Part One:

Red silk flowers, red ribbons and red lanterns adorned the buildings, hallways and pavilions. As night slowly fell and the wedding guests were at the peak of their merrymaking, the entire Ji Residence was blissfully wrapped in a warm red glow.

Far away from the joyful and drunken laughter, a young bride perched nervously on the edge of the marital bed, alone in the silent bridal chamber. Her petite frame was wrapped in a tailored red round-collared robe and horse-face skirt intricately embroidered with animals. A blue silk shawl draped around her shoulders, further accentuating the air of nobility and dignity which the wedding robes evoked.

Beneath the weight of the phoenix coronet on her head and the red wedding scarf which veiled her naturally porcelain skin made rosier with light orange rouge on her cheeks and painted red lips, Su Rulan sat gracefully with her back straightened and chin raised. She was exhausted and hungry after a full day of customs and rituals under the veil; but she had already came so far—surely it would be a waste for her to lose decorum at this point. And if one wanted to speak of patience, she had already waited almost four years for this day—surely she could wait for another hour or two for her bridegroom to arrive at the bridal chamber.

But having been brought up as a delicate, fragile young lady, after not eating for the whole day, Su Rulan was starting to feel faint.

"Xiaowei," she called out to her personal maidservant who was standing by outside the room. "Would you need a change of candle?"

"No, my lady," came the meaningful reply. "There is sufficient wax for another hour."

Su Rulan sighed quietly and carefully as she was afraid that the walls have ears. It was an arbitrary gauge of time, depending on whether the young master or the guests were the first ones to fall drunk. Perhaps, it also depended on whether the bridegroom was excited to see his bride. But she wasn't sure if Ji Chiyan was indeed excited to see her. They had met only met once after all, when she was twelve.

The lantern festival that year, her parents had brought her out onto the crowded streets to busk in the colourful bright lights and festivities. Unfortunately, when her mother had let go of her hand for a brief moment, the young Su Rulan was swept up in the human traffic and drifted further and further away from her family's mini entourage. After wandering around aimlessly and tearfully, she bumped into a tall teenager dressed in fine silk brocade. When she gazed up at his friendly face through her watery eyes, she mistook him for her and her younger twin brother's private tutor. Perhaps, it was because she found his appearance familiar that she had trusted him immediately, told him that she had separated from her parents and requested for him to take her home. If it had been daytime and she had not been crying, she would have been able to tell that the kind soul who had taken her home that night was much younger, more dashing and had appeared visibly confused when she addressed him as "Teacher Chen".

When they reached Su Rulan's residence, her father was anxiously pacing the doorsteps while her mother was on the verge of tears. Upon seeing their daughter walk towards them with a person who looked like the young man, Chen Zhiduan, who tutored their children, the alarm on their faces turned into relief. Su Rulan let go of the hand of her benefactor, whom she learnt was surnamed Ji and not Chen, and ran towards her parents with a candied animal in her hand while shouting excitedly: "This older brother who saved me is not Teacher Chen, but someone who looks exactly like him. Can you believe it?"

Embarrassed by her daughter's enthusiasm in front of a stranger, her mother held onto her tightly and pulled her close to her side. Her father was also slightly embarrassed but schooled his expression and extended gratitude towards the young lad, before engaging in a brief conversation with him. Su Rulan wanted to listen in on their exchange but was dragged into the house by her mother.

The next day, her mother forced her to write a letter expressing her gratitude to the Ji youth. Having already forgotten the events from the night before, Su Rulan didn't quite understand the reasons for doing so, but wrote the letter to Ji Chiyan anyway in the uniquely elegant calligraphy style taught by Teacher Chen. A few days later, she received a reply from one Ji Chiyan. In the letter, he told her that it was only natural that he lent a helping hand to those who were in need and even praised her penmanship. He ended off the letter with a couplet of unrecognisable words—which she later learnt was about how people are made for living in a community and for helping one another without expecting rewards. In this way, for the next two years, they ended up regularly exchanging letters related purely to literary discourse and analysis. The letters stopped one day when her mother told her that she had reached marriageable age and should refrain from fraternising with members of the opposite gender. As a result, she never had the opportunity to respond to his last letter to her.

