Chapter 164: Finally, The Wedding Is Over
Inu-hime slept for fourteen to fifteen hours. When she woke, the first thing she felt was a lightness and comfort in her body. Every limb and bone felt as if it had been reawakened, each muscle relaxed and at ease, no longer experiencing the previous soreness and fatigue.
She couldn’t help but stretch languidly, feeling extremely happy. Then, she saw sunlight filtering through the paper window, casting dappled shadows. She stared blankly at the light for a moment, her mind finally clearing. She couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise – it was almost noon, and she hadn’t paid her respects to the matriarch, Lady Tsuchida. She was sure to be heavily punished later.
“Princess, you’re awake?”
Her exclamation startled A Naka and A Shita. The two slow-witted maidservants poked their heads in, took a look, and then joyfully rushed in to help her wash and change. It was only then that Inu-hime realized she was now married into the Yuan Ye family and no longer needed to report to the matriarch every morning.
This was good news, but realizing it still left her feeling somewhat lost. The bride slept until almost noon during the wedding ceremony; how would she ever establish herself in her husband’s family after this?
She was dressed like a puppet by the maidservants. After a long while, she managed to calm her nerves and urgently asked A Naka and A Shita, “Why didn’t you wake me?”
A Naka happily replied, “It was Lord Yuan Ye’s order. His Highness said you were too tired and told us not to disturb you.”
A Shita nodded vigorously beside her, her face beaming, “Lord Yuan Ye is a good person!”
Yuan Ye had spoken to them gently and politely before, and even when asking them to guard the door, he hadn’t forgotten to arrange breakfast for them. They genuinely felt Yuan Ye was a good person and a very gentle master.
Inu-hime was bewildered for a moment. She tried to recall her husband, but after sleeping for so long, her memory seemed hazy again. She couldn’t quite remember what kind of person she had married. Her impression was only that he resembled a big bear.
However, since it was her husband’s order, she felt slightly more at ease. With the help of A Naka and A Shita, she washed up. She was very curious about the soap that made her hands foamy, the strange toothbrush and tooth powder, and the faucet that automatically dispensed water. A Naka and A Shita hadn’t been idle that morning and had already been taught how to use them.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since Inu-hime had married into the Yuan Ye family, she naturally completed her washing according to the Yuan Ye family’s “standards.” She had no objections to these strange new items. After washing, she had her hair done, but she couldn’t apply a thick layer of powder to her face. Yuan Ye had ordered all her “cosmetics” confiscated. She then sat in the bedroom, lost in thought, unsure of what to do.
Just then, Yuan Ye arrived, right on time. He entered and asked with concern, “Did you sleep well?”
Inu-hime still didn’t dare to look at his face. She nodded shyly and mumbled something with her hands clasped.
Yuan Ye didn’t hear her clearly, but it didn’t matter. He smiled and asked, “You must be hungry. Shall we eat now?”
This was the second day of the wedding ceremonies. The newlyweds needed to spend time alone together and dine together. Inu-hime naturally had no objections. Soon, the scene from the previous night replayed, with various dishes laid out on the table.
Yuan Ye had been consistently showing kindness and was very considerate of her feelings. Inu-hime could sense it. Seeing another lavish feast, she felt it was unnecessary to be so extravagant. She hadn’t eaten so well before; chazuke was a daily occurrence. However, since it was during the wedding, she thought it might be a special occasion and said nothing, carefully rolling up her sleeves, ready to serve her husband.
This was also a special circumstance, a wedding custom of this era. It wasn’t usually this troublesome. So, Yuan Ye didn’t refuse. After she made a gesture of service, he invited her to sit down, and they ate together at the same table.
Inu-hime clearly enjoyed Yuan Ye’s food. Even though she wasn’t accustomed to eating meat, she loved all the stir-fried vegetables, wild vegetables, and the extremely flavorful soup. However, she was too embarrassed to constantly reach for dishes in front of Yuan Ye. She also had to turn slightly and lift her sleeve to cover her chewing movements, eating very slowly.
Yuan Ye didn’t rush her. Change doesn’t happen overnight. He picked out the dishes she liked and gently explained the recipes, telling her why they tasted so good. Inu-hime listened, her big eyes blinking, looking dazed. She found it very interesting.
After Yuan Ye had spoken for a while, she hesitantly and cautiously asked, “Is this… too extravagant?”
According to what her wet nurse had taught her, managing a household should prioritize frugality.
“No,” Yuan Ye smiled gently as always. “If you have the means, there’s no need to be stingy with food.”
His thinking was very practical. He never believed in saving money on food, clothing, or daily necessities. Even though many modern people thought that since they had to “strive,” they must drink cold water and eat fried noodles every day, living as hardship-stricken as possible, just getting by. They didn’t talk about quality of life. But few people considered that without a good quality of life, without eating well and dressing warmly, and without balanced nutrition, where would one get the energy?
Someone who sleeps for eight or nine hours and still feels groggy upon waking, and who feels exhausted after only a few hours of work, cannot accomplish anything. It’s like the saying, “Health is the capital of revolution.” Someone who feels like they’re about to collapse after working for four or five hours a day, compared to someone who works over ten hours a day and is still energetic and has broad interests, will be vastly different after ten years of effort. Only one in ten thousand will be able to keep up.
