Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 393 - 391 (Fourth Update)

Chapter 393: Chapter 391 (Fourth Update)

Finally, back to the Imperial City!

The prisoner’s carriage of General Dingyuan entered the city.

All the people in the city were ready with rotten cabbage leaves and rotten eggs to throw at him.

The Imperial City was not like the northwest, the people here had much better lives, rotten eggs were not hard to find.

The Emperor rewarded the heroes of the northwest campaign generously.

Those who had merits were rewarded heavily, while those who committed crimes were severely punished!

Shangguan Xuanyi submitted all the evidence to the Emperor’s desk.

Shangguan Xuanyi also told about the things he encountered in the northwest and the assassination attempts on the way back to the Imperial City, he mentioned the room full of gold and arranged for it to be secretly transported back in batches to the national treasury.

Shangguan Xuanyi just plainly narrated everything that had happened without adding any of his own opinions.

Now the national treasury was no longer empty, the Emperor should have been glad, but he couldn’t be happy.

After Shangguan Xuanyi had left the imperial study, the Emperor began to ponder.

Consort Yang had become a consort of the Xiyue Country and she had attempted to control the Mistress of Rui’an County through demonic methods!

Yang Yong was the son of Prime Minister Yang and the princess of Xiyue Country!

He had never expected that the former Prime Minister Yang and Xiyue Country had such a close relationship!

The Emperor thought of the First Prince, a son who looked ninety percent like Consort Yang but not at all like him! His face changed color.

For the first time, the Emperor could not control the rage boiling within him!

He fiercely punched a gilded column engraved with dragons and phoenixes.

Good! This is just too good! Indeed, those who are not of my race must have different hearts!

...

With the war in the northwest settled, it was time to discuss the First Prince’s marriage.

The Empress Dowager rushed to discuss the First Prince’s marriage with the Emperor and the Empress.

"Let’s keep things simple! The war in the northwest has just ended, many soldiers have died, to have a grand ceremony now would be unjust to their brave sacrifices!"

The Empress Dowager was stunned: "..."

How come that the Prince’s marriage can’t be grandly celebrated because soldiers have died? How could this be fair to them?

When did the Prince’s wedding need to make concessions to the dead soldiers?

The Empress also looked at the Emperor in confusion.

The Emperor coughed to hide his feelings in front of the two most important women in his life. He couldn’t possibly tell them that the First Prince might not be his son!

Not only could he not tell them, but he also couldn’t expose this matter! Otherwise, he, the mighty Emperor, would become the laughingstock of the world!

Thinking about the possibility that he could have been raising someone else’s son for all these years, and now he may even have to arrange a wedding for someone else’s son, he couldn’t feel happy. Not only was he not happy, he even felt a great sense of humiliation.

"The national treasury is empty, I have to use my private silver to appease the families of the soldiers, if even the Prince’s wedding is simplified because of the soldiers’ sacrifices, wouldn’t that inspire the morale of the soldiers and warm their hearts?"

The Empress: "..."

The Empress Dowager: "..." She really wanted to say to hell with inspiring the soldiers and warming their hearts!

After saying this, the Emperor had them sent away, saying that he still had a pile of memorials to review, and he was not in the mood to deal with the matter of possibly marrying off another man’s son.

When the First Prince found out that his wedding had to be kept simple, he was so angry that he smashed a teacup!

After smashing the cup, he stood up immediately, intending to find the Empress Dowager to vent his grievances.

When his hidden guard delivered a secret report to him, he fell back into his chair after reading it, taking a long time to recover from the shock.

The Empress Mother is dead!

The Emperor must have suspected something!

That’s why my marriage was so hastily arranged!

...

The New Year had quickly come and gone and the day of the First Prince’s marriage was drawing near.

This time, the First Prince was marrying both his principal wife and a concubine simultaneously.

The Empress Dowager couldn’t bear to have her eldest grandson marry Lan Yue as his principal wife, after all, Lan Yue lacked looks, talent and a good background. She felt it was an injustice to her eldest grandson.

The Empress Dowager thought over it and eventually decreed the daughter of the Minister of Revenue, Liang Yanli, to be the side wife to the First Prince.

Although Liang Yanli’s voice was not melodious, she was beautiful and her father was a high-ranking official. This way, it was not considered an insult to her eldest grandson.

On this day, Xiao’er had just returned to the mansion after her classes at the Zhixin Academy.

Yang Liu handed her two invitations.

Xiao’er first opened the big red invitation; it was an invitation from the First Prince’s principal wife, inviting her to serve as a bridesmaid.

Thinking of Lan Yue’s peculiar temperament, Xiao’er was extremely reluctant.

She opened the pink invitation, glanced at it, and couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows: Liang Yanli had invited her to serve as a bridesmaid at her wedding.

The two women of the First Prince were already rivaling each other before they even became his wives! The days to come are sure to be lively!

On this day, not only did Xiao’er receive two invitations, but so did all the unmarried young ladies.

Everyone had a struggle in their hearts, wondering whose bridesmaid they should be.

Go to the principal wife! With Lan Yue’s circumstances, once they entered the First Prince’s Mansion, they would undoubtedly be cannon fodder.

Go to the side wife! Lan Yue will definitely be the principal wife in the short term, so what if she makes things difficult for them!

Yang Liu, unable to curb her curiosity, asked Xiao’er: "Miss, where do you plan to go?"

"Of course, to the principal wife’s place." Xiao’er put down the two invitations.

Given her status, she wouldn’t worry about offending anyone no matter where she went. Naturally, she would follow the rule.

She didn’t favor either Lan Yue or Liang Yanli! If it weren’t for the boredom, she would have feigned illness and not gone at all. What could they do about it?!

The Prince’s wedding began in the middle of the night to receive the bride. There were many royal rules and ceremonies, if they waited for daylight to receive the bride, it would probably be dark when they finished with the ceremony!

The bridal party was essentially a gathering on the day before the wedding, where the bridesmaids and the bride exchanged gifts as a token of their future relationship, and bid farewell to the bride’s maiden days.

On this particular day, after eating breakfast and dressing up, Xiao’er took a carriage to the Lan Mansion.

The Lan Mansion was just a modest two-entry courtyard. Although red lanterns were hung and there were festive couplets, it seemed somewhat deserted with not a single carriage outside.

Contrastingly, several carriages were already parked outside the Minister of Revenue’s mansion, Liang’s Mansion, and there was a constant stream of people going in and out of the front door.

As soon as Xiao’er’s carriage stopped at the Lan Mansion, a maid hastily greeted her and led them in. At the same time, the maid exhaled in relief - the young miss had already sent people to check several times. If no guests had shown up, the young miss might have blown the roof off in anger.

Lan Yue was on the verge of tearing her handkerchief apart in her room! That damn Liang Yanli, a mere concubine, dared to steal her thunder!

Wait until she becomes the wife of the First Prince, she’ll teach her a good lesson!

And as for the young ladies who chose to go to Liang Yanli’s house instead of hers today, once she becomes the wife of the First Prince, she will not let any of them off!