Inside the new room, red candles flickered, and Yu Jiaojiao lifted a corner of her veil. The sight of the crimson silk decorations filling the room widened her eyes, causing her despairing and withered heart to pound wildly.
This was a repeat of three years ago! She had been misled by her half-sister, Yu Jingjing, to swap brides on her wedding day and marry Jiang Peilang, a son of the Jing Prince’s household!
The man she thought was a good match was actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing. After the marriage, he acted respectfully on the surface, but it was all a ploy to swindle her dowry!
In just three years, the thirty thousand taels of silver she brought from the Chengan Marquis’s mansion as dowry were drained. She was also afflicted with a terrible illness, experiencing excruciating pain every night, as if ten thousand ants were gnawing at her heart, and was moved to the backyard to await death.
And Jiang Peilang, at this time, was grandly marrying the transformed Yu Jingjing as his concubine.
Only then did she realize that the two had been secretly in love for many years, and the bride swap that year was a conspiracy between them! Her so-called illness was clearly a strange poison they had administered!
She, the eldest daughter of the Chengan Marquis, should have married Jiang Xingyan, the Jing Prince, but because of her infatuation with Jiang Peilang, she abandoned the chance to be a proper princess and instead became the wife of a scheming son, ending up in a miserable state.
Recalling the day before her death, when she was tormented by the poison they had given her, emaciated and finally dying in agony, Yu Jiaojiao’s beautiful eyes turned icy cold.
In this life, she would never marry Jiang Peilang again and let that pair of scumbags succeed!
If she were to marry, she should follow the original path and marry his uncle, the Jing Prince Jiang Xingyan, and be his aunt!
A commotion came from outside, and Jiang Peilang’s voice mixed with the crowd. Yu Jiaojiao lowered her veil and unconsciously clenched her silk skirt.
At this moment, she had already swapped sedan chairs with Yu Jingjing and entered Jiang Peilang’s bridal chamber.
In her previous life, she had been determined to marry Jiang Peilang, allowing him to bring in a crowd of guests to lift her veil and make this mismatched marriage a reality.
Now, she had reached the turning point of her destiny again.
Thinking of this, Yu Jiaojiao’s palms were slightly sweaty, and she suppressed her anxiety with deep breaths.
She couldn’t rush. As long as her veil wasn’t lifted, the ceremony wouldn’t be complete. This time, she would definitely prevent Jiang Peilang’s scheme from succeeding.
The door was pushed open, and Jiang Peilang, surrounded by the crowd, walked to the bedside. His face was full of smiles, his eyebrows raised high, and his smiling eyes held an undisguised excitement. He couldn’t wait to reach out and lift the veil.
As long as he succeeded today, the thirty thousand taels of silver left by Yu Jiaojiao’s mother would be in his hands.
With such wealth, he could maneuver in the court, win over people in the mansion, and with Jingjing marrying the Jing Prince as a princess to gather information and poison Jiang Xingyan, he would soon obtain the title of Jing Prince.
“Wait.”
Yu Jiaojiao sat upright on the wedding bed, the mandarin duck veil concealing the coldness and trepidation on her face. “You’ve carried the wrong sedan chair. I am Yu Jiaojiao, not your bride.”
As soon as these words came out, the noisy and lively room fell silent, and everyone was extremely astonished.
To carry the wrong bride on the wedding day, and to carry over one’s future aunt, was simply unheard of.
Jiang Peilang didn’t stop his movements, and smiled: “How is that possible, Jingjing, are you dizzy from sitting in the sedan chair for too long?”
How could this idiot suddenly be like this? Was she deliberately acting coy?
Yu Jiaojiao leaned back to avoid his hand, her voice becoming more steady: “Although my veil and my second sister’s veil are the same, and the styles of our wedding gowns are similar, I am marrying His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing, and the regulations for the wedding gown are different after all. Could it be that Young Master Jiang is deliberately pretending not to see it?”
Yu Jingjing had been raised by her mother since she was a child, and she had been bewitched, so before getting married, she persuaded her mother to make their wedding gowns similar in style, and the veils were exactly the same.
As soon as she finished speaking, the guests followed her words and looked at the wedding gown she was wearing.
A noble lady exclaimed in surprise: “The phoenix pattern is clearly embroidered on this wedding gown, and the Xiapei pendant is also made of red gold inlaid with Eastern pearls, which is the regulation for a princess.”
The expressions on the faces of the guests were immediately wonderful.
This son of the Jing Prince clearly wanted to take advantage of the situation and forcibly marry the eldest daughter of the Chengan Marquis, his aunt for sure.
Tsk tsk tsk, this is really a collapse of etiquette and a rebellion against human relations.
Jiang Peilang’s hand froze in mid-air, and the gazes of the crowd, whether scrutinizing or mocking, made his face tense. He almost blurted out: “You’re talking nonsense, it’s clearly you…”
“It’s clearly what?” Yu Jiaojiao quickly seized his words, and couldn’t help but despise him.
So unable to hold his breath, he was broken by just one sentence. In her previous life, she had actually fallen in love with him under Yu Jingjing’s daily praise and brainwashing.
Jiang Peilang realized what he had said, his face changed, and he quickly changed the subject: “It’s clearly that those sedan chair carriers were reckless and made such a big mistake!”
“How to punish them is a matter for later, what should be done now is to set things right.”
Yu Jiaojiao stood up. Exposing Jiang Peilang’s conspiracy could not be done overnight. The most important thing now was to switch back.
Wasn’t she wholeheartedly devoted to him and wanted to marry him? How could she suddenly change her temperament and be so tough about switching back?
Jiang Peilang clenched his fists, suppressed his anger, and frowned, pretending to be troubled: “It’s not that I’m unwilling, but I just saw my second uncle enter the bridal chamber. I’m afraid he has already lifted the veil and made a mistake. I’m afraid we can only do this.”
In a few words, it seemed that Jiang Xingyan was the one who had made the mistake first and wrongly married his nephew’s wife.
Yu Jiaojiao retorted: “You didn’t see it with your own eyes, so how do you know what happened? Besides, I haven’t completed the ceremony with you. Since you know there is a mistake, you should stop it in time.”
Jiang Peilang’s eyes darkened. This bitch was slapping him in the face again and again.
Anyway, his reputation had been ruined, so he might as well lift the veil immediately to confirm his status, and then let her spread the word that all of this was because she missed him and planned it all.
Thinking of this, he didn’t say much, pursed his lips tightly, and reached out to forcibly lift the veil.
Seeing the approaching black boots under the veil, Yu Jiaojiao guessed that Jiang Peilang wanted to use force. A flash of fierceness quickly flashed in her eyes. She pulled out a golden hairpin and stabbed it hard at his outstretched hand, while using her other hand to hold down the veil tightly. She calmly took a few steps back to distance herself from him, and rebuked in a cold voice: “Presumptuous, I am the Jing Princess appointed by imperial decree, your future aunt, how dare you insult me! Quickly order someone to invite the Jing Prince!”
The guests all pricked up their ears, listening and whispering to each other.
This Jiang Peilang must be crazy. Forcibly insulting his aunt was one thing, but which noble family didn’t have some dirty secrets? But this was the future princess of Jing.
That was a master who used to kill people without blinking an eye on the battlefield.
Yu Jiaojiao’s eyes grew even colder, and she immediately shouted loudly in front of everyone, “Jiang Peilang, how dare you be so disrespectful to this princess, you are simply disregarding seniority!”
As she spoke, she raised her hand and slapped Jiang Peilang hard on the face.