Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 740: Sister-in-law
The courtyard where Zhu Tingfang's new house was located was chosen by his family, not his previous residence. After all, his original courtyard was only moved out when he asked for independence after he turned eight years old. It was next to the courtyard of Zhu Jing, the Duke of Zhao, and it was not very big. His new house was decorated by his family. In short, Zhu Tingfang almost did not ask about the preparations and various details of the wedding from beginning to end.
So these days many men have to worry about the ups and downs when getting married, but for him, it seems that all he has to do is to welcome the bride on the wedding day.
Of course, after welcoming the newlyweds, Zhu Er could not do all the complicated procedures of the wedding like in the previous rehearsal. He had to do it from beginning to end. Fortunately, he was meticulous and did it in one go without any mistakes. It was only when he was about to remove the veil and drink the wedding wine with the bride that he suddenly paused.
He frowned and asked coldly, "Are there too many people waiting here?"
The bridesmaid beside him was shocked to see that Zhu Tingfang's red groom's crown and uniform looked like a military robe and armor, and the words were said so stiffly. Although there were rumors that Zhu Tingfang was dissatisfied with the marriage, she saw that Zhu Tingfang did not show any impatience just now, and only showed dissatisfaction at this moment, but she was a little unsure.
But just when she didn't know how to respond, she heard a laugh from the side: "Brother, everyone is trying to squeeze in to see my sister-in-law, can you still chase them away? You can deal with the men in their family later, don't be so nagging now. Hurry up and take off the veil, I'm still waiting to talk to my sister-in-law!"
What does it mean to argue with the men in your family in the future?
Facing Zhu Ying's blunt words, the young wives who came to watch the fun all had doubts in their hearts, and the timid ones just slipped away - after all, the elders would never come to the bridal chamber at this time, and those who came were either peers or younger generations. The men in their families really couldn't stand Zhu Tingfang's revenge.
Even the brave ones would retreat when they saw Zhu Tingfang glance over and thought about the character of this young master. Although Weinan Earl Zhang Kang was a noble, it was said that he had many concubines at home, and his daughters did not often come out to interact with other families, so few people had seen what the young lady of the Zhang family who was about to marry Zhu Tingfang looked like.
But even if they wanted to see her, the eldest lady of the Duke of Zhao's mansion would not hide herself from others in the future. They would meet her sooner or later. Why should they stand here and make Zhu Tingfang unhappy?
So, in a short moment, the place that was packed just now was empty, but there were still a few women who shamelessly did not leave. Zhu Ying took a glance and saw that they were all relatives of her family. She sneered in her heart, but did not say anything. Zhu Tingfang frowned, and was too lazy to pay attention to them. She lifted the red veil expressionlessly.
Although there were not many people present, all eyes were focused on the big red veil - after all, there was no telling how many people in the entire capital envied the concubine's daughter of the Weinan Marquis's Mansion who rarely appeared in public. She was able to marry into the Zhaoguo Duke's Mansion and in the future she would easily be able to obtain the title of the top lady of the Zhao Kingdom. How many daughters of famous families would be eager to do that?
That is to say, Zhu Tingfang was disfigured and there were rumors that he was unlucky in marriage, but the Duke of Zhao's mansion was still very picky in choosing a daughter-in-law. The old lady refused to give in, Jiu Niang seemed to let her stepson choose his own wife, and Zhu Tingfang was even more adamant. So people were waiting and watching. Who knew that Zhang Kang, the Earl of Weinan, a surrendered minister, would suddenly intervene and successfully marry into the Zhu family?
The women hoped that the eldest lady of Duke Zhao's mansion had an ordinary face under the veil, so that she could have an interesting topic of conversation when she went out.
However, Zhu Ying knew that her future sister-in-law was a good housekeeper, but she really couldn't remember her appearance... After all, she used to be a favored girl wherever she went, and the daughters of other families stayed away from her either out of jealousy or shame. So, even if she really met her future sister-in-law on some occasion, she saw her among a group of women. How could she remember?
When her eldest brother got engaged, she really wanted to meet him earlier and spend some time with him. However, this period was an eventful autumn and winter, and Zhang Shou often asked her to do this and that, so she had no time at all. Even though Mother Li had visited him several times on behalf of the lady dowager, and came back repeatedly praising his excellence, and her eldest brother seemed quite satisfied, seeing is believing.
Therefore, when the veil was lifted and she saw her sister-in-law's face, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up. Fortunately, fortunately, they are finally a talented man and a beautiful woman!
