Chapter 32: A Fine Horse Meets a Good Judge of Horses, and a Swift Steed Encounters a Skilled Charioteer.

  Last time, County Master Li Chun explained the reason for the alliance and handed over his daughter's engagement letter to Yue Anren.

  Yue Anren listened to Li Chun's words and felt that they were also reasonable, and the court affairs should be so. He took over the letter and opened it to take a look, but found that the birthdate written on it was exactly the same as Yue Fei's four pillars. Yue Anren exclaimed: "This young lady and Fei'er were born in the same year, month, day and time, isn't this 'marriage predestined'!" After finishing speaking, his eyes looked at Zhou Tong.

  Zhou Tong had just heard Li Chun's words and wanted to refute them, but for a moment he couldn't find a reason. After thinking for a while, he finally came up with the four words "taking advantage of the fire to loot". On the other side, Yue An had already said "marriage is predestined" . The queen's words were as precious as jade, Zhou Tong was helpless and could only nod in agreement.

  Li Chun saw this and thought to take advantage of the situation, lest there be many dreams in a long night. He then said to Yue Anren: "In these chaotic times, everything should be simple. Let's get married three days from now, and half a month later, Fei'er will have to go to Beijing for his examination."

  Yue An nodded in agreement: "Let's do it according to your family's wishes." After finishing speaking, she walked down from her seat, found a pen and ink, as well as red paper, and made a formal engagement letter for Yue Fei. Then, she took off a jade bracelet from her wrist and handed it over to Li Chun, saying: "This bracelet was given to me by the Empress Dowager when I first entered the palace. Let's use this as the token of engagement for Fei."

  Li Chun was satisfied in his heart and invited the village elders who were waiting outside to enter the house, announcing the good news. Then he bid farewell to everyone and returned to the city.

  The county magistrate's marriage alliance is a top priority in the village, and the three officials and the elders of the village were busy at Yue Anren's place for half a day before leaving.

  Yue Fei waited until the room was quiet before hastily asking his mother why she had agreed to the marriage proposal from Li County Magistrate again.

  Yue An grabbed Yue Fei's hand and said, "Son, you've grown up, it's time to tell you the truth." Then he told him everything from start to finish.

  Yue An's words left Yue Fei stunned, it turned out he was still a prince. Things had changed too quickly, Yue Fei looked at his master seeking help. Zhou Tong had a helpless expression.

  "Child, it's common for men to have three wives and four concubines. What more can be said about the imperial family? If you truly love that Nie girl, making her a wife is also acceptable."

  Yue Fei suddenly remembered that things had happened suddenly and he hadn't explained to Niece yet. After bidding farewell to his mother and master, he hastily walked out of the house to find Niece and make things clear.

  Arriving at Niece's room, but seeing it empty and bare, all the luggage had already been taken away. Yue Fei's heart was in a flurry, he rushed to Master Zhi Ming and Spring Chou's room to take a look, and it was the same. Yue Fei hastily called over the neighboring villagers to ask, and it turned out that Niece and the other two had left for more than two hours already.

  Yue Fei asked Li Jiao Tou for a fast horse and galloped wildly to Qilin Mountain, hoping they could be at Qilin Mountain.

  Two hours later, Yue Fei climbed up Mount Qilin and asked Luan Tingyu, but Nie Gongzhuang and the other two did not come up the mountain. Yue Fei felt a pang in his heart, so he stayed overnight on the mountain, hoping to wait for them.

  One sleepless night, Yue Fei couldn't wait for Niece. With a hollow heart, he had to return to Qilin Village.

  In the small courtyard of Yue Anren, there were only three rooms. Yue Anren had already cleaned up the largest room on the left and prepared it as a new bridal chamber. Fortunately, Wang, Tang, and Zhang, the three officials, called in many servants to help, so it wasn't too tiring. It had been a long time since Yue Anren's place was so lively, and his face flushed with excitement. It seems that the auspicious wedding is indeed reasonable.

  Three days passed quickly. After Yue Fei got up to practice his skills and returned, he was called back by Yue Anren to dress up and put on the big red new groom's attire to go to Huang County to welcome the bride.

