Three weeks passed by quickly. In the meantime, Xue Lin finished her thesis paper on Criminal Psychology and she also applied for a job here and there. Since she finished her two months of study in three weeks, she became thin and eyebags were visible. On her white jade-like face those black eye bags were vividly seen. She looked like a panda.

  The makeup artist sighed helplessly. "Your skin is almost flawless. If it wasn’t for your panda eyes, I wouldn’t have to apply makeup. The pair of grey eyes of yours is absolutely charming. I just lightly touched around the corners so that your grey eyes can look more attractive. As for your lips, they are just the real beauty of your face. I’m not going to put on lipsticks. Let’s dress you up."

  Xue Lin said, "Please do it as fast as possible. It feels like my head is going to fall from my neck."

  The makeup artist burst into laughter. "Ahahaha! It is because of the phoenix tiara you are wearing. It is made of pure gold. Do you know the myth about the universe of four gods?" While talking she helped Xue Lin to put on a red qipao, embroidered with golden thread.

  "You mean Genbu the Black Tortoise of the North, Byakko the White Tiger of the West, Seiryuu the Azure Dragon of the East and Suzaku the Vermillion Bird of the South?" Xue Lin asked. Over the qipao, she wore a chiffon cape designed in a majestic golden dragon. It was sewed with pure gold.

  The makeup artist was very excited. "Wow! I’m impressed. The tiara you are wearing, it symbolizes the god Suzaku the Vermillion Bird of the South. Your wedding ceremony will be held in Shizuo Temple. That’s the origin of the four gods."

  Xue Lin’s eyes widened in surprise. "So, that’s why we are in Beijing. I was wondering why we had to hold the ceremony here. But why does the Su Family have to follow the four gods?"

  The oldest maid of the Su Family was helping the makeup artist. She said, "When the young master was born in 1993, the modern constellation Aquarius is located within the northern quadrant of the sky, which is symbolized as the Black Tortoise of the North. Young master represents god Genbu. On the other hand, when you were born in 1996, the modern constellation Cancer is located within the southern quadrant of the sky, which is symbolized as the Vermilion Bird of the South. You represent god Suzaku."

  The makeup artist said, "The groom is North and the bride is South. If you ask me, I’ll say you two are polar opposite. That’s the very reason the temple priest was against it. He said that a huge storm is coming toward you two and it will destroy everything. Just listening to it makes me scared. I wish you a happy life, miss bride."

  "Thank you." Xue Lin said dryly. She came here three weeks ago and met the temple priest together with Ge Chen. After hearing about the storm coming to destroy their relationship from the temple priest, her body turned cold. Ge Chen obviously brushed it off but she couldn’t. She could guess what that storm meant and that was making her scared.

  The maid said, "If you follow the zodiac sign, you are the rat and your associate element is Yang Fire and Xiao Chen is the rooster and his associate element is Yin Water. Even if you don’t follow four gods, you might believe in zodiac signs."

  Xue Lin nodded. "Yes, I believe in it."

  Gu Xiali was sitting in the corner and her eyes were on her. She didn’t say a word from the beginning to the end. After Xue Lin was fully dressed, the maid and the makeup artist left the room. Then, Gu Xiali stood up and walked toward Xue Lin who was sitting on a chair. She sat beside the bride and said, "Xiao Lin, all I want is to see my grandson happy. Though the priest said something unexpected and you two don’t match each other, I’m leaving him to you. No matter what happens, you can never let him go. Can you promise me that?"

  Xue Lin said, "Promise are meant to be broken. I cannot promise you. But let me tell you something, I didn’t marry Chen so that I can divorce him. That’s why before we got our certificate, I asked him if he is okay with me and he said "yes". After that, I had no objection."

  Gu Xiali sighed. "I’m relieved to hear that." Though she said that, she kept feeling uneasy. She also couldn’t forget the priest’s warning.

  At that time, Ge Chen knocked on the door and then opened the door. He walked into the room and his eyes landed on Xue Lin. He paused and his heart skipped a bit.

  Xue Lin was calmly sitting on the chair wearing a Chinese red traditional qipao and a cape over the dress. The qipao was somewhat simple but the cape was glittering in the light. Since her hair was long, the makeup artist braided her hair and made a bun on the back of the head. Small bangs were covering her forehead, temples, and her ears partly. A golden tiara was covering her whole head. It was a bird with two wings. It had ruby eyes. Aside from the tiara, there were two golden flower hair pins decorated with white pearls and rubies. Even her earrings were golden flowers with pearls and rubies and so were her bangles. Her golden necklace had a bird with open wings; in the middle of the bird, there was a dragon; both of their eyes were designed with rubies. It also had white pearls beads. Her red shoes were also sewed with gold thread. It was designed with flowers. The long red transparent veil was covering half of her body. The edge of the veil was also decorated with golden thread.

  Xue Lin looked at Ge Chen who was fully dressed. The groom’s dress was also red and stitched with golden thread. On the back of his clothes, a golden tortoise was embroidered. His red shoes were decorated with the golden dragon. Their dresses matched perfectly based on the myth of the four gods.

  [A/N: Btw, guys, you need to understand the Chinese zodiac signs and the universe of four gods if you want to udnerstand the rest of the story. Of course, I’ll let you know all the important info about it in the rest of the story. You have nothing to worry about. ^_^ ]