Eastern Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms

Ma Chao held Zhen Mi's lilac-colored shawl in his left hand, and with his right, he loosely supported the hem of Dong Bai's sleeve. When he reached the bridgehead, he suddenly paused. The June wind lifted the hem of his black brocade robe, revealing the four divine designs embroidered on the inner lining—the pattern that had been hastily added by the embroiderers of the Prince of Liang's mansion yesterday. "Master Zhang, please return to the inn and rest," he said to Zhang Wei behind him, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the silk handkerchief that had slipped from Zhen Mi's sleeve. "A welcoming banquet has been prepared in the mansion, and we await you all."

Before he could finish his words, the Heavenly Master Seal Box Zhang Wei was holding suddenly shook, its lid's copper lock drawing a glaring arc in the sunlight. He watched helplessly as Ma Chao, holding Zhen Mi in his arms, led Dong Bai and the other two as they headed straight back to the city. Zhang Wei was terrified, unsure of what the King of Liang was up to. His two precious nieces were still in the Shao carriage, and he wouldn't let them get out, nor offer to welcome them in. What was he thinking? Zhang Wei turned to question Li Ru, but found that Li Ru, who had been by his side just a moment ago, had vanished without a trace.

"Liang, King Liang, wait a minute!" Zhang Wei stumbled forward half a step in a hurry and shouted, the talisman bag on his waist hitting the gift box with a dull sound. Ma Chao turned around and said, "Master, is there anything else?" He frowned slightly, and his fingertips touched Zhen Mi's wrist, which suddenly tightened.

Dong Bai suddenly uttered a "huh" and looked at Zhang Wei's flushed face. Ma Chao obviously didn't notice anything unusual at this moment. He just looked at Zhang Wei puzzledly: "Is there something wrong with Zhang Tianshi's seal?"

The Ba River suddenly swirled into a murky vortex, shattering the bridge's shadow into inky patches. Zhang Wei looked in the direction Li Ru had disappeared, then at the gold foil swaying at Zhen Mi's temples behind Ma Chao. He finally understood why the old fox had slipped away so early—he had predicted Ma Chao would be completely captivated by Zhen Mi, but he hadn't anticipated how he would have to tell the Prince of Liang that those two forgotten Shao carriages contained Zhang Lu's two daughters, whom he hoped to marry into the Prince's mansion.

The slabs of Baqiao in June were hot enough to bake flatbreads. Veins bulged in Zhang Wei's fingers as he gripped the Celestial Master's seal box. Incense wax seeping from the cracks in the lid trickled down his wrist. "Is the Prince of Liang feigning ignorance?" He had barely finished his words when the curtain of the third Shao carriage behind him suddenly blew up in the wind.

Ma Chao raised an eyebrow at the words. His dark brocade robe kicked up a cloud of dust as it swept across the bridge, blinding Zhang Wei. "Why do you say that, Master?" He spoke softly, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the silk handkerchief that had slipped from Zhen Mi's sleeve. The silver thread embroidery of the word "Zhen" on it shone coldly in the sunlight. Suddenly, he heard Ma Xiu, the commander of the personal guards, approaching with his sword. The rubbing sound of armor leaves startled the cicadas in the locust tree beside the bridge into silence: "How dare you speak to the King of Liang in this way!"

"Ma Xiu withdrew." Ma Chao raised his hand to stop his brother without turning back, his eyes fixed on Zhang Wei's trembling Adam's apple. "Master Zhang, feel free to speak." He saw beads of sweat dripping from the other man's forehead onto the gift box, and the doubts in his heart suddenly swirled like the Ba River.

Zhang Wei took a deep breath, his sleeves sweeping across the curtain of the second Shao carriage beside him. The curtain, embroidered with the Bagua pattern, was lifted by the wind, revealing Zhang Qiying's fingertips fiddling with a talisman. "Your Majesty, do you see anything wrong with the Tianshi Mansion?" His voice trembled in the echo from the bridge. "Since you admire my brother's sincerity," he pointed sharply at the two neglected Shao carriages. A coral bead rolled out from the wheel ruts. "Why don't you look at these two carriages?"

Ma Chao looked in the direction he pointed. The curtains of the two carriages beside him rustled in the wind. "Mi'er has already accepted it. Could there be something else going on?"

"Why are you pretending to be confused?" The Shu brocade curtain of the third Shao carriage was suddenly yanked open. When Zhang Fubao leaned out, his wrist hit the shaft of the carriage. "My second sister and I have been waiting in the carriage for half an hour. Do you think we are air?"

