Imperial Weight Chapter 27
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 27
The marriage customs of the Miao village were somewhat different from those in Hanzhong.
The place they had come to wasn't truly Miao territory in the strict sense, but rather the southwestern riverside area where three rivers met the sea—a boundary region inhabited by Qiang people, Tujia people, and Miao people. The marriage customs had been passed down here for hundreds of years, with some details changing again and again, though the general process remained similar.
Their "yagou" all knew that the two men had extraordinary identities—they were princes from Hanzhong, and quite formidable ones at that. But they said: "Once you enter our Miao village, you're half one of our tribe, a complete brother! However, since you're men marrying men, it's naturally somewhat different from marrying young ladies. You should discuss it properly among yourselves."
Little Phoenix spent several days enthusiastically learning about the local marriage customs.
Here, when daughters married out, they had to "cry at the wedding." Usually, three aunts and six grannies would sit at a table, crying together with the girl about to be married, expressing the reluctance of the daughter leaving home and demonstrating the daughter's attachment and unwillingness to part from her natal family.
He secretly asked Xingyi, "Crying for over ten days—would there be enough tears?"
Xingyi said, "I don't know, perhaps there would be enough. What's the longest you've ever cried?"
Little Phoenix thought for a moment. "It's a bit strange, but I don't think I've really cried much from childhood to now. I never had particularly good parents to feel reluctant about leaving, nor did I suffer any particularly great grievances. If I was wronged, I would generally rush out and hit people myself. I've already forgotten what crying feels like."
Xingyi hooked his shoulder, leaning close to whisper in his ear. "Then tonight I'll let you try it in bed."
Little Phoenix turned his head to look and met Xingyi's frank and direct gaze, slightly oppressive, making no effort to hide his thoughts, as if it could penetrate his heart and draw out wicked fire.
Little Phoenix felt embarrassed and scolded softly, "Shameless husband. Weijian, you're not proper at all."
The final decision was settled with just these few exchanges. They eliminated the crying ceremony, but the rest of the proceedings would continue as usual.
Five days before the wedding, Little Phoenix was confined to a five-bay four-section sloped stilted building at the highest point in the entire Miao village. Little Phoenix would look down nervously every day, seeing the remaining dozens of stilted buildings scattered along the sloped path through the village, with forests concealing the spaces between. He stretched out his finger to look, feeling he could almost touch the flowing clouds in the sky.
He spoke to his finger, somewhat aggrieved. "I miss him so much. Why won't they let me see him?"
A girl accompanying him smiled with pressed lips. "Everyone who marries is like this—couples can't meet before the wedding. Young master, there are only two days left. What can't wait?"
Little Phoenix continued addressing his finger, pouting his lips.
Two days later, Xingyi arrived as promised. The Miao villagers dressed Little Phoenix according to local customs, and Xingyi as well. In full ceremonial dress, the Miao people called daughters' ceremonial dress "silver clothes," while men's garments weren't as brilliantly colorful. Xingyi had people modify the style, combining elements from both sides, and made another dazzlingly brilliant wedding garment for Little Phoenix.
He had someone deliver a letter tucked in the wedding garment's sleeve. "Don't you dare cut this one to shreds again."
Little Phoenix put it on happily. On the day of the marriage ceremony, the entire Miao village was bustling with commotion, with music playing all the way, and from time to time the clear, high-pitched songs of young women rang out. An elderly Miao woman, smiling, used a long bamboo pole to block Xingyi's path, requiring him to engage in an antiphonal song contest.
Xingyi had only ever known war songs, but he had asked people to teach him these past few days, and had learned to sing a few verses with some competence. The young women blocking the road all knew he was a Han person and didn't make things difficult for him, letting him pass after going easy on him. The wedding procession followed behind Xingyi, singing mountain songs loudly while striding upward, and the girls' clear, silver-bell-like harmonies pierced through the deep forest, flying to the top of the highest stilted building in the Miao village, to Little Phoenix's ears.