Although bridal makeup these days can easily make a person ugly, when she looked at it this moment, she saw that the woman in front of her brother had delicate eyebrows and eyes like a painting, and her cheeks were still flushed. She was not wearing overly heavy makeup like the brides she had seen when she was a child. Instead, she only wore light makeup, which was just right at first glance and pleasing to the eye. Her 80% appearance was revealed to be 100%.
The women who had stayed put could not find fault with Zhu Tingfang's appearance, which even Zhu Ying thought was 80%. The only thing they thought was worth talking about was that Zhu Tingfang did not have much reaction to the bride's appearance. When they thought that he must have seen Zhang, they saw that Zhu Tingfang had already drunk the wedding wine with the bride.
Seeing that the next few procedures were completed, Zhu Tingfang stood up, obviously going out to the wedding banquet to receive guests. They were about to say a few auspicious words, but they didn't expect Zhu Tingfang to look at them again.
"Haven't you seen enough?"
If the women still didn't know what to do with such an obvious order to leave, they would be fools. Although they were unwilling, they still laughed dryly and left. As soon as they saw the people leave, Zhu Tingfang said in a deep voice: "Yingying, go back and tell them not to let those random women in. They are messy and can only gossip."
Seeing that her elder brother finally knew how to protect his wife, Zhu Ying immediately agreed with a smile. Seeing Zhu Tingfang just walk out, she couldn't help but look at her elder sister-in-law who was looking up in surprise on the bed. Her expectation was not in vain, because the next moment, the elder sister-in-law who looked fragile and delicate said softly: "My husband, don't worry about me. No matter what those onlookers say, I won't take it to heart."
She paused, then continued calmly, "If you can't even handle this little situation, how can you serve your parents-in-law, honor your grandmother, and take care of household affairs for your husband so that you don't have to worry about anything? Your husband is a real man, and he is the ideal husband that countless women want. I don't want anyone to say anything, so I can only hide under your wings."
Zhu Tingfang paused in astonishment, but after a moment he walked out again without looking back: "Then it's up to you."
Seeing her elder brother simply saying these four words and then disappearing, Zhu Ying was so angry that she even cursed him in her heart - Zhang Shou used to be a blockhead and a fool, but since they had truly gone through hardships together and opened their hearts to each other, he had let down his guard towards her, and the two of them got along like childhood sweethearts, with no barriers between them at all.
But her elder brother is so rigid even after getting married!
However, it was impossible for her to complain about her elder brother in front of her new sister-in-law. Therefore, she could only cough dryly and said something else: "Sister-in-law, you must be tired after a day, right? Do you want me to ask the kitchen to send some more food?"
"I had a bowl of sweet soup before I got into the sedan chair, so I'm not hungry now."
Zhang, who was sitting on the bed, raised her head and looked directly at Zhu Ying. She smiled slightly, but there was only a single dimple on her right cheek, which made her look charming. "My maiden name is Ruyu, and my nickname is Wenjun. I hope my sister will take care of me and give me guidance in the future."
Zhu Ying didn't expect her sister-in-law to introduce herself so straightforwardly. She slightly widened her eyes and then couldn't help asking, "Sister-in-law, your maiden name should have been given by Weinan Bo, but your courtesy name should not have been given by Weinan Bo, right? I don't look down on him. When it comes to drinking and riding, being generous and righteous, he is a first-class person, but he is not good at giving courtesy names."
"I gave it to myself on the day I came of age."
Zhang smiled and said frankly, "Father said that when he named our children, he just picked whatever he thought of, so he didn't want to ask scholars for names for his children, so he let us come up with them ourselves. I thought, 玉 is the same as 君子, and 君子 is gentle like jade, so I named them 溫君. I haven't read much, I just named them casually, so don't laugh at me, sister."
What Zhu Ying hated most was talented women who showed off their talents and were arrogant, so she kept her distance from Princess Yongping. But when she heard Zhang talk about the remoteness of her father, Zhang Kang, the Earl of Weinan, and her frankness when talking about herself, she felt that it was very much to her liking and she started laughing.
"How could I laugh at you! I study for a few days but I slack off for a few days, and I am often laughed at for being uneducated. It's best if my sister-in-law doesn't talk to me about poetry and essays! I don't even have a courtesy name, so if I were to choose one myself, I probably wouldn't be able to think of one even if I racked my brains. It's great that you can come up with something that sounds nice and meaningful like this!"
