bastard returns

In the eyes of ordinary people, the Ningguo Palace attaches great importance to this marriage. Not only did they set up many food stalls in the city long in advance, but also started three nights before the wedding, right in front of the gate of the Ningguo Palace. A water mat was set up.

The so-called running water banquet is an extremely extravagant way of celebration. Twenty large round tables are set up on the street in front of the mansion, and all kinds of delicacies and delicacies are served in turn. Anyone who passes by, whether it is ordinary people, officials or beggars Well, you can all sit down and have a good meal, leave after eating and drinking, and then give up the seat to the newcomers to continue eating and drinking.

Such a water mat with the door open can gather popularity, but it also costs a lot of money.Although Huajing City is a rich and prosperous place, there are also many poor people. Once you hear that a noble family will set up a free-flowing banquet, people from all over Huajing will come here in groups to eat free food. Although twenty large round tables were set up, except for the people who were feasting on the table, the people who were waiting in line to eat at the side lined up from the street to the street to the end of the street. In addition, Ningguo Mansion is one of the three lords, If one person is under ten thousand people, you can’t lose your face. Not a single treasure should be lost. Abalone, ginseng, wings and belly should be complete. Such a luxurious banquet even attracted some rich urbanites. With the running water mat down, the cost will reach tens of thousands of taels of silver.

After the three-day running water mat was set up, although Ning Huayang was heartbroken for the money in his pocket, at least the scene was done enough, because in the past few days, everyone in the capital was talking about this marriage, and it was considered a big raise for him. Face, especially in the early morning of the wedding day, he received an imperial decree from the palace, saying that if the government is not busy later, the emperor will come in person.

Ning Guogong is unconscious and bedridden. Now he is in charge of the entire Ning Guogong Mansion. If the emperor comes, he can only be in charge of receiving it. This is a good opportunity to make a big face in front of the emperor. For Ning Huayang How could it be possible to let go.

"Hurry up, tidy up your clothes, carry out the dowry, polish the suona, and set off soon!" Although it was only the princess who was getting married, the emperor looked at the eldest princess's face and followed suit. They all came according to the treatment of the princess, and even sent Li Yigao, the great eunuch beside him, to be the eunuch in charge of ceremonies.There were hundreds of people in the Ning Mansion's wedding reception team, and those dazzling gifts were priceless, just look at the eyes of those people who spent the early morning coming out to watch the marriage reception.

Ning Yicai had long been wearing a bright red wedding dress, riding on a tall horse, facing the congratulations of the common people in all directions and kept bowing his hands.He was overjoyed this time, and once he married the much-loved princess back home, he would be considered an outstanding figure. When he thought that Ning Guogong's final hat would fall on his head, Ning Yicai couldn't help grinning .

"Strange, what about the second young master, why haven't you come out yet?" Li Yi counted the number of people who were going to pick up his relatives, and frowned at Ning Huayang, who was standing at the gate of the mansion, watching this scene with satisfaction, "Master Ning, according to our Da Zhou's According to the rules, carrying the bride out of her natal home is the work of the groom's brothers, and the second young master is indispensable."

Ning Huayang was taken aback, and looked around in the crowd, but he really didn't see Ning Lie who was indeed going to pick up the bride with him, so he couldn't help frowning and asked the housekeeper beside him, "What is that kid Lie Er messing around with, auspicious time?" It's approaching, doesn't it mean he wants to waste time!"

"Master, don't worry, I'll take a look." The butler just turned around to leave when he saw a servant running quickly from the yard and whispered something in his ear. The butler immediately showed a helpless expression on his face, and turned his head to look at him. Ning Huayang said: "Master, the second young master seems to have drunk too much last night, and now he is having a stomachache, squatting in the hut and unable to get out, I'm afraid it won't get better in a while."

"Stupid thing, why did something happen at this time?" Ning Huayang flicked his sleeves in disgust. Last night was the eve of Ning Yicai's wedding, so a group of rich kids specially came to ask Ning Yicai to go out for the last bachelor's wine. Naturally Ning Lie also went with him, but now Ning Yicai can wake up refreshed early in the morning, but Ning Lie, whose physique has become stronger due to martial arts training, has a problem, he is naturally annoyed.

"It's not easy." Li Yigao frowned and said, "Princess Wanyi has a high status, and the rules can't be wasted. Master Ning, I'd better invite you to go together."

According to the wedding rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the bride should not touch the ground from the time she steps out of the boudoir door until she enters her in-law’s house, which will be unlucky. , this duty can also be done by the bride's brothers, but Princess Wanyi's brothers are all His Royal Highness, and Ning Yicai's marriage to the princess is already a high priority, and how much face does he have to ask the prince to carry his wife for him, so I can only do it Ning Huayang, the father, came on.

