part 4
Qinghe was furious and wanted to argue with them, but I stopped her.
"There is no need to quarrel," I said. "I will find a way to get my own dowry."
I counted up all my private savings saved over the years. I had a few pieces of jewelry left by my late mother, plus the money I had scrimped and saved daily, amounting to no more than eighty taels of silver in total.
Eighty taels was not even enough to buy a decent set of dowry in the capital.
Just as I was worrying, someone suddenly knocked at the door.
When I opened it, I saw an unfamiliar young servant holding a red lacquer wooden box.
"Second Miss Shen, my master sent this for you."
I took the box and opened it, finding a stack of bank notes inside, each worth a hundred taels, twenty in all.
Two thousand taels of silver.
Beneath the notes lay a slip of paper with only four words written on it: Rest easy and await your wedding.
There was no signature, yet the strokes were sharp and forceful, bearing the bold style of a man who wielded swords. Unconsciously, I thought of the dark-cloaked figure kneeling in the ancestral hall that cold night.
I clutched the note tightly, my eyes growing warm with emotion.
Qinghe leaned over to take a look and nearly cried out in shock. "Miss, this is..."
"Put them away," I handed the bank notes to her. "Go to the silk shop early tomorrow morning to buy fine fabric and make a proper wedding dress. Deposit the rest in the money shop."
"But Miss, who on earth sent this silver? What if..."
"Someone worthy of my trust."
Qinghe stared at me in a daze. Seeing no hesitation in my eyes, she finally nodded.
On the wedding day, firecrackers burst loudly in the east and west parts of the capital long before dawn.
To the east lay the young lord’s residence. Shen Mudan’s bridal sedan departed from the Shen Manor, accompanied by lively music all the way across half the city to Prince Rong’s Mansion. Fearing the procession lacked grandeur, the main mistress arranged an eight-man grand sedan chair. Her wedding escort stretched from the street start to the end, with red silk spread everywhere.
To the west stood the general’s mansion. My bridal sedan was carried quietly out through the back gate of the Shen Manor. There were no musical bands, no firecrackers, and only Qinghe plus two humble maids came to see me off.
The grand front gates of the Shen family had always opened only for the legitimate eldest daughter.
I wore the bright red wedding gown finished overnight. My bridal veil was embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in water by Qinghe. Though the stitches were not perfect, every thread was sewn by her own hands. Sitting in the swaying sedan chair, through the thin curtain...