Chapter 121 Fetching the Bride

CHAPTER 121: FETCHING THE BRIDE

Even after getting laughed at in the Ministry of Personnel, Song Tingzhou came home with a straight face, only told Meng Wan the good stuff.

"All the paperwork's done, and I got the seals and everything. We just gotta head home to pick up Mom, grab Dad's memorial tablet, and then head south to take up the post." Xiwu Prefecture was in the far south, while Changping was in the great north—miles apart. They had no idea how many years they'd be gone, couldn't come back every year to visit the family graves, so taking the tablet to make daily offerings was some comfort.

"Then I'll go pack!" Meng Wan said, all excited. Being able to go home to get his mom and get out of this hellhole that chewed people up and spit 'em out made him over the moon, and he wasn't too bothered about the strange place ahead.

Seeing his bright smile, Song Tingzhou felt totally relaxed, like the crap at the Ministry of Personnel didn't even matter.

Packing was fast; they could leave a lot of stuff in the capital for now. After picking up Chang Jinhua, they'd come back for the luggage and then catch a boat south from the capital's dock.

They wanted to leave ASAP, but right before they left, Song Tingzhou got a wedding invite out of the blue. The only people they knew in Shengjing were Lin Congrong and the Zhu family.

Song Tingzhou opened the invite and looked a bit surprised. "It's from Chai Jun, the top scholar from my exam year."

Chai Jun invited not just Song Tingzhou but also Zhu Zening. Even crazier, the bride was Count Fuen's legitimate daughter.

Count Fuen's title came out of nowhere, and the big shots in Shengjing didn't really accept his family's status behind their backs. When Count Fuen kicked the bucket, the title wouldn't pass down, and his family would go back to being small-time farmers.

But Count Fuen's son had some ambition. After four years in the Imperial Academy, he actually passed the imperial exams, even if it was just as an Associate Jinshi. But his family's count title was legit, so the Ministry of Personnel cut him some slack and gave him a job as a seventh-rank secretary in the Office of Transmission.

In Shengjing, the norm was still marrying within your own class, though sometimes women married up and men married down. The girls raised in luxury from birth were basically pawns in political marriages.

Of course, xiaoge had it even worse. They might end up as concubines, or if their parents cared, they'd marry down as proper husbands—like Nie's second husband, from an official family who married a merchant-scholar.

Count Fuen marrying off his daughter seemed weird on the surface, but when you thought about it, it made total sense.

The fancy families and officials in the capital looked down on Fu Peilan, who came from a farming background with no class. Even if she busted her butt to marry into one of those families, the in-laws would obviously look down on her.

Chai Jun was a legit top scholar, now working as a sixth-rank compiler in the Hanlin Academy. If nothing went wrong, he'd definitely move up the ladder. Marrying him wasn't a bad deal for Fu Peilan.

Count Fuen was a simple farmer. Since his son-in-law's family was broke, he fronted the money for a small two-courtyard house for the young couple.

The Fu family had been commoners with just a dozen taels saved up. After getting made a count, they got an annual salary of 300 taels. Count Fuen and his wife were honest folks, too scared to blow money after their sudden rise. Instead, because they were pushovers, a bunch of relatives borrowed from them.

Later, when Fu Peilan took over the household, she stopped handing out loans like candy. Over these four years, they'd saved up a decent chunk. Count Fuen and his wife doted on their daughter. They figured they'd still have their salary in the future, so they gave their daughter a big chunk of the savings to buy the house.

Although this house was decent in size and looks, its location wasn't great. Using the imperial palace as the center, it was in the seventh ring, close to the edge. So the price was fair: just over 700 taels.

To save Chai Jun's fragile pride, the Fu family held the wedding at the new house.

Chai Jun's side had few relatives, and since the wedding was in Shengjing, the bride's turf, it was rushed. Many clan members couldn't make it, so only his parents and a few close relatives came, not even filling five tables.

Song Tingzhou brought Meng Wan, and Zhu Zening brought his dad, just barely filling five tables for Chai Jun.

On the flip side, the Fu family, even if they had no face among the nobles, had been in Shengjing for generations. Their relatives were farmers, but there were tons of them, filling fifteen or sixteen tables.

By tradition, the bride's relatives should've been hosted at the count's mansion. But the Chai family, though not officially marrying in, basically was. The wedding guests were so few they had to squeeze the Fu family's relatives into the new house too.

Both families were small-time at heart, thinking this would be convenient and save cash while saving the groom's face. But when word got out later, it'd be a joke.

