Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 438 The Big Wedding
After Sheng Hong and his son told what they knew, everyone in the Sheng family was worried even though the two returned safely.

"Okay, may our ancestors bless you to return safely. Go back quickly, take a bath, burn incense to our ancestors, and have a good rest." said Old Lady Sheng.

"Mother is right. I'll take my leave first." Sheng Hong said with lingering fear.

He had taken the initiative to use his connections to go to the Ministry of Works in order to avoid the dispute over the succession.

He tried his best to avoid it. Seeing that the crown prince had been decided, Sheng Hong was also planning to use his connections to get out of the Ministry of Works the following year. Unexpectedly, Prince Yan actually rebelled.

I was in the palace at that time and thought that I was in great danger, but I didn't expect that I could come back safe and sound.

After Sheng Hong and the others left, Old Madam Sheng looked at the absent-minded Ming Lan and said, "Ming girl, are you hiding something from me?"

"Ok?"

Minglan came back to her senses and asked, "Grandma, what did you say?"

"I was wondering if you have something to tell me?" asked Old Lady Sheng.

"No...no." Minglan shook her head quickly.

"You were worried before, and I thought you were worried about your father and brother. But after your father and Changbai came back, you were happy at the beginning, but then you still looked worried. Changbai said that Li's son took a leave and did not go to the palace today. What are you worried about?" said Old Lady Sheng.

"Grandma, please don't ask anymore." Minglan shook her head.

Upon hearing this, Old Madam Sheng sent the servants away and said, "You don't even trust Grandmother? Now you don't want to tell me what's on your mind?"

"Grandma, I didn't mean to hide it from you, but I don't know how to say it." Minglan said.

"If you don't know how to say it, just speak slowly." said Mrs. Sheng.

Minglan hesitated for a moment and told Li An about how he stopped her from entering the palace to deliver food.

Upon hearing this, Madam Sheng's face changed and she pondered, "So, Brother Li already knew about the situation in the palace? The palace gates should not have been closed at that time, otherwise you would not have been able to enter the palace, and he would not have needed to stop you."

"My granddaughter thought so too, and I saw Brother Ziqian heading towards the palace. I was worried about him..." When Minglan said this, tears rolled down her cheeks and she couldn't continue.

Old Madam Sheng pondered and said, "Since he knew about this and still went to the palace, he must have some plan. Nothing will happen. You should keep this matter to yourself and no one can mention it. Do you understand?"

Minglan nodded and said, "But my granddaughter is still worried."

"Now that the rebellion has been quelled, I will send someone to the Li family to inquire tomorrow morning and we will know the result." said Mrs. Sheng.

"Thank you, grandma." Minglan said gratefully.

……

Li An didn't know that someone was still worried about him. Gu Tingye had to stay in the palace to protect Zhao Zongquan, so he left the palace with Zhuzi and was sent back home by the imperial guards.

At this time, the entire Bianjing was taken over by the imperial guards of the western suburbs camp. Although King Yan had been executed, there were still many remnants that had not been cleaned up.

In addition, after Prince Yan took control of the imperial palace, many officials defected to him in order to save their lives.

Even if these people were forced, they are still rebellious and will be held accountable.

Li An returned home under the escort of the imperial guards. Li Ping and Zhang Qing had not slept yet. Upon learning that Li An had returned, they hurried out to greet him.

"Aniu, you're finally back. There's been shouting and fighting outside for several hours, and there's been no news from you. I was scared to death." Li Ping said excitedly when he saw his brother.

"I'm sorry to have made my elder brother and sister-in-law worried."

Li An felt a little guilty when he heard this. There were many things he couldn't tell her, which made his elder brother and sister-in-law worry.

"I'm glad you came back safely. By the way, what happened outside?" Li Ping asked.

The Li family was not on the main road, so they could only hear the shouting and killing sounds from afar, and until now they still didn't know about Prince Yan's rebellion.

Li An gave a brief account of what happened, but did not mention his own involvement.

Even so, Li Ping was shocked after hearing this. Even though Li An was standing in front of him intact, he still pulled Li An aside to look him over.

Before leaving the palace, Li An simply washed the blood off his face. Li Ping was so excited and it was dark that he didn't look carefully.

Now I see that there is a lot of blood on Li Ang's body.

"Aniu, are you hurt?" Li Ping exclaimed.

"Come in quickly, I'll ask someone to call a doctor!" Zhang Qing was also surprised when he heard this.

"Brother and sister-in-law, I'm fine. The blood on my body belongs to other people." Li An said.

Despite what Li An said, Li Ping was still worried. He pulled him into the house and only felt relieved after a thorough inspection.

"What's going on? Why is there so much blood on your body?" Li Ping asked.

