Fifth Son looked over.
Ye Suijin's fingers traced from the river's mouth to Gucheng, connecting the two places in a straight line.
Her fingertips traced horizontally until they reached the boundary of Ruan County.
Thus, this triangular area was merged with Dengzhou.
No, no, wait a second.
Fifth Son couldn't get Zhao Jingwen out of his mind. He was too angry.
But how could his Sixth Sister be totally fine?
Fifth Son ran out to find Fifth Uncle and Seventh Son.
This time, Ye Suijin brought him and Seventh Son, as well as Ajin and Zhou Junhua.
Fifth Uncle had squeezed himself in. This was definitely his father's intention.
Since Sixth Sister left Biyang, his father had to stay put. He couldn't move, so he stuffed in Fifth Uncle.
The elders must be afraid that Sixth Sister wouldn't be able to handle the matter with Zhao Jingwen well on her own.
Sure enough, when Fifth Uncle heard about it, he also scratched his head.
"Your father told me to come and keep an eye on things," he said. "Mainly afraid that Sixth Lady would lose her composure. Afraid she'd be too lenient, but also afraid she'd be too harsh."
Afraid she'd be too lenient meant afraid she'd be indecisive and fooled by Zhao Jingwen's sweet talk, letting him off easy.
Afraid she'd be too harsh meant afraid she'd get murderous and cause loss of life. After all, they were husband and wife, it shouldn't go that far.
The elders were inclined to advise reconciliation.
It had always been this way. Better to demolish ten temples than destroy one marriage, these were all old sayings.
But they also couldn't let Zhao Jingwen off easy. Her younger brothers giving him a good beating was unavoidable.
These were all things that should be done when a son-in-law of an ordinary family made trouble and the wife's family had to respond.
Only now Fifth Uncle scratched his head. "Sixth Lady is no ordinary woman."
"Let's not worry about Zhao Jingwen for now," Fifth Uncle finally said. "Let's listen to Sixth Lady first and take Gucheng. We can't, we can't fall behind Sixth Lady's pace, us men."
Fifth Son was dejected.
His sixth sister was taking too big a step, and following made Fifth Son feel like his balls were being pulled.
Gucheng was a small, dilapidated town that didn't look too difficult to take.
Capturing Gucheng didn't take much effort. Because a miscellaneous general had been stationed there before, but he had died later, leaving the place vacant now.
There had been some scattered troops and warriors before, but they had all been recruited by Zhao Jingwen. With the small town now empty, the Ye family army moved right in.
The common people were quite panicked.
Young unmarried girls all hid away, not daring to show their faces at all.
After surveying the place, Ye Suijin was very dissatisfied with the small town: "Too few people."
The city itself was small, and it felt particularly empty.
They found locals to ask, who said many people had fled in recent years. With unrest on this side, naturally they all ran toward Xiangyang.
Those capable enough ran toward Jiangling Fu, which was said to be even better.
Ye Suijin complained to Fifth Uncle: "If we could build a big city here, and station troops at the river mouth, it would make the southern end of Dengzhou and Tangzhou much safer."
Fifth Uncle: "Mm-hmm."
Fifth Son drooped his head dejectedly.
Seventh Son looked around, swaying his body this way and that.
Duan Jin was unusually silent compared to usual. Neither joking nor talking.
Zhou Junhua tried his best to shrink away, wanting to pretend he didn't exist.
He hadn't wanted to come in the first place.
It was the Vice Envoy who had crammed him in.
At first Tenth Son had insisted on coming along. Afraid those coming would all be Ye's sons-in-law, and a discrepant word could blow things up, the Vice Envoy had forcibly kept Tenth Son in Biyang and stuffed Zhou in instead.
To actually have to meddle in this dogshit mess, how unlucky.
Ye Suijin glanced at them: "What's with you all?"
Fifth Uncle: "Tsk."
Fifth Son couldn't stand it anymore: "Sis, tomorrow is the 22nd!"
Tomorrow was the auspicious day, the day Zhao Jingwen and the Pei family's daughter would complete their wedding ritual!
