scarlet heart | exo

Bliss

Xuefeng shifted her weight here and there, from her left foot to her right, and then back to the left. She bit her lip, played with her fingers, rearranged her hairpins, and—

"Calm down, and make yourself useful. Go tell those eunuchs over there to grind the flour for tomorrow's pineapple cakes or something." Zhiyu brushed past her. She was refilling the tea as fast as possible, so that she could bring the latest updates to Xuefeng so that she wouldn't die of anxiety.

"Wait till Yifan asks for your hand." Xuefeng mumbled, just loud enough for Zhiyu to hear.

Said girl chucked her handkerchief playfully at Xuefeng, who threw it back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zhiyu had run out of the Emperor's study, barely containing her joy for her friend. She could barely get the words out before Zitao flew in front of her to envelop Xuefeng in a tight grip.

"He said yes." He whispered in her ear, hardly daring to believe that it was true. "He said yes!"

Xuefeng pressed herself flush against him as they embraced and kissed again and again. Zhiyu, feeling embarrassed, backed away to the sanctuary of her own quarters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're getting married today!"

Qiaoying brandished a comb at Xuefeng. "And look at you! Such a mess! And we only have four hours to get ready!"

Yixing had decided to send Qiaoying to Xuefeng. Qiaoying had been a close and loyal servant of Xueyin, and now, Qiaoying did not want anything more than to be able to serve by Xuefeng's side as she got married too.

Xuefeng could barely drag herself out of bed. "It's only three in the morning..." she protested groggily, still feeling the sleep in the edges of her eyes, threatening to creep up on her.

"I don't care. I know it's three in the morning. Your sister was up at one thirty on her wedding day. I let you sleep in for two hours already."

Xuefeng allowed herself half an hour of sleep in the tub while Qiaoying made sure that she was spick and span and smelled of nothing but roses and camellias. Eventually, the flowery smell was so strong that she felt like fainting, so Qiaoying brought her out of the tub and got her hair oiled, scented and plaited. Later, it was the accessories, the golden hairpins stuck into every corner of her hairdo, making Xuefeng feel like she was carrying a mountain of gold on her head.  Her neck hurt, and Xuefeng's head dipped as sleep crept up the edges of her eyes... until Qiaoying slapped her shoulder and woke her up with a start. "Head up! You do not sleep!"

Xuefeng groaned. Underneath the makeup her eyes were so swollen, she swore she would rival Zitao in panda eyes.

Finally, finally at six in the morning, three long hours later, the red cloth fell on her head and Qiaoying carefully lead her by the hand to the carriage. Instead of the usual wedding sedan chair that was carried by servants, Zitao had requested for horse-drawn carriage pulled by Rain and Thorn. Xuefeng snuck an apple underneath all the red cloth and fed it secretly to Thorn when no one was watching.

"Up you go!" Qiaoying gave her a boost. "I'll see you later at the Fourth Prince's Manor!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xuefeng was starting to get fed up of being blind.

The distance to the Fourth Prince's Manor wasn't far, but there was an entourage on foot, forcing the carriage to a slow crawl. The ruckus the cymbals and trumpets were making made the process extremely painful.

"Watch your step." The comforting husky voice crooned to her from the other side of the carriage door, and she stepped down carefully, once again in the 3-inch platform shoes. Her hand squeezed his, and Zitao fought a smile.