Final chapter: Racing like this toward eternal immortality (Part two)
The almost fully illuminated mansion stood there on ground slightly above the water level, its lights shining until currents stirred in the sky, until dark clouds raced away and dispersed, until dawn arrived, until the drifting clouds were edged in gold.
Lin Luoran had already woken. In fact, she had barely slept all night, but she had to get through this day like a precision clock.
First, she had to wake at five forty, leaving time to dress and wash. At six sharp, Beijing's best makeup artists, hairstylists, and image consultants would arrive by car, not a minute late, to prepare her. She had to finish within an hour. At the same time, outside another luxurious mansion elsewhere in Beijing, an entire motorcade-including a Cadillac Army One, a stretch Lincoln, a fleet of Audis, and Ferraris, Porsches, Bentleys, Jaguars, Maseratis, and other prestigious cars following as support vehicles-would begin being decorated in an orderly rush. Every single car came from the families of Beijing's political heavyweights and business magnates attending the wedding. Decorating the cars would take thirty minutes. Then, once all the support vehicles were in position, the neatly dressed Wei Yuanhu would get into the wedding car, and the motorcade coordinator would give the signal to depart. Soon afterward, the city would see this magnificent luxury procession crossing Beijing, timing its arrival at the Lin family daughter's residence for eight thirty, before proceeding to the wedding venue.
The makeup team's Land Rover stopped. The photographer and makeup artists rang the villa's doorbell, greeted the owners and their friends, then went upstairs.
Lin Luoran wore a white, knee-length dress with a structured skirt and a purple satin ribbon at the waist. It was not an extravagant wedding gown that