Therefore, after initially ensuring his personal safety, he actively improved his living conditions and persisted in exercising to ensure he always had abundant energy, allowing him to attend to his future plans after completing his normal duties.
Of course, pursuing a good quality of life doesn’t mean eating lobster, abalone, monkey head mushrooms, or bear paws and wasting money foolishly. Yuan Ye simply tried to make his meals tastier to ensure he could eat comfortably and nutritiously every meal. It might seem extravagant to people of this era, or some modern people might see it and think he was neglecting his duties.
Yuan Ye didn’t hide anything. With nothing else to do, he explained his attitude towards food, clothing, and daily necessities to Inu-hime, so that she wouldn’t be reluctant to spend on this or that when they lived together, which would also make him uncomfortable. These things should have been settled during courtship, but there was no concept of free love in this era.
Inu-hime listened, half-understanding and confused for a moment. She just said softly, “Is that so?”
“Of course,” Yuan Ye wasn’t in a hurry for her to understand. Seeing that lunch was almost finished, he invited, “Would you like to see the kitchen?”
Inu-hime had no objections. This would be her home from now on, and she was very curious about what her home looked like.
The two of them then set off, chatting as they went to the kitchen. After Inu-hime saw stir-frying in iron pots and deep-frying, and tasted some of the strange seasonings Yuan Ye had created, Yuan Ye took her on a tour of the residence, allowing her to familiarize herself with the environment. Finally, they went to the study to pass the time. Yuan Ye had asked Inu-hime about her hobbies on the way and discovered that she enjoyed reading, although she didn’t seem to read very “proper” books, preferring storybooks and picture books as a way to pass the time when she was always in the background.
In the study, Yayoi was leading a group of little maidservants in sorting and organizing books. These new books were Inu-hime’s dowry.
As a marriage alliance, Yuan Ye had given a generous “bride price” according to tradition, and the Oda Danjō no Chū family was required to provide a “dowry.” However, Yuan Ye was making a fortune selling saltpeter and had no shortage of money. He disdained common items like brocade clothes, tea sets, gold and silver jewelry, or armor and weapons. He took this opportunity to instruct Endo Chiyo and Maeshima Shichiro to request a batch of books.
Although the Oda Danjō no Chū family had low family status, being merely a magistrate family, they were widely considered country bumpkins. However, even bumpkins who had been passed down for over two hundred years with orderly succession still had some foundation. They didn’t care much for the books collected over generations. Under the subtle probing of Endo Chiyo and Maeshima Shichiro, they got their wish, receiving a cart and a half of books. However, they didn’t pay much attention to them, and with all sorts of books mixed together, Yayoi and her team had been sorting them for half a day without being able to categorize them.
Now that Yuan Ye had brought Inu-hime, Yayoi paused her work and prepared tea and snacks for them. Yuan Ye then took the opportunity to help Inu-hime choose books to read.
With him by her side, Inu-hime felt too embarrassed to choose overly shallow books. She picked up a travelogue and knelt beside him, flipping through it. Yuan Ye, on the other hand, focused on selecting samurai notes （ private diaries ） and military records （ battlefield records ）.
He mused that since he had transmigrated, he couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. He had to do something. Moreover, as his strength grew, his desire to change the future became stronger. He didn’t want certain tragedies from history to repeat themselves. However, just as finding the root cause is essential for treating an illness, understanding Japan and identifying the problems was most important. This might even affect the outcome of his ultimate plan. Therefore, he was particularly attentive. He already had a preliminary plan: to understand the past more deeply and clarify the causes of certain ideologies, serving as a supplement.
As for whether he could become king or conqueror in the Japanese Medieval Period… becoming king or conqueror was secondary. Having transmigrated, it was too low-brow and uninteresting. Anyone could become a temporary overlord in ancient times.
People should have aspirations in life, and he had his own.
He and Inu-hime spent the entire afternoon reading together in the study, occasionally exchanging a few words and chuckling. The scene was quite heartwarming. They then had dinner together, continued to chat and deepen their understanding of each other, and finally, they still slept in separate beds.
The next morning, Inu-hime learned her lesson and woke up early. Following the etiquette taught by her wet nurse, she diligently helped Yuan Ye dress and wash, fulfilling her wifely duties. Today was the last day of the wedding. Yuan Ye took her to perform the final ceremony: formally introducing her to his parents, siblings, senior retainers, and vassals.
This step was not difficult, as the Yuan Ye family was very simple, consisting of only a few cats and dogs. Furthermore, there were no grudges between the Oda family and the Yuan Ye family. Therefore, the entire process went smoothly, and everyone had no objections to Inu-hime integrating into the Yuan Ye family.
With this, Yuan Ye finally finished his wedding. Before getting married, he truly hadn’t expected that getting married in the Japanese Medieval Period would be so troublesome, taking over half a year in total, with the wedding ceremony itself lasting three days.
People of this era were truly idle. But at least it was over. He was now a married man, though his wife was someone he could only look at for now.
