Chapter 355: Night of the Wedding
Marriage alliance was merely a formality. For the Xiongnu, the marriage alliance could announce to the world a cessation of hostilities and guarantee their safe return to the steppes. This was now more important than anything else. For Great Chu, the marriage alliance could lift the siege of Jincheng City as quickly as possible. After all, the Emperor’s life still hung in enemy hands, and with each passing hour, no one in the realm could rest easy.
Only for a very few individuals was the marriage alliance not merely a formality, but a genuine and substantial change.
Cui Zhao left the city, thus freeing herself from her sister and from the bonds of the Cui clan and even all of Great Chu. But at the moment of leaving the city, she still felt deep terror—terror of rumors she had heard, of foreign peoples, of another world.
She didn’t even know who her husband was. The Xiongnu side had only promised that they would definitely select one from among the Great Chanyu’s most beloved grandsons. Because the competition was fierce, they could not reveal the name in advance.
The maidservants around her had heard many rumors. It was said that the Xiongnu were both curious about and afraid of Princess Pingjin. The so-called selection of a husband was merely an excuse—in fact, no one dared to marry her. They all thought that only the Great Chanyu himself could suppress her. There were even rumors that the Great Chanyu would have her marry his grandson in name, and once the bride entered the camp, he would claim her for himself…
The maidservants didn’t have to follow to the Xiongnu lands and were grateful they could remain in Great Chu. The Xiongnu had no sense of propriety or shame and could commit any outrageous act. Princess Pingjin’s journey was like a sheep entering a tiger’s den.
Cui Zhao arrived at the Xiongnu camp in such fear and trepidation, holding the tragic resolve that at worst she would die. Several Chu envoys guided her through one ceremony after another, following both Chu traditions and accepting Xiongnu customs.
The final ceremony was rather strange. The bride’s veil was removed early—lifted by some random Xiongnu person, who certainly wasn’t the groom—and then right before her, three elders draped in feathers and animal skins danced in circles, chanting and singing, while a large crowd of surrounding Xiongnu occasionally responded in chorus.
Seeing many Xiongnu men and women kneel and kowtow, kissing the ground, Cui Zhao finally realized this was not an ordinary wedding ceremony, but a serious exorcism.