Chapter 5

Wedding customs in the Central Plains are complicated, and only a few emcees in Xiliang City know them. After Lan Yun met the princess last night, she found the current emcee overnight.

The old master of ceremonies was not a good-tempered man. He asked Lan Yunyi all sorts of questions, but Lan Yunyi didn't understand. Finally, when asked about the Lan family elders... he found out that she didn't even have parents!

After the wedding, Lan Yunyi bid farewell to the old master of ceremonies. The old master of ceremonies complained a lot, especially when he remembered that someone had caused trouble when they were stepping over the fire basin. He was furious and retorted, "General, what have you been doing these past few days instead of preparing for the wedding?! I heard that you've been going to the coffin shop in the west of the city every day. Aren't you afraid of causing trouble for yourself?!"

Lan Yunyi's face darkened slightly, then she chuckled and said, "I'm sorry to have made the old lady laugh. Ayuan, see the guest out."

A gloomy young man beside him came out to see the old master of ceremonies off, but the old master of ceremonies snorted and ignored everyone, turning and leaving.

By this time, the sun had set and the guests had almost all left, but there was an old man with white hair clinging to Zhou Sui, drinking and crying as he drank, looking quite unhappy.

Lan Yunyi put on a smile and went to help the magistrate out. When the magistrate saw her, he pointed at her and stammered, "Princess...you have an extraordinary bearing!"

Lan Yunyi smiled and said, "The magistrate has excellent taste."

The county magistrate's name was Chen Ming. He was from the capital and became a Jinshi in the twelfth year of the Yuanhui era. He once served as the governor of Yangzhou, but because he was too eloquent and constantly criticized the emperor for being incompetent, he was demoted to the position of county magistrate in Xiliang.

But after he finished speaking, instead of the knowing smile one would show upon seeing a beautiful woman, his drunken face appeared even more bitter and sorrowful: "Zhi Shi..."

Lan Yunyi looked at him.

"Zhishi" is his courtesy name, given to him by Chen Ming when he came of age last year. Chen Ming said that the meaning of clouds is ethereal and unpredictable, and the character "Lan" is noble and pure, which is not good for his fate. Therefore, "Shi" is used to transform the ethereal and counteract the evil aura that comes with his name.

Lan Yunyi liked the word very much, but so far, apart from the county magistrate, no one dared to address him that way.

To be honest, he wasn't particularly close to the county magistrate. He was just a free spirit who didn't care about details. Lan Yunyi admired his courage but lack of strategy, but she disliked him more than anything.

Sure enough, after praising Shen Yao's extraordinary demeanor and stunning beauty, he began to shed tears.

Lan Yunyi sighed, patted his shoulder and said, "Magistrate Chen, there's no need to worry too much."

But Magistrate Chen ignored him, or perhaps he was too drunk to hear what he was saying: "It's hard to be a prince consort. Princess Yao doesn't seem like a good woman who is suitable for marriage."

Lan Yunyi frowned. It was not a good thing to speak ill of the princess, especially since Princess Yao was jealous.

Magistrate Chen, oblivious to his displeasure, continued, "If the princess is assertive, you and Qingqing will have a tough time in the future."

Lan Yunyi took a deep breath and said, "Miss Song has no connection with me. Magistrate, you are overthinking it. Zhou Sui!"

Zhou Sui nodded, hooking the magistrate's arm around his shoulder, preparing to forcibly drag him away. But the magistrate suddenly grabbed Lan Yunyi's sleeve and continued shouting, "Last year I went to the capital to pay my respects to the Minister of Revenue. The Third Princess married my poor little nephew… She was already in her second marriage, and yet after the marriage… she actually kept male lovers in the princess's residence!" With that, the magistrate roared angrily, "His wife is promiscuous, and my nephew has endured it all in silence. He is truly a disgrace to all men! If it were me, I would beat that woman so badly she would never dare to show her face again!!"

Lan Yunyi agreed repeatedly, but the smile on his lips had vanished. He pushed the magistrate to Zhou Sui and said, "The magistrate is drunk. Quickly help him home to rest."

Zhou Sui agreed verbally, but paused for a moment, looking at Lan Yunyi with a complicated expression.

Lan Yunyi: "?"

