Chapter 282.1: Who’s the Groom?

Chapter 282.1: Who’s the Groom?Original and most updated translations are on volare. If this is being found anywhere else, it has been stolen. Don't support theft. :)

“Okay, okay, I got it,” said Tang Doudou in a low voice. She patted Lil’ Gray’s furry head, then headed upstairs.

Lan Jia saw her walk up and said with a polite smile, “Lady Doudou, everything’s ready, this way please!”

Tang Doudou glanced into the room behind him and saw that two rows of black-robed maids were standing in there with all kinds of exquisite wedding objects placed in front of them. She felt indescribably nervous in her heart when she saw how well-prepared Lan Jia was. What if she couldn’t rescue Baili Yu and ended up actually getting married to Lan Jia? What should she do then?

“I’ll have someone send Lady over after you’ve finished changing. This one will be there soon after,” said Lan Jia as he gestured 'please go ahead.'

Tang Doudou retrieved her trail of thoughts and glanced at the maids once more before stepping inside.

The arrow was already on the bow, so it must be fired no matter what.

By the time they finished arranging everything, two hours had already passed.

Some of the maids left the room. After a short while, the sounds of loud celebratory music started coming from outside. Tang Doudou poked her head out to have a look but the maid by her side quickly pulled her back.

“Lady, you mustn’t!”

“A bride mustn’t carelessly show her face in public. Qiu Yue, come and help Lady put on her veil. When the auspicious hour is here, we'll walk Lady out.”

“Understood!”

Tang Doudou rubbed her nose in embarrassment and sat back down to let the maids put the red veil over her head. Then she waited quietly for the auspicious hour to arrive.

Everything was being done so formally that she felt awkward and uncomfortable. She just wanted to find Baili Yu and clear things up, so was it really necessary to be so serious about the rites?

What if she ran into Baili Yu and he thought that she was getting married for real… Sigh, how was she supposed to explain things then?

When she had been listening to Lan Jia's proposition earlier, she didn’t think too much into it. But, now that she had calmed down and thought about it carefully, she felt that all of this was a little strange.

Lan Jia wouldn't be lying to her, would he?

When she thought to this point, she abruptly stood up to ask the maid where Lan Jia was when she heard that maid say, “The auspicious hour has arrived, walk the bride out.”

Tang Doudou didn't have a chance to speak before her arms were seized by two maids and she was escorted towards the door.

When they got outside, the maids helped her into the bridal palanquin and then closed the door. After that, an attractive middle-age woman’s voice could be heard, announcing, “Lift the palanquin and set off!”

The palanquin was lifted up steadily and began to slowly move forward.

Inside the palanquin, Tang Doudou lifted her veil and sneakily lifted the curtains of the window to peek outside. Both sides of the palanquin were filled with rows of black-robed people that were pointing towards the palanquin as they discussed this event.

Everyone looked incredulous and curious. Tang Doudou surmised that the people of the Seven Great Saint Tribes probably rarely held marriage ceremonies at Cerulean Mountain. Not to mention, the large conference that was held every five years was about to start. Holding a wedding now seemed to be purposefully trying to steal the spotlight.

Could it be that Lan Jia really was lying to her?

However, she couldn’t think of any reasons for him to do that. In the end, she still didn’t know Lan Jia well enough yet. Otherwise, she would’ve been able to figure out what his actual purpose was.

It was certainly impossible for her to leave now though. Although Lan Jia didn’t know martial arts, he was still a Saint Envoy, so he must have a lot of subordinates. If she acted rashly and ended up angering him, it would just make things more troublesome.

The thing that puzzled her most was, weren’t Lan Jia and Baili Yu good friends?

However, for now, her only choice was to focus on taking cautious steps forward and plan further once they had infiltrated the Saint Palace. It didn’t matter if Baili Yu had gotten married already or not, what mattered was that he was definitely at the Saint Palace.

From how things looked, it seemed that he had already found his younger sister, Baili Yiling.

However, Madam Qin’s matter was still a mystery. Back then, she brought another young boy with her. Baili Yiling had already been found, but what about that other boy?

And what was his identity?

It was probably impossible to find answers to these questions, even on the Sacred Tree, so the only way for her to get to the bottom of this matter was to go to the Saint Palace.

As she was thinking, the palanquin was covered with a layer of black cloth that blocked her field of vision.

Soon following that, she heard the matron of honor say, “Bride, please sit tight, the road ahead might be a little bumpy.”

Tang Doudou muttered to herself. Bumpy or not, whatever. But why would they cover the palanquin with a layer of black cloth, what was the meaning of this?

It was definitely that they just didn’t want her to know the way to the Saint Palace.

Tang Doudou recollected her train of thoughts. In any case, she had already made up her mind. As for the rest, they could do as they please.

After they departed from the Sacred Tree, they walked for about another hour before the matron of honor called for the palanquin to stop.

It was still bustling with excitement outside and there was still festive music playing, but it sounded very loud and distant. It could be concluded from those facts that they had arrived at a very spacious area.

As expected, not long after the palanquin stopped, the matron of honor called loudly, “Groom, please come forth and kick at the palanquin’s door.”

Following that, there was the sound of three light knocks.

When Tang Doudou returned to her senses, she hastily lowered the veil again. As soon as her line of sight was once again blocked by the veil, she heard the palanquin’s door glide open.

Then, a hand appeared in front of her.

Those slender jade-like fingers looked quite familiar, was it Lan Jia's hand? Yet, it didn’t seem quite like it.

There was no time for her to think too much into things, so she just placed her hand on top of the offered palm.

That person then led her out of the palanquin.

Her eyes were covered by the veil, so when she lowered her gaze, she could only see her own feet and the red clothes of the people standing around her.

There were a lot of people around. When Tang Doudou looked up from the ground, she saw a mass of black. She couldn’t help but complain silently. These people, really! To wear black robes when attending someone’s wedding, and on top of that, the host isn't even stopping this unlucky practice! The people from the Seven Great Saint Tribes were seriously inconsiderate.

When her thoughts reached this point, she became nervous again even though she knew that this was just a fake wedding and that she was not actually marrying Lan Jia. However, this was still the first time that she had gone through these rites, so it would be a lie if she said that she wasn't nervous at all.

Moreover, when she recalled where she was, she felt like a lamb in a tiger’s den. After all, this was the territory of the Seven Great Saint Tribes.

Tang Doudou’s thought wandered here and there, so she didn’t really notice what the people around were saying as she followed the lead of the person holding her hand and completed the complicated wedding rituals. When they were done, she was sent to the bridal chamber. The maids left after they finished arranging everything, but the matron of honor stayed behind to say a few words to her. She told her to wait for the groom here and for her to, no matter what, not lift the veil before the groom did and so on...

Tang Doudou just casually agreed to what she said. This wasn’t a real marriage anyway, so what was the point of following the rules so strictly?

She lifted the veil as soon as the matron of honor left.

__________

Credits: Translated by Yuna, TLCed and Edited by Chiyomira

[Chiyomira's Corner]

Enjoy~

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