Extra 5: End of Life
The wedding of Fu Chen and Tang Ying was held in a grand manner. Both of them were close ministers of the new emperor, and the officials in the court also gave them face. The house was filled with guests and there was a lot of traffic. The female guests went to the Tang Mansion to see off the bride, and the male guests went to the Fu Mansion. Both families were very lively.
The Phoenix Division of the Imperial Cavalry Department and the An Division came to the Tang Mansion first, and sent the bride to the Fu Mansion as the bride's family. The men from the Phoenix Division accompanied Fu Chen to get married. Liu Zhong, Lei Xiao and others accompanied Lord Fu to get married, but they were caught and beaten by the girls from the Phoenix Division and the An Division. They ran away in fear, crying for mercy.
Finally, the two of them bid farewell to their parents, kneeling in front of the tablets of Tang Yao and Bai.
Tang Song volunteered to carry his cousin on his back to get married. He walked through the courtyard of the Tang Mansion step by step, and reminded her as he walked: "If your brother-in-law bullies you, you can go back to your mother's house and Brother Xiaosong will beat him for you!"
Tang Ying seemed to be lying on Tang Jue's back. The familiar feeling almost made her cry. She raised her head to let the tears return to her eyes and said softly, "Brother, he won't dare. I will definitely be happy!"
This road was long and difficult. No matter how thorny and difficult it was, she finally made it through.
Tang Song smiled foolishly: "Yes, yes."
With a ten-mile long wedding dress and many guests coming to congratulate her, Tang Ying married into the Fu family.
Fu Xian and his wife were so happy that they couldn't stop smiling. Liu Zhong, Lei Xiao and others were preparing to make a fuss in the bridal chamber. However, Fu Chen was cunning and secretly ordered Xiong Yu to look after the tables of the Forbidden Cavalry Division. They were all served the sweet and strong Zui Hong Chen, which was mixed with osmanthus wine and smelled of the sweet fragrance of osmanthus. Everyone at the table didn't expect that they would be tricked.
It is said that drinking this wine can make one drunk for three days, so it is very expensive.
After the banquet, the court officials dispersed, except for a few tables of people from the Imperial Cavalry Department who were drunk. Liu Zhong and Lei Xiao were still making a fuss in the bridal chamber. Xiong Yu turned around and helped them to the stable.
Anyway, he was strong and healthy, so he wouldn't catch a cold if he got drunk and slept in the trough in the stable for a night.
Liu Zhong and Lei Xiao slept head to head in the trough all night. Their snoring was so loud that even the horses in the Fu Mansion were disturbed. Fu Yingjun and Teng Yun washed their faces with their tongues dozens of times, but failed to wake them up.
They were sleeping soundly. Fu Chen walked into the bridal chamber in his wedding gown. His handsome face looked as if flowers were blooming, filled with the joy of having his wish fulfilled. He lifted the veil and gazed at the beauty lovingly, but heard her stomach growling.
The bride held her belly and wrinkled her face as she ate the bun: "My third aunt didn't let me eat because she was afraid it would be inconvenient for me to perform the ceremony. I'm starving. Bring me some food quickly."
Fu Chen: “…” What should I do if it’s a little different from what I expected?
When he came here, he had been imagining the scene of lifting the veil, the tenderness and sweetness of the bride and groom, gazing at each other... sharing a beautiful dream, and thinking about it made him full of desire. He didn't expect that the little girl would spoil the mood.
Never mind. She's already been married and we'll have the rest of our lives together, so there's no need to rush.
He took her to the table to eat, and told the servants to bring a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a few seasonal side dishes.
Tang Ying was eating chicken noodle soup, but still felt uneasy. She asked confidently with her palm facing upwards, "Where's my wedding gift?"
Lord Fu brought over a large rosewood box and pushed it over with a smile: "Here you go." It seemed as if he had prepared it.
Tang Ying opened it, and saw inside were property deeds, shop deeds, and various proof of assets, plus a long bunch of keys.
Master Fu said solemnly, "I think ordinary jewelry, clothes and brocade can only be regarded as small gifts. It is a bit perfunctory to think of them as wedding gifts. This is all my own property. I will give it all to Madam as my wedding gift to you."
Tang Ying was dumbfounded: "Then in the future...if you want to give me a gift, do you have to come to me and ask for money, saying you want to buy me something? Isn't this just passing from the left hand to the right hand?"
Mr. Fu pondered for a long time and said firmly: "I can make extra money. I believe I can still earn enough money to give gifts to my wife." He said pitifully: "But I will rely on my wife for my meals, clothes and shoes in the future."
Tang Ying raised her eyebrows and acted fiercely: "Then you'd better behave yourself. If you're flirting with other girls outside, I'll beat you up, strip you of your clothes, shoes and socks, and kick you out!"
Master Fu seemed to be frightened by her ferocity. He pretended to kneel down, then he suddenly stretched out his arms and hugged her tightly, smiling proudly, "Let's see who strips off whose clothes, shoes and socks first..."
Tang Ying was caught off guard and screamed in his arms, and quickly stretched out her arms to hug his neck. The man's eyes were full of joy. He lowered his head and pecked her lightly, and said seriously: "The chicken soup in the kitchen is very good today." He strode towards the bed.
Amidst the laughter, the two fell together.
The next day, Fu Xian and his wife got up early and waited for the newlyweds to come and serve tea. Fu Chen and Tang Ying were kneeling in front of their parents. Liu Zhong and Lei Xiao rushed in, rubbing their necks. They had amazing alcohol tolerance and had received special training in the company. They drank Zui Hong Chen mixed with osmanthus wine. They woke up in the middle of the night while the guys in the guest room were still sleeping soundly.
