Zi Yang

  Lin Ruochen sat on the edge of the bed, head bowed and silent. Mo Xun stood beside the table, gazing at the red lacquer wooden tray on it. On the tray were two objects: one was a pine wood ruyi adorned with carvings of boy and girl figures, and the other was a wedding sieve engraved with the pattern of double stars. It was unlucky to lift the veil of the newlyweds by hand; they had to use either the ruyi or the sieve to do so. As for which one to use, it depended on the preference of the newlyweds themselves.

  After a long hesitation, Mo Xun took the joyful秤 and walked to the bedside, suppressing the tension in his heart, and lifted Lin Ruochen's veil. The moment he lifted the veil, Mo Xun's tension turned into joy, because one-year-younger Lin Ruochen was extremely beautiful, with a head of fine, smooth hair coiled on top of her head, hanging down on both sides, an egg-like face white and flawless, willow eyebrows slanting, phoenix eyes clear and calm, nose like a pendant, mouth like a red cherry. After the veil was lifted, Lin Ruochen's shy lowering of her head made her look even more charming and lovely.

  Lin Ruochen's veil was made of red silk, and the hairpin in the middle of her bun was fixed through the red silk to ensure that it wouldn't fall off when she moved. Mo Wen's hands trembled with joy as he lifted the veil again, and Lin Ruochen blushed and smiled at him. Their eyes met, and Mo Wen saw tenderness and happiness in Lin Ruochen's eyes.

  There is nothing more delightful in life than meeting the one you love and who loves you back. The joy in my heart at this moment cannot be put into words. As I follow the arrangement of our parents and the matchmaker's words, before this, he had no idea what Lin Ruochen looked like. He had imagined her appearance countless times, but never thought that today, upon seeing her, she would be even more beautiful than he had ever imagined, gentle beyond his expectations.

  After smiling, he didn't know what to say, and in fact, because of the invasion of the northern barbarians, the wedding was advanced by more than two months, and he hadn't made any psychological preparations at all. Before that, he had been studying hard for the Zhongzheng Dingpin exam at the end of the year, which is a assessment of the students' moral character by the officials appointed by the imperial court to determine their ranks, in preparation for future official careers. However, under the urgent situation, all his plans were disrupted, and it wasn't until now that he truly realized he was already married, and this beautiful stranger in front of him was his wife, the woman who would accompany him for the rest of his life.

  Without asking, Lin Ruochen took the lead and made a move. She raised her hand, pulled out the hairpin, removed the cover on her head, walked lightly to the table, poured a cup of tea, and handed it to Mo Wen's face.

  Mo Wen hastily took over, the teacup wasn't big, and as they exchanged hands, their fingers inevitably touched, both of them blushing instantly.

  "Are you hungry?" Mo Wen felt a little embarrassed and asked a very silly question in his anxiety.

  Lin Ruochen heard this and slightly shook her head, indicating that she wasn't hungry.

  "You rest for a while, I'll go out for a walk." Mo Wen put down his teacup and walked outside. All along, he had been reading the classics of sages, official documents of various philosophers, and rarely browsed through unofficial histories or romantic stories. He was quite ignorant about matters between men and women. At this moment, he felt extremely tense and urgently wanted to leave this place to calm down.

  "Who?!" Mo Wen had just taken a step forward when he heard Lin Ruochen's voice behind him.

  Don't ask, upon hearing the sound, he turned his head back, only to see Lin Ruochen's face filled with shock and worry, apparently misunderstanding his actions.

  "Don't get me wrong, having a wife like you is a blessing for the Mo family. I need to use the restroom, I'll be right back." Mo asked comforted him with one sentence and quickly opened the door and went out.

  He closed the door, took a few deep breaths, and the cold winter air quickly brought him out of his tense mood. Composing himself, Mo asked began to blame himself - as someone well-read in poetry and books, he had just spoken in the dialect of the common people, without any elegance or refinement of a scholar.

