Chapter 448 - 248: You Troublesome Thing
Lu Yuan mounted his large foreign horse, a big red flower pinned to his chest, and set off.
As soon as they started, the professional wedding procession he’d hired began to play their suonas, but Lu Yuan immediately stopped them.
Lu Yuan looked back and said, "Don’t play yet. We’re still a long way from the Imperial Capital. Save your strength."
He was worried about disturbing the public so early in the morning.
Lu Yuan and his retinue had a smooth journey and arrived at the Imperial City Gate.
By now, the sky was beginning to brighten.
Along the way, Lu Yuan could sense that many of the passersby were highly skilled individuals, likely the Court’s Eagle Claw Jinyi Guard.
The Imperial City Gate opened much earlier than usual, and the guards at the entrance didn’t stop Lu Yuan’s wedding procession.
Before entering the gate, Lu Yuan decided it was time for music and said, "Strike up the music!"
The procession followed Lu Yuan’s large foreign horse, playing their instruments as they entered the Imperial City Gate.
A guard at the Imperial City Gate watched the wedding procession enter and whispered to his colleague, "Is the competition this fierce nowadays? Even Travelers and Celestial Masters are taking jobs in wedding processions?"
The guard was referring to Lu Yuan’s trusted subordinates mixed in with the procession.
The other guard sighed and said, "Ah, the Empire was just founded, and the economy is in a slump. We shouldn’t complain about standing guard here all day. At least we have a stable job. We’re also Travelers and Celestial Masters, but we’re much better off than them."
"You can say that again!"
The guards at the Imperial City Gate felt a great deal of sympathy for the Travelers and Celestial Masters in the wedding procession.
In reality, Lu Yuan’s trusted subordinates earned more than ten times the annual salary of an Imperial City guard. Even so, in the eyes of the common people, if you didn’t have a government job, you weren’t respectable.
This mindset of valuing government jobs existed in the past, exists now, and will continue to exist in the future.
The reason Lu Yuan’s wedding procession was allowed to pass without inspection wasn’t because the Court trusted him.
Quite the opposite. The number of guards in the Imperial Capital today was three times the usual number.
An Imperial Guard was stationed every two meters, and the top of the city walls was packed with more Imperial Guards in armor, carrying swords and holding spears.
Patrols of Jinyi Guard, in teams of six, moved back and forth throughout the Imperial Capital.
The elites of the Southern Town Patrol Department and the Northern Town Patrol Department were all gathered within the Imperial Capital.
Lu Yuan recognized a few people from the Jinyi Guard leadership; Jiang Huai, the Central Guard Thousand Households of the Southern Town Patrol Department, and Wang Xiaojie, the East Guard Thousand Households of the Northern Town Patrol Department, were both in the Imperial Capital leading patrol teams.
This showed that no one would dare cause a stir in the Imperial Capital, so there was no need to inspect the twenty or thirty people Lu Yuan had with him.
Today, all the civil and martial officials in the Imperial Capital, the Crown Princes of the various Vassal States, and the old masters from the Celestial Dynasty Palace and Le Shen Temple would all be attending Princess Yue Ning’s wedding.
Unnecessary formalities may have been cut, but there was no cutting back on the number of guests.
Before Lu Yuan arrived, more than half of the civil and martial officials had already shown up one after another.
Shortly after Lu Yuan’s group entered the Imperial Capital, a group of ceremonial eunuchs from the Rituals Department came to greet them.
The head of the Rituals Department, the Chief Eunuch, was the Emperor’s personal old eunuch, and he was quite close with Lu Yuan.
This old eunuch was incredibly perceptive; knowing the Emperor appreciated Lu Yuan, he treated Lu Yuan extremely well.
Lu Yuan didn’t mind the Emperor’s personal eunuch; after all, he might need his help with something in the future.
The leader of the approaching group of ceremonial eunuchs was not the Chief Eunuch of the Rituals Department. ’The old eunuch must be with the Emperor,’ Lu Yuan figured.
The lead ceremonial eunuch took the reins of Lu Yuan’s horse and said respectfully, "Prince Consort, making a racket with gongs and drums is not done in the Imperial Capital."
Yesterday, Lu Yuan had gone to Fengtian Hall for a rehearsal and had memorized all the procedures, but he had overlooked this detail about the wedding procession.
Lu Yuan learned from the eunuch that for a royal marriage, the various ceremonies from yesterday’s rehearsal were what truly mattered.
This procession with its suonas, gongs, and drums was the kind of ostentatious display used by wealthy common families; it was considered a bit unseemly before the Royal Family.
’So a hired wedding procession is considered classless?’
’I mean, only wealthy commoner families hire wedding processions in the first place.’
’A poor family that could scrape together enough money for a bicycle could just take the bride home on that.’
Lu Yuan waved his hand for the procession to stop playing and had them fall in behind him.
When Lu Yuan could see Fengtian Hall, the lead eunuch spoke again, "Prince Consort, please dismount. It would be a great disrespect to ride any closer."
’The groom can’t even ride a horse to fetch the bride? Royal customs are really different from those of the common folk.’
Lu Yuan swung himself off the horse. The eunuch reached out to remove the large red flower from his chest.
Lu Yuan took a step back and said, "What is the meaning of this?"
"Prince Consort, you may not be aware, but when you accompany Princess Yue Ning to pay respects to the ancestors later, this floral knot on your chest cannot be worn."
Hearing this, Lu Yuan inwardly exclaimed, ’Good grief! If there’s anything else I’m doing that’s inappropriate, can’t you just tell me all at once?!’
’Having me lead the procession on horseback... wasn’t that just setting me up to run around in circles and make a fool of myself?’
Lu Yuan removed the large red flower from his chest and followed the eunuchs alone to a spot not far from the entrance of Fengtian Hall.
His wedding procession was led away by other eunuchs.
Gu Ziye was waiting for Lu Yuan in front of Fengtian Hall.
On both sides before Fengtian Hall, there was a dense crowd of people in red, blue, and navy robes...
As far as the eye could see, it was a sea of heads, yet the scene was surprisingly quiet.
Everyone was like a timid, obedient quail with its head tucked in, not making the slightest noise.
Lu Yuan, on the other hand, felt like a monkey dressed in clothes, with all the civil and martial officials standing on either side, watching a monkey that could walk upright.
Even Lu Yuan found such a grand spectacle a little unsettling.