Zhou Sui frowned, seemingly struggling to find the right words, and said, "General, the other day when I saw the princess, I felt that she... must really like your face."

Lan Yunyi smiled and asked, "What do you mean?"

Zhou Sui hurriedly said, "I didn't mean you were like a male concubine. No... I meant that the general will likely be quite favored by the princess in the future... No, I meant that the general will surely have a happy family, and the princess will definitely be infatuated with you! Yes, that's what I mean."

Lan Yunyi's expression changed from gloomy to cloudy.

He was repeatedly mocked by foreign enemies as the "Jade-Faced General," and in his youth, he was also insulted by his own people, who said that he would surely rise to prominence if he became a male concubine to the princesses. Although these were all underhanded provocations, they still made him resentful for a time when people talked about his face.

However, he never said these words aloud, and it turned out that having a handsome face did have some use. Although he hated his own face, it didn't stop him from using it.

Zhou Sui continued, "This morning I deliberately tested her, but I didn't expect the princess to have placed your outer robe in her bedroom."

Lan Yunyi paused, then sneered, "No matter what, I will never let her touch me."

Zhou Sui looked at him with suspicion, thinking to himself, "What kind of person would marry a wife and not let anyone touch her?"

Lan Yunyi ignored his confusion and asked again, "By the way, what happened to your face?"

Just as Zhou Sui was about to say something, his eyes suddenly sharpened, and he looked fiercely in the direction behind Lan Yunyi. Lan Yunyi turned around and saw a young girl walking out of the backyard from under the eaves in the distance.

Xia Guo, who had been discovered, calmly stepped forward and said, "Prince Consort, the princess has sent me to ask when you will return."

Lan Yunyi paused: "What's wrong?"

"The princess said she wants to rest early today."

Lan Yunyi frowned: "...You're going to rest before you've even drunk the nuptial wine? Has the princess had her dinner yet?"

Xia Guo shook her head.

Magistrate: "In broad daylight! Such debauchery and immorality!"

The sun had already begun to set in the west, and the moon was already casting its shadow in the east.

Lan Yunyi frowned and urged, "Send them away quickly." After saying that, she hurriedly turned around and left with Xia Guo.

Xia Guo didn't know what the princess meant by that. Perhaps it was because she was only 18 and the princess was too embarrassed to explain it to her directly. But she wasn't a child anymore; the palace maids had already taught her those things.

So Xia Guo said, "The princess said that after eating, she should bathe, change clothes, and go to sleep; she doesn't want to do anything else."

Lan Yunyi kept walking, closely following Xia Guo, and said with a smile, "The princess is really..."

The general's mansion was quite large, but it had few servants and the owner had no taste for decorating his home, so the interior and exterior were all white walls and gray tiles, and the few fruit trees that were there were withered.

Shen Yao strolled around her courtyard for a while, vaguely forming some plans in her mind, but she needed to think about them more carefully, so she didn't plan to take any action tonight. After her stroll, she asked Xia Guo to go find Lan Yunyi, wanting to tell him that she would take a bath, change clothes, and go to bed after dinner, and didn't want to... uh, didn't want to do anything else.

On the one hand, it was because she really couldn't accept that she had suddenly gained a husband before she had even been in a relationship, and on the other hand, it was because of the emperor's words.

She didn't want to share a bed with someone who wasn't her dreamer.

She pondered for a long time, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that the emperor meant for Shen Yao to poison Lan Yunyi. So she poured the bottle of wine into the flower garden, and as she expected, in no time, more than half of the flowers withered and died.

Shen Yao was speechless and choked with emotion. While giving the emperor a terrible review of his political skills, she found a sliver of reason why the male protagonist, Zhao Chong, was able to overthrow the regime.

Even someone as clueless as the male protagonist knows that, apart from Lan Yunyi and his Lan family army, no one else is willing to stay in Xiliang and risk their lives against the fierce and warlike Jin people. However, the emperor is worried that Lan Yunyi will control the crown prince in the future and wants to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Moreover, she prided herself on being very good at reading people, yet she almost failed to see through her father's thoughts. The emperor's ambiguous attitude also indicated that he had not completely made up his mind to kill Lan Yunyi, and that things would surely take a "turnaround" in the future.

He put Shen Yao in a dilemma: not killing her would be disobeying the imperial decree, but killing her would prevent him from being purged in the future.