  "Whatever, she's my wife, we can talk freely between us, no need to be so serious like talking to a Confucian scholar." Mo Xiong muttered to himself outside the room.

  After calming down, Mo didn't ask and found that his mother and Bing Ren had already come to the east wing from the main house. Both of them looked tense and worried.

  "Ask you, how did you come out?" The mother spoke first.

  "What's wrong, Master Mo?" Bing Ren asked anxiously. His last task was to inspect the bridal chamber with the new bride's mother. If the bride did not bleed, the groom had the right to let Bing Ren take her away immediately.

  "Mother, it's daytime now, how can we perform the rites of Zhou Gong?" Mo Wen asked in a low voice, he naturally knew what his mother and Bing Ren were waiting for.

  "Oh dear, Master Mo, you scared me half to death." The Ice Maiden patted her chest, "What's there to be afraid of during the day? Hurry up and go, don't keep the newlyweds waiting."

  "Mother..." Don't ask for help, looking at his own mother with a general gaze, the intimacy between men and women comes from the heart. They had just met and were not familiar with each other, let alone in broad daylight, how could they do such private things.

  "Unless you'd rather do it this way, Sister Sun, why don't you go back first? We still trust the Lin family's gate wind." Madam Mo said to Bingren.

  "That's all right, this child is really something, what a nuisance!" Bing Ren followed Mrs. Mo to the main house with a smile on her face, she still had some reward money that hadn't been collected.

  "Kong Meng has read too many books and become a bookworm." Mrs. Mo smiled and teased.

  After the two left, Mo Wen could only return to his room again. Lin Ruochen was still sitting on the edge of the bed. She had heard the conversation between the three of them earlier and knew that Mo Wen was just embarrassed by the repeated gifts, not dissatisfied with her. Therefore, there was only a blush on her face, no longer any anxiety.

  "The heavens have not been unkind to me, I can marry you as my wife. From now on, I will take good care of you and absolutely won't bully or wrong you." Mo Wen walked over to the table and sat down.

  Having a husband like you is a great fortune, I will definitely follow the way of a virtuous wife and respect my parents-in-law, manage the household and raise our children. Lin Ruoxuan responded softly.

  "How long have you been practicing to speak so fluently?" Mo asked with a smile, and after finishing speaking, he picked up the cup of tea that Lin Ruochen had poured for him earlier and drank it all in one gulp.

  "Don't say it." Lin Ruochen muttered with his head down.

  "Your daughter has done a good job, this phoenix is vividly alive." Mo asked stretched out his hand and pointed to one of the several wooden boxes on the table. When a woman got married, she would bring some small items with her as dowry, most of which were used to show off her skills to her husband's family. Lin Ruochen had four dowries: a box of baked goods, a box of books, a box of embroidery, and a musical instrument wrapped in red cloth. These four dowries indicated that the bride was good at cooking, recognized characters, was skilled at embroidery, and understood music.

  "The phoenix flies, its feathers rustling." Lin Ruochen responded in a low voice.

  Mo Wen heard the words and nodded repeatedly, Lin Ruochen said that Feng Huang Yu Fei is a allusion in Shi Jing, describing the phoenix and the phoenix being affectionate in the air, implying a hundred years of good marriage, from which it can be seen that Lin Ruochen really understands poetry.

  "The phoenix has a spiritual root, soaring clouds and flapping its wings to settle in one place." Don't ask if it's inspired by emotions, the phoenix is a noble and loyal divine bird, legend has it that no matter how far it flies, it will always return to its nest at night.

  "The phoenix is born with divine wings, riding the wind and soaring up to the ninth heaven." Lin Ruochen responded casually.

  Mo Wen heard the words and nodded slightly, what he said earlier was just a sigh of the phoenix's loyalty, not recorded in poetry, didn't expect Lin Ruochen to pick it up so neatly, but the sentence Lin Ruochen picked up is too far-fetched for a woman, the momentum is too strong, it can be seen that her inner heart is not as weak as she appears.