How could his sixth sister be totally unresponsive, as if she had entered samadhi?
"Sis, speak up," Seventh Son had full confidence Ye Suijin must have a plan. "Are we going to march overnight and raid Fangling straight away?"
That was what they did last time when they raided the Tang Residence, right? Out of nowhere, she'd said "let's raid them tonight," and then they'd raided the Tang Residence.
Seventh Son cracked his knuckles, just waiting for Ye Suijin's order to attack!
But Ye Suijin smiled and said, "Still too early."
Fifth Son was so angry his eyes rolled back.
Even Fifth Uncle couldn't stand to watch anymore. He said, "Sixth Lady, it's not too late to go now. Any later, and their wedding over there will be over."
Ye Suijin also knew it was time and she couldn't fob them off anymore.
She glanced at Zhou Junhua.
Zhou Junhua was very conscious of circumstances: "This lowly officer will go inspect the city defenses."
He slipped away as quick as greased lightning.
"Fifth Uncle," with no outsiders around now, Ye Suijin asked the only elder present, "What do you think about this matter?"
Fifth Uncle said, "Can't let him off easy. At the very least your younger brothers ought to beat him up good. Drag him back to Dengzhou, give him the cold shoulder for a while. Make him admit wrongdoing."
Upon hearing this, Fifth Son and Seventh Son were both dumbfounded.
The two jumped up simultaneously shouting, "Fifth Uncle! / Fifth Uncle! What are you saying?"
Shouldn't it be beating him to a pulp, then declaring the marriage dissolved?
Ye Suijin smiled faintly.
As expected, this was the difference between a man and a boy.
That was why she hadn't even brought Fourth Son on this trip. Because Fourth Son was already married, he was a man now. Not like Fifth Son and Seventh Son who could still be called boys.
Ah, now that she thought about it, boys really were so adorable.
Men, they truly didn't feel from the bottom of their hearts that a man having multiple women was "wrong" at all.
So in her past life, Pei Lian had willingly accepted a concubine status, and the elders had all felt it was acceptable.
Back then Fifth Son, Seventh Son, Ninth Son, and Tenth Son had all been hopping mad, but were held back by the elders who taught them about "building affection over decades of marriage" and "better to demolish ten temples than one marriage."
No, actually the elders couldn't have swayed her.
The one who truly made the decision in the past was still Ye Suijin herself. The one who was truly unwilling to give up Zhao Jingwen was herself.
Ye Suijin had long been able to directly face her past mistakes.
She didn't push responsibility onto others.
Seventh Son shot to his feet: "Fifth Uncle!"
"Sit down!" Fifth Uncle said. "This is everyone's opinion."
By everyone, he naturally meant all the elders. For matters like this, the adults didn't permit children butting in.
Third and Fourth Sons who were already married could speak up, but the rest were just children.
But Seventh Son refused to listen.
He said: "Marriage is like drinking water. It really shouldn't be based on what others think, but on asking Sixth Sister what she wants to do!"
He said to Ye Suijin: "Sixth Sis! Speak up. No matter what you want, I'll listen to you!"
Fifth Son chimed in: "Me too!"
Duan Jin just stood by Ye Suijin's side with his hands behind his back, silent.
Anyway, no matter who Ye Suijin chose, as long as she gave an order, he would draw his sword for her.
Fifth Uncle was angry: "Little children understand nothing. You have to know it takes ten years to..."
"I don't know!" Seventh Son interrupted Fifth Uncle loudly.
He was usually an obedient, courteous child, educated by Seventh Uncle and Seventh Auntie to be a bit too courteous, unfamiliar with adapting to change. But now he actually dared to interrupt an elder.
"All I know is, if back then I had stubbornly made a fuss, caused trouble until that Wang Ba Dan of the Sun family divorced my sister, my sister wouldn't have died so early!"
"Better to demolish ten temples than one marriage, right! That was what my father and mother said back then, and I listened!"
"And what happened?"
Seventh Son and Third Sister and Tenth Son were all Seventh Uncle's children.
When he was small, he had no say regarding Third Sister's matters, confusedly listening to his parents. Later Third Sister passed away.
