Imperial Husband Chapter 103

Chapter 103

Li Jin patted Dashu's shoulder, everything was conveyed without words.

Dongzi looked at Li Jin nervously and said, "Brother Jin, we’ll be getting married the day after tomorrow. You and Brother Yuan will come, right?"

To be honest, ever since they entered the yamen to look for someone and heard the yamen staff call Li Jin "Your Highness," Dongzi and Dashu’s hearts had been in their throats. They were a little afraid Li Jin would pretend not to know them.

Fortunately, it was all their overthinking. Li Jin and the others showed no signs of looking down on them.

"We will."

Li Jin nodded solemnly.

"I’ll certainly come." Ying Yuan also stated his position.

"Great! I knew Brother Jin and the others would come!" Dongzi was overjoyed, leaping to his feet. "Dashu, did you hear that? Brother Jin is coming, he's coming! I'm so happy."

"Dongzi, don’t jump so high, be careful you don’t fall—"

"Wah—!"

"Dongzi!"

Seeing Dongzi about to fall, Dashu hurried to catch him.

However, reality could be harsh. Dashu couldn't reach Dongzi in time and could only serve as a cushion beneath him, preventing Dongzi from actually hitting the ground.

"Dashu, are you okay?"

Frightened, Dongzi quickly scrambled up to check on Dashu.

"I'm fine." Dashu also got up, simultaneously looking Dongzi over with concern. "Dongzi, are you hurt anywhere? If you are, you mustn’t hide it from me. You have to tell me."

"But you were the one I fell on!"

Hearing Dashu say this, Dongzi was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

What in the world?

Wasn’t this supposed to be my line to ask? How did Dashu end up saying it first?

"My skin is thick and rough; a bump like this is nothing." Dashu shook his head. "But you’re different, Dongzi. You’re my fulang-to-be. If you got hurt, my heart would surely ache to death."

"Dashu, Brother Jin and the others are here. Stop talking."

Although Dongzi had long known Dashu was blunt, with so many people present now, he couldn’t help feeling embarrassed.

Dashu chuckled foolishly. "Brother Jin and the others won’t mind."

"……"

Hearing this, Li Jin and Ying Yuan couldn't help but twitch the corners of their mouths.

In the end, it was Dongzi who couldn’t take it anymore. Blushing, he dragged Dashu away.

Of course, before leaving, Dongzi didn’t forget to remind Li Jin and the others once more to attend.

Watching Dongzi and Dashu walk away side by side, Ying Yuan suddenly remarked, "A-Jin, Dongzi and Dashu are really... close."

The term "close" was the best adjective Ying Yuan could come up with after racking his brains.

"It’s 'affectionate.'" Li Jin amusedly tapped Ying Yuan’s nose. "Remember that for next time. Otherwise, if Dongzi and the others heard, they’d surely laugh at you."

"Oh… I’ll remember."

"You don’t need to deliberately memorize it."

"Mmm."

"A-Yuan, are you thinking right now about going back later to look up what 'affectionate' specifically means in a book?"

Having his thoughts seen through, Ying Yuan stiffened.

"How did you know?"

"Because your mind is written all over your face."

"……"

Ying Yuan was dumbfounded.

Was it that obvious?

In reality, Ying Yuan hid it quite well. However, he was facing Li Jin, who knew him well, so he couldn’t keep it concealed.

Li Jin curved his lips. "A-Yuan, actually, I don’t really know what 'affectionate' means either. I only happened to hear His Majesty the Empress mention it. How about we go look it up together?"

Li Jin said this to tease Ying Yuan. After all, Li Jin had memories from the modern era, how could he not know the meaning of this word?

Ying Yuan had no guard up against Li Jin. Upon hearing this, he instinctively nodded without thinking. "Ah… okay…"

"……"

Ying Yuan’s straightforward answer actually left Li Jin stunned this time.

"A-Jin, let’s go now."

Having said that, Ying Yuan stepped forward, took Li Jin’s hand, and pulled him toward Lan Mingzhou’s book collection.

Lan Mingzhou was a book lover. Furthermore, having broken with the Lan family, when he came to take up his post in Zhuzhou, he brought all his personal collection of books with him.

"Wait—"

Li Jin’s words had barely left his mouth when Ying Yuan was already tugging him away.

___

Time flies like a white horse passing a crevice, quickly arrived at the day of Dongzi and Dashu’s wedding.

Perhaps because Dongzi had brought Li Jin and the others to Liujia Village, thereby freeing the village from the control of evildoers and restoring long-lost peace, nearly everyone feom Liujia Village came to attend.

In an instant, the place where Dongzi and Dashu were holding their wedding was bustling with noise and excitement.

"Young Master, there are so many people over there. Dongzi and the others must be there. Let’s hurry over." Ping’an pointed ahead, his eyes filled with joy.

"Ping’an, slow down. My back hurts."

Shi Weixu supported his waist with one hand while quickly keeping up.

Shi Weixu was quite unlucky; just before leaving, he had bumped into something and hurt his back.

Ping’an laughed. "Physician Shi, it’s because you sit too often that you get hurt so easily. Next time, you should come out for a run with me. Your body definitely won’t be so prone to injury then."

"……" The corner of Shi Weixu’s mouth twitched. 

I'm a physician.

Unfortunately, this time Shi Weixu wasn’t really in a position to argue, so he couldn’t refute Ping’an’s words.