  Mo didn't think much of it, after all, his wife being talented was a good thing. A moment later, Mo pointed to the object wrapped in red cloth on the table and asked, "Is this a zither or a pipa?"

  "Guqin." Lin Ruochen replied. The guqin has seven strings, while the guzheng has thirteen strings. Although both instruments are referred to as producing "qin sound", they are actually not the same thing.

  Mo Wen nodded, the Guqin has many tones in one string, it's difficult to control, only a master can play it. The Guzheng has accurate tones and is relatively easy to learn, but its manipulation is complex, with too many movements when playing, and the high notes are not enough, so it's inferior to the Guqin.

  "If you're willing, we can play a duet together and connect through music." Lin Ruochen turned his head to look at the bamboo flute on the wall.

  At this time, almost every wealthy family would have one or two of the eight musical instruments. This was either because the master really understood music, or because he attached himself to the elegant and hung them up as decorations. Lin Ruochen's move was a bit bold, because if Mo asked him not to understand music, it would be very likely to cause embarrassment.

  "Very good." Mo Wen nodded and smiled, Lin Ruochen was the youngest daughter of the Lin family, with a superior family background and personal talent, it was inevitable that she had some princess temperament, as long as she was convinced and obedient, they would naturally get along harmoniously in the future.

  Lin Ruochen is only sixteen years old, although she has been married, but after all, she still has a girl's heart. As soon as she heard the words, she walked to the table and adjusted her position, tuning the strings. Mo asked himself to take the bamboo flute from the wall and wipe it clean. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the literary style was elegant and refined, and most literati were familiar with music, among which the flute and Xiao were the first choice. First, these two musical instruments are made of bamboo holes, with a high and pure wind. Second, they can be played standing up, showing the elegance of men.

  Lin Ruochen finished tuning and sat down, then turned to look at Mo Wen. Mo Wen nodded and smiled, took a deep breath, and began to play the flute. The number of pieces that combined the guqin and flute was not many, among which the famous piece "Feng Qiu Huang" was the most harmonious. The high notes of the guqin were insufficient, and its tone was biased towards being cold and sorrowful, while the warm and rich sound of the flute perfectly made up for its shortcomings.

  The two were well-prepared, without asking who would go first, the universe had its differences, the husband sang and the wife followed, without asking to be together. Lin Ruo Chen immediately followed behind him. The man stood elegantly, the woman sat gracefully, the two stood and sat, the flute and zither harmonized in unison. With the flute sound expressing their aspirations, with the zither sound revealing their emotions, the high-pitched sound led by the flute, the low-pitched sound unfolded by the zither, under the singing and accompaniment, the way of husband and wife's interaction was subtly implied, between the highs and lows, the harmony of yin and yang was hidden.

  Although the erhu and guqin blend together, it is discovered that Lin Ruochen is not weak when playing the melody. When the song reaches a high note, the sound of the guqin does not converge, but instead frequently pulls up to a higher pitch, forcing the erhu to become even more shrill. And every time he strains to raise the erhu's pitch higher, the guqin's sound immediately becomes gentle and whispery. But when the next high note arrives, the guqin's sound will pull up again, once more forcing him to strive with all his might.

  Don't ask about this bookish person, playing such a high-pitched flute made him slightly tired, but he was very happy in his heart. The relationship between husband and wife is not that the man takes charge and the woman follows, it's a good thing for the wife to have her own thoughts. With Lin Ruochen taking care of the household, the family will surely prosper.

  The music had not yet ended, when suddenly the sound of urgent footsteps came from outside the door. Mo Wen heard the sound and lowered his bamboo flute, furrowing his brow and tilting his ear to listen. The footsteps belonged to Xiao Wu, but Xiao Wu rarely came to the inner courtyard where the master lived. Such an urgent intrusion must mean something was amiss...