Zhang Yun suddenly slammed his fist on the table in frustration.
A pile of painted circles rolled down, and the knots on some of them came undone, spreading out on the ground.
Zhang Yun glanced casually, then suddenly froze on the spot.
He strode over, bent down to pick up one of the unfolded scrolls, and shouted towards the door, "Someone come here!"
"Master!" Zhao Xu, who was guarding outside the door, immediately appeared.
"Go quickly and take this painting to the person who just delivered it. Tell them I picked the wrong one; this is the one I wanted!"
Zhang Yun quickly rolled up the painting in his hand and handed it to Zhao Xu.
Zhao Xu was somewhat surprised. This was the first time he had seen his master so nervous since that incident four years ago.
"Go quickly!"
Hearing Zhang Yun's urging, Zhao Xu quickly snapped out of his thoughts, responded, and hurriedly left.
Zhang Yun paced anxiously in his study, waiting. It felt like a long time had passed, but in reality, only the time it takes to drink a cup of tea was up. Finally, Zhao Xu, covered in sweat, returned.
"How is it?" Zhang Yun asked hurriedly.
"Your Excellency, I am too late. That person has already given the painting that the young master had chosen to the Princess Consort."
"Today, the Princess is hosting a Hundred Flowers Banquet at her residence, attended by ladies from all the prominent families in the north. After receiving the painting, the Princess hurriedly discussed marriage arrangements with the Madam of the Xu family in Jiangbei..."
"I'll go to the Xu family myself and tell them to call off the engagement!" Zhang Yun said, about to head out.
Zhao Xu quickly stopped him, "Sir, please let me finish speaking first!"
Zhang Yun stopped, his expression seemingly telling him, "Spit it out."
Zhao Xu said, "The princess felt that although the Xu family was the richest in Jiangbei, they were still a merchant family. When she spoke with Madam Xu, she only agreed to give her the position of a concubine."
"After I delivered the portrait of the only daughter of the Donglin Marquis's family, the Princess Consort immediately said that it would be good to marry both of them at the same time. The only daughter of the Donglin Marquis's family would be the principal wife, and the third daughter of the Xu family would be the concubine."
"..."
Zhang Yun had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but the die was cast, and refusing again would only make things look bad.
Anyway, the princess knew his situation, so the girls in the paintings she prepared for him all came from families that wanted to curry favor with the Northwest Prince's family.
Even if you suffer injustice, you should still be grateful to tears.
Either way, they're just there to be married off; it doesn't matter if there's one more or one less. Maybe this will even save an old man who's almost old enough to be her grandfather from being sent as a political sacrifice.
His desire to marry the only daughter of the Donglin Marquis family was purely because the inscription on the portrait was in Qin Zheng's handwriting.
The content is a poem he once wrote for himself.
At that time, they were still in the Prince's mansion and had not yet confirmed their relationship. In the poem, Qin Zheng used metaphor to express her love for him very subtly.
The original poem that Qin Zheng wrote for him had been burned by the princess, but Zhang Yun clearly remembered every word of it.
Moreover, the ink marks on the scroll clearly look like they were written recently!
No wonder he couldn't find Qin Zheng no matter how hard he looked; it turned out he was at the Donglin Marquis's residence!
Zhang Yun sat back down in his chair, frowned and thought for a long time. He went through the original story from beginning to end again before finally finding the relationship between the Donglin Marquis's Mansion and Qin Zheng.
Qin Zheng was originally the legitimate son of the Duke of Dingguo, and the Duke of Dingguo's wife, Madam Lin, was the only legitimate daughter of the old Marquis of Donglin and the younger sister of the current Marquis of Donglin.
Therefore, Donglin Marquis Lin Shikai is actually Qin Zheng's maternal uncle!
However, in the original novel, Qin Zheng never used his identity as the orphan of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, which could increase his prestige and strengthen his bargaining power in the struggle for the world.
Even after Qin Zheng unified the country and ascended the throne, and began to exonerate the Duke of Dingguo's family, he never revealed the truth that he was the Duke of Dingguo's son.
The Duke of Dingguo's family was executed because they were falsely accused of treason, and Qin Zheng's act of overthrowing the rule of Yun Kingdom was tantamount to confirming this crime of treason.
Qin Zheng did not want the reputation of the Duke of Dingguo's family, which was full of loyal martyrs, to be tarnished. Until his death, he insisted that the historian record his status before his rise to power as that of an ordinary and humble stable boy.
The Donglin Marquis's Mansion, which was implicated in the case of the Duke of Dingguo, didn't even have a chance to appear in the original story.
Zhang Yun spent a long time flipping through the original text, only to find the words "Daughter of the Marquis of Donglin" in the introduction of Qin Zheng's mother.
