xymnovel Chapter 489: A Wedding Without a Groom or Bride
Chapter 489: A Wedding Without a Groom or Bride
The extravagant dowry dazzled the crowd, nearly blinding them with its brilliance. Yet for some people, the sight did more than dazzle—it ignited burning envy in their eyes.Standing at the gate of Zhu Ping’an’s family home, Zhu Ping’an’s eldest uncle, Zhu Shouren, watched as chest after chest of dowry was carried into the newly built mansion prepared specifically for Zhu Ping’an’s marriage. As each heavy chest passed by, he couldn’t help swallowing repeatedly, his throat bobbing.
So much wealth…
Just one of those chests alone would be enough for him to spend comfortably for a very long time.
Beside him stood his wife, the eldest aunt.
Her eyes had already turned red—so red that it looked almost like a rabid animal’s fevered gaze.
Just moments earlier, a massive chest overflowing with gold and silver jewelry had been carried right past her. The glittering contents had nearly blinded her. Exquisite hairpins, delicate bracelets, ornate earrings, and finely crafted ornaments filled the chest to the brim.
The sheer quantity and beauty of it all far exceeded anything she had ever dared imagine in her wildest dreams.
Several times, she had nearly lost control of herself and lunged forward to grab something.
Remove AdsLand deeds, houses, storefronts, furniture, decorative furnishings, cosmetics, daily necessities, gold and silver jewelry, antique curios, calligraphy and paintings, books and writing materials, medicinal herbs, fragrant spices…
Dowries of every conceivable kind were carried past her one after another, endlessly flowing into the new residence across the road where Zhu Ping’an’s wedding would take place.
With each passing chest, the redness in the eldest aunt’s eyes deepened.
And when she saw the two neat rows of maidservants and household attendants included in the dowry…
Her eyes were practically the deep crimson of a rabid beast in its final stage.
Unable to contain herself, she subconsciously reached out and pinched Zhu Shouren’s arm hard, as if sending him some secret signal. Then she lifted her face and stared at him with blazing red eyes.
“Ah—!”
Zhu Shouren sucked in a breath of cold air from the pain.
Lowering his head, he glared at his wife before leaning closer and whispering in a low voice laden with meaning.
“What are you so anxious for? They’re already dead anyway. Do you think those things can run away while they’re sitting in Old Second’s house?”
“But didn’t you say we should—”
The eldest aunt’s emotions were surging so violently she almost blurted everything out.
Before she could finish, Zhu Shouren hurriedly clapped a hand over her mouth.
“You foolish woman, what do you know?” he hissed under his breath. “Can you eat hot tofu in a hurry? Look around—there are people everywhere today. And you know exactly what kind of people Old Second’s family are. If this turns into a scene in front of everyone, my reputation will be ruined! Once the festivities are over and everyone goes home… then it’ll be just our Zhu family’s business. Once the door is closed, we can handle things however we want.”
With her mouth covered, the eldest aunt could only nod and shake her head.
Though her eyes were still red, her emotions seemed to calm slightly.
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Seeing her settle down, Zhu Shouren gave her another stern warning with his eyes before slowly removing his hand.
“Will it really work?” she whispered cautiously after she could speak again, glancing around like a thief.
“What do you think?” Zhu Shouren replied with a mysterious smile.
Then he flicked his long sleeve behind his back with a flourish, striking a pose as though everything were already perfectly planned, as calm and confident as a strategist holding a feather fan.
The eldest aunt’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest with excitement.
“You… you mean Father and Mother agreed?” she asked eagerly.
Zhu Shouren curled his lips into a cryptic smile.
“As the Master said—some things are not to be spoken.”
“You devil…” the eldest aunt said in a soft, almost flirtatious voice.
For a moment she felt like a young girl again, her heart fluttering like a startled deer. She reached out and pinched his arm lightly while pouting at him with a coy scolding.
Zhu Shouren glanced sideways at his wife.
Seeing the aging, yellow-faced woman trying to flirt made his stomach churn slightly.
He nearly gagged.
“You really think Ping’an is…” the eldest aunt asked again, nudging his arm.
“The news came directly from the authorities. Could it possibly be fake?” Zhu Shouren replied confidently. “Besides, didn’t you see how Old Second’s family cried the day before yesterday? Pirates attacked the ship, and then a massive storm hit. The vessel overturned in the sea. Dozens of ships searched the ocean for an entire day afterward, and all they found was a belt. The sea is full of things that devour people. Once someone falls into it, how could they possibly survive? Even if a god descended from the heavens, it wouldn’t make a difference. Everyone knows this. Only Old Second’s family refuses to accept it.”
