The Xiang Prince’s mansion was festooned with lanterns and decorations, bustling with activity.
Yu Jin arrived late, accompanying Jiang Si.
The Lu Prince loudly exclaimed, “Seventh Brother, you’re quite late. When you got married, Eighth Brother arrived very early.”
Yu Jin, seeing the Xiang Prince’s maid lead Jiang Si to the women’s side, finally sat down and replied languidly, “As the saying goes, it’s better to arrive at the right moment than early. The wedding hasn’t started yet, and the groom isn’t Fifth Brother, so why is Fifth Brother in such a hurry?”
His voice was equally loud. The Lu Princess on the women’s side glanced over, slamming her teacup on the table with a thud.
The Lu Prince stiffened, grinning awkwardly at Yu Jin, not daring to provoke further.
Damn it, why couldn’t he just come at him directly? Always dragging his fierce wife into it as a threat – what kind of skill was that?
After sitting for a while longer, the Crown Prince frowned, “Why hasn’t the wedding procession returned yet?”
The Third Prince, Prince Jin, looked up at the sky.
The sun had crawled to the west, with a splendid sunset on the horizon.
“The auspicious time must have passed, right?” Prince Jin murmured, his tone indiscernible.
Another half hour passed quickly.
The princes exchanged glances, sensing something was amiss.
By now, the wedding procession should have arrived at the Xiang Prince’s mansion. Something must have gone wrong.
“Could the roads be blocked?” The Sixth Prince, Prince Shu, who had recently married, recalled the overwhelming crowds during his wedding procession with a shudder.
His relationship with Eighth Brother was ordinary, so he wasn’t particularly concerned, but the waiting had become unbearably boring.
The Lu Prince, known for speaking without restraint, muttered, “Could Eighth Brother have fallen off his horse? I always said he should practice his horsemanship.”
“Eighth Brother’s riding skills are passable. Perhaps it is just road congestion,” Prince Qi said, his face showing concern.
Of course, how many present would take his worry seriously was anyone’s guess.
After another cup of tea, news finally arrived.
“What? The wedding procession has stopped halfway?”
Upon learning the reason, the expressions of the princes were particularly vibrant.
Prince Shu secretly sighed in relief.
On his wedding day, it had poured rain, leaving him drenched like a drowned rat. He had thought that unpleasant, but compared to Eighth Brother’s situation, it now seemed trivial.
Being soaked was nothing compared to having the entire city witness a bald patch on one’s head – that was truly disastrous.
Of course, Prince Shu felt no sympathy for the Xiang Prince’s plight.
Joking aside, how could he be the only unfortunate one? Only when others were more miserable could he feel better.
Thinking this, Prince Shu quickly glanced at Yu Jin, hiding his disdain.
He and Seventh Brother had married one after the other, and he had nearly been outshone by Seventh Brother and his wife. Eighth Brother was indeed more honest and straightforward.
On the bride’s side, General Cui’s cousin had been sent to escort her. He had already dispatched someone to rush back to the General’s mansion to explain the situation.
Princess Rongyang was thunderstruck, taking a moment to react before turning pale with anger.
“How outrageous! How could the Xiang Prince just abandon Mingyue like this!” She pounded the table forcefully, and not satisfied with that, grabbed a teacup and hurled it to the ground.
The cup shattered with a crash.
Cui Xu frowned instinctively but didn’t bother to comment. He stood up and headed out.
“Cui Xu, where are you going?” Princess Rongyang called after him.
Cui Xu paused, looking outside.
The sky had darkened further, even the sunset glow losing its luster.
The auspicious time had passed.
“We can’t just leave Mingyue on the street,” Cui Xu explained briefly, continuing to walk out.
Princess Rongyang caught up with him. “You mean to bring Mingyue back?”
“What else?”
“Cui Xu!” Princess Rongyang called out these two words, her face ashen, unable to contain her fury. “Mingyue’s marriage to the Xiang Prince was proposed by the Empress Dowager and decreed by the Emperor. The Xiang Prince’s actions defy imperial orders and he should be punished. If we just bring Mingyue back, what then?”
Cui Xu gazed at Princess Rongyang, his eyes deep and unfathomable.
“Why are you looking at me like that at a time like this?” A deep sense of helplessness mixed with irritation rose in Princess Rongyang’s heart.
It was always like this. Whether towards her or their children, Cui Xu was eternally calm.
So calm that it seemed indifferent to her.
Cui Xu finally spoke: “Mingyue and the Xiang Prince haven’t performed the wedding ceremony yet. If we don’t bring Mingyue home, should we forcibly send her to the Xiang Prince’s mansion?”
“So what if we do?”
Cui Xu sighed, “If the Xiang Prince refuses to let her in, Mingyue will still face humiliation. Since embarrassment is inevitable either way, coming home is at least better than being subjected to pointing and staring at the Xiang Prince’s mansion full of guests.”
Princess Rongyang momentarily lost the will to argue. She waved her sleeve and said, “Then go and bring her back. I’m going to the palace!”
A wedding halted midway with even the groom missing was unheard of. She had to go to the palace to demand an explanation.
Seeing Princess Rongyang leave in anger, Cui Xu didn’t try to stop her. He walked out of the General’s mansion and, seeing the street ahead packed with people, abandoned his horse to hurry on foot.
In the Imperial Study, Emperor Jingming had finished his day’s heavy duties and, as usual, took out a novel to read, but found himself uninterested for no apparent reason.
These days, nothing seemed to go right.
What should have been a pleasant family banquet had ended with the Fifteenth Princess gone, Chen Meiren who had poisoned her also gone, and the Fourteenth Princess, upon learning of her mother’s absence, had worsened in her illness and didn’t look like she would last much longer.
Yet the two questions raised by the Empress still lingered in his mind, gradually becoming a knot in his heart.
He had already ordered Pan Hai to investigate. Chen Meiren came from an ordinary background, her parents long deceased, with only an elder brother serving as an official in another region.
Over the years, the siblings had barely kept in touch.
How could such an ordinary, lowly concubine have access to such strange substances to harm others?
Emperor Jingming was the first to disbelieve that Chen Meiren had no one behind her.
But the Empress had been investigating for so long, not just Chen Meiren’s quarters, but the entire Yuquan Palace had been searched several times over. Even Consort Xian had been temporarily moved elsewhere, yet not a single clue had been found.
Although Emperor Jingming had the Eastern Depot and the Jinlin Guard at his disposal, these were used to monitor certain officials and government offices. Not to mention Emperor Jingming’s lenient nature, even looking back through history, no emperor had used such means to monitor their inner court.
The ruler of the inner court was the Empress.
Emperor Jingming’s reluctance to interfere didn’t mean he wasn’t concerned about Chen Meiren’s affair.
Yet the Empress just couldn’t produce a satisfactory answer.
Disappointment, frustration, vexation… a mix of emotions intertwined, making even his beloved novels lose their appeal.
Emperor Jingming tossed the novel onto his desk and asked Pan Hai, “My eyelid keeps twitching. They say there’s a folk belief about this. Pan Hai, is it the left eye twitching for wealth and the right for calamity, or the other way around?”
Pan Hai broke into a cold sweat.
The Emperor had recently stopped hiding his novel reading, showing just how foul his mood had become.
What should he say?
After a moment’s thought, Pan Hai smiled and asked, “Which eyelid is twitching, Your Majesty?”
Emperor Jingming gave Pan Hai a long look and said, “The right one.”
Pan Hai’s heart skipped a beat. As he pondered how to respond, the sound of urgent footsteps approached.