371 Wedding Night 4

Little did she know, this young man who she regretted helping would soon become her greatest aide in this life...

...

Creak

The doors to the bedroom opening jolted Shen Tianyu out of her shallow nap. 

Rong Jian came in with a tray of food for her to eat. The smell of alcohol clung onto his red robes but his steps weren't staggering. 

"You could have had a servant carry this." Shen Tianyu told him as she cracked her neck and got up to receive the tray. 

"I thought I'd bring it myself since I was coming over." Rong Jian deftly avoided her hands and placed it on the table next to the bed. 

The room was entirely enveloped in red, including the bedding and canopy. The red "double happiness" character was pasted on the four walls and even the door. The door itself was draped in red cloth and the top part of it looked like a Japanese sliding door, though it's supposed to be pushed or pulled. The table next to the bed, the chairs, the screen and drapes were all either covered in red or was red. There was lines of gold and golden flower embroidery on the cloths. The drapes for the bed were also embroidered with two poems, one for love and the other for happiness. 

"Is it okay for you to be here? The banquet is still ongoing, no?" Shen Tianyu sat down at the table and motioned for him to take off her veil so she could eat. Traditionally, he's supposed to lift the veil when she was sitting on the bed but she hadn't eaten all day so she was eager. 

When Rong Jian lifted the veil with the wooden, red "happiness" stick, his pupils visibly dilated and his mouth gaped slightly. 

Seeing his reaction, Shen Tianyu tilted her head a bit, causing her hairpins and buyaos to give off a melodious tinkling. "Hm? What's wrong? Too beautiful for you to speak?" 

Rong Jian gulped before he trusted himself to reply and even then it was only a hoarse "Mn" in affirmation. 

"Well, pity. I need to eat now so it might get messed up a bit." Shen Tianyu turned to the food and picked up the pair of chopsticks. "By the way, you haven't answered my question."

"Huh?"

"Is it okay for you to be here, as the groom, when the banquet is still ongoing?" She repeated once more. Usually, a few of the more friendly guests and family members would harass the groom when he finally turned in for the night and watch his reaction as he lifted the wedding veil.

"Mn. Already greeted everyone." He replied as he sat across her and continued to stare at her. 

"So... we're doing it?" Shen Tianyu tilted her head as they sat side by side. Though she looked calm on the outside, her palms were sweating as she pressed them against her thigh. She knew this was how things were supposed to go but honestly speaking, she still wasn't completely comfortable with her body in the sexual sense. 

"If you don't want to, we don't have to." Rong Jian told her. "I can just catch a pigeon or something tomorrow morning and use it's blood."

Though it can be said that they were adults at their age, as cultivators, they can still be considered kids. Since their lifespan was bound to be longer than the average couple and they were unlikely to die from illness, it didn't hurt to wait until they were both more comfortable.

Shen Tianyu's shoulders visibly relaxed when she heard that. "Okay. Can you do that?"

Rong Jian nodded as he ushered her to the wooden bathtub in the other wing of the room. Shen Tianyu nodded at him and went to the partitioned bathroom, which already had a bathtub full of heated water. 

Without any servants, Shen Tianyu started painstakingly taking off her wedding dress. However, after a few tries, she decided to just rip it all off because it was way too complicated for someone who preferred to wear pants instead of dresses on a daily basis. She took out her hairpins and put them on a table nearby before she stepped into the bathtub that could fit two people just fine. She used a small, soaked towel to wipe off her makeup and started to wash her body. When she was done, she retrieved her inner garments, the only part of her set that she had slung over the screen, and got dressed. The rest of her wedding clothes that she had left scattered all over the floor was gathered into a bunch and placed next to the table that held her golden hairpins and buyao. At the very least, she was careful with those considering the craftsmanship that she could see woven into them. She arranged them neatly on one side of the table before she was satisfied. 

"Your turn." She told him as she emerged, fully swathed in white. 

As she waited for her newly wedded husband to finish his bath, she laid down on the bed and buried herself in the bed covers. 

When Rong Jian was done, he also emerge din his white inner robe and laid down next to her, ushering her to the inside of the bed. He then closed the clothed curtains of their bed and the two silently laid side by side...