Chapter 139

Chapter 139: A Street Encounter

There were many people on the street, and it was already crowded. Now that two wedding processions had met face to face, the road was completely blocked.

Onlookers craned their necks to watch the commotion.

These two parties had run into each other by chance on a narrow road. There would surely be a good show.

On his tall horse, Lu Jing Yun faced Huo Zheng riding toward him. He could not help looking at the sedan where Chun Zhi sat. He knew he could not see anything, yet he still imagined what she looked like in her wedding dress. On the same day they both married, Chun Zhi was marrying someone else. [I will never have any tie with her again.] His regret grew greater day by day and was close to driving him mad.

It was Chun Zhi’s first time riding in a bridal sedan, and she found it quite new and strange. [So this is what a bridal sedan feels like.] The last time she married, it had been too simple, done in the tiny tofu workshop. There was no sedan, no wedding procession, not even a wedding matron. Today, everything was complete.

Outside, voices buzzed. She heard passersby talking non?stop: “The Princess Consort of Chang’an is said to have lived among common folk before and even been Top Scholar Lu’s child bride.”

Another person laughed and said: “Old lovers parted and each married another, and on the very same day too. What a lively scene.”

Someone answered in a knowing tone: “That was long ago. What is there to say? I heard Prince Chang’an killed Prince Ning and his son with his own hands for his princess consort and even protected his father?in?law so he could return to the capital. That exiled official is now the Vice Minister of Revenue again.”

Another voice chimed in: “I really want to see what the Princess Consort of Chang’an looks like.”

As people moved to the sides of the street, they kept up their talk.

Prince Chang’an’s procession continued forward. The Lu Clan’s procession had to stop and let them pass first.

Lu Jing Yun stared at the sedan where Chun Zhi sat for a long time, then finally shifted his eyes to Prince Chang’an. Today, Huo Zheng truly looked as happy as the spring wind. The corners of his lips lifted, his eyes were bright, and no matter what the crowd said, he did not respond.

When Huo Zheng rode past Lu Jing Yun, he did not even spare him a glance.

The Prince of Chang’an Manor’s procession did not pause at all. It went straight along the long street with drums and pipes playing, lively and grand.

In the sedan, when the breeze lifted the curtain, Chun Zhi glanced out and let a small smile rise to her lips.

Lu Jing Yun kept his eyes on the sedan. When the curtain flew up for a heartbeat, he even wanted to rush toward it. But he could not, and he did not dare.

“Mu family’s dowry is so much. Let me count it,” cried one onlooker, counting the Princess Consort of Chang’an’s dowry chest by chest: “One, two, three. Ten, twenty, thirty. Ninety, ninety?nine.”

“Mu family gave ninety?nine dowry chests!”

The crowd gasped in surprise.

“How is that possible? How could Mu Chun Zhi have ninety?nine dowry chests?” Inside her own sedan, Wang Yi Yue lifted the curtain at once when she heard that. The Prince of Chang’an Manor’s main procession had gone by a good while ago, yet the men carrying the dowry were still not done passing.

Before her wedding, Wang Yi Yue had made people ask at the Mu residence. Mu Qing Shan had only just been reinstated. Even with the family property returned, it was not much. He had scraped together only thirty?three dowry chests for Mu Chun Zhi. How had it suddenly become ninety?nine? [So the rest must be what Song An Lan added.] As the Grand Preceptor’s legitimate daughter marrying Lu Jing Yun as a co?wife, she had already lost face. To try to gain it back, she had prepared sixty?six dowry chests to press down Mu Chun Zhi. Now those sixty?six had become a joke.

All around, people kept comparing the two weddings. One person said: “I hear Top Scholar Lu is marrying as co?wife the daughter of Grand Preceptor Wang. Count how many dowry chests she has.”

Another replied: “Only sixty?six.”

A third added with a sneer: “Seems the Grand Preceptor’s daughter still cannot match the Vice Minister’s daughter. No wonder she can only be a co?wife for Top Scholar Lu.”

Someone cut in loudly: “It is not because her dowry is small that she becomes a co?wife. It is because—”

The crowd again brought up how Wang Yi Yue and Lu Jing Yun had rolled onto the same bed at the Princess Royal of Anyang’s flower banquet and been caught together. They spoke of it very loudly.

Wang Yi Yue clenched the sedan curtain in anger and urged the bearers: “Move. Why are we not moving?”

Outside, the wedding matron answered quickly: “The Prince of Chang’an Manor’s procession has not finished passing. Please wait a little longer.”

At that, Wang Yi Yue’s chest tightened with rage. She should have been the Princess Consort of Chang’an. Now Huo Zheng had married someone else, and she had fallen to marrying a minor official as a co?wife. Even when the two wedding processions met on the street, hers had to stop and give way. Lu Jing Yun did not dare say a word.

The more Wang Yi Yue fumed, the more her tears flowed.

On a wedding day, having the sedan stop was unlucky. Yet this was more than unlucky. [My later life already holds no hope.]

After a long time, the Prince of Chang’an Manor’s procession finally finished passing. Only then did the wedding matron call out: “Lift the sedan.”

Lu Jing Yun still stared in the direction where Chun Zhi’s sedan had gone, unable to turn back for a long while.

“My lord, my lord, we can go now,” called the attendant leading his horse, repeating himself several times.

Lu Jing Yun finally came to himself, urged his horse forward, and led the procession back to the Lu Residence. The musicians played again, but after that long halt, the mood was no longer the same.

When the procession reached the Lu Residence, they found the main gate shut.

“Why is the main gate closed?” Lu Jing Yun swung down from his horse and told a man to knock.

“Yes,” the attendant said and hurried to call at the gate.

A moment later, the side gate opened. Steward Zhang came out and said plainly: “Madam has given word. A co?wife is no different from a concubine. She can only enter through the side gate.”

The attendant turned at once to look at Lu Jing Yun.

Lu Jing Yun had not expected Ji Ru Zhen to pull such a move without warning. They had agreed well before.

A maid from the Wang Manor stepped up beside the sedan and told Wang Yi Yue what had been said.

Wang Yi Yue had cried the whole way. Hearing this, she stopped crying out of anger and declared: “I am the Grand Preceptor’s daughter. I am marrying into the Lu Clan as a co?wife, not as a concubine. I must enter through the main gate.”

Steward Zhang replied without flinching: “Madam said the bridal sedan must either enter by the side gate or go back the way it came.”

This Steward Zhang had come with Ji Ru Zhen from the Ji Manor. Even in front of Lu Jing Yun, he dared to repeat Ji Ru Zhen’s order word for word.

Lu Jing Yun said: “Steward Zhang, please tell Madam that what was agreed before should not be changed lightly. The bridal sedan has already reached the gate.”

Steward Zhang answered: “My lord, you know Madam’s temper. Rather than wait outside and be the city’s joke, why not persuade Miss Wang to enter by the side gate? She is already a co?wife. That is no different from a concubine. It is only a small bow of the head. Why make this so stiff?”

Lu Jing Yun hesitated, then walked to the sedan to persuade Wang Yi Yue: “The auspicious hour matters most. The side gate is the same as the main—”

Wang Yi Yue bit off his words and said through clenched teeth: “I am the Grand Preceptor’s daughter. If you make me enter by the side gate, I would rather die.”