Chapter 176: Wedding
Su Yaoguang went to find Jiang Jing and happened to see a man with a birthmark on his face coming out from inside. He saw Su Yaoguang and let down his hair to cover the half of his face with the birthmark.
He hurriedly left Peach Blossom Workshop.
Su Yaoguang went in and asked Jiang Jing, who was packing the medicine box: “Did that man want you to treat the birthmark on his face?”
Jiang Jing said, “Exactly. He saw that the birthmark on my face had faded a lot and asked if I could remove the birthmark on his face. I told him that the birthmark on my face wasn’t congenital, and for a congenital birthmark like his, there’s no way to completely remove it unless there’s face-swapping sorcery.”
“Face-swapping sorcery?” Su Yaoguang was surprised. “Does such sorcery exist in the world?”
“It does!” Jiang Jing said. “I occasionally overheard my parents chatting, and they mentioned that they once changed someone’s face, making the person completely renewed and totally different.”
“The world is full of wonders; today is another day of gaining knowledge.” Su Yaoguang said, “There are no customers today, so let’s close early and have hot pot at home later?”
“I want to have hot pot too; looks like we’re on the same page.”
With Peach Blossom Workshop on track, Fenghua Pavilion across the street was even more lively.
Xiao Yanci and Jiang Yihuan’s marriage was settled, with the wedding arranged ten days later, meaning their time was very rushed.
Jiang Yihui, who had been at the academy and hadn’t returned, heard the commotion and rushed back, smashing everything in the room to pieces, then angrily found Zhong Lanhua, who was embroidering a pillow for Jiang Yihuan.
“Are you really going to marry little sister to Mr. Xiao?”
Zhong Lanhua pursed her lips: “Otherwise? With your little sister’s reputation like this, who else can she marry besides him? The rich masters in the city all care about their face; how could they accept her having been touched by someone else?”
“It was just touching, not losing her chastity.”
“Why do you always look down on Xiao Ci? Xiao Ci studies well and might really become an official. Wouldn’t your sister enjoy good fortune if she marries him?”
“How can a slave turn over and become master? I just don’t want such a slave brother-in-law. Little sister is pretty and could clearly marry someone better, maybe even someone who could help me. Marrying such a person who sold himself into slavery now is like placing a perfectly good chess piece in the worst spot.”
“The matter is settled, and your sister agrees, so there’s nothing more to say about it.” Zhong Lanhua had a headache. “You just focus on studying well. If he studies well and really passes the imperial examination to gain an official position, he can help pull you up later.”
“Fine, you won’t listen to me, huh? Then give me five hundred taels of silver.” Jiang Yihui held out his palm.
“So much? What do you need so much silver for?” Zhong Lanhua put down what was in her hands.
“I’m the only son in the Jiang family; shouldn’t all the family silver be passed to me? Of course I need to take silver now. Once this Xiao Ci marries little sister, who knows whose the silver here will become. If I don’t take it, am I waiting for Mr. Xiao to empty Fenghua Pavilion?”
“The silver is held in mother’s hands and won’t be given to an outsider, so you can rest assured. Mother will save the silver for you to marry a wife later.”
“We’ll talk about later later. Give me the five hundred taels of silver now, or I won’t believe you. You’ve always favored little sister; who knows if you won’t secretly give her the silver?”
“You child…” Zhong Lanhua was helpless with him.
She thought that since Jiang Yihui was dissatisfied with this marriage, if she didn’t make him happy, there would be no peace for the next few days.
Since this marriage was already settled, there wouldn’t be any more trouble, otherwise the one who would lose reputation would still be her daughter.
Huan’er said Xiao Ci had great potential, and they could place their bet on him. If it paid off, they would have an official son-in-law later.
Since that day’s incident forced them to make a quick decision, they should just get the marriage done early. Getting married before the imperial examination was much better than after; at least it would prove she wasn’t marrying him because he passed and gained an official position, but that she wanted to marry this man himself.
Ten days later, the sound of music and revelry made the entire street lively.
Xiao Yanci was bought by the Jiang family, so both wedding and marriage were at the Jiang family, so they could only carry the wedding sedan chair around the county town once to let everyone know the Jiang family had a happy event.
Zhong Lanhua invited all the people from the village to the city to drink wedding wine. When the village people arrived and met Su Yaoguang and others across the way, they realized how well their business was doing and praised it endlessly.
“I said long ago that Yaoguang this girl is a person of good fortune. Think about it, who gave Yaoguang this name? It was an enlightened monk. She has the blessing of an enlightened monk and was pointed with innate wisdom!”
“Back then, Zhang Zhaodi was so poor she didn’t even have a decent piece of clothing, unkempt and dirty all day. Now look, she’s wearing brocade, and the gold hairpin on her head nearly blinded my eyes.”
“I’d say it’s that little husband who has good fortune. Ever since he appeared, the Su family’s life has gotten better and better.”
“Speaking of good fortune, it has to be the Jiang family girl. Xiao Ci studies well; back then the headmaster and teacher personally came to change his slave status and took him to the academy to study. In the future, the Jiang family girl will definitely be an official’s wife.”
The sound of music and revelry grew closer. The wedding sedan chair had circled the whole city, and next was returning to the mansion for the wedding ceremony.
Xiao Yanci rode on a tall horse, but in his wedding clothes, he showed no joy. The people around congratulated him, and he responded woodenly like Mutou, with a very fake smile on his face.
In his previous life, his wedding with Su Yaoguang didn’t have such a grand setup. The Su family was very poor then, using all their silver to buy him, after which they couldn’t even afford meals. Under those circumstances, he was forced to become Su Yaoguang’s husband, and that farming woman didn’t match his imagined wife at all, so he was a hundred percent unwilling and very perfunctory about that marriage. The Su family made him a son-in-law who lives with the wife’s family, but there wasn’t even a proper banquet spread, just inviting village people for five tables, with the most expensive dish being stir-fried eggs, and the rest their own homegrown vegetables and tofu brought by village people.
He used his health as an excuse not to show up, and didn’t even enter the bridal chamber. In fact, in his previous life, he never touched Su Yaoguang at all. Logically, after so long, he should have forgotten, but he remembered it very clearly.
Su Yaoguang looked forward to drinking the cross-cup wine with him, but that wine was brewed from rough rice and smelled off before even drinking. He was always picky and wouldn’t drink bad wine, let alone such inferior wine. He pretended to be ill with discomfort and avoided it, then ignored Su Yaoguang after lying down.
Strange. Why was he thinking of that scene?
Xiao Yanci saw Su Yaoguang standing under the eaves. She stood shoulder to shoulder with Wangshu, their heads close together whispering something. Zhang Zhaodi tapped each of them once on the head, and they rubbed their heads and smiled at each other.
