Fire Captain

The new emperor ascended the throne and the empress dowager ruled the country from behind the curtain. The emperor knew that he was appointed to the throne in a time of crisis and that he had always given people the impression of being a scholar who only knew poetry and books. Especially in recent years, Prince Yong and Prince Yan had been fighting openly and secretly and he had never shown the ability to govern the world. The empress dowager was now worried about the world left by the late emperor. After all, she had assisted the late emperor for decades and had experienced countless ups and downs.

The emperor did not mind the empress dowager being in charge of government affairs, and he did not have such a strong desire to control. He wished to leave all matters to the empress dowager. Fortunately, the emperor handed all the non-urgent memorials to the empress dowager, and he would approve them after the empress dowager had read them. However, within a few months, the empress dowager could not bear it anymore. After all, she was old and could not withstand such high-intensity "work"... The empress dowager was unreliable, and he still had a son. Zhao Zihui was a genuine imperial scholar, and he had even served as a councilor and governor in the court. He was very adept at handling political affairs. Now it was even more legitimate for him to be named the crown prince.

There was no other way, Bai Ziyang was also drafted. After the emperor ascended the throne, he found that the court was unclear about the salt and iron affairs, but this was a major matter concerning the country and could not be ambiguous. Seeing that Bai Ziyang was very free every day, he sent him out to investigate. There were bandits in the south, and Gu Tingye cooperated with General Gan to lead the troops to fight again. After looking around, it seems that the emperor and the empress are the most free now...

The emperor and empress, who had some free time, thought that the national mourning period was almost over, and Bai Ziyang's marriage could be put on the agenda, so the Ministry of Rites should hurry up and take action.

Prince Jing's marriage is the only matter concerning the royal family at the moment. After receiving the imperial edict, the Ministry of Rites immediately took action, striving to make the young prince's wedding a beautiful one.

So when Bai Ziyang came back from the south investigating the salt and iron case, as soon as he returned to the palace, he saw the people sent by the crown prince and the people from the Ministry of Works busy in the palace. Although the palace was once a private residence, it had been lived in for many years after all. Even if it was well maintained, some corners were a bit old. Now that Bai Ziyang was about to get married, the emperor and empress thought of it and sent people from the Ministry of Works to repair the entire palace. The crown prince cared about his younger brother and sent people from the East Palace to help with the work.

As the wedding date approaches, Minglan's originally peaceful mood gradually becomes tense. On the one hand, she is looking forward to and happy about marrying her beloved. On the other hand, she is nervous about marrying into the royal family and considers the emotions and identities of the two of them in the marriage relationship.

Although Minglan could feel Bai Ziyang's love for her over the years, she was not completely indifferent to Bai Ziyang in her heart. As a young girl in love, she had a special kind of love for Bai Ziyang. However, these feelings of love did not cloud her mind. Based on the words of others and the influence of her father over the years, she really did not dare to put all her hopes on Bai Ziyang.

Now Bai Ziyang likes her and can treat her well, but if Bai Ziyang doesn't like her anymore in the future, will he favor his concubine over his wife like her father did? Moreover, she doesn't have a strong family like Madam Wang? Her grandmother once said that if Bai Ziyang betrayed her in the future, her timid father would never support her... It seems that she really needs to think about how they will get along after marriage.

The following spring, when the weather was warm and the flowers were blooming, on the wedding day of Bai Ziyang and Minglan, Bai Ziyang rode a tall horse with a ceremonial guard to the Sheng family to pick up the bride. The people of Dongjing City had watched this "little devil" grow up, and now that they heard that he was getting married, they flocked to both sides of the street to watch the ceremony and followed him all the way to the Sheng Mansion, making it quite lively.

In the Sheng Mansion, Minglan was praying to the gods and the ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall: "Please listen to all the ancestors: I am getting married today, and I dare not act on my own. I will burn incense all year round. I will tell the gods, and I hope you will have mercy! Marriage is natural for men and women. There will be good luck and celebration, and both husband and wife will be happy. There will be no disasters and difficulties, and they will live forever for a hundred years. Like fish in water, sweeter than honey!"