"Sir, you are really not a decent person. You bring your brothers to make a scene when someone else gets married, but you get us drunk when you get married yourself. This is too much!"
When Liu Zhong and Lei Xiao got married, they suffered a lot from the brothers in the company. Although Lord Fu did not personally take part in the wedding, he was in charge of the situation and made the two suffer a lot.
After Fu Xian and his wife gave their daughter-in-law a valuable gift, they asked them to get up and apologized to Liu Zhong and Lei Xiao: "We are sorry for the poor hospitality." They even pretended that the two had slept in the guest room last night.
The two looked strange, and they first greeted Fu Xian and his wife: "No, no, no."
Liu Zhong couldn't help but say, "But... the master ordered Lao Lei and I to sleep in the stable, but there aren't enough guest rooms?"
Fu Xian: “Ah?”
Mrs. Fu: “?”
Fu Chen would not admit it: "You two are drunk, right? All the brothers in the company slept in the guest room last night. If you don't believe me, ask the servants in the mansion, or go and have a look yourself. Maybe you two got drunk and wanted to go home, so you passed out when you touched the stable, and you even blame me for it."
Liu Zhong and Lei Xiao looked at each other, both puzzled: "Really?"
"Can it be fake?"
Tang Ying lowered her head and tried hard to hold back her laughter, her stomach almost felt like it was in a knot.
I really didn't expect that when her Master Fu was being mean, he would do things secretly and it wouldn't be obvious on the surface.
After the two got married, they took less than three days of honeymoon leave when Yao Niang and Gan Jun refused to help anymore and left Beijing with their luggage. The two had no choice but to move their honeymoon to the Jinqisi.
The new emperor wanted to change the bad policies of the previous emperor in his later years. He first ordered the burning of the torture instruments of the Forbidden Cavalry Division, and then carried out personnel diversion. Those who wanted to serve in the army were enlisted according to their official positions, and those who wanted to leave the division and live a civilian life were also allowed to do so. The members of the division who stayed behind gradually transferred the cases of the division to the Three Divisions. The Forbidden Cavalry Division was no longer an intelligence agency, nor was it a sharp sword in the hands of the emperor that could target court officials at will.
After seeing the force of the new emperor's reforms, the court officials finally stopped fearing the Imperial Cavalry and became loyal to the new emperor, and the government became peaceful.
Bao Yi felt very sorry: "If the late emperor were alive, and saw Xuan Zhen Zhenren exploded and died after taking too many golden elixirs, what would he feel?" But thinking about the late emperor's violent and violent nature, he changed his mind: "It's better for the late emperor to die earlier. If he were alive, who knows how many people would die."
Tang Ying laughed in silence: "It sounds like even the execution of Zhang Wenhua's entire clan couldn't dispel the hatred in your heart. Xuan Zhen's disciples and grandchildren didn't escape either. It's a good thing that the late emperor died early."
Now she was calm when she mentioned the late emperor.
Fu Chen then entered the court as an official and joined the Ministry of Justice, first as an assistant minister. Within two years, he was promoted to minister. Now, he and Jing Feng have become two of the new emperor's most important ministers and are deeply trusted by the new emperor.
Tang Ying still stayed in the Imperial Cavalry Division as her boss, but now the Imperial Cavalry Division no longer cared about the affairs of the court. Like the Palace Guards, it became the last barrier to protect the emperor and the harem. According to her words, it was equivalent to a retirement unit. When she was on duty, she went to Kunning Palace to taste the freshly made snacks in the palace and amuse the little prince. Her life was free and leisurely.
Yang Huniu really used the same energy that General Yang had used to manage the army to manage the harem. Those old-fashioned palace maids suffered under her and finally became conscientious and no longer dared to look down on the empress who came from the border town.
The two of them sat in Kunning Palace basking in the sun, feeling drowsy and thinking back to their youth as if in a dream.
Yang Huniu asked her half asleep, "Yingying, you've been married for two years, isn't it time to have a child?"
With children, the ties in this life become deeper and it is easier to forget the past.
Tang Ying smelled the fragrance of flowers and said after a while, "It's time."
When Tang Ying was leaving the palace after finishing her shift, Lord Fu was waiting for her at the palace gate. They neither rode horses nor took a carriage, but walked home hand in hand, just like countless ordinary couples in Kyoto. On the way, they bought some food they liked. Their lives were leisurely and peaceful, and they chatted about the trivial matters of the court. Lord Fu had now learned how to make his wife happy. He seriously imitated the court officials' bickering and added his own complaints, which made Tang Ying laugh out loud.
Since getting married, a smile often appears on her face.
Fu Chen sometimes thought that year, the girl he knew built a hard armor with hatred. Although she often smiled, he saw deep tears and despair in the depths of her eyes.
After so many years, she finally let go of the past and smiled like a carefree fool.
Cute silly girl!
He clenched the soft little hand in his palm. The more comfortable life became, the smoother the edges and corners of her body were. Even the calluses on the palms gradually disappeared because of not holding weapons for a long time, returning to the softness and delicacy of a woman.
Tang Ying couldn't help laughing, and felt the tight grip on her hand, and smiled, "What's the matter?" She was stunned for a moment when she saw the tenderness in Master Fu's eyes, "You look like you haven't seen each other for a long time."
Master Fu smiled and said, "That's right. I was listening to the people bickering in the court, and I thought to myself that it would be better to leave the court early and go shopping and eat with my wife. It's such a waste of time." He put on a worried look and said, "It's annoying to think that I will have to work with this group of people for most of my life."
Tang Ying said softly, "I'll be with you."
"Okay, you have to stay with me."
Lord Fu touched her face and felt his heart soften. The two of them walked together and got closer to the door of their home. The gatekeeper opened the door and welcomed them in.
