The brides-to-be continue exchanging letters at a rate of multiple a day, to their sects' affectionate exasperation. 

Some of Wei Ying's letters include drawings, such as this one of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying together holding a happy baby waving their arms. 

AW. Awwww. Oh no.

Lan Zhan is Overwhelmed by how cute and wonderful and good these drawings are, especially the one of them holding a happy baby. She runs a finger over the baby's tiny tiny hands again and again.

Instead of folding the drawings under her pillow where they might get wrinkled, she pins them up on the wall.

And the wedding approaches. Lan Zhan acquires a red dress.

Making sure they both have appropriately beautiful red dresses is an important part of wedding preparation! Madam Meng has been so helpful there, Jiang Yanli is honestly delighted. 

Not that every single thing goes smoothly. Wei Ying gets into a screaming fight with Madam Yu that ends with her stalking off and sulking for a few hours before going to find Meng Shi to ask her to do the cords in her hair.

Oh!! Oh, of course she would be happy to, it would be an honor. Is Wei Ying okay?

"Oh, I had a disagreement with Madam Yu, it happens, I'm fine.*" 

*Spoiler: she was not fine. 

"I have heard that Madam Yu can be harshly spoken."

"Yeah, she's kind of abrasive as a person. And I don't think she's coping all that well with having lost Uncle Jiang, their marriage was, uh, not harmonious, but they were still married for a long time. As long as it's just me she yells at it's fine." 

"I wouldn't agree that that's fine, though I suppose it is indeed better than her yelling at multiple people who do not deserve it. Is there anyone in particular who should be steered away from her, for now?"

"She's pretty good at not making trouble with other sects, don't worry about it. I mean, it's like--if she yells at me, I can just walk away and be fine,* but if she yells at A-Cheng he's a lot more likely to take it to heart, you know, she's his mom."

*For Wei Ying definitions of the word "fine" as applied to herself

Small smile. "I was more concerned with other people taking it to heart than with politics when I asked. You do not have to be fine, you know, if she upset you. No one should be yelling at you the week of your wedding."

"...Well, there's not much I can do about it. She's just like that. So I might as well be fine." Shrug. "I didn't mean political complications either, it's just, the only people who are at risk are us Jiang disciples, and we probably know how to avoid her better than you would be at steering." 

"Of course, I didn't mean to overstep. Will she still be present at the wedding ceremony?"

"Dunno. A-Cheng and Shijie will be, that's what's important." 

So it is.

And so on the wedding day, Meng Shi does up Wei Ying's hair very prettily with all its ribbons. She has lots of experience dressing up hair but never before for anyone's wedding; Meng Shi is very, very careful. Her chalk-white fingers move around the pins with nimble precision. 

"You look beautiful today."

"Ehehe, thanks. As long as Lan Zhan thinks so, but she's biased, she thinks I always look pretty." She is full of Nervousness and Excitement but she limits her fidgeting to forms that won't interfere with her hair being played with. 

She places the final pin and pets Wei Ying's hair lightly. "You are a beautiful young woman." And very adorable when this excited.

"Thank you," she says, ducking her head with a hint of actual shyness. "Aah, I can't wait to see how Lan Zhan looks in wedding clothes."

It doesn't take long to put in the finishing touches on the cords, double-checking that everything is in place. "Perhaps we should go find out. What do you think? Do you like it?"

"It's lovely, thank you so much," she says, and exuberantly hugs the older woman.

She is surprised!!! But very touched. She gently hugs her back.

Elsewhere: It is traditional for an older woman to do the bride's hair for her wedding, but this is far from the most traditional of weddings, and A-Zhan had not felt close enough to anyone suitable to ask them. So Xichen is doing it, and occasionally squeezing his little sister's shoulder reassuringly when he judges her too close to hyperventilation. 

Lan Zhan is so close to hyperventilation. Normally it would help to play her qugin, but she worries that she'll break a string; she already broke one of her inkbrushes this morning from gripping it too tightly.

She does like getting her hair done. There hasn't been time during the war to worry about looking sparkly for a while, but she really enjoys being sparkly. She really hopes Wei Ying will also enjoy her being sparkly. (Is Wei Ying going to be sparkly??? Lan Zhan thinks she will die.)

"Everything's going to be alright," he assures her.

“Mm.”