"Ma Chao!" Zhang Fubao's furious shout echoed through the bridge. Ma Chao stared at the young woman standing with her hands on her hips. The makeup on her forehead was smudged by sweat, and her pomegranate-red skirt billowed like a sail in the wind, making her look like a lion cub whose tail had been stepped on. "Miss Fubao is here too?" He subconsciously took a half step forward. As her dark brocade robe swept across the bridge, he noticed the twin lotus embroidery on her skirt, clearly the pattern of a newlywed bride.

At that moment, the Bagua-patterned curtain of the neighboring Shao carriage slowly opened. When Zhang Qiying poked her head out, the silver cloud pattern on the cuffs of her Taoist robe brushed against the carriage wall, revealing the "Zhengyi Zhenren" seal, a subtle match for the Tianshi Dao seal Ma Chao had just received. Her eyes, soft enough to drip water, gazed at Ma Chao, and the talisman hanging from the jade hairpin beside her hair swayed gently. "Miss Qiying is here too?" He was delighted, his eyes sweeping over the two women's finery, but he mistook the red string around Zhang Qiying's wrist for a wedding ornament. "Perhaps she has a deep sisterly bond with Zhen Mi and has come specially to see her off?"

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Zhang Fubao's head. She pointed at Ma Chao, her voice trembling with anger: "Ungrateful! If it weren't for the magical medicine passed down from my Tianshi Mansion to save you in Hanzhong, you would have died long ago, okay?" Her words made Ma Chao suddenly stunned, "Now that you are the King of Liang, do you think the daughter of my Tianshi Mansion is a roadside weed?"

"Why do you say that, little Fubao?" Ma Chao asked subconsciously. Zhang Fubao stopped listening and turned to Zhang Gui beside the carriage, shouting, "Second brother! Prepare the horses and return to Hanzhong!" Before she finished her words, the curtains of the Shao carriage were suddenly blown away by the wind, revealing a carriage full of red silk. It turned out that the walls of the carriage had been covered with wedding scarves, and in the corner was a heart-shaped knot that had not yet been put away.

"My little ancestor!" Zhang Wei tumbled and crawled to the side of Shao's carriage, his crown and belt tilted and knocked the coral beads off the shaft. The beads rolled to Ma Chao's feet, casting tiny shadows on the hem of his black brocade robe. He grabbed the hem of Zhang Fubao's skirt.

"Don't mind it, Your Majesty," Zhang Wei knocked his forehead against the bronze ornament of the shaft as he turned around, and the red mark on Zhang Fubao's forehead contrasted beautifully with the makeup on his face. "Fubao...she got a heat stroke on the road and was talking nonsense!" He stole a glance at Ma Chao's furrowed brow, and then caught a glimpse of Dong Bai's half-smile beside him. He hurriedly turned his head and winked at Zhang Fubao, "Hurry up and apologize to Your Majesty! This marriage...this wedding gift, how can we just leave like that?"

The June breeze from the bridge, carrying the fragrance of locust flowers, brushed past Dong Bai's temples. She looked at Zhang Fubao, whose face was flushed, in Shao's carriage. The two of them had gotten along very well in Xiliang. As she walked slowly closer, the hem of her black skirt inlaid with gold swept across the moss on the bridge surface, startling the crickets in the cracks in the rocks and making them jump into Zhang Wei's trembling sleeves.

"Sister Fubao," Dong Bai's voice mingled with the gurgling of the Ba River. She reached out to brush aside the wind-blown carriage curtains, only to touch the twin lotus embroidery beneath—the stitching matched the unfinished handkerchief tucked into her sleeve. When Zhang Fubao raised her head, her makeup was stained red by tears, and the pearl necklace on her pomegranate-red dress swayed with her sobs, like a string of rain-soaked pyracantha berries.

The girl's grievances suddenly burst forth at the touch. When Zhang Fubao threw herself into Dong Bai's arms, the wolf-tooth hairpin in her hair scraped against her skirt, making a crisp sound. "Sister Bai'er!" Her cries shook the willows beside the bridge. Her fingers tightly grasped Dong Bai's shawl, as if grasping a lifeline. "I wonder what kind of magic potion that old man Li Ru gave my father!"

