Liu Tan and Xia Jiangmin's grand wedding was also in the eighth month. It was right after the Mid-Autumn Festival and the day before Yu Shu was to leave for the Princess' tomb. It really was an eventful time.
The Xia Jiang Family's roots were in the South. On the day of the wedding, there weren't many guests from the bride's family, but it wasn't that there weren't any. There were a few old officials in Jing who had served in the South in the early years. For the sake of the Xia Jiang Family, they either sent their eldest sons to congratulate or prepared a generous gift to send to Jing Wang Fu.
Even though Yu Shu had received an invitation from Liu Tan, she attended as a guest from the bride's side. She first went to Xia Jiang's guesthouse early in the morning to see her before Xia Jiangmin put on her wedding dress. Then she followed the bridal procession to the wang fu.
This day was extraordinarily lively. Yu Shu saw what was called ten li of red dowry. Even though the Xia Jiang Family wasn't prominent in Jing, they were one of the wealthiest families in the South. They had been a prestigious family for a hundred years and had accumulated countless gold and silver treasures. They effortlessly saved a hundred and sixty chests of dowry for the young miss marrying into the Imperial Family. Each chest was so heavy that it would take four young and strong men to move it.
Some people thought of the scene when Ning Wang Fu welcomed the bride and couldn't help but compare. Ning Wang Fei was the pearl in the palm of the great scholar Cui Zheng of the Hall of Heroic Martial, a typical scholarly family. But the Xia Jiang Family had a son who had been married to a princess. They were a first class family in the eyes of the world's merchants. Their descendants more or less had a thread of blood from the Imperial Family. In terms of birth, the two wang fei each had their wins and losses.
These two marriages had been personally chosen by Emperor Zhao Qing. It was hard for people to judge whether he favored Liu Tan more or valued Liu Hao more.
After the wedding ceremony, the banquet started. Liu Tan sent Xia Jiangmin to the bridal chamber and then hurried back to the front to entertain the guests. After being persuaded to drink a few cups of wine, his face was flushed. Anyone with eyes could see that he was very satisfied with this marriage.
The new wang fei stayed in the bridal room. The female guests said auspicious words and left one by one. In the end, only Yu Shu was left to accompany her.
"Ashu, are you still here?" Xia Jiangmin wore a bright red wedding dress and sat on the edge of the bed. She had to wait for the groom to come and take off the dragon and phoenix veil. She had to wait for the groom to come and take it off.
"Yes, I haven't left," Yu Shu was standing in front of the window, observing the pair of gold painted red candles. When she turned around, she saw Xia Jiangmin sitting there with her head covered. Her small white hands were clutching her knees. With one glance, anyone could see that she was uneasy.
Yu Shu walked over and said to the two maids guarding the bed: "Go get some hot water for your Wang Fei to wipe her hands and feet and get rid of the sweat."
The two of them looked at me, I looked at them, and stood motionless. One of them was petite and had very beautiful eyebrows. She raised her head and replied, "His Highness ordered us to guard the new Wang Fei. We didn't dare to move."
When Yu Shu saw that these two people were not from Xia Jiang's dowry, she couldn't order them around for a moment.
"If I tell you to go, then go. Why are you being so long-winded?" His Highness told you to watch over me, not to watch over a criminal. "Xia Jiangmin was displeased.
"I wouldn't dare." The two of them anxiously excused themselves and quickly walked out. They passed the screen but didn't forget to close the door. They ordered the maids outside to leave and only dared to whisper to each other when they were far away.
"What? You've just entered the mansion and you're already putting on airs as a princess."
"Shh, Ping 'er, don't talk nonsense."
"I didn't —"
"Ai, I know you feel wronged. We were also sent by the palace to serve Wang Ye. The best outcome would be to make Wang Ye's bed and fold blankets. In front of Wang Fei, you have to be docile and not be an eyesore. You've been in the palace for so many years, how come you don't even have this bit of cunning?"
While the two of them were whispering to each other, Xia Jiangmin, who was anxiously waiting for her wedding night, had no idea that one of the two maids who had just gone out would become her nightmare in the future.
There were no other people in the bridal chamber and Xia Jiangmin couldn't see Yu Shu. She wanted to lift the wedding veil on her head but was quickly stopped by Yu Shu.
"Don't move. Wait for the bridegroom to come back and then lift it. It's a good sign."
As she spoke, Yu Shu sat on the embroidered stool beside the bed and held Xia Jiangmin's sweaty hand. She jokingly said, "I see that your hands and feet are cold. Are you nervous or anxious?"
Xia Jiangmin held her dry and slender hand back. Her heart couldn't help but calm down. She stared at Yu Shu's straight boots through the gap under the wedding veil and stubbornly said,
"There will be a day when you get married."
Yu Shu joked with her for a bit and then said seriously, "I have an urgent matter to attend to, so I have to leave the capital for two days. I have to leave in a bit, so I won't be able to attend your wedding. On your wedding day, I will be happy for you. There are some things that I shouldn't say. Just treat it as me talking too much. "
"What can't the two of us say?" Xia Jiangmin hurriedly said.
Yu Shu smiled slightly. Even though she didn't want to see her, "From now on, you are the mistress of Ning Wang Fu. I see that Ning Wang is full of ambition and will not be satisfied with being an idle marquis. No one can predict what will happen in the future. I can only remind you, as husband and wife with Ning Wang, it's best not to do anything rebellious, not to fight because of anger, and not to have a competitive heart."