Ning Huayang frowned and thought for a while, then nodded and said, "That's the only way to go." After saying that, he stepped forward and got on the horse that was supposed to be for Ning Lie to ride.

Seeing that everyone who was supposed to arrive had arrived, Li Yigao yelled loudly: "Get up the sedan chair!" The whole welcoming team immediately began to play, play, play and sing, making loud noises all the way, so fast.

When the welcoming team had gone far away, the servant who had run to convey a message to the steward retreated quietly, quickly ran back to the backyard, and said to the young man standing under the shade of a hidden tree: "Second young master, please It has been reported, and now the master and the young master have left."

"Very good." Ning Lie waved his hand, signaling the servant to go down.

Both Ning Huayang and Ning Yicai left, so at least during the time they came back, Ning Lie was the biggest in the entire Duke's mansion. A cloud floated over at the right time to block the rising sun, Ning Lie looked up, curled his lips sarcastically, then turned around, and quickly walked towards the east chamber where Ning Yicai lived.

The sound of thundering drums resounded through most of Huajing City. At the gate of the imperial palace, the crowd of onlookers was twice as large as that at the gate of the Ning Mansion. The one who got the most was Princess Wanyi's marriage, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for Ning Huayang and Ning Yicai, father and son.

On the bright side, this marriage is an excellent deal. Although Ning Huayang is a concubine, but now that the grandson of Duke Ning's mansion is in prison, Ning Yicai's marriage to the Princess is tantamount to becoming a relative of the emperor. It is quite different, inheriting Ningguo Duke's mansion is almost a certainty, but if it is kept in the dark, in the eyes of many three aunts and six wives who have worked in the gossip circle of Huajing for many years, whether this marriage is good or bad is really open to question.

The reason is nothing else, it is naturally related to a piece of gossip about the eldest princess.

According to the rules of the royal family, after the princess gets married, she cannot live in the palace. If the mansion of the in-law’s family is of sufficient size, she will directly follow the son-in-law to live in the in-law’s house. Living, and this princess, Her Royal Highness, in her young age many years ago, not only once had a princess mansion, but also had a ridiculous marriage.

It is said that when the eldest princess got married, she did not marry a son of a famous family, not even a wealthy merchant, but a scholar with a low status. How low was that scholar?According to common sense, Dazhou was founded by Confucian scholars, and the status of scholars is very high, but this also has to be based on the fact that as a scholar, he has more or less fame. A scholar, not only has no fame at all, he actually makes a living by writing Jianghu tales.

Although they can be sold together in the study, the quack vernacular and Confucian classics are definitely two different things. In the eyes of those orthodox scholars, the content of the quack vernacular is not only vulgar, but also mostly obscene. It is widely circulated in places such as taverns, such as brothels, so along with it, the people who wrote these rivers and lakes scripts can indeed be counted as scholars, but their status is lower than that of serious scholars. Thousands of times, like actors and the like, they belong to the lower class. In the eyes of orthodox scholars, only vulgar people without talent and ambition will write those vulgar things for a living with such a little ink in their stomachs.

The fact that the eldest princess would marry such a person was a shocking news in the eyes of the common people at the time. No one understood what this noble princess thought, but compared with those men who thought it was unbelievable, In the eyes of some famous ladies and noble ladies, although they were also quite surprised by the choice of the eldest princess in front of others, they felt a little jealous in their hearts. One of the most famous authors in this world - Xiaoxiao Lanlingsheng.

The content of the vulgar and gossip book may be worthless in the eyes of a man full of literature, but it is a source of pleasure for many boudoir women in private, especially the works of Xiaoxiao Lanlingsheng, most of which are romantic and gorgeous , Those eclectic stories that describe the quarrel between the boudoir and the mountain monster, Xiaojiabiyu and the muscular man, these women who are taught to behave all the time on weekdays are fascinated and unable to extricate themselves.

The eldest princess will choose this husband-in-law because she loves the book written by the other party very much, and that man is also a handsome and handsome young man. But there was only this one daughter, who had been doted on and grown up by thousands of people since she was a child, and finally agreed to her. So the eldest princess, under the contemptuous eyes of a group of men and the jealous expressions of a group of women, agreed with the storybook Xiaoxiao Lanlingsheng, the number one genius in the world, came to marry him and lived in the princess mansion.

At that time, almost everyone was not optimistic about this marriage, thinking that the eldest princess was just fooling around, and when she figured it out, she would probably reconcile with the person who wrote the storybook immediately, and then choose another son-in-law to remarry.

