Chapter 1332: Husband and Wife
1332 Husband and Wife
The initiation banquet continued for two full hours before all the guests retired. Before leaving, everyone again presented their congratulations to the couple and gave their most precious blessings to them.
Of course, this was only the beginning. The last step was still needed before Bai Zemin and Lilith became husband and wife.
After everyone left, less than 30 people remained in the huge hall.
Qin Ming and Yi Fang quickly set a smaller table in the center of the room with respectful expressions. Then, both women began to carefully prepare completely new candles and incense.
Meanwhile, Bai s.h.i.+lin approached Lilith with a big smile on her face and helped her take off the imperial robe under the eyes of everyone present with her delicate little hands.
With a thud, the golden robe that represented prestige and power fell to the ground.
Bai Zemin"s eyes lit up as he gazed at Lilith with an extremely sweet expression.
In fact, gazing at her even Chen He, Bai Delan, Wu Keqian, Fu Xuefeng, Nangong Yu and the few other men present could not help but stand dumbstruck. Had it not been for their respective escorts to snap them out of their daze they probably would have stood there all night in stupefaction.
"So beautiful..." Bai s.h.i.+lin"s eyes were bright like stars.
Lilith was wearing a long red wedding dress that reached halfway down her calves. The cloth dress looked extremely simple except for the fact that the chest area was covered by dozens of small blood-colored rubies that formed a lotus flower pattern.
The red dress according to Chinese tradition represented purity, virginity, love, as well as pa.s.sion. It was a matter of course that the bride should wear a red dress during the ceremony.
Previously Lilith wore a golden robe to represent her status as Empress in front of the guests, but now that the "outer banquet" was over and the final private banquet was about to begin it was necessary to shed any t.i.tle to continue with the ceremony.
Bai Zemin extended his hand with a smile on his face.
Lilith looked into his eyes and with a slight blush took it.
They both walked hand in hand to the smaller square table prepared by Qin Ming and Yi Fang. Four baking mats had already been prepared and two of those mats were currently occupied by two people.
These two people were precisely Bai Zemin"s father and mother, Bai Delan and Ye Linger.
Actually, it was supposed that Lilith"s parents should be present for the ceremony according to tradition. However, such a thing was naturally impossible to happen.
Even though the family on the bride"s side could not be here, the ceremony would still continue and conclude smoothly. Only the process would change slightly.
With serious and respectful expressions on their faces, Bai Zemin and Lilith knelt on their two knees facing each other. After exchanging a single glance that spoke the feelings of their hearts, they both leaned forward on their knees with their hands pressed together at head level and only stopped when their foreheads were about to touch the ground.
Then they both turned their bodies still on their knees and bowed deeply to the couple. This time their foreheads gently touched the ground and remained there for a few seconds.
After bowing to their new family and paying their respects as well as their thanks for everything in this long journey to the old one, Bai Zemin and Lilith stretched their hands towards the table and began to light incense sticks and candles to pay their respects to heaven and earth asking for blessing and happiness.
Ye Linger could not help but sob as she watched the figure of her son completing the marriage ritual before her eyes.
Even Bai Delan had his red eyes filled with tears that threatened to fall at any moment.
How could they not be immensely moved and happy right now? They were the ones who brought Bai Zemin into this world, who raised him from diapers to adulthood. They both saw him go through countless hards.h.i.+ps and knew perfectly well that his path was full of extremely deep potholes that most people could never have gotten out of.
Ignoring everything else, his heartbreak back then practically turned him into a soulless person for a long time and when he apparently recovered he was never the same child he was before.
Then, seeing the baby they raised finally become a man on his own and marry an extremely beautiful woman they couldn"t help but feel both happy and sad.
Happy because their son grew up to be such a great man that as parents they could only be proud. Sad because while they would still be a family, priorities would change from this day forward.
That boy was no longer a baby but a real man.
Shangguan Xinyue saw that her daughter"s expression was as cold as ice so she gently poked her with her finger and whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "You could also do that with him in the future if you stop being so stubborn. Our Little Emperor has clearly undergone great changes of heart for some reason, didn"t you notice how he didn"t fervently reject Yijun"s advances? But if you continue acting so proud, not only will you not have him all to yourself but you will have nothing."
Shangguan Bing Xue opened her mouth to say something, but in the end she didn"t seem to know what to say so she closed it again. Although her expression was as calm as a lake, her eyes concealed fierce stormy waves.
Feng Tian Wu was indifferent as she watched the couple slowly finish lighting the incense and candles. In fact, even though she was a powerful fire soul evolver above level 267, her personality was as cold and indifferent as Shangguan Bing Xue"s. It was difficult to understand what her thoughts were.
Wu Yijun, on the other hand, was smiling happily while looking at Bai Zemin"s back. She was not at all perturbed by the fact that the man she loved was marrying a woman other than herself.
Sun Ling, her mother, nodded with a faint smile on her face. She was truly grateful and pleased with Wu Yijun"s intelligence and mental strength.
Bai Zemin was not just any man and this did not apply only to planet Earth. His existence was extremely brilliant to the point that those terrifying Higher Existences could not ignore him and needed to respect.
Such an outstanding man could hardly be monopolized by a single woman unless that woman was just as outstanding as he was. Therefore, Sun Ling was happy that her daughter understood this point and was spared countless heartache, which would help her to be very happy later on.
Glancing at her husband, Sun Ling couldn"t help but roll her eyes as she muttered to herself. If even her husband could have more than one wife, how could Bai Zemin who was infinitely more outstanding not have the qualifications to have the most outstanding women?
While Sun Ling was lost in her thoughts, the ceremony finally concluded when Bai Zemin and Lilith offered a cup of steaming tea to Bai Delan and Ye Linger.
Beijing was extremely turbulent at this point.
Even though it was past 1 a.m., citizens shouted their blessings as they threw colorful shredded paper into the sky.
At the same time, hundreds of multicolored fireworks were shot into the night sky from all over the city as everyone watched the giant magic screens, seeing the newly formed couple standing under the blessing of their parents.
Even though none of them had the qualifications to enter Hero City let alone be present at the ceremony of the Emperor and his Empress, every citizen from the lowest to the highest felt incredibly proud and moved as they were part of this journey in another way.
Soon, all the giant magic screens were slowly turned off but the happiness of the citizens continued for a long time. Now that the Emperor had finally married everyone was expecting a pair of princes and princesses who could inherit the powerful genetics of the royal family, so that in the near future they would have more tremendously powerful warriors who would further increase the security of their lives.
Twenty minutes later, Bai Zemin walked alone through the long corridors of the royal palace to his bedroom. He was happy but also felt more nervous than when fighting Ak.u.mi, a Sixth Order Higher Existence. Still, he did not use Blood Manipulation and let that feeling remain in him as it was part of the process and he did not want to change it for anything in the world.
When he arrived at the door of the room, Bai s.h.i.+lin was waiting for him with a big smile on her face. She presented him with a small silver plate with a small red colored jade as part of the ceremony to represent fertility and eternal joy, "Father, Lilith mom is waiting in."
Bai Zemin took the jade piece gently and after kissing the girl"s forehead dismissed her.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and walked in.