November 18. Auspicious for tailoring clothes, making the kitchen stove, moving into a new residence, and marriage.
Song Tingyun and Cui Xiaoxin had chosen this day for their wedding.
Too many things had happened to the Song family over the past year. First, they had eradicated the Lu Clan and seized military power; then they had held the new emperor hostage and seized political power, becoming the undisputed number-one family in the Xifeng Empire. For a time, their momentum had been unmatched.
But lately, their fortune had taken a turn for the worse, with misfortune following misfortune. First, Song Yu had been caught up in the "Extermination Case," damaging his reputation, and had been personally beaten to death by the Song family's Old Immortal. Then Song family son-in-law Gu Qinglin had become embroiled in the "Yu Garden Case," in which he was accused of murdering his concubine. His prestige had plummeted, and he had lost control of the situation. And then there was the beheading case from two days ago—
The Song family had Song Yu in the military and Gu Qinglin in civil affairs. The most honored general had already turned to yellow earth, while the foremost civil official had been captured without resistance. With the many senior generals lost in the beheading case as well, it could be said that the Song Clan's strength had suffered a tremendous blow this time.
Whether because of the Song Clan's insistence or because both families urgently wanted to draw their relationship closer, even after the Song family had just received the "grand gift" of several severed heads, the Song and Cui Clans still allowed the wedding to proceed as scheduled.
Mist blanketed the land. At this hour, the sun was still only a faint red halo, just beginning to climb over