The Bad Guys: Everyone, let’s revive the Tang Dynasty together!

Chapter 408: Wedding (VI)

On the fourth day of October in the first year of Qianhua in Daliang, four years had passed quietly since Xiao Yan came to this era.

If you say it is short, four years is not long, or even just a blink of an eye. In four years, a lonely young man who woke up in the snow in Caozhou became the ruler of an empire, the conqueror of half the world, and the King of Qin who was worshipped by countless people. This short period of time was like a dream.

People born in this era, no matter how ambitious or arrogant they are, would never dare to hope to achieve this level in just four years!
But four years seemed so long. There was a time when Xiao Yan felt like there was a sword hanging over his head all the time. Almost every day, he was surrounded by swords, intrigues, and enemies everywhere. In troubled times, it was either you or me, there was no other way, even though his hands were already covered in blood.

In a trance, the young boy of the past had lost the last trace of hesitation in his youthful eyes and brows, leaving only the outline of a deep and majestic mountain that was tempered from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

And Xiao Yan is only twenty-one years old this year.

In the bronze mirror polished by one of the most skilled craftsmen in Dongdu, a face with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes was reflected. His eyebrows were as sharp as if chopped by a knife or an axe, but his eyes seemed to still retain the clear light of a snowy night, as calm as an ancient well. But how many people dare to look directly into these dark pupils now? These eyes clearly contain two clusters of flames of war that have been burning for four years, which makes people's backs cold.

Xiao Yan stared at himself in the bronze mirror, stretched out his hand and gently wiped his brow, stopping at his temples. His thick hair still looked like ink.

He is really still very young, and even many of his capable subordinates are much older than him. But even though he is so young, with just one order from him, thousands of brave soldiers are willing to die for him.

No wonder some people fear him.

There were light footsteps outside the door. Xiao Yan turned around and saw Ji Ruxue walking in, wearing a snow-blue skirt with narrow sleeves. She dressed very stylishly, with her skirt tucked into a black rhinoceros belt close to her waistline. Her hair was tied up in a bun like a winter plum blossom embracing a branch, and wrapped in a half-worn black gauze. She had her usual cold style, but today she had a flower ornament between her eyebrows, which added a bit of tenderness to her.

After four years, Ji Ruxue had already become a beautiful woman with a slim figure and pretty face, but her eyes were still as cold and pure as before, and only when they fell on Xiao Yan would they flow like water waves.

If Ji Ruxue were to be on the Rouge Review, it would be easy for her to be in the top five of the list. However, Xiao Yan would not give any wanderers in the world a chance to take a glimpse of his own Xue'er. He must keep the treasure in his arms.

"Why haven't you ever used the things I brought back for you? Don't you like them?" Xiao Yan laughed. He had seized many things in the Chengdu Palace and specially picked out some exquisite and beautiful gadgets, such as hairpins and gold hairpins. He brought back a whole box of them in order to make Xue'er happy. However, although she was happy, she seldom used them.

Ji Ruxue walked over to help Xiao Yan dress, and whispered, "Those things look good, but I'm not used to using them."

"You are one of the most noble women in the world... You should use it sooner or later." Xiao Yan thought about it and joked, "Otherwise, what if people say I'm stingy?"

Xue'er smiled with her eyes curved, and didn't say much to Xiao Yan. She just reached out and tightened Xiao Yan's jade belt a little more.

Today, Xiao Yan was dressed as a groom, with a round-neck, right-fronted crimson gown, with gold-embroidered cloud patterns on the collar and cuffs, a jade belt around the waist, and a large-sleeved shirt with a front opening. He wore a hard-footed hat, which made his eyes look sharper and his back straight as a sword.

The so-called formal marriage, "welcoming the bride" is the core link of the six rituals. Given Xiao Yan's status, he can directly order the envoy to hold the imperial edict to welcome the bride, without having to follow the clear requirement of "the groom rides a horse to the bride's house".

But Xiao Yan did not want to simplify this process. In the past four years, he and the empress first got to know each other through testing and calculations, and various exchanges of interests were inevitable in the middle. However, the fact that the empress later made a desperate effort to help Xiao Yan was not false.

It can be said that if it were not for the empress's insistence, Xiao Yan would probably not have been able to achieve today's achievements in just four years. He had to admit that without the empress personally leading the troops deep into Hedong to contain Jin's western army, the mutiny he launched would certainly have succeeded, but the turmoil it caused would have been difficult to control, and Jin would have a great chance of marching directly south to the Central Plains.

Feelings are mutually beneficial. Xiao Yan has helped Qiguo gain a lot, but the empress has given him even more. The empress treated him like this, so Xiao Yan is willing to treat her like this.

