With one person leaving, the others also stood up to prepare their departure. The old farmer was the most amiable, smiling as he drove his ox cart away along the main road. The Daoist left in the most peculiar manner—he climbed onto the roof and departed from there.
Only the foreign monk remained, still gnawing on the bones of the roasted goose. Xiao Wu noticed that this foreign monk had eaten that roasted goose without leaving a single bone behind. After finishing his meal, the foreign monk recited a Buddhist verse, stood up, and asked Xiao Wu in a strange accent: “Where is the Peacock Wisdom King?”
Xiao Wu shook her head to indicate she didn’t know. She truly didn’t know—that person had already been carried by Liu Jinbao to the distillery years ago and burned to ashes in the furnace. She firmly believed she knew nothing about this matter.
“The Light Disc was broken in half. I’ve found one half. Tell me, where is the other half of the Light Disc? This old monk will go retrieve it himself.” The foreign monk spoke these words with righteous indignation, not knowing what he was relying on to shout and make such demands here.
Li Gang glanced at Dan Ying and, seeing him keeping his head down without speaking, sighed and was pushed out of the room by Xiao Wu. Before the door even closed, the sound of fists and feet breaking through the air could be heard from inside.
“Today is supposed to be a joyous day. Alas, such a perfectly good auspicious day has been completely ruined.” Li Gang patted Xiao Wu’s hand with great regret.
“Grandfather, what does it matter? Xiao Wu is wearing a red skirt today, and a little bloodshed will only make Xiao Wu’s wedding more auspicious. Master told me about the Light Disc matter—he said it was a sacred object of the Fire Worship Cult that Master split in half with one strike. This is a hatred that won’t end until death. Since this foreign monk has brought up old grievances today, he shouldn’t expect to leave here alive. Tell me, can Uncle Dan Ying and Divine King Han Zhe defeat that foreign monk?”
Li Gang thought for a moment and said: “Lishi told me that in this world, if we’re talking about who can reach the ultimate limits of martial arts, in his view there are no more than two people—one is Wu She, and the other is Dan Ying. Neither Han Zhe nor Xi Tong can match them. So you don’t need to worry about Dan Ying. Just be a proper bride. Look, Xiao Jie’s carriage has already arrived…”
The second steward, Old Zhao, took over from Xiao Wu in pushing Li Gang’s small cart and said to Xiao Wu: “Young mistress needn’t worry. People from the distillery have come and will handle these matters properly. This old servant hasn’t yet congratulated the young mistress. This is an embroidered handkerchief made by this old servant’s daughter. The workmanship is somewhat crude—may the young mistress not disdain it.”
Xiao Wu accepted the handkerchief and thanked Old Zhao, then saw several old men from the distillery pushing a cart toward the small courtyard.
When family retainer Old Tan arrived at the entrance to the small courtyard, he told the others to wait while he himself went into the yard carrying a knife. He saw the young master sitting on a millstone drinking wine with a guest. On the wooden rack used for butchering pigs beside them hung a person. This person wasn’t dead yet—his chest was still rising and falling slightly, and occasionally he would cough, spitting out black blood clots from his mouth. His lung tissue had been shattered; this person was certain to die.
“Find out if he has any accomplices, then put him in the furnace to burn.” Dan Ying glanced at Old Tan, gave his instructions, and continued drinking wine with Han Zhe.
Di Renjie was in high spirits today, sitting on his horse looking left and right with great satisfaction. Today was the wonderful day of his marriage. Unable to resist his mother’s pleading, he had applied powder and rouge—white face, red lips—and yet people along the roadside still praised him as a handsome man.
He had waited at the gate for a long time without the door opening, so Shen Gonghai, who was beside him, cleared his throat and began reciting poetry. Today he wore leather armor under his outer garment. Being the best man today would not be easy, especially with the women of the Yun Family, whose fierce reputation was well known.
Before Shen Gonghai could bribe the gatekeeper, the main gate opened to reveal women in full dress inside. His scalp immediately began to tingle. These women had no interest whatsoever in the silver money packets he had prepared. Just by looking at them holding flower sticks and eager to try them out, he knew that today he would not escape his fate.
This was a bad custom. The groom might not get beaten—it was mainly for the bride’s sake, and a symbolic tap or two would suffice to pass the test. But the best man was purely there to take a beating. Without the right connections, no one would do this job even on pain of death.
Di Renjie rushed excitedly through the gate to find his wife. He didn’t notice Pang Shier holding a small flower stick and smiling seductively at him. At this moment, he couldn’t be bothered to look at other women. He took several light and heavy blows on his body, and though some seemed to have sharp points or the like, Di Renjie didn’t care, thinking these were new tricks the women had come up with.
Shen Gonghai found an iron helmet, buckled it onto his head, and charged in. Sticks fell like raindrops, many clanging against the iron helmet. Some woman tripped him up—he didn’t know which one—and after he fell, those sticks landed solidly on his buttocks, where the leather armor offered no protection.
While Di Renjie was paying respects to Xinyue and Cheng Chumo, Pang Shier quietly went up to Xiao Wu’s bridal chamber and sat on a stool at the door, watching the wedding attendants dress and adorn Xiao Wu. Xiao Wu glanced at Pang Shier, a slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
She was always the victor. At the academy, Pang Shier had been extraordinarily attentive to Xiao Jie, but it was useless—Xiao Jie still preferred her. Master was right; she could only marry Xiao Jie.
