When the peach blossoms were in full bloom, the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion held an unprecedented collective wedding, with twelve young masters from four houses marrying their brides on the same day.
This incident not only caused a sensation in the capital, but also in the entire Great Zhou. Not to mention since the founding of the Great Zhou, there has been almost no such example from ancient times to the present.
People who heard the news wanted to see something new, so they flocked to the capital from all directions on the wedding day. It was even more lively than the Lantern Festival.
In order to hold this collective wedding successfully, the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion specially booked Chunfangyuan, the largest garden in the capital.
Chunfang Garden is a garden where the nobles in Beijing hold large banquets every spring and autumn. It covers a vast area and can accommodate thousands of people at a time. The garden is equipped with various entertainment facilities such as Cuju field, shooting range, horse racing track, theater, banquet hall, etc. The garden is planted with exotic flowers and plants. Every spring, the garden is full of green trees, red flowers, peach and plum trees, and is a beautiful sight.
On this day, twelve big red sedan chairs were carried into the garden, and the twelve couples worshipped heaven and earth and their parents under the watchful eyes of thousands of people. After worshipping heaven and earth, the twelve grooms lifted the red veils for their brides on the spot. The twelve beautiful smiles like peaches and plums made everyone envious.
The twelve brides appeared to be very calm and composed, but in fact, their palms were soaked with sweat. For this unconventional and unique wedding ceremony, they needed great courage to overcome their inner shyness, and they had rehearsed for it several times in advance.
They had never thought that they would get married in such a sensational way. This shocking idea was thought up by their only sister-in-law, Xie Nanjia. In order to convince them to accept this form of wedding, Xie Nanjia said that this would be a wedding that would go down in the history of the Great Zhou Dynasty. As long as they had enough courage, they could become women who would go down in history.
From ancient times to the present, no woman has had such an honor.
This huge temptation made them take a brave step. Now, standing in front of the guests in the garden, listening to the tide of applause and praise, and feeling the envious and jealous gazes of the girls, they feel that their lives have reached an unprecedented peak.
Regardless of whether it will be recorded in history books, at least people will mention this wedding at every wedding in the future, and their glory today will never be surpassed.
Even if any other family has twelve young men, it is impossible for them to get married in the same year, because the young men of the Su family missed the best age for marriage in order to wait for their sisters to come home, which led to the current unprecedented occasion.
The most shocking among them was the eldest son Su Jincheng, because no one expected that he would marry the emperor's fifth princess, Princess Wen Zhao.
Although the Great Zhou Dynasty did not have a clear ban on princes-in-law taking concubines or serving as officials like other dynasties, there were still many rules and taboos for marrying princesses. If a princess had a willful personality, her parents-in-law would have to serve her instead.
Therefore, all the good men with good background and abilities would avoid Princess Shang. Most of the time, the emperor would force a marriage on whoever he liked, and the people being married had no choice but to obey.
So people couldn't understand why a good young man like Su Jincheng would be willing to marry a princess, and a princess who was not favored at that. You have to know that he is now the future uncle of the emperor, and if you add the identity of a son-in-law, he is simply the most taboo relative in the court of the emperor, and his future is really worrying.
Xie Nanjia understood best the twists and turns that outsiders could not understand, because it was she who arranged the marriage between Su Jincheng and Princess Wen Zhao.
Ever since she discovered Su Jincheng's abnormality on the Mid-Autumn Festival, she finally pried Su Jincheng open his mouth after several questions. It turned out that the person in Su Jincheng's heart was Princess Wen Zhao.
Princess Wen Zhao's biological mother passed away very early, and she was like a weed that no one cared about. In order to survive in the palace, she had to rely on the powerful Princess Wen'an. However, in the eyes of Princess Wen'an, she was just a toy that could be discarded at any time.
Her fate with Su Jincheng began with a disaster. She was bullied by other princesses and accidentally fell into the water. At the critical moment, Su Jincheng who was patrolling passed by and saved her. That night she had a high fever and her maid had nowhere to turn for help, so she had to ask Su Jincheng for help again. Su Jincheng brought the imperial physician to treat her and guarded her outside the palace all night just in case.
From then on, Su Jincheng's shadow was imprinted in Princess Wen Zhao's heart. She would often make snacks and embroider little things for him. If Su Jincheng was on duty one day, she would find a way to sneak out and wait for him on the road he must pass.
Over time, Su Jincheng gradually fell in love with her. Although they never said it out loud, they understood each other. However, some time ago, Su Jincheng suddenly became cold, stopped accepting her gifts, and tried his best to avoid meeting her.
Princess Wen Zhao didn't understand what was going on, and faced with her lover's increasingly indifferent attitude, she cried every day.
The maid gave her advice and asked her to ask the emperor to grant the marriage. She knew that if her father granted the marriage, Su Jincheng would have to obey, but she was unwilling to force him with such despicable means, so she never mentioned it to her father.
She privately guessed that Su Jincheng was probably thinking about his future, fearing that if he married the princess he would not be favored by the emperor. Moreover, his sister would become the crown princess and the queen in the future, and his status would be feared by others.
However, only Xie Nanjia knew the real reason. After her repeated questioning, Su Jincheng said that because Princess Wen Zhao and Princess Wen'an were close, and Princess Wen'an had offended Xie Nanjia, he was worried that Xie Nanjia would dislike Princess Wen Zhao, so he had to stay away from her.
This reason made Xie Nanjia laugh and cry. She never expected that her brother, who was always mature and steady, would have such a childish idea.
He doesn't care about fame or future, he only cares about whether his sister is happy and likes her.
