Peach Blossom Land On Longyin Island Chapter 13

Marriage

Compared to the complex wedding procedures of modern times, the village wedding was very simple. An Xiaoyu had no relatives, and both of them were men, so many steps were simplified again. The procession to fetch the bride was omitted, leaving only the bowing ceremony.

The auspicious time for ancient weddings was at dusk, when day and night transitioned. The two, dressed in red cotton and linen wedding robes embroidered with mandarin ducks and butterflies, bowed to Heaven and Earth and their parents in the new house. After completing the mutual bowing ritual, they went together to the banquet to toast the villagers.

After the feast came the liveliest part: teasing the newlyweds in the bridal chamber. At this time, when it was perfectly acceptable to play tricks on the couple, An Linmian naturally didn’t let them off the hook. She led the young people of the village in a swarm into the bridal chamber and proposed all sorts of tricky games.

An Le had never expected the biggest challenge to be waiting here. All day, he had gone through the marriage process with the novelty of playing house, and seeing everyone so lively and excited, he felt unusually thrilled, cooperating fully with every step.

But the game before him now, he truly didn’t know how to cooperate.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry! This is the last one! Eat it quickly!” An Linmian stood on a low stool, one hand on her hip, the other holding a short bamboo pole with a dashing, heroic air. A red thread hung from the end of the pole, and a plump red date dangled from the thread, suspended between the two newlyweds.

The rule of the game was for both of them to eat the red date.

Eating the red date…

The apple-biting game earlier was fine, but this date, this date! It was too small! An Le stared at the red date, which he could swallow whole by himself, and his temples throbbed violently.

Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Two people eating one small date together—what was the difference between that and kissing!

“An Le! Can you do it or not! You’ve been staring for ages! Do you still want to consummate the marriage?” Seeing An Le motionless, An Linmian yelled at the top of her lungs.

Can’t do it! Absolutely can’t do it! An Le shook his head vigorously, refusing to compromise. He stammered, “Change, change the game.”

“Change the game? Fine!” Unexpectedly, An Linmian actually agreed.

Before An Le could celebrate, he heard An Linmian shout loudly to someone, “Maizi, change it to a peanut for him!”

Before the words finished, An Le grabbed the red string and shouted, “No, no, this one is fine! Just this one!”

An Le wiped the sweat from his forehead, secretly vowing never to offend An Linmian again.

An Linmian curled her lips in a successful smirk and declared boldly, “Good! You said it! Eat it quickly! Once you finish, we’ll leave immediately and won’t delay your bridal night!”

Bridal night my foot! An Le’s eyebrow twitched uncontrollably again. After a long period of self-comfort, he finally gritted his teeth, hardened his resolve, and said to An Xiaoyu with a look of facing death bravely, “Come on!”

An Xiaoyu appeared very calm on the surface. Hearing this, he just nodded and softly hummed in agreement. He leaned forward slightly, his lips almost touching the red date.

An Le stared blankly at the red date and the red lips behind it. His heart pounded rapidly, thump-thump-thump, as if it wanted to leap out of his chest.

“Tsk, An Le, hurry up. Your wife is waiting,” An Linmian clicked her tongue, urging him on with feigned impatience.

What wife? If he were a real wife, he would have kissed him already. This thought suddenly popped into An Le’s mind.

In his daze, An Le saw An Xiaoyu’s lips slightly open and close. The surrounding voices were noisy, and An Le couldn’t hear what the other person was saying, but he could barely guess An Xiaoyu’s words from his lip movements: “If… you don’t wish to…”

An Le looked up at An Xiaoyu. Unlike him, the other man’s expression was extremely calm, looking as if he didn’t care at all.

An Le suddenly felt a strange sense of indignation. He doesn’t care, so why should I care! As an open-minded modern person, how could he be more reserved than an ancient person!

So he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and bit down with lightning speed. His tongue hooked out, skillfully pulling the entire red date into his mouth.

The onlookers seemed not to have reacted yet. After a moment of silence, a burst of dissatisfied shouts suddenly erupted.

An Linmian stared blankly at the empty red string. She hadn’t even had time to start, and the red date was gone.

Equally stunned was An Xiaoyu. An Xiaoyu’s expression was wooden, but the redness on his ear tips had quickly spread to his cheeks.

“Doesn’t count! That doesn’t count!” someone yelled.

“Why doesn’t it count?” An Le chewed the red date, chin raised, looking smug.

What is most important when playing games? Surprise! Speed! Knowing how to exploit loopholes and bugs!

An Le was triumphant: “No one said we had to share it half and half. The game is over, now hurry up and get out. An Linmian, you wouldn’t go back on your word, would you?” An Linmian was the leader of the village youth, so dealing with her meant dealing with everyone else.

“Hiss—I was careless.” An Linmian looked regretful. In a moment, she threw away the bamboo pole, jumped off the stool, pointed at the nuptial wine on the table, and shouted, “I, An Linmian, am not like you, An Le. I, An Linmian, mean what I say! We’ll leave once you finish the cross-cupped wine!”

After eating the date, what was cross-cupped wine! An Le waved his hand grandly and said cheerfully, “Bring it on!”

Someone immediately handed over the nuptial cups. A gourd was cut in half, connected by a red thread at both ends, and the gourd ladles were filled with the nuptial wine.

An Le took one half of the gourd ladle and glanced at An Xiaoyu inadvertently, seeing that An Xiaoyu’s face was flushed crimson, his eyes slightly lowered as if deliberately avoiding him.

