abcnovels
Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Xuanwu City’s Wilderness! Tian Thirteen Trembles
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After the Earl’s command, the Palace of the Earl of Xuanwu sent dozens of people to announce Jin Mulan’s marriage to the public. They also sent out invitations to people in Xuanwu City to attend her wedding tonight.
Instantly, the entirety of Xuanwu City became triggered. Countless young men were frustrated when they heard the news.
She was the daughter of the Palace of the Earl. She had an extremely superior status, stunning beauty, and refined figure.
She was like a goddess. She could even be called the goddess of the Nujiang county, whom everyone loved.
Xu Qianqian, who was born into a wealthy family, had to continually publicize herself to become the lady of the Nujiang county.
However, Jin Mulan did not publicize herself. The term “lady” was considered a praise for Xu Qianqian but an insult for Jin Mulan.
She was the daughter of a hundred-year-old wealthy family, what lady? That term was too inferior for her.
Many people wooed Xu Qianqian. Jin Mulan was even more beautiful than her and had a better figure. However, nobody around Xu Qianqian dared to woo her. 2
They felt that they could not match up to her!
Everyone felt that Jin Mulan had to at least marry a family of marquis.
All the men in Xuanwu City could only look at her with desire.
However, they did not expect her to marry someone else. It was a piece of terrible news!
Although they could not deal with a beautiful goddess like her, she could not possibly marry someone else; it would be best if she did not marry at all.
On this night, countless young fellas got drunk and started behaving wildly.
“Who is it? Which man married my princess; I will kill him, kill him!”
“Goddess, how can you be like this? How can you marry someone else? You betrayed us!”
Meanwhile, the other slightly famous individuals felt that something was amiss.
Who would Jin Mulan marry? The groom’s name was not written on the wedding invitation, and they had not heard any news about this before.
The strangest thing was that the wedding was to be held that night. That was so rushed.
Usually, such weddings should require complicated planning and be extremely grand. A massive team of people and goods should be sent over to ask for the bride’s family’s approval before they proceed to the engagement.
After the engagement, both families would send gifts back and forth and hold several feasts and hunts. This was to let the other wealthy families know that the two families were about to hold a wedding.
Then, both parties would wait for the monarch’s blessings.
Usually, the monarch would be glad to give his blessings. Not only would he send his well-wishes, but he would also provide both parties with gifts.
After receiving the blessings from the monarch, the fortune teller would be asked to find a suitable date for the two families before holding the wedding.
With all of these, the wedding would be held at least one and a half years later.
How was it possible for the wedding to be held on the night that it was announced? That was too strange.
...
Meanwhile, the entire Palace of the Earl was preparing for that night’s wedding.
There was a lot of food, fruit, and drinks. The entire garden and the palace was decorated with lights, and all the servants received bonuses and new articles of clothing. Even the horses and dogs had extra food. 1
Although it was rushed and the son-in-law will live with the woman’s family, the wedding had to be grand since it was a show for the Zhu Family.
Although Shen Lang was the main male character of this wedding, he acted like he was not involved at all. In his room, he simply ate and slept.
***
Since the groom’s name was not written in the wedding invitation, this wedding did not concern Tian Heng.
Although he was the leader of a gang, he could not match up to the status of the Palace of the Earl of Xuanwu. Therefore, he couldn’t be invited to the wedding.
Of course, as the leader of the military army of the Xuanwu City, he would definitely send gifts over there. However, it was up to the Earl to accept it.
Tian Heng did not care about this since his people were not in the same faction as the Earl of Xuanwu.
He was actually pretty thankful for Shen Lang. Initially, the Xu family was only willing to offer him 100 gold coins, but when Shen Lang made the new formula for the gold dye, everything changed. He received over 1000 gold coins. 1
Not only did he receive gold coins from the Xu family, but the Lin family also gave him 500 gold coins as appreciation.
Since the Lin family collaborated with the Xu family, be it the martial arts competition or the ranking Lin Mo’s son received after the tournament, he would be greatly benefitted.
Therefore, the Lin family had to thank Tian Heng.
Shen Lang developed a new formula for gold dye. This was a huge benefit. When three parties worked together and killed Shen Lang, they could reap the benefits together.
Then, the other not-so-nice words should be left to Tian Heng!
After sending Tian Thirteen to kill Shen Lang’s family, Tian Heng did not care anymore.
Shen Lang was an insignificant character who did not deserve his attention.
To show that he meant it, Tian Thirteen brought more than ten people over to the Maple Leaf Village and surrounded Shen Lang’s torn and tattered house.
Tian Thirteen looked at the broken walls and sighed. “It is saddening that he is so weak!”