After entering the new house and logging the gift list, Song Tingzhou first sent Meng Wan to the women's side before going to chat with Chai Jun.

Zhu Zening thought he was used to the couple's dynamic, but seeing it again, he sighed, "It's just a few steps; Sister-in-law won't get lost."

Song Tingzhou shot him a look but said nothing.

It was still early; the groom hadn't set out to fetch the bride yet. When Song Tingzhou and Zhu Zening went over, they found Chai Jun, the groom, showing little joy.

Chai Jun wore a festive red robe, a black head wrap, a leather belt, and black boots—the full groom getup.

Seeing his fellow exam-taker arrive, he forced a smile. "Brother Song, Brother Zhu, you're here. I'm embarrassed you had to see this. My family's broke, and I, a man, have to lean on my in-laws."

He found it hard to say, but it was the truth. Better to say it himself than have people gossip.

Song Tingzhou hated hearing that. He said flatly, "All the property in my family was earned by my husband. He handled everything for me through my exams so I never had to stress about money."

Chai Jun was stunned. He'd been wallowing in self-pity. Huh?

They didn't talk much; Chai Jun mostly whined. You'd think he was being forced into marriage instead of willingly marrying.

In the backyard, Meng Wan also caught some gossip. He hadn't enjoyed such lively chatter among village aunties in ages. He grabbed a handful of melon seeds and listened to Chai Jun's sister-in-law rambling excitedly.

"My eldest brother-in-law was a kid genius in our village. At six, he could write poems to chickens. He passed the student candidate exam at ten, the xiucai exam at fourteen, and the provincial exam at seventeen. Back then, our doorstep was worn out by matchmakers. But my brother-in-law didn't like anyone, and my in-laws were so stressed!"

She got into the story, slapping her thigh like she wished she'd married off ten or eight women for Chai Jun.

A relative nearby buttered her up, "The top scholar has taste. How could country girls and xiaoge compare to noble ladies in Shengjing?"

Chai Jun's sister-in-law looked smug. "Of course! My brother became a top scholar at twenty-four, so the count's family jumped to marry their daughter to us. From now on, we're Shengjing people. See this big house? From today, it's our Chai family's. The back main room is for my in-laws, the side rooms for us and third brother's family, and the front room for my son when he marries."

"And do you know about the count's mansion? Let me tell you..."

Meng Wan was dumbfounded. How could the Chai family dare say that outside?

At another table, the Fu family's relatives, being the count's kin, put on airs and looked down on the Chai family's country women.

"Lan Niang is dumb. If she'd married her cousin, they grew up together, and I wouldn't have treated her bad. She picked this family. Even the wedding house is a dowry." Someone who'd wanted a capital household but couldn't get it had changed her mind. Now she thought, besides the top scholar title, what did the Chai family have? Better to marry her son, and then this two-courtyard house would be hers.

Another said, "Yeah, my Zhu'er hasn't married yet either."

Other relatives laughed, "Your Zhu'er hits the pleasure streets every day. How dare he think of Lan Niang?"

After the Fu family's rise, these poor relatives had benefited and threw their weight around.

Meng Wan saw that both sides' relatives were trouble. If the groom's fellow exam-taker was tough, he might handle them; otherwise, Lan Niang would have a rough time after marrying in.

The Fuen Count Mansion was built in the inner second ring next to the imperial city, near noble families. But this was temporary; after Count Fuen died, the mansion would go back to the crown.

The inner second ring was far from the seventh ring where the new house was. Each ring was about five or six li apart, totaling about thirty-five li. If they left before noon, they could be back by dusk for the ceremony.

Chai Jun knew his relatives were a mess and would get laughed at, but he had no close friends, so he had to beg Song Tingzhou and Zhu Zening to come fetch the bride and help save face.

Zhu Zening loved excitement, and Third Master Zhu wanted him to network, so he agreed. Seeing him go, Song Tingzhou went along too.

With drumming and music, they carried the bridal sedan to the Fuen Count Mansion. Thanks to a famous matchmaker running the show, things went smoothly.

But just after they got the bride and Chai Jun and the bride bowed to Count Fuen and his wife, Chai Jun's cousin rushed over and whispered something in his ear.

Song Tingzhou saw Chai Jun suddenly panic and turn to leave. He quickly grabbed him. "Brother Chai, don't rush. You should help the bride into the sedan first."

Chai Jun frowned hard, but the wedding had gone this far. He couldn't just ditch the bride and run.

"Then let's go quickly," he said urgently, distracted.

While supporting the bride, he walked too fast and nearly made her fall.

