Denghuangtai

"Marrying a groom, marrying a groom, the Duke's mansion has produced a bride and a groom. The bride does not ride a horse, and the woman does not ride in a sedan chair. The sedan chair carries a handsome young man, and the white horse carries a beautiful young woman."

In an unnamed alley in Beijing, a large group of children with little pigtails ran by, laughing and chanting a strange nursery rhyme.

Passersby listened intently for a long time, but were still somewhat confused, muttering, "What kind of nonsense is this?"

"Kid, this isn't just something children make up. They're reciting a strange story from the capital." The ragged old beggar, sitting against the wall, grinned, revealing a mouthful of black teeth, and said.

The passerby still didn't understand, so the old beggar continued, "Today, a duke in the capital got married. It was a grand affair, with tall horses and eight-bearer sedan chairs. The strange thing is, this duke is a woman. A woman marrying—this is unprecedented!"

Passersby became interested; this woman getting married was quite a novelty. Unfortunately, he arrived in the city too late and missed the spectacle. To let the old beggar recount the events of the day in detail, he reached into his sleeve pocket and took out a few coins, placing them in the old beggar's tattered bowl.

"This all started with the late Princess. She married the heir of the Duke of Chu's family, and the couple's love was legendary, a much-talked-about story in the capital. Unfortunately, they left no male heir before their deaths. The Duke of Chu's family had only one son for three generations, so His Majesty made an exception and allowed their only daughter to inherit the title. But this girl has been frail since childhood, easily falling ill at the slightest thing. A month ago, she fell ill again, and it's said that the Imperial Hospital said she had no chance of survival. She was in a coma for more than ten days before being brought back to life. Since then, His Majesty has decided to find a suitable marriage for her so that the Princess wouldn't be without an heir. After much deliberation, they chose the third son of the Qian family of the Marquis of Dingbei's family. For the sake of continuing the family line, the third son had no choice but to marry into the Duke of Chu's family..."

The old beggar began his vivid and engaging storytelling, while one of the main characters he was talking about, "Qian Jia Sanlang," was pacing around the bridal chamber with a troubled expression.

"Sigh," Xue Ning sighed deeply as she looked at the red decorations everywhere. She thought to herself that she, the young master of Mu Ke Village in Niu Tou Mountain, had been forced to become someone else's son-in-law, and was being married off in a bridal sedan chair by a woman on horseback.

When the matchmaker presented the red veil to Xue Ning in front of all the guests that morning, everyone wore expressions of amusement, with only a few showing a hint of sympathy. It was clearly a show of force from the bride, Duke Ning Anyuan of Chu, intended to make Xue Ning aware of her status. But one wonders if Ning Anyuan had considered that making a man marry with a veil over his head wasn't a show of force, but a profound humiliation.

Fortunately, Xue Ning didn't care about these things. If it were someone else, it wouldn't be a marriage alliance but an enmity, and the Duke of Chu's mansion would be in chaos from then on. Although... the Duke of Chu's mansion did eventually experience such chaos.

Thinking of the "wife" who had welcomed her into the family, Xue Ning felt a little worried. Everyone knew that the Duke of Chu was in poor health, but who could have imagined that he would leave the house with a rosy complexion and return pale-faced? He went out upright and came back horizontally. She wondered if he had recovered by now.

"Gurgle~"

Xue Ning rubbed her rumbling stomach, walked to the eight-immortal table in the outer room, picked up the pastries and dried fruits laid out on it, and began to wolf them down. She thought to herself: I'll just have this to tide me over for now; after all, I'm in an unfamiliar place and don't know who to ask for food.

Because she ate in a hurry, Xue Ning almost choked. She picked up the wine pot next to her and tilted her head back to drink it. After finishing, she breathed a long sigh of satisfaction and wiped the wine that had accidentally dripped down her neck.

Then… Xue Ning’s face became conflicted again. She had just touched her fake Adam’s apple; yes, the obvious male characteristics on her neck were fake. The most outrageous thing about this marriage, even more so than the live-in son-in-law arrangement, was that she was a woman disguised as a man! Because her disguise was so successful, even the Dingbei Marquis’s mansion, which had threatened the lives of everyone on Niutou Mountain to force Xue Ning to “marry in his place,” didn’t know her true gender.

Xue Ning sat on a small stool next to her, propping her chin up with her hand, looking at the inner room with a melancholy expression. She was really willing but unable to be a live-in son-in-law. Fortunately, she had martial arts skills and wouldn't be easily manipulated. Otherwise, if someone forced her to consummate the marriage with Ning Anyuan... wouldn't that expose her secret?

Thankfully, Ning Anyuan is sickly and probably has the will but not the strength. Thinking of this, Xue Ning's heavy heart relaxed again.

Just as she was lost in thought, the door to the bridal chamber was pushed open by a pair of slender, fair hands, and a woman with an exceptionally tall figure, fair skin, and a slightly heroic appearance walked in slowly. It was none other than the sickly Ning Anyuan.

Xue Ning had her back to the door. She heard the footsteps of the person who came in very lightly and guessed that it might be a maid from the manor. She casually asked, "Is the Duke already resting? You may leave now. I don't need anyone. I'll rest by myself in a bit."

The person who approached didn't respond, but simply stopped and stared blankly at Xue Ning's back. Xue Ning, not receiving a reply, had no choice but to turn around.

This sight was quite shocking, startling both people inside! Face to face, the "husband and wife" locked eyes and exclaimed in unison, "It's you?!"

To say how small the world is, the two of them met by accident more than half a month ago. It was because of that accident that Xue Ning was trapped in this absurd situation. In other words, Ning Anyuan was partly to blame for the current situation.

Thinking of this, Xue Ning grinned and clapped her hands, exclaiming, "We're on the same side!"

Ning Anyuan looked at the baby-faced man in front of him. To his utter surprise, this man was a bandit on horseback with a knife not long ago, and in the blink of an eye, he had become his newlywed "husband".

"Aren't you a bandit? Are you Qian Jia Sanlang too?" Unable to understand, Ning Anyuan simply asked directly.

"Um," Xue Ning was a little speechless, not knowing how to start, so she evaded the question by saying, "Well, it's a long story."