The Glory After Rebirth [重生之尊荣]

Chapter 412- 414

Chapter 412: The Imperial Wedding (10)

While Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were talking, some of the guests noticed their arrival, so the two of them didn't linger there.

"His Majesty and His Highness approach!" someone announced.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness."

The two of them walked through the crowd of kneeling officials. The imperial garden bristled with lanterns ablaze with glaring light, but all of them seemed to be overshadowed by the great presence of the two of them, as though all the lanterns existed to provide a foil for the two of them and the light from them became brighter after being reflected by the two people.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong walked up to the seats of honor and sat down hand in hand.

"You may rise."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, Your Highness."

All the officials of the Great Wen and members of the diplomatic corps of foreign countries rose to their feet, looking in the direction of Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong sitting in the seats at the top.

"Sit." Yuwen Tong always tended to be clear and concise and dispense with formalities, which had much to do with the fact that he'd started as a military officer.

The guests took their seats according to the seating arrangement. Fortunately this garden was large enough, otherwise it might not be able to hold so many people. However, even so, sitting at the top of a platform, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong still got the impression that the sea of guests in front of them seemed boundless.

Slow wedding music started, and the atmosphere gradually lightened. Everybody's eyes were on Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong. Naturally, more people were sneaking glances at Ling Zhang.

Most people present were quite curious about Ling Zhang. After all, he was the first empress of the Great Wen, a male one, and the emperor cared about and favored him very much. This person was now standing at the top of the social hierarchy in the Great Wen with the incumbent emperor. These people were casting Ling Zhang curious glances for different reasons. Some of them – most of the womenfolk of officials, for instance – were purely curious. They were seated on the other side, and their view was partially blocked by tall bamboos, so they couldn't see Ling Zhang clearly, but because of the privacy provided by these bamboos, they were looking at him very boldly, unaware that Ling Zhang, whose five senses were unnaturally acute, could sense their gaze distinctly.

On the surface Ling Zhang appeared composed, but in fact he'd been feeling discomfited for quite a while.

He also noticed that his aunt was there as well, sitting in the middle of the couple of daughter-in-laws of Yuwen You, looking relaxed and at ease. She should be feeling no discomfort, but she was secretly enjoying his awkwardness as well, her eyes full of amusement she couldn't disguise.

Ling Zhang, "..."

The glances from the womenfolk were bold and searching. Though some of them were mixed with some inexplicable emotions, it didn't change the fact that the motives of the people they were from were fairly pure. In addition, Ling Zhang believed that a man shouldn't be afraid of women's gaze, so he was just a trifle disconcerted and felt no pressure.

Compared with the gaze from the womenfolk, the glances from the crowd of officials and members of the diplomatic corps in front of him struck him as rather thought-provoking. These people were all adept at concealing their feelings, and their true thoughts were much more complicated.

Ling Zhang was a male empress, and also the first empress of the Great Wen, so everybody was very interested in what his way of doing things would be like, especially after Yuwen Tong appointed Jiang Yu and then Zhao Jiusi as Ling Zhang's advisers. All officials were speculating about the emperor's intentions, about how deep Ling Zhang's involvement in state affairs would be in the future, because their emperor didn't seem to mind.