Lan Niang's elder brother, Fu Peisheng, couldn't stand to watch. He steadied his sister and said to Chai Jun, "You go ahead and ride the horse. I'll carry Lan Niang to the sedan chair." It happened that he would also go to the new house later to host the Fu family relatives on behalf of his parents.

Upon hearing this, Chai Jun said nothing, abandoned Lan Niang, and strode out to mount his horse.

Fu Peisheng vaguely felt something was wrong, but his sister was about to get into the bridal sedan chair, leaving him no time to dwell on it. He could only carry his sister out the door first.

Unexpectedly, once outside, he became even angrier. Chai Jun, as the groom, rode his horse at a breakneck speed ahead, appearing less like a bridegroom fetching his bride and more like someone fleeing a wedding.

The gong-and-drum troupe, the sedan chair bearers, the matchmaker, and the attendants followed on foot, unable to outrun the horse, and were soon far behind.

Song Tingzhou saw Chai Jun rushing ahead and hurriedly followed. Before leaving, he instructed Zhu Zening, "I'll go see what's wrong with him. You lead the bridal sedan chair back to the new house."

With that, he went after Chai Jun, annoyed that the groom wasn't acting like one.

Zhu Zening, who had only come to enjoy the excitement, ended up taking over the groom's job. "Huh? Me? I lead?"

Lan Niang's red bridal veil was embroidered with fine stitches of a pond of lotuses and mandarin ducks. Feeling uneasy, she lifted a corner of the veil, bit her lip, and lifted the sedan chair curtain a crack. Through the crack, she saw the groom galloping away on horseback and her eyes welled up with tears.

The dowry maid noticed and, fearing someone might see, quickly reminded her, "Miss, you can't lift the curtain. Please sit properly."

Lan Niang closed her eyes, her chest rose and fell a few times as she calmed her breathing, then asked, "Where is the young master?"

The maid didn't know how to answer. Only after Lan Niang asked twice did she reply, "It seems the young master's family has an urgent matter. Don't worry, miss. We'll arrive in a little over an hour. If you feel jostled inside, there are soft cushions in the sedan chair."

Lan Niang was an unmarried young woman, only eighteen this year. In recent years, she had not found a good match and instead had been ridiculed several times.

She sat in the swaying sedan chair, full of worry. She had never even met Chai Jun; she only knew from her brother that he was exceptionally talented in literature and came from an ordinary farming family. She thought that would be better than those sons of aristocratic families with complicated backgrounds.

But seeing today's events, Lan Niang wondered if she had made the right choice.

Song Tingzhou caught up with Chai Jun ahead and shouted sternly, "Brother Song invited us—Brother Zhu and me—to escort the bride. We came out of goodwill. Now Brother Chai has abandoned the Fu family girl—what sort of propriety is this?"

Chai Jun continued to retort, "I need to ask a favor, Brother Song. There is indeed an urgent matter at home that requires me to return as quickly as possible."

Seeing Chai Jun panicked as if his elder had just died, Song Tingzhou frowned. Could it really be that something happened to his elders? But when they left, Chai's father and mother were both healthy and had thanked him and Zhu Zening profusely—how could that be?

Confused, Song Tingzhou followed him all the way back until he was stopped outside a private room.

Chai Jun said awkwardly, "Brother Song, there is an unmarried young man inside. It would not be convenient for you to enter."

"A young man? What do you mean, Brother Chai? You left the bride not for a family emergency but to see an unmarried young man?" Song Tingzhou immediately wanted to take Wan'er and go home. What a mess.

Chai Jun grabbed him and said earnestly, "I've heard you and your husband are very close. You should understand the feeling of loving someone yet being unable to be together. Yun Geer and I grew up together and have long pledged our lives to each other. Today I have betrayed him, and that's why he is threatening to kill himself. How can I ignore that?"

Song Tingzhou shook off his hand. "Brother Chai, you really are devoted. If that's the case, you should have married him, not wed the Fu family girl."

Chai Jun smiled bitterly. "I wanted to, but my parents wouldn't allow it. Only after I marry can I take him as a secondary spouse. I never expected Yun Geer to be so foolish..."

Song Tingzhou's face flushed with anger. "Chai's business is none of mine. I still have things to deal with at home, so I'll take my leave now."

Disgusted by Chai Jun's words, he already regretted coming to this absurd wedding. He quickly found Meng Wan, still in the middle of gossiping, and said to his puzzled look, "This wedding isn't worth sticking around for. Let's fetch Uncle San and leave together. I'll fill you in on the way."