Mutated Tao

Seeing Gao Zhijian getting so anxious, Zhao Wu, who was driving the horse carriage, spoke up, “Puppy, don’t tease him too much. If you end up making him lose his temper, then I’ll smack you.”

“Senior Li, seems like there’s a celebration going on inside the village. Should we go over to take a look? Most of the village people should be there,” suggested one of them.

Li Huowang looked up at the fiery sunset, then nodded and led his group toward the village. “The customs in Hou Shu are a little strange, huh. They hold their weddings at dusk.”

“Senior Li, we also have weddings at this time back home.”

“Is that so? Why’s that?” asked Li Huowang.

“No particular reason. It has always been tradition.”

As they chatted along the way, Li Huowang gradually made his way into the village. Locating the family hosting the wedding was not difficult; some of the villagers carrying buckets filled with rice and eggs directly pointed out the direction for Li Huowang.

They were not just carrying plain rice and eggs; some of them also carried baskets filled with other lavish offerings such as live chicken and lambs.

The villagers here seemed like their faces shining more and more brightly as they deliberately walked slower while swaying their shoulder poles flamboyantly; it was as though they were boasting to the others.

Li Huowang followed these people and quickly found the wedding house. The two stone lions at the entrance suggested that this family was different from the others in the village.

Two ushers at the entrance wore warm smiles as they rushed to welcome Li Huowang’s group. “You can leave your carriages at the door, and we’ll keep an eye on them.”

After finding out that Li Huowang’s group were escorts, and after verifying the escort contract, they were surprisingly no longer wary of them, and even passionately invited them in.

It seemed that having more guests during a wedding would add to their social prestige.

With this, Li Huowang was even more convinced that his choice to become an escort was correct.

However, there was also a possibility that their attitude might have been influenced by their attire.

Most people here wore bamboo hats and veils to protect themselves from the sandstorms. If this were within the kingdom of Si Qi, the people would not readily invite a group of veiled strangers in.

After going in, they sat around a small table. Li Huowang picked up his chopsticks and took a small portion of each dish, then discreetly passed it to Bun who was under the table.

Though it may look unsightly, Li Huowang did not care. He was more concerned about the possibility of the village being a bandit lair, and that their food might have been drugged.

They had endured through many chaotic things, and it would be quite interesting if something went wrong here.

After a while, Bun licked its face and wagged its tail, clearly wanting more food.

Seeing this, Li Huowang nodded to the others. “Eat.”

After their long journey, everyone seemed to have forgotten their manners; they could not resist the delicious dishes on the table.

However, Li Huowang did not start eating. Instead, he picked up the cup of strong tea and drank it.

Given his heightened senses, the ulcer on his lips felt like constant torture to him. He had to find a way to quickly relieve himself of the heatiness.[1]

Hou Shu’s cuisine was quite different from that of the kingdom of Si Qi; there were very few vegetable dishes. The majority of the food items were meat and dairy products, as well as baked buns and date cakes.

The only other options were the dried fruits that were arranged on the beautiful plates, and the tea water. Thus, Li Huowang’s choices were very limited.

“Zhao Wu, try these baked buns! They are really good; crispy on the outside and fragrant on the inside. Very delicious!” said one of them.

However, not everyone just cared about the food. Bai Lingmiao stretched her white neck and curiously looked toward the entrance. There, she saw the bride, covered in a red veil, and being helped down from the wedding sedan.

At this point, a handsome young man with sharp brows who held a gong in his hands struck it and announced in a loud voice, “The bride enters! May wealth follow abundantly!”

“Good!”

The others stood up to applaud, prompting Li Huowang to nudge Gao Zhijian who was just wolfing down his food. After that, they stood up as well.

Bong~

The gong rang again. “The bride crosses the brazier~![2] Red and fiery~!”

“Alright! Well-spoken!” The entire courtyard erupted in cheers.

Bong~!!

“The bride crosses the saddle~![3] Peace and prosperity~!”

As he looked at the joyous expressions of the people around him, Li Huowang’s mood involuntarily improved.

At the same time, he also noticed the strong look of envy in Bai Lingmiao’s eyes.

He reached out and pinched her soft hand, causing her to turn around and give him a reassuring smile.

“Senior Li, everyone is giving them gifts. Shouldn’t we give one as well? It’s only right to do so,” suggested Bai Lingmiao.

“Alright.”

“We can give them some candied fruits produced in the kingdom of Si Qi, since they can’t be found here. This will be enough to represent our goodwill, and wouldn’t cost us much,” said Bai Lingmiao.

Just as she said this, a fourth gong sounded. “Worship~ the~ God of Prosperity~!”

“What?!” Li Huowang could hardly believe his ears, “What did he say to worship?”

From his perspective, the warm and merry atmosphere instantly vanished, and a bone-piercing chill enveloped him.

“Senior Li, they said to worship the God of Prosperity,” said Sun Baolu, his mouth filled to the brim with lamb meat.

Li Huowang watched on with shock as the newlyweds were led into the hall by their cheerful relatives. Then, they knelt in front of a red and round character that represented Prosperity[4].

Just as the smiling youth was about to strike the gong once again, he saw Li Huowang in the crowd, causing his expression to turn unpleasant.

“Brother! What are you looking at?! Strike the gong!”

As soon as the youth heard the groom’s soft reminder, he struck the red-clothed mallet onto the gong.

Bong~

The jarring sound of the gong rang out once again.

“Congratulations to the eldest son of the Hou Family, Hou Qiao on marrying Luo Tian as the bride! The bride is virtuous and dignified, and we pray to the God of Prosperity to bless their family to bear many children and descendants!”

“Hehe! Good!”

At that moment, the atmosphere reached its peak with everyone smiling and cheering.

After the newlyweds left through a side door, the others gradually sat down and continued to eat and chat.

This just made Li Huowang who was standing there on his own seem even more conspicuous. When he felt someone tug on his sleeves, Li Huowang sat back down, albeit looking rather displeased.

According to the information he had received before, the God of Prosperity was an existence even more terrifying than the God of Happiness. Perhaps it was one of the things behind Baiyu Capital.

And now, such an existence had become the god of blessings for weddings; it was undoubtedly ironic.

Though he did not know how this custom came about, he was certain that the people offering their worship had no idea what the thing they were actually worshiping was!

“Senior Li, what’s the matter? There’s nothing wrong here, so why the displeased expression? Are you… having an episode again?” asked Puppy.

Li Huowang glanced at Puppy and then pointed at the red, giant, round character on the wall. “Do they have to worship that thing at weddings in other places too?”

An example of the Double Happiness character (not sure if copyright rules apply)

1. a traditional chinese medicine concept that is believed to be related to causing blisters or ulcers ☜

2. a Chinese custom to step past a brazier, believed to help dispel evil spirits with the fire, and hope for a prosperous life ☜

3. I can't find any relevant info about this online, perhaps a wedding custom unique to this story. ☜

4. the term used is actually Double Happiness, commonly used as a symbol for marriage ☜

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

This is how the character for double happiness looks like.

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