Therefore, Shen Yao could only pretend to be stupid and act as if she had never understood what the emperor was saying.

A bottle of wine ruined the soil in the flowerbed. However, Shen Yao knew how to renovate the old soil. Following this line of thought, she gradually made a plan for the land in the yard, and then she made a plan for how to establish her authority.

She needed to think about the specifics further tomorrow. Shen Yao wasn't in a hurry. After having an idea, she roughly wrote it down, and then her thoughts became unstoppable.

Just then, Xia Guo suddenly returned, knocked on the door and said, "Princess, the Prince Consort has arrived."

Shen Yao paused in her writing, put the paper away, and said, "Come in, everyone."

As the door opened, Xia Guo, dressed in a charming red dress, walked into the room, followed by a tall young man in a striking red outfit.

During the wedding ceremony, Shen Yao was so focused on getting the ceremony over with that she didn't pay much attention. Now, Lan Yunyi stood at the doorway bathed in the setting sun. She was tall with long legs, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist, dressed in red, exuding a more vibrant and dignified beauty than she had the night before.

Shen Yao sat behind the desk, staring at his face for a while, her mind filled with doubts. The most crucial question, however, was whether Lan Yunyi knew about the original owner's and the emperor's intentions?

He knew that Shen Yao was inclined to believe it.

She felt like she had stepped into another dead end.

Just as Shen Yao was feeling quite desperate about her future, Lan Yunyi suddenly stopped smiling, took a half step back, and lowered her eyes.

Shen Yao was puzzled and asked with amusement, "Prince Consort, what's wrong?"

Upon hearing Shen Yao's words, Lan Yunyi respectfully cupped her hands and said, "It's nothing."

Why are you putting on airs even when there's nothing wrong?

Shen Yao frowned.

At this moment, Xia Guo walked over and whispered in her ear what she had heard and seen at the gate of the Lan residence. After listening to half of it, Shen Yao roughly understood Lan Yunyi's thoughts and waved her hand, saying, "You don't need to repeat the words that insult me ​​to me. Let them say what they want. I am just that domineering."

A hint of surprise crossed Xia Guo's face. The princess had clearly been very concerned about these things before, making her tell her every word. Her sudden indifference now didn't seem fake.

However, she thought it was a good thing, so she nodded happily.

After she finished speaking, she left, leaving the two people in the room staring at each other in bewilderment.

Shen Yao sat behind the desk and looked at Lan Yunyi, continuing from where she left off: "I am not only strong-willed, but also jealous. I am not a good person, but I will not do anything improper. I only hope that I can get along well with the Prince Consort in the future."

Shen Yao felt that Xia Guo had already conveyed the message to Lan Yunyi, so she didn't want to say anything more. She would move out once the princess's residence was built, and living there would prevent gossip. As long as they didn't formally divorce, it would be acceptable to the emperor.

"We are husband and wife, bound by a deep bond and unwavering love. I, Lan, and the princess will surely get along well." Lan Yunyi's demeanor grew even more respectful as she continued, "That Chen Ming is the elder brother of the current Minister of Revenue. He is dedicated to his work and loves the people, and is not inherently bad, but he is outspoken. He was demoted at the age of forty and abandoned by his first wife for many years. Seeing me, Lan, and the princess in such harmony today has made him unhappy, hence his hostility towards the princess. I hope the princess will forgive his transgression."

Shen Yao rested her chin on her hand and looked at him for a while, then told him to get up and said, "I understand. If you don't wish to, you don't have to kneel before me."

Lan Yunyi replied, "I have no objection."

After saying that, she stood up with her lunchbox in hand. Only then did Shen Yao notice that Xia Guo hadn't been holding anything.

Lan Yunyi brought the lunchbox into the dining table and said, "Xia Guo said that the princess doesn't like greasy food at night, so the kitchen made some light snacks. I hope the princess likes them."

Shen Yao didn't move, leaning back in the armchair, one eye hidden in the shadows, and said coldly, "The prince consort is really too attentive."

The clinking of dishes and bowls inside the room paused slightly, then Lan Yunyi said lightly, "The one being so attentive is not the prince consort, but my sister's husband."

Shen Yao: "...Your little mouth is quite sweet."