A large number of guards in red and maids surrounded the bridal sedan chair, distributing wedding candies all around, their faces full of joy.
"Is this the Yue family's bride?" "I heard it was an imperial decree from His Majesty, bestowing the eldest daughter of the Yue family upon the Marquis of Anning of Da Qian!"
The surrounding commoners chattered incessantly. The sedan chair remained steady and arrived at the gate of the Honglu Temple.
Zuo Wuji was drinking wine in the main hall of the Yue residence, cursing and grumbling.
Yue Hongxiu, still masked, stood guard by his side, watching Zuo Wuji and occasionally shaking her head in resignation.
Meanwhile, Liang Xiao's family was anxiously waiting at the Honglu Temple. Even Zhuo Yun and Li Xin had arrived.
The two women looked at the bridal sedan chair with complex emotions.
One had missed a good match, and the other had been timid...
Zuo Wushang, standing behind Liang Xiao, leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Those sedan bearers are from the Yun Tian Guard. Excluding Xiao Jing, there should be sixteen Yun Tian Guards in total, twelve men and four women. So, there's unlikely to be any trickery inside the sedan chair."
Liang Xiao was finally relieved. He stepped forward quickly, lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, and looked with deep affection.
Zuo Jing was already dressed in red, elaborately adorned and stunningly beautiful. She gazed back at Liang Xiao with equal affection.
Their eyes met for a moment, and then Zuo Jing, with tears in her eyes, threw herself into Liang Xiao's arms.
"Brother Liang Xiao..."
Liang Xiao quickly reminded her, "There are too many people here with prying eyes. Let's talk when we get back."
Only then did Zuo Jing obediently nod and look back at the people from the Yue residence.
"Marquis of Anning, please treat our young lady well!"
Including the Yun Tian Guards Qing and Zhu, disguised as maids, and the Yun Tian Guards led by those of the "Tian" character, they all clasped their fists at Liang Xiao.
"From this day forward, she is my wife, Liang Xiao's wife!" Liang Xiao said with utmost sincerity.
Only then did the people from the Yue residence leave, satisfied, without any further delay.
"I never thought Lin Xin would also..." Li Xin sighed and returned to the chess hall with Zhuo Yun, looking dejected.
In the room, Zuo Jing nestled in Liang Xiao's arms, weeping, "My father refuses to return the child to me..."
Liang Xiao took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart, and said softly, "My child, my child with Liang Xiao, we will definitely get him back!"
Zuo Jing felt a little better and exchanged tearful greetings with Luo Qingxue and the others.
"Sister!!" Yue Wenxin exclaimed excitedly.
"Wenxin, regarding your situation, I heard from my aunt. From now on..." Zuo Jing started, but hesitated.
"From now on, Wenxin is also a member of the Liang family. No one can bully you two sisters," Luo Qingxue said gently.
Yue Wenxin was deeply touched and repeatedly agreed, "I will regain my confidence, never be arrogant again, and then protect my sister and my child!"
Zuo Jing looked on with satisfaction.
"Why didn't Auntie come?" Yue Wenxin asked anxiously.
Zuo Jing replied, "She said she'll come after finishing the matters at the Yue residence."
"My father is so wicked, will she suffer?" Yue Wenxin mumbled.
"She is the General of Anbei, the Commander of the Northern King's Guards. Your father wouldn't dare to act recklessly. Since she's still at the Yue residence, she must have something important to do. Perhaps she's here to help Liang Xiao," Zhuo Zifang reminded them.
"We must not delay. I'll go to the Yue residence to find Zuo Wuji!" Liang Xiao left Zuo Jing and rushed to the Yue residence with Yue Qingtian and others.
The gate of the Yue residence was crowded with people, displaying the grandeur of a bride's departure.
After symbolically announcing their identities, Liang Xiao and his party immediately stormed into the Yue residence to find people.
A Yun Tian Guard rushed out from inside and pleaded, "Marquis of Anning, our master is temporarily unavailable. Please do not make things difficult for us..."
"Where is he? And where are my two sons?" Liang Xiao asked.
"The two young masters are perfectly safe. After all, they are also my master's grandsons..." The Yun Tian Guard looked awkward.
