I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 93 The Big Wedding
...

Li Lin, who has tasted the sweetness of it, doesn't want to let Zhang Chun go.

In the past two days, she and Zhao Ya unlocked many wonderful postures, which was the time when her curiosity was the strongest.

Moreover, she discovered that Zhao Ya liked her very much.

To put it bluntly, Zhao Ya was very greedy for her body. She could clearly feel that Zhao Ya liked her muscular body.

This was the perfect time for her to conceive.

Li Lin is just straightforward, not stupid. How could he not understand that after Zheng Xiansu, Wang Yisu and Guo Ting get married, Zhao Ya will most likely not touch other women for a long time in the future, or to be more precise, before Zheng Xiansu becomes pregnant. Instead, he will do his best to make Zheng Xiansu pregnant first, that is, to give priority to solving the issue of the succession of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

This is a really big deal.

If Zhao Ya had appointed a crown prince, his brothers, that is, Zhao Ji, would never have the chance to get involved in the throne, and they could only serve as princes.

Moreover, as long as Zhao Ya appointed a crown prince, his throne would basically be secure.

——At that time, others would not dare to easily think of replacing Zhao Ya, because even if they were lucky enough to replace Zhao Ya, it would be Zhao Ya's son who would become the emperor, and Zhao Ya's son would most likely avenge his father even if it was just for his own reputation of filial piety. Therefore, doing such a thing would definitely be a thankless task.

It is also because of this that when an emperor has a clear crown prince, his throne is basically secure.

Even though many of Zhao Ya's concubines are pregnant now, legally speaking, even if Ma Xiaojiao and others give birth to sons, Zhao Ya cannot make them the crown prince, unless Zhao Ya does not make Zheng Xiansu the queen and instead makes the woman who gave birth to his son the queen.

This is actually one of the reasons why Zhang Chun has always been eager to give birth to a son for Zhao Ya first.

But at least up to now, Zhao Ya has no plans to change the queen.

Then Zhao Ya would definitely give priority to ensuring Zheng Xiansu's fertility in order to consolidate his own throne and Zheng Xiansu's position as queen.

Under such circumstances, every woman in Zhao Ya's harem had to give way to Zheng Xiansu.

By then, thinking about using some means to attract Zhao Ya's attention and be favored by him would be absolutely wishful thinking.

To put it another way, if anyone really dares to do such a thing, he would definitely be offending Zheng Xiansu to death.

In other words, if I can get pregnant before Zheng Xiansu comes, then I will get pregnant. If I can't get pregnant before Zheng Xiansu comes, then there may be no time.

This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Therefore, Li Lin also wanted to seize this final sprint opportunity.

Based on this, Li Lin said to Zhang Chun: "I'm sorry, I can't promise you that. The opportunity to get pregnant with Zhao Ya's child is equally important to me. Let me be honest with you, I have already taken this step, so I must succeed. Otherwise, it would be too unfair to me for the sacrifice I have made. So let's just rely on our own abilities."

Zhang Chun's expression turned slightly grim after being so bluntly rejected by Li Lin. She managed a smile with great difficulty, "That's good. Competition is the driving force for progress. It's rare for us to be so honest with each other. This is better than stabbing each other in the back."

After saying that, Zhang Chun said goodbye and left.

By now, Li Lin has completely figured it out. It is impossible for a woman in this harem not to compete for favor.

After all, there was only one emperor, and there were too many wolves and too little meat. Grace was the sunshine and rain they relied on to survive in this magnificent yet lonely and cold palace. Not striving meant withering, being forgotten in the dust of history.

For her, not fighting means giving up on realizing her self-worth, giving up on her dreams, and even means that her journey through time is in vain.

There is nothing to say about that. She will never give up what she cannot give up.

Facts have proved that Zhang Chun chose the wrong person, and Li Lin was also wronged as a villain.

In the last three days before Zhao Ya's wedding, Pei Sui took advantage of his position to snatch two nights. The two female officials who had been favored by Zhao Ya when they helped him change clothes last time teamed up to steal another opportunity to sleep with him. Zhang Chun didn't get a single night, Li Lin didn't get a single night, and Ye Shiyun was left staring blankly.

Only then did the women realize that their opponents were not only each other, but also the natives of this era.

Moreover, they seemed to have misunderstood one thing before, that is, when it comes to competing for favor, they may not be the rivals of the natives who are thinking every day about how to make the emperor like them.

Here are a few small examples:

Didn’t Ye Shiyun almost succeed in sleeping with the emperor by wearing a cheongsam?

Later, Li Lin successfully entered the emperor's bedchamber by wearing a cheongsam, and was favored by Zhao Ya for three consecutive nights.

