Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Prince Chu Looks Down on the Ugly Woman and Marries a Stunning Beauty Instead? "What a beautiful woman!" Pei Wuliang couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. He had never seen such a beautiful face in his entire life. If he had grown tired of Jia Qingcheng's ugly visage, he now faced Song Jiaojiao's charming face every day. He had thought Song Jiaojiao was already quite pretty, but this new bride before him made his eyes light up. Even Jiaojiao, who was herself a bride today, could not rival this woman's beauty by half. Her beauty was breathtaking, leaving him unable to look away for a long time. The bride stood there in her bright red wedding gown, like a celestial maiden descending from the heavens, carrying an ethereal, otherworldly air. Her features were exquisitely perfect, as if blessed with the most flawless form. Her autumn-water eyes sparkled like stars—bright, luminous, and deep... Was she looking at him? She was actually looking at him? Pei Wuliang felt his heart race. He immediately stepped forward to strike up a conversation with the bride. "Miss, are you alright?" Jia Qingcheng snapped back to her senses but hadn't expected Pei Wuliang to already be right in front of her. She instinctively turned her face away, picked up the veil that had fallen to the ground, and placed it back over her head. At that moment, a sedan bearer hurried over. "Miss, please get into the sedan chair quickly. The Noble Consort is still waiting." The Noble Consort? Pei Wuliang was puzzled. Was this beautiful woman marrying into the palace? But he hadn't heard of any such grand joyous occasion happening today. "Miss, are you alright?" Pei Wuliang asked again with concern. Jia Qingcheng didn't dare speak, feeling extremely nervous and afraid that Pei Wuliang might recognize her. However, seeing that he showed no sign of recognition at all, she felt relieved. She ignored his question and instead bent slightly to climb into the bridal sedan... "Lift the sedan!" With a flurry of commotion and the sound of firecrackers, Jia Qingcheng's sedan caught up with the main procession. After the sedan had departed, Pei Wuliang stood there in a daze, unwilling to snap out of it for a long time... For some reason, he felt the woman before him was strangely familiar, yet he couldn't possibly know a woman of such striking beauty. The only woman he knew was the ugly Jia Qingcheng of the capital. "Master, what's wrong? We should be going now." Seeing him staring blankly, Hu Ba urged him to catch up with the procession. Pei Wuliang could only leave reluctantly, but he was unwilling to let it go. When had such a stunningly beautiful woman appeared in the capital without his knowledge? "Hu Ba, go find out later—where is that young lady marrying to?" Where was she marrying to? Hu Ba found his master's foolish expression rather amusing. "Master, didn't you notice? That young lady is marrying into Chu Wangfu." What? Chu Wangfu? Impossible! Prince Chu was on the verge of death, and Jia Qingcheng had been arranged by him to marry into Chu Wangfu to ward off bad luck. He hadn't heard that Chu Wangfu was taking another stunning beauty as a bride. Could this be the Noble Consort's doing? Right, the Noble Consort—he had heard those servants mention going to see the Noble Consort. But Prince Chu was already at death's door. Why would Princess Consort Chu welcome such a peerless beauty into the residence? And once this woman married in, wouldn't that ugly Jia Qingcheng's days become even harder? At the thought of this, he looked forward to hearing news of Jia Qingcheng. Now that Prince Chu was dying and Chu Wangfu had welcomed a peerless beauty, was there still room for Jia Qingcheng in the residence? Perhaps once Prince Chu died and Jia Qingcheng was pushed aside by this stunning woman, she would finally remember how well he had treated her. This time, let's see how she could still be so stubborn with him. It was a pity about that beauty, though—she would marry Prince Chu and become a widow. But soon, he overheard passersby gossiping, saying that the woman just now was Jia Qingcheng, the eldest daughter of the Jia family? He sneered. Jia Qingcheng? Impossible. Jia Qingcheng was so ugly—how could she possibly be that stunning woman from just now? These passersby were spreading rumors. He had lived alongside Jia Qingcheng for years. If it were her, wouldn't he know? At noon, the Jia family's bridal sedan finally arrived at the gates of Chu Wangfu. After Jia Qingcheng emerged, she was carried on the back of the matchmaker into Chu Wangfu. Chunyan was nowhere to be found, and she couldn't lift her veil to look for her. She could only wait until she entered Chu Wangfu before figuring out another way... "She's out, she's out! This bride is truly beautiful. When her veil fell off just now, I saw her clearly—she's nothing short of a peerless beauty!" "It seems Prince Chu has someone he truly loves. Marrying the ugly woman was just to ward off bad luck." "Exactly. Prince Chu must have thought Jia Qingcheng too ugly and looked down on her, so he immediately married a stunning beauty instead." "It looks like the capital's ugliest woman will have a hard time ahead." The crowd said all sorts of things, and every word reached Jia Qingcheng's ears. She remained silent, obediently lying on the matchmaker's back. Soon, she was set down. Though her head was covered by the veil, she knew she had arrived at Prince Chu's bridal chamber. It seemed Prince Chu's condition didn't allow him to come out for the wedding ceremony. So be it. She had married into the household, and she would properly nurse Xiao Zhiheng back to health until he fully recovered. "Princess Consort, we've brought you to the bridal chamber. Prince Chu is unwell, so all the customary formalities have been waived." The matchmaker didn't even recognize her, taking her for another beautiful bride that Prince Chu had married. Jia Qingcheng merely nodded, "Thank you, madam. Please find my maidservant Chunyan for me." Chunyan, the maidservant? The matchmaker didn't concern herself with such matters. She was off to seek the Noble Consort for her reward. "Please wait a moment, she may return shortly." With that, the matchmaker hurriedly took her leave with her attendants. But no sooner had she departed than an anxious voice came from outside, "Miss, Miss, I'm so sorry, this servant arrived late. I was scared to death. Are you alright?" Chunyan had rushed all the way back to Chu Wangfu. She never imagined that something like this would happen on the wedding day—it was utterly baffling. Who gets married in such a crowd? She had nearly been taken to the Pei residence by the Pei family's people. Fortunately, she realized something was wrong and turned back. "Chunyan, I'm fine." "Miss, is it true that the Prince is truly on his last breath?" Jia Qingcheng: "..." Just as she was about to speak, she heard Chunyan sobbing, "This servant has heard that Chu Wangfu has married another stunningly beautiful bride, one whose face is like that of a celestial being. How will we ever get by in the days ahead?" The Prince's impending death was already a tremendous blow—Miss would be widowed upon entering the household. And Pei Wuliang had long since arranged for Miss to be married off as a concubine to the Pei family, where she would suffer at the hands of Song Jiaojiao. Now, Chu Wangfu had taken yet another beautiful bride. She didn't understand—wasn't the Prince about to die? Why marry so many women? Did he even have the fortune to enjoy them? Jia Qingcheng smiled at this, reaching out to gently pat Chunyan's arm, "Don't talk nonsense. What beautiful bride? I haven't heard of such a thing." "It's true, Miss. You don't believe me? Just as I was coming in, I heard the guests talking about it. They said everyone saw that beautiful bride's face, and it was simply..." "What?" Jia Qingcheng wanted to tease Chunyan a little, but she also wished to know how the outside world was spreading the story. Were they saying that Jia Qingcheng was too ugly for Prince Chu's liking, so he had married another beauty to bring back to the residence? "Breathtakingly divine! Miss, I'm sorry, this servant shouldn't be telling you these things. Let me first remove your veil and get you a cup of water."