Liang Xiao recognized this Yun Tian Guard as one of the "Di" character guards who had helped him with Zuo Jing before. His expression softened slightly. He looked around and said, "Please relay this message to him. Return my children to me, and he will still be my father-in-law. Otherwise, do not blame me for turning ruthless."
The Yun Tian Guard repeatedly nodded in assent.
Liang Xiao guessed that he wouldn't be able to find Zuo Wuji, who was intentionally hiding. He didn't press the Yun Tian Guard further and headed back.
These Yun Tian Guards were all elites. If he had the chance, he would want to recruit them for his own use; he couldn't turn against them immediately.
While the Hidden Wolf Guard were elites meticulously trained by Sima Jing to cooperate with him, they relied on quantity. The Yun Tian Guard, however, were the true top elites.
Even the female Yun Tian Guards possessed strength and martial arts far surpassing ordinary men.
On this day, five hundred Northern King's Guards marched out of the barracks and headed towards the Yue residence.
In the deep courtyard of the Yue residence, Yue Hongxiu, accompanied by a few trusted female soldiers, searched everywhere.
"Could the children have been moved outside by him?" Yue Hongxiu wondered, but she refused to give up.
After returning, Liang Xiao explained the situation to Zuo Jing and comforted her, "The children will return, and your father will surely submit!"
Zuo Jing hugged Liang Xiao obediently, her heart filled with joy, feeling as if everything were a dream.
She was truly bestowed upon Liang Xiao by the Emperor of Da Liang!
Her ruthless father had actually let go and obediently sent her to Liang Xiao.
The long-held longing transformed into a night of passion and attachment...
Late at night, the most powerful aristocratic families and clans of Da Liang gathered at the Yan residence. They looked at the financial reports on the table with anger.
"Our families' bookstores have been repeatedly hit by the incompetent ruler, resulting in losses of five million taels so far! If we include the support for the Ouyang family, the losses exceed twelve million taels!" Yan Liu trembled.
Everyone's hearts were bleeding.
The aristocratic families and clans of Da Liang were indeed immensely wealthy, but compared to the aristocratic families and clans of Da Qian like the Dugu family and the Ouyang family, they were still of a different caliber.
Twelve million taels of silver had already severely weakened several families.
The official bookstores established by Mu Cheng sold books at low prices, the most expensive being no more than two hundred wen.
Liang Xiao's books, the most expensive, were no more than one hundred and fifty wen.
Mu Cheng's pricing was precisely set to match the lowest shipping cost of Liang Xiao's books to Da Liang, allowing him to earn about fifty wen per book.
The result of low profit and high sales was that after a year of operation, Mu Cheng's bookstores had made a profit of at least three million taels of silver!
The revenue from Da Liang's newspapers should also have exceeded two hundred thousand taels!
The bookstores and newspapers were all funded by Mu Cheng himself. This money naturally went into Mu Cheng's vault and was not handed over to the Ministry of Revenue.
Consequently, the Ministry of Revenue, using various pretexts, tried to force Mu Cheng to contribute money, but Mu Cheng argued his case forcefully and rejected them directly.
Moreover, with Mu Cheng's rising status among the populace, they dared not push him too hard, only praying that Mu Cheng would abdicate soon.
As a result, Mu Cheng pulled off this stunt of sending a prince as a hostage to Da Qian, putting these aristocratic families and clans in a dilemma!
"This incompetent ruler has calculated so meticulously! Once he leaves, we will reclaim all the principal and interest from the Qin Feng family!!" Yan Liu gritted his teeth and spat out these words unexpectedly.
Dong Chen reminded them, "What I fear most now is that the incompetent ruler will once again let Qin Feng control the court! For now, we should first win over Yue Liang. This person controls the Zhenbei Army, and he is also a force to be reckoned with. We absolutely cannot let him get too close to Qin Feng..."
Deep in the night, the Yue residence also received an uninvited guest.
After sobering up, Zuo Wuji, accompanied by guards disguised as Yun Tian Guards, met the visitor.
"Prime Minister Zuo's late-night visit is truly an unexpected honor for this Marquis!"