"How could it be missing?" Wang Quanzui pushed the door open with a single shove. His tightly furrowed brows showed just how anxious he was at the moment. Tomorrow was supposed to be the wedding day for the two of them. Losing the wedding dress at this crucial juncture didn't seem like an accidental loss.
"I don't know either. I clearly saw the maids cleaning the wedding dress with my own eyes yesterday. Who would have thought that it would be gone when I woke up this morning." Chu Ri Huaizhu was just as anxious as he was. She didn't know whether to stand or sit. Twisting the silk handkerchief in her hand, she paced back and forth in the room. Her brows were knitted even tighter than Wang Quanzui's.
"Have you searched everywhere? Is there any place that you might have missed?"
"I've searched everywhere. The wedding dress never left this room. If it wasn't lost, it must still be in this courtyard. But if it was lost..."
"I'm afraid that someone doesn't want this wedding to happen." Wang Quanzui swept away the anxious look on his face. Only solemnity remained on his face.
"Ah?" Chu Ri Huaizhu had guessed a bit, but with the wedding day approaching, if they were to make a big fuss to look for it, they were afraid of alerting the elders of the Wangquan family. That would be troublesome.
"Anyway, you search carefully again. I'll also go and take a good look elsewhere. But you also need to think about how to deal with it if we can't find the wedding dress. After all, tomorrow is the wedding day. It must be too late to make a wedding dress at this moment. Both Wang Quanzui and Chu Ri Huaizhu knew this well.
"For now, we can only do this."
Chu Ri Huaizhu watched Wang Quanzui leave. Then she turned around and rummaged through the room for a while, but she couldn't find it no matter what. Her heart slowly sank.
"Miss, what shall we do without the wedding dress?" The old nursemaid who came to pick up Chu Ri Huaizhu for the sedan chair looked full of worry. But she saw Chu Ri Huaizhu calm and composed. Her slender, fair fingers like scallions pointed to the long, dark red dress on the couch.
"This, this won't do. Not to mention that this isn't the style of a wedding dress. Just the long - robe form and its un - festive color won't do, Miss."
"The situation is like this. I can't change it. I can only do my best." Chu Ri Huaizhu stroked her neatly coiled hair bun. She took out the hairpin that Wang Quan Baoye had given her as a token of their love from the box beside her and inserted it into her hair properly.
All of this is for you.
When Wang Quan Baoye saw that she wasn't wearing the wedding dress, his brows tightened. As if he had thought of something, his face suddenly darkened. He quickly turned around and gave some instructions to the servant behind him. Then he took Chu Ri Huaizhu's hand and walked gracefully towards the main hall.
When the two entered the main hall hand in hand, the elders of the Wangquan family were already waiting there. When they saw the two coming, they immediately put on serious expressions.
"Isn't the bride not wearing the wedding dress?"
"Even if she's coming to our Wangquan family as a concubine with a low status, she shouldn't be so disrespectful!"
"She's just a low - class woman. Wearing such an inauspicious outfit on the wedding day. What kind of propriety is this!"
"Not even wearing a wedding dress. It shows how much she despises our Wangquan family!"
"I didn't!" Chu Ri Huaizhu couldn't help but shout out to defend herself when she heard the words getting more and more unpleasant.
"A low - class concubine. Where do you get the right to speak here!"
"Anyway, she's just a concubine. Being so arrogant before even getting married. How can I trust that she'll serve Baoye well!"
"I was out of line, but regarding the wedding dress..." Chu Ri Huaizhu took a step forward. Just as she was about to kneel down, Wang Quan Baoye grabbed her hand and helped her up.
"Wait!" Wang Quan Baoye bowed deeply to the elders. How could Wang Quan Baoye bear to see Chu Ri Huaizhu being wronged? He slightly blocked Chu Ri Huaizhu behind him. Just this one action showed how much Wang Quan Baoye doted on and protected this concubine who hadn't even entered the door yet.
"Baoye, even if you dote on this concubine so much, what she did today is clearly not putting you in her eyes, nor our Wangquan family in her eyes! And you still protect her like this! In your heart, is the prestige of the Wangquan family not as important as just a woman?"
"Uncle, it's not like this. It's just that I prepared another dress for Huaizhu, so she didn't wear the wedding dress when she entered. It was my thoughtlessness that I didn't inform the elders in advance. It was my mistake that I didn't tell Huaizhu in advance."
Wang Quan Baoye held his head high. Facing the elders in the hall, no matter how decadent he had been recently, he was still the eldest son of the Wangquan family after all. When he spoke, his voice was firm and powerful.
"Come in." Wang Quan Baoye waved his hand. Then a servant came into the main hall quickly, holding a tray in his hand.
Wang Quan Baoye picked up the red dress on the tray with both hands. Under everyone's gaze, he showed it. With a flick of his wrist, the whole appearance of the dress appeared in front of everyone.
It was a red long robe.
The red was as flamboyant and gorgeous as blood. The skirt dragged on for more than three zhang. On the front of the robe, golden threads were used to embroider phoenixes flying side by side. They spiraled up from the waist to the collar. The color of the skirt seemed a bit darker. There were embroidered patterns on it. Taking a closer look, they were clusters of colorful and blooming peonies. There were also two lingering butterflies, delicate and tender, flapping their wings as if they were about to fly out of the dress and straight into the sky.
It was extremely gorgeous. Wang Quan Baoye flicked the skirt and put it directly on Chu Ri Huaizhu's body.
The dress seemed to come to life. The phoenixes were singing, and the peonies were in full bloom.
All the elders of the Wangquan family present couldn't help but widen their eyes. It was not only because the dress was so gorgeous but also because this dress was the wedding dress of Wang Quan Baoye's mother!
Putting his mother's wedding dress on a concubine. The elders who didn't know the situation had never seen such a ridiculous thing. This not only announced to everyone how much Wang Quan Baoye doted on this concubine named Chu Ri Huaizhu but also slapped the faces of all the elders who had just sneered at Chu Ri Huaizhu.
"Mother once said that this dress was for my future wife, for the person I love in my heart. Handing it to my wife on the wedding day would be like mother witnessing my marriage and starting a family with her own eyes."
When Wang Quan Baoye said this, he turned his head and looked at Chu Ri Huaizhu, staring directly into her eyes. Those eyes were filled with sincere love, gratitude, and only her.
"Chu Ri Huaizhu! She is the person I love in my heart, the only wife I've recognized in my life!"
"Since it was what the old matriarch said, then let's just follow it." The old family head of the Wangquan family, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke. Although everyone still looked down on this newly - welcomed concubine in their hearts, they could only offer their blessings on the surface. Only then did the wedding ceremony really begin.
Chu Ri Huaizhu was led into Wang Quan Baoye's room by the nursemaid. She was still wearing that extremely gorgeous wedding dress. She sat upright on the bed, quietly waiting for Wang Quan Baoye, who was outside entertaining guests and drinking, to come back.
"Brother Wangquan! Go back quickly! Don't keep your delicate little wife waiting anxiously!" A few playboys supported each other and staggered along the corridor.
"Gentlemen, thank you! That's enough here!"
Wang Quan Baoye broke free from the arms of two of them. He bowed to them and then staggered back towards his room.