Little Phoenix tried hard to pick out Xingyi's figure from the crowd below, but failed. He was still trying to crane his neck to look outside when a group of girls behind him pushed and shoved him behind the bed curtains. "Quick, quick, quick! The bride must hide! They're coming to snatch the bride!"
The bed curtains were deep red. Little Phoenix hid behind them, unable to see anything clearly, only curiously peering out. In the dim shadows, the girls also hid themselves. The thumping footsteps from downstairs drew near, followed by a low, magnetic voice that seemed puzzled at finding no one. "Where is everyone?"
The men who had followed along said nothing, just looked at him with smiles. "Brother, you make the move, we'll follow you!"
After a moment of bewilderment, Xingyi seemed to understand—snatching the bride meant there had to be actual "snatching." He had heard beforehand that this was required, but hadn't expected it would really involve physically snatching someone.
As soon as he stepped into the inner room, he saw several Miao girls suddenly pop out from corners of the previously empty room, each holding brooms, thin bamboo poles, and similar objects, about to strike him. Their postures were real, but no one used much force—they just made a lot of noise. "Snatching the bride! Snatching the bride! We won't give him to you, we won't! We've hidden the bride away!"
Xingyi dodged while searching—the opponents were girls who weren't using real force, so he absolutely couldn't strike back. Moreover, custom dictated this; he couldn't fight back, as this highlighted the "snatching" aspect. Later, if the bride suffered grievances in the groom's household, this could be brought up for support. With one glance, he saw the moving figure behind the bed curtains. He strode over, reached out to lift the person from the bed, and chuckled softly, "You're mine now."
Little Phoenix looked up from his embrace, eyes slightly bright.
On the other side, the young men also made a show of restraining the girls who wanted to hit people, and surrounded Xingyi as they carried Little Phoenix all the way down.
In front of the stilted building, an elderly woman handed over a bright yellow paper umbrella, asking Xingyi to hold it over Little Phoenix's head. Sunlight filtered through the bright umbrella surface, illuminating the person's face like the moon and eyes like stars.
Xingyi ducked under the umbrella with him. Without speaking, they just quietly looked at each other, both with gentle smiles in their eyes.
The old woman lifted a rooster and circled it three times over the umbrella surface, then solemnly declared, "You two, from now on, will be together. From now on, the bride's soul has gone to the groom's family—he belongs to another household now and cannot easily return to his maternal home. The groom has snatched the bride and must not bully him anymore. You must treat him well and grow old together with white hair."
Xingyi said softly, "Grow old together with white hair."
Little Phoenix nodded. "Mm."
Then he lifted his face, letting Xingyi place a soft, gentle kiss on the corner of his lips.
—--
Exactly how to love someone—Xingyi still couldn't quite grasp it for the time being.
Little Phoenix nestled by his hand. The next day when he woke up and again found Xingyi looking weary, he chirped and asked, "Weijian, didn't you sleep well again?"
Xingyi casually picked him up and squeezed him, answering blandly, "No, I slept quite well."
Little Phoenix said, "Oh. Then do you need to go to court?"
Xingyi said, "Not going."
Little Phoenix said earnestly, "How can you not go to court again? Husband, you're now the master of the Star Disc—everyone depends on you to pay their wages. The Jade Emperor is also very worried about your department's situation. Look, Yue Lao's skin has gotten worse lately, Phoenix Ming Zun doesn't have time to soak his feet anymore. Everyone is very anxious. You should go to court."
Xingyi focused intently on squeezing him, smoothing his down. "I'll go tomorrow."
Little Phoenix persisted without giving up, kicking about in Xingyi's palm. "But husband, this is already the eighth time this month you haven't gone to court."
Xingyi rubbed him from head to tail, then gently tossed him to the pillow's edge and continued lying down. "You counted wrong. This month just started. So your count is incorrect. Starting from today, it's a new month—everything resets to zero."
Little Phoenix said doubtfully, "But today is clearly still mid-month."
