Chapter 9: The Sneaky Yuan Brothers (2/2)

After the bride and groom finished bowing to heaven, earth, and their parents, they entered the inner chamber.

Lü Boshe stayed to continue entertaining the guests.

Just then, a shout came from somewhere inside the house.

“Thief! There’s a thief!”

The moment the voice rang out, the celebration turned to chaos.

Guests jumped to their feet, trying to catch the intruder.

Even the groom, upon hearing the commotion, left the bridal chamber and rushed out to help search for the thief.

With the groom drawn away, a young man—eighteen or nineteen years old, dressed in fine clothes and with a sword at his waist—grinned slyly.

His plan had worked.

He silently slipped into the room.

The bride, still inside, looked up in shock when she saw someone enter.

She opened her mouth, about to scream.

The young man drew his sword and threatened her with a fierce tone.

“Come with me, or I’ll kill you!”

The bride, terrified, could only nod and tremble, following him as they climbed out the window and left the Lü household.

Outside, after an extensive search, it became clear that there had been no thief after all.

The shout had simply been someone’s idea of a prank.

The groom returned to the room, his face showing mild annoyance—only to discover that his bride had disappeared.

“……”

He stood frozen for two or three seconds before the realization hit him: someone had abducted his bride.

That earlier shout had been a classic bait-and-switch tactic.

Panicking, he ran outside and shouted, “We’ve been tricked! We’ve been tricked!”

Lü Boshe waved his hand impatiently.

“What are you fussing about now?”

“We’ve been tricked!” the groom snapped, slapping his palm angrily.

“I just went back inside, and the bride—Zhengjun—she’s gone!”

“What!?”

Lü Boshe jumped to his feet in shock.

In the Han dynasty, there wasn’t much difference between men’s and women’s names—both typically had single-character given names.

However, when addressing women, people often added the suffix “jun” after their names.

So the “Zhengjun” the groom referred to was actually the bride’s name.

If Miss Mengde were to marry one day, people would call her Cao jun.

Of course, considering that Miss Mengde had been a man in her previous life, there was no way she would get married after spending just a few years as a little girl.

Impossible!

Absolutely impossible!

At this moment, Lü Boshe also realized that the earlier cries about a robbery at home had merely been a ruse—a diversion tactic.

He stomped his foot in regret.

“Ugh! We’ve been tricked! And you—why did you run out from the inner room just now?”

“I just wanted to help catch the thief…”

“And you’re still talking back!”

Lü Boshe glared fiercely at his son.

The groom lowered his head guiltily at the sight, while Miss Mengde couldn’t help but interject upon seeing the two of them arguing even in a situation like this.

“Lü Bobo, if you keep wasting time arguing, the thief might already be running far away with the bride.”

“You’re right—absolutely right!”

Lü Boshe finally came to his senses and began calling out to the guests at the banquet.

“Everyone, go catch the thief! Please, help us catch the thief! If anyone catches them, I, Lü, will be forever grateful!”

The guests at the wedding banquet were all acquaintances of Lü Boshe, so naturally, they nodded in agreement to his request.

Even Mengde wanted to help.

She stepped forward, cupped her hands politely, and said: “Lü Bobo, let us help as well. We have fast horses and can quickly search the outskirts of the village. The others can continue searching inside. What do you think?”

“Yes, yes, that sounds perfect!” Lü Boshe thanked her repeatedly, bowing as he did so.

“I’m truly grateful, Miss.”

“What’s there to thank me for? Didn’t you already treat us to a wedding feast?”

Mengde smiled at Lü Boshe, then rushed out with the brothers Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, as well as more than a dozen guards.

***

Meanwhile, Lü Boshe’s son came up beside him and asked, “Father, do you think that Miss Mengde might be the one who kidnapped Zhengjun? After all, her group are the only outsiders who came to our house today…”

Lü Boshe gave his son an annoyed glare.

“Why would Miss Mengde steal your wife? She doesn’t need her!”

“Ah… y-you’re right…”

After hearing his father’s words, the young man finally realized that Mengde was a girl.

Even if she did steal his wife, it wouldn’t be of any use.

And if it turned out that one of Mengde’s people had done the stealing, then it was most likely done without Mengde’s knowledge.

***

On the other side, Mengde and her party arrived at the stables, mounted their horses, and began searching the area outside the village.

Naturally, Miss Mengde knew how to ride.

She had started learning horseback riding at the age of eight.

However, she usually didn’t enjoy riding horses and preferred traveling by carriage.

After all, in this era, saddles weren’t well developed—riding for long periods could chafe one’s thighs.

Miss Mengde definitely didn’t want to end up with bowlegs in the future!

Mengde was paired up with Xiahou Yuan.

His eyesight was incredible—if he had taken a vision test in her previous life, he’d probably score something like 5.3.

So even though it was nighttime, Xiahou Yuan was still able to clearly make out the surrounding terrain.

He spotted two suspicious figures in the distance—dragging what looked like a young woman as they ran.

“There! The thieves are over there!”

Xiahou Yuan shouted to Mengde.

Hearing his voice, