The master of ceremonies, startled stiff by that killing glare, no longer dared hesitate. "First bow to Heaven and Earth!"
The red veil lay on the ground, and no one bothered with it anymore. Xu Kaicheng was like a donkey being pushed to the mill—one command, one action. Song Yao cooperated well, performing even better than Xu Kaicheng.
"Second bow to the elders!"
"Bow to each other as husband and wife!"
"Escort to the bridal chamber!"
Xu Kaicheng pulled on the red silk, and the silk led Song Yao along. The two reached the doorway just in time to run straight into Xu Kaixuan, who had been dragged back by Zhou Qi and the others, his face dark.
It was, to say the least, thoroughly awkward.
Xu Kaicheng bit his tongue to keep from laughing out loud. Behind him, Wei Cai'e let out a cry of alarm, nearly bursting into tears. Yang Wanhe moved fast—when Wei Cai'e was about to lunge forward, she threw caution to the wind, ran over, and clamped a hand over Wei Cai'e's mouth, summoning boundless strength to drag her out through the back door.
Xu Gandang was startled by Wei Cai'e's actions, and nodded again in satisfaction at Yang Wanhe's response.
Xu Kaicheng lowered his head and bit down hard on his tongue to keep from laughing. He stepped forward and shoved the red silk into Xu Kaixuan's hand. Then, in a fluster, he ripped off the groom's robe, ducked into the crowd, and kept his head down, wanting nothing more to do with any of it.
The main hall went eerily silent again for a moment. Then the master of ceremonies let out a shrill cry—whether he was weeping or laughing, no one could tell—and the wedding music started up once more.
Xu Kaixuan was dragged into it like a duck forced onto a perch. Clutching the red silk, he was hustled into the bridal chamber by the crowd. At some point, the red veil had found its way back onto Song Yao's head. Xu Kaixuan was grabbed and dragged off to toast the guests, while Zhao Momo's legs gave out and she collapsed onto the floor.
The two maids who had served Song Yue since childhood were both gone — Liulu had been sold off and Huahong taken away — so with the wedding happening so suddenly, Song Yao didn't have a single maid to bring as part of his dowry.
Zhao Momo was Madam Song's most trusted confidante. Today, she too had been forced into this mess against her will. But her fate as a dowry attendant was as good as sealed.
It had been her idea to send a substitute bride. At the time, with the situation so urgent, it had seemed like a display of loyalty. But now, with Song Yao showing his face in public again and again, all her escape routes had been cut off.
If something happened to Song Yao, never mind the fate of the rest of the Song family—she would certainly be the first to die.
Zhao Momo sat trembling on the footstool. Thinking of her family, whose indenture contracts were still in Madam Song's hands, she was overcome with grief.
She reached into her clothes and touched something. A strange light flickered in Zhao Momo's eyes. This was what Taozi, one of Madam Song's maids, had pressed into her hand when she'd left the Song residence earlier.
As long as Song Yao and Young General Xu consummated the marriage, then many things would become much easier to handle. With that thought, Zhao Momo rose from the footstool. Her hands and feet were still weak, but her gaze was unshakably resolute.
Beside the bridal bed, Song Yao's hands were tightly clasped together, his gaze fixed straight ahead at the red veil before him, no one knew what he was thinking.
The Marquis of Jing'an household's wedding was a rowdy affair. Xu Kaixuan, stifled and furious, drowned his grief and rage in drink. He refused no one who came up to toast him. Xu Kaicheng had originally planned to slip off to the side and slack off, but in the end he was dragged over to block drinks for him.
Blocking drinks was out of the question—he only worried that Xu Kaixuan wasn't drinking enough. He trailed timidly behind Xu Kaixuan, making sure that every time the other wanted to stop, he'd catch sight of him, thereby giving Xu Kaixuan more motivation.
All six of the men assigned to block drinks for Xu Kaixuan had been drunk under the table, and half the guests in the hall were sprawled on the floor. It wasn't until Xu Gandang gave the order that the drinking contest finally ended.
Wei Cai'e was locked in her room. All the household's coordination fell into Yang Wanhe's hands. The fifty guards Xu Gandang had reassigned were also all under Zhao Guangming's command.
Yang Wanhe's eyes gleamed with a strange light. She transferred away all the young servants and maids who had originally attended Xu Kaixuan, and those guarding outside the room were all her people. For reasons unknown, Zhao Guangming had ordered the guards to keep their distance from the bridal chamber.