Only then did Seventh Son understand that what parents and elders said wasn't necessarily right.
He also hated himself for listening too much to his parents.
Of course later Seventh Uncle and Seventh Auntie also regretted it. Thus for Tenth Son's upbringing, things were a bit different from how they raised Third Sister and Seventh Son.
So although they were siblings with the same mother, Seventh Son was restrained and courteous while Tenth Son was very unconstrained.
At the mention of Third Sister, Fifth Uncle also hesitated for a moment.
But he still said: "Sixth Lady is not the same as Third Lady."
"Whether they're the same or not," Seventh Son had never refuted or talked back to elders like this, unexpectedly stubborn and unyielding, "let Sixth Sister choose herself. Others shouldn't muddy the waters!"
Fifth Uncle had never seen Seventh Son be so stubborn before and was shocked looking at him.
He deeply felt his nephew's change.
When had this child become like this?
Ye Suijin also lamented that in battle after battle, bloodshed after bloodshed, Seventh Son...had finally grown up, huh.
No longer that little brother who had cried on her shoulder, getting snot everywhere, after his sister's death.
Fifth Uncle sighed.
The children all had strong opinions, and Sixth Lady wasn't someone they could sway either. He said: "Sixth Lady, how do you want to handle this in the end?"
Duan Jin's gaze looked over intently.
Ye Suijin's mouth curved into a slight smile. "I think we shouldn't go too early."
Going too early before the marriage ceremony was complete would ruin Zhao Jingwen's plans.
More importantly, if the ceremony was not yet complete and Pei Ze changed his mind about marrying off Zhao Jingwen, what would they do then?
No, they had to time this just right and wait until the dust settled.
On the 22nd day of the third month, the Pei manor in Fangling held a joyous occasion.
All the eminent families in Fangzhou came, and those who could not make it still sent gifts and congratulations.
Pei Ze was also very happy.
Although he was marrying off his daughter, he did not want to "give her away" completely. He and his daughter had an unspoken understanding that they would find a son-in-law who would stay close by her side, so she could always be near her father.
In her youth she had suffered much hardship and displacement.
Pei Ze decided to take care of her for her whole life. When his time came, Pei Dingxi would take care of her for life in his stead.
Therefore, the wedding ceremony was held at the Pei manor, and the bridal chamber was also prepared there. Pei Lian would continue living there as before.
As for the son-in-law Zhao Jingwen, Pei Ze planned to have him leave Dengzhou and come to Fangzhou instead.
When tiger brothers go into battle, father and sons serve in the same army. A son-in-law is half a son.
The guests sang the groom's praises without end. He was talented and handsome.
The ceremony went smoothly and joyfully. After the formalities, the bride and groom were led to the bridal chamber.
Pei Ze's eyes unexpectedly grew moist.
Pei Dingxi was worried, wanting to check on the bridal chamber, but several of his sworn brothers grabbed him. "Let's go, Dingxi, come drink with us!"
Pei Dingxi struggled violently. "I don't want to drink, it's too spicy..."
But his sworn brothers carried him off like a little chick, his feet dangling in the air as they dragged him away.
Inside the bridal chamber, the red candles flickered.
Pei Lian shyly lowered her fan, revealing a face like a hibiscus blossom.
The matron brought over a ladle cup. Zhao Jingwen took it and held it out to Pei Lian. "My lady..."
Pei Lian lifted her eyes. In the candlelight was the elegant groom she had chosen for herself, with refined features and affectionate glances.
In his eyes was only her. His voice was so gentle when he spoke.
Pei Lian accepted the ladle cup. The two interlocked arms and drank down the wine of matrimony.
The cup was dashed to the ground, and they fell into each other's embrace.
The matron laughed. "Auspicious fortune!"
The maids silently lowered the bridal curtains and quietly withdrew, closing the chamber door behind them.
Just before leaving, they faintly heard the groom say from within, "My lady, from now on you and I will be affectionate spouses, never to part..."
The groom was so gentle and devoted, cherishing his bride in the palm of his hand, close to his heart.
Who wouldn't want to marry such a gentleman?