The facts are almost exactly as these people imagined. Sure enough, in the second year, after the Eldest Princess gave birth to a daughter, she suddenly moved back to the palace for no reason, and even ordered the originally spacious and gorgeous Princess Mansion to be razed within three days. Flat land, and the son-in-law seems to have disappeared, as if he never appeared in front of people again.

Although the eldest princess has never announced any news to the outside world, this can't stop the rumors from happening at all. For a while, there are all kinds of rumors in Huajing. One version is that after the eldest princess got married, she finally realized the terrible gap between imagination and reality, and she became more and more displeased with her son-in-law who wrote a vulgar book, and felt that the other party had tarnished her name. So he ordered the son-in-law to be killed quietly, and then hid back in the palace.There are also many supporting evidences, the most obvious point is that no one has seen the son-in-law since then, and all the works of Xiaoxiao Lanlingsheng have disappeared from the story book market.

The rumors spread more and more, and they became true. Although the common people did not dare to say it publicly, they all secretly talked about the viciousness of the eldest princess, saying that she would definitely suffer retribution for committing such crimes as murdering her husband, and that she would be punished in this life. Doomed to die alone.

In the following decades, the facts seemed to confirm the original rumors. The eldest princess really did not remarry. Even if someone came to propose marriage, she declined all of them. She lived alone in the deep palace with her daughter, and rarely came out to show her face.

With the passage of time, the gossip about him gradually faded away, and was finally no longer mentioned until the time when her only daughter, the chief of Zhaoyi County, got married.

Compared with her own mother, the husband-in-law that Princess Zhaoyi is looking for is much more normal. After Princess Zhaoyi gave birth to a daughter, her husband died suddenly.

For a while, all the gossip about the eldest princess that had been buried by time began to spread secretly among the people, saying that this was the sin committed by the eldest princess before, but now it is retribution on Princess Zhaoyi, it is almost like a curse .

Now, more than ten years have passed, seeing Princess Zhaoyi's daughter, Princess Wanyi is about to get married, so revisiting the gossip about the grandparent and grandson is naturally also on the agenda.People are guessing, if the eldest princess really has such an unfortunate curse, and she is completely alone with her own daughter, will it also be true for her granddaughter? Wouldn't it mean to welcome back a big evil star if you marry back?

Of course, Ning Yi is completely unaware of these gossips that are talked about by the three aunts and six wives. He only knows that when he pays homage to Princess Wanyi, he will be very serious in his life, and he will talk about it later. Maybe he can become a generation of powerful officials, so when he saw his father carrying Princess Wanyi, who was wearing a gorgeous wedding dress and covering his head, out from the gate of the palace, his eyes became hot for a moment, and he was so excited that he shed two tears Come.

"Look at that kid's tears. I must be very excited at the moment. Such a kind-hearted person will definitely treat Wanyi with all his heart after returning home. You can finally let go of your heart." Standing beside the palace gate, was Surrounded by a group of court ladies and eunuchs, the queen mother said to the eldest princess beside her, "You don't need to worry too much about Wanyi. Don't always keep a straight face on this happy day."

"What the queen mother said is that I hope that kid can really treat Wanyi well." The eldest princess's whole face was as hard as a piece of iron. When the queen mother made a point, she unconsciously twitched the corners of her mouth, but her eyes became more and more gloomy. Yes, she pinched a piece of jade pendant she kept in her sleeve robe, and hummed softly.

After Princess Wanyi got into the wedding sedan chair, the welcoming team started to play again. Instead of going back home, they continued to walk forward. This is also a rule, but any grand wedding will always spend most of the day parading on the street. Almost everyone in the city knew that the Ning family was holding a wedding. In the next three hours, they traveled from the north of Huajing, where the imperial palace is located, all the way to South Avenue, then detoured to West Avenue, and finally returned to East Avenue. Finally, before everyone was exhausted, they returned to the gate of Duke Ningguo's mansion.

The street has already been crowded with people watching the excitement. If there were no imperial guards opening the way, the wedding party might not even be able to get in. The emperor has not arrived yet, only the empress, the eldest princess, and several people who came to watch the ceremony The concubines and the prince had already arrived, Ning Yicai couldn't wait any longer, immediately jumped off the horse, walked to the red sedan chair, opened the curtain of the sedan chair with his own hands, bent down, and planned to carry the people in the sedan chair into the palace to pay homage.

It is a big event for a bride to enter her in-laws' house for the first time. The butler has already held a large pile of red envelopes and is waiting at the door. He only waits for Ning Yi to enter the door with Princess Wanyi on his back, and then he can start to spread red envelopes to the people. Many of the onlookers also stretched their necks, silently, waiting for the red envelopes to be given out to grab a lot of money.