“Shier, you’ve come too. Today elder sister is getting married, and my heart is filled with mixed emotions. I wonder, does younger sister have someone she fancies?”
“No. You’ve taken all the good men. I won’t take your leftovers.”
Xiao Wu’s smile deepened, and she kindly advised Pang Shier: “That won’t do. A woman must go through this eventually. The academy is full of fine young men—why must you make yourself suffer?”
“Younger sister has sent elder sister a great gift. I hope elder sister likes it.”
Fully dressed, Xiao Wu pushed aside the wedding attendant who was shaping her face and, holding Pang Shier’s hand reluctantly, said: “You’re about to go to the snow plains to spread the faith. Your body is weak—you must take good care of yourself. This is my old cloak. Wear it to ward off the wind and cold.”
As she spoke, she took a white fox fur cloak from a nearby clothes rack and draped it over Pang Shier’s shoulders, a gesture heavy with sentiment.
Pang Shier smiled and thanked Xiao Wu. Upon leaving the bridal chamber, she tossed the cloak to a maid, saying it was a reward for her. Her powdered face turned iron blue, and she gripped the railing, struggling to catch her breath. She said viciously: “My gift is to give you an unforgettable wedding night!”
Xinyue came to see Xiao Wu, her breath reeking of wine. This should have been a mother’s privilege, but Xiao Wu’s mother had been reduced to commoner status. If Xiao Wu wanted to maintain her dignity in the future, the only person who could come to inspect her makeup at this time was Xinyue.
After inspecting her from top to bottom, Xinyue smiled like a blooming flower, embracing Xiao Wu and giggling as if Xiao Wu were truly her own daughter.
“It should have been your mother who came up, but she absolutely refused to come up and begged me to come inspect your makeup instead. You must understand your mother’s painstaking care and not harbor resentment. But it doesn’t matter—you’ve been in the household since you were nine years old. I, your master’s wife, watched you grow up, so it’s not inappropriate for me to replace your mother.”
Xiao Wu buried herself in Xinyue’s embrace and sobbed twice to express her gratitude, indicating she was reluctant to marry. Xinyue naturally gave her a stern lecture, then slyly slipped an erotic album into Xiao Wu’s bedding. Soon this bedding would become part of the dowry sent to the bridal chamber.
Xiao Wu’s dowry was naturally quite impressive, no less grand than Shishi’s. After looking it over, Xiao Ya proudly told Xiao Wu that it wasn’t as much as her own dowry. Not only did Xinyue’s face darken, but Xiao Wu also very much wanted to shut Xiao Ya’s mouth.
Fortunately, the wedding proceeded very smoothly. The ceremonial official sent by Li Chengqian personally presided over the rites. Xiao Wu was happily carried onto the wedding carriage on Yun Shou’s back. For Yun Shou, Xiao Wu’s marriage was truly cause for great celebration, so he worked very energetically.
Xiao Wu lay on Yun Shou’s back and whispered close to his ear: “Little fatty, don’t get too pleased with yourself. Master’s wife promised to keep my bridal chamber for me, and Master’s study still belongs to me. If you treat Helan badly, heh heh.”
Yun Shou wanted to ask why she still wanted to cling to the household when she was already married, but Xiao Wu didn’t give Yun Shou the slightest chance. The carriage curtain dropped down, preventing Yun Shou from saying anything more.
Upon returning to the Di residence, the curfew drum had already sounded. The guests at the Di household had begun leaving one after another—they had no choice, as soon it would be impossible to leave. Only close relatives and neighbors remained to observe the ceremony.
The smile on Di Zhixun’s face hadn’t disappeared all day, and his wife wore the same expression. His two younger brothers had also changed into new clothes to welcome their sister-in-law’s arrival.
Watching the perfect couple bow to him and serve him tea, Di Zhixun put on a stern face and gave them a few words of instruction, then went off laughing to boast to his colleagues. His celestial daughter-in-law was not only beautiful but also among the most intelligent in Chang’an City. The old man had absolutely nothing to complain about. He completely attributed marrying such a daughter-in-law to the virtue accumulated by his ancestors.
After entering the bridal chamber, Di Renjie kept feeling that something was wrong with his body. Looking at Xiao Wu sitting under the red candles, beautiful beyond compare, how could he pay attention to what might be wrong with his body? Even if something was wrong, tonight was not the time to worry about it.
They drank the nuptial cups, ate the raw dumplings, and the wedding attendants had swept away all the dried fruits from the flower curtains. Finally, when the wedding attendants closed the door, Xiao Wu immediately removed her outer wedding robe and took off the jewelry from her head—it was too heavy. When she had embroidered her wedding dress following Xiao Ya’s advice, she had used three catties of gold thread. It looked beautiful, but it was very heavy to wear. Her head was filled with dowry items added by those female relatives until there was almost no space left for more pins. She rubbed her sore neck, preparing to have Di Renjie massage her shoulders, which were unbearably sore and stiff.
She saw Di Renjie propping his chin on the table, staring at her unblinkingly with his eyes. She blushed deeply, sat on the edge of the bed with her head lowered, and waited anxiously for her beautiful time to arrive.
After waiting quite a while, Di Renjie remained in that same deathly pose. Xiao Wu struck a more alluring pose, hoping to move this fool. A full incense stick’s worth of time passed, and still there was no movement.
Xiao Wu jumped up and walked to Di Renjie’s side, about to tap him—being dazed was one thing, but not this kind of dazed. Halfway there, she discovered something was wrong with Di Renjie. He wasn’t in a daze—he had passed out…