From CEO to Concubine-Chapter 200: Thousand Years
"Once there was a beauty, unforgettable at first glance (1)."
Yan Zheyun dimpled at Hua Zhixuan’s exaggerated recital of this renowned love poem titled ’Feng Courting Huang’. Fenghuang together also formed the characters for phoenix. The title of this poem was also a famous guqin piece, the very one he’d chosen to perform for Liu Yao at the Spring Festival family banquet months ago. That had been the first night Liu Yao had flipped his tablet and even now, Yan Zheyun could remember the way his heart hadn’t known whether to soar or sink, racing with trepidation and excitement.
Back when he’d been learning how to play ’Feng Courting Huang’, he had naturally read the poem and spared much consideration to the technicalities of his performance. But he had never given much thought to how the phoenix, like the qilin, was also gendered, with the first character of the word representing the masculine creature and the second the feminine. Or how it was the male feng that was paired with the character of dragon, long, to represent the emperor and empress respectively.
Xiao De, along with the other eunuchs from the Department of Garments, were arranging the long train of his outer ceremonial robe that trailed down to the ground in a majestic sweep. The gold phoenixes embroidered on glossy black silk fanned out behind him as he raised his arms to allow them more room to adjust the fittings of the elaborate belt that cinched across his waist. Instead of the bright crimson used for wedding attire, the solemnity of the imperial official robes was like a heavy testament to the power and dignity accorded to the new role Yan Zheyun was about to adopt. In the bronze mirror before him, his reflection was blurred such that he could not see his face clearly. But the host body was shorter, slighter than his original was. He wondered what he would have looked like in the robes had he transmigrated over wholly. Would Liu Yao still find him as beautiful as he did now?
"Langjun is even more stunning today!" One of the maids sent over from Qianqing Palace to assist in the preparations couldn’t resist gushing. Yan Zheyun turned his head slightly to smile at her, earning himself a chorus of enthusiastic agreement from the other young girls.
Although he was stern when it came to the running of inner palace matters, he also made sure to treat the servants with the same respect he’d been brought up to accord to service staff whenever they’d assisted him in hotels or the hired help back home. Hence, apart from those who had been bought over or who worked for other masters, he had a rather good relationship with the maids and eunuchs and it was evident in the sincerity they treated him with.
"I guess this means this consort will have to hand out a new round of red packets after the ceremony," Yan Zheyun quipped, "to thank everyone for the auspicious blessings." The bride and groom handing out red packets filled with money to unmarried relatives and assistants at their weddings was a custom that had persisted all the way to modern times and when Yan Zheyun had learnt that this was also the practice in Great Ye, he’d taken to it with gusto. Today was considered his official wedding to Liu Yao, the one recognised by the rest of the kingdom and he’d already informed Liu Yao that he would very much be distributing some of his inner palace allowance today, to which Liu Yao had chuckled, given him a squeeze, and told him to take half the expenditure out of the emperor’s allocation.
The idea that the thanks was coming from the both of them, that they were the happy couple, brought a warm feeling to Yan Zheyun’s heart and he’d agreed without hesitation.
"Silly child, you missed an opportunity for a fatter red packet. Is ’Langjun’ how you should address your new empress?" The droll voice from the entrance of the main bedchamber in Aiyun Palace belonged to Supervisor Liu. He was here to oversee the proceedings, his attire sitting properly on his shoulders for the first time since Yan Zheyun had met him.
The servant girl who had praised Yan Zheyun earlier on flushed a bright red. She opened her mouth but then hesitated and shot Xiao De an unsure look. Xiao De’s eyes crinkled with genuine mirth.
"Master," he said with light-hearted tentativeness. "In less than two shichen, the servants will all have to change the title by which they address you. Surely it would not be too early for them to start getting used to it."
Yan Zheyun didn’t say yes or no but the fond look he shot Xiao De was permission enough. An emperor’s word was law and from the day of the edict, from the moment Liu Yao had chosen him, nothing could take the title away from him except a crime so heinous even his husband could no longer stand the sight of him.
Catching the hint, Xiao De signalled to the rest of the room and the eunuchs and maids, all of whom dropped whatever tasks they were doing to line up in a couple of neat rows behind him. Yan Zheyun turned around and gazed down regally upon them. From the corner of his eye, he saw Supervisor Liu straightening up from his boneless slouch against the door before saluting him with a propriety Yan Zheyun hadn’t believed him capable of.
"This servant greets Your Highness! May Fengjun live for a thousand years!"
Fengjun. Lord Phoenix. This wasn’t a traditional title for an empress. As far as Yan Zheyun knew, there hadn’t been a male empress in the historical records of Great Ye. Otherwise, Liu Yao wouldn’t have had such a hard time convincing the morning court to accept his choice. Yan Zheyun would have been fine if they had used the old term of address Langjun but Liu Yao had insisted on highlighting the difference.
To Liu Yao, this wasn’t just a victory against the stale beliefs and rotten politics of his morning court, this was him achieving what he had once failed to do when he’d been too weak to pursue what he wanted. If flaunting it was what Liu Yao wanted, Yan Zheyun was more than happy to support him.
"Reporting to Supervisor Liu, all the ministers have arrived and have taken their places in Weiyang Square (2). His Majesty has left Qianqing Palace!"
Supervisor Liu straightened up and clapped his hands. "The auspicious hour is almost upon us, ready the entourage!" This was the auspicious hour calculated by the state preceptor himself. According to Liu Yao, the old man had vanished from the imperial city once again, off on a wild goose chase about some spiritual matter or another. But through supernatural means or otherwise he’d managed to stay abreast of the latest events in the capital and had sent Liu Yao a message with a date and time on it stipulating that this was the best day and hour for a harmonious union between dragon and phoenix as well as a long and prosperous reign of the kingdom.
