Chapter 489

At the Li family residence, the atmosphere was lively and bustling. Maidservants came and went, their faces beaming with joy.

Li Tianyou was entertaining guests alongside Lady Yao.

Taking advantage of the crowd's distraction, Xu Qingshi quietly slipped into the back courtyard.

"Listen up, you must guard this door carefully and not let that man in easily, understand?" Jiang Yuanrang instructed several maids from the Banyue Pavilion.

"Eldest Young Master, rest assured, we will hold this last line of defense," said Chuntao, Lady Yao's personal maid.

She had been specially assigned today to guard the entrance of the Banyue Pavilion.

"When the time comes, you must follow my orders and not open the door on your own, got it?" Since Chuntao was Lady Yao's maid, Jiang Yuanrang couldn't fully trust her.

He worried that Lady Yao, eager to marry off her daughter, might not hold out for long.

"Young Master Li, should we prepare some challenges?" A young girl nearby looked at Jiang Yuanrang with sparkling eyes as she asked.

"Of course, we must set some challenges," Jiang Yuanrang replied, determined not to let Xu Heming easily take his sister away.

His sister was one of a kind in this world.

If Xu Heming ever dared to wrong her, he, as her elder brother, would be the first to confront him.

"What if Prince An can't answer them?" Another young girl, brought in to fill the ranks, asked nervously.

After all, her father dared not oppose Prince An. She was merely here today to make up the numbers.

If she angered Prince An because of this, she feared he might later retaliate against her father.

"Which groom doesn't have to pass through many obstacles to claim his bride? Besides, if Prince An holds a grudge over this, it would be far too petty," Jiang Yuanrang said, though he wasn't entirely sure how Xu Heming would react.

Still, he had never heard of a groom taking revenge on those who blocked his way.

"If you ask me, you should just hold the door tightly and not let him in at all," Xu Qingshi interjected, hands on his hips proudly.

"If he can't get in, how can he take the bride out?" A confused young girl looked at Xu Qingshi, finding this little boy somehow familiar.

The other young ladies also didn't understand what connection this boy had to the Li family.

How could he take the bride away if he wasn't allowed inside?

"Just listen to me. I'll tell you when to open the door. Make him scatter more silver coins!" Xu Qingshi's eyes lit up with mischief as he spoke smugly.

"Whose household does this little rascal belong to?" Jiang Yuanrang remarked, surprised that the child was even craftier than him.

Could he be from a rival family of his cheap father?

"I'm naturally from the Li family!" Xu Qingshi declared proudly.

"From the Li family? Which Li family?" Jiang Yuanrang wondered if this might be Li Tianyou’s son.

But he had been back for quite a while and had never seen Li Tianyou with a concubine of any sort.

More importantly, his sister had never mentioned having another brother.

As Jiang Yuanrang studied Xu Qingshi, the boy examined him in return.

"And who are you? You look a bit familiar," Xu Qingshi said, feeling a strange sense of recognition.

He hadn't guessed Li Tianyou because Li Tianyou was older, wore a beard, and children’s minds weren't as quick as adults'.

Still, this looked familiar, though Xu Qingshi couldn't pinpoint why.

"Me? I'm also from the Li family," Jiang Yuanrang found it a bit amusing.

In these times, it wasn't unusual for Li Tianyou to have an illegitimate child.

But it seemed this half-brother was quite favored.

Why else would he boldly try to disrupt his legitimate sister's wedding day?

"From the Li family? How come I've never seen you?" Xu Qingshi frowned.

"Elder Sister Chuntao, is he really from the Li family?" Xu Qingshi looked around and finally spotted a familiar face, then rushed over to ask.

"Little Prince, this is our estate's Eldest Young Master," Chuntao replied, a bit surprised to see Xu Qingshi here, but she answered with a smile.

"Eldest Young Master? Elder Sister Chuntao, you can't open the door on your own, got it?" Xu Qingshi, confused about the title, decided not to dwell on it.

Instead, he urged her not to give any leeway.

He wanted his good father to have to obey him from now on.

Otherwise, he wouldn't let him take the beautiful sister away.

With this thought, he dashed back into the inner chamber.

Inside, Madame Quanfu was washing Li Zhiwei's face.

Li Zhiwei had already changed into her grand red wedding gown.

This was the second time she had worn such a dress.

But this time, the gown was stitched by palace embroiderers, far more ornate than the one the Li family had prepared before.

Even the phoenix crown was heavier.

"After the princess looks this beautiful, the prince won't be able to keep his eyes off her," Madame Quanfu said with a smile.

"Thank you for the kind words, ma'am," Li Zhiwei replied, lowering her head shyly.

The thought of marrying Xu Heming soon made her feel nervous.

“Mother!” ​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​‍Xu Qingshi called out as soon as he heard the woman address Li Zhiwei as the princess, quickly uttering the word “mother.”

At first, Li Zhiwei thought she had misheard. After all, the Prince An’s manor must be incredibly busy at this hour—how could Xu Qingshi possibly be at the Li residence?

“Young Master?” Qinghua exclaimed, startled at the sight of Xu Qingshi.

“Qingshi? Why are you here?” Li Zhiwei turned around to look at him, wondering if Prince An had brought the child along to pick her up.

But she hadn’t heard any firecrackers in the distance.

Was Prince An coming for her so discreetly?

At that thought, Li Zhiwei felt a flicker of unease.

“Hehe, I snuck away. Mother, you look absolutely stunning today,” Xu Qingshi said excitedly, circling around Li Zhiwei.

“Didn’t your father come with you?” Li Zhiwei asked, her voice tinged with worry.

“Father’s here, but I arrived before him. He set out on horseback,” Xu Qingshi said, puzzled as to why Xu Heming, riding a horse, was slower than he was.

“Princess, please don’t fret. Prince An will take a detour around the city before coming to escort the bride,” Madame Quanfu quickly explained with a smile.

“Why?” Xu Qingshi asked, confused.

“The Prince An’s manor is only two streets away from the Li residence. With the princess’s dowry being so generous and the prince bringing so many attendants, if they didn’t circle the capital, the procession would stretch from the Prince An’s manor all the way past the Li residence at least three times over,” Madame Quanfu said. In all her years as a wedding matchmaker, she had never seen a dowry this lavish.

Back when Miss Li married into the Ruan’an Marquis Manor, her dowry of one thousand three hundred items had already been considered extraordinarily generous.

But for her wedding to Prince An, it was said the dowry amounted to a full one thousand six hundred and sixty-six items.

Word had it that this was even after paring it down.

It was probably enough to encircle most of the capital in a single trip.

And not just anyone could be chosen to carry the dowry; they had to be people with both parents still alive.

It was said the prince had to borrow help from various households just to gather enough people for the task.