Chapter 2
That night, the moon was full in the sky.
On the empty long street after curfew, a carriage returned in the moonlight.
The carriage was lacquered in a lustrous red, with precious patterns, a display of sheer luxury. Behind it followed six guards in silver helmets and black armor, the patrol battalion themselves escorting it.
The carriage stopped in front of a high-ranking mansion.
Prince Jia's Mansion.
The person in the car was the younger brother of the current emperor, the romantic prince known to everyone in the capital, Zhao Congyun.
The servants helped the drunken prince into the palace and rewarded the guards as usual. The long night returned to peace again.
"I heard that the prince's palace is taking a concubine today... This guy is playing so late and drinking so much, isn't he afraid that the bride will be waiting anxiously?" A guard whispered.
His companion laughed, "Brother, you're new here, right? Everyone in the capital knows that this guy spends his days in the red-light district. When he first married his wife, he even stayed out all night... The girl's family was so angry that they took the case to the Imperial Palace. The emperor personally mediated and saved the situation from being a laughing stock. Now he's just taking a concubine, so they don't take it seriously at all!"
"I wonder which family the girl is from this time?" The guard sighed and left.
Behind him, the cold moon hung silently on the high wall, and the red door was locked, like a gorgeous cage.
*
After sending everyone away, Zhao Congyun put on his clothes and stood up.
The young man who was drunk just a second ago now had eyes as clear as snow, a cold face, and was concentrating on reading the documents.
"The hangover soup is here." A middle-aged man with a pleasant face pushed the door open and walked in with brisk steps, holding a bowl of black stuff in his hand.
This man is called Dong Shu. He is Zhao Congyun's trusted guard since he was a child, and he is also half the person in charge of the palace.
Zhao Congyun frowned slightly. "What's this new formula? It smells disgusting."
"It's not as disgusting as the smell of alcohol on you." Uncle Dong said bluntly.
Zhao Congyun was stunned when he heard this. He raised his hand and smelled his sleeve, and immediately showed a look of disgust.
"Do you want to change clothes?" Uncle Dong asked.
"No need." Zhao Congyun said coldly: "We haven't finished drinking tonight yet."
Although there is no ceremony for taking a concubine, a cup of wedding wine is still indispensable.
"Oh, speaking of this," Uncle Dong touched his nose, "The lady who was supposed to come to the mansion today...she didn't come..."
"What?" Zhao Congyun suddenly looked up, his dark eyes instantly covered with a layer of frost. He slammed the document in his hand onto the table. "They just made a few jokes and I had to marry a woman I'd never met. Now they dare to break off the engagement and not come. They are really rebellious! Do they know that the world belongs to the Zhao family?"
"Keep your voice down!" Uncle Dong pulled him back. "I see your alcohol tolerance is getting worse and worse... You used to be so careful with your words and actions, but now you're just talking nonsense at the drop of a hat!"
Zhao Congyun's eyes were filled with rage: "They are going too far!"
Uncle Dong said earnestly: "Since you don't want to get married anyway, why not just go with the flow...If you really get married, wouldn't it be even more annoying for you to watch her every day?"
Zhao Congyun ignored him.
Uncle Dong suddenly felt something was wrong: "No matter how unhappy you were in the past, I've never seen you get so angry. What happened?"
Zhao Congyun's eyes darkened. "The grain ship heading south for disaster relief capsized again today... This is the third time this month. They always blame it on robbery by pirates, but I think the robbers are themselves... Poor Jiangzhou's hundreds of thousands of innocent refugees. I heard that some prefectures and counties have started eating their own children..."
Uncle Dong said sadly, "What are you going to do?"
"I..." Zhao Congyun was about to speak when Uncle Dong suddenly stopped him and made a gesture to keep quiet.
There were footsteps outside the door, and the servant came in panicking, "Your Highness, something's happened! A crazy woman has come to the door, clamoring to be married in the mansion!"
