front of her betrothed before even marrying him? So she simply stayed silent.

Autumn passed, winter came, and firecrackers heralded the new year. The wedding date Ming Tan had once eagerly anticipated drew closer.

As the day approached, the Marquis Jing'an’s residence grew livelier.

At the start of spring, the Ministry of Rites, acting on behalf of Prince Dingbei’s household, delivered the grand betrothal gifts. Six court eunuchs took turns announcing the gifts from morning till night, their voices hoarse by the end. Crowds of onlookers outside Nanque Street came and went, watching as the dowry flowed ceaselessly into the Marquis’s residence.

In recent years, the capital had seen its share of royal weddings—princes taking consorts, imperial daughters marrying out—but none had matched this spectacle.

By dusk, when the announcements concluded, the lead eunuch wiped his sweat, his voice raspy as he respectfully presented the gift list with a beaming smile. "Marquis, Madam, the betrothal gifts are listed in two parts. One follows the standard ceremonial protocol for a prince’s consort, while the other is an additional 128 trunks from Prince Dingbei’s household. This clearly shows the prince’s high regard for both his future consort and your esteemed residence."

Ming Tingyuan stroked his short beard, his face glowing with pride, while Madam Pei couldn’t suppress her delighted smile. She promptly ordered tea to be served and personally handed the eunuch a generous reward for his efforts. "Your Excellency has worked hard."This dowry list was indeed exceptionally generous, with considerable weight in hand. They had initially thought Prince Dingbei's residence might add forty-eight or sixty-eight extra ceremonial trays to the standard consort's dowry—who could have imagined they'd quietly prepared a full one hundred and twenty-eight trays! It truly gave Ming Tan ample face, as well as their Marquis Jing'an household.

In this dynasty, a princess's dowry was customarily set at one hundred and eighty-eight trays. They had originally planned to prepare one hundred and twenty-eight trays for Ming Tan's marriage, which would already be considered extremely grand. But since Prince Dingbei's household had invested so heavily in the betrothal gifts, it would be inappropriate for Marquis Jing'an's household not to increase the dowry to one hundred and sixty-eight trays.

The entire household was filled with joy. The betrothal gifts filled the rear annex of the main courtyard. When Ming Tan went to take a look, she felt somewhat pleased as well. It seemed her image in her future husband's eyes might still be salvageable!

However, after the initial joy, Ming Tan once again fell into distress.

These past two days, Bai Minmin had come to visit her. As they chatted about visiting the Bieyu Pavilion during the Qixi Festival, Ming Tan suddenly remembered something she hadn't considered before—

Her visit to Bieyu Pavilion that day had been improper.

But was Prince Dingbei's visit any more proper?

Why had he been there? Moreover, the establishment had been closed to guests that day, yet he was still inside—he must have been among their most valued patrons. And to enter Shui Ying's chamber without even knocking suggested an extremely familiar relationship! Thinking more carefully, Shui Ying had actively sought to establish goodwill—could it have been because she knew Ming Tan was the future Princess Dingbei, hoping to gain permission to enter the prince's residence after the marriage? The more Ming Tan thought about it, the colder her heart grew.

Had her, Ming family's A Tan, truly such poor judgment?

To fancy yet another handsome philanderer?-

With less than half a month until the wedding, the ceremonial robes and crown for the princess consort had already been delivered to Marquis Jing'an's residence. Yet Ming Tan remained listless. Even amidst their joy, Ming Tingyuan and Madam Pei began to sense something amiss.

During lunch one day, seeing Ming Tan's sparrow-like appetite—just picking at each dish before claiming fullness—Madam Pei exchanged a glance with Ming Tingyuan. After careful consideration, she voiced the question they'd debated half the night before: "A Tan, do you have any dissatisfaction with this marriage arrangement?"

"Your daughter has no dissatisfaction."

Ming Tingyuan also set down his chopsticks. After a long silence, he said, "A Tan, you may speak your mind. If you don't wish to marry, now that the betrothal gifts have been presented, your father would rather risk losing his official position and noble title—"

"...?"

"Your daughter doesn't wish not to marry. Father needn't lose his position or title."

She was indeed deeply conflicted. She held considerable fondness for His Highness Prince Dingbei, but that unresolved matter concerning him and Shui Ying weighed heavily on her heart, impossible to ignore.

