154: Chapter 154 Taking a Concubine

Time flew by, and soon it was the hour of Chen the following day.

Dressed in a groom's attire with a large red flower pinned to his chest, Chen Hu rode Little Black, a steed far superior to any ordinary fine horse, and led the bridal procession to fetch Liu Xiangyue.

He could no longer call her Widow Wang.

After all, now that he was marrying her, calling her Widow Wang would be like cursing himself.

In truth, when most people took a concubine, there was no need for such grand ceremonies; they would simply send a few people to carry her home in a small sedan chair.

But Chen Hu didn't care about that. No matter what, Liu Xiangyue was his first woman, so it was only right to give her some special treatment.

Moreover, the current Liu Xiangyue was a Blood Refining expert.

They paraded through the streets with great fanfare, drawing the attention of many onlookers.

Many whispered among themselves, and quite a few women wore expressions of envy and jealousy.

In their eyes, Chen Hu was the number one expert of Linjiang Prefecture, while Liu Xiangyue was merely a widow. How could she deserve such special treatment from him?

The bridal procession played lively music all along the way.

They soon arrived in front of Liu Xiangyue's house.

The main gate was blocked by the neighboring women Liu Xiangyue had befriended in the past, including Madam Yuan, the wife of Scholar Yu next door.

“General Zhao Zilong, hand out the red envelopes!”

Chen Hu instructed Zhao Zilong, who was acting as his best man.

Zhao Zilong immediately stuffed the prepared red envelopes through the crack in the door.

The women who received the red envelopes were extremely surprised.

Because each red envelope contained a whole tael of silver.

Since Chen Hu was so incredibly generous, the women stopped making things difficult for him and quickly opened the door.

“The groom is here, please come in!”

Chen Hu led his men inside, nodded friendly to the women, and said, “Don't forget to come to my house for the wedding feast!”

“Don't worry, we'll definitely go to share in Chief Chen's joy!” Madam Yuan teased with a smile.

“Alright then, I'm going in to fetch the bride!”

Chen Hu led his people to a side room, where the door was tightly shut.

“General Zhao Zilong, keep stuffing red envelopes!”

After stuffing in more than ten red envelopes, the door finally opened.

“Brother-in-law, you're finally here! My sister has been waiting so anxiously!” Liu Xianglan teased with a chuckle.

“Is that so, my wife?”

Chen Hu's gaze fell upon Liu Xiangyue.

“No, I haven't! Xianglan is just talking nonsense!” Liu Xiangyue said with a happy smile, looking a bit bashful.

“Hop on, my wife!”

Chen Hu came to the bedside and squated down with his back to Liu Xiangyue, who immediately climbed onto his back.

Chen Hu stood up at once and carried her on his back toward the sedan chair in the courtyard amidst the cheers of the women.

After settling Liu Xiangyue into the sedan chair, Chen Hu waved his hand. “Raise the sedan!”

The wedding music started playing.

Chen Hu then led the bride to parade through the streets.

After parading for more than two hours, they finally returned to the Chen residence.

Next was the formal wedding ceremony.

“First bow to Heaven and Earth!”

...

“Second bow to the parents!”

...

“Husband and wife bow to each other!”

“Send them to the bridal chamber!”

After the wedding ceremony concluded, Chen Hu personally escorted Liu Xiangyue to the bridal chamber in the backyard.

After taking a short rest, Chen Hu received word and went to the main gate to welcome the important guests.

Chen Hu's wedding banquet was divided into two types.

One was an open-air feast set up outside the residence, where anyone who offered a word of blessing could join in and eat.

The other was set up in the front and middle courtyards.

The banquet in the front courtyard was for friends and Family, while the one in the middle courtyard was reserved for distinguished guests.

Speaking of friends and Family...

Chen Hu had no relatives in this world, and he didn't even know who his parents were.

He had been abandoned shortly after birth, but he was certain his parents were no ordinary people. After all, the reason he was abandoned was because his talent was a Mortal Body.

Later, he was picked up by an old beggar who raised him until he was eight years old.

After the old beggar passed away one winter, Chen Hu became a street urchin.

Fortunately, he retained the memories of his past life.

Otherwise, it would have been extremely difficult for an eight-year-old child to survive.

He wandered all the way to Linjiang Prefecture.

By the time he turned fourteen, he did some inquiries and learned that the Fierce Tiger Gang had a decent reputation, so he shamelessly insisted on taking Xu Gang as his boss.

