When Mrs. Qin heard her husband's sigh, her heart went cold.
She had been married into the Qin family for more than 20 years, and she had wiped the red-lettered iron certificate countless times with her own hands. Only today did she realize that she could not be protected by it.
Therefore, she was destined not to escape today.
In that case, it would be better to drag that vicious woman to hell with her.
She thought desperately, and suddenly she struggled to break free from the guard's hand, pulled out the golden hairpin on her head and pounced on Xie Nanjia.
"You evil woman, I will never let you go even if I die!" She screamed and stabbed the hairpin into Xie Nanjia's throat.
"Oh my God!" Everyone exclaimed in surprise. No one expected that Mrs. Qin had a backup plan.
The situation happened too quickly and Xie Nanjia was unable to dodge. She just leaned back instinctively.
At the critical moment, a cold light flashed from behind her, passed along her shoulder and sent forward, piercing Mrs. Qin's throat silently and smoothly like a knife cutting tofu.
Mrs. Qin widened her eyes in horror, a gurgling sound came from her throat, and blood gushed out like a stream.
There was dead silence inside and outside the court, and people stared at the man with a sword standing behind Xie Nanjia with wide eyes.
The man calmly stretched out his other hand, slowly pulled Xie Nanjia away, and pushed her to Zhao Jingyu's side.
Zhao Jingyu quickly pulled Xie Nanjia into his arms, and when he came to his senses, he found that his hands and feet were shaking uncontrollably.
"Brother!" Xie Nanjia turned her head and saw that the man was Su Jincheng. She couldn't help but call him in surprise.
Su Jincheng indifferently drew back his sword and dodged the moment blood spurted out.
Mrs. Qin fell to the ground with a thud, her eyes wide open, she died with her eyes open.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, thinking to themselves, Commander Su really is worthy of being the most trusted imperial guard of the emperor. He is so agile and his swordsmanship is so exquisite. Today we have finally opened our eyes.
Although they said they opened their eyes, in fact, at the moment the situation happened, they didn't even see where Su Jincheng came from.
"Xiu'er, Xiu'er..." The relatives of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion rushed to Xie Nanjia. At the same time, Qin Chuan finally came to his senses, let out an earth-shaking howl, knelt on the ground and hugged Madam Qin's body.
No one was paying attention to Li at this time. She crawled out of the crowd in fear, curled up in the corner of the court, hugged herself and trembled.
If she had known the result would be like this, she would not have dared to say a bad word about Xiu'er even if she had ten thousand guts.
How could she have imagined that the timid little girl who was bullied by everyone back then would now be so powerful and loved by everyone
Thinking back on what she had done to Xiu'er in the past, she realized with horror that her days might be over.
The prefect just said that those who confess will be given leniency, so if she confesses now, does she still have a chance
Thinking of this, she desperately got up and shouted loudly: "I confess, I am guilty..."
Everyone was startled by her and stopped to look at her.
Li knelt on the ground with a plop, kowtowed and said, "I was wrong. I shouldn't have listened to Madam Qin's instigation and slandered the Crown Princess. The Crown Princess has not had an affair with anyone, let alone been pregnant. The Crown Princess is innocent. It was my son Hu An who intended to do something bad to the Crown Princess, but the mountain wall collapsed and crushed him to death. I was resentful and wanted to avenge my son, so I framed the Crown Princess. I am guilty, I am guilty. Please, sir, spare my life for the sake of my husband and son's loss!"
After listening to her stammering words, the people finally understood the whole story and laughed at her for being ignorant and foolish.
Xie Nanjia's innocence had been proven, so he handed over the funeral affairs to the prefect and returned home with his relatives.
As for what punishment Li would receive, she didn't care at all, because she knew that even if Li was acquitted, she would not have the courage to be her enemy again, not to mention that the prefect would not acquit her.
The next day, Song Wanji specially asked Zhao Jingyu to bring Xie Nanjia into the palace and held a banquet to calm her down. The empress dowager and the concubine both came to accompany Xie Nanjia.
During the dinner, Song Wanji said many words to comfort Xie Nanjia, saying that even if the truth could not be found out in the end, it would not prevent her from marrying into the Eastern Palace because everyone believed that she was innocent.
Xie Nanjia just smiled and said nothing, silently saying "Bullshit!" in her heart.
Zhao Jingyu was right. His biological father was much more cunning than Marquis Dingyuan.
The empress dowager was afraid that Xie Nanjia had some resentment in her heart, so she diligently urged her to eat and drink all night and tried to coax her with nice words.
