"Welcome, Queen. Your Majesty may enter our palace through the main gate. The elders are already waiting in the main hall."
When they arrived at the capital city, the Southern Border Palace was far less grand than the Jin Kingdom's palace, but there were still many people waiting outside to greet them.
According to the customs of the Jin Kingdom, if a bride doesn't enter the bridal chamber and have her veil lifted by her husband, she can't show her true face. However, according to the Southern Border customs, a bride should cover her face with a veil before the wedding ceremony and can only perform the ceremony after meeting the elders.
Si Junlin forced herself to walk steadily in the short shoes and calmly stepped out of the sedan chair.
The Southern Border elders greeted her with all kinds of polite remarks and compliments, such as "peerless beauty" and "a beauty that could topple kingdoms". Si Junlin felt quite uncomfortable hearing these, while Su Wan'er and Qingcao beside her enjoyed them very much. But everyone could see that even though Su Wan'er was truly a stunning beauty now, the elder seemed not the least bit tempted.
Actually, Si Junlin had met the elder of the Yuwen family in the Southern Border before, but it was five years ago. At that time, the Yuwen family elder was just an insignificant elder outside the four major families in the Southern Border, far from the powerful figure he was today.
Su Wan'er boldly raised her eyes and took a look at the elder. It seemed that he wasn't as bad as what Brother Jingtian had said yesterday. Although he might have passed the age of forty, he was well - maintained and showed no signs of aging. Moreover, she had allowed Si Junlin to marry here in her name because she knew that even if she became the queen, she wouldn't really have to fulfill the duties of a queen. The Southern Border people would surely be on guard against her.
After the elaborate ceremony, they followed the ancient Southern Border custom of performing a shaman dance. Su Wan'er felt dizzy watching the tribespeople in colorful and strange costumes dancing, so she simply stopped looking.
Although Long Xiaojiu had already established herself in the Yuwen family, in the end, the Yuwen family wouldn't really give her much power. Su Wan'er looked around but didn't see Long Xiaojiu's figure.
According to their next plan, Long Xiaojiu would abandon her position in the Yuwen family and appear as the former saintess again. Then Su Wan'er would return the token to her. With the support of the Jin Kingdom, she could continue to be the saintess.
But two days ago, in order to make it easier for Xiaojiu to accept their interference in the affairs between the two countries, they hadn't told her this part of the plan yet.
After Si Junlin was sent into the room, Su Wan'er looked for an opportunity to go to the place where she had made an appointment with Long Xiaojiu.
But even after a quarter of an hour had passed, Long Xiaojiu still didn't show up. Fortunately, this remote courtyard was like the cold palace of the Southern Border Palace, so no one would come here for a while.
Not long after, Su Wan'er heard a few disorderly footsteps coming from afar.
Based on her years of martial arts training, she knew that these people were definitely not ordinary palace servants. They should be soldiers or guards. Had Xiaojiu been exposed?
Su Wan'er hid herself warily. Sure enough, after a while, she saw a group of people escorting Xiaojiu over.
Su Wan'er observed in the dark. These people were quite polite to Xiaojiu. It seemed that they suspected her of secretly colluding with the enemy, but they didn't have solid evidence yet.
"There's no such thing as a Jin Kingdom spy at all! How dare you slander this general?!" Xiaojiu shouted. The people quickly let go of her and bowed to apologize.
It was really close to being exposed. Su Wan'er calmly left from the other side. To be on the safe side, she probably couldn't meet Xiaojiu for the next few days.
When Su Wan'er returned to Si Junlin's side, the grand elder was just walking over. So she had to hide behind the door and not go in for the time being.
"I don't know the customs of your Jin Kingdom, but there are no such elaborate formalities in our Southern Border. Since the queen is willing to marry into our Southern Border, I will surely treat her well."
"Thank you." Si Junlin replied but remained unmoved, sitting there upright.
"Seeing the queen's expression, I suppose you're not willing to be with this old man. Well, I have no intention of forcing you. As long as the Southern Border and the Jin Kingdom can become friendly because of this marriage, I have no other demands."
"Thank you." Si Junlin still only said these two words.
The grand elder was about to leave when Si Junlin stopped him: "Although I'm not familiar with the Southern Border customs yet, I know it's not appropriate for the grand elder not to stay here tonight."
If they didn't stay together on the wedding night and the news got out, this marriage might not be recognized. Si Junlin originally thought the grand elder would stay on his own initiative. They both knew that maintaining this marriage was what the Jin Kingdom wanted and also what the Southern Border needed.
"Oh, in that case... Your Majesty needn't worry. The people in this palace are very tight - lipped. I didn't become the grand elder for nothing. No one will say a single word of gossip tomorrow. Your Majesty can rest assured. I still have some matters to attend to."
After saying that, the grand elder really left. Su Wan'er came out from behind the door after he had walked a few steps away.
"On the wedding night, even though he's the absolute ruler in this palace, he shouldn't be so hasty. There must be something fishy about his leaving like this."
"I'll follow him." Su Wan'er also thought it was inappropriate.
"Be careful. After all, you don't have your martial arts now."
"Got it." How dare he remind her like this? Whose fault was this? An emperor who had never practiced martial arts since childhood. Now that she had this body, she didn't even know how to use her strength.
Since she didn't have light - body skills, Su Wan'er could only follow the grand elder from afar under the cover of night. Fortunately, although she had lost her martial arts, her experience was still there. There weren't many guards on the way, and she could easily avoid the palace servants.
What surprised Su Wan'er was that the grand elder actually walked to the other end of the palace. This shouldn't be the place where his concubines lived. Where was he going to spend the night so late?
Finally, the grand elder walked into a courtyard and entered the main hall. Su Wan'er peeked inside from outside the door. Since this was such a remote courtyard, there probably wouldn't be anyone outside, so she boldly climbed onto the roof carefully. After lifting two tiles, she looked inside.
After seeing who the other person inside was, Su Wan'er almost couldn't control herself and made a sound. That small figure was none other than Xiaojiu.
Why would the grand elder come to Xiaojiu's room at this hour? And Xiaojiu was just a general of no great importance. Why would she live in the palace? Was it arranged by the grand elder on purpose?
"Well, Jiuer, I keep my promise. You asked me to leave her alone in the room tonight, and I did." The grand elder said. Su Wan'er was shocked again. Judging from his tone, did it mean...
"I didn't expect the grand elder to really leave the queen alone in the room. Jiuer doesn't dare to take this responsibility. The grand elder should go back."