Chapter 515: Ten Li Red Dowry

After Zhang Qiu said this, Harry couldn’t help but feel a strong curiosity, and he asked, “What do you mean by ‘literally long’?”

“In the Celestial Empire, there’s a tradition of using carriage convoys to transport dowry; the longer the convoy, the more it demonstrates noble lineage,” Zhang Qiu said, her cheeks flushed with obvious shyness. “The highest standard is called ‘Ten Li Red Dowry,’ meaning the dowry convoy stretches five kilometers in length.”

“Five kilometers of carriages… how much could that possibly hold…” Harry murmured, struggling to imagine the scene.

“It’s not five kilometers,” another girl’s voice interjected. Harry turned and recognized Lin Shuanghe, Zhang Qiu’s colleague at the embassy—and, in some sense, one of the few friends Zhang Qiu had here.

“Factions across the empire are closely watching your wedding—it’s become a political mission,” Lin Shuanghe explained slowly. “Therefore, for Qiu’s dowry, we will use the highest standard: the strictest definition of ‘Ten Li Red Dowry,’ meaning ‘the lead carriage has arrived, the tail carriage has not yet departed’—the entire dowry convoy must exceed the distance between the bride’s family home and the groom’s.”

Before Harry could fully grasp it, Lin Shuanghe rushed to explain, eager to continue: “Even high officials who parade their wealth along the Vermilion Bird Avenue can’t match this most formal magical marriage: we will stretch the entire Silk Road—nearly ten thousand kilometers—with an estimated 540,000 trucks, to showcase our great nation’s dignity.”

“Are you saying…” Harry was stunned, “a convoy stretching from East Asia all the way to Western Europe? Isn’t that excessively wasteful?”

Zhang Qiu said nothing, but she clearly enjoyed it.

“This is nothing. To the empire, it’s just the tip of a single hair on a cow’s tail,” Lin Shuanghe said, savoring his shock. She deliberately curled her pinky finger, her tone brimming with pride.

“So we’re all just that tip of a hair, then?” muttered the elderly man who had been trailing behind Lin Shuanghe, his expression weary. “The court doesn’t care, right?”

Before Lin Shuanghe could respond, Zhang Qiu immediately stood and grabbed the old man’s arm. “How can you say that? We’ve all been looking forward to your arrival. Harry, let me introduce you: this is Old Cheng, a legendary scientist and engineer. He was chief designer of our lunar landing program, personally overseeing everything from the first footsteps on the Moon to the completion of Guanghan Palace—he is the absolute authority in Earth-Moon aerospace.”

“And now this absolute authority has been exiled to some barbarian backwater?”

The old man spoke with sharp tone, using extremely precise English vocabulary—so precise that Harry immediately detected his deep contempt for Britain.

“Miss Lin, I think this is something you need to address,” Harry said calmly, not raising his voice in front of Zhang Qiu. “The mindset of our accompanying personnel… I’d rather avoid any diplomatic incident, all right?”

“I apologize, General Potter,” Lin Shuanghe immediately gripped the old man’s other shoulder. “We never intended for Engineer Cheng to work directly under you. We wish to assign him the title of ‘Private Advisor to Zhang Qiu’ through the dowry framework, so he may join your team—your joint lunar program with Su Fang—without direct imperial involvement.”

“Engineer Cheng, this is the court’s new appointment for you. You agreed to it,” Lin Shuanghe said sternly, omitting honorifics, her tone uncompromising.

“Fine, off to some barbarian great power then,” the old man grumbled, then turned and walked upstairs. “Call me when Old Liu and the others arrive.”

After watching the old man climb the stairs, Lin Shuanghe turned to Harry and Zhang Qiu with a hint of apology. “I’m sorry, both of you. This stems from a misunderstanding, but please believe he’ll come to understand.”

“Understand what?” Zhang Qiu frowned. “He clearly resents us—and he clearly resents Su Fang too.”

“Qiu, you may not know, but after evaluating Harry’s status, the court classified him as a ‘Vassal Prince.’ A common girl cannot marry a Vassal Prince,” Lin Shuanghe nodded gently. “Therefore, the dowry also includes the title of Princess of a Commandery—and a princess must have a fief. Land deeds and estates are essential components of the Ten Li Red Dowry.”

Harry said nothing, but he understood: this was a temporary enfeoffment to satisfy protocol. Still, he was curious how the Celestial Empire would assign Zhang Qiu’s fief.

