“That’s the Black Chrysanthemum Sect!” someone in the crowd whispered.
It turned out to be a band of Jianghu men—most likely just passing through the alley and moving aside upon seeing the wedding procession. The maid breathed a sigh of relief.
The sedan was lifted. The groom walked proudly in front, leading his horse by the reins. Firecrackers exploded in rapid bursts. The crowd cheered, the drums and gongs resumed, and the entire procession headed merrily toward the city outskirts. The groom’s home was in Taoxi Village.
Taoxi Village hadn’t existed in the past. It was merely a patch of land at the base of Peach Stream Mountain where tenant farmers worked year-round. Being far from Yuzhou City, a few families had built grass-roofed huts there. Over time, it had grown into a proper village. The land there belonged to the Dingxi Marquis’s estate.
The bride sat quietly in the sedan. Her maid followed behind in an ox cart. The procession moved slowly. Just as Aunt Liu had predicted, it began to rain—a heavy downpour. Fortunately, they passed a newly built post station not yet in use. The sedan was carried inside, sparing everyone from getting drenched. The rain poured fiercely, showing no signs of stopping.
Aunt Liu paced back and forth under the eaves, sighing even more anxiously than the bride.
The groom wanted to speak to the bride in the sedan, but Aunt Liu forbade it, saying it was bad luck.
When the rain finally ceased, Aunt Liu urged everyone to hurry, but by the time they arrived at Taoxi Village, it was already afternoon. The groom’s elderly mother greeted the bride with a stiff face and had her escorted into the house. The bride and her maid sat there for a long time, not knowing what preparations were going on outside. Everything seemed stalled.
Eventually, the bride lifted her own veil and asked her maid to find something to eat. The maid went into the empty kitchen and found half a steamed bun. Just as the bride was about to take a bite, Aunt Liu came in to call her for the wedding ceremony. The bride only managed a mouthful before Aunt Liu snatched the rest away.
The bride re-covered her head with the red veil, then suddenly remembered someone. “Did Chou’er come along?”
The maid replied, “He went off to school early this morning. Sun Chao is with him. I had Wang Yong wait for him at Doctor Bai’s place.”
The bride went silent for a moment and answered faintly, “Mm.”
She was then helped out of the room, holding the red silk ribbon as she entered the main hall to perform the wedding rites with the groom.
Aunt Liu called out loudly, “First bow to heaven and earth—second bow to the elders—husband and wife bow to each other—”
The bride didn’t hesitate and bowed gracefully. The groom, on the other hand, flustered and awkward, almost didn’t know which direction to bow in.
“Escort the bride and groom into the bridal chamber—”
The crowd laughed and cheered, surrounding the couple and sending them into the wedding room.
Some villagers came to the banquet and congratulated the groom’s mother with smiles, but the old woman spat on the ground and snapped, “What’s there to congratulate? A second-married cast-off woman! Just some trash our Tieniu picked up! And look at that jinx—hadn’t even entered the door yet and it already rained. Such bad luck!”
“Aiya, Aunt Wang, why are you saying that? You’ve already agreed to the marriage—if you didn’t like her, why let Tieniu marry her?”
Aunt Wang muttered, “If not for that hundred taels of gold… Forget it, forget it. Just my Wang family’s bad luck. Go eat your food!”
The banquet was set outside. Old Man Wang borrowed some short tables and stools from the public hall, set up four or five tables, and that was enough to host relatives and fellow villagers. Earlier, a clumsy child knocked over a jar of wine. Old Man Wang had to give some coins to a neighbor to fetch more. The neighbor teased him for being stingy—even on his son’s wedding day, he only got such a small amount of wine.
As the two of them bantered, suddenly the sound of galloping hooves erupted. Old Man Wang raised his oil lamp and stretched it forward, only to see a swarm of armed soldiers charging in on tall horses with menacing faces. In the blink of an eye, the shadows swept past them like a gust of wind and headed straight for the lantern-lit, banner-decked Wang family courtyard. The horses kicked up clouds of dust, and the whinnying echoed into the sky. Old Man Wang turned in horror and saw that the soldiers had surrounded the courtyard.
The banquet guests instantly fell silent. The children, terrified, didn’t dare make a sound—meat in their mouths, not daring to chew.
The village went quiet, the only sound was dogs barking.
The leader wore a dusky-patterned military robe. His chest rose and fell with exhaustion, clearly travel-worn. Though he was an exceptionally handsome man, his face was icy cold, exuding killing intent. He raised a broad hand, and the cavalry dismounted in unison, drawing long swords and pointing them at the guests.
The once-joyful banquet was about to become a bloodbath. The people in the courtyard didn’t dare make a sound. The timid ones immediately collapsed to their knees, and seeing that, the others followed suit in panic, not even daring to lift their heads. No one knew who these soldiers were, but it was clear they were not to be trifled with.
The dusky-robed commander leapt off his horse. Seeing the joyful red decorations and the guests eating and drinking, his face grew darker and more terrifying. The veins on the back of his hand stood out visibly.
Inside, the newlyweds were unaware of the chaos. The groom, following Aunt Liu’s instructions, held a wedding scale to lift the bride’s veil. His callused hands trembled slightly as he choked out, “Jiaoniang… I never thought… I’d actually get to marry you…”
As he spoke, he reached out with the scale, lifting the red veil halfway to reveal her full red lips—
Suddenly, there was a loud crash at the door. The wooden door burst open. Standing there, face black as death, was the man in the dusky military robe—
