Chapter 361 – Seven-Colored Sacrificial Clothes
After the prayer session at the Buddha Hall, the young ladies did not take the soft sedans. Instead, they followed the Third Princess to the small ancestral hall of the royal family and waited. It was very quiet along the way. After turning a few intersections, they arrived in front of a small ancestral hall.
Despite the fact that it was a small ancestral hall, it was a little bigger than the ancestral hall of an ordinary family, and its grandeur already reflected the dignity of the royal family.
When they arrived at the entrance of the hall, they did not immediately enter. Ten young ladies of aristocratic families lined up on both sides of the hall, five in one row. The Fourth Princess appeared out of nowhere and stood near the door while the Third Princess stood on the opposite side.
The Third Princess was the focus of attention today, so she was dressed in a particularly beautiful dress. The bright and beautiful embroidered scarf was draped over her gorgeous ceremonial robe with the phoenix patterns stitched on both the robe and the scarf. On her belt was a red-colored fragrance sachet stitched with golden thread, and the golden tassel hanging under the sachet flickered as she walked. Her attire and makeover made her figure look even more graceful.
There was a faint smile on her delicate and pretty face. Her gaze calmly fell on the Fourth Princess, who was standing opposite her. The corners of her eyes unconsciously twitched, and there was a bit of displeasure in her heart.
She was supposed to be the center of attention today, but the Fourth Princess was dressed up in an equally gorgeous manner as if she wanted to compete with her. The Third Princess was dismayed, but she did not show it on her face. She was still smiling gently and elegantly.
Not long after, the Emperor came over with the Empress, Crown Prince, and the other princes.
The people on both lines knelt down and shouted, “Long live Your Majesty.”
Amidst the cheers of the crowd, the Emperor and Empress entered the great hall. Everyone followed them in. Inside, they worshipped the ancestors of the royal family and the deities.
The Emperor offered incense to the ancestors and the deities while the young ladies and the Third Princess knelt down behind him. Then, the Empress faintly said, “Rise!”
Everyone stood up together.
The following ceremony was somewhat similar to the ordinary coming-of-age ceremony.
The host tied the Third Princess’ hair and inserted the hairpins. Empress Tu and Zhaoyi Tu gave their blessings and presented her their gifts. The Emperor, Crown Prince, Third Prince, and Fourth Prince also gave their gifts. Finally, a beautiful and colorful robe was draped over the Third Princess’ shoulders.
The garment was extraordinarily gorgeous, and it made the Third Princess as beautiful as a flower. It was as if she had transformed into a magnificent peony, and it was a mesmerizing sight. Seeing this, the Fourth Princess squinted slightly with a trace of jealousy flashing through her eyes, and she looked at her eldest brother, the Crown Prince Wen Tianyao, in dismay. This was the only garment they had. Now that it was given to Wen Caidie, she had none.
She refused to accept this fact! The more the Fourth Princess thought about how her own brother treated Wen Caidie better than her, the angrier she became.
“Your Majesty, it’s almost time.” Empress Tu saw it was about the time and whispered to the Emperor.
The Emperor nodded and smiled. He was very satisfied with his third daughter. In addition to her generosity and dignity, she also had a good reputation in the harem and would never do anything arrogant and domineering, on the contrary to the Fourth Princess who was a troublemaker.
If he had to choose, he felt that he would let his third daughter marry the State of Yan. Compared with his fourth daughter, his third daughter was outstanding in every aspect. The only thing was that she was not born by the Empress. Her background was a little inferior, and he could not promote Zhaoyi Tu to a higher position due to the Empress’ existence.
This was the reason that the Third Prince’s background was a bit inferior to that of the Fourth Princess.
However, if Yan Huaijing took a fancy to his third daughter, the Emperor decided to give the State of Yan more benefits. After all, the Third Princess seemed to be much more capable than the Fourth Princess. If the Third Princess was pregnant with the next Heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State, he would have a bloodline of the royal family in the State of Yan. The Emperor felt that he could use this method to make the State of Yan a part of the country again.
If a daughter of the royal family was married to the Heir-apparent of the Duke of Yan State, their offspring would definitely become the next heir-apparent with the entire royal family backing him. Of course, the premise was that his daughter needed to give birth to a son.
On this point, the Emperor favored his third daughter more.
The mellow and crisp sound of chime-bells echoed across the hall. The Third Princess leisurely walked over to the large incense burner in the middle of the Buddha Hall. A monk came over and handed over three incense sticks that had just been lit. The Third Princess took them and respectfully bowed towards the large incense burner. The ten aristocratic young ladies behind her all had solemn expressions as they slowly knelt down.
The atmosphere was both solemn and peaceful.
The Third Princess stood up straight, followed by the aristocratic young ladies. They bowed their heads and stood in two rows. The Fourth Princess had already stood behind the Empress.
In the middle of the hall, the Third Princess was standing with two rows of aristocratic young ladies.
Two rows of palace maids came in. Each of them held an exquisite brocade box in their hands. The brocade boxes were carved with dragons and phoenixes. It was obvious that they were from the imperial palace. The palace maids walked in front of the Third Princess and lined up one by one.
The Third Princess walked to the front of a palace maid, opened the lid of the brocade box, and took out two sets of exquisite clothes inside the box. The clothes were so gorgeous that they did not pale even in comparison to the robe the Third Princess was wearing. In fact, they seemed to be a little more bright-colored and dazzling.
Seeing this, the aristocratic young ladies who followed her all widened their eyes in astonishment and were envious.
