Chapter 1 — One Dream of Peach Blossoms, Two Ways of Carrying Flowers

The night before we got married to Manh Ngoc, I wandered into a place like a fairyland. Ten days later, ten years have passed. Manh Ngoc, who used to be just a scholar in cloth, has now risen to power and established his own palace. He sat in a high position, lowering his eyes to gently examine me. I secretly heard old lady Manh say: "Be a concubine? I'm afraid Tang Tang won't be willing?" Manh Ngoc leisurely replied: "With the poverty of your family, and no longer young, being accepted as a concubine is already a blessing."

"Moreover, she didn't choose the rich man in the palace, so why did she marry that poor guy Mac Niem?"

Mac Niem is my childhood neighbor, and was almost engaged to me. Over the past years, he has been drifting in and out of public office, now he has been dismissed and returned to his hometown, and is still not married. I quietly listened to everything, quietly turned away. The next morning, two palanquins stopped in front of my house. One was because Manh Palace came to pick me up as a concubine. The servant brought me a disheveled coat and hat, with a lazy face. The other one was made by Mac Niem himself who came to pick up the bride. Although it was simple, it was carefully and thoughtfully decorated. Under the coercive gaze of the Manh family's servants, I turned around, gently lifted my red wedding dress, and stepped onto the Mac family's palanquin.

“Hey!”

My feet had not yet fully stepped inside when a member of the Manh palace called out: "You're going in the wrong direction! The palanquin of the Manh palace is on this side." That A Huan was confused and confused, but also a little impatient: "My lord said, today I still have to handle official business, you should quickly get on the palanquin, don't miss your good time." My ears have always been very good, so I heard another ahu mutter:

“If it weren't for the fact that you remember your old love and had a marriage contract, with her age and current family situation, I'm afraid even being a concubine wouldn't be worthy.”

I stopped slightly, turned around and replied: "I'm afraid your lords have remembered wrongly. I never said I wanted to go to the palace and become a concubine." The green-shirted A-huan looked at me in surprise, then turned to look at the other A-huan. The two glanced at each other, then the blue-shirted man raised his voice:

“Miss, are you making fun of yourself?”

"My lord has already made it clear that if we haven't seen each other for ten years, the engagement should be canceled soon."

"The great man remembers the childhood love of the past, so he agreed to accept her into the palace. From now on, she will not lack anything. To be honest, she should be more reasonable."

She talked endlessly for a while, then finished speaking and looked at me calmly. As if waiting for me to finish my work, I will return to climb onto the palanquin of Manh Palace. I was silent for a moment, then said: "Go back and tell your Manh lord, yesterday we married the Mac family. The marriage is legal, how can I still enter your Manh palace?" As soon as he finished speaking, the blue-clothed a-huan glared slightly, still somewhat incredulous, just wanted to say it again, but in the end, he didn't say it.

“Ah lady, brother.”

As soon as that lady finished speaking, I saw her brother helping her out. My father passed away early, and since I was ten years old, everything in the family has been handled by my brother, who is nine years older than me, and my mother. It's just that my brother's body is inherently weak and constantly sick. Your appearance is outstanding, and after all these years, you have had no shortage of female admirers, regardless of your family background. But I'm afraid of missing out on someone else's life, so I haven't gotten married yet.

“Tang Tang.”

My brother called, beckoning me to come closer. Huynh glanced Looking at Mac Niem sitting on horseback not far away, he didn't say much, just said:

“Who would have thought that ten years have passed, and Manh Ngoc would become an ungrateful person who did not value the friendship of the past.”

“If I knew he was like that, my brother should have chosen Mac Niem for me in the past.”

"It's just that Mac Niem has been forced to return home for five years now, and I heard that life is not easy. Tang Tang, have you thought about it carefully?"

I nodded slightly and smiled: "Nothing is bad." Besides, our family is not rich and noble, and Mac Niem is not even poor. It's just not comparable to Manh Ngoc now. But living peacefully through the day, that's enough. In the past, when I was preparing to marry Manh Ngoc, I never dreamed that he would achieve glory.

“I haven't lost anything, brother.”

At most, we only see a person who, after being promoted to a higher position, considers the old vows as a joke. It's just the loss of those false promises.

“Not to mention.” I pondered for a moment and said, "I feel very secure about Mac Niem's virtue."

I said goodbye to my brother, then bowed down to say goodbye to my wife:

"I'll come back to visit again in a few days, brother and sister, please take care."

I walked towards the Moh family's palanquin. The marriage was arranged urgently, our family was poor, and the rituals were not fulfilled. Luckily, Mac Niem didn't mind that. He sat on the horse's back, his eyes fixed on me. When I was eighteen years old, I strayed into Dao Hoa Nguyen. It's been ten years now. Mac Niem is two years older than me. The teenager in my memories is now a bit more gentle and calm. The palanquin was arranged in a clean and orderly manner, and nothing was missing from the wedding reception of a normal family. On the contrary, we are used to being careless and have forgotten the etiquette. Seeing him, I suddenly remembered that I forgot to put down my pink scarf, so I awkwardly covered it. The two ladies next to me helped me step onto the palanquin.

“Tang Tang.”

Before getting on the palanquin, I seemed to hear Mac Niem calling me softly. I was a bit suspicious, from the pink scarf I couldn't tell what his face looked like. I just felt like he had something to say, but in the end he was speechless. I sat in the palanquin. The flower palanquin swayed, I sat inside, feeling dreamy and wanting to sleep. Think of the fact that I was only in Dao Hoa place for ten days, but when I stepped out, ten years of human life had passed quietly in the palm of my hand.

"Isn't this Mac Niem? What is it? How many years have passed, and today you got married?"