  The county master's daughter getting married is a big deal, Yue Fei didn't have much of an opinion, and just went along with the arrangements made by those relatives and villagers. In short, everywhere was lively and joyful, filled with happy voices and laughter.

  Yue Fei didn't know how many rituals had passed, he kowtowed several times, ate a few bowls of rice, drank a few bowls of wine. In the end, he dazedly entered the bridal chamber.

  Entering the bridal chamber, I saw a new person sitting by the round table, wearing a phoenix coronet and a cloud-patterned sash, with a veil covering their face, making it impossible to discern their features.

  Yue Fei thought of his bitter heart and ignored the newlyweds. He took off his outer garment, spread it on the ground, and fell asleep in his clothes.

  The new bride heard Yue Fei enter the room, her heart racing with anxiety. But after a long time without any movement, she lifted up the curtain to take a look and saw that Yue Fei had already fallen asleep. She couldn't help but feel both anxious and annoyed. As the night wore on, exhausted and sleepy, she fell asleep with her head on the table.

  Yue Fei woke up from his sleep and saw the new recruit sleeping with his head on the table. He felt a little ashamed in his heart, but didn't wake him up. Instead, he went to practice his skills at Zhou Tong's place by himself.

  The newcomer woke up, saw that Yue Fei was no longer there, and had to change her clothes to go to the main hall to pay respects to Yue Anren. That Li family's young lady was a clever and virtuous person, in just half a day, she had already served Yue Anren with comfort and joy. Yue Anren had secrets of his own, so he never dared to use outsiders, for over a decade, all big and small matters were handled personally by him. Now that the daughter-in-law was so clever, he was also delighted.

  For three consecutive days, Yue Fei slept alone. Miss Li was also stubborn and didn't speak to anyone about it. She just silently shed tears.

  Three days later, Yue Fei called for a sedan chair to send Miss Li back to the county town. Yue Fei didn't want to go with her at first, but after being scolded by his wife, he had no choice but to accompany her obediently.

  Entering the city, they arrived at the county master's residence, where County Master Li was already waiting at the gate.

  Miss Li went to the inner house to talk with her mother, while Li Chun stayed in the front hall chatting with Yue Fei.

  Li Chun and Yue Fei had just exchanged a few words when they suddenly heard the sound of neighing horses from next door.

  Yue Fei said: "This whinny is a good horse! I wonder where this horse is?"

  Li Chun was a bit skeptical: "The son-in-law only heard the sound and had never seen the horse, how did he know it was a good horse?"

  Yue Fei said: "Sir, haven't you heard that this horse's neigh is loud and clear, it must be very powerful, so I say it's a good one."

  Li Chun felt relieved when Yue Fei addressed him in such a manner, and replied: "Brother-in-law is indeed correct. This horse was bought back by my family from the north just two days ago. It's extremely ferocious and has boundless strength, kicking and biting people randomly, no one can tame it, so we had to lock it up in this stable next door."

  Yue Fei asked: "Why don't you go take a look with your son-in-law?"

  Li Chun smiled and replied: "I'm afraid it's hard to bring it down! If it can be brought down, then I'll give it to my son-in-law."

  Li Chun and Yue Fei walked out of the front hall, calling a groom to take Yue Fei to the stable, then turned around and returned to the inner courtyard to see his daughter.

  The groom led Yue Fei to the stable, opened the door, and Yue Fei walked straight into the stable. The groom shouted: "Master Yue! Be extremely careful, this horse can hurt people."

  Yue Fei looked at the horse from head to tail several times from a distance, took off his outer garment, and walked towards the horse.

  The horse saw someone approaching and, without waiting for Yue Fei to get close, lifted its hooves and kicked wildly. Just as Yue Fei dodged to the side, the horse turned its head back around, opened its mouth and bit. Yue Fei dodged again, took advantage of the momentum, grabbed a handful of mane, raised his palm and struck several times in a row. The horse felt pain and no longer dared to move.

  The outcome is unknown, let's wait and see how it unfolds next time.