Unexpectedly, when it came to his own situation, Qin Zheng actually used this identity for development purposes and contacted his uncle.
If that's the case, then Lin Qingyue, whom he married, is actually Qin Zheng's cousin?
Why did he ask his cousin to marry me?
Is there a plan?
...
The princess was very anxious about her son's marriage.
As soon as Zhang Yun nodded, she couldn't wait to send people to prepare generous gifts to propose marriage to the Donglin Marquis family and the Xu family.
Although the Donglin Marquis's family is not as prestigious as the Northwest Prince's family, they have been officials for generations, and two of their members have become military marquises. Now they control the two northeastern states, so they can be considered a good match in terms of social standing.
The Xu family of Jiangbei is the richest family in Jiangbei. Although they are merchants, their social status is somewhat inferior.
Two years ago, their family was ruthlessly betrayed by a competitor of similar status in the Jiangbei business community, almost resulting in their family being divided up and destroyed.
It was only thanks to Zhang Yun's selection of them as the exclusive agents for Jiangbei's soap, glass, perfume and other industries that they were able to revive their business. In just one year, they defeated and subdued all of Jiangbei's competitors, and became the richest man in Jiangbei.
The Xu family is now extremely eager to please Zhang Yun. They would be more than willing to let their daughter enter the family as a concubine, let alone make her a maidservant or servant for Zhang Yun.
The engagement was quickly arranged, and the wedding date was set for September of this year, with only two months left.
The Prince's Mansion, the Donglin Marquis's Mansion, and the Xu Mansion in Jiangbei all became busy with weddings, making them known throughout the land. Even the emperor's wedding had not been such a grand affair.
Two months passed quickly, and the wedding day arrived. Zhang Yun, dressed in an elaborate wedding gown, rode a white horse to the city gate to greet his bride.
Zhang Yun remained clear-headed and calm. Although he was one of the main characters in the wedding, he observed everything with the detached indifference of an outsider.
The wedding procession from the Donglin Marquis's residence arrived quickly, followed by a fleet of two hundred dowry vehicles.
Behind the Donglin Marquis's motorcade were the Xu family's wedding sedan chairs and dowry. The Xu family was the richest family in Jiangbei, and their dowry was extravagant, consisting of a full six hundred sedan chairs.
The carriages lined up all the way from the Prince's Palace to the official road outside the city. It would take at least four or five days just to transport the dowry into the Prince's Palace.
The onlookers were buzzing with discussion—
Even if it were an emperor marrying off a princess, there wouldn't be this much dowry.
The Xu family head really spared no expense in marrying off his daughter.
Once the bride is received, the journey to the city and back to the mansion involves a series of tedious wedding ceremonies.
Xu was a concubine, and she was able to enter through the main gate because of the daughter of the Marquis of Donglin. Naturally, she had nothing to do with the wedding ceremony.
From the moment she entered the mansion, she was taken to her own residence to wait.
In the main hall, Zhang Yun, reminded by the etiquette officer, went through the standard procedure with an indifferent expression.
In fact, he has rarely smiled since Qin Zheng left.
Zhang Yun toasted the guests in the hall and wanted to drink more, but everyone stopped him and pushed him into the bridal chamber.
On the first night of the wedding, he naturally had to enter the wife's room.
Zhang Yun entered the festively decorated bridal chamber. Through the exquisite glass screen in the center of the room, he could vaguely see the bride, dressed in red, sitting in the middle of the large bed.
A pang of guilt rose in his heart; it was indeed a bit too much to leave such a young girl to live a life of widowhood.
But for women from families like hers, marriage is not a matter of personal choice.
Even if this girl doesn't marry him, she'll eventually marry other powerful people and be used as a pawn to win over others. She might not be happier than if she married him.
Even Zhang Yun couldn't decide his own marriage, let alone her.
Following him, at least one can find a lifetime of peace in this chaotic world of war.
With that thought, his guilt dissipated.
Zhang Yun dismissed all the servants in the room and closed the door.
"...If you haven't eaten, just go get something from the table. I won't be sleeping inside tonight, so you can make your own way."
He actually wanted to ask her about Qin Zheng right away, but he thought it wouldn't be appropriate to leave her alone in her room on their wedding night and ask her all sorts of questions, so he didn't say anything.
Since the woman was already married and couldn't run away, Zhang Yun had plenty of patience.
Zhang Yun, wearing only an undergarment, lay down on the soft couch in the outer room after unbuttoning his outer robe and hanging his inner garment on a clothes rack.
He got up very early this morning, was busy all day, barely ate any food, but drank quite a lot of alcohol.
Now that the effects are kicking in, he's exhausted and all he wants to do is sleep.
There was no movement inside for a long time.
After a long while, the bride suddenly got up, picked up the wine pot from the table with two red candles lit, and poured two cups of wine.
"Today is my wedding night with my husband, and you won't even drink the nuptial wine?"
A woman's sweet voice came from inside, tinged with a hint of grievance.
Zhang Yun slightly opened his eyes upon hearing this.
Fine, let's grant her this little wish.
He got up from the couch, walked around the screen to the table, and picked up a cup of wine.
When she also picked up her glass, the two intertwined their arms and drank a glass together.
Zhang Yun looked at the veil still on her head and asked, "Why don't you take off the veil? Aren't you tired wearing this?"
"The nanny said that the veil must be lifted by the husband himself, and I cannot lift it myself."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yun casually lifted the red cloth.
"Alright, you should get some rest. I'm here today..."
He was halfway through his sentence when he saw the bride's face and was immediately stunned.
The bride, adorned with a phoenix coronet and embroidered robes beneath her veil, possessed a face that Zhang Yun longed for day and night!
Zhang Yun suddenly stood up, dropping the wine cup in his hand to the ground!
"What? Are you disappointed to see that I'm the bride?"
The sweet, delicate female voice instantly transformed into a deep, resonant male voice.
The bride, whose true face was now revealed, also stood up.
He was half a head taller than Zhang Yun.
Qin Zheng stared at him with a deep, resentful gaze, like a wronged woman, "You once promised me a phoenix coronet and wedding gown, and we even exchanged wedding rings and made vows. Now you've come here uninvited? Do you regret it?"
After a 0.3-second pause, Zhang Yun's brain resumed functioning, and she immediately pounced on Qin Zheng, embracing him tightly.
"you……"
Qin Zheng was embraced by him, the coldness in his eyes softened slightly, and he had just uttered a word when Zhang Yun raised his head and kissed his lips.
Qin Zheng, who already lacked self-control and was still angry with Zhang Yun, simply pressed him down and kissed him.
After being separated for many years, the two were instantly rekindled in love, and soon they were lying on the bed kissing and embracing.
"Hmm..."
Zhang Yun looked at him pitifully with red eyes.
Unexpectedly, Qin Zheng didn't buy it. He sneered, "Does it hurt? Bear with it..."
Qin Zheng showed him no pity whatsoever.
...
Zhang Yun shook her head, crying, like a beautiful prey being targeted by a starving beast, pitiful and helpless with nowhere to escape.
No matter how much he cried and begged for mercy, Qin Zheng refused to show him even the slightest bit of tenderness.
Zhang Yun eventually fainted.
Qin Zheng stopped what he was doing.
He pulled her into his arms, kissed Zhang Yun's tear-streaked face, and smiled in an almost sickly way, "A-Yun, you're mine."
...
The next morning, Zhang Yun woke up early because of the biological clock he had developed while in the army.
When she woke up, she found herself lying on Qin Zheng's warm chest, rising and falling slightly with his breathing.
He still feels a little unwell, but his six years of consistent martial arts training have made him very strong, so he is not unable to move.
Zhang Yun showed no sign of getting up.
He slightly raised his body to examine Qin Zheng's face, which had become more mature, handsome, and full of masculine charm.
Her man is so handsome!
Zhang Yun couldn't resist kissing the tip of his high, straight nose.
When Zhang Yun touched his chest, he felt an uneven surface. He was startled, looked down, and saw a hideous scar near his heart, which looked like an arrow wound.
Zhang Yun felt a slight pang in his heart and lowered his head to kiss the scar.
...
Qin Zheng squinted and looked up at the young man who fascinated him.
His Ah Yun has grown up. He has become more beautiful, more perfect, and more dazzling. He is so dazzling that people are completely captivated by him the moment they see him.
...
After the frenzy subsided, Zhang Yun nestled in Qin Zheng's arms, kissed his forehead, and said in a hoarse voice, "I love you."
Qin Zheng didn't say anything, but simply pinched his chin and lifted his head, making him kiss her.
"Your Highness, Your Highness's Wife, it's time to pay your respects to the Princess."
The knocking on the door interrupted the two people who were snuggling together in bed.
Zhang Yun was then brought back to reality.
Only then did he remember that his role was that of the Crown Prince of the Northwest, and that yesterday was the day he was to marry a wife and take a concubine.
"Okay, you can go now."
Zhang Yun responded to the servants outside the door in a deep voice before turning to look at Qin Zheng.
"Take a bath together?"
Qin Zheng said, "Okay."
Zhang Yun straightened up.
Qin Zheng also sat up. "I'll carry you there."
...
The two entered the bathing room.
The bathhouse has a tub with warm water available all day, so the masters can bathe whenever they want.
...
They washed for more than an hour before emerging from the clean room and changing their clothes.
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