This made cheongsam popular in the harem.

Nowadays, if someone doesn’t have a cheongsam, they would feel embarrassed to greet others.

In addition, the hairstyles "invented" by Ye Shiyun and Zhang Chun also spread.

The key point is that both the cheongsam and the new hairstyle have been improved, and some pirated copies are even better looking than the authentic ones worn by some women.

Besides, Zhao Ya likes to exercise and likes Li Lin's strong muscles. This has led to many women secretly exercising, and no one knows how they learned it. They have learned "Prisoner Conditioning" and "Yoga". Even the Taoist health-preserving skills that Zhao Ya usually practices with Taoist priests such as Zhang Xubai are being practiced by some people.

It is no exaggeration to say that whatever Zhao Ya likes, there are women who cater to it.

After learning this, the women finally believed that it was absolutely true that the King of Chu loved thin waists and many people in the palace starved to death.

Several women gathered together, looking helpless.

Zhang Chun smiled bitterly, "I thought with our knowledge, it would be easy and pleasant to capture Zhao Ya, but I didn't expect these natives to be so stubborn!"

Ye Shiyun also sighed: "Yeah, I thought I could stand out with my newfangled stuff, but now, not only have they learned everything, but they've even upgraded it."

Even Li Lin said, "Have you noticed? They are particularly good at using their power. For example, the two female officials who helped Zhao Ya change his clothes started by asking him whether he preferred to put his pants on the left or the right. By singing the same tune, they aroused Zhao Ya's anger and successfully gained the opportunity to help him put out the fire."

At this point, Li Lin smiled bitterly: "I originally thought that if we just let them go, they would definitely not be able to defeat us. I didn't expect that I underestimated these natives."

"You've been much more informed recently. You even found out about the two female officials," said Zhang Chun.

Li Lin didn't hide anything: "My maid, the one called 'Cui Nianyue', is very good at everything, not only dancing, poetry, chess, calligraphy and painting. I didn't pay attention to the people and things in the family before, and treated her as an ordinary maid. After she made a cheongsam for me last time, I discovered her talent."

Zhang Chun thought, "Cui Nianyue? Could it be Cui Nianyue, who was famous during the Zhenghe period and was once as famous as Li Shishi?"

Last time, because Zhao Ji visited a brothel, didn’t Zhao Xu seal off Fanlou?

There was actually a sequel to this incident. At that time, the imperial court, taking advantage of the emperor's anger, launched a wave of severe crackdowns, cleaning up all the major brothels, and a large number of prostitutes were sent to the Jiaofangsi.

Later, Zhao Xu died and Zhao Ya ascended the throne. After the storm passed, the brothels spent a lot of money to redeem the young ladies from their families.

In fact, the imperial court was out of money, so they took advantage of Zhao Xu's anger to get some money.

During this process, many courtesans who had not yet been recruited were sent into the palace by officials from the Ministry of Rites who wanted to please the new emperor Zhao Ya.

Li Shishi and Zhao Yuannu both entered the palace in this way.

"Cui Nianyue should have entered the palace in the same way. But when was she chosen by Li Lin? How come I didn't notice? Well... most likely I was busy competing with Ye Shiyun for Li Shishi at the time."

"Oh, there's also Wang Zhongduan, who's as famous as Li Shishi and Zhao Yuannu. I'll have Li Shishi look for her. If she can find her, I'll let her gather these four famous courtesans and see how Zhao Ya can escape from my clutches."

At this time, Ye Shiyun said: "In fact, the biggest problem lies with Zhao Ya. If he is not so fickle, these women will be useless no matter how hard they try. Then we don't have to follow suit."

Li Lin said something fair: "From Zhao Ya's perspective, what he wants is a carefree life and a prosperous offspring. He's not Sun Wukong, who froze the seven fairies and only stole peaches to eat. To be honest, if I were him, I would definitely spread my seeds everywhere. Besides, hasn't the facts proved that Zhao Ya's strategy was correct? It hasn't been long since five women became pregnant with his dragon seeds. He shouldn't repeat Zhao Xu's mistakes."

Recently, another palace maid became pregnant. She was one of the two palace maids who snatched away Zhang Chun's opportunity to sleep with him.

Li Lin added in her mind, "If you include me, there will be six."

Li Lin had a hunch that she would most likely win.

After Li Lin said this, all the women fell silent.

From a selfish point of view, there is nothing wrong with Zhao Ya's actions.

……

The development of the matter was indeed pretty much as Zhang Chun had expected.

Finally, it was only after the Empress Dowager spoke personally that Zhao Ya decided to hold the wedding for the sake of the country, the subjects, and filial piety. However, Song Zhezong had just passed away and the treasury was empty, so everything had to be kept simple.

