Sit Softly On Your Shoulder

Chapter 31: Fittings & Makeovers

Friday is spent recovering quietly at Lan Zhan's house, and on Saturday morning, the driver comes to collect them early in the morning. He has strict instructions to take them straight to the bespoke tailoring company that dresses the Lan family, and has undertaken that formidable task for the past hundred or so years.

The building is located in the picturesque older part of town, and the quaint streets are preserved as a heritage site. Outside of the traditional sloping roof and the heavy dark beams supporting the structure, the inside of the heavily secured establishment is up-to-date with modern technology to boot.

Two tailor masters come to greet them, and before Lan Zhan or Wei Ying can protest, they are taken away to separate rooms to be measured and fitted into their wedding robes.

Lan Zhan is escorted to a warm room with floor to ceiling windows that let in the glowing sunlight. The wall next to the windows is covered with an unblemished mirror, and there's a silk screen depicting a majestic flying dragon and a phoenix with five multicoloured tail feathers, both of them soaring up into the sky. They're surrounded by snow-capped mountains and an emerald lake shimmering beneath them. There's a grand low table to one side, and a mounted three inch pedestal in front of the mirror.

There are expensive looking white boxes on the table, ranging in sizes.

"Senior Lan gave us your measurements a while back," the assistant to the master tailor tells Lan Zhan, "but this morning, he also sent a security guard over with some heirloom jewellery. There is a selection for you to choose from, and we can help style your hair and make-up to show you the look for your wedding tomorrow."

"Mn." Lan Zhan walks over to the boxes, where another assistant begins carefully taking off the lids.

Three of the boxes contain pieces of his wedding robes. There's the first crimson silk layers, a pair of satin silk trousers with a drawstring, and a short hanfu that will serve as the initial underclothes.

"Are the same arrangements organised for my husband-to-be?" He asks, glancing in the mirror at the attendant, who quakes in his shoes. Lan Zhan feels a little bit sorry for him, but not enough to stop doing it. This is going to be the most important day of his life, and he wants to make sure every detail is taken care of.

While Uncle Qiren is hell bent on making their wedding the event of the century, and Lan Zhan supposes it is necessary in their business world to make such a bold statement, he is worried about Wei Ying, how such opulence would feel to someone who prefers the simpler things in life. That's not to say Wei Ying won't appreciate the effort because he absolutely will; it's just that Lan Zhan knows without a shadow of doubt that Wei Ying (and himself) would have been just as content with friends and family of no more than twenty persons attending. As long as there is spicy/good food and something sweet, and a healthy amount of Emperor's Smile to hand, that would be enough for them.

Something to think about for their second wedding.

That's what makes him smile, to think that their union is so special, getting married once is simply not enough. Two times is fair, three will be even better. Perhaps, Lan Zhan might be able to convince Wei Ying to renew their vows every so often. Maybe even yearly.

While Lan Zhan has gone off somewhere else in his head, the assistant has been speaking. To be fair, he could have broken out in Gaelic while performing his version of the Russian Kalinka and Lan Zhan wouldn't have paid any more attention. Such was the magic of Wei Ying, and thoughts of his lovely sparkling eyes sprinkled with silver fairy dust, that magnificent smile only belonging to his beloved, and that innocent sheer beauty hidden within his soul, and so maybe Lan Zhan should be forgiven for his lack of focus.