The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 28 – The wedding, Part 6

Chapter 28 – The wedding, Part 6

Xiao Longnü said with a smile, “Should I dress up as a bride?” Yang Guo then replied, “Today you are exhausted. You should rest first and tomorrow you can dress up.” Xiao Longnü shook her head, saying, “No, today is the day we got married. I love being a bride. On that day at the Passionless Valley, that Gongsun person wanted to marry me, I didn’t get dressed up!”

Yang Guo said with a laugh, “You called that getting married? That was the senile Gongsun’s delusion!”

Xiao Longnü picked up the rouge and the honey water. She looked into the mirror, planning to dress up. In her entire life, this would be the first time she put cosmetic powder on her face. Her facial complexion was originally pale and really didn’t need any cosmetics. But this time she was seriously injured and had no color left on her face. She lightly smeared rouge on both cheeks and it added to her beauty tremendously. She paused for a while and then picked up a comb to work on her hair. Then she sighed and said, “I have to make a hair bun but I can’t do it. Guo’er, can you do it?”

Yang Guo then said, “No, I can’t either! Without it, you are even more beautiful.”

Xiao Longnü said with a smile, “Really?” and laid down the comb. She inserted the hairpin and put on the earrings and the jade bracelets on both wrists. Under the red candlelight, her beauty was unparalleled. She was overjoyed as she turned around, wanting to hear praise from Yang Guo.

As soon as she turned her head, she saw Yang Guo’s tears streaming down his face. He was overwhelmed by grief. Xiao Longnü gritted her teeth and pretended not to see him crying. With a smile she said, “Would you say I look good?”

With a choking sound, Yang Guo replied, “Most beautiful! Let me bring you the Phoenix crown!” He lifted the crown up and walked over to put it on for her from behind. In the mirror, Xiao Longnü saw him lifting his sleeve to wipe away his tears. When he faced her again, his face appeared to be joyful. He then said with a smile, “Later, should I call you ‘Niang Zi’[Madame] or should I still call you ‘Gu Gu’?”

In her heart, Xiao Longnü thought, “Why ‘later’? Is that to say the two of us still have a ‘later’?” But she put on her happiest expression and laughingly said, “Calling me Gu Gu again is definitely not good. As for calling me ‘Madame,’ that sounds like an old lady!”

Yang Guo then said, “What were you called when you were a child? Today you can let me hear it.”

Xiao Longnü replied, “I don’t have a childhood name. Master just called me Long’er.”

Yang Guo said: “Alright, then you call me Guo’er and I will call you Long’er. The two of us are equal and no one gets the worst of it. Wait till we have a baby, we will say: hey, baby’s father! And hey, baby’s mother! And when the baby is grown and gets married....”

Hearing him talking nonsense like this, Xiao Longnü could no longer grit her teeth to smile. Finally, her resistance broke and she let out a sobbing sound. She bent down on the box and started crying. Yang Guo scrambled forward and brought her into his arm. He softly said, “Long’er, you are not well, I’m also not well. There’s no need to pay attention to whatever will happen in the future. Today you are not dead. I’m also not dead. The two of us should be very happy now. Nobody is allowed to think about tomorrow.” Xiao Longnü lifted her head and smiled with tears in her eyes. Then she nodded.

Yang Guo said, “Look at this beautiful dress with a Phoenix design, I’ll help you put it on!” He supported her body and put on the dress embroidered in red and gold for her. Xiao Longnü’s tears dried up and she repaired her rouge make-up while sitting by the red candles with a smile.

At this time baby Guo Xiang was sleeping by the head of the bed. Then she opened her small eyes with great curiosity. It seemed like in her tiny heart she felt that the dressed up Xiao Longnü was really very pretty.

Xiao Longnü said, “I’ve dressed up nicely. It’s a pity there is no bridegroom’s outfit in the trunk. You must feel slightly out of place.”

Yang Guo then said “Let me take a look again. It seems like there are some more pretty items in there.” As he said that, he moved various scattered items out of the trunk and put them on the bed. Xiao Longnü saw him taking out a gold flower so she stuck it into his hair. Yang Guo said with a smile, “Not bad, there is a little more.” Then he looked at the bottom of the trunk and found a pack of letters bound by a red ribbon. The ribbon color already faded and the envelopes were so old they turned deep yellow. Yang Guo picked them up and said, “There are letters in here.”

Xiao Longnü said, “Let’s see what kind of letters they are.”

Yang Guo then untied the ribbon and saw that on the envelopes was written “To be opened only by Miss Lin Chaoying” and that there were the words ‘Ji Ji’ on the left corner. All the twenty letters were addressed in the same way. Yang Guo knew that Wang Chongyang’s given name before becoming a Taoist was Wang ‘Ji Ji’ so he laughed and said, “These are love letters Founding Master Chongyang wrote to our Ancestor Grandma. Can we read them?”

Since childhood, Xiao Longnü had revered her Ancestor Grandma as if she was a divine being so she quickly said, “No, we cannot read!”

Still smiling, Yang Guo tied up the bunch of letters with the ribbon and said, “Old sister Sun and the others were so old-fashioned. Seeing us bowing to heaven and earth before Founding Master Chongyang’s portrait, they all got upset and accused us of committing a blasphemy. I didn’t believe for a minute that in those years Master Chongyang and our Ancestor Grandma didn’t have a relationship. If we took these letters there for them to take a look, those old cow noses’ reactions would be quite interesting.” While saying that, he was looking at Xiao Longnü and couldn’t help feeling sorry for Lin Chaoying. He thought, “Ancestor Grandma lived alone inside Gu Mu. She must have more than once tried on the wedding dress. The two of us are much luckier than she was.”

Then Xiao Longnü said, “That’s right, we are more fortunate than Ancestor Grandma. Why should you still be unhappy?”

Yang Guo said, “All right!” Suddenly he was startled and said with a laugh, “I didn’t say it but you really could guess what I was thinking.”

Xiao Longnü curved her lips into a smile and retorted, “If I didn’t know what you were thinking, how would I deserve to be your wife?” Yang Guo sat down on the side of the bed and gently extended his left arm to hug her. In their hearts, the two of them were happy beyond words and hoped that a moment like this would last forever. They sat there in each other’s embrace and, for a long time, nobody said a word.

After a while, they both eyed that bunch of letters. And when they looked at each other, they laughed with mischievous glints in their eyes. Knowing perfectly well that they shouldn’t read their deceased master’s personal letters but, of course, they couldn’t bear the curiosity in their hearts.