In Xifang, a similar procession was taking place. However, this one had the Fairy Emperor and Imperial Queen Consort at the head. The crowd didn’t know where to look, because naturally they were all curious about the Imperial Queen Consort, but the rest of the procession was a once-in-a-lifetime event that needed to be watched thoroughly too.

The Fairy Emperor wore a dark and light gold outfit, many layered, with a minimal amount of embroidery on it. His white hair was down completely, not even wearing a crown. The Imperial Queen Consort wore an outfit all of pale blue, with very simple embroidery. Her hair was in simple braid and bun, with less than a handful of gold hair decorations sparkling under the sun. She walked hand-in-hand with the Fairy Emperor.

It was tradition that the parents—no matter their position—must never outshine the Bride or Groom. So even though it was the Imperial Queen Consort’s first appearance, she didn’t dress flashily. This act of humility impressed quite a few people. They might have been slightly less impressed if they’d known that, to their Queen, just putting her hair up was being flashy and she’d had to get talked into doing it.

The palanquin the Second Prince sat in was dark wood with gold plating. Instead of flowers, the gold was shaped like a deer. Carrying it were eight burly fairy guards from the palace.

The Second Prince had his hair neatly combed and put into a gold hair crown with a gold dragon pin through the center. He was dressed in gold, with intricate blue embroidered designs of deer and wildlife on his long robe. When he passed by, people saw the gold shimmering as if it were true gold and the embroidered animals moved as if they were alive.

Surrounding the entire procession were the Emperor’s Deer. They were led by Lu Fan, the Ancient One and oldest of the deer. Their fur, dark blue and gold, their eyes strangely glowing, and Lu Fan’s vines went into bloom for the occasion. While no one really expected deer to be walking through the town, no one was really surprised. Some had even come prepared, throwing fruits and nuts in front of the deer as a sort of offering.

The deers were startled the first few times this happened. Occasionally, such offerings would be found at the edges of the Lanhua forests, or just outside small villages. Not just the deer, but any mountain critter that happened to like such treats were used to it. They just didn’t expect to have such tasty treats thrown at them in the middle of a wedding procession.

Some ignored them thinking it wasn’t polite to be eating during such an important event. But others of the more gluttonous deers would stealthily glance around before lowering their heads and taking a quick nibble. After all, if they didn’t eat it, wouldn’t that be disappointing the citizens?

Directly behind the palanquin were the Duke Lin Ye, Third Prince, and Fourth Prince. Like the Emperor and Queen, they kept their outfits simple. Occasionally, the Fourth Prince would wave at the crowd, causing young ladies to swoon. The Third Prince immediately smacked his younger brother when he did this, causing the crowd to laugh. Just like their Queen, this was their first time seeing the Third Prince. Witnessing his behavior, they decided he was the upright type of Prince with a sense of responsibility, which gave them all a sense of relief. How many shameless princes could you get anyway?

The Wu Family Master and Madam followed behind the Princes, raising quite a few eyebrows. No one had heard about the Wu Family participating. It was well known that the Wu Family was favored by the Imperial Family, everyone knew the tale of the Wu Master’s family being saved by the Fairy Emperor after all. It’s just that the Wu Family didn’t show off this connection as people would expect, instead depending on their own strength to get things done. How deep the favoring went, therefore, was anyone’s guess.

Until now.

Now it was very clear the Imperial Family didn’t just favor them the way one would to a citizen who earned merit. This was treating them as if they were like family, part of the inner circle of Imperial life. If there’d been any thought of trying to knock the Wu Family down a few pegs by other wealthy families in the town, it immediately vanished after watching the wedding procession.

Behind the Wu Family were mostly Beasties, with a few humans and fairies mixed in. They were all wearing ceremonial armor, indicating they were from the Imperial Army, and despite their happy facial expressions, they looked quite intimidating. Not a single person in that group looked normal, but that didn’t surprise the crowd. The Second Prince was the Supreme Commander over the Imperial Army and recruited some of the strongest, scariest citizens to fight. They didn’t expect anything less from the Second Prince’s people.