“The title assigned to Qiu is ‘Princess Longyue,’ and the fief is Tiangong Prefecture,” Lin Shuanghe announced, then immediately explained. “Perhaps in recent years—or among the magical community—spaceflight news has been ignored, but in fact, we completed all three lunar bases decades ago and established a new province. Tiangong Prefecture, mentioned earlier, is one of those bases, administratively equivalent to a city.”

Though Harry had suspected something like this, hearing it outright still left him dazed: while they were discussing how to reach the Moon, the Celestial Empire had already built complete lunar bases. And now, his fiancée was about to become the mistress of one.

“Because Yumen Pass, responsible for Earth-Moon transit, is located within Tiangong Prefecture, Qiu has authority to direct Engineer Cheng and his team to assist Su Fang in developing lunar rockets—including heavy-lift rockets capable of reaching the Moon’s far side. Without this arrangement, they’d be bound by secrecy regulations. This cooperation is being processed through Guanghan Palace, bypassing…”

“Alright, alright,” Zhang Qiu waved her hand, cutting her off. “I get it. For Old Cheng, the only way back to the Moon is through me. So in the end, he’ll have to come smile at me, right?”

“Exactly. Administratively, he has no other path. Physically, he can only rely on Yanayev’s new rocket,” Lin Shuanghe glanced around. “To be honest, the empire is preparing a super-sized supply mission. No official announcement yet, but rumors say it’s the last one.”

“Why the last one?”

“I don’t know. The high command seems to be preparing a top-secret plan. I only overheard fragments from my uncle…” Lin Shuanghe’s expression grew complex. “I suspect the Great Ming will soon enter a long period of isolation—even the Earth-Moon corridor may close. I don’t know what they’re planning, but it’s unprecedented.”

“Won’t you embassy staff return either?” Zhang Qiu asked.

“Probably not,” Lin Shuanghe said, sounding disappointed.

“Strange… what is Master planning?” Zhang Qiu leaned back in her chair, lost in deep thought.

Harry noticed the two girls’ distracted glances and offered a polite platitude: “If Master Xuan wants us to know, we’ll find out. If he doesn’t, we should just live our lives. There’s no need to worry too much.”

Zhang Qiu shrugged, then suddenly laughed.

“You know, the word ‘Longyue’ reminds me of a classic palace intrigue novel… and right before our eyes is a familiar, almost comical palace drama. I think it’s time to bring it to an end.” Zhang Qiu took a deep breath. “We need to find a chance to speak with Lucius and Narcissa—officially, in an official setting.”

“At the Ministry of Magic,” Harry mimicked the Minister’s self-satisfied tone. “Her Noble Highness, Princess Longyue, meets the Ministry’s lowly Director… and his wife, who has no title—or rather, a housewife!”

Zhang Qiu playfully hit him, while Lin Shuanghe explained seriously: “The title won’t be granted until after your official wedding.”

“So we have to wait until… graduation this year?” Harry asked, glancing at Zhang Qiu.

“I’d prefer to respect local tradition: receive the bouquet when Lupin and Tonks marry, then hold our own wedding afterward,” Zhang Qiu nodded. “It won’t be long—Tonks’s belly won’t stay hidden much longer.”

“Around Easter, I’ve heard something, but no details yet,” Harry rubbed his chin. “If we want to move quickly, we still need time to prepare. June or July—right after graduation—would that work?”

“I graduated ages ago,” Zhang Qiu muttered. “And I’m genuinely looking forward to that dowry stretching across the entire Silk Road—even if most of it is state resources, and our personal share will be small.”

“Yes, though the exact inventory isn’t finalized, friends back home have noticed unusual activity in several storage bases—unless I’m wrong, the court will ship vast quantities of materials for building floating cities here,” Lin Shuanghe revealed briefly. “And some magical munitions to ‘support the establishment of the Dalaran Guard.’ They clearly want Harry to personally oversee this Anglo-American floating city.”

“Munitions… sigh,” Harry sighed discontentedly, but he knew refusing wasn’t an option.

Zhang Qiu sensed his mood and steered the topic back to the Malfoys. “We can speak with Lucius and Narcissa on many occasions: building the magical floating city, assembling the lunar team, or even the magical university—you’re central to all of it.”

“But how do we approach them?” Harry scratched his head. “And don’t forget—Lucius is a cunning man. We mustn’t make things worse.”