On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

In the early winter of the first year of Shenghui, the first snow had not yet fallen, but the mansions of the wealthy families in Chang'an City were already filled with a chill more biting than that of the severe winter.

At the Autumn Hunting Ceremony, Murong Yan's stunning arrow shot not only pierced the frenzied stag, but also the last glimmer of hope in the hearts of many aristocratic families.

The precision and decisiveness of that arrow, as well as the powerful military force and unquestionable authority behind it, were like a red-hot iron, burning the hearts of all onlookers and even enemies.

The Wang family mansion in Taiyuan is hidden in a secret room deep within the numerous courtyards. The charcoal fire is burning fiercely, but it cannot dispel the heavy depression in the air.

The patriarch, Wang Xun, seemed to have aged ten years overnight. His once vigorous eyes were now cloudy and bloodshot. He stared at the dancing flames before him, saying nothing. His son, Wang Yunzhi, and several core elders sat in silence, their faces ashen.

In the corner, there was a guest sitting there, his face covered in dust, his face hidden in the shadow of his cloak. He was from the Cui family of Qinghe.

"Tell me everything," Wang Xun's voice was dry and hoarse, breaking the suffocating silence, "Is there any way forward for us?"

Wang Xun's voice was dry and hoarse, breaking the suffocating silence. "After the autumn hunt, there was no news of Xuan'er (referring to the Wang family member taken away by Murong Yan). Is there any other way for us to go?"

Wang Yunzhi suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with uncontrollable grief and fear. "Father! Murong Yan is so cruel and ruthless! I'm afraid Brother Xuan has met with an unexpected disaster! Are we just going to sit there and wait for death?!"

"If we don't just sit and wait for death, what else can we do?" An elder of the tribe spoke tremblingly, his voice filled with despair.

"Head-on confrontation? The Lu family's fate is right before our eyes! Spreading rumors? Who dares to say a word of criticism now, inside or outside the capital? Even those poor scholars we secretly funded are now mostly silent, and some have even turned to praising the new policies! Economic means? Once the official market opens, our stockpiled goods will become a joke, and our capital chain is almost broken!"

Every word was like a blunt knife, cutting into the hearts of everyone present.

They found that all the methods that had always been effective in the past were so vulnerable in the face of Murong Yan's absolute strength and ruthless determination.

"And her strange clothes!" Wang Yunzhi's voice trembled as if he remembered something terrible.

"You all saw it on the day of the Autumn Hunt! She actually appeared at the ceremony wearing that black and gold nightgown embroidered with a giant phoenix! The train was several feet long! It shone with golden light! She was simply declaring to everyone that she disregarded etiquette and law, and treated imperial power as a toy! That wasn't a nightgown at all, it was a battle robe! A battle robe declaring her unwavering commitment to our undying struggle!"

When the clothes were mentioned, the temperature in the secret room seemed to drop a few degrees.

These elders from aristocratic families have always strictly observed etiquette and paid attention to the rules of dress. Murong Yan's dress, which was a combination of extreme luxury, casualness, and fierce majesty, was completely beyond their cognition and became a symbolic and terrifying existence.

They seemed to be able to see, on the hunting viewing platform, how Su Jin's skirt with a dark black background and a golden phoenix soaring in the air absorbed the light in the autumn sun and reflected dark golden waves that made people dare not look directly at them.

The five-meter-long tail stretched out like an inky golden river, proclaiming supreme power and contempt.

They could even imagine the double visual and psychological impact that would come when Murong Yan turned around and whispered to Lin Zhen, her wide flared sleeves fluttering and her skirt rising, revealing the stunning, dazzling golden lining underneath!

That is no longer a simple dress, it is the most intuitive embodiment of Murong Yan as a person - her strength, her willfulness, and her unpredictability!

"And Lin Zhen!" The Cui family's messenger finally spoke, his voice low and cold.