Before transmigrating, Yan Zheyun was always one to follow fortune-telling only at the behest of his parents because he knew just how superstitious businessmen could get and appreciated that they grew up in a different generation from himself. But he’d always taken things like bazi calculations with a pinch of salt.
Now, he pretty much believed in ’anything goes’.
The sedan prepared by the Department of Accoutrements was carved of dark mahogany and lavish beyond imagination. Liu Yao was aware of his aesthetic preferences and had hence commissioned one that was understated in its elegance but the materials chosen for its preparation were telling that the privy purse had spared no expense on this occasion. The curtains were embroidered with gold silk too, a statement of how much Liu Yao valued him as empress as it was only with the emperor’s permission that the eunuchs overseeing the tailoring would dare to use this shade. The dancing phoenixes that framed the sedan’s entrance were live-like, as though they were ready to spread their wings and take flight any second.
Supervisor Liu intercepted Xiao De just as he was about to assist Yan Zheyun up onto the sedan. The complicated layers of robes made it difficult for him to embark and disembark without a helping hand.
As he leaned in to thank Supervisor Liu, he heard the man murmur under his breath, "His Majesty left you a little wedding gift, look up."
The curtains unfolded behind him, shielding him from the outside world. Alone within the spacious interior, Yan Zheyun sank down on the comfortable cushions and gazed at the ceiling of the sedan. The circular carvings overhead was done in the fashion of a caisson, imitating the ornate caissons of the palaces and halls of the imperial city. Yan Zheyun knew that they were used to embody the concept of ’round sky’ and ’square ground’ and that the dragon motif that was often the centrepiece of these imperial caissons was to symbolise the emperor ruling over his people from the heavens above. But this time around, instead of soaring alone, the dragon was intertwined amorously with a phoenix and it was hard to say where one ended and the other began.
...
Did Liu Yao mean for it to be so...suggestive? What on earth had he told the craftsmen?
Perhaps it was because this image brought forth memories of other instances where they’d been so wrapped up in each other because when Supervisor Liu announced their arrival at Changle Gate (3), the Gate of Eternal Happiness. Yan Zheyun had always been under the impression that the imperial city had been modelled by the author to mimic Chang An during the Tang Dynasty. As far as he knew from childhood trips to the area, there had only been one main gate in the south, Zhuque Gate, which led out onto the main street that ran through the capital’s bustling centre.
But Great Ye’s imperial city had another, which cordoned off the ministries where the court officials performed their day-to-day work tasks from the imposing Weiyang Hall.
For the first and last time, Yan Zheyun was going to walk through the centre of Changle Gate—a path reserved only for the emperor as even the highest ranked of ministers could only use the side gates—and right up the steps to where Liu Yao awaited him.
Xiao De arranged the train behind him for the final time before backing away with a deep bow. Within, Yan Zheyun could hear the ritual drums quickening as the colossal red doors creaked open with a measured sombreness.
Before everything else, he noticed the cloudless sky. The air was crisp with a winter’s freshness but sun blessed everything with a soft brightness. The carpet laid out before him seemed the stretch out endlessly but he knew that when he reached the top of the stairs, Liu Yao would be waiting for him. Even across the wide expense, he could see his husband’s figure, waiting in full regalia to take his hand and lead him to stand by his side.
This was the slowest walk he would ever perform in his life. Every step had to be stately so as to not shake the ornaments dangling from the gold guan that he wore, adorned with jewels and decorated by the most skillful of metalworkers in the kingdom. On his left and right, ministers from all nine ranks fell to their knees to prostrate themselves as he walked past. They might have still been calling him a slave in their minds but outwardly, no one would dare to say so to his face anymore.
Had it not been so long ago that he’d worked in the kitchens in the Wu Household? It had felt like a whole other lifetime.
As he ascended up the steps one by one, with the powerful suona (4) of the Department of Bells-and-Drums leading the ceremonial music, he drew nearer and nearer to Liu Yao. Thousands were present today but only the two of them had their heads held high, their eyes not once breaking contact once it was established.
This was a side of Liu Yao that Yan Zheyun hardly saw anymore, once his husband stopped keeping up pretenses around him. Looking up at the imposing figure standing at the top of the steps, with nothing higher than him but the sky, Yan Zheyun found himself awestruck by Liu Yao’s handsomeness again, just like how he’d felt the first time they’d met on that dark corridor. With a hand brought up to the front of his waist and another tucked behind his back, the formal stance for a regal master, he was every inch how an emperor ought to be, and yet, the gentle love in his eyes was unmistakable.
When he was about a metre away from Liu Yao, it was Yan Zheyun’s turn to kneel and bow. Three times to his husband and his liege, before receiving the nine bows from his new subjects who now acknowledged him as their rightful empress.
As Liu Yao helped him to his feet and took his hand to guide him to his side, he looked down upon the kowtowing ministers, Yan Zheyun felt the same sense of satisfaction he’d once experienced when he’d first started his company.
This was only the beginning. Liu Yao’s Great Ye would go down in history and Yan Zheyun was determined to protect it with him.
"May my emperor live for ten thousand years! May Fengjun live for a thousand years!" The voices chanted this line over and over again with such force that Yan Zheyun’s eardrums ached. This was why it was only when they finished with the ceremonial requirements that Yan Zheyun caught the frantic high-pitched cry that shattered the dignified atmosphere, accompanied by the clatter of hooves.
Apart from the emperor, horses were forbidden to be ridden in the imperial city except when—
"REPORTING! URGENT NEWS FROM EIGHT HUNDRED LI (5)! OVERLORD KULAI HAS INVADED THE NORTH!"