*
The first time Yue Mingming saw Zhao Congyun, he knew that this person didn't like him.
To say he didn't like her was an understatement... The cold hatred in his eyes was enough to make Yue Mingming die on the spot if he wasn't thick-skinned.
Could it be that he has a grudge against me?
She originally had some fantasies about this NPC husband - a husband in the game is still a husband, not to mention that Zhao Congyun is a handsome man with a clear and elegant demeanor.
He was a man of noble birth, tall and straight, elegantly dressed in a brocade robe, and his every move exuded an innate sense of pride and self-possession. But now, he reeked of alcohol, and even his jade crown was a little loose, revealing that he was truly drunk.
So handsome, but a drunkard...
Yue Mingming sighed, it turned out that he didn't get anything for free.
"Are you from the Yue family?" Uncle Dong asked.
Yue Mingming nodded and felt like laughing when he heard this strange name.
To make the game more immersive, character names are generated for each player. The girl she currently plays is named Yue Wan, also known by her nickname Mingming.
Her father was a magistrate in charge of grain transport in the surrounding prefectures and states. He had a son and a daughter, and she had an older brother. Beyond that, the game refused to reveal any further information.
"What happened? Why are you so embarrassed?" Uncle Dong continued to ask.
Yue Mingming took out his prepared words: "On the way to the capital, we were unfortunately robbed by bandits. All the sedan bearers were killed. I took advantage of the chaos to escape. After walking for several hours, I finally found the palace..."
A hint of hesitation flashed across Uncle Dong's eyes, and Zhao Congyun sneered, "Humph, either they're pirates or mountain bandits...your family is really a popular place."
Yue Mingming had no idea that he had walked into a trap. He just felt that the atmosphere was not right, so he took out his trump card and tears rolled out like pearls from a broken string.
Instead of feeling sorry for her, Zhao Congyun scolded her, "Put away your tears! I hate crying women the most!"
Yue Mingming shuddered, feeling unhappy - what are you so arrogant about? Is being a prince so great?... In the real world, he is still a feudal remnant!
She held back her tears and decided to make a quick decision: "Your Highness, it's getting late. I see you're tired too. Why don't you go to bed early?"
Marrying into the palace, the first game mission is finally completed!
The system seemed to understand her thoughts and popped up a reminder at the right time: wedding wine.
…………
It’s just a crappy game, why bother with formalism!
Yue Mingming had no choice but to bite the bullet and add: "And... and the wedding wine, we haven't drunk it yet..."
"Why would I want a woman of unknown origin?" Zhao Congyun suddenly sneered, his expression contemptuous: "How would I know what those bandits did to you..."
Yue Mingming suddenly froze and stared at him blankly.
This time her eyes were really red: "If you don't believe it... you can find someone to verify it!"
She must be blind to be obsessed with such a person!
"Your Highness has drunk too much, please don't blame me, my lady. You should go and rest first." Uncle Dong tried to smooth things over.
Yue Mingming remained motionless, staring stubbornly at Zhao Congyun. "Your Highness, can you find someone to examine my body right now? If everything is ok, can we drink the wedding wine?"
She is determined to drink this glass of wine today!
Zhao Congyun was about to explode, but Uncle Dong quickly winked at him and said gently, "The wine is ready. It's in your room. You can drink it later when you return to your room... Have someone send another cup over. Even if you and the prince have already drunk it, what do you think?"
Yue Mingming was so angry that his teeth were itching, you bastard, just wait for me!
She resisted the urge to slap Zhao Congyun and left the study with the servants. She didn't cry until she stepped into the dark night.
After Yue Mingming left, Uncle Dong scolded him, "You went too far just now... No matter how much you hate her father, you shouldn't say that to a girl!"
Zhao Congyun rubbed his stinging temples. "She put on a pitiful act, and you believed her? How did a weak woman like her escape from the bandits? The journey was dozens of miles long, and even a fast horse would take quite a while. How could a girl from the boudoir, who didn't even know the way, find the palace so quickly? Do you think that's reasonable?"