After Xia Jiangmin heard Yu Shu's three "it's best not to", her uneasy heart rose another level. Before she got married, her father had a heart-to-heart talk with her. He had repeatedly told her to be respectful and submissive to Ning Wang and not to throw a tantrum. He had vaguely told her that Ning Wang would have great accomplishments in the future, but it wasn't as deep as what Yu Shu had said.
Yu Shu didn't see her respond and assumed that she was frightened by her. She wanted to say a few words to comfort her but was worried that she wouldn't listen to her advice and would suffer in the future.
Regarding Ning Wang, Yu Shu had seen it for herself and heard it from Xue Rui. He definitely wasn't a person blinded by lust. It wasn't realistic to hope that he would be a good man who doted on his wife.
Liu Tan was young and mature, tolerant and astute. Emperor Zhao Qing had forced him to Longhu Mountain for ten years, but it hadn't been able to wear away his ambition. It could be seen that in the near future, he would grow into a ruthless character comparable to Ning Wang. The schemes that Xia Jiangmin had cultivated were completely at the level of elementary school. How could she be qualified for the position of Ning Wang Fei?
Yu Shu didn't have the experience of marriage and didn't understand men very well, but she looked at wang fei as a position. Xia Jiangmin was like an intern with education but no experience. Ning Wang wasn't her business partner, but a boss who had absolute power. The entire matter would be easy to handle. The advice she gave was also the employee code that she had concluded when she was working for someone in the investment bank — don't try to go against your boss. He can be impulsive, but you can't.
Of course, she sincerely hoped that Xia Jiangmin and Liu Tan would grow in love over time, and that they would be in harmony, and that they wouldn't treat each other with respect.
"Ashu," Xia Jiangmin, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke, "I will be a good wang fei. You don't have to worry about me."
Even if it was for her si jie who had been killed, she would be a good wife to Ning Wang. She wouldn't let the people who schemed against the Xia Jiang Family get what they wanted.
"En." Yu Shu raised her hand and hesitated. In the end, she patted her shoulder twice through the heavy daughter-in-law.
"Ming Ming, I'm leaving, you rest."
Xia Jiangmin listened to the sound of Yu Shu's footsteps leaving and silently counted. When she reached the door, she couldn't resist lifting a corner of the wedding veil. When she raised her head, she could see the slender figure of Ming Ming. She was wearing the robes of Shi Yi, which made her back line look straight.
The red candles in front of the window were dazzling and made her remember that frightening night. On the merchant ship that had narrowly escaped death, the youth that had saved her kept calling in her ears while she was unconscious —
Ming Ming, Ming Ming, wake up.
The tears that hadn't fallen the moment she stepped out of the house in the morning actually flowed out now. She quietly said to the back of the figure that had already closed the door and left:
"Ashu, I don't want to be a wang fei, I would rather just be Xia Ming Ming."
She really hoped that this was a dream and that someone would wake her up again.
This trip to the Princess' Tomb would take at least a day's journey. Because Yu Shu had to send Xia Jiangmin off for her wedding, she had arranged to leave in the afternoon with Jing Chen beforehand. Xue Rui also could not miss Ning Wang Fu's wedding. The two of them drank the wedding wine in front of them while the other instructed her best friend and left the wang fu one after the other.
When they rode at the same time to the west of the city, Jing Chen was already waiting there. There was only one carriage accompanying him, traveling lightly.
Yu Shu was very shocked. She had thought that the Emperor and the Great Tiandao would at least send a troop of Imperial Guards to protect Jing Chen. Who would have thought that Jing Chen would only bring a coachman to drive the horse. Was there an expert lying in ambush?
Jing Chen was very surprised. He hadn't thought that Xue Rui would follow.
Xue Rui was the calmest. He nodded his head as a greeting to Jing Chen. He didn't say anything, as though his appearance here was a normal thing.
As the middleman, Yu Shu appeared to be in a slightly awkward situation. Speaking of these two men, one could be considered as her ex-boyfriend, and the other could be considered as her current boyfriend. She was sandwiched between her ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend. Why didn't she consider this problem before? She was fooled by Xue Rui into agreeing to let him travel with them.
"Ahem." She cleared her throat and took the initiative to explain to Jing Chen, "One more person means one more helper. As the saying goes, three heads are better than Zhuge Hou. Even if that person has the wisdom of Kong Ming, the three of us are much smarter than ordinary people."
Jing Chen was good at martial arts, and he was a super expert. It was not a problem for him to fight against ten people alone. Xue Rui was extremely smart. As for Lin Mengya, she shamelessly boasted that she was both smart and brave. If the three of them worked together, as long as Yun Hua dared to show up, he would not be afraid of running away.
The more Yu Shu thought about it, the more she felt that it was reasonable. She couldn't wait any longer. She looked at the sun in the west of the city and said to the two of them, "Let's get out of the city quickly.
I don't think we can make it before dark. If we want to spend the night tonight, it's best if we go to a nearby village. Don't sleep in the open. "
Jing Chen was not an indecisive man. Since Xue Rui was here, even if he felt that this trip had nothing to do with Xue Rui, he would not chase him away and put Yu Shu in a difficult position.
Xue Rui was also not a person who liked to cause trouble. He did not show off in front of Jing Chen. The two men looked at each other in silence and followed after Yu Shu.
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