It was also during this period of time when her parents started receiving offers of marriage from other scholar-official families with similar socio-economic standing. After some deliberation (but mostly owing to the casting of lots), her parents made the decision to accept the Ji family's offer of marriage. After some legwork by the matchmaker, the letter of betrothal between the Ji family's oldest son, Ji Chiyan, and the Su family's oldest daughter, Su Rulan, finally materialised.

Her parents never mentioned the true reason for accepting the Ji family's offer of marriage; but when Su Rulan was seventeen years of age and had almost forgotten that she was betrothed, she discovered why they had made the decision. Soon after their encounter at the lantern festival many years ago, Ji Chiyan had travelled to the capital city to live with his relatives and to take the imperial examination. However, he had promised to return before Su Rulan turned eighteen. Su Rulan had always felt that her parents had certain peculiarities in terms of their worldview—and this was one such aspect. After confronting her parents about her slowly wilting state to becoming an old maiden—which her mother chided her for—they finally confessed that it was because they couldn't bear for her to be married out of their family so soon, which was why they had chosen the Ji family's offer of marriage.

Over the years, as she received wedding invitations from her friends and witnessed each one of them get married before they turned eighteen, she only felt more anxious and afraid that Ji Chiyan was going to renege on his word. Six months before her eighteenth birthday, she made up her mind to give him a reminder that he was a man with a fiancée—what was stopping her anyway?

Without her mother's knowledge, she penned a letter to the young man who was in the capital city and buried in officialdom. In the letter asking after his wellbeing, she subtly reminded him that he was still to follow up with a couple more etiquettes leading up to their wedding ceremony. In a bid to avoid drawing too much attention to her gentle and friendly reminder, she had also composed an unrelated and random poem about the blooming orchid plant sitting on her desk.

Many weeks later, she finally received a letter from him. In the letter, Ji Chiyan mentioned that he had passed the jinshi examination some time back and would soon be transferred to the prefect's office here in Hangzhou. He also said that he will make the necessary arrangements and preparations for the ceremony.

Perhaps, it was because she had not liaised with him for years; or maybe it was because she didn't want to carry any hope lest it be false. The letter from Ji Chiyan read just like a boring text from the Book of Rites and with notes of detachment and unfamiliarity.

Placing his letter aside under a pile of books on her study desk, she sat back and watched as the days, weeks and months passed by, and Young Master Ji's promises fulfilled themselves one by one. The next thing she knew, their families had already settled on the date for the wedding ceremony and Su Rulan was swept up in a flurry of activities to prepare herself as the bride on her big day. Suddenly, she felt as if she was trapped in a dream—one that was neither sweet nor nightmarish.

In a state of trance, she sat before the mirror as her mother combed her hair and her father placed the red veil over her head. She heard their overly dramatic sniffling and her brother's dual-feelings of concern for her and glee that she was finally leaving, as she was led out of her bedroom, out of the Su Residence and onto the palanquin. Just before the matchmaker called for the wedding procession to move along and before the lively music commenced, she heard her parents' voice: "Ji son-in-law, you must take good care of our Rulan. We're entrusting her to you!"

But it was only when a vaguely familiar voice floated into her ears that she woke up from her trancelike state.

A mellow and gentle, yet confident and commanding voice sounded from a high place outside the sedan—he was riding on horseback: "I will take good care of Rulan. Please don't worry, father and mother."

Hearing him say her name, Su Rulan felt her heart beat faster and faster, quite unable to calm down. In fact, the fervent thumping in her chest had not ceased since then. Even the sight of his boots and the hem of his red wedding robes, which she had caught a glimpse of during their three formal bows during the ceremony earlier, had caused her to feel as if her face had been set on fire. She couldn't bear to imagine what it would be like later when they were both left alone in the bridal chamber to carry out the final step of the wedding rituals for the night—

Su Rulan shook her head violently, the accessories in her hairdo making soft jingling sounds. Fortunately, the lighting in the room was a dim reddish hue. Otherwise, she would be greeting Ji Chiyan for the first time in six years with an unseemly flushed face.

"Yo-young Master!" Xiaowei's alarmed gasp sounded from outside the bedroom.

Su Rulan immediately sat up straighter than ever, controlling her breathing and calming her overworked heart. The only thing that betrayed her outwardly calm demeanour was her moist palms and cold fingers.

Didn't Xiaowei say just moments ago that there was still about another hour or so to go before the wedding banquet would be over? Why was he here so soon?