The empress's beauty, friendship, and the substantial effects of the marriage were enough to ensure that Xiao Yan would not be bothered by the final process and would personally take care of everything.

This wedding is a grand event, and he will leave later to pick up the bride, and will also appear in front of the people of the whole city. Although it is a thousand miles from Bian Jing to Fengxiang, and he does not need to dress as a groom all the time, but after all, this grand event is enough to attract countless people. The whole Dongdu has been preparing for it for many days, and it is more lively than any imperial sacrifice. Xiao Yan will not spoil the people's mood. He will appear in the groom's costume later, and then wear ordinary clothes on the way.

Ji Ruxue walked up to Xiao Yan, pursed her lips and looked at him carefully, smoothed his robe for a while, and then reached out to smooth the few stray hairs on his temples. Finally, her hand stopped between Xiao Yan's eyebrows, and she stared at him gently, unwilling to move away for a long time.

Bago, who was guarding the door, had followed the surrendered minister for more than half a year and had become very smart. Seeing Ji Ruxue like this, he just left quietly without saying a word.

Xiao Yan held Xue'er's hand and said with a smile, "Why? Are you reluctant to let me marry someone else?"

Ji Ruxue shook her head, her eyes only fell on Xiao Yan's eyes with infinite tenderness, and said: "I know you are good to me... Bring me back in advance, and I won't be in the empress's wedding team..."

Xiao Yan laughed, not thinking that it would be embarrassing to have his thoughts exposed. This was the reason why Ji Ruxue insisted on staying in Fengxiang, but he refused to agree to her.

When he went to marry the empress, Fengxiang would have maids and other women to accompany him as a dowry, such as the famous Jiutian Shengji. If Ji Ruxue stayed in Fengxiang, she would be with them. In the matter of welcoming the bride, there would only be one heroine, and the others could only be supporting roles.

This was originally Xiao Yan's own little thought, but he never expected that Ji Ruxue actually knew it already.

Ji Ruxue glanced at him, feeling angry and amused, but she liked him very much in her heart. She didn't wait for Xiao Yan to continue speaking, but just helped him to straighten his clothes, and pushed Xiao Yan out the door: "You promised me that you would not make the empress sad in the future... It's getting late, hurry up and leave, don't miss the auspicious time!"

Xiao Yan was pushed out of the door by Xue'er until he stopped outside the middle gate. When he appeared, the royal palace ceremonial band, which had been waiting for a long time, immediately played various instruments, and the ministers of Tiance Palace, who were also dressed in high spirits, rushed over and bowed to congratulate Xiao Yan without saying anything.

The wedding procession was formed by hundreds of Yebushou, all of them were of the same height. Their usual jet-black armor had been replaced with brocade clothes today. Gongyang Zuo had a flower in his hairpin and looked very happy, and no one knew what he was so proud of.

This was not actually a court matter. Officials who came to see him off, such as Jing Xiang and Zhang Wenwei, were only in their daily clothes. However, there were a lot of people, and it seemed that all the dignitaries in the entire Eastern Capital had gathered at the palace. At the same time, it was inevitable that Duan Chengtian, Li Mang and other confidants, Miao Chengtian, Xuan Jingtian, Yu Youshu and other close people were also present. Luo Xiaobei, who had grown a lot taller, was carrying a big bag and gathering some friends to distribute wedding candies to everyone one by one.

Xiao Yan was also in a very happy mood. Looking at everything in front of him, he knew very well that what he was doing was worthwhile and necessary, so he forced himself not to look back and formally bid farewell to Ji Ruxue. The empress who would be taken back by him soon would be his legal wife. However, some of his insignificant actions might not seem like a big deal in private, but in public they could easily make others imagine things.

"The King is gone."

Xiao Yan did not take a carriage. The night horses that were in charge of welcoming the bride were all fine horses. At this time, the horses were standing upright in two rows, which was particularly pleasing to the eye. In the middle was the Bohai wild horse that Shuliduo had given him that year. Its white mane was neatly trimmed, it had a red tassel on its head, a colorful tassel on its tail, and the reins were all made of Shu brocade, exuding an air of wealth.

He then climbed onto the horse himself, holding the reins with one hand, and swept his eyes around. He saw Ji Ruxue standing at the front of the crowd, surrounded by Miao Chengtian and other girls. Then he said loudly: "During these days, everything in the Eastern Capital will remain the same. On the day of my great joy, everyone in the city, young and old, will be rewarded with ten coins. The strong men of the imperial guards will be rewarded with ten strings of cash and a pot of wine!"

The common people gathered in the distance heard the officials' announcement and suddenly cheered loudly: "Congratulations to the King of Qin!" "Long live the King of Qin!" "May the King of Qin have a son soon!"