Li Jin glanced at the two and said helplessly, "Alright, let’s leave it at that. It’s time for us to go in."

"Yes."

The two responded in unison and followed Li Jin into Liujia Village.

"Zhou Yunting, why haven’t you spoken since earlier?" Ping’an, walking side by side with Zhou Yunting, seemed uncomfortable with his silence and asked instinctively.

Zhou Yunting curled his lips. "Because I wanted you to speak to me first."

"Zhou Yunting!"

Ping’an gave Zhou Yunting an exasperated look.

He should have known this guy would be like this.

"Ping’an, look how far behind the Young Master we’ve fallen. Are you sure we should walk this slowly?"

"Uh… Ah… Young Master, wait for me!" Only then did Ping’an realize he had fallen behind and hurried to catch up, adding awkwardly, "You hurry up too."

"Okay."

Zhou Yunting responded with a smile and followed.

Unbeknownst to others, what Zhou Yunting felt earlier was worry—worry about how much danger the unknown war might bring to Zhuzhou and to them in Zhuzhou.

Soon, Li Jin and the others quietly arrived at Dashu’s home to watch Dongzi and Dashu perform the bowing ceremony.

A shuang'er's marriage ceremony was similar to a woman’s.

At this moment, Dongzi was wearing a red wedding dress he had made himself, standing beside Dashu, who was also dressed in red and grinning foolishly, as they bowed to the elders.

"First bow to heaven and earth, second bow to the parents, third… ceremony completed!"

Clap clap clap.

As the matchmaker’s words "ceremony completed" fell, applause erupted unanimously from the crowd.

"Thank you… Thank you…"

Dashu grinned foolishly, repeating his thanks over and over until, in the end, Dongzi had to step in to host the guests.

"Brother Jin, you’re here." It was Dongzi who had sharp eyes. Even though Li Jin and the others had changed into coarse commoners’ clothing to attend, Dongzi still spotted them.

"Congratulations on your wedding."

Seeing he’d been spotted early, Li Jin simply smiled and presented the gift he had prepared.

It was a pair of silver padlock pendants.

Actually, Li Jin could have given something better and more valuable. But after comprehensive consideration, he ultimately decided on a gift that was simple yet meaningful.

After all, human nature is easily tempted. Especially in a village like Liujia Village where many people had long coveted Dongzi family's belongings.

Silver padlock pendants were the most suitable gift.

Sure enough, when the villagers of Liujia Village saw the silver padlock pendants, most were filled with envy for Dongzi's good luck. Though some held jealousy in their hearts, no one appeared tempted to snatch them away.

Ying Yuan and the others also presented their gifts following Li Jin.

As if by tacit understanding, what Ying Yuan took out was also a pair of padlock pendants.

Instantly, Ying Yuan’s ears turned red involuntarily.

Dongzi gave the two an ambiguous look and whispered, "Brother Jin, look at the gift Brother Yuan gave. You two really are in sync."

Unlike others, Dongzi had seen the mark on Ying Yuan’s forehead before, so witnessing this scene now, he was already convinced that Li Jin and Ying Yuan were a couple.

Li Jin and Ying Yuan looked at each other and smiled, simultaneously saying, "I guess so."

Ping’an’s gift was given together with Zhou Yunting’s.

The reason was simple. Ping’an had been so excited upon hearing about Dongzi’s wedding that he forgot to prepare a gift. He had to seek Zhou Yunting’s help, agreeing to a bunch of strange conditions before finally getting Zhou Yunting’s approval to give a joint gift.

Ping’an didn't ask Li Jin, because that really wasn’t an option for him. Besides, Zhou Yunting was Ping’an’s childhood friend. Whenever something came up, Ping’an’s first instinct was always to turn to Zhou Yunting. Over time, Zhou Yunting became the go-to person for getting Ping’an out of trouble.

Though Zhou Yunting always laid down plenty of conditions, he never actually made Ping’an follow through on them. To be honest, Zhou Yunting only set those terms because he enjoyed seeing Ping’an get all worked up.

As for Shi Weixu, he gave medicinal herbs. There was little else he could do—he was a physician, after all. For him, presenting herbs was simply the most fitting choice.

"Brother Jin, Brother Yuan, Ping’an, Brother Yunting, Physician Shi—let’s drink!" Dashu filled the bowls for Li Jin and the other four, then downed the wine in his own in one gulp.

The wine at the wedding feast had been provided by Dashu’s father, Liu Fugui. The wine had originally been set aside by Liu Fugui for the children he shared with Wang Jinhua—each jar a carefully aged vintage. Yet after all that had happened, Liu Fugui, weighed down by guilt toward Dashu, made up his mind and brought out every last jar to share with the villagers.

Of course, this was just Liu Fugui’s first step toward mending his relationship with Dashu. Whether they could ever restore the father-son bond from before Wang Jinhua came into their lives still remained a long road ahead.

"Alright, let’s drink!"

With Dashu leading the toast, Li Jin and the others could hardly refuse and likewise raised their bowls and drank.

"Excellent! I knew Brother Jin and the rest would join in! Let’s have another…"

That night, because it had grown so late, Li Jin and the others stayed in the guest room Dongzi and Dashu had prepared, planning to return to Zhuzhou City the next day.

"A-Jin…"

Having drunk such strong liquor for the first time, Ying Yuan instinctively found his way into Li Jin’s room.