Xie Nanjia found it funny. In fact, they didn't have to be like this. She didn't want to marry them. As long as Zhao Jingyu treated her well, what else mattered
After the banquet, the Queen Mother asked Zhao Jingyu to send Xie Nanjia back, and said, "You will be married in three days. Starting tomorrow, you can't see each other anymore, so if you have anything to say, just say it on the way!"
When Zhao Jingyu heard that he couldn't see Xie Nanjia for three days, he immediately became anxious: "Why can't I see her? What kind of rule is this?"
"This is the rule passed down by our ancestors. Auspicious days are selected by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory. It would be unlucky to see them in advance." The Queen Mother explained.
Zhao Jingyu curled her lips and disagreed, but in the end she didn't object any more and couldn't wait to take Xie Nanjia away.
If he had known that they wouldn't be able to meet for the next three days, he wouldn't have wasted time here with a group of people.
"Wife, will you miss me after not being able to see me for three days?" Sitting in the carriage, he asked Xie Nanjia reluctantly.
"It's only three days, what are you thinking about?" Xie Nanjia said, "It stands to reason that men and women cannot see each other from the time of engagement to the time of marriage. Have you ever seen people like us who stay together all the time, like an old married couple? There's no novelty even before we get married."
"How is that possible?" Zhao Jingyu said with a smile, "I don't know what you are like, but I will always be interested in you."
"You're lying." Xie Nanjia said she didn't believe him. "You won't say that when I'm old."
"It's because we will grow old that every day is different!" Zhao Jingyu said, "If you always look the same as now, there will be no freshness. I am willing to accompany you and watch you grow older day by day. Even if you are old, you are still my most beloved girl."
"..." Xie Nanjia rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't help laughing.
Although we know that most of the sweet words from men are unreliable, which girl doesn’t like sweet words
"I heard that you girls will embroider your own wedding dresses when you get married. Have you embroidered one? What does your wedding dress look like? It must be very beautiful, right?" Zhao Jingyu asked expectantly, as if he couldn't wait to see her wearing her wedding dress.
Imagine a girl embroidering her wedding dress stitch by stitch in order to marry you, just waiting for the day when you come riding on a tall horse and bringing a big red sedan to take her home. What a wonderful thing it is, and just thinking about it makes one's blood boil.
Unfortunately, Xie Nanjia's answer disappointed him: "I don't have time to embroider that. I just embroidered a veil."
"..." Zhao Jingyu felt as if a basin of cold water was poured over his head. His enthusiasm was instantly extinguished. He stared at Xie Nanjia with resentment in his peach blossom eyes, and his mouth was pouted so much that it could tie a donkey.
Xie Nanjia laughed out loud. He looked so cute that she couldn't help but lean over and give him a gentle kiss on his pouting lips.
Zhao Jingyu was so shocked that his whole body froze. He could only blink his eyes again and again. After a long while, he finally said, "Did you flirt with me?"
Xie Nanjia: “…I guess so!”
"No, I'm going to go back!" Zhao Jingyu suddenly rushed over and hugged her, covering her mouth without saying a word.
The carriage was shaking with a groaning sound, and Wei Jun and Huangfu almost had nosebleeds outside.
The Second Young Master is too impatient. He can’t bear it anymore with only three days left
When Xie Nanjia returned home, the whole family was waiting for her at the old lady's place, wanting to know whether the emperor and the empress dowager had changed their attitude towards her.
The hall was brightly lit. As soon as Xie Nanjia entered the room, Sheng Qingyun noticed something was wrong. He pointed at her lips and asked, "Xiu'er, why are your lips so red?"
Xie Nanjia almost ran away, and hurriedly covered up, "There was a very spicy dish at the banquet, and I accidentally ate it, and it became so spicy."
"What kind of pepper is so spicy?" Sheng Qingyun asked without thinking too much.
Xie Nanjia: “…”
The old lady was more experienced. She guessed what was going on and helped Xie Nanjia out. "You should be careful about not eating spicy food. What are the attitudes of the empress dowager and the emperor when you enter the palace this time?"
Xie Nanjia finally breathed a sigh of relief and replied with a blushing face: "The Queen Mother and the Emperor were very enthusiastic. They were afraid that I would be affected by the rumors, so they comforted me for a long time and told me not to take it to heart."
"Oh, that's good. It seems that the Queen Mother and the Emperor still value you very much." The old lady nodded with relief.
"That's right. Our Xiu'er is so outstanding. No matter who she marries into, her parents-in-law will treat her like a treasure." The Fourth Lady complimented at the right time.
