Struggling through the song and dance, Sage’s lack of comfort was hidden by Yuan Hu’s advanced capability. His voice and instrument weren’t just well played, the music carried Qi along with it and ensured that this wasn’t just any regular performance. Ruanfu looked eager to make them do more, but she couldn’t refute these two. She gazed into the distance at the large buildings she saw there and realized she had finally run into the reason this place was so important.

Finally, the number ended and Ruanfu no longer gave them a hard time. She merely held out one hand and patted it with the fingers of her other. Sage brushed his ring and a trio of Storage Bags flew out and landed on Ruanfu’s palm in a pile. She balanced the pile of bags on one hand while sending her consciousness in to take a peek. Then she nodded and stepped to the side, waving Sage on.

Along with Yuan Hu, these three men were some of Sage’s earliest friends. The thin and scholarly man was Geng He, a Doctor and Alchemist, while the very average looking person who loved to show off was his loud friend Qiu Hou. As a Talisman Master, he had put on quite a show, one which Ruanfu couldn’t overlook. The same went with Yuan Hu, he was a Minstrel, and able to infuse his voice and instruments with Qi techniques. Taking advantage of their professions, they had put on a splendid show that was far beyond what any mortals could produce.

With the final hurdle handled, Sage led the three men and women up a flight of stairs and into the front door of the building. It was not a palatial estate like many other Clan homes he’d been to, but it was still larger than any single family would use. He walked down a hall and into the largest room of the house where a few women were waiting along with that barrel chested man from earlier. Despite his gruff look before, that ‘Uncle Yuhan’ was now on the verge of tears. He was only barely able to hold them back at this moment.

Sage stepped forward and took in the figure in front of him. Layer after layer of thin red silk hid her. She had designed this dress herself and it took Sage many tries before he got it right. Her face, as the rest of her body, was hidden by many diaphanous layers of silk. It gave her a light and airy feel while also completely obscuring her features. She looked much like a spirit or a ghost, a mere silhouette behind an opaque silken screen. For his part, Sage also wore another elaborate red silk suit and upon seeing her, he smiled and beckoned her to follow along with him.

Unlike before, there was no parade waiting for them outside. They had only a small procession of the two in red, the three women in pale yellow, three men in a soft orange, and finally Uncle Yuhan at the back, trying not to make any noise as he wiped the tears from his face.

They walked back out the ‘Wan’ archway and onto an empty street. They took a few turns walking through a town that looked somewhat deserted, at least until they turned onto a much larger street. At that point, there were hundreds of people lined up along the sides of the street. There were so many of them that they were packed in tightly and as soon as this small group stepped into the middle of the road they let out a loud cheer. The sound of magical firecrackers went off and their group walked down the road to the sound of excited fanfare.

They traveled up the street and into a large square where even more people had gathered and blocked off all the other directions at the intersection, leaving only the path forward to a large building. Above the entrance to this building was a plaque that read ‘Outer Hall’. They walked up a few steps and then passed into the doors, walking through a few hallways before entering a large hall. At the center of the hall were a few dozen tall chairs facing towards the hall and hundreds of smaller chairs facing back towards them. At this time there were many important people upon those chairs, but that was not their goal at the moment.

After walking up the central aisle towards the tall chairs, they abruptly turned to the side of the room where a large altar was set up. To either side of a huge golden double happiness symbol, was a symbol to represent the heavens and the earth. With all eyes in the room upon them, they knelt down in front of the altar and bowed their foreheads down to touch the floor. Then they rose up and returned to the center of the room, taking up a teapot that had been prepared in advance and adding a pot of boiling water to it. The whole room maintained their silence for the few minutes that it took to steep the tea and watched as the man and woman worked together to serve tea to all of those in the tall chairs at the front of the room. Uncle Yuhan sat down upon one of the chairs and had managed to clean his face and hold back his tears as he received a cup.

Then, the two of them knelt down once more and kowtowed to the group. Then they turned and bowed to one another in the same fashion. Sage reached out and took the girl’s hand and the crowd that had maintained their silence let out a loud shout. The silence was broken with cheers and fireworks once more. Music began to play and then before anyone could say anything further, the man and woman wearing red were lifted up and carried out upon the shoulders of the six who had followed them in. The three men and women walked them out of the hall and down a corridor to where an immense bedroom had been prepared. They threw them over the threshold and then slammed the door shut on them.

Sage collected himself and walked up to the woman in red. He slowly lifted the veils off her face and finally met her eyes, “Wan Ling.”

She smiled back at him and then shook her head, “Lang Ling.”

The second marriage was somewhat different from the first. The actual ceremony only consisted of three bows. One, to the heavens and earth. Two, to the ancestors and parents that brought you into the world. Three, to each other. There were also many rituals prior to the wedding: matching of birthdates, betrothals, bridal gifts, checking the date of a wedding, and many other smaller details. Then there was the retrieval of the bride and making it past the challenges of the bridesmaids to see if the groom was worthy and committed, the most important of which were many bribes. After seeing the bride, the groom would bring them back to their own family. There was a tea ceremony serving all of their elders and family members, but Sage had none remaining.

Zhu Jiao had also lost her parents, so the both of them made offerings to the name plaques of their parents and ancestors and then to Jiao’s Elders in the Zhu Clan. Considering he’d lost the Lang Clan home and it was so very far away, the Tiankong Siblings purchased an estate in Plum Lantern City and set up a large ancestral altar for them to use.

With Wan Ling, her closest relative was her uncle, Wan Yuhan, and one of Sage’s mentors many years ago at the Holy Flame Sect. For this wedding, Elder Manji, the Cloud Swallowing Thunder Eel, had carried them all the way across the kingdom and back to the Holy Flame Sect. Here, the Holy Flame Sect was their family, and they gave their second bows to the Sect Elders and ancestors as well as their own family’s ancestors.

There were also slightly different traditions related to the wedding banquets, with the Zhu requiring a banquet for the groom’s family as well as another for their own. Meanwhile, at the Holy Flame Sect there was a single giant banquet that was to last two full days. The first would carry on into the night with Sage and Ling locked into the bridal chamber, and all the guests making naughty jokes about what they were doing. Then the day after, they would join the banquet to celebrate their new union.