The wind on the bridge suddenly picked up, shredding Zhang Fubao's words. Dong Bai patted Zhang Fubao's back through the shark silk handkerchief. "You insisted on having my second sister and me follow Sister Zhen Mi to Chang'an," the girl's tears fell on the back of Dong Bai's hand like hot pearls. "What do you mean by 'Three beauties marrying together to seal destiny'? But look at him!"

She pointed sharply at Ma Chao, the four divine designs beneath her dark brocade robe glaring in the sunlight. The Prince of Liang stared at Zhang Fubao in bewilderment, oblivious to the tears that formed on Zhang Qiying's drooping eyelashes in the neighboring car. "They treat us like weeds by the roadside!" Zhang Fubao sobbed. "How can I live as a human being from now on..." Zhang Fubao's voice faded, burying herself in the hollow of Dong Bai's shoulder like a wounded animal. Dong Bai gently stroked her trembling hair, his fingertips brushing against the untied red hairband at the root—a symbol of good fortune for a Hanzhong girl before her wedding.

Dong Bai's gaze at Ma Chao was like a knife slicing through deep ice. The hem of her robe, embroidered with the Four Gods, lifted in the wind, revealing the dark embroidery lining—the uniform had just been revised three days earlier, but now it burned like a brand into Ma Chao's eyes. "You really don't know?" Her voice mingled with the roar of the Ba River, startling the cicadas in the old locust tree beside the bridge into silence.

Ma Chao subconsciously took a half step back, the hilt of the sword at his waist making a cold sound. He looked at Dong Bai, his eyes just like Zhang Wei's panicked eyes at that moment. "If I knew..." He tugged at the collar of his brocade robe, the June heat suddenly becoming sticky. "Why let these two ladies sit in the car in the sun for half an hour?"

These words made Zhang Wei, who had just reached the carriage, stumble, his Taoist hat tilted to reveal the tuft of hair on his head. "What's the point of that, Prince Liang?" His sleeve brushed against the shaft of Shao's carriage, making it clang. "My brother and Mr. Li Ru had already agreed to the marriage," he said, pointing to the jade hairpin on Zhang Fubao's temple. It was the exact same shape as the pendant on Ma Chao's waist. "Even the tokens were exchanged, how could it be..."

Ma Chao fiercely grasped Zhang Wei's wrist, his touch breaking out in a cold sweat. He looked at the two neglected Shao carriages, their curtains rustling in the wind, and was suddenly struck by the sight of the evil-repelling beasts carved on the shafts, which looked identical to the button decorations on the Celestial Master's seal.

"Li Ru never mentioned that!" Ma Chao's voice trembled as the echo from the bridge archway echoed through it. Zhang Wei's pupils constricted as he heard this, and as he stepped back, he knocked over the gift box, sending pearls and jadeite tumbling all over the floor.

Ma Chao clenched his fists suddenly, and the stinging pain of his knuckles digging into the flesh brought him back to his senses - half an hour ago, when Li Ru bent over to hand over the seal, the eyes under the bamboo crown were clearly flashing with a skeptical light. At that time, he just thought it was fatigue from the long journey, but now he realized that he had fallen into the trap of the old fox.

"Mr. Li Ru! Mr. Li Ru!" He called out, but no one answered. He scanned the room but saw no sign of Li Ru.

The people beside the bridge clung to the stone railings, their whispers like mosquitoes before a summer rainstorm, buzzing across the stone bridge: "What's wrong with the King of Liang?" "I heard Zhang Lu sent three wives..."

Ma Chao ran to Dong Bai with an embarrassed look on his face: "Bai'er, I... I really don't know..."

Dong Bai looked up at Ma Chao's trembling Adam's apple, seeing that his awkward expression didn't seem fake. A laugh escaped her lips, and she shook off Ma Chao's hand that was tugging at her sleeve: "Master Zhang was willing to send his own daughter to us, and you really want to let two girls starve on this bridge?"

Before she finished speaking, she had already grasped Zhang Fubao's wrist with one hand, and the hem of the girl's pomegranate red skirt swept across the bridge; with the other hand, she gently brushed aside the Bagua pattern curtain in front of Zhang Qiying. The girl, whose silver cloud pattern on the cuffs of her Taoist robe had become dark due to her tears, raised her head. The girl who was secretly crying was really pitiful.

"Everyone, come back to the mansion with me." Dong Bai pressed Zhang Qiying's slightly cold hand into Ma Chao's palm. When the black shawl was lifted, the newly embroidered lotus pattern on it gently stretched in the wind.