One step, two steps, three steps, Ning Huayang stood aside, stroked his beard, and watched with a smile on his face that Ning Yi was finally about to enter the door with Wanyi on his back, but at this moment, a man who looked like an official was riding He hurried over on his horse, dismounted and strode towards Ning Huayang and whispered something in front of Ning Huayang.

After hearing this, Ning Huayang's face changed drastically, and he quickly silenced the official, and at the same time ordered a few words in a low voice. The official appeared suddenly, and naturally many people noticed it. They were curious but what happened Suddenly, someone in the crowd yelled loudly: "It's not good! The young master of the Ning family committed suicide in the prison!"

With a bang, the crowd exploded immediately.

Ning Huayang's face turned pale immediately, and just as he was about to refute, the person in the crowd continued to shout: "The young master of the Ning family was framed by someone, I heard that in order to prove himself, he died in the prison to prove his will, Even the blood book is left behind!"

With this cry, the crowd became even more agitated. Ning Huayang scanned the crowd with a pair of dark eyes, trying to find the person who spread the news, but the surroundings were covered in darkness, where could he find it.

Just now, the official came from the sky prison and told him that Ning Zhongkun actually committed suicide in the sky prison. Ning Huayang was really shocked. He didn't believe that Ning Zhongkun, who had always been greedy for life and fear of death, would kill himself However, after the initial surprise, he still felt that this was a good thing. As long as Ning Zhongkun died, no one could argue with him anymore, so he ordered the official to suppress the matter no matter what, and he must not let it go. Others know that they just pretend it's nothing and wait until today is over. In any case, they can't ruin Ning Yicai's marriage because of Ning Zhongkun.

But he never expected that someone in the crowd would take the initiative to break the news. Could it be that someone colluded with Ning Zhongkun who was still in the sky prison to deliberately sabotage?

Ning Yicai stopped in his tracks, looking at the threshold that was close at hand, with an uncertain expression on his face.He turned his eyes to Ning Huayang, and seeing Ning Huayang nod his head fiercely, he immediately understood the meaning, raised his foot and was about to step into the threshold, at this moment, a voice came from his ear and Sen Leng's voice said, "Stop, if you dare to take another step forward, I hope I will send someone to break your leg!"

Ning Yicai raised his head in panic, looking at the eldest princess who had stepped out of the gate at some point and walked in front of him, feeling a little silly.

"According to the rules, if there is a new funeral in the family, it is absolutely not allowed to hold a wedding ceremony, otherwise it will not be beneficial to Feng Shui, and it will also harm the new couple. You are just frivolous, you kid, don't you want to do it in front of me, La Wanyi?" I can't accompany you on the adventure!" The eldest princess condescendingly pointed at Ning Yicai's nose, her face was sullen, Ning Yicai was annoyed, but he didn't dare to contradict her, so he had to take a step back while calling himself Vino.

At this time, Ning Huayang came forward with a smile, rubbed his hands together and said, "Your Highness, calm down, this matter is just a rumor, that kid Zhong Kun made a mistake, so he should think about it in the dungeon, so how could it be?" ..."

"You're fooling me by looking at me, aren't you? Then tell me, what did that person tell you just now!?" The eldest princess pointed at the official again, "What exactly did you say just now? Tell me word by word, if you miss half a word, I will pull out your tongue!"

The official servant has been working in the sky prison. He has never seen such a noble person as the eldest princess. He was immediately frightened and dumbfounded by her finger. ..." I've been here for a long time, but I still haven't figured out why.

At this time, the queen also led the people waiting inside to welcome them out. Seeing the mess outside, she also looked at Ning Huayang and said, "What's going on?"

Ning Huayang's face turned blue at this moment, he knew that the matter could not be concealed anymore, otherwise the queen or the eldest princess would just send someone to the dungeon to investigate immediately, and they would immediately know what happened, so He bowed and said: "I am really ashamed, my nephew didn't think about it in prison, but he did such stupid things as suicide, and on such a big day, he caused the princess to be ashamed, I really have no way to discipline him. "After finishing speaking, Ning Huayang knelt down with an extremely ashamed face.

"Self-inflicted?" The Queen half-covered her mouth, looking very surprised, "Did that man go?"

"This..." Ning Huayang rolled his eyes and couldn't answer for a moment. The eldest princess sneered when she saw this, "I don't expect anything to come out of your mouth, Eunuch Qi, take someone to the prison immediately, find out the situation before Come back, until you find out what happened, Wanyi can't visit the hall!"

After finishing speaking, she turned her eyes and stared at Ning Yicai again. The real anger in her eyes made Ning Yicai shy and at the same time feel baffled.

It was clear that Her Royal Highness the princess was still polite to him on the day of courtship, could it be that he did something to offend her inadvertently?