Bai Ziyang got off his horse in front of the Sheng Mansion. His three brothers-in-law who were about to arrive were blocking the door with some maids and servants. Not to mention Bai Ziyang's skills, Gu Tingye, who came with Bai Ziyang to propose marriage, could intimidate them just by standing in front. Seeing that the force method failed, these people hurriedly tried the literary method, asking Bai Ziyang to write a poem to urge the wedding. How could this be a difficult task for Bai Ziyang? He had prepared several poems before the wedding, and he recited them immediately.

The maids around Minglan were reporting to her non-stop about the situation at the door. When Minglan heard the last line of Bai Ziyang's makeup-urging poem: "Leaving your eyebrows open to be painted," her cheeks could not help but blush.

After Bai Ziyang received the bride, he offered tea to Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu according to etiquette. The two of them naturally took the tea with a smile on their faces and said some words of entrustment to them. They never dreamed of having a prince as their son-in-law. Sheng Hong seemed to have seen a bright future waving at him...

When leaving the house, Wei Xiaoniang, who was sitting below, could still hold back her sadness, but Old Madam Sheng, who had raised Minglan single-handedly, couldn't help it. She stood up, grabbed Minglan's hand, and shook it vigorously a few times. Thousands of words finally turned into one exhortation: "Be fine! Be fine!" Wei Xiaoniang stepped forward to support Old Madam Sheng, and the two of them shed tears together. In the end, they sent Minglan out the door.

Minglan sat in the bridal sedan, laughing and suddenly burst into tears, wiping her tears and suddenly burst into laughter again. The feeling of getting married was really complicated...

In addition to the dowry prepared by the Sheng Mansion, Bai Ziyang also sent some to Minglan. On the day of her wedding, she was so beautiful that no one could surpass her dowry in the years to come. This gave the common people a lot more to talk about. The Emperor and the Empress personally attended the ceremony in the palace. After Bai Ziyang and Minglan paid their respects to their parents, they drank the wedding wine. Minglan sent them to the bridal chamber, and Bai Ziyang was pulled to toast. Fortunately, there was a drunk Gu Tingye who helped to block the wine. Otherwise, the subordinates and colleagues who had been "tortured" by Bai Ziyang over the years would have to take revenge and avenge their grievances. It was still unclear whether he could enter the bridal chamber at that time.

Minglan was sitting alone in the new room. She hadn't eaten anything from morning till night. She was feeling very hungry and wanted to find something to eat. She heard the door open and sat down quickly. Xiaotao and Danju came in with two trays. Minglan was relieved and put down her fan and asked, "What are you carrying?"

Xiao Tao said, "Miss, the prince said that he was afraid that you might be hungry, so he asked you to eat something first."

Minglan walked to the table curiously and asked, "What are they?"

Xiao Tao said, "There are duck feet drunk with hundreds of flowers, quail cooked with flowers, pork elbow with rock sugar, and a bowl of three crisp soup... It's delicious, young lady."

Danju, who was standing by, heard this and said, "Your Highness is really thoughtful."

Minglan had already picked up the chopsticks and started eating. She nodded as she ate and said, "Hmm, hmm, it's really delicious!"

When Minglan had finished her meal and wine, she heard someone outside the door shouting, "The prince is back!"

He immediately asked Xiaotao and Danju to pack up the things, and he returned to sit beside the bed, picking up the fan that was thrown aside and holding it in front of him. Just as he finished, he saw Gu Tingye and Shang Cheng, who was beside Bai Ziyang, carry Bai Ziyang in together, put him on the bed and said with a gasp, "Princess, the prince is in your hands. There is nothing for us brothers to do from now on..." After that, the two of them walked away swayingly with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Minglan put down her fan and saw that there was already a bowl of hangover soup on the table, so she brought it over. Just as she was about to feed Bai Ziyang, she saw Bai Ziyang open his eyes. His eyes were clear and he didn't look like a drunk at all. She couldn't help but exclaimed, "Are you pretending to be drunk?"

Bai Ziyang took the hangover soup and put it aside without even planning to drink it. He said, "Of course, I haven't done anything yet. How could I get drunk?"

Minglan was a little shy when she heard this. Bai Ziyang laughed, raised his hand to lift up Minglan's head, and said exaggeratedly: "My dear, from now on, follow me and enjoy the good life!" Then he kicked off the hooks on both sides of the bed curtain and put down the red curtain...