Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

When Deng Yanzhi pushed the door open, he saw her sitting at the table, her sleeve brushing against the corner of her eye.

"The He family is having a wedding; the ceremony will take place in three days. The whole street is buzzing with the news."

Deng Yanzhi stood behind her, clenched his fist and then relaxed it. When he spoke, his voice was half an octave higher than before, filled with dissatisfaction.

"That man disappeared as soon as he entered the He residence, without even sending anyone back to you with a single word. Miss He said she wanted to marry him, so he put on his wedding dress. In the past, no matter how nicely he spoke of saving lives, it was as worthless as a piece of paper in the face of wealth and power."

He paused here, his Adam's apple bobbing, "You cried for him half the night, does he even know?"

Xi Yueli had her back to him, and the corners of her mouth, hidden in her sleeve, quietly curved up and then flattened.

"I've seen too many like this in the capital. They make it sound nice, but the moment they turn their backs, they've climbed the social ladder."

Xi Yueli finally turned around, her eyes slightly red and her eyelashes still wet. She looked at Deng Yanzhi and said, "If he really left, I'll pretend he never came."

Looking at her reddened eyes and her forced calm face, Deng Yanzhi's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he only said softly, "...If you need someone, I'll still live at the alley entrance."

He turned and left, closing the door slightly less loudly than last time. His footsteps faded into the distance along the corridor, and this time he paused a few moments longer at the stairwell before continuing down.

As the footsteps faded completely, Xi Yueli opened the window. From the direction of the He residence, she could vaguely see the newly hung red silk on the roof of the main hall. "Three days... is that enough time for you to find the Silver Shuttle's door?"

The main hall of the He family mansion, a three-courtyard complex, was entirely covered with red silk from the lintel to the pillars.

A ten-foot-long red carpet was laid in front of the main hall. The carpet was made of the finest Shu brocade, with gold thread edging, and every three steps there was a lotus scroll pattern embroidered with gold thread.

The guest seats on both sides of the red carpet stretched from the main hall entrance all the way to the moon gate of the second courtyard. On the ebony tables were celadon wine cups and gilded fruit plates, and even the chopsticks were made from a single piece of ivory.

Most of the wealthy merchants and gentry from Tingzi Prefecture arrived, and several major ship owners came together at the dock, each bringing generous gifts; the list of gifts was taller than a person.

Several prominent families from neighboring counties also sent people with gifts. Two large sedan chairs, one after the other, stopped in front of the He family mansion. The people who came out of the sedan chairs were all dressed in brocade and jade. They greeted each other with clasped hands, making the stone steps in front of the gate vibrate.

The courtyard was packed with about a hundred people, and servants serving tea and water even stood under the pillars of the corridor, moving among them.

On the street in front of the He Mansion, the crowd of onlookers stretched from the alley entrance all the way to the intersection of Nanshi Street.

The auspicious time was set at 3:45 AM. The gong sounded three times, and the wedding band began playing their wedding tunes. All eyes turned to the main hall.

Helian Jing walked out from the side courtyard, and all the guests in the courtyard fell silent for a moment.

He wore a bright red wedding robe made of brocade specially transported from the south by the He family. When the sunlight shone on it, the subtle patterns on the satin flowed like water.

Her hair was bound with a black gold crown, the top of which was inlaid with a thumb-sized ruby. The black iron mask was replaced with a half-face mask made of dark red openwork silver, revealing only her chin and a pair of eyes.

His eyes were like a deep pool of water covered with a thin layer of ice, revealing neither joy nor anger. His lips were pursed, and he walked on the red carpet with even steps and a straight back, like a puppet pushed onto a stage.

A murmur arose among the guests, "Is this the one who was kidnapped? He's quite handsome."

"Tsk, the first wife didn't come today, did she?"

"Of course they'd come. If it were me, I'd hide and cry too."

On the second-floor windowsill of the teahouse, a woman in a gray cotton-padded jacket shook her head and said to the person next to her, "This groom doesn't look like he's here to have a wedding ceremony; he looks like he's here to be tortured."

