23 Hand In Hand At The Wedding Venue

In the twinkling of an eye the night bled into daylight and it was already the day of the much anticipated wedding.

And Yu Yīnuó was no where to be found!

"What do they mean they cannot find mother?" Yu Xiaoguang cried out in a frantic voice, springing out of bed with messy bed head. He almost slipped and fell hard on his long brown hair at the report from Chunhua.

"I've searched the entire residence, but she's no where to be found, what do we do now Young Master?" Chunhua asked, fumbling with her blister filled fingers.

She had spent the entire night making all sorts of amendments to the wedding attire to fit the young master perfectly. It was only this morning when she went round for a walk that she discovered that the mistress had perhaps fled.

A knock interrupted their conversation, "I'm coming inside." Sun Rong announced sliding the door open as she spoke, holding a tray of accessories and makeup.

"It's already so late, the procession from the groom's side will arrive shortly, we shouldn't throw away any more time." Judging by her tone, it was clear that she was eavesdropping on their conversation.

Chunhua parted her lips to say something in return, but the young doctor beat her to it. He flattened his lips into a smile then straightened his back.

"I agree, let's make do with what we have." He softly said, resting a hand on Chunhua's shoulder, calming her anxious nerves. "It will all work out." Yu Xiaoguang added, closing his eyes in a full smile.

*Wang Family Altar*

The imperial consort had dropped all her duties and made it so that she was able to watch the entire ceremony from start to finish. She had expected to catch a glimpse of bashfulness on the young general's face, however impossible that sounded.

"I see the consort has so much time on her hands, that she can come so early in the day to welcome the Wang family bride." Wang general announced, clasping his hands together, forcing a smile upon his lips.

Consort Xīnyí's lips right eyebrow twitched in response to the general's claim, she rigidly picked up a cup of tea then brought it to her lips, pretending to not have heard him.

"Come to think of it, was it not the consort who made this match under such a short span? Is the emperor too busy these days to give you attention?" Although he spoke in a receptive manner and wore a kind smile, the animosity between the two were as clear as a river.

Her grip on the cup tightened, "ah, I could say the same for you, I hear these days the great Wang general spends his time playing wèiqí and..." She didn't say more but instead made a drinking like gesture, grinning fully from ear to ear.

"Aish...this loose tongued woman still doesn't have a leash yet..." He mumbled under his breath, averting his eyes from the smirk on her face.

"Anyhow, I'm here to see for myself the kind of woman who could have caught my Tengfei's interest. If young miss Yu has any talents then I'll invite to have tea with me more often." The consort explained, straightening her back.

The Wang general in turn also took a sweep of the family altar, he had never once believed that a wedding would take place after his own. His son was so fascinated by wars that he had somehow tossed the idea out.

'I wonder what made him gain an interest in young Miss Yu?'

"The sedan has been sighted! The bride is almost here!" Some servants cried out in glee, alerting everyone of the incoming wedding procession. The general and consort exchanged curt nods with each other before the general left first, taking a seat as per ritual.

It only took a matter of minutes for the noise following the procession to become noticable, and with each passing second the general grew anxious.

Why?

"That Tengfei! Just where the fuck is he?!" His father curled his fingers into an angry fist, then altered some soldiers to quickly find his son, who had gone missing since after his fitting.

*A good distance away*

"General, you could have left questioning that informant for later! Today is your wedding day of all days!" Fu Bao chided, walking even faster than the man who was getting married.

"What's there to fret over? We're already almost at the venue." He casually answered. Fu Bao pinched his temples then swayed his head from side to side.

'You say that, but you did an interrogation wearing the red wedding attire! Anyone who sees you will think your bride stood you up.' Fu Bao thought to himself, clasping the general's sword to his chest.

"Stop." Tengfei stretched his hand out, restricting Fu Bao from taking another step. His subordinate tried to say something but knew better than to interrupt.

"We're being followed." He acknowledged, reaching for his sword, taking it from Fu Bao's chest with peeled eyes.

"Might they be related to the informant we just interrogated?" Fu Bao whispered, resting his hand on his sword holster.

Tengfei looked at both sides from the corner of his eyes trying to count how many enemies were around. Unfortunately, a wedding procession arrived out of nowhere, allowing the enemies to slip out of his scrutiny. Tengfei clicked his tongue in disdain, "just where did this cursed procession come from?!"

Fu Bao wanted to intervene and inform the general that it was the procession for his bride which he had called cursed just now. But the heavy look of disdain in the general's eyes made him keep his mouth shut.

However, as the enemies took cover, five black snakes were suddenly released from nowhere, and attacked the men carrying the sedan on their shoulders!

On seeing the snakes, the youngest out of them forgot all about the bride he was carrying and tried to make a desperate escape. In a panicked frenzy he backed away but collided against another carrier, sending them both crashing down!

The bridal sedan tumbled to the right hand side, allowing the unsuspecting bride to slip out of it and fall onto the den of slithering snakes!

Fortunately, Tengfei was witty and swooped in to break the bride's fall, by wrapping a hand firmly around the bride's waist.

Before the distorted bride could utter a word, the general swung his sword at a snake nearby and severed it's head. Then, without even so much as gazing at the bride, he tightened his grip and said...

"Hold on to me."

The bride in question, hesitated for a brief moment, before slowly wrapping both arms around the general's neck, burying their face in his chest.

Although the general was the one who insisted they hold onto him, he couldn't help but feel flustered at how compatible this bride's body was with his.

He swiftly recovered from his stun then refocused on killing the rest of the snakes, but soon found out that Fu Bao had killed them all.

"You fool! Are you not a man? How dare you run away at the sight of a snake? And more so when the great General Tengfei is standing right before you?" Fu Bao scolded the youngster, who was already on his knees.

Wang Tengfei noticed the bride flinch at his title, he parted his lips to ask something but was interrupted by Fu Bao.

"General is very fortunate, who would have thought, that you were able to rescue your bride in the nick of time. Was the interrogation just a cover-up?" Tengfei's subordinate mindlessly asked, staring intently at the odd looking bride.

Tengfei noticed Fu Bao staring and shot him a threatening glare, his subordinate felt a cold shiver run down his spine and immediately averted his eyes.

"But...if both the bride and groom are here, then what about the wedding?!" Fu Bao exclaimed in a panic, staring at the members of the procession, seeking an answer.

A young woman dressed in yellow with white flowers woven in her hair, sheepishly marched up to general and his bride, nervously chewing on her lower lip.

"Young Miss Yu, we should leave now, we've already troubled the kind general enough." Chunhua said, making an attempt to take the bride away.

The bride responded too swiftly, pulling away from Tengfei's embrace, standing close to Chunhua, keeping their head down. The general inwardly frowned at this, then cleared his throat to say that made even passerbys stop and hang their jaws in stun.

"Miss Yu, we are still unsure whether you or I were the subject of this ambush." He took a pause then walked up to his bride, standing only a feet away.

"It would be best if we both arrived at the family altar together." The general announced, candidly stretching out his palm.

That was how the entire capital was left stunned to see the Wang general and his bride arrive hand in hand at the wedding venue.