When Zhang was waiting to get married, Zhang Kang, the Earl of Weinan, told her that the grandmother-in-law and mother-in-law of the Zhu family were both very easy to get along with and that she just needed to be respectful to them. As for the eldest Miss Zhu, who was said to be willful and arrogant, Zhang Kang, who had experienced a lot, focused on teaching his daughter. However, it was not some profound truth, but just four simple words... tell the truth.
Although she had never had direct dealings with Zhu Ying in the past, today, after coming into contact with her according to her father's instructions, Zhang felt from the bottom of her heart that her father indeed saw things more clearly than many others.
This young lady who was held in the palm of her family's hand was actually very easy to get along with, especially since she was Zhu Ying's sister-in-law. Instead of being cautious and hiding her thoughts, it was better to be open and say whatever she wanted. Thoughts were for outsiders. If she was calculating and scheming towards her own people, how could she easily integrate into this new family?
"By the way, sister-in-law, even if my brother ordered us to leave, his words should spread, but there are always some self-righteous people in the world, so there should be many people who want spy on us later. If you don't mind, I won't stop them later." Zhu Ying smiled and winked at Zhang, and said cunningly, "We'll just sit back and wait for them to come!"
Zhang Shou didn't know that Zhu Ying, who had just met his sister-in-law, had already planned to set a trap for some ill-intentioned female guests today. Zhu Tingfang came out of the bridal chamber and received the guests in the name of the young master of the Duke of Zhao's mansion. He was always surrounded by people before, and finally got a chance to breathe again. He hid aside and ate a lot to fill his empty stomach.
This table was occupied by students like Lu Sanlang and Zhang Chen, so even if someone came to approach them, they would be stopped, let alone someone provoking them. With Lu Sanlang and Zhang Chen's personalities and fighting abilities, ordinary people would not dare to come over and ask for trouble.
However, the good times didn’t last long. Just when he was half full, Zhu Er suddenly came over from nowhere and said angrily, “Brother-in-law, the troublemaker is here. Hurry up and help me. Otherwise, I’m worried that if my brother gets so angry that he flips the table, then we’re all done for!”
However, Zhu Er thought that everyone present would stand up and clap their hands when he said this, but he did not expect that he was greeted with strange silence. Not only did no one respond to his words, but Zhang Shou drank and ate calmly, and everyone around him looked at him with unusually subtle eyes. The silence was broken by Lu Sanlang's laughter.
"Someone is stirring up trouble here for the wedding of the eldest son Zhu of the Duke of Zhao's mansion? Zhu Er, there should be a limit to your lies! You should know that when the Duke of Zhao is sitting there, a large group of first- and second-rank officials dare not say anything. And when the eldest son Zhu is sitting there, the younger generation and peers definitely dare not say a word. Moreover, there is not a single woman in the Zhu family who is easy to mess with for three generations. Is the person stirring up trouble here to get himself killed?"
Seeing Zhang Chen, who usually played against Lu Sanlang, nodded with an expression of deep agreement, Zhu Er's angry expression immediately disappeared. He saw that there was an empty seat, and thought that others were afraid to sit with such a group of people, so he sat down without any hesitation, and then said unhappily: "You are all smarter than each other, can't you pretend to be fooled by me?"
"Who said that no one at this table is dumber than you?" Lu Sanlang chuckled. Seeing Zhu Er's annoyed and bored face, he looked out curiously and then lowered his voice and said, "Is there no one coming to the palace today?"
Speaking of this, Zhu Er disliked Lu Sanlang even more. Thinking back to when the little fat man Lu got married, the emperor gave him gifts, and the fourth prince came to join in the fun. It was such a glorious occasion. But when it came time for his eldest brother to get married, he was unlucky enough to run into the first and second princes, one committing suicide and the other sinking in a ship!
Even though the emperor, as a monarch and father, would not mourn for his two guilty sons who were expelled from the clan, he was certainly in a bad mood. Although the eldest brother's wedding date had been set long ago and was now being held openly, it would be difficult for the emperor to bestow various gifts, even calligraphy and paintings to show his favor, as he did in the past for his favorite ministers.
Even the fourth prince, who loved to join in all kinds of fun, had just been expelled from the palace for a mistake. It was said that Zhang Shou had taken this naughty child in until now. No matter how naughty he was, he would not come to the Zhu family to drink at the wedding when his two brothers had both passed away. As a result, the grand wedding banquet of the eldest brother today was far from what it should have been!
Just as Zhu Er was getting more and more angry, there was a commotion outside. Then, a servant ran over and said breathlessly, "Second Young Master, the Queen Mother... the Queen Mother is here!"
