Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 206 - 204: Jingshu Gets Married

When Mrs. Ming returned to the inner courtyard, the couples and young ladies all asked why someone had brought a dog to the banquet.

"A total waste, preoccupied with trivial matters!" Mrs. Ming pursed her lips, her face full of disdain.

"Is this a dog that can be brought out casually? There are so many ladies, their daughters, and influential figures here, what if it bites someone, can he afford the compensation?" The lady who was being chased by the dog was very angry, not knowing whose dog it was in the inner courtyard.

If she had seen it, she wouldn’t have said so, truly mistaking it for a spoiled rich kid.

She was a person who was usually very suspicious and cautious, but this carelessness would ultimately cause her to lose Jingzhou.

"Isn’t it? If this dog bites, you can get rabies, which is incurable!" Another lady chimed in.

"Mrs. Tan, don’t get angry, I’ve ordered him to lock the dog up, and he was quite reluctant. But for everyone’s safety, I insisted that he lock up the dog, I assure you it won’t happen again." Regarding people who are close to Ming Zhijie and Black Ming Zhijie, Mrs. Ming said that she spared no effort.

"Mrs. Ming is so reasonable, now I feel assured! Who knows which family would bring a dog, how uneducated! Even if the dog scares people, they don’t even apologize?"

"I heard he is a classmate of Zhijie, I can’t say much about it."

"Birds of a feather flock together! No matter how capable a concubine’s child is, he is just a concubine’s child, without any manners, revealing his petty origins!"

...

Then, these ladies began to criticize and trample on the children born of concubines in their own households.

Like two blossoms on a stem, each going their separate ways.

Liu Jingshu was married from the house in the village, and many of the girls in the village who got married didn’t even have a sedan chair to carry them, and could only sit in a bullock cart; some even walked to their husband’s house.

When the Lai family’s wedding procession appeared, the whole Guishu Village was shocked!

The Lai family’s wedding procession, with the groom riding a white horse in the lead, followed by a palanquin carried by eight people, plus the drummers, lion dancers, horn blowers, people scattering wedding candies, flower petals, and setting off firecrackers, made a long procession from Liu Jingshu’s front door all the way to the village entrance.

"How rich is the man that Jingshu girl married? Look at these wedding gifts, tossed about as if they cost nothing!" An old woman from the village picked up two dimes, a small bag of peanuts, and wedding candies, her voice full of joy and envy.

Why didn’t she have such good fortune when she was young? She didn’t even have a proper wedding dress.

"Don’t you know about the Lai Mansion? I heard that they have family members holding high-ranking positions in the Imperial Capital!" said another woman, counting the money she picked up -- eighteen coins, oh, not as quick as others!

"The man Jingshu is marrying is this year’s second-place scholar! Do you know what a second-place scholar is? It’s the rank below the top scorer!" Another young woman was very envious. Indeed, people’s fates could be so different!

"No wonder this wedding procession is so grand, it’s the first time in my life I’ve seen such a thing!" said the old woman.

"Isn’t that amazing! So young, he must become a high-ranking official in the future! It seems that Jingshu girl will have a lot of blessings in the future!" Another person exclaimed.

"I saw that girl is a man killer. What fortune! Waiting for her widowhood is her share!" said Liu Feng’s wife bitterly.

Upon hearing this, everyone frowned. How could she curse someone on their joyous big day?

Speak with virtues, for there are gods three feet above one’s head.

Everyone did not respond to her, who would offend the Liu family for her sake? A few people moved a few steps away from her and continued speaking.

"How did the Liu family manage to climb up to this well-matched marriage, ideally the families shouldn’t match!" Someone was puzzled.

"They have the Marquis Shengping as their uncle, a countess from Rui’an County as their cousin, and the owner of a big winery as their great-grandfather! How could they not have a good marriage?"

"Right, this really is when one man achieves Dao, his chicken and dog rise to heaven!"

...

Liu Feng’s wife spat and went home.

In this dynasty’s wedding customs, there was no such practice of bridesmaids blocking the door and asking for red packets, but there was the custom of sending the dowry first.

Everyone watched the dowry being carried out, guessing how many bearers there were.

"Thirty-two bearers!" many people said.

"I count all of them, sixty-four bearers."

"You must be kidding!" In this entire county, there has only been one instance of a dowry with so many bearers.

Then, after thirty-two bearers had gone... more dowry was carried out, thirty-three, thirty-four... sixty-four bearers in total, as expected.

Only a wealthy family would have such a display.

The villagers watched with both envy and jealousy. This was a lifetime of wealth!

As the eldest daughter, Jingshu, after bidding farewell to her elders with Lai Zhewei, was carried out of the house by Liu Minhong and handed over to Lai Zhewei, who then carried her onto the flower bridge.

No one could see Liu Jingshu’s face, but her big red wedding dress was uniquely beautiful, making it impossible for anyone to look away!

On her hands were dragon and phoenix bracelets, jade bracelets, hand chains, and around her neck was a necklace. Under the sunlight, they sparkled dazzlingly.

After the flower bridge was lifted onto the official road, Lai Zhewei carried Liu Jingshu onto the carriage, and then the wedding procession followed suit, getting onto the twenty carriages prepared by the Lai Mansion, heading straight for the County Town.

The emperor saw Xiao’er leading a dog into someone else’s house, and thought this was surely inappropriate!

"Girl, can’t you leave your dog behind?" The emperor, having spent a lot of time at the Shen family, also started calling Xiao’er like Shangguan Xuanyi did.

Xiao’er gave the emperor a weary smile, "I’d like that, but I can’t."

"Is it important?" The emperor raised an eyebrow. What’s so important about a dog?

Xiao’er nodded, "Very important."

"Let me take it!" The old family head of Lai Mansion knew his place better than anyone else. He figured no one would dare grumble about him leading a dog in.

"Wouldn’t that be bad?" Xiao’er said hesitantly, but in her heart, she was overjoyed. This was too good to be true!

"What’s wrong with this? I think it’s quite well behaved. It doesn’t bite people, does it?" The emperor truly didn’t want to hold the leash, but it seemed that he was the only one who could do it without giving the impression of disrupting the proceedings.

Shen Chengyao and Mrs. Liu were busy helping and had gone in early.

Shangguan Xuanhao knew the use of the dog, but he was allergic to dog fur and had run away long ago.

The two sons of the commander’s mansion were also dispatched by Shangguan Xuanyi.

"The dog won’t bite people randomly, it knows its master. After it goes in, remember who it barks at, your highness."

"You don’t have to hold it too tightly, your highness. If it runs off, just call ’Guardian of Wealth’ and it will come back."

"Guardian, listen to Mr. Shangguan. Be sure not to bite anyone! If you behave well, I will reward you with some good food."

The dog barked at Xiao’er twice.

The Emperor nodded in understanding, "Let’s go, Guardian!"

What a good name for a dog.

Xiao’er was then led directly to the bridal chamber to accompany Liu Jingshu.

Although the emperor said he would take the dog, the job still fell into the hands of Huang Wei.

With his grandson’s big wedding, Mr. Lai also came from the Imperial Capital. Seeing the casually dressed emperor, he thought he had mistaken the person and hurriedly rubbed his eyes.

"Congratulations, Mr. Lai, you’ll be able to hold your great-grandchild soon." It wasn’t until the emperor spoke that he dared to believe his eyes.