Remove AdsIn Zhu Shouren’s mind, Zhu Ping’an was already dead beyond any doubt.
The only reason Madam Chen refused to accept it was because she couldn’t face reality.
“Sigh… I watched Ping’an grow up with my own eyes,” the eldest aunt said with a brief sigh.
But soon her tone shifted again, filled with agitation.
“This is all fate! If Old Second’s wife hadn’t used some underhanded trick to transfer my son Pingjun’s destiny as the Wenqu Star onto Ping’an, none of this would have happened! That boy simply wasn’t meant to have that fate!”
Two years earlier, the eldest aunt had spent a large sum of money to invite a so-called enlightened master to perform fortune-telling.
The man had even walked around both the old Zhu residence and Zhu Ping’an’s home several times.
What he revealed afterward filled her heart with lasting resentment toward Madam Chen.
The “master,” claiming to have sacrificed a full year of his lifespan to reveal heavenly secrets, had pointed toward Zhu Ping’an’s house and solemnly declared that the mistress of that home had used some unspeakable method to transfer the Wenqu Star destiny—originally belonging to her son Zhu Pingjun—onto Zhu Ping’an.
From that day forward, the eldest aunt added yet another deep grudge to the long list she already held against Madam Chen.
Back then she had asked the master how such a transferred destiny might be reversed.
The man had shaken his head gravely, claiming he dared not offend the Wenqu Star.
Only after she begged repeatedly—and added a few more silver coins—did he finally reveal a “method.”
“Make a voodoo doll.”
Looking back now, the eldest aunt felt that the master truly had been remarkable.
But she had never imagined things would turn out like this.
All of this was Old Second’s wife’s fault.
If she hadn’t used those despicable tricks years ago, Ping’an wouldn’t have ended up like this!
While the couple spoke in hushed voices, the dowry procession finally finished moving everything into the newly built residence.
The house stood directly across from Zhu Ping’an’s family home.
Remove AdsOnce the dowry had been brought inside, the next parts of the ceremony began: the matchmaker, the groom, and the bridal sedan chair.
Soon, amid the thunderous crackling of firecrackers, the groom and the bridal sedan chair came into view.
“Huh?”
Someone among the spectators let out a puzzled sound.
But most people simply sighed softly or whispered blessings.
The villagers of Xiahe and Shanghe already knew the truth. Only those from farther away—or travelers who had happened upon the spectacle—remained unaware.
Those ignorant of the truth stared at the approaching procession with eyes even wider than when they had first seen the extravagant dowry.
Their jaws practically dropped.
The groom…
was a rooster.
A large rooster with bright red feathers and a huge red flower tied around its neck.
Zhu Ping’an’s third aunt’s mischievous son, little Xiao Zhi, was responsible for carrying the rooster in his arms.
The groom was a rooster!
Wasn’t the groom supposed to be the empire’s top scholar?
How had he turned into a rooster?!
Remove AdsAnd if that wasn’t shocking enough, the bride stunned them even more.
From the bridal sedan chair stepped a tiny little girl holding a hen covered with a red bridal veil.
The bride… was a hen.
A rooster and a hen?
On such a fine wedding day, were they really watching a rooster and a hen bow to Heaven and Earth?
If the people around them hadn’t explained what was happening, those bewildered spectators would never have believed their own eyes.
The truth was this:
Two days earlier, officials had arrived in Xiahe Village carrying a belt.
Along with it came devastating news.
The top scholar Zhu Ping’an had been sailing home to marry when his ship encountered pirates on the open sea. Lord Zhu had fought bravely and fearlessly against them.
Remove AdsBut then a massive wave suddenly rose and overturned the ship.
Zhu Ping’an vanished into the sea.
His fiancée, Miss Li of the Li family, who had been traveling with him, vanished as well.
Dozens of ships searched the ocean for an entire day.
All they found… was a belt.
Everyone understood what that meant.
But Zhu Ping’an’s mother, Madam Chen, refused to believe it.
Anyone who dared mention death—or even hint at it—would face her desperate fury.
“My Zhi’er is only missing,” Madam Chen murmured as she watched the rooster and hen perform the bows of marriage before Heaven and the ancestors.
“He will come back. He will definitely come back.”
Beside her, Zhu Ping’an’s father, Zhu Shouyi, gripped her hand tightly.
The wedding proceeded as scheduled.
For only one reason.
To bring good fortune—and ward off calamity.