coobybook Chapter 297 A Secret Dowry and a Marriage Agreement
Chapter 297 A Secret Dowry and a Marriage Agreement
The mother-of-pearl-inlaid makeup box clicked shut. Zhen Xiaosi stared at the newly dotted cinnabar mole between her eyebrows in the mirror and suddenly spoke up: "Xiaoyao, tell me, what tier of the imperial family do I belong to in Chang'an with my 'Rencheng Li clan' background? I can't really call the Prince of Jiangxia 'cheap father,' can I?" She poked the open "Records of the Zhenguan Clans" on the table with her folding fan. The ink characters "Prince of Jiangxia, Li Daozong" on the pages were brittle in the highland sun.
Xiao Yao was pinning a turquoise hairpin to her temple when she heard this and her hand trembled: "Why is the princess bringing this up again? The chieftain said that you are the 'Princess Wencheng,' personally bestowed by the Heavenly Khan, which is a hundred times more noble than any of those 'second- or 'third-tier' princesses!"
Xiao Yao's silver bell pendant dappled the light at her temple. "Besides, the Tibetans all call you 'Jiamusa'—a fairy of the Han people. Who cares about the prestige of Chang'an?"
Zhen Xiaosi suddenly turned around, her moon-white sleeves sweeping away half a box of butter tea: "Hey, you say, she was made a princess in the fourteenth year of Zhenguan, and married off to a distant place in the fifteenth year. Father, wasn't that a bit too hasty? In modern times, that would be a 'surprise family reunion + flash marriage' package!"
Seeing Xiao Yao's stunned expression, she lowered her voice again, "Maybe I really am Li Daozong's 'stored princess,' and they only dug out the family genealogy and rushed to stamp it when it came time for the marriage alliance!"
"Princess, be careful what you say!" Xiao Yao hurriedly wiped the tea stains from her sleeve with a handkerchief, then suddenly noticed the yellow silk edict on the table. "But the Heavenly Khan's 'decree' is quite powerful. I heard that from now on, when a new Tibetan king ascends the throne, he will have to get an 'official certification stamp' from the Tang Dynasty! Just like the foreign merchants in the West Market of Chang'an getting their travel documents stamped with an official seal?"
“I’ve noticed it all. Every time I time-travel, I end up as the emperor’s daughter… Wrong, wrong!” Zhen Xiaosi flicked her toe, and the snow pigeons on the windowsill began to flap their wings. “This is called ‘political binding’! It’s like we’ve signed a ‘Tang-Tibet Friendship Lifetime Alliance’ now. If they change leaders in the future, they’ll have to come to my Great Tang for ‘renewal certification’. It’s ten times stricter than the ‘real-name authentication’ of the Potala Palace reservation system!”
Xiao Yao blinked as if she understood, then pointed at the jade belt around her waist and laughed: "Even the best alliance requires 'Fairy Jiamusa' to personally travel the Tang-Tibet Ancient Road! Look at this belt, it's three times more tightly wrapped than the abacus beads in the pawnshops of Chang'an. It doesn't look like a fairy at all, it's just a down-to-earth travel document!"
Zhen Xiaosi touched her waist, where the marks were from the binding, and sighed, "Who says otherwise? If I had known that when Songtsen Gampo proposed marriage, I should have made him develop a 'marriage proposal progress bar' first—from 'account loading' to 'post station navigation' and then to 'Tsangpo real-name authentication', so that I wouldn't be forced to 'immerse myself in the Zhenguan KPI' as soon as I transmigrated!"
Suddenly, the long, drawn-out sound of a Buddhist horn drifted in from outside the window, and the wedding procession's banners had already climbed halfway up the mountain. Xiao Yao quickly picked up a gilded wine cup: "Princess, quickly drink some butter tea to calm your nerves. The Tibetan envoy said that after crossing the yak crossing ahead, you'll see the golden roof of the 'Red Mountain Palace'—the very 'predecessor to the Potala Palace' that you mentioned in your travel guide!"
Zhen Xiaosi stared at the blue sky and white clouds shimmering in her wine cup, then suddenly pushed the cup onto the dressing table: "When this fairy arrives in Tibet, I'll first hand Songtsen Gampo a 'Tang-Tibet Friendship Mini Program Development Plan'! From now on, all the kings who come to pay homage will have to queue up on my 'Jiamusa Appointment System,' and as for the scalpers... I'll punish them by making them write code for the prayer wheels at the Jokhang Temple!"
Xiao Yao laughed so hard she almost fell over, the silver bells in her hair jingling and the distant sound of prayer flags mingling together: "Princess, please stop talking! If we keep going, the wedding envoys will think we're fiddling with 'marriage papers' in our dressing cases!"