The cheers shook the earth, and hundreds and thousands of officials also saluted and bowed enthusiastically. Some officers were so excited that they only wished they could lead Xiao Yan's horse all the way for the thousand-mile journey.

Xiao Yan looked at Ji Ruxue, and vaguely met her eyes with sparkling eyes, then he took the reins with one hand and led the way. Hundreds of Yebushou immediately cheered in unison, and followed Xiao Yan out of Nanxun Gate. When they arrived in Luoyang, more teams would join in, and that would be a complete wedding procession.

------

After much preparation, Xiao Yan left Dongdu with a group of people and headed for Fengxiang again, news also came to Fengxiang one after another.

By mid-October, Xiao Yan's entourage had already arrived at the post house outside Fengxiang City, but they had to stay overnight before entering the city to pick up the bride the next morning. The civil and military officials of Fengxiang came out to pay their respects, including the "Prince Wei".

There were so many people that Xiao Yan only met some of the empress's relatives. He also had some exchanges with his "brother-in-law" who had been renamed King of Wei from King of Qi.

After sending everyone away, Xiao Yan returned to his room, thinking about how his "brother" had just been unnatural and had not looked at him, and he secretly felt that it was very interesting. He felt that he seemed to have misjudged the empress's temperament, and the mentality of this little girl did not seem to be small.

In fact, it was not surprising that the empress did this. Not only was it a bit funny to perform this kind of half-truth in front of others, but also because there was not much emotional foundation between the two of them. All in all, Xiao Yan and the empress met officially as a man and a woman, but only twice, relying only on the little goodwill between the two sides, which was fragile and thin like a piece of paper.

I guess after the empress spoke righteously and calmly to Xue'er, she would be so nervous that her heart would beat faster when she returned to her own little boudoir.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yan felt the urge to have a good talk with the empress. After all, he had not really been alone with the empress since he returned from Shu, and the information transmission in between was actually only dependent on Ji Ruxue and Qian Wu.

However, this fact was too abrupt, so Xiao Yan thought about it and decided to give up.

Unexpectedly, just when he was about to ask someone to prepare bathing products to wash off the dust on the road, suddenly a handsome man wearing a futou and a men's martial robe came to ask to see Xiao Yan. Others only knew that he was a close attendant of King Wei, but Xiao Yan recognized that she was Guangmutian disguised as a man. Because she was good at playing the zither, Xiao Yan had interacted with her several times. Compared with other saints, his familiarity with her was only second to Miaochengtian and Xuanjingtian.

Ba Ge didn't recognize her, but she was a woman and had martial arts skills, so he could vaguely identify Guangmu Tian's identity and immediately became alert. Xiao Yan reminded her, "This is Guangmu Shengji, don't panic."

Guangmutian glanced at Bago. She was a gentle person. She just bowed and said softly, "King Qin, can we find a convenient place to talk?"

Baguo was holding the knife beside her, feeling a little annoyed. She could see that Guangmutian was a beauty, and even more beautiful than her.

Fortunately, my king is not someone who can be easily seduced by beauty... Bago took two steps stealthily and observed Guangmutian's hips and legs from behind, then he sneered in his heart, thinking that the threat was not great.

"Saint Ji, lead the way." Unexpectedly, Xiao Yan didn't even hesitate. He turned around and asked Bagu to stay, and followed Guangmutian out alone.

Bago stayed in the room in a daze, then held up half of her skirt and stood in front of the bronze mirror to look at herself carefully. This was impossible, because she had secretly applied flower oil recently, and there was no flaw on her legs.

She was very puzzled.

Since Xiao Yan and Guang Mu Tian entered the room silently one after another, Guang Mu Tian waited for Xiao Yan to enter and then gently closed the door. Although he had already guessed it, he was still a little surprised when he saw the empress sitting inside and looking at him with a smile.

She was still wearing men's top and skirt, but she had removed her hair crown and tied her hair into a bun with an ordinary hairpin. The men's makeup on her face had also been washed off. Apart from that, there were no other changes.

But with such a simple change, the empress has become the most beautiful woman Xiao Yan has ever seen. She does not have the purity of Ji Ruxue, like a flower that has bloomed to its fullest, lacking the immaturity and simplicity, but has an extremely beautiful appearance and temperament, elegant, noble, graceful, and her expression and behavior are experienced and calm, which can easily make others feel pressured.

This beauty is like every part of her is full of tension, grand and bright, making people unable to help but peek at her beauty, while at the same time feeling ashamed and blasphemous.

This bright lady, who seemed to have walked out of a painting, was now looking at Xiao Yan earnestly with her smiling curved eyebrows and eyes. She slightly opened her light red and smooth lips and smiled at Xiao Yan.

"Husband."

(End of this chapter)