"Brother, Zhuzi and I haven't eaten for several hours. Let's eat something first." Li An said.

He had lunch with Shitou at a restaurant at noon and hadn't eaten since then. He was already starving.

"Please wait a moment, uncle. I will make it for you right away." Upon hearing this, Zhang Qing hurriedly took the maid to the kitchen.

Li Ping then remembered that Zhuzi was also there. Zhuzi was covered in more blood than Li An, so he quickly said, "Go wash up first, and we'll talk slowly after dinner."

"Well, brother, let's go first." Li An said.

He also felt sticky and uncomfortable.

……

When the two of them took a shower, changed clothes and returned to the main hall, Zhang Qing had already led people to prepare a large table of dishes.

Li An and Shi Zhu didn't hesitate and started to eat voraciously.

"Eat slowly, don't choke." Li Ping said quickly.

Li An and Shi Zhu nodded, without slowing down at all.

There was no way, they were too hungry. Fighting was already very exhausting, not to mention they had been hungry for so long.

After the meal, Li An briefly recounted what had happened. Of course, he did not say that he had planned it, only that he had encountered it by chance.

He also had a share of the credit for delivering the blood edict and had participated in suppressing the rebellion. He would surely be rewarded in the future and it could not be concealed.

Although Li An downplayed it and he was now sitting in front of him intact, Li Ping could still feel the danger.

……

The next morning, when Li An was still sleeping soundly, all the surviving officials and nobles in Bianliang came to the palace.

The reason why the emperor appointed a crown prince was because he felt that his health was failing.

This is also the reason why he knew clearly that Prince Yong had taken action against Rong Feiyan, but he had no intention of replacing him.

If Prince Yan had not rebelled, the emperor might have been able to hold out for another year or two.

Now that Prince Yan has done this, the emperor is almost exhausted. The imperial doctors say that he can only hold on for a month or two at most.

The emperor forced himself to cheer up, summoned all civil and military officials, and had them read out the imperial edict in public, appointing Zhao Zongquan as the crown prince and letting him govern the country.

After arranging these things, the emperor left Zhao Zongquan to handle government affairs and returned to his palace to recuperate.

However, Zhao Zongquan asked Zhao Ceying and Shen Congxing to be responsible for arresting the Yan Wang rebels, and handed over all matters in the court to Han Da Xianggong to handle, while he went to serve the emperor at his bedside.

After receiving the order, Zhao Ceying and Shen Congxing took their men to arrest people everywhere.

The arrests lasted for a day, and the troops from the western suburbs camp in Bianjing City withdrew in the evening. The people from the City Defense Camp and the Five Cities Army went door to door to inform the people that the control of Bianjing City had been lifted and they could go out.

Even so, most people did not dare to go out, except for some people who had to go out due to lack of food.

Old Madam Sheng wanted to send someone to the Li family early in the morning, but the city was still under lockdown. When she learned that the ban had been lifted, she quickly arranged for someone to go to the Li family to inquire.

Knowing that Li An was fine, he was relieved. A few days after the ban was lifted, Bianjing resumed its former prosperity.

Li An also began to continue working in the palace.

As for the rewards for suppressing the rebellion, they would have to wait until Zhao Zongquan ascended the throne.

When Prince Yan rebelled, he killed many ministers. Many of them died in the chaos during the suppression of the rebellion. Some of them surrendered to Prince Yan in order to save their lives.

This resulted in many official positions being vacant in the court, but as the emperor was seriously ill, Zhao Zongquan was busy taking care of him by his bedside, so the vacant positions had to remain vacant.

The Song Dynasty ruled the country with filial piety, and Zhao Zongquan's actions were also praised by the people of Bianliang.

……

That day, when Li An returned home from court, he found out that his parents had returned.

When my parents returned home this time, they not only brought my grandfather and uncle's family, but also Liu's family and my eldest sister-in-law Zhang Qing's family.

There were more than twenty people from the three families, and it was quite lively.

"Grandpa, grandma, uncle, and uncle..." Li An bowed to them one by one.

"Come here, Aniu, come and sit here with grandma." Grandma waved at Li An.

"grandmother."

Li An came up to his grandmother and held her hand.

I haven't seen my grandparents for nearly two years. They look a lot older, but they are in good spirits.

"Why didn't sister Daya come?" Li An looked around and asked puzzledly.

He saw his cousin Li Fu and his wife Zhu had come, but he did not see Daya.

"Daya got married last year and got pregnant not long ago, so she didn't come." said the aunt with a smile.

"Aunt, why didn't you inform us when Daya got married?"

Li An was a little surprised when he heard this at first, but when he thought about it carefully, he realized that he was almost nineteen years old now, and Daya was two years younger than him, so it was normal for her to get married.

