Truly, Madly, Deeply

Chapter 11

There was only one word to describe the ceremony. Beautiful.

The wedding which was held in the East Side of the Cloud Recesses overlooking the waterfall. The place had been well decorated with Red banners and shawls and lanterns and carpets. There was a huge red cloth banner on which Double Xi (Xi means happiness and double Xi simply means double the happiness) was painted in golden.

Yan Li was simply beautiful. Although her face was covered in a deep red veil, she looked absolutely stunning. Her robes were embroidered with phoenixes and Xi Chen's robes were embroidered with dragons symbolising Yang and Yin/ Unity and balance. If Lan Xi Chen in blue robes looked handsome, then in red, he looked divine. The deep colour of the red against his pale skin, made his dark eyes seem more prominent. And the pair looked so happy that even Lan Qi Ren secretly shed some tears.

Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling had been emotional throughout the ceremony watching Yan Li walk towards her happiness. Wei Ying didn't bother hiding his tears, happy to be able to finally witness his sister's wedding after missing her previous one. He was dressed in a traditional purple robe as he stood by his brother and nephew, giving his sister away. Contrary to what others believed, he was not going to make an appearance for his sister's wedding in his Yiling Laozu avatar. Wang Ji had appeared by his side, halfway through the ceremony, the minute Wei Ying's tears had started to fall. He simply wrapped an arm around his husband's waist, silently consoling him.

Wei Ying knew that his sister was getting married into his family and there really was no need for him to cry so much. But she was just so beautiful and he claimed that they were just tears of happiness. The twins were left with a Lan Elder, so that they could completely focus on the wedding.

"Do you regret not having a proper wedding?" Wang Ji had asked, when Yan Li and Xi Chen were exchanging their vows.

"No. As long as I married you, I have nothing to regret," Wei Ying had replied with a content smile.

After the wedding was the tea ceremony, and the couple had gracefully presented the tea, first to Lan Qi Ren and then to Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian (Although they are younger than the couple, there was no elder present from Yan Li's side), thereby marking their first appearance as a wedded couple. Jin Ling bowed deeply to his mother and his stepfather.

A banquet was arranged on the occasion of the wedding and halfway through the wedding, Yan Li was whisked away by some of the female Lan Elders, to prepare her for their first night. Lan Xi Chen had simply frowned at the Elders for taking his wife away, her dinner barely eaten, as he was having a really good time with her and he cursed at their sexist rituals.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying stared at the retreating figure of their sister and threw back cups and cups of alcohol and Wang Ji who had come to love Yan Li as his own sister, stared at the alcohol in silent consideration, all three trying not to think about the kind of activities Yan Li and Lan Xi Chen would be indulging in that night. Jin Ling was engrossed in a conversation with his friends that he did not even realize that his mother hand left.

After a few minutes, Wei Ying and Wang Ji had excused themselves to go relieve the Elders from their baby sitting duty.

Xi Chen waited for a few minutes before he decided to excuse himself too. There really was no point in sitting in a banquet where everyone was either drunk (Exception for the wedding) or having fun while he sat there staring off into space.

He reached the Hanshi and knocked on the door twice. When he heard a faint 'Come in, he opened the door and walked inside. His house had been decorated with red and there were red flowers everywhere. A curtain separated the bedroom from the sitting room. He pushed the curtain aside, as he walked towards the bed, where Yan Li sat, her face covered in a veil.