Chapter 442 Let Me Start from the Beginning
Inside the house, Chu Shangming grabbed the wedding dress and tried it on in front of the mirror. "It seems a little short. Can I change it?"
"You..." Yan Chengtao's eyebrows twitched, his face twitching, and after a long while he managed to utter, "Are you really going to wear it?"
Chu Shangming nodded and asked in confusion, "Brother Yan, don't you want to wear it?"
"No, no, no..." Yan Chengtao shook his head like a rattle, his head almost flying off, "I'd rather die than wear it."
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of handsome young men in gorgeous clothes rushed in.
"Why haven't you changed yet?"
"I'll help you!"
"Where is the jade crown for holding up the hair?"
"Where's the hijab?"
"Where's the belt?"
"Hurry, hurry, the auspicious time is coming!"
Accepting the good Chu Shangming: "Thank you, thank you."
Unable to resist Yan Chengtao: "Help!!!"
Gongs and drums sounded, suonas played, and the wedding procession picked up four newlyweds from the city lord's mansion and paraded through the city according to the planned route.
Flower petals fluttered and colorful ribbons flew along the way. The onlookers cheered loudly and rushed to catch the wedding money and candies that were scattered.
Although this ceremony took place every few months, it was the first time that four brides were married at once. The people were very enthusiastic, saying auspicious words skillfully and stretching their necks to look at the sedan chair, wanting to see what the four grooms looked like.
At this moment, something strange happened.
Several men in black descended from the sky, broke into the bridal sedan procession, snatched the groom and ran away.
This happened so suddenly that everyone was stunned when they saw the empty sedan chair. They screamed a little late, "Someone is kidnapping the bride!!"
"Come here, report to the city lord!"
"He's running over there, chase him!"
"Thieves, please leave!"
"stop!"
"stop!!"
In a private room on the second floor of the teahouse facing the street, a blue figure suddenly flashed out from the window, stepped on the tiles and eaves, and chased in the direction the man in black left.
"Miss!" Tongniang stretched out her hand but caught nothing, so she had to use her lightness skills to catch up.
Young Master Cang put the wedding candy he had snatched with great difficulty into his arms, thinking of sharing in the joy. When he heard the sound, he looked up and saw that his sweetheart was almost running away. He hurriedly tiptoed to chase after her.
"Ayao, wait for me!"
Seeing three people flying overhead, the people looked up and exclaimed in surprise, as if they were watching a big show.
Feng Jing, who was in the next box, poked his head out and looked in the direction where everyone disappeared. He murmured with a puzzled look on his face, "This is different from what we agreed on."
＊
Capital city, imperial palace.
[Wow! It's the City Lord's wedding banquet, worthy of its name. It's a buffet, and even the people of Guiyun City can attend. How much does it cost? It's so extravagant!]
Chu Liuzheng just did a quick calculation and couldn't help but cover his chest.
[Hmm~ I want a city too. 】
Xiao Jingfan, who had been listening to the live broadcast of Xinsheng for the whole morning, raised his eyelids slightly and thought distractedly: There is no city, but there are quite a few islands.
In fact, Chu Liuzheng was just talking nonsense. As long as she thought about how many affairs she had to deal with in managing the city, her eyes started to circle.
She could do this kind of thing in her previous life, but in this life she just wanted to lie down.
Before, her biggest dream was to open a small restaurant. Now that she can't open a restaurant, if she is lucky, she may be able to have enough food and clothing for the rest of her life. It's not bad to think about it.
After taking a big sip of almond milk, Chu Liuzheng continued to browse the system live broadcast post.
[Tsk tsk, the City Lord's Mansion actually has so many rules for taking a concubine. The ceremony is almost as grand as marrying a wife. No wonder City Lord Zhuang has so many concubines without any backyard trouble. He's a master of keeping things balanced, much better than the tyrant before.]
Xiao Jingfan: ???
[The bridal sedan chair is being paraded through the city... Huh? Why don't I remember it having to go around in such a long circle? Could it be... Frog Fun! My brother got kidnapped again!!!]