It was finally An Xiaoyu’s turn to be embarrassed. Having finally gained the upper hand over an ancient person, An Le curled his lips and generously drank the cross-cupped wine with An Xiaoyu.

Unexpectedly, the wine tasted quite good. An Le secretly savored it after drinking. The wine in Longyin Village was all home-brewed, with low alcohol content. Therefore, even though he had never drunk alcohol in his previous life and had been forced to drink quite a bit during the banquet, his mind was still very clear, not drunk at all. However, low alcohol content meant the flavor was also light and not very palatable, but this cup of nuptial wine was different. It had a bitter-sweet taste and was actually quite delicious.

An Le subconsciously looked at the wine pot containing the nuptial wine, wondering if he could have another cup.

As if seeing through An Le’s thoughts, An Linmian smiled and picked up the wine pot, saying, “How is it? Does it taste good? This is the ‘Joyful Union Wine’ specially brewed by the village for newlyweds. Only couples on their wedding night get to drink it. It’s very precious, so don’t waste it. Make sure to drink it all~” After speaking, An Linmian put down the wine pot, winked at An Le, and then signaled the people in the room to leave.

An Le found An Linmian’s smile a bit strange, but didn’t think much of it. He picked up the wine pot and poured another cup. The nuptial cups had been put together and thrown under the bed after the cross-cupped drinking, so An Le used a regular wine cup this time. Compared to drinking from the gourd ladle, this cup had less bitterness.

It was delicious. This was the closest liquid to a beverage he had drunk since coming to this world. It was a pity that he could only drink it when getting married, and An Le felt a little regretful.

“An Xiaoyu, why are you standing there? Want some?” Seeing An Xiaoyu standing still, An Le shook the wine pot in his hand and asked.

“Um… you drink it,” An Xiaoyu moved, sat down opposite An Le, rubbing the back of his ear, his eyes shifting, looking somewhat flustered.

“Are you alright?” An Le asked, seeing his reaction.

“Um… I’m fine.” After saying that, An Xiaoyu paused, then stood up and said unnaturally, “I… I’ll go bathe first.” Before he finished speaking, An Xiaoyu had already walked quickly to the door and pulled it open.

“Hey, hey, hey~” Caught off guard, An Linmian and a few others who were eavesdropping outside the door tumbled in, one on top of the other.

An Le was startled and turned to look. An Linmian and the others looked around awkwardly, chuckling, “Ha, haha… Bathing… isn’t bathing a bit early? It’s not too late to bathe after taking care of business…”

“…” An Le was speechless. He quickly walked over and pushed them out, saying, “Go, go, go, get out of here.”

“Yes, yes, yes, we’re going, going, going.” As An Linmian was being pushed out, she didn’t forget to turn her head and instruct the couple, “We’re really leaving this time, don’t be shy. Consummate the marriage first, then bathe!”

“That’s enough, hurry up and go!” An Le pushed them out and slammed the door shut with a bang. The airflow caused by closing the door made the large red candle flickering inside the room sway. The candlelight wavered for a long time before stabilizing again.

The sound of the candle wick popping was intermittent, especially clear in the unusually quiet room.

The two looked at each other, speechless. Reminded by An Linmian’s words, they inevitably thought of the meaning of the wedding night. An Le finally understood An Xiaoyu’s earlier awkwardness. He scratched his head, trying to think of something to break the embarrassing silence.

After a long while, both spoke at the same time.

An Le: “You…”

An Xiaoyu: “You…”

“You go first,” they both said.

After a moment of awkward silence, An Le rubbed his nose: “You… go bathe. They should be gone.”

“Mm… I’ll go first then.”

Seeing An Xiaoyu leave, An Le let out a long sigh of relief. This was the first time he had felt so awkward. What was there to be embarrassed about? Spineless! It was just getting married, it wouldn’t change anything. Even if they bowed, they were just sworn brothers! An Le silently scolded and comforted himself a few times, then sat down and continued drinking.

An Xiaoyu returned only after An Le had finished a pot of wine. He had changed out of his wedding robes into a plain, long sleeping gown and said to An Le, “The hot water is ready, you should go quickly.”

An Le had spent the time of one pot of wine comforting himself, but for some reason, his heart was still restless, and he didn’t know how to face An Xiaoyu. Hearing the suggestion, he immediately fled to bathe.

It was late autumn, and the nights in the mountains were cooler. The hot water cooled quickly. An Le finished his bath in a hurry, quickly wrapped himself in his outer clothes, and ran back in, bending over.

“Alright, alright, let’s sleep.” As soon as he entered the room, An Le jogged across the floor scattered with peanuts and red dates and climbed onto the bed, quickly burrowing under the large red quilt. At the same time, he waved to An Xiaoyu, who was sitting stiffly on a chair: “Come up and sleep quickly. Oh, right, don’t forget to put out the light.”

The candle flame was extinguished, and the room plunged into darkness. When An Xiaoyu also got into bed and burrowed under the quilt, An Le suddenly realized something: “This bed only has one quilt prepared!”

An Xiaoyu also noticed this, his movements pausing. He hesitated, “Should I go find another quilt?”

An Le thought for a moment. They didn’t know where the quilts were kept, and it would be inconvenient to light the lamp and search. Besides, it was normal for two men to sleep under one quilt. So he said boldly, “No need, let’s just sleep like this. We’ll find one tomorrow.”

“Okay,” An Xiaoyu responded softly, tiptoeing into the covers.