Chinese GL

To the surprise of absolutely no one reading the book and the complete jaw-dropping surprise of every non-Shen Ni, non-Bian Jin character in the world of the book, the emperor has decreed that our two main characters should marry. Li Chu in particular is extremely shocked and dismayed by this.

People immediately start gossiping about why the emperor has chosen to do this. One speculation is that it's a tactic to extract information from Bian Jin that the Court of Judicature and Revision failed to do. Another, very popular one is that it's a means to reduce Shen Ni's power and standing at court, by marrying her to someone who is being investigated for high treason, rather than a princess or other noblewoman. Absolutely no one suggests that it might be because they're secretly in love.

There's also much gossip within the Shuangji Hall's own chat group, which we see through Zeng Qingluo's eyes. She's about to remind her fellow disciples to exercise some self-restraint, when her sixth shixiong (an obstreperous character who was constantly being disciplined by Bian Jin) fans the flames with a long comment about how strict and cold-hearted Bian Jin is, and predicting that Shen Ni is going to have a terrible married life.

At this juncture, someone with '.' as a username and a fairly anonymous profile picture of a snow-covered mountain at night replies, telling him not to worry about her married life and advising him to worry more about what will happen if his document forgeries come to light. Realising that this can only be Shen Ni herself, everyone in the chat group immediately falls silent and begins frantically deleting their messages.

The day of the wedding arrives. Shen Ni takes note of the fact that many senior officials and ministers aren't in attendance, and have only sent gifts. She reflects that this at least saves trouble, since she's just swapped out Bian Jin's spine for a new one, and Bian Jin shouldn't stay too long on her feet welcoming guests.

Once Shen Ni gets dressed in her bridal robes, she heads over to Bian Jin's room, where Bian Jin is also getting dressed. She takes out a special face mask, which she has made for Bian Jin to wear to block out the smells of the crowd. It's adjustable for both opacity (ranging from full transparency to fully opaque) and colour. Bian Jin notes that Shen Ni is calling her 'shijie' again, after addressing her as 'my lady wife' in the previous chapter.

Shen Ni slips the mask onto Bian Jin's face, and it's a perfect fit. Bian Jin wonders how, because it's not as if Shen Ni had the chance to take measurements, then she remembers that Shen Ni has hyperthymesia. Does that means she remembers every single detail about me, Bian Jin wonders.

At the wedding ceremony, as the couple make their final bows to each other, Bian Jin reflects that Shen Ni has now bound her own life to Bian Jin's, and feels somewhat undeserving. She thinks about how it was the xiaoshimei she'd let down who ultimately came to her defence.

Shape of the wedding ceremony because I'm always interested in how same-sex traditional marriage ceremonies are presented: they both wear the femme version of the bridal robes and also both do the bridegroom's role in the festivities following the ceremony (i.e. they both stay out at the scene of the festivities playing host to the guests, rather than retreating into the bridal chamber right after the ceremony).

Eventually all the guests leave, except for two female officials from the Lijing Bureau (the original text has this as 丽景门, and 门 can mean 'sect', but these two are very specifically referred to as female officials, so I'm taking 门 to mean 门 as in 六扇门 (basically, the police) rather than 门 as in jianghu sect), who have been tasked with standing guard over Bian Jin. Auntie Wan tries to stop them from following Shen Ni and Bian Jin into their bridal chamber, but the two officials coldly declare that, as Shen Ni and Bian Jin are married at the emperor's command, it's their job to make sure the marriage is duly consummated.

Shen Ni precedes Bian Jin into the bridal chamber and sits on the bed demurely half-hiding her face with her (round) fan (this must be a version of the ceremony where the faces are hidden by fans not veils, though I am not sure now whether this was an actual specific historical practice or whether I've just watched too many Douyin videos). Bian Jin comes in and immediately plonks her own fan down on the table, thereby destroying any trace of romance there might have been in the atmosphere.

Bian Jin points out that the officials from the Lijing Bureau have followed them all the way here. Shen Ni, seemingly starting to undress, tells Bian JIn that the officials are here to make sure they consummate their marriage. Bian Jin's eyes are drawn to Shen Ni's bare neck, and for no reason at all, her breathing starts feeling a bit laboured. On the subject of consummation, Bian Jin basically thinks to herself, fine, if I have to do it I'll do it.

Shen Ni, having put herself in a state of slight deshabille, opens the door to the Lijing Bureau officials, and asks them if they need to come in to observe the proceedings. The two officials, shocked by this, don't reply. Shen Ni closes the door again, walks over to Bian Jin, and starts slowly loosening Bian Jin's sash (or belt. Help. This is my perennial translation problem).

Shen Ni whispers to Bian Jin that the two officials won't come in now, and all Bian Jin has to do is make some of the right noises. And then she fully unties Bian Jin's sash.


Tech watch: The face mask
Named men: 1.5 (I'm very generously counting 'sixth shixiong' here)
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0