In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

"Miss Wu Zetian, are you willing to marry Prince Li Yuanchang of Han?"

"Whether in adversity or prosperity."

"Whether poor or rich."

"Whether in sickness or in health."

"Are you willing to marry the King of Han, to be a good wife and mother, to live in harmony with him, to be together in life and death, to share a bed in life and a grave in death?"

The clear voice echoed through the grove under the night sky, like a vow.

Wu Zetian had never heard of such an ancient custom, nor had she ever seen such a unique way of proposing marriage. But she was a young girl, and even the most pragmatic women of later generations would be moved to tears by this, let alone those in the Tang Dynasty.

At this moment, she was already in tears, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I...I do!"

"If I break this oath, may I be pierced by a thousand arrows and die a horrible death!"

Her response was concise, powerful, and resounding.

In ancient times, oaths could not be made casually, a stark contrast to later generations. Nature and Heaven exerted a powerful, unwritten constraint on the ancients.

Seeing the beautiful Wu Meiniang crying her heart out, Li Yuanchang couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat.

In any case, in this era of both opportunities and turbulence, he is no longer fighting alone.

He then slipped the ring onto Wu Meiniang's slender, snow-white ring finger. It fit perfectly, like a work of art, without a single flaw.

Li Yuanchang reached out his hand.

Wu Meiniang understood, and laughed through her tears, immediately helping Li Yuanchang put it on as well.

Then Li Yuanchang held her hand, and their eyes met in the moonlight.

Without warning, Li Yuanchang kissed Wu Meiniang's rosy and delicate cherry lips.

Wu Zetian was struck dumb!

First her mind went blank, then her whole body trembled, an unusual feeling swept over her and destroyed all her defenses.

So much so that Li Yuanchang tightly embraced her slender waist and skillfully pried open her lips and teeth.

This was a deep kiss that lasted for several tens of seconds!

This was quite avant-garde in the Tang Dynasty!

A thrilling love affair stunned the young Wu Zetian.

After a long while, Wu Meiniang was almost suffocating from the kiss, and the two finally separated, their noses touching.

The moonlight slanted in, making Wu Zetian's flushed face look absolutely stunning.

She gasped for breath, and when she saw Li Yuanchang's undisguised wicked smile, she suddenly realized what she was doing.

"lecher!"

She stomped her foot, then suddenly cursed in shame, before fleeing.

Li Yuanchang chased after him.

"Slow down, slow down."

A smile played on his lips as he savored the sight of an empress experiencing the first stirrings of girlish love.

Although it was just a kiss, he didn't even touch her or cross any lines, but it was only a matter of time.

He refused to believe that a marriage bestowed by Li Shimin could have any unexpected twists and turns.

Wu Meiniang, holding up her skirt, fled all the way back to the Wu Mansion, too ashamed to see anyone, her face flushed the whole time, and she didn't even say goodbye to Li Yuanchang.

Li Yuanchang, humming a tune, was in high spirits and strolled back home without even taking a carriage, as if the night breeze carried the fragrance of Wu Meiniang's hair.

Although a curfew was in effect in Chang'an, Li Yuanchang was, after all, the Prince of Han, and he still had this much privilege.

And so he traveled through three neighborhoods and was almost at the Prince of Han's residence.

Sudden.

Four masked figures emerged from the end of the street without warning and charged toward Li Yuanchang.

The sudden change startled Li Yuanchang.

"Protect His Highness!"

Guo Chao reacted extremely quickly. A former border soldier, he gave a low shout and rushed in front of Li Yuanchang.

The guards drew their swords with a series of sharp movements, as if facing a formidable enemy.

After Li Yuanchang completed the reorganization of the Prince's Palace, the guards became much more disciplined and solemn.

Li Yuanchang initially thought it was an assassination attempt, but just then, he heard a flurry of footsteps and shouts of warning behind the four men.

"stop!"

"stop!"

It turns out that these four masked men were the ones being chased.