Similar to the Bride’s procession, there were musicians at the very back. Just like in Dongbian, everyone was confused about where these dark skinned people had come from. Unlike the Bride’s procession, the music being played was almost like marching music. There were large, deep drums keeping beat. This might have, if played by another group, sounded threatening. But in these strange musicians hands, it filled people with pride and joy.

This military style music didn’t feel out of place, despite being in a wedding procession. It fit the Groom perfectly, after all. Listeners couldn’t help feeling that, if something softer had been played, it would have felt awkward.

The two processions slowly made their way through their respective cities until the sun was low in the sky. When each procession reached the edge of their town, near the path Jin had created earlier, a misty gold glittered shroud enveloped them. Before the eyes of the crowd that had persistently followed them the entire way, they vanished in a swirl of strange mountain fog.

The Bride and Groom’s procession came to a stop facing each other in front of the Palace doors. The musicians had stopped their playing and everyone in both processions stilled and became quiet.

The Fairy Emperor and Fairy Doctor took a single step forward.

Doctor Zufu’s knees felt wobbly despite his stoic facial expression. For the nth time, he feverently wished he hadn’t agreed to doing this. Who thought this kind of wedding ceremony was a good idea? This was a terrible idea! Terrible!

He blamed Ye for the entire thing. That fairy definitely encouraged this kind tradition knowing it’d cause problems!

Taking a deep breath, he puckered his brows together and managed to spit out in a mock angry voice, “Who dares stop the Jingling Family?”

Jia Ying didn’t actually have a family clan, so the Doctor, Nurse, and several fairies had come up with the surname “Jingling”, meaning “fairy”. It wasn’t original but it was better than nothing.

Lord Jin’s brows rose slightly, his eyes flashing. Zufu felt himself shake slightly despite his best effort. It was instinctual in all the fairies to want to be agreeable to their Lord. To oppose, even in jest, left them feeling extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable. It was as though they’d caught the attention of a powerful but capricious predator who might kill them with a single swipe.

Zufu only managed to suppress his instincts because, as the Family Doctor, he was one of the few fairies who was required to oppose Lord Jin for his patient’s sake. He’d been made that way by the Lord himself. Even so, it was hard for him to behave this way outside his job.

Right now, he was making jest with someone he both deeply respected and feared. He disliked it greatly and couldn’t understand Ye’s propensity for purposefully antagonizing Lord Jin, and even seeming to enjoy it. That Ye fellow, he once again thought, was crazy to enjoy this feeling.

Lord Jin’s lip curled slightly, causing Zufu to finally relax.

“The Huang Family,” Jin emphasized each word, “dares to stop the Jingling Family.”

“And what does the Huang Family want with this honorable Jingling Family?”

“We desire to unite your family with ours, with great benefit to both sides.”

“Hah, is that so? Then who will unite our families? We have but one beloved daughter and we are unwilling to let her go.”

“How convenient, we have but one cherished son. If you give your beloved daughter to us, he will treat her well and she will not be shamed in our house.”

“We shall see. Let Madam Zumu go and examine your son to see if he is worthy.”

Jin stepped aside for Zumu, saying lightly, “May he be found without fault in the Madam’s eyes.”

Zumu forced herself to walk slowly past her Lord to where Yan Li sat. While her part wasn’t anywhere near as tough as Zufu’s she was still nervous. When she came up to Yan Li’s palanquin, she saw him dozing off.

Her whole face twitched at the sight of him. This guy… she really didn’t understand what Jia Ying saw in him. Unlike Lord Jin, Zumu never felt any fear when dealing with Yan Li. The most common thing she felt for him was exasperation, which perfectly described her feelings at this moment.

Reaching out, she poked him heavily. He woke up with a start, blinking stupidly.

“Er? What? We there yet?”

Zumu squinted at him before clearing her throat and saying loudly, “Young man, what is your name?”

“Ah?” It took him a moment to realize what was happening, “Oh right! Er… This young man’s name is Huang Yan Li.”

