Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

Chapter 424 Wedding

After the New Year and the Lantern Festival, Shengjing had another heavy snowfall, which had a huge positive effect on the growth of wheat seedlings around the capital and on killing insect pests in the soil.

Fortunately, Li Rongxu and the Da Nv couple rushed back to the Xiao family's farm before the Lantern Festival, otherwise their trip would have been delayed by the heavy snow.

Wulang and Erniu originally planned to return to Yuzhou after the Chinese New Year, but their parents planned to wait until their brother's senior brother, Wang Xinkuan, got married before going to Yujing Palace. Therefore, Ye Changyan asked the siblings to stay. After all, the weather was still cold in the first month of the year. They could return to Yuzhou after the end of March, when Wang Xinkuan got married and spring came and flowers bloomed.

Since Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng had to return to the Imperial College to study, Zhong Yunfeng arranged the affairs of Yunfeng Tower and took Ye Xiaozheng and the Lian couple, Wulang and Erniu, as well as Cai Lao and Xingwang, to travel around several prefectures around the capital.

Time quickly entered March, and Wang Xinkuan's wedding date was approaching. Wang Xinkuan returned to Shengjing on March 15th, and Zhong Yunfeng, with a group of people, young and old, returned to Shengjing from Changping Prefecture on March 19th.

The wedding date of Wang Xinkuan and Tong Luyao, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Wei's son, was on March 22nd. Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng also took two days off from the Imperial College. On March 21st, they took Wulang and Zhong Yunfeng to the Wang family to help.

Although the Wang family is only a branch of the Wang family, a powerful family in Hexi, Wang Xinkuan's grandfather, uncle and Wang Xinkuan were all Jinshi graduates and had all entered the Hanlin Academy. Now Wang Xinkuan is the Tongzhi of Xuyang Prefecture, a fifth-rank official. Wang Xinkuan's grandmother and the empress dowager are cousins. The Wang family is in great favor with the emperor. In addition, the Duke of Wei's Mansion, which is married to the Wang family, is a wealthy family in Shengjing. Therefore, this marriage has attracted much attention in Shengjing.

When Ye Changyan, Liang Jingcheng and others arrived at Wang's house, they saw that the house was already decorated with lights and colorful decorations inside and out, and festive red silk decorations were everywhere. The maids and servants of Wang's house were all smiling happily.

On March 22nd, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng accompanied Wang Xinkuan to the Duke of Wei's mansion to welcome the bride. Wang Xinkuan rode a tall maroon horse with a huge red silk flower tied on his chest. He looked particularly high-spirited in the warm spring breeze.

The wedding procession, composed of Ye Changyan, Liang Jingcheng and some cousins of the Wang family, also rode tall horses and wore brightly colored clothes. They followed behind Wang Xinkuan, followed by a music and drum band. Wherever the wedding procession passed, it attracted a large number of people to watch.

Even Ye Changyan, who was sitting on horseback, could hear people in the crowd talking about how handsome the groom was.

Just as the wedding procession crossed a street corner and headed towards Kangle Street where the Duke of Wei's Mansion was located, a beautiful girl in the crowd at the corner had red eyes and stared affectionately at the handsome and tall Wang Xinkuan on horseback.

If Wang Xinkuan looked towards the corner where the girl was, he would definitely find that this was the girl to whom he had given the yellow jasmine perfume.

By the time the wedding procession had gone far away, the girl had already been crying her eyes out. The middle-aged woman next to the girl took out a handkerchief, gently wiped the tears from the corners of the girl's eyes, and comforted her softly.

"Yu'er, the young master of the Wang family has already married today, and it is a marriage granted by the emperor. Now your father is in mourning at home, and it is still unknown whether he can be reinstated at that time. And the other party is the eldest daughter of the Duke of Wei. With our family background, you and the young master of the Wang family are destined not to be together in this life."

"mother......"

After hearing what the woman said, the girl was even more heartbroken. She threw herself into the woman's arms and cried inconsolably.

Here, Wang Xinkuan's wedding procession arrived at Kangle Street where the Duke of Wei's Mansion was located. The whole street was decorated with lights and colors. It was rumored that many shops on Kangle Street were owned by the Duke of Wei's Mansion. It seemed that this was not groundless.

The wedding procession arrived at the gate of the Duke of Wei's Mansion. The door was wide open, and several of Tong Luyao's brothers came out to greet them. They warmly and politely welcomed Wang Xinkuan and his party into the Duke of Wei's Mansion.

Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng were both a little surprised. How come this was a little different from the scenes of wedding processions entering the house that they had seen in the past? In the past, wedding processions would either have to go through many difficulties or at least have someone come to obstruct them? But now, their brothers who had accompanied the bride in the wedding procession were completely useless.

Although many people in the Tong family also had doubts in their hearts, the old man Duke Wei personally instructed last night that when the wedding party arrived today, the middle door should be opened directly and the party should be politely invited into the mansion without obstruction.

In fact, Duke Wei only got the gossip in the afternoon, saying that His Majesty had already persuaded the Queen Mother and was preparing to transfer the current prefect of Xuyang Prefecture, and Wang Xinkuan, who had just been in office for half a year, would be directly promoted to prefect of Xuyang Prefecture. Wang Xinkuan was only 27 years old this year. If it was true as the news Duke Wei got, a 27-year-old prefect would be unprecedented in the entire Dasheng Dynasty, if not unprecedented.

What a royal favor and honor! Although the Duke of Wei has retired from the court for many years, he has become a wealthy man in Shengjing City, so he must have some skills. The changes in the court over the past year are naturally within the Duke of Wei's insight. Although he has been away from the court, the eldest prince, the second prince and the third prince continue to extend olive branches to him. What they value is nothing more than the wealth in their hands.

Not to mention that the position of the crown prince is still undecided. Even if someone sits on the position, nothing will be settled until he finally ascends the throne. Once a bloody conflict occurs, those who stand on the wrong side will inevitably become cannon fodder.

Duke Wei is in charge of such a large industry, so he is naturally cautious in his dealings. After the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, His Majesty made a major personnel adjustment, and Duke Wei was not unaware of the subtlety. Those who were promoted to key positions were all officials with neutral attitudes, and among them, the five disciples of Cai Zhengqing all occupied dangerous positions.

Especially the eldest disciple Zhu Yuchun, who was qualified to participate in the small court meeting at a young age. If Wang Xinkuan really took the position of Xuyang prefect, the implication of the wind direction would seem to become more and more obvious.

Although it was a common custom for the wedding procession to be harassed by the bride's brothers and nephews, the Duke of Wei hoped to show the outside world how much the Duke of Wei's Mansion valued the marriage with the Wang family and to express his gratitude for the imperially granted marriage. Therefore, he kept his attitude low in the hope of changing the bad impression of the Duke of Wei's Mansion as being wealthy and powerful in the minds of the neutral and young officials in the court.