Chapter 117: Big Black's Million-Dollar Bride

Fine wine is like the pink skeleton in Buddhist mantras; when it is gentle, it is a charming beauty, but in the blink of an eye, it transforms into a gory mess of flesh and bone. Any man would find himself vomiting until he is utterly drained and in a wretched state.

Lu Liaoluo woke up with a splitting headache. He vaguely remembered being at the Hu wine shop, where acquaintances and strangers alike kept forcing smiles and insisting he down bowl after bowl of wine. In his final moments of consciousness, the fat, smiling face of Cheng Changmu kept swaying before his eyes. After a few more bowls, he had lost all sense of himself.

Struggling to rise, he reached for the teapot on the table, but his body went limp, and he stumbled, nearly falling to the floor.

Wang Liuli, who had been startled awake, walked over with dark circles under her eyes and poured him a cup of cold tea.

"It’s your first time, after all. Those fellows clearly got you drunk on purpose. You must be more careful with your drinking in the future. Those men are as cunning as ghosts; they would never let themselves get as drunk as you did."

The cool tea brought instant relief to his parched, burning throat. Seeing Wang Liuli’s haggard appearance, a warmth spread through Lu Liaoluo’s heart. In a rare moment of affection, he pulled her into his arms and remained silent for a long time.

After two bowls of congee, Lu Liaoluo’s spirits improved slightly. He wandered alone through the medicine garden in the backyard, gazing at the beautiful morning glow outside the window, lost in complex thoughts until he grew dazed.

"Amitabha!" A Buddhist chant suddenly rang out from behind him. Lu Liaoluo turned to see the monk Wuhua, who was rarely seen, standing behind him with a solemn expression.

"Buddha your ghost! You’re nowhere to be found on ordinary days, so why are you playing the phantom this early in the morning?" Lu Liaoluo irritably raised his hand to strike at Wuhua’s bald head, but his limp hand was easily caught and held by the monk.

"I have come to bid you farewell. Tomorrow, my family and I will leave Chang’an with the Four Seas Trading Company’s caravan for the Shu region." Wuhua said calmly, pushing Lu Liaoluo’s hand away.

"Your child is only a few months old! How can you bear to let him and Sister Luoluo endure the hardships of the road? In this house, I haven’t treated you or your family poorly in the slightest." Lu Liaoluo looked at the monk with dissatisfaction and confusion.

"Winter is coming. In Xilu County, there are countless displaced orphans and refugees. If no one helps, I don’t know how many will freeze or starve to death this winter. Do you realize that what you spent last night could have helped hundreds of orphans survive the coming cold?" Wuhua looked toward the southwest, his face filled with compassion for all living things.

"Do you think this is something I can manage?" Lu Liaoluo rubbed his still-aching abdomen, looking both innocent and helpless.

Wuhua shook his head. "I simply realized that the Buddha’s mission to deliver people from the sea of suffering should not be confined to temples, where one accepts offerings and kowtows from believers while monks merely chant scriptures. We should step out of the temples and help those before us as much as we can. Helping even a few is enough to find peace of mind."

"How do you expect to save those refugees with an infant in swaddling clothes and a wife who hasn't even recovered from childbirth?" Lu Liaoluo asked with a cold smile.

"My sister gave me two hundred thousand copper coins, but it is still not enough. So, I have come to ask for alms from you, the brother-in-law who threw away a fortune in a single night." Wuhua stared directly at Lu Liaoluo without blinking.

"You! You..." Lu Liaoluo pointed at Wuhua, too angry to speak. He was a pauper himself; Wang Liuli had the money, but that was her money. Why did everyone seem to think that just because he married the daughter of the wealthiest man in the Tang Dynasty, he could throw silver around at will?

"If you can wine and dine with those wealthy young masters who have no worries about food or clothing, why can't you ask your wife to spare some coins to save those poor children? Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. That is a far greater deed than your drinking bouts." Wuhua did not retreat an inch, pressing him relentlessly.

"Heh! Hahaha!" Lu Liaoluo laughed in his fury. "What do you people take me for?"

"Very well! I will give you another two hundred thousand copper coins. But this great merit of saving the refugees must be credited to my husband." Wang Liuli had arrived at some point, her tone brook no argument.

"The young mistress is benevolent. I shall make sure to proclaim my brother-in-law’s kindness to the refugees. I take my leave." Wuhua pressed his palms together toward Wang Liuli and departed, his monk’s robes fluttering.

"Go, go then! I wouldn't stop you anyway. If you want to be holy monks and saints, go ahead. I suppose I am just a cold-hearted villain and a useless piece of trash." Lu Liaoluo waved his hand angrily. Wuhua paused for a moment but did not turn back, walking away with firm steps.

"Who says my husband is a useless piece of trash? Doesn't that mean I, Wang Liuli, am blind?" Noticing that Lu Liaoluo’s mood was off, Wang Liuli quickly made a joke.

"Heh, I am just a pile of useless rotting meat, yet it somehow sold for a high price. Who told you to fall for this piece of meat, you daughter of the richest man in the Tang Dynasty?" Lu Liaoluo wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, laughing along with her jest.

For the entire morning, he locked himself in the Lu family ancestral hall, refusing to answer anyone who called.