"Your idea is wrong." Xie Nanjia couldn't help but teach him a lesson. "First of all, you should know that I'm not a petty person. Secondly, you should know that no matter how important your sister is, she can't accompany you for the rest of your life. The only one who can stay with you until old age is your wife. So you should put your wife first, and then your parents and children. As for me, your sister, I have my brother-in-law to love me, and you can't accompany me for the rest of my life either."
Su Jincheng was very sad after hearing this and it took him a long time to recover.
"I understand what you said, but our family situation is different." He said, "I lost you when you were a child. You suffered for twelve years. I owe you that. So, I want to do my best to make it up to you. As long as you can be happy, I don't care."
"I am very happy now." Xie Nanjia said, "but my greatest happiness is that all my relatives are happy. If one of you is not happy, my happiness will be halved. So brother, if you want me to be happy, you must make yourself happy first."
She knew that Su Jincheng was a bit stubborn, so she went to meet Princess Wen Zhao privately and taught her how to deal with this stubborn guy.
Act coquettishly, tease, give surprises, pretend to be sick, pretend to be fainted, pretend to meet by chance, anyway, as long as you are thick-skinned enough, you can use any tricks.
In the past, I had only heard from others that Princess Wen Zhao was smart and clever. But when I met her in person, I realized that she was not only smart and clever, but also very cunning.
With the help of Xie Nanjia, she quickly impressed Su Jincheng, who even went to the emperor in person to ask for her hand in marriage. The emperor was unexpectedly delighted, and not only agreed to their marriage on the spot, he also ordered people to redecorate the Prince of Wei's Mansion and gave it to her as a princess's mansion.
The Prince of Wei's Mansion was one of the largest mansions in the capital, and was the closest to the imperial city, where every inch of land was worth a lot of money. When she received the imperial edict granting her the mansion and marriage, she felt like she was in a dream. She was trembling with fear for several days, fearing that once she woke up, everything would disappear.
Until now, she still felt like a dream as she stood in public, as the eldest sister-in-law and at the head of the twelve brides, accepting everyone's applause and congratulations.
It turns out that a down-and-out princess can also have a day to embrace happiness.
The collective wedding had been talked about in the capital for several months before the heat gradually died down, and along with it came the happy news that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was about to get married.
That autumn, Zhou Yuncheng ranked among the top three in the high school entrance examination despite being unpopular with everyone. Cheng Zhiye's wife was also pregnant. The joy of becoming a father made Cheng Zhiye put aside his youthful arrogance. He generously let go of the buddy who had signed a promise to eat shit, and held a banquet in the VIP building to celebrate.
However, all this news was not as shocking as the news of the Crown Prince's wedding. People were all gearing up and couldn't wait to see what a grand scene the Crown Prince's wedding would be.
However, just a few days before the wedding, a very bad rumor suddenly spread secretly in the capital. Some people said that when the Crown Princess was still in Hongou Manor, she had an affair with the son of the chief steward and got pregnant.
The rumor spread overnight, shocking the entire capital.
When the news reached the palace, the emperor was shocked and immediately summoned Zhao Jingyu to the upper study to inquire about the situation.
Zhao Jingyu was also confused. He thought for a long time but couldn't figure out who was secretly making trouble for him. It was too mean to do this just when he and Xie Nanjia were about to get married.
"I have always been very tolerant of you two, and I rarely asked about what you did outside. But this matter concerns the dignity of the royal family. If the rumors are true, no matter how great her achievements are, Xiu'er cannot marry in." Song Wanji said very seriously, his face gloomier than ever before.
Zhao Jingyu also put away his usual carelessness and said seriously, "Although I don't know who is spreading rumors, I can guarantee with my life that Xiu'er has never done such a thing. She was wrongly accused."
Thinking back, he had once left Xie Nanjia alone and returned to Beijing in a fit of anger because of this rumor. He regretted it afterwards, but he did not expect that two years later, the rumor would actually reach the capital. This time, he could not let her down because of this rumor again.
Even if the truth cannot be uncovered in the end and Xie Nanjia cannot be cleared of all charges, he will still be with her even if it means sacrificing his position as crown prince.
No one can stop him from marrying her!
"You haven't slept with her, how do you know whether she did it or not?" Song Wanji questioned his words and said thoughtfully, "I think we should arrange for the palace's body examination nanny to examine her. If she is a virgin, I will have someone investigate the matter thoroughly and clear her name. If she is not a virgin, then you can't blame us for being disloyal."
"No, I object!" Zhao Jingyu was immediately annoyed. "Xiu'er has a very strong sense of self-esteem. A body examination is simply an insult to her. I don't agree to use this method to prove her innocence."
"How is this an insult? Even in normal times, concubines have to undergo a physical examination before entering the palace. Everyone has to go through this procedure." Song Wanji said.
"That won't do either. I don't care what your concubines want to do, but my wife can't be treated like this. I won't let her be manipulated like an animal!" Zhao Jingyu sternly rejected it with an unprecedented tough attitude.
Song Wanji was furious and slammed the table and stood up: "You are rebellious. How dare you talk to me like this? I think you are spoiled. You rely on my favor, the fact that no one competes with you for the position, and your own achievements, and you forget yourself and don't know who you are. My words are the imperial decree. If I say to verify, then verify. If not, don't even think about entering the palace!"
"If you don't want to go in, then don't go in. Can I stop being the crown prince?" Facing the furious emperor, Zhao Jingyu showed no fear. He shouted this sentence in a louder voice, turned around and left.
Song Wanji was so angry that his heart ached. He grabbed the teacup and threw it behind him, shouting, "Stop right there!"
Zhao Jingyu ignored him and walked away without looking back.
“…” Song Wanji was stunned on the spot, looking at the empty doorway, feeling powerless in his heart.
It's true that sons are no longer under the control of their fathers when they grow up!
(End of this chapter)