At the back of the line, Wei Yuewu did not look at the gorgeous clothes, but she looked at the young ladies in front of her. She realized that almost all the young ladies were in an uproar when they saw the clothes. Indeed, every woman loved beautiful things. They couldn’t suppress their eagerness even on such a solemn occasion.
They wanted to see the clothes clearly.
Only Wei Qiufu, who was standing on her left side, did not speak or move. She was well-behaved as if she did not care about anything. She just waited wholeheartedly for the next process.
Wei Qiufu was still so calm in such a situation. A trace of sharpness flashed through Wei Yuewu’s eyes. Sure enough, Wei Qiufu knew about the matter.
The two sets of clothes that were given to her were not Wei Qiufu’s, but Wei Qiufu knew that there was a problem with the clothes…
The Third Princess placed the clothes on the ground and went to open another brocade box. Then, she took out two sets of clothes. As the young ladies saw more and more clothes on the ground, everyone could see what was going on.
These clothes were divided into seven sections, which meant that they represented seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Now, there were four colors on the ground, so there should be three colors in the remaining three boxes.
Sure enough, at this moment, the Third Princess took out two sets of green clothes…
The color of the final two clothes would be blue and purple. Wei Yuewu raised her head and quietly looked at the scene in front of her. Her clear eyes revealed a cold look.
The two sets of clothes that Wei Qiufu gave her were exactly blue and purple!
When the Third Princess took out the first set of clothes from the first brocade box, Wei Yuewu had already confirmed that the material of those clothes was of the same fabric. Although the styles were different, the brilliance was actually comparable to the garment that the Third Princess wore. This also verified her previous speculation.
Judging from the jealous glare when the Fourth Princess looked at the Third Princess, Wei Yuewu could tell that the garment the Third Princess was wearing was probably the one and only in the world. However, the Fourth Princess showed disdain when she looked at the equally gorgeous seven-colored clothes. She simply glanced at them and did not give too much attention to them.
When the sixth box was opened, the palace maid, who was holding the box, knelt down with a plop as the Third Princess reached out, crying out in a trembling voice, “Princess, please spare me!”
This scene was too strange. Everyone looked at the kneeling palace maid in shock. Then, another palace maid could not hold it any longer and knelt down too.
They hugged the brocade boxes tightly in their arms. Their faces were ghastly pale, and they were trembling.
Zhaoyi Tu’s expression became dismayed. She calmly looked at Empress Tu, who was standing next to the Emperor. A trace of anger flashed in her eyes, but then she lowered her head and hid her emotions.
Today was the Third Princess’ coming-of-age ceremony. Zhaoyi Tu suspected that the Empress or the Fourth Princess was most likely the person who wanted to sabotage the Third Princess’ ceremony and humiliate her. However, she knew that it wasn’t appropriate for her to speak on such an occasion.
“What’s going on?” The Emperor was also very surprised and asked the Empress on the side.
Empress Tu frowned as she watched the scene in the hall. She waved her hand and called the palace maid over to ask about this odd scene.
The palace maid complied and went over.
In the hall, the Third Princess’ eyebrows were tightly furrowed. It was obvious that she was upset. No one would be happy when such an accident happened in a grand ceremony like this and ruined the entire process.
But the Third Princess was very well-mannered. Even in such a situation, she simply frowned but did not shout. She simply asked calmly, “What’s going on?”
The two palace maids exchanged glances. One of them gritted her teeth and stammered, “T-Third Princess, w-w-when we woke up this morning, w-w-we found that…. the clothes in two boxes were missing!”
Two sets of clothes were missing?
The people in the Palace who clearly knew that the Third Princess had chosen seven-colored clothes as a sacrifice to pray for the prosperity of the country all exchanged shocked glances. They knew the fact that the clothes were useless despite their gorgeous appearance and the fine fabric because a slight touch would cause the clothes to tear, bulge, and be concave.
Originally, this kind of material was used especially to worship the heavens or the ancestral shrine. It looked beautiful, but it was not practical. The Third Princess used it to make clothes, but no one would have expected the clothes to be missing. Everyone unconsciously looked at the aristocratic young ladies after their speculation.
The people in the Palace knew that these clothes could not be worn, but the people outside the Palace did not know it. Even if they knew a little, they would not know in detail. Maybe someone would take those two sets of clothes. Just now, many people noticed the young ladies’ enthusiastic gazes when they looked at the clothes.
At this time, the palace maid sent by the Empress also arrived. She walked to the front of them and asked in a deep voice, “When did it happen?”
“T-This morning. W-We checked the boxes yesterday, and they were still there!” The palace maid stammered, and a trace of despair flashed across her eyes. They had actually lost the clothes at such a grand ceremony. They wouldn’t be able to survive even if the clothes were found.
“So, it means that the clothes were missing yesterday afternoon!” The palace maid pondered for a moment and asked, “Did you see any suspicious people yesterday?”
The palace maids who were holding the brocade boxes exchanged curious and skeptical glances at each other. They could not think of anyone who was suspicious.
“I-I remember. S-Someone is very suspicious!” One palace maid who was standing suddenly blurted. Immediately, everyone’s eyes fell on her.
In the crowd, Wei Yuewu looked at Wei Qiufu’s face, and she could see the sneer on the corner of Wei Qiufu’s lips. Sensing Wei Yuewu’s gaze, Wei Qiufu turned her head. The ridicule on her face was even more obvious, and there was also a trace of vicious pleasure…
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