Chapter 24: The Real Wedding

"Yes," said Biyan.

She said it before the ladle had stopped rolling.

She said it again, louder, in case anyone at the table had missed it.

The hall broke into a cheer so loud that the lamps shook.

They were wed ten days later, in the main hall, at noon.

Nobody was sent a chair.

Zhiruo walked in on her own two feet, in a red gown that Granny Mo had sewn herself.

Her long black braid was pinned up for the first time, and her freckles were bare to the light.

She did not wear a veil.

She wanted to see.

Biyan waited at the end of the hall in crimson and black.

She had put on the full robes of the Prime Minister, the wide sleeves and the gold belt.

She had put on the formal hat.

It sat straight on her topknot, black and stiff and exact.

She stood tall under it, and she was smiling.

Qin stood at one side of them with the ring of keys.

Granny Mo stood at the other with her ladle in her fist.

Xiuwen stood near them in a new green coat, beside the laundry maid and the rest of the twenty-three.

There was no priest.

There was a cup of wine, a bowl of ginger soup, and the long red cord.

"I am Xue Biyan," Biyan said.

"I was born a daughter, registered a son, and I held a post for thirteen years under a name that was not mine."

"I was never afraid of the work."

"I was afraid of the quiet after it."

She looked at Zhiruo.

"You came into the quiet and talked in it. I take you as my wife, in my own name, with every door open."

Zhiruo's eyes were hot.

"I am Han Zhiruo," she said.

"I was sold at eight and delivered at twenty-five."

"I stayed because I wanted a house that was kind."

"I found a woman who is kind and a house that is her, and I take her."

"I take her with her hat on and with it off."

A rustle of laughter and a few wet sniffs ran around the hall.

They drank from the same cup.

Granny Mo broke into loud sobs, and Qin gave her his handkerchief without a word.

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