Uncle Dong nodded: "It is indeed strange, but I can't figure out what the purpose of this self-torture trick is."
"I don't know either... Anyway, she's here with bad intentions. Uncle Dong, take someone to check and see if it's true as she said."
Zhao Congyun had a strange premonition that tonight, he had let a wolf into the house...
*
"Werewolf" Yue Mingming lay on the bed, getting angrier the more he thought about it.
She had already finished her glass of wine, but the system reminder was still lingering in front of her eyes. It seemed that Zhao Congyun didn't drink his glass after all.
"Could you please not be so serious... I've already moved in, and the mission hasn't been completed yet?" Yue Mingming felt that AI was easier to communicate with than Zhao Congyun, so he cheated on the system.
The system is silent.
After spending half a day together, the system had developed the ability to play dumb and simply ignored many of Yue Mingming's unreasonable requests.
"Each one is more outrageous than the other." Yue Mingming muttered, "I'll settle the score with you tomorrow."
She turned over and tried to sleep, but something hit her from under her.
It turned out to be that silver hairpin!
Yue Mingming took it in her hand and examined it carefully, but could not see anything special about it. She couldn't understand why Yue Wan, after all, was a daughter of an official family, got married with such shabby jewelry?
This hairpin should be very important to her——
Whose relic is this, or what message is hidden inside it...
Yue Mingming fiddled with it for a long time, and suddenly an idea came to him. He gently pressed the jade bead on the head of the hairpin. With a click, the bead popped out, revealing a hollow hairpin core.
Hidden inside was a roll of extremely thin paper.
Yue Mingming carefully picked it out and took a look at it, and his sleepiness immediately disappeared.
This turned out to be a densely packed account book written in tiny calligraphy, with hundreds of thousands of silver dollars recorded on it. In addition, there were many names and places that Yue Mingming did not recognize.
Considering his father's identity, Yue Mingming vaguely felt that this matter might be related to the canal transportation.
Her exhausted brain was creaking as it worked - when she thought about it carefully, Yue Wan's relationship with her family was very problematic. Her parents sent their daughter to the palace to be a concubine, and her daughter secretly recorded her father's grain transport information. The family members were calculating against each other, and none of them was easy to deal with.
She actually thought Yue Wan was a harmless little white flower.
At this time, the system sent a new message: Congratulations to the player for discovering important clues and unlocking the "Know-it-all" function.
"What is Bai Xiaosheng?" Yue Mingming asked curiously.
"Simply put, this is an information query system for characters in the game world, helping you discover more clues in the upcoming plot."
Yue Mingming instantly became interested: "Like Baidu? Wow, then I know everything!"
System: "You can try it first."
"Help me check Zhao Congyun!" This is Yue Mingming's current number one enemy.
"Zhao Congyun, Leo, blood type A. His favorite color is white, his favorite dish is roasted lamb, his favorite song is 'Farewell to the Long Pavilion,' written by Yaoyue Tower last year. His most hated thing is drinking, and his most hated person is Mr. Fan. His first love happened when he was fifteen. His current girlfriend is Jiang Huan, Yaoyue Tower's top performer. Jiang Huan is known in the capital as 'a master of both zither and color.' Jiang Huan's last patron was..."
Yue Mingming: "…………Wait a minute!"
This isn't an information query, it's a gossip query!
"Zhao Congyun's love history is none of my business. He's not my real husband!" Yue Mingming was almost furious: "I'm here to be a heroine. I don't want to be a concubine, and I certainly don't want to be a paparazzi!"
System: "I wish you a pleasant experience."
No matter how much Yue Mingming cursed, the system remained silent and played dead. Finally, Yue Mingming gave in, collapsed into a posture of surrender, and fell into a deep sleep.
Tomorrow is another new day...
Before she lost consciousness, Yue Mingming encouraged herself optimistically. Little did she know that an even crazier story awaited her the next day.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