Xingyi pulled the covers over himself and extended one hand to draw a simplified Star Disc for him to see. "Look here, Little Phoenix. I activated the Star Disc to speed up its rotation by fifteen days. This way, this month has passed, and starting today is a new month."
Little Phoenix was stunned.
Xingyi contentedly tucked the stunned little round ball into the covers. "Good."
The result was that although Xingyi didn't go to court, he ultimately still didn't manage to catch up on sleep. Little Phoenix was energetic and before long crawled out from the covers, waddled to the edge of the bed, and began playing everywhere—ways to find entertainment included but were not limited to: parkour on top of Xingyi's head, jumping weight-loss exercises, and rolling to slim down. Finally, when Little Phoenix tired of playing, he waddled over to drag out from under the pillow the book Xingyi had been reading before measuring him for clothes last night.
Xingyi was already sleeping soundly.
Little Phoenix carefully dragged the book out, then squatted in the covers and began to read. His original intention was to find some amusement, but he never expected the book's content would leave him dumbstruck—
This was actually an erotic book!
And a very lewd kind at that!
That day, he had actually looked at it together with Xingyi, but at the time his mind had wandered and he hadn't paid attention to what was written in the book. Little Phoenix pressed the pages with his small wings and read for a long time, also learning an important piece of information: the protagonists of this improper novel were none other than himself and Xingyi.
Making clouds and rain, doing everything imaginable—after one night, red waves overturned; after two nights, heaven and earth shook. Little Phoenix held his breath, and after reading a few pages, his entire bird body trembled slightly, not knowing whether from excitement or trepidation.
Xingyi was actually reading this kind of book?
Little Phoenix buried his little head in his wings for a while.
This little round ball, motionless and a bit shy, spent half a shichen quickly reading through half of it, then seeing that Xingyi was about to wake up, hurriedly rolled to push and shove the book back to its original place.
Then he squatted down beside Xingyi, patiently waiting for him to wake.
Xingyi wasn't actually addicted to sleep; he just wasn't accustomed to getting up too early. Immortals reporting for duty were the same as mortals—they had to go out before daybreak, which he found very tiresome. Usually when he skipped morning court, he would generally sleep another half-shichen, then get up to bathe, change clothes, and have breakfast.
Little Phoenix's estimate wasn't wrong. Half an hour later, Xingyi's eyelashes trembled, then slowly opened.
Xingyi lifted him from under the covers. "Get up, little troublemaker. Sing me a song."
But this little bird, contrary to his usual behavior, not only didn't happily burst into song, but actually fell silent.
Xingyi poked him.
Little Phoenix felt a bit shy and, somewhat at a loss, shifted to the side.
Xingyi asked, "What's wrong?"
Little Phoenix suppressed the joy in his heart and continued shyly, "Husband, do you—do you actually really like me?"
Xingyi thought for a moment. "I suppose so."
Little Phoenix squirmed a bit, his beady eyes watching him. "Then will you—will you take me to bathe together?"
Little Phoenix spread his small wings and turned in a circle in front of him. "Look, I need a bath. My down is all dusty."
Xingyi didn't understand the logic in his words and just assumed birds loved cleanliness, so when he changed clothes and bathed, he also caught Little Phoenix and took him into the water.
The hot spring water of Fuli Palace made one's mind lazy and indulgent in pleasure. When it had been cold before, it tempered the will; now with hot currents surging, warm and comfortable, it was even better at honing one's resistance to beautiful things.
Xingyi closed his eyes and, as usual, began to circulate his qi and cultivate his mind. He hadn't even cultivated halfway when he heard Little Phoenix flapping his small wings and jumping into the water with a splash—a thump, even the sound of entering the water was round.
A moment later, something slippery pressed against him—it was a young person's bare arm.
Little Phoenix had transformed into human form and pressed close, lying beside him. He observed him for quite a while, then carefully yet excitedly poked him.
Softly calling him: "Husband."
