The Endless Promise

47. Reds And Golds

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Tong helped Weiyan into the complex red and gold hanfu, and then placed a red veil over her head, which covered her face. Then she led her outside to where the wedding carriage waited.

But they met a crowd at the gates.

"Such a clear difference!" Many of them were saying.

"I guess this is a reminder that one child is adopted!"

It wasn't hard to see what they meant.

There were two bridal sedans, both red and gold, but one was gilded and elaborate, while the other was small and plain.

"Xu Linhua! What's the meaning of this?!" Tong had turned to challenge the second bride in gold and red.

Weiyan's bridal sedan had been the same as Linhua's the previous evening, but somehow it had changed to a small and plain sedan.

Linhua just turned to Weiyan speaking from behind her own red veil, which was ornately decorated in gold.

"Father and Mother are already waiting at the Zhang residence, so father can't help you now. Do you want to raise an issue here? Do you think you deserve to have the same things as me?" Weiyan said nothing and Linhua continued.

"Hmph. I also took all the gifts father bought for you. As a beggar, you should go without anything to escort your sedan!"

"Xu Linhua! Don't go too far!" Tong took a step towards Linhua, but Weiyan put a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder.

"A-Tong. Let's go." She turned and allowed one of the bearers to help her into the sedan, and Tong hesitantly took her place beside the sedan.

Linhua smirked as she settled in her own sedan. 'Hmph! Enjoy the shameful ride to the Zhang Residence!'

"Lift!" The leader of the bridal procession called out, and the bearers lifted both bridal sedans and began the trek to the Zhang residence.

However, they had not gone more than a few steps, when they saw their way blocked by a person.

He turned and everyone saw it was a young man, plainly dressed in light blue robes.

It was Meng Qiu, Luoyin's head housekeeper.

"Flowers envy flowers!" Meng Qiu loudly recited. "But all flowers envy this beauty! Beauty that 'drowns the fish, and falls the goose from the sky'!"

By now a crowd had gathered to witness the spectacle, and Linhua stuck her head out of her carriage.

"What's going on? She asked her maid. "Did Cheng gē ge plan this?"

"2nd Miss, who else can this be for?" The maid said proudly.

But Meng Qiu heard them and smirked.

"All hail Xu Weiyan! Our beautiful White Swallow! Loved by her husband, who has personally come to escort her to the wedding venue!" The young man clapped his hands, and music began playing.

Weiyan stuck her head out in surprise.

At a turning up ahead, a band of musicians and a troupe of beautifully dressed dancing ladies entered the street. They were followed by a long line of servants carrying more than two hundred gifts!

Behind them, Luoyin appeared, dressed in red and gold finery, with a silk red mask covering his lower face. He sat on a horse, and he was followed by an empty red and gold sedan, far more exquisite than Linhua's own!

'How is this possible?!' Linhua raged. 'How can Luoyin afford to do all this?!'

Meanwhile, Weiyan stared mutely as Xu Lin and Xu Wen came forward with the new sedan.