Perhaps out of pity, Xu Gang felt compassion back then and made an exception to take him in as a lackey.

As for his biological parents...

Chen Hu did not care at all who they were.

Because he remembered that he had been abandoned.

Since they had abandoned him, why should he bother trying to find out who they were?

Time flew by, and soon it was afternoon.

The guests in the front and middle courtyards had already departed.

Only the open-air feast outside was still going, with many people still lining up to eat.

Meanwhile, Chen Hu, along with Liu Xiangyue—who had already changed out of her bridal makeup—Liu Xianglan, and eight maidservants, was organizing the wedding gifts.

He had received quite a lot of gifts today.

The Five Great Families in the city, as well as various Gangs, families, and wealthy merchants outside the city, had all sent representatives with congratulatory gifts.

Even Prefect Yang Ze and Advisor Zhang Yang had sent people to deliver gifts.

As for Chief Constable Xu Shiyou, who was enslaved by Chen Hu, he had personally come to offer his congratulations with gifts, accompanied by several constables.

Similarly, Luo Ningshuang, the commander of the Zhenwu Division, also sent a modest gift.

And that wasn't just a figure of speech; it was truly a meager gift—only two taels of silver. However, she did not show up in person.

She had entrusted Sun Lingyue, who did attend, to deliver it.

This gave Chen Hu an even deeper understanding of Luo Ningshuang's poverty.

On the other hand, Sun Lingyue's monetary gift was quite hefty, totaling a full thousand taels.

Of course, the high-level members of the Fierce Tiger Gang also presented generous gifts.

Among them, Leader Gao Zhan gave the most, a whopping 8,888 taels.

The Elders gave around two thousand taels each.

The hall masters gave between 500 to 800 taels.

It was worth mentioning that Mu Mingzhu also sent 1,888 taels of silver, along with a pair of high-quality jade and gold bracelets.

Combined, they were worth over three thousand taels.

Thus, from taking this concubine, Chen Hu received over fifty thousand taels in cash alone, and the various physical gifts were worth tens of thousands more.

As for hosting the open-air feast, it only cost a few thousand taels.

Therefore, Chen Hu made quite a profit from this wedding.

“My wife, I will leave these gifts for you to manage from now on!”

“Thank you, husband! Then I won't stand on ceremony!” Liu Xiangyue said, looking like a total money-grubber.

Meanwhile, inside the Heaven-grade room on the second floor of the Tianhua Inn.

Fan Jun had a deeply worried look on his face.

Overnight, not only had his cultivation been completely lost, but even his memories regarding his Cultivation Techniques and Martial Skills had been completely wiped clean.

Because of this, he had completely lost any desire to investigate the spellcaster who had assassinated the Young Marquis.

Instead, he was contemplating what he should do in the future!

Although managing the Wanyan Pavilion relied mostly on wisdom and scheming, without his cultivation to protect him, he probably wouldn't even be able to sneak into the Weiwu Marquis Mansion.

Because the Wanyan Pavilion was an organization that could not see the light of day.

Every time he went to report to Marquis Weiwu, he had to sneak in secretly rather than walk through the main gate.

“Should I report the truth to the Marquis, or should I just leave directly?”

Now that he had become a useless person, yet still held so many secrets...

Even if the Marquis spared him out of past sentiment, his deputies probably wouldn't let him off.

Furthermore, he didn't actually believe the Marquis would spare him out of past sentiment.

He knew far too many secrets.

Without any cultivation to protect himself, if he were captured by other forces, wouldn't he end up leaking the Wei Family's secrets?

Therefore, the best way would be to make him a dead man!

Just then, a knock came from the door.

“Come in!”

Soon, a figure slipped inside.

“Reporting to Milord, following your orders last night, your subordinate has thoroughly investigated Chen Hu and the Five Great Families. Everything has been compiled into a booklet, please have a look!”

Fan Jun calmly took the booklet, flipped through it, and nodded. “You have done well. Continue to monitor the Five Great Families and Chen Hu. I have received an urgent summon from the Marquis and must return to the royal capital. I shall leave you in charge here.”

Hearing this, the man looked overjoyed. “Thank you for your high regard, Milord! Your subordinate will certainly not disappoint you!”

“Go on then!”

Fan Jun waved his hand. Once the other party left, he went downstairs, found the stable, picked out a horse, and rode out of the inn.