The troupe changed their tune, and the vermilion doors of the main hall were pushed open from the inside.

Today, He Qingshuang wore a bright red wedding dress made of cloud brocade specially supplied from the south. The dress was embroidered with phoenixes and peonies in gold thread, which covered the shoulders and the hem of the skirt. Nine rice beads were inlaid at the phoenix tail, each of which shimmered with tiny rainbow colors in the sunlight.

The collar is a stand-up collar with gold trim, and below the collar is a ring of perfectly round South Sea pearls, each one the same size, gleaming with a warm, soft light in the sunlight.

The veil on her head was made of gold-embroidered satin with dragons and phoenixes, and fine gold tassels hung down from the four corners of the veil. At the end of each tassel was a jade safety buckle the size of a little fingernail.

Two wedding attendants supported her elbows, one on each side. Her sleeves were narrower than those of a typical wedding dress by two fingers, revealing half of her slender, white wrists. A gold bracelet inlaid with agate swayed gently with her steps.

The matchmaker helped her down the steps, and all the guests in the courtyard turned their attention to the bright red figure.

Someone stood up unconsciously, but was pulled back down to sit by the person behind them who was pressing down on their sleeve. The person whispered, "The Tingzi family hasn't seen such a grand display from Miss He in twenty years."

Helian Jing stood at the end of the red carpet, holding one end of the red silk. His gaze fell on the red figure being helped closer by the wedding attendant. His fingertips gently tightened on the red silk for a moment, then loosened.

The sunlight cast a soft curve on the jawline beneath the veil, and when the matchmaker handed the other end of the red silk to that hand, he saw that hand take it.

He looked away from the hand, the noise of the guests buzzing in his ears, pulling his thoughts back from the touch of that hand.

At this moment, he was the unwilling young master who had been snatched away, and he shouldn't have given any unnecessary scrutiny to the person under the veil.

The emcee shouted, "The newlyweds step over the fire basin—"

"The newlyweds step onto the saddle—"

At the second threshold, there was a vermilion saddle. The bride lifted her skirt slightly as she stepped over it.

Helian Jing's gaze lingered for a moment on the small section of her wrist that was revealed when she lifted her skirt. The curve of the knuckles on that wrist almost overlapped with the wrist of someone in his memory.

He looked away, the sound of gongs and drums booming in his ears, the laughter and chatter of the guests rising and falling. He straightened up again, putting on his indifferent expression.

"First bow to Heaven and Earth—" As the two bowed, his gaze swept along the edge of the veil, passing over the jawline. His fingers clenched and unclenched in his sleeve.

"Second bow to the parents—" When she bowed for the second time, she was a beat slower than him before straightening up. A very slight tremor came from the other end of the red silk, as if someone was suppressing some kind of laughter and did not burst out laughing on the spot.

"Husband and wife bow to each other—" The two bow face to face, with a red silk ribbon stretched into a straight line in the middle.

He bent down, his gaze falling on the ground three inches in front of his toes, just as he straightened up—

A very faint hiss came from under the veil, like a wisp of air leaking from someone's nose while trying to suppress a laugh. It was so faint that the person next to him couldn't hear it, but he did.

When Helian Jing straightened up, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up, but at the same moment he also bit the inside of his lower lip with his back teeth, forcibly suppressing most of the smile that was about to spread to the bottom of his eyes, leaving only a slight curve at the corners of his mouth.

Someone at the banquet saw it and said, "Look at him smiling. A son-in-law of the He family is a sweet commodity."

The master of ceremonies called out again, "The ceremony is complete—lead them to the bridal chamber!"

The wedding band started playing again, and the matchmaker led the bride to the bridal chamber in the backyard. Helian Jing followed behind, the sleeves of his bright red wedding robe hanging down his sides. But his pace was faster than when he was welcoming the bride, like a groom who couldn't wait to consummate the marriage.