"My husband... whenever he has something on his mind, he only speaks to *that* person. I find it harder and harder to understand what he is thinking these days. Sigh!" Tang Xiaoqi pointed to the sky and let out a long sigh.

"Only a fool would try to compete with the people in the sky." Wang Liuli’s single sentence left Tang Xiaoqi stifled and unable to refute.

Shortly after noon, the sound of drums and music erupted at the Lu family gate, continuing incessantly as if it had stopped right at their doorstep and refused to leave.

Wang Liuli and Tang Xiaoqi exchanged surprised glances, then saw Hu Laoda rushing toward them.

"Two young mistresses, it’s a disaster! A wedding procession has arrived at our gate, claiming to be from the Lady of Guo’s residence. They say we must prepare the rites immediately to welcome the bride!"

Wang Liuli looked at the sweating Hu Laoda, bewildered. "The Lady of Guo’s residence is sending a bride? Who in our family is marrying into her household?"

"The Lady of Guo does have a daughter who isn't married yet. Could it be that she has taken a fancy to the young master?" Wang Shiyi muttered to himself, thinking he was clever.

Wang Liuli and Tang Xiaoqi exchanged suspicious glances and walked toward the ancestral hall gate, banging on it loudly.

Lu Liaoluo opened the door to find his two wives glaring at him with cold, unfriendly eyes.

"Lu Liaoluo, tell me honestly, when did you get involved with the Lady of Guo’s daughter? She has personally sent her daughter to our doorstep and is waiting for you to welcome the bride!" Wang Liuli’s face was as cold as frost as she stared at him.

Lu Liaoluo pointed at his own nose, completely dazed. "Me? Where would I even know the Lady of Guo’s daughter?"

"The daughter is already at our doorstep, and you still dare to say you don't know her? Lu Liaoluo, you deceived me about the Gu Xiehua matter from the start, are you now going to deceive Sister Liuli too?" Tang Xiaoqi’s eyes were reddened, and she looked on the verge of tears.

This immense injustice fell upon Lu Liaoluo, but because of the prior case of Gu Xiehua, any defense felt feeble. In a fit of frustrated rage, he grabbed one wife in each hand.

"Come, let’s go see for ourselves. If I, Lu Liaoluo, know any daughter of the Lady of Guo, I will bash my head in right in front of you both."

At the gate, the white-haired Lu Manman stood frozen, staring at the purple-maned horse draped in red and green ribbons. In all his years, he had never seen or even heard of such a thing—a wedding procession with drums and music for a mare.

When Lu Liaoluo arrived with his two wives, Lu Manman pointed at the gorgeous purple horse, unable to utter a word.

The Lady of Guo, dressed in a yellow gauze robe, her skin delicate and pale, stepped slowly from her carriage with a mature, beautiful air. Followed by a dozen maids, she walked up to Lu Liaoluo as if no one else existed.

"I have brought the bride. Why is the groom not here to pay his respects and welcome her?"

Except for the still-bewildered Tang Xiaoqi, the highly intelligent Lu Liaoluo and Wang Liuli instantly understood what this meant.

"Quickly, tell someone to wash Da Hei, dress him up, and bring him here." With a bitter heart, Lu Liaoluo turned to Hu Laoda.

"Young master, how do you dress a horse?" Hu Laoda asked, looking confused.

Lu Liaoluo glanced at the gaudily decorated purple mare and said in a dry tone, "Dress him up the same way you’d dress a groom. Go!"

"The famous disciple of the Poet Immortal truly lives up to his reputation. With a single sentence—'let her marry me'—he tricked the daughter of the God of Wealth into his home. You understood my meaning without me having to say a word. My precious, charming Zi has had her innocence ruined by your crude and lazy mount; naturally, you must marry her into your home."

The autumn air had turned cold, but the Lady of Guo continued to wave her fan, swaying with grace.

Wang Liuli realized that the woman’s true intention was not the marriage itself. She gestured for Wang Shiyi to come closer. "Go to the vault quickly and prepare more silver."

"Cloud Over Snow" (the horse), perhaps because he had been pampered too much, had developed a fickle nature. He didn't even look at the bride sent by the Lady of Guo, instead twisting his body, trying to shake off the red and green ribbons draped over him.

Lu Liaoluo walked over himself to hold the reins, leading the horse in three circles around the purple mare. Hu Laoda lit firecrackers at the gate, drawing a massive crowd of onlookers.

"My Zi is very delicate; it would be no exaggeration to call her a princess among horses. If your family wants to marry her, the dowry cannot be meager. If it’s too shabby, neither of our families could afford the loss of face, could they? It is only because I, the Lady of Guo, am kind-hearted that I am helping this union. Had it been my sisters, they would have castrated that villain and chopped off his horse’s head long ago."

The Lady of Guo stroked the smooth fur of the purple mare with doting affection, not even sparing a glance at Lu Liaoluo or his groom-like horse.

"The Lady of Guo is benevolent, and the Lu family is deeply grateful. May I ask what amount you consider appropriate for the dowry?" Wang Liuli asked with a faint, composed smile.

"Heh, as expected of the Wang family’s daughter; you are truly sensible. Since you are so straightforward, I won't mince words. One price: two million coins, and my precious Zi will be yours to marry to that beast of yours."

As the Lady of Guo opened her jade-like lips to speak, Lu Manman, standing behind Wang Liuli, rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot.