Lu Baichuan ordered his men to drag the monks and their group away. Those men were still sowing discord, and the onlookers immediately cast questioning glances at them. However, remembering the incident where they had thrown excrement at the Lu family's door last time, they restrained their impulses and waited for the Lu family to give an explanation.
Lu Baichuan naturally understood this principle, so he said directly in front of everyone: "I will report this matter to the court for a thorough investigation. My Lu family has always been honest and upright before the court and the people, and I believe that everyone can trust their own judgment, cooperate with the investigation, and clear the name of my Lu family."
He didn't speak separately about clearing Jiang Jiuniang's name, but rather about the entire Lu family. In his view, his wife and everyone in the family were one. If these people were to frame his wife, they were to frame the entire Lu family. The whole family was one, and no one could be blamed.
The people nodded in agreement. Not many people had been turned this time; most were still on the Lu family's side.
"The auspicious time has arrived, both couples, please hurry inside and complete the wedding ceremony!"
The matchmaker next to them was perceptive. Seeing that the situation had calmed down, she continued with the procedures, hoping to help everyone forget the unpleasantness that had just occurred.
The servants of the Lu family also brought out wedding candies to distribute to the onlookers, and even prepared a feast for the visitors, treating everyone very well.
During the meal, someone spoke up for the Lu family: "They say fame brings trouble! The Lu family are all such good people, how could so many people want to harm them? I don't know about other things, but the Lu family is the best to us ordinary people. Look, when someone important gets married, we can even get a seat at the banquet!"
"Exactly! Making trouble during someone's wedding is so immoral! That monk is clearly not a respectable person. Does he really think that shaving his head makes him a real monk? Isn't he just making a fool of us?"
"In my opinion, it's because the Lu family is currently enjoying the Emperor's favor that those people are jealous, so they came up with such despicable means to sabotage them. It's truly disgusting!"
"Luckily, we learned our lesson this time and weren't fooled. Otherwise, wouldn't we have had to hurt the Lu family again? We wouldn't have been able to enjoy such a delicious and sumptuous feast!"
...
Everyone chatted and ate, creating a lively atmosphere. The monk's disturbance didn't have much impact on the Lu family overall.
The two couples successfully completed their wedding ceremony and were led to their bridal chambers. The whole family continued to busy themselves until the guests had all left in the evening, at which point the family gathered together to discuss the matter.
The most furious person was Sun. Her happy day was maliciously ruined, and people even threw mud at her third son's wife. Who could stand that?
"Why can't we catch the person behind this? They keep popping up every few days. Are we not allowed to live our lives in peace? We're just trying to live our own lives. Who did we offend? This is so unlucky!"
"If they were criticizing the rest of us, that would be one thing, since we've all benefited from this and haven't done anything worthwhile for the court or the people. But you two have poured your hearts and souls into the cause of Bei Yan, risking your lives every day on long journeys. Why are these people targeting you? It's infuriating!"
As Sun spoke, her eyes reddened. What a good person her third son's wife was! To be accused of being a witch was such a huge slander against a woman!
The others also looked indignant, and even the two young couples who should have been in their wedding night were sitting on the sidelines, anxious. Fortunately, Jiang Jiuniang herself was not flustered, because she already knew what those people were up to.
Jiang Jiuniang took Sun's arm and said, "Their targeting me is actually a good thing. At least I have a way to protect myself, and the emperor is on our side. As long as we appease the people, there won't be any major problems. Those people's schemes will not succeed. On the contrary, our Beiyan will become stronger and stronger, and will be feared by other countries. So there will be many more similar incidents."
She couldn't say those people were from later generations, so she had to shift the topic to spies from other countries to make it believable.
Lu Baichuan said, "Jiu'er is right. There will be many more similar incidents in the future. You must pay close attention and also instruct the servants at home to be quick-witted and know how to solve problems cleverly. Nothing much happened today, but tomorrow morning in the court, someone will definitely use this as an excuse to cause trouble. There will be many more problems. Everyone should be prepared and not panic when things happen."
From the moment he learned that those people were specifically targeting his wife, Lu Baichuan knew that being anxious was useless; staying vigilant and preventing himself from being harmed was the most important thing.
Although those people came from the future and were far more advanced than him in terms of weapons and abilities, none of that mattered. He could protect his family in his own way.
"Alright, alright, stop looking so gloomy. Everyone should go to sleep or consummate their marriages. Let's all go home. I've been busy these past few days, I'm exhausted!"
Jiang Jiuniang stood up to stretch her muscles and prepared to go back to rest.
The two young couples blushed instantly, lowered their heads, and dared not look at the elders present.
However, everyone just laughed it off and didn't make any jokes. They felt that Jiang Jiuniang and her husband were right; anxiety wouldn't solve anything, and all they needed to do was be prepared to deal with it.
The next day in the imperial court, as expected, many people stood up and talked about the monk's identification of Jiang Jiuniang as a demoness the day before. Lu Baichuan had expected this and was not surprised. He even took the initiative to step forward and recount the events of the previous day in detail, and asked the emperor to thoroughly investigate the matter and give Jiang Jiuniang an explanation.
The emperor heard about this yesterday and thought it was just a farce secretly orchestrated by the islanders. He believed that the people in the court wouldn't be so clueless. However, he was surprised to find that there were so many clueless people.
He looked at the people kneeling on the ground below and asked with a sneer, "Are you kneeling so neatly because you have enough evidence to prove that Madam Lu is really a witch?"
This question left everyone bewildered. What evidence could they possibly have?
The ministers exchanged furtive glances, and one of the older ministers spoke up, saying, "Flies don't land on eggs without cracks. If Lady Jiang is truly innocent, why would the monk target only her?"
Mr. Kang, who was standing next to him, snorted and muttered under his breath, "Why? Because they pick on the weak! They see that Madam Jiang is beautiful, kind, and easy to talk to, so they go out of their way to frame her."
The kneeling crowd: ...
They admitted that Jiang Jiuniang was quite beautiful, but kind-hearted and easy to talk to? They had no idea she had such virtues!
After all, the woman who once debated with all the powerful figures in the imperial court was none other than Jiang Jiuniang!
"Lord Kang, I know you have a good relationship with the Lu family, but there's no need to defend Jiang at this time! A woman who is not content with staying at home and goes out to show her face all day long, corrupting many young ladies from respectable families, what else can she be but a witch? Your Majesty, this old minister believes that the monk yesterday must be a high-ranking monk who can see Jiang's monstrous appearance, otherwise why would a monk cause such a scene?"
Others chimed in, "Your Majesty, please investigate thoroughly!"
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