Chu Liuzheng was so frightened that he almost swallowed the almond juice into his nose, and quickly looked down.
[Where did they go? Who is so wicked as to snatch someone else's groom?! These weren't the people His Royal Highness Prince Xiao arranged!]
[Uh... Big Fish? No, if you're a man, you're going to rob the City Master. What's the point of robbing four men? Are you sworn brothers?]
[Frog fun! Wait a minute!]
Chu Liuzheng's eyes slowly widened as he read the related gossip in front of him three times.
What does it mean that Big Fish has long admired City Lord Zhuang and will marry no one but you? Isn't Big Fish the reinforcements Prince Li sent in? How is he related to City Lord Zhuang?
Her mind was a little confused, and Xiao Jingfan was also bewildered. He unconsciously drew a fish on the memorial paper under his hand, wondering who this big fish was.
Wait, let me start from the beginning.
Chu Liuzheng held the almond juice in his hand, sipping it bit by bit, and his mind began to connect the gossip he had come across in the past few days.
Prince Li was reluctant to plead guilty, but he wasn't ready to turn against the tyrant, so he pretended to agree to go to the capital with Prince Xiao. In reality, he secretly instructed the City Lord Zhuang to find an excuse to detain Prince Xiao and then kidnap him.
If the plan goes smoothly and Prince Xiao is kidnapped, the tyrant's men will surely confront Guiyun City. Prince Li will then have the opportunity to escape back to Mengzhou under the pretext of seeking reinforcements, using the power of the Tatars to fight the tyrant and free Mengzhou from Dasheng's control.
However, the City Lord of Zhuang had long since stopped wanting to be coerced by Prince Li, so he played along and revealed Prince Li's plan to Prince Xiao. The two of them immediately hit it off and reached a cooperation agreement.
According to Prince Li's plan, the Lord of Zhuang City was supposed to kidnap Prince Xiao from within the city. However, using the excuse that it was inconvenient to do so within the city, the Lord decided to leave the city and have his guards disguise themselves as robbers to kidnap someone. In the confusion, he deliberately kidnapped the wrong hostage.
Prince Li was furious, suspecting the City Lord of Zhuang of ulterior motives, and sought an opportunity to escape back to Mengzhou. However, Prince Xiao suddenly suffered a relapse of his old illness and refused to let go of his younger brother. His entourage consisted entirely of the tyrant's followers, who only obeyed Prince Xiao's orders. Furthermore, with Yan Chengtao and the other two watching closely, Prince Li was forced to stay and pretend to be a good brother.
The Lord of Zhuang City sent a wedding invitation to Prince Xiao, not only to play along with him, but also to Prince Li, explaining that his men had foolishly arrested the wrong person and that they had no choice but to make the best of it, using the excuse of taking a concubine to detain Prince Xiao. He also discussed with Prince Li about changing their plans.
Prince Li had no choice at this point. To remain free, he first instigated Ren Qingxia to rescue the people at the City Lord's Mansion, and then instigated Pei Yunjian and Yan Chengtao to gather information. He then seized the opportunity to capture all three and bring them to the City Lord's Mansion.
This would not only increase the leverage in the hands of the Zhuang City Lord, but also anger King Xiao once more, keeping him in Guiyun City and buying him time.
Prince Xiao saw all of this and feigned serious illness to give Prince Li more room to maneuver. Without Yan Chengtao and the other two watching over him, Prince Li took the opportunity to start acting like a demon, and hurriedly sent a pigeon to contact his friends, requesting support.
Chu Liuzheng wiped the almond dew from his lips, his mind working rapidly.
Let me think about it... Prince Li's plan was, superficially, to agree with Prince Xiao to seize my eldest brother and his three companions during the wedding parade. In reality, he intended to take advantage of the chaos to escape back to Mengzhou, and then have his allies kill Prince Xiao, causing chaos and pitting Guiyun City against Dasheng, thus buying him time.
[Tsk tsk, anything produced by the Royal Family is so cruel.]
(End of this chapter)
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