“Huang Yan Li, your Father desires to unite our two families. Are you willing?”

“Yes! Very willing!” He then muttered sourly, “Would I put up with this show if I wasn’t?”

Zumu ignored his remark, and asked seriously, “You look like a strong, handsome young man. But what great deeds have you done that we should hand our daughter off to you?”

At this point, no one knew what he was going to say. The Groom had to think up something himself. How well he did would determine how much ribbing he’d get later.

Yan Li leaned closer to the Zumu, but faced towards the Bride’s procession and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, specifically Jia Ying, “Madam, is there any great deed that would truly make me worthy of such a fine woman as your daughter? Even though I saved her from a living hell, though I conquered the eastern lands, and though I now guard the borders of Lanhua… even with all that, it is not enough to make me worthy. If there is any deed that might be good enough, it’s that she loves me and that I love her. Though who to accredit that deed to, you’ll have to come to your own conclusions.”

Zumu’s mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. Had he gotten advice from Lu Shao? Otherwise, how did he think up such a great response? This guy had never been eloquent!

Yan Li stifled a yawn and then smiled at her, “Well?”

“Oh!” Zumu had forgotten to do the next part. She bowed hastily. “This answer is very good! Very good! This Madam will go relay your intentions!”

Zumu then left him and went back to Doctor Zufu’s side.

She cleared her throat and announced, “This Madam has examined Huang Yan Li. The Jingling Family will be greatly honored to have him as a son-in-law.”

“Then it is agreeable for our families to unite.” Zufu said, relieved the worst of the ceremony was out of the way.

“Wait.” Mei Hua stepped forward, trying to be serious and failing. “You’ve examined the Huang Family’s son, now let this Madam examine the Jingling Family’s daughter.”

Zufu paused and then nodded. He stepped aside to allow Mei Hua to walk past.

When Mei Hua walked up to the Bride’s Palanquin, she couldn’t help grinning widely.

“Daughter of the Jingling Family, what say you to uniting with the Huang Family?”

“I desire so.” Came Jia Ying’s soft reply.

“Your beauty is like a flower, pleasing for all to see. But beauty is not enough. Tell this Madam, what great deeds will you do for the Huang Family if we accept you?”

Much like with the Groom, what the Bride said at this point was completely up to her.

“Madam, this young woman carries no glorious family name nor great riches. But this young woman promises, even when she is old and gray and her eyes have dimmed and her mind is muddled, she will love your son deeply and without reserve.” She raised her hand and waved it slightly. One of the older children who’d been following rushed forward, carrying a sleeping boy. “Also, this young woman offers her son,” She winked, “And promises to offer Madam more in the future.”

Mei Hua took her grandson, who didn’t stir at being jostled, and grinned more widely, “This answer is very good. Very good indeed! This Madam will go relay your intentions!”

She walked back and stood next to Jin, grandson still in her arms, and said cheerfully, “This Madam has examined young woman Jingling Jia Ying. The Huang Family will be greatly honored to have her as a daughter-in-law.”

Jin turned to Zufu and nodded. They both took another step forward and bowed deeply at the waist towards each other.

“We have prepared a great Feast for the occasion, will you join us in celebrating this joyous occasion?”

“Our families are one, no need to be polite,” Zufu gave a stiff smile, his face unused to the action.

Without further comment, Fairy Emperor and Fairy Doctor walked through the open Palace gates. Behind them was Mei Hua and Nurse Zumu, both grinning at each other happily.

Per tradition, the Groom was helped out of his palanquin by his Uncle and Brothers. It’s not like Yan Li needed the help but apparently it was some kind of show of unity and support or something. On the Bride’s side, all Jia Ying’s children clamored around to help her down. They giggled, eyes shining, as they sometimes helped and sometimes hindered her efforts down.

When the Groom and Bride meet at the Palace entrance, the Groom lifted his hand and the Bride placed her hand in his.

They then smiled at each other and walked into the Palace hand-in-hand.