Li Yuanchang gestured to Guo Chao and the others to put their knives away.

The four men were unarmed and passed by the Prince's guards, but perhaps because it was dark, these four foolish thieves didn't run away from the main road and instead went into a dead end.

When they realized what was happening and turned back, a large number of soldiers from the Jingzhao Prefecture had already rushed onto the street. The four of them slammed on the brakes, completely eliminating any possibility of escape, and could only hide in a dead-end alley.

Their pursuers, carrying torches, numbered fifty or sixty men, all regular soldiers from the Jingzhao Prefecture.

"Your Highness, they are government officials. Do you need our help?" Guo Chao asked.

Li Yuanchang stared thoughtfully at the four foolish thieves in the dead end, wondering why they looked somewhat familiar.

"There's no rush yet."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a large number of soldiers from the Jingzhao Prefecture approached.

"What are you doing? During curfew, you dare to wander the streets and alleys. Are you accomplices of the bandits, here to help them out?" someone shouted, his eyes filled with hostility.

Guo Chao roared, "Are you all blind?!"

"Don't you see whose carriage this is?"

The sound was powerful and full of confidence.

The officials and soldiers of the Jingzhao Prefecture were silenced by their shouts. After all, this was Chang'an, a city teeming with hidden talents!

One of the officials quickly pressed down on his subordinates, then held up a torch and looked ahead.

Through the gaps in the crowd, he saw the carriage behind him, which was actually drawn by four horses!

In the Tang Dynasty, one's social status could be discerned from their vehicle, with differences in color and material reflecting rank, and most obviously, the number of horses.

The highest rank was six horses for the emperor, while imperial relatives and first-rank officials had four horses, and so on down to the next rank.

Normally, you should give way to any horse-drawn carriage you see.

When he saw the sign for the Prince of Han's residence, he was struck dumb.

"Are you blind? Can't you see that these are the carriages of the Prince of Han's residence?" The officer leader cursed his subordinate, feeling like killing him.

Such a reprimand of the emperor's younger brother's carriage would frighten not only them, but even the head of the Jingzhao Prefecture.

"Ah!" The officers and soldiers were terrified and at a loss.

The leader looked uneasily into the carriage: "May I ask, gentlemen, is His Highness inside?"

Li Yuanchang smiled and said, "His Highness is not here. We are just people from the Prince of Han's residence, ordered to deliver some wedding supplies to the Wu residence."

He didn't want people to know that he was running around aimlessly all day. Last time, Li Shimin had just reprimanded him for disturbing the peace, and Wei Zheng would impeach him again.

For the sake of the law, Li Shimin would definitely reprimand him again, and it might even turn into house arrest.

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Jingzhao Prefecture breathed a sigh of relief, though their expressions remained tense.

"My lord, it was too dark just now, and we were chasing bandits, so we bumped into the Prince of Han's carriage. We were blind to your greatness, please forgive us!"

"Don't report this to higher authorities, or we brothers will all be in trouble."

His eyes held a pleading look, and even more than fifty officers and soldiers began to pool their money.

This can be seen as a microcosm of ancient feudal society, where even if the other party was just a servant, the master was someone of great power and could not be offended.

Li Yuanchang naturally wouldn't be so narrow-minded as to make things difficult for the other party.

"Ignorance is no excuse."

"You are all here on official business, so please don't bother."

Upon hearing this, the officers and soldiers of the Jingzhao Prefecture showed their gratitude.

Li Yuanchang glanced at the dark dead end, then looked at the officer leader.

"Who were you chasing just now?"

"Reporting to you, sir, we are pursuing four arsonists."

"An arsonist?" Li Yuanchang asked suspiciously. His eyes flashed, and he vaguely saw some black smoke rising into the sky in the distance, and it was quite large.

"Yes, just after nightfall, about four bandits went to Yipin Tianxia and set it on fire, burning the entire restaurant down."

Upon hearing "The World is First-Class," Li Yuanchang's eyes lit up.