The emperor's wedding during this period also had to follow the traditional "Six Rites", namely: Nacai, Wenming, Naji, Nazheng, Gaoqi, and Fengying.

Before Zhao Xu's death, the first four steps had actually been completed.

Now all that’s left is to announce the date and to please.

The Announcement of the Date was a process in which Zhao Ya selected an auspicious wedding date through the Imperial Observatory and other institutions, and then sent an envoy to the woman's family to announce the date. The envoy would bring documents such as an imperial edict, stating the specific date for the wedding, and the woman's family would accept and agree to it.

Zheng Xiansu and Wang Yisu were both from Kaifeng Prefecture, and their mother's families were in Bianliang City.

Guo Cheng had also come to the court to report on his work, and his family moved with him to Bianliang City.

Therefore, there is no need to waste time on this step. As long as you follow the established etiquette, there will be no problem.

Soon, Zhao Ya’s wedding entered the most critical stage of welcoming.

On the day of the wedding, as the sky brightened, the entire city of Bianliang was immersed in joy.

Zhao Ya did not go to welcome the bride in person, but the Ministry of Rites carefully selected several ministers who had both sons and daughters and were highly respected in the court as envoys to welcome the bride.

These welcoming envoys were dressed in wedding attire and led a large ceremonial guard and drum band, heading towards the Zheng family, Wang family, and Guo family respectively to welcome the queen and the two imperial concubines.

The wedding procession was extremely large, and the court band played music with all their might. Wherever they went, the scene was spectacular.

The streets are decorated with lights and red lanterns are hung high, swaying in the wind.

Along the way, people stopped to watch and talked about how lucky the Zheng, Wang, and Guo families were.

At noon, the wedding processions arrived at the Zheng, Wang, and Guo families respectively.

Each of the welcoming envoys read out the imperial edict one by one.

Zheng Xiansu, dressed in the queen's formal dress and wearing a phoenix crown and bridal robe, slowly knelt down and respectfully took the golden book, golden seal and other tokens of her status as queen.

A little later, Wang Yisu and Guo Ting also wore the imperial concubine's formal attire and knelt to receive the title with the same respectful attitude.

When the auspicious time arrived, Zheng Xiansu, surrounded by the wedding procession, rode in a beautifully decorated phoenix carriage and slowly moved towards the imperial palace.

Although today is also Wang Yisu and Guo Ting's wedding day, how could they possibly compete with Queen Zheng Xiansu for the limelight?
After receiving the title, they were carried to the palace in a low-key manner and then entered the harem through the side door.

After the wedding procession to welcome Zheng Xiansu arrived at the palace, Zheng Xiansu was carried through the main gate into the Daqing Hall.

Here, Zhao Ya and Zheng Xiansu, under the guidance of the ritual officials, held solemn ceremonies such as worshiping heaven and earth and performing grand ceremonies.

After the ceremony, Zhao Ya and Zheng Xiansu entered the bridal chamber according to royal etiquette and performed the ceremony of drinking the wedding wine together.

The flickering candlelight illuminated the bridal chamber, a scene of joy and warmth. Red silk hung low, veils danced gracefully, and the air was thick with fragrance. Zheng Xiansu sat upright on the wedding bed.

Zhao Ya used a weighing rod to lift the veil on Zheng Xiansu's head.

Without the veil covering her face, Zheng Xiansu's beautiful face was revealed to Zhao Ya.

Under the candlelight, Zheng Xiansu's cheeks flushed, like peach blossoms in full bloom in spring, their beauty alluring. Her eyes, bright and clear, like a pool of autumn water, revealed a tenderness and shyness in her gaze. Beneath her high nose bridge, her cherry-like lips were rosy without any makeup. At this moment, her gentle face was filled with a shy and solemn expression.

Zhao Ya looked at Zheng Xiansu and said, "I hope that in the years to come, the Queen and I will stand together through thick and thin, work together in harmony, live together without disappointing each other, and stay together until old age."

Even after the incident of Zhao Xu's will, Zhao Ya still kept his promise to marry her as his queen. Zheng Xiansu knew that she owed Zhao Ya for her whole life, or even for generations to come.

So Zheng Xiansu opened her red lips and said solemnly, "Your Majesty's kindness is deeply appreciated. From now on, I will devote all my energy to following your instructions, be virtuous, and carefully manage all matters in the harem, so that it will remain peaceful, relieve your Majesty of worries, and help you expand your family."

Zhao Ya didn't waste any more time talking. After drinking the wedding wine with Zheng Xiansu, he and Zheng Xiansu took the most important step of entering the bridal chamber...

It is said that some love is useless, it must be...

……

(End of this chapter)