The people inside the hall remained silent all throughout the ceremony but in their minds they can't ignore their curiosity as to why the procession of the empress's sedan consists of the red robed Lin Mercenary Clan instead of the uniformed palace guards who left earlier on. And when the servants they dispatched outside to gather information came back, they can't help but tremble in both awe and fear towards the new empress. No ordinary woman will start her marriage with a bloody scene.
After the rituals of the Wedding, Lin Xulian was led towards the phoenix seat at the dragon seat's side. The princes, officials and other important people in the empire approach the newly wedded couple and offer a cup of wine to express their blessings. But Xulian asked Feng Jun Yi to prepare tea for her instead. She doesn't like wine since she wouldn't get drunk. Her body became tolerant to intoxicating substances through her experiments on her medicines. She doesn't want to torture herself with the bitter taste without purpose.
So instead of getting drunk, she decided to just observe each person who approaches them through her wedding veil. The people inside the hall are really curious about what the new empress looks like behind the veil. But they knew they had to wait when the emperor officially introduces his empress.
When the princes offered their blessings, Xulian became alert. And as expected the second prince Feng Jun Yu blatantly expressed his hate. He just drank his wine carelessly without even saying anything to offer goodwill to his older brother's marriage. The third prince looked neutral with neutral expression. Not cold nor warm. But he expressed his goodwill towards his brother's marriage sincerely maybe because he is a happily married man.
Xulian was shocked towards the fourth prince. He was tall and buff. Then Xulian discovered that aside from being a prince, he is also a general. Xulian can't help but compare him to her father. She also learned that out of all his brother, aside from the emperor's biological brother, the fourth prince is the only one close to him since his mother is a servant given by the emperor to serve the previous empress and rose as a concubine. But their mother had a good relationship right from the start.
When it's the fifth prince's turn to toast, Xulian was able to catch the subtle narrowing of his eyes when he looked at her. This made Xulian smile coldly under her veil. He might think that she wasn't able to catch his little expressions because of the veil and how he speaks too warmly trying hard to be the beloved brother. Xulian wasn't sure if the fifth prince was able to fool Feng Jun Yi. But she is happy to know that she has a potential playmate in the palace.
The toasts and greetings continued and Xulian got bored. She sweeps her eyes around the hall and her sight caught a sticky rice figure, Han Yimei. She narrowed her eyes when she saw her smiling mysteriously while watching Feng Jun Yi drink his wine. This gave Xulian a bad feeling. She looked at Feng Jun Yi, but because of her veil she couldn't examine his complexion very well. She decided to wait until they are alone later. She is sure that Han Yimei won't kill her beloved emperor anyway. And Xulian is really looking forward to her plan.
******
When the toasts finally ended, the couple were led towards the bedchamber. But before Xulian could enter the bedchamber, she need to do another set of rituals. She had to step over a big fire, a saddle and an apple.
The room was decorated with red lanterns, red curtains and two candles at either side of the bed carved with gold plated dragon and phoenix respectively. When Xulian is finally seated at the edge of the bed, a servant handed a steelyard towards Feng Jun Yi and used it to unveil Lin Xulian. Seeing her adorned face for the first time, Feng Jun Yi felt his heart skip a beat. He finds her gorgeous with her bare face alone, but with her make-up that emphasized her features more, he finds her fatally gorgeous. He could literally feel himself get dizzy. Specially right now that Lin Xulian is intently looking up on him. She looked like an adorable kitten with those penetrating peach blossom eyes.
This is the first time he felt this way but he knows it is a feeling of a man towards a woman. But he still disregarded it as love. But he is sure he is feeling desire and probably lust. But he can't make a move since he promised her that he would respect her as his empress and as a woman. He could only hold it in and probably get a cold bath later on.
When the servant went out of the room and let the husband and wife do the "thing". Xulian was finally able to talk business with Feng Jun Yi. "There is something wrong with you." Xulian started that made Feng Jun Yi's face burn in embarrassment. He couldn't possibly say that he is currently lusting towards her.
"W-what do you mean? Z-zhen's definitely fine. M-maybe just a bit d-drunk. Yes! Zhen's dragon body is just drunk!" Despite his determination to maintain his cold authoritative face, he can't still help but stutter.
But Xulian misunderstood his flustered face and grab his hand to feel his pulse. A little moment later she burst into laughter. Feng Jun Yi became nervous. 'Can she tell a man's lust through the pulse? Does the rising heartbeat expose it?' He is now overthinking. "Why are you laughing?" He tried to sound angry to mask his embarrassment.
"It's nothing. I was just wondering what your childhood sweetheart fed you. It was just the Shuijiao medicine. Nothing serious. Just a few needles could handle it." Xulian said with mirth in her face.
"Fed me with medicine? Who?" Feng Jun Yi is clearly confused now.
"Lady Han, your childhood sweetheart. She was looking at you mysteriously the entire time and now I know. But don't worry, this medicine will only make you sleep in ten hours minimum. But you can't wake up without the aid of the antidote. This is good for severe case of insomnia. But you also need the help of your trusted person to wake you up. She is probably targeting me. If the emperor doesn't wake up the day after his wedding, the blame will fall on me. Then Lady Han would heroically wake the emperor up and become your benefactor then throw me away. This is actually a clever idea. I commend her for having a little bit of brain."
"You surely know a lot about it."
"Of course! Because I made it. A lot of your officials are suffering from insomnia and this medicine is one of my best seller."
Hearing this, Feng Jun Yi's mouth twitched. He just silently prayed for the poor Lady Han's soul and her bad luck for catching this little demon's attention.