Xu Kaicheng supported the limp-as-mud Xu Kaixuan into the bridal chamber. Inside, Zhao Momo was nervously guarding the two cups of nuptial wine.
"I'm not drunk—drink, I can still drink!" Xu Kaixuan waved his hand, not a trace of clarity left in his eyes.
A loud crash against the door startled the two people inside. Song Yao yanked off the red veil and dashed over.
Zhao Momo thought he was going to help support Xu Kaixuan, but instead he threw himself straight into the arms of Xu Kaicheng, who had been holding Xu Kaixuan up.
Xu Kaicheng instinctively freed a hand to catch him, and Zhao Momo's eyes rolled back — she nearly fainted on the spot. The dead-drunk groom was still over there shouting, "I'm not drunk! I'm not drunk!" but the other three people in the room had already fallen completely silent.
Zhao Momo clutched her chest, looking at Song Yao—who was already streaming with tears yet clinging tightly to the marquis household's Second Young Master and refusing to let go—and then at the Second Young Master, who looked thoroughly exasperated yet was also holding Song Yao without letting go.
Finally, she looked at the real bridegroom, Young General Xu, slumped limply in a chair. In that moment, beneath the glow of the red candles, Zhao Momo felt that Young General Xu's head had turned green.
Song Yao paid no attention to Zhao Momo, who was nearly hyperventilating. He snatched up the nuptial wine from the table and shoved it into Xu Kaicheng's hand. Without giving him any chance to refuse, he grabbed Xu Kaicheng's arm and looped it through his own, then pressed the cup directly to Xu Kaicheng's lips.
"Don't!" Zhao Momo cried out, lunging forward, weeping bitterly.
Helpless, Xu Kaicheng didn't refuse, and the cup pressed to his lips was poured straight down his throat. Song Yao himself was even more startlingly unreserved.
After drinking, his eyes sparkled and the smile at the corner of his mouth was utterly captivating.
Xu Kaicheng rubbed his head in exasperation. Zhao Momo had collapsed to the floor, sobbing her heart out. "Good heavens above, there was something in that wine!"
Old age brings wisdom—how could she not see that these two had a secret affection? Zhao Momo didn't care about the private feelings between these two. She could even understand Song Yao's reasoning for wanting to drink the nuptial wine with Xu Kaicheng after having bowed in ceremony with him, throwing caution to the wind.
But the consummation was absolutely out of the question!
Zhao Momo wept bitterly, as if she had lost her man. Xu Kaicheng was silent. Song Yao was unafraid. Xu Kaicheng turned his head to look at Xu Kaixuan, slumped in the chair. Song Yao grabbed his chin and turned his face back.
"Xu Kaicheng."
"..." Xu Kaicheng touched his nose and looked at Zhao Momo. "Ahem, so, do you still have that drug?"
"..." Zhao Momo's face was streaked with tears. Through her blurry, tear-filled eyes, she stared blankly at Xu Kaicheng. When he reached out his hand, her mind hadn't caught up yet, but her hand had already handed over all the remaining drug.
Xu Kaicheng pinched Xu Kaixuan's cheeks and poured all the powder in.
Zhao Momo watched everything before her blankly, her eyes glazed over.
Xu Kaicheng hoisted the already beginning-to-writhe man onto his shoulder and carried him into the side room. After all, this was the marquis household's future heir—the rooms here weren't as crude as his own. Outside the bedroom there was a small servants' room, which now became Xu Kaixuan's room.
After some thought, Xu Kaicheng also fed Xu Kaixuan some of the knockout drug he carried on him, all for the sake of a good night's sleep until dawn.
After all, he had already stood in for Xu Kaixuan at the welcoming of the bride, the bowing ceremony, and the toasting of guests—so helping with this last part too wasn't a big deal, right?
Who told him to be such a good younger brother?
In despair, Zhao Momo was pushed outside the servants' room to keep watch just in case. As Song Yao's face grew redder and redder, Xu Kaicheng — relying on the faint drug effect from what he himself had just ingested — carried him onto the bed.
Water was called for twice that night. As dawn approached, Xu Kaicheng and Zhao Momo — now an unwilling accomplice — stripped Xu Kaixuan bare and laid him on the bridal bed together.
Song Yao gathered his clothes and retreated to the freshly tidied servants' room to sleep. Xu Kaicheng slipped away. Zhao Momo, utterly lifeless, remained to keep watch by Xu Kaixuan's bedside — dying was no longer something she dared even think of.
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