The Concubine Who Was Supposed to Die in Chapter Three novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Chapter Four
Every one of the ten thousand lamps was lit.
They hung from the roof beams in long gold rows, and the whole Hall glowed.
Zhiyao walked up the center aisle in red silk, alone.
She had refused to be led.
The court stood on both sides, three hundred people with their own faces on, and she heard them breathe as she passed.
The eleven clans' elders stood in the front row in white, with the tall woman in grey at their head.
Chunxi wept openly in the third row and waved.
At the foot of the dais Zhiyao stopped.
The Emperor was waiting on the floor of the Hall.
He had come down off the dais.
He wore indigo and gold and no crown, and when he saw her, he went down on both knees on the white jade, in front of everyone.
A sound ran through the court.
"I am not commanded to do this," Wuyan said. His voice carried to every corner. "No thread is pulling my knees. I do it because I choose it. I knelt once because she told me to. I kneel today because I want to."
Zhiyao's eyes stung.
"Get up, you big idiot," she whispered.
"Not until you say it."
"Say what?"
"Say you will have me."
She took his face in both hands.
"I will," she said clearly, for the whole Hall. "Fang Yining, who was Lan Zhiyao, takes Erlang for her husband."
"I take you, Yining."
"Now you can get up."
He rose.
The Hall roared.
They did not stay for the feast.
They slipped out through the side door at the second cup, still in their wedding silks, and ran down the long jade corridor to the Pavilion.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Concubine Who Was Supposed to Die in Chapter Three are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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