A wedding was complicated and hectic. Even with hundreds of servants, the Yang Family was still in a bit of a scramble.
Though Yang Zhengshan had stolen a little time to relax, once the wedding bows were over, he had to entertain the guests who had come to offer their congratulations.
By the time he saw the guests off, it was already dark.
Early the next morning, sounds outside his door woke Yang Zhengshan before he had finished sleeping.
"What time is it?" Yang Zhengshan felt it was still early.
"Master, it's just reached the hour of the Rabbit!" Green Mist replied from the outer room.
Yang Zhengshan sat up. Yu Qingyi was awake too.
They usually got up around this time, washed, and began their morning practice.
Normally, though, everything outside stayed quiet until they rose. Today, there were a few faint sounds.
"Are Cheng Ye and Lady Yu here?" Yu Qingyi asked.
"Probably." Yang Zhengshan got up and dressed.
According to Da Rong custom, a new bride was to pay her respects to her husband's parents early on her second morning in the household.
Red candles burned through the bridal night; at dawn, she bowed before her husband's parents. Her makeup done, she lowered her eyes and asked her husband: were her painted brows too dark or too light for the fashion?
That was not all. The new bride also had to cook for her husband's parents and serve them their meal.
Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi were not the bride's parents-in-law, but they were the young couple's grandparents. Naturally, the ritual of bowing before the elders could not leave them out.
The customs and rules were rather taxing, but Yang Zhengshan could not simply do away with them.
When in Rome!
If he told the bride not