The journey of a generation’s male empress started because of four words.
“Send a dowry escort.”
During the 19th year of the Yuanqing Era, Qi Yunruo boarded a carriage and entered through a corner door of the second prince’s estate. Then, across the watery corridor, he gazed at the prince from afar.
———
The promotional record of a young teen married off as part of his legitimate sister’s dowry.
From two people who never met before to two people who could understand each other’s thoughts by just a glance.
There’s a type of happiness sparked when the most suitable people meet in the most suitable place.
Notes:
In order for aristocratic women in imperial China to marry into a family part of the upper nobility, they must be of the legitimate line and must also have a dowry escort that married into that family. That escort would be a “ying” (媵) and could be considered a concubine.