After Cui Yongzhong agreed, Cui Ji sneered: “I want to see just how capable this Du Ruhui is!”

As for Du Ruhui, after leaving the Cui residence, his heart remained heavy with suppressed frustration. If he had still harbored a thread of fantasy before coming, now it was completely gone. He had always thought they were genuine friends, but it turned out he was merely a tool in someone else’s hands. Most laughably, he had even helped Cui Ji facilitate this marriage, personally pushing Yunyi into a pit of fire. How… how could he face Yunyi in the future?

No, this wouldn’t do. Since he knew Cui Ji’s true nature, he must prevent this marriage from continuing. However, Cui Ji was right – with just Bai San’s testimony alone, forget about convincing Yang Guang, it wouldn’t even be enough to convince the Zheng family. He needed to find more compelling evidence!

As Du Ruhui walked, he went through all the information he had gathered in his mind, but the result left him extremely despairing. Cui Ji was meticulous in his thinking, arranging everything seamlessly with no evidence to be found. Bai San was already the biggest loophole in his plan.

Cui Yongzhong undoubtedly knew everything, but he was true to his name – Yongzhong… Yongzhong, forever loyal to the Cui family. He would absolutely never betray the Cui family.

Could it be… that tomorrow’s wedding truly couldn’t be stopped? No, heaven never seals all paths – there must be a way. Du Ruhui pondered deeply for a long time, then turned his steps toward a certain place.

The sun set and the moon rose, the moon hid and dawn broke – such eternal constancy, unchanging forever, would not change for any person or event. Heaven’s ruthlessness probably referred to this.

The ninth day of the third month, the auspicious day for Princess Jinyang to marry into the Cui family. The entire city of Luoyang was bustling with excitement because of this marriage. Every household hung red lanterns at their doors, and early in the morning, the Cui residence sent people to sweep and clean the streets.

At the second quarter of the mao hour, the Cui family’s wedding procession headed toward Ziwei Palace amid thunderous gongs and drums. Countless commoners poured onto the streets to witness this grand spectacle unseen for years. In that long wedding procession, the most eye-catching figure was undoubtedly Cui Ji, elegant and handsome, riding on a tall horse. Whether they were young girls in their prime or already-married young women, all looked at him with eyes full of longing and infatuation, wishing they could be the one sitting in the bridal sedan.

When they reached West Street, the wedding procession suddenly stopped. Then someone ran over and said: “Young Master, there’s a large tree lying across the road ahead blocking our way!”

Cui Ji frowned: “Where did this large tree come from?”

“It’s an ancient tree that was planted by the roadside. When this subordinate led people to clean the streets earlier, it was still fine. Now for some reason, it’s been uprooted and placed across the road. This subordinate has already sent people to move it away.” As he spoke, shouts came from ahead as everyone worked together to move the tree to the roadside so the procession could pass. However, after advancing less than ten zhang, another tree lay across the road. Looking ahead, there wasn’t just this one – there were many more, practically one every five steps. Besides this, many iron fragments, nails, and other sharp objects were scattered on the ground that could easily pierce through shoe soles if one wasn’t careful. Although these things couldn’t cause them serious harm, they significantly slowed their progress.

Cui Yongzhong said quietly: “Young Master, this must be Du Ruhui’s trick, deliberately trying to make us miss the auspicious time.”

“I know.” Cui Ji sneered: “But if he thinks he can prevent me from marrying the princess with these petty tricks, he’s being too naive.”

Cui Yongzhong nodded: “But this subordinate is worried that if we miss the auspicious time, His Majesty might blame us. Why don’t we bypass West Street and take another route?”

Cui Ji had also thought of this problem. After considering it, he said: “Very well, do as you suggest.”

Cui Yongzhong acknowledged and went to the front of the procession, directing the long wedding train to bypass West Street and choose the shortest route to Ziwei Palace. However, after only a brief period of peace, they encountered obstacles again – the same as before, with trees and iron nails blocking the road.

Cui Yongzhong suppressed his inner rage and changed routes again, but to his surprise, every time they changed routes, they would encounter obstacles shortly after, as if all their changes were within the opponent’s expectations.

Eventually, they found themselves in a dead-end alley. Cui Yongzhong puzzledly touched the wall – strange, he had walked through this place just a few days ago, and it had clearly been a connecting alley. How had it suddenly become a dead end? Had he remembered wrong?

Just as he was preparing to direct everyone to back out, eerie laughter suddenly echoed from this place, making people’s scalps tingle. Cui Yongzhong placed his hand on his sword hilt, carefully identifying the direction of the sound while saying coldly: “Who’s there playing ghost?”

The only answer was still that eerie laughter. Cui Ji’s grip on the reins tightened slightly as he said: “Leave this place immediately!”

At this moment, the eerie laughter stopped, and a cold voice rang in everyone’s ears: “Brother Cui, we haven’t seen each other for a month. Have you been well?”

Hearing this voice, Cui Ji’s expression changed dramatically as he blurted out: “Brother Zheng?”

Many people heard those two words. Brother Zheng… could the speaker be Young Master Zheng? But… but wasn’t he already dead? How could he be here? Could it be… a ghost? Speaking of which, this voice was indeed shifting left and right, floating and uncertain – it really did sound like a ghost!

That voice chuckled coldly: “I really didn’t expect Brother Cui would still recognize my voice. I thought Brother Cui had long forgotten.”

“It really is Brother Zheng, but didn’t you already die?” By now, Cui Ji had calmed down and imperceptibly glanced at Cui Yongzhong, who understood and nodded, quietly walking toward a tightly closed house on the left.

“I did die, but I cannot rest in peace!” At this point, the voice suddenly turned fierce, saying viciously: “Cui Ji, I treated you like a blood brother and never wronged you in the slightest. Why did you harm me like this? Why!”

“I don’t understand what you mean, Brother Zheng.” As Cui Ji spoke, Cui Yongzhong had already forcefully kicked open the closed wooden door. One of the places where the voice was coming from was here. There was indeed someone in the house, but it wasn’t Du Ruhui as he had expected, but rather a middle-aged man he had never seen before. The latter was drinking tea, and when he saw Cui Yongzhong suddenly burst in, he spilled tea all over his hand and said in panic: “You… who are you? What do you want?”

Cui Yongzhong ignored him and walked around the small two-room house but found no one else. It seemed he had heard wrong – it wasn’t this place. After leaving there, Cui Yongzhong entered the house across the way. The result was the same as before – only a strange man was in the house, no one else, and no trace of Du Ruhui.

Meanwhile, the voice continued: “You understand better than anyone that on the evening of the ninth day of the second month, it was you who got me drunk and pushed me into Jinshui River to drown!”