It’s just that his uncle and the others didn’t mention it when he went back to Yangzhou last time, and they haven’t received any news since then.

"You had just settled down, so it wasn't good to let you run back and forth. Besides, you were busy with the imperial examination at that time, and your grandfather didn't want to disturb you." said the aunt.

According to my aunt, Daya married a family in a nearby town. The family had land and a shop, so they were considered well-off. She lived a good life after her marriage.

"Aniu, we asked someone to calculate the date in our hometown. The 16th of this month is a good day. We will go to the Sheng family and give the betrothal gifts then." Liu said with a smile.

His and Minglan's wedding date was November 8th, and now it's October 14th, which is less than a month away.

Generally, the betrothal gift is given a few months before the wedding.

It was just because the Sheng family married off their daughters one after another that the date for Li An and Minglan’s wedding was set relatively late, leaving not enough time.

After the three books and six ceremonies were completed, there were only two or three months left until the wedding date, and Liu and her family had to go back to pick up their relatives, which caused the delay.

But the Sheng family didn't care about it. After all, she was not a legitimate daughter, so they were less particular.

"Mom, I'm afraid this marriage can't be completed on time. You must have heard about Prince Yan's rebellion on the way back to Bian Jing. The emperor is not in good health now..." Li An didn't continue speaking here.

Although they were all common people, there were people in their families who were educated and they knew the concept of national mourning.

"You have to come as usual. If something happens... then we will have to postpone it." Liu said.

"Yeah." Li An nodded.

We can't go to the Sheng family and say that the emperor is dying, so why not postpone the marriage until after the emperor dies and the national mourning is over?
Wouldn't that mean dying in the Curse Official's house?

Therefore, the wedding date can only be prepared as usual, and in case the official dies, it can be postponed.

Li An felt that the government would not be able to hold on for much longer.

"Aniu, how is He'er doing in the Wucheng Bingmasi?" asked my uncle.

On the way he heard that Prince Yan had rebelled and many people had died, and he was scared to death.

He didn't know what the Wucheng Bingmasi did, he only knew that his son was a soldier.

Fortunately, when I arrived in Bian Jing, I learned from my eldest nephew that my son was fine.

"Uncle, Liu He is fine. He is now a captain and is in charge of a hundred people." Li An said with a smile.

He originally wanted to find an excuse in advance to let Liu He take leave on the Queen's birthday, but when he found out that Liu He happened to be on leave that day, he felt relieved.

Many people from the Wucheng Bingmasi died when the rebellion was suppressed, and later another group was captured after investigation.

There were many vacancies and Liu He was a grassroots military officer, so he did not need to be appointed by the government. He was lucky and was promoted to captain.

Of course, this also has something to do with the fact that Qi Heng helped arrange for him to enter.

Although Princess Jiacheng died, the Qi family was not implicated. He was just a captain, so naturally someone would give the Qi family face.

Although Li An had said when Qi Heng helped with the arrangements that Liu He did not need to be promoted deliberately, he was arranged by the Qi family after all, and he would definitely not be treated as an ordinary person.

My uncle was very happy to hear this. Although he didn't know how high a rank a captain was, he was definitely an important official if he was in charge of a hundred people.

For the Liu family, this is also a happy event that brings honor to the family.

After dinner in the evening, my uncle's family and my sister-in-law's family were sent to live in the small house they had lived in before.

But my grandparents and my uncle's family stayed.

Li An suggested that his grandparents stay in Bian Jing after his marriage was completed, but his grandparents refused.

As the old saying goes, fallen leaves return to their roots. They are old and don't want to leave their hometown.

Besides, when the eldest son is around, there is no reason to live with the second son.

Even if the second son's family was better off, they couldn't do this.

Li An tried to persuade her for a while but failed, so he had to give up and planned to persuade her slowly later.

If the emperor passes away, his wedding will not be possible.

There is plenty of time.

What Li An did not expect was that until the two families of Li Sheng proposed marriage, there was no news of the emperor's death.

So we can only continue to prepare for the wedding.

Li An doesn’t have many friends in Bian Jing, only Gu Tingye and Qi Heng.

Although Sheng Changbai is, he belongs to his mother's family.

Li An sent invitations to Gu Tingye and Qi Heng, as well as several officials he knew in the Hanlin Academy.

Adding in the relatives his parents brought from Yangzhou, his wedding could be described as very shabby.

In a blink of an eye, the wedding day arrived. There was no news of the emperor's death, which made Li An feel relieved.

Early that morning, Li An changed into a bright red wedding gown and prepared to go to the Sheng family to pick up the bride.

Just then, Desheng hurried over.

"Young Master, the young master of the Gu family has come with several people and asks you to go over there quickly." Desheng said.

(End of this chapter)