Yet no matter how much it troubled her, an imperial marriage decree wasn't something one could simply refuse. You might be willing to lose your position and title, but His Majesty would likely demand your entire household's heads.

Hearing her words, Ming Tingyuan felt relieved and didn't finish his earlier statement. He had originally intended to say, "Now that the betrothal gifts have been presented, even if your father risks losing his official position and noble title, he cannot dissolve this marriage."

Ming Tan misunderstood, thinking her father was willing to defy imperial will for her, and was genuinely moved. She thought that even if she had misjudged Prince Dingbei, for the sake of the marquis's household, she could steel her heart and marry him, thus fulfilling familial duty.

This moved her so much that she ate an extra half bowl of rice and kept serving dishes to Ming Tingyuan. Cheerfully accepting, Ming Tingyuan nonetheless rubbed his nose slightly guiltily—On the eighth day of the third month, an auspicious date for weddings as divined by the Imperial Astronomers and Ministry of Rites, Prince Dingbei was to be married. Jiang Xu had been away handling military affairs in the north and only returned to the capital from Qingzhou on the eve of his wedding, the seventh day of the third month.

Under Uncle Fu's meticulous care, Prince Dingbei's residence was already adorned with lanterns and festooned with red decorations.

When Jiang Xu dismounted and entered the manor, Uncle Fu finally breathed a sigh of relief. The old steward had been worried that his lord might actually miss his own wedding due to military duties.

Shu Jingran, knowing Jiang Xu would return that night, had come to wait for him with a warmed pot of wine. Yet Jiang Xu coldly declined, "No need. This prince has matters to attend to at the prison of the Court of Judicial Review."

"…?" Shu Jingran laughed in disbelief. "You're getting married tomorrow, and tonight you're still going to interrogate prisoners?"

"A wedding is just a wedding. What does it have to do with interrogating prisoners?" Jiang Xu replied nonchalantly.

Shu Jingran couldn’t comprehend it. "Since you're marrying, you should at least show your bride due respect. Do you intend to greet your bride with dark circles under your eyes tomorrow? Or will you wear that icy expression in the bridal chamber—or perhaps leave your new wife waiting while you catch up on sleep?"

Jiang Xu remained unmoved.

Shu Jingran pressed on, "I only recently learned that Fourth Miss Ming has been troubled these past days because of your appearance at Bieyu Tower. She seems to have misunderstood your relationship with Miss Shui Ying. Didn’t you go to see her last time? Did you really not even explain why you were at Bieyu Tower? Since she once did you a kindness, and you wish to marry her and treat her well, there’s nothing about Bieyu Tower that can’t be clarified. Besides, trivial matters like interrogating prisoners can’t be more important than your wedding tomorrow. I suggest you rest well tonight."

Shu Jingran had coincidentally run into Bai Minmin at Bieyu Tower before, and a few days prior, they had met again at a polo banquet hosted by the Duke of Pingguo’s household.

Bai Minmin had subtly probed him about why he and Prince Dingbei had visited Bieyu Tower that day, and from her questions, Shu Jingran had guessed part of the reason.

Jiang Xu listened without reaction, his expression unreadable.

After a long silence, he suddenly turned and walked out. Shu Jingran called after him, but he paid no heed.

Shaking his head, Shu Jingran assumed the man was incorrigible and had indeed gone back to interrogating prisoners—

That night, Marquis Jing'an’s residence was still aglow with red, even the lanterns casting a soft crimson hue, exuding the joy of a grand wedding. Ming Tan, unable to sleep, leaned by the windowsill, gazing blankly at the moonlight.

Tomorrow, she would be married.

Would that man be her true love?

Before, she had been somewhat certain—but now, she wasn’t so sure.

Feeling weary, she closed her eyes to rest.

Then, a faint scent of sandalwood drifted to her nose.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw a jade pendant first, then lifted her gaze—

"…?!"

It must be an illusion.

Instinctively, she rubbed her eyes.

"You’re not mistaken, miss. It is this prince." The man stood by the window, looking down at her. "I’ve come uninvited to tell you that Bieyu Tower is a covert outpost of Prince Dingbei’s residence. My relationship with Shui Ying is strictly that of superior and subordinate—there is no personal entanglement. Tomorrow, I will personally come to Marquis Jing'an’s residence to escort you to the wedding. You may rest well now."

His voice was calm and measured. Tall and poised before the window, he seemed to blend seamlessly with the silvery moonlight.