"That treacherous villain! He follows Murong Yan around like a shadow all day long, like her most loyal vicious dog! Did you see the look in his eyes when he looked at her during the autumn hunt? That wasn't the reverence of a subject for his monarch at all; that was the obsession of a man for a woman! It was unconditional indulgence and support! With him around, Murong Yan is even more powerful. It's hard for us!"

The chamber fell into a dead silence once again. Murong Yan's strength, Lin Zhen's loyalty, and that nightmarish dress, reminiscent of a divine phoenix descending from the earth, formed a despairing image that they could not shake.

"Does God really want to destroy my family's thousand-year-old foundation?" Wang Xun burst into tears and pounded the table.

"No! We're not at the end of our rope yet!" The Cui family envoy suddenly raised his head, revealing a pair of eyes flashing with a sinister light beneath his cloak. "If hard tactics don't work, we'll use soft tactics! If open tactics don't work, we'll use covert tactics! No matter how strong Murong Yan is, she's still human. The Daqian Empire can't be supported by her alone!"

"Brother Cui, what do you think?" Wang Yunzhi asked anxiously.

"First, be patient!" the Cui family envoy said firmly. "Be completely dormant! All children, study behind closed doors, all officials, work diligently, even more submissive than before! We must make Murong Yan feel that we have surrendered and are powerless to resist. Eliminate her vigilance!"

"Second, infiltration!" He lowered his voice. "Didn't Murong Yan prioritize people from humble backgrounds and establish the New Policy Inspection Office? Okay! We'll use her tactics against her! Select the smartest, most inconspicuous, and cleanest young men from the clan. We could even have them change their surnames and names, join humble families, study the New Policy classics diligently, and strive to pass the imperial examinations to join her new organization! We'll slowly erode her team from within! Just like water dripping through stone!"

"Third, indulge!" A hint of malice flashed in his eyes. "Isn't Murong Yan stubborn and self-righteous, fond of arbitrary decisions? Let us let her do it! The new policies she promotes, especially in remote counties, are bound to have omissions and impracticalities. Not only will we not oppose them, we will also 'strongly support' them. We can even secretly promote some radical measures to expose their shortcomings more quickly! Let public resentment accumulate! When public resentment boils over, Murong Yan's prestige will naturally be damaged!"

"Fourth, wait!" he said finally, "Wait for the opportunity! Although Bater in the northern border is trapped, he is still alive! The civil strife in Goguryeo will sooner or later affect Liaodong! And Murong Yan and Lin Zhen are so in love, but they have no children yet. Isn't this 'God's will'? As long as the opportunity comes, for example, external troubles arise, internal troubles erupt, or Murong Yan herself has an 'accident'..." He didn't say anything else, but the meaning was self-evident.

This is a more insidious, longer, but potentially more effective path, moving from direct confrontation to covert infiltration, connivance, and waiting.

A faint light rekindled in Wang Xun's cloudy eyes: "Brother Cui is right! We were too impatient before."

He looked at Wang Yunzhi,

"Yunzhi, do as Brother Cui says! Select reliable young men and make secret arrangements! From today on, I, Wang, will be Murong Yan's most obedient subject!"

"But father! Brother Xuan's revenge," Wang Yunzhi said unwillingly.

"Shut up!" Wang Xun shouted sternly, "A little impatience can ruin a great plan! Xuan'er's revenge must be avenged! But not now! We have to wait, until the day when Murong Yan and her lover fall from grace!"

The conspiracy continued late into the night, with more covert and vicious plans being drawn up one after another.

When the Cui family envoy left quietly, Wang Xun was left alone in the secret room, looking at the dancing flames. It seemed as if the scene of the autumn hunting platform appeared before his eyes again. Murong Yan was wearing the dress of the divine phoenix, drawing her bow and shooting an arrow, and the moment when she turned around and her skirt fluttered, revealing the breathtaking golden lining.

He shuddered involuntarily.

It's not just a piece of clothing, it's a statement.

Declaring that the old rules have been broken and that an era that they cannot understand or control has arrived.

And these former rule makers can only lick their wounds in the dark night and launch a hopeless counterattack in a darker way.