Then, he waved his hands and said, “Based on the City Lord’s orders, Shen Wan’s family has attempted to hide some land and escape from taxes. We will capture you immediately. If anyone dares to oppose, we will kill!” 1
“Attack!”
When Tian Thirteen said that, the warriors of the Black Clothes Gang, who were wearing clothes of the military army, whipped out their knives and charged toward Shen Lang’s house.
Although they were a gang, they did things according to a procedure. They would not barge into the house to kill. They would use an excuse as an official to capture the entire family. By then, Shen Lang would be forced to hand over the formula for the purple and rainbow dye even if he did not want to.
Of course, even if Shen Lang was willing to pay, his family would be unable to escape unscathed.
The gang leader really had the status as an official. The warriors under him were a civilian army. Tian Thirteen really had the notice of arrest, and all of this was legal.
“Peng, peng...”
Shen Lang’s house door was extremely fragile. It was flung out immediately.
However, after Tian Thirteen charged into the door, the situation he saw left him in horror.
There were no surprises or screams of terror.
Shen Lang’s father laid on his bed. He coughed while he held a knife.
Shen Lang’s mother stood in front of the bed with a knife in her hand. On the other side, Shen Lang’s brother sat up and was holding onto the walking stick, which he had just finished making.
None of the three of them pleaded for help. They merely stared at the warrior of the Black Clothes Gang.
Shen Lang was not at home, so their weakness was not present. In fact, they seemed to be unafraid at all.
When he saw this, Tian Thirteen became slightly stunned. He laughed, “Old guy, what are you doing?”
When he said, he whipped out the metal ruler and walked toward Shen Lang’s father with a bright smile on his face.
Shen Lang was not at home, but Tian Thirteen was not worried. As long as he captured Shen Lang’s family members, Shen Lang would definitely appear, and it would be impossible for him to escape.
Shen Lang’s father said, “We are useless people; we don’t care anymore.”
Tian Thirteen said, “Are you trying to defend yourself with a knife? You’re acting like a rebel. I’m sorry, I can only take action.”
After saying that, he was about to throw the metal ruler to Shen Lang’s father’s arm.
If the metal ruler struck, Shen Lang’s father’s arm would definitely break into pieces.
At the same time, the other warriors went forward and targeted Shen Lang’s mother and brother.
At this moment, Tian Thirteen suddenly felt the hair at his back rise. He turned around instantly and saw a figure standing outside of Shen Lang’s house door.
It was an ordinary middle-aged man. He was not holding any weapons, but the aura he exuded gave Tian Thirteen chills.
He was an expert.
“I am here under the City Lord’s order to capture these people for hiding illegal land and not paying taxes,” shouted Tian Thirteen.
The person in front of Shen Lang’s door was Jin Zhong, the servant of the Palace of the Earl. In fact, he had reached long ago but purposely waited for Tian Thirteen to enter before he appeared. This was how he usually did things.
After hearing what Tian Thirteen said, Jin Zhong replied, “Oh, we shouldn’t disturb what the City Lord has to do. However, my master has invited the entire Shen family to attend a wedding. If I don’t bring them over, I won’t be able to explain it to my master. Please, can you allow me to do this?”
After hearing that, Tian Thirteen felt that something was amiss. That was because Jin Zhong was extraordinarily courteous and calm.
He had met too many people and killed many as well. He knew that the calmer the person, the more superior he was. Instead, someone without any background would be arrogant. 1
Tian Thirteen said, “May I ask who you are?”
If the other party had a superior status, he would have to deal with him appropriately. If he did not, Tian Thirteen would just be cruel like he was doing things as instructed.
“Jin Zhong,” said the middle-aged man.
When Tian Thirteen heard this, his expression changed drastically.
He had heard this name before!
Of course, Jin Zhong was not someone of extremely superior status and was not considered remarkably capable in the Palace of the Earl of Xuanwu. However, according to Tian Heng, he was someone whom they must not mess with. That was because he was a notably close servant of the Earl of Xuanwu.
Moreover, what was more frightening was the fact that his higher-up was Jin Zhuo, the Earl of Xuanwu.
Tian Thirteen felt like his breath was getting heavier as he started to sweat profusely. His hair stood up in fear too.
He forcefully calmed himself down and asked, “Your master is asking Shen Lang’s parents to attend his wedding?”
“Yes!” said Jin Zhong.
Tian Thirteen immediately remembered Shen Lang’s handsome face. When they parted ways at dawn the day before, Shen Lang disappeared.
He did not expect Shen Lang to have made connections with the Palace of the Earl. This was terrible.
Tian Thirteen immediately felt impending doom. He could not confirm what the relationship between Shen Lang and the Palace of the Earl was.
However, he hoped that it was not too close, or he would be in grave trouble. 3
***