Sheng Qingyun felt honored that his daughter was praised. He pretended to advise Xie Nanjia to be virtuous and then turned the topic to the dowry.
When the prince married, the betrothal gift was very generous, including one thousand taels of gold and silver, one thousand rolls of brocade of various colors, twenty horses with full saddles and bridles, four jade ruyi handles, pearls and agates, jewelry and head ornaments, and boxes of antique calligraphy and paintings.
In order to be worthy of this generous betrothal gift and not let their daughters lose their status, the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion and the General's Mansion each prepared 64 boxes of dowry. In addition, there was dowry from Sheng Qingyun's mother's family, the Earl of Zhongyong's Mansion, as well as dowry from other relatives and friends, totaling 20 boxes.
With so much dowry, let alone displaying it all in public, it would take at least two hours just to carry it from the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion to the Eastern Palace.
The old lady specially selected eight loyal and reliable maids from the mansion and asked them to enter the palace with the dowry that day and be responsible for looking after it to prevent it from being lost.
Time passed quickly, and three days later, the much-anticipated wedding of the prince arrived as scheduled.
On this day, the capital city was decorated with lights and colorful lanterns, and the sound of gongs and drums could be heard. People took to the streets, gathering on the road from the Imperial City to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, vying to watch this grand wedding.
All the restaurants and teahouses along the street were packed with customers, and all the shops with second floors were booked out. Even the upstairs of the coffin shop was not spared, being booked out for a huge sum of money just to be able to look down at this unprecedented spectacle from above.
After looking forward to it for so long, it was finally his turn to get married. Zhao Jingyu was so excited that he couldn't sleep for half the night before. Worried that he would look bad the next day if he didn't sleep, he even ordered Wei Jun to knock him out.
How could Wei Jun dare to hit him? He had no choice but to go to the imperial physician and get him some tranquilizers, which allowed him to fall into a peaceful sleep.
The next day, at dawn, Zhao Jingyu got up by himself without Wei Jun calling him. The first thing he did was to ask Wei Jun to bring him a mirror so that he could check his complexion.
The old lady who was in charge of combing his hair couldn't stop laughing, and said that she had never seen such an excited groom in her life.
Zhao Jingyu shamelessly asked the nanny: "Why haven't I seen it before? Aren't other grooms excited?"
"..." the old nanny thought to herself, I am also excited, but not as excited as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
After washing up, Zhao Jingyu changed into the bright red groom's suit, bid farewell to the emperor and went to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion to welcome his bride at the auspicious time calculated by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory.
When worshiping the ancestors yesterday, Song Wanji had already told him what he had warned him. Now, seeing him dressed in a bright red wedding dress, looking happy and full of energy, he could not help but feel a lot of emotion. He took his hand and warned him again: "Son, you have finally grown up and are going to start a family. From now on, you must act calmly and avoid being arrogant and impatient..."
"Alright, alright, I got it. If you have anything to say, come back and talk to me. Don't waste my precious time." Zhao Jingyu was not calm at all. Instead, he became even more arrogant. He waved his hands and left impatiently.
Song Wanji was both angry and amused. He stood in front of the steps and watched him go away, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Hongyi, look, our son has grown up and is getting married. You can rest assured over there. In a few years, I will come to find you..."
Zhao Jingyu led the wedding procession all the way out of Zhengyang Gate, mounted his horse outside the gate, and accompanied by Cheng Zhiye, Zhou Yuncheng and ten other young masters of aristocratic families, went east and then north, going around half of the city to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion to pick up the bride. On the way back, they had to go from west to south and around half of the city to get back to the East Palace.
It was exactly noon when they went around half of the city, and the wedding procession had to have a quick meal and tea at the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion before returning.
Zhao Jingyu was already anxious and had many complaints about the complicated rules. Walking on the street, he whispered to Cheng Zhiye, "Who made these rules? Aren't they deliberately making things difficult for me?"
Cheng Zhiye couldn't help but remind him: "Quickly stop being so impatient. This doesn't look like you're getting married. This looks like you're going to attack a city."
"…" Zhao Jingyu was stunned for a moment, then turned to ask Zhou Yuncheng, "Do I have it?"
"Yes." Zhou Yuncheng said, "He is not like the calm and composed Mr. Zhao in the past."
"Really?" Zhao Jingyu quickly suppressed his inner impatience, took a deep breath, calmed himself, and regained his usual unrestrained state. With his chin slightly raised, his peach blossom eyes filled with affection and smile as he passed by the crowd on both sides of the road, immediately causing the girls to scream.
"Is this okay?" he asked in a low voice.
(End of this chapter)