Chen Mi circled around Yu Dong, his eyes shining as he appraised her outfit and the delicate makeup that uncle Fu has applied on her face, even though Yu Dong was really beautiful and didn’t need any makeup, it was like adding another round of lustre to the already gorgeous moon. She looked ethereal! Like an immortal that has descended the earth to clear off the evil, she was looking that unreal. ” Wife, you are looking so good! Seeing you like this, I really want to marry you again!”

When Chen Mi married the previous Yu Dong, she was a chain smoker and loved to drink, with the lack of a balanced diet and a controlled amount of drinking, her complexion turned yellow and her beer belly got more and more bloated, she was really ugly. Later on, she got addicted to drugs and her weight dropped but even now then she didn’t look half as good as the current Yu Dong. What a pity, why was it that he married an unstable potbelly alcoholic, who forcefully married him and not the current Yu Dong? How good it would have been if he married such a beautiful and gentle Yu Dong.

Yu Dong smiled, as a knowing glint passed in her eyes. Hmm, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t marry her- after all, though they were her husbands that was all because she possessed this body that they were already married to, however, she was a different soul- so shouldn’t they be married to her now that the previous Yu Dong was gone? Mhmm, the idea wasn’t bad then she will give it some more thought. She patted his head and teased, ” Then why don’t you look for a wedding date and we will get married that day.”

Chen Mi who was jumping around just a second ago, flushed as he bowed his head and shyly twisted his waist, ” Wife, you are such a tease.” Then he covered his face with a ‘ whoop’ and then hid behind Shen Li who laughed gently.

” Don’t tease him so much,” said Shen Li though he sounded more amused than admonishing. Chen Mi was after all a little troublemaker and only Yu Dong’s occasional teasing would set him, thus, Shen Li wasn’t really angry or annoyed. He took out a red string from an old wooden box and taking possession of Yu Dong’s hand, he tied it around her wrist. ” This the red string of faith, when a woman and mer get married they tie it around their wrists, after bowing to the heaven and earth the parent will tie a knot to lock their fates together.” Then he pointed to the three knots that were already tied on it and added, ” These are where our strings are tied and today Chi’s string will be tied in it as well.”

Yu Dong looked at the red string that was old and sturdy and nodded, she didn’t know that this world had such a ritual but she will respect it.

( a

/n: it’s taken from the Indian wedding ceremony, the bride and groom have cloths draped around their shoulders and it’s tied in a knot later on till the ceremony is concluded, I just added a bit of twist)

Ye Liu who was taking care of the kids, came out of his room and when he saw Yu Dong, he raised his brow and sniggered, ” are you going to marry brother Chi or knock him unconscious? I am afraid while you look like that, Brother Chi will surely faint.”

As soon as he said that, Yu Mai who was dressed in beautiful red auspicious clothing, rushed to Yu Dong and praised his sister, ” Elder sister you look so good, I want my bride to look this pretty too!”

Lang Ru who was following after him heard this and looked at the heroic-looking Yu Dong who could make any mer fall to his knees and call her ‘mommy’, suddenly she felt like Yu Mai has raised the bar too high, how was she supposed to copy that? But no matter what she will try her best to be the most beautiful bride on the day she will marry Yu Mai!

Yu Mai had no idea that someone was already planning for a wedding that was years away and even if he did know about it, he wouldn’t have cared, after all, he was too busy praising Yu Dong for being pretty.

Yu Dong laughed at her brother’s enthusiasm and picked him up in her arms, ” Mai is pretty too, you are the prettiest mer in the village.”

Little bun who was nestling in his daddy’s arms heard his mother’s word and immediately went still as he let out an opposing cry. ‘ if Uncle Mai was the prettiest mer then what was he? A potato?’

Yu Dong instantly knew that she said something wrong, thus, she started to coax the little bun with a fawning smile on her face. ” Of course, our little bun bun is the prettiest baby in the village.”

Little bun was sceptical of his mother’s coaxing, but after a short while, he was successfully pleased and even if his little tummy was puffed out in pride.

” Don’t praise him too much, he will become a little narcissist,” said Chen Mi as he poked his son’s belly.

”It’s fine-” just as Yu Dong opened her mouth to say that little bun was indeed the prettiest, aunt Wang who was responsible for bringing the horse rushed in and interrupted her, ” Dong Dong what are you doing? Come out, the auspicious hour is going to begin soon, you don’t want to miss the timing, the next auspicious hour is three hours later do you want to wait till then to take the wedding procession to the Fang house?”

The villagers all paid great attention to the auspicious timings, thus even the time for Yu Dong to get on the horse was calculated by a priestess from the town.

” Oh, then let’s go,” said Yu Dong and just as she stepped out, someone knocked on the mirror that was on the table next to the kitchen door and it fell with a loud shattering noise.

An omen.