"Young Master, I'll wait outside for you," said another person in a submissive tone. A man, neither a teenager nor an old man. Possibly, one of Ji Chiyan's attendants.

Before Su Rulan could ponder further on that person's words, she heard the door swinging open slowly, a foot stepping into the bridal chamber, followed by a second foot entering, the turning of one's feet against the ground, the gentle closing of the door, and soft footsteps approaching her direction.

She thought that he would smell of alcohol from the banquet but surprisingly there was the scent of wormwood coming from his clothes.

In the still silence, she could hear his breathing and the pounding of her heart. Observing intently the wavering shadows that fell on her lap, she didn't notice when a long wooden stick reached under the veil over her head before lifting it up and away from her.

As fresh air rushed towards her face, Su Rulan glanced up in surprise to see a person dressed in red robes standing in front of her. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the lighting in the room, but when her eyes finally focused on his handsome and radiant face, she felt as if all her fatigue and worries had been washed away.

"Rulan," he said with a small smile, the mysterious crease that had appeared on his temple earlier suddenly vanishing. Ji Chiyan's eyes rested on the pleasing young lady in front of him. Honestly, he could barely remember her appearance from their first meeting, but what left a deep imprint on him was her intellect, sharp wit and ability to analyse complex social issues from a young age.

He wasn't involved in the matchmaking between the two families and had only been told by a letter from his father that he was betrothed to the Su family's eldest daughter, and that he had met her before. He had not met with many young ladies prior and there was only one Young Miss Su that he knew, or rather, had met before. But with the demands of his studies, the imperial examination, and officialdom, he had little time to apply his mind to his marriage. To fulfil both his promise with his father and ancestors and his promise to the Su family, he had to pass the jinshi examination by twenty-four years old, before he had to return home to attend to his familial obligations. In all these, he felt that perhaps Young Miss Su was the one who had to sacrifice the most. He had managed to fulfil his promise to her and the Su family only three days short of her eighteenth birthday.

Su Rulan returned the smile, showing just the right amount of joy on her face, just as she had practiced before. She continued to stare up at him blankly as the next steps of the wedding rituals floated out of her mind. Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask him what they should be doing next, the person from earlier called out from outside the room in a very urgent voice.

"Young Master, Young Madam, apologies for this disturbance; but the side residence needs your urgent attention right now."

"Side residence?" Su Rulan questioned pointedly, her head tilting to one side, causing her hair accessories to jingle once again.

"One moment, Han Dong." Ji Chiyan looked over his shoulder towards the door and spoke in an annoyed tone. The mysterious crease from earlier formed between his brows again.

He turned back towards Su Rulan, only to see her stare at him with her wide doe-like eyes, as if saying that he owed her an explanation.

"What do we need to attend to?" she asked carefully, her eyes sweeping over the food, the jar of joyful wine, the scissors, red thread and sachet that were displayed on the table.

"Not we, but I—" he replied, feeling his heart sink. "My apologies, I have to leave now. I'll be back soon."

Without waiting for a response from his new bride, Ji Chiyan headed towards the door with wide strides. Exiting from the bridal chamber, he first met with Su Rulan's shocked maidservant who tried to stop him, but she was held back by Han Dong. Then making a right turn down the hallway, he made a beeline for the residence's side gate.

In the young night, long before the beginning of the curfew, as wedding guests were still making merry and feasting at a wedding banquet in the Ji Residence, as a confused young bride and her furious maidservant stood in the middle of the bridal chamber with remaining wedding rites left unperformed, a young man dressed in red wedding robes and another young man in elegant white silk robes made their way on horseback down the quiet streets towards the Ji family's side residence located on the other side of the city.

***

Author's Note: This is a short story I've always had in mind concerning the early days of the Tower of Ten Thousand Books. This side story is set in the ancient past and involves Ji Kai's ancestor, Ji Chiyan, and his bride, Su Rulan, on their wedding night. You would also note that Han Dong (from Ten Thousand Books But Only One You) makes an appearance here. There are also a few "easter eggs" that you may find in the next two parts of this side story!

Oh, yes. Although this side story is a prequel to Ten Thousand Books But Only One You, it is not the prequel which I had mentioned at the end of Shi Ruijie's story arc. There is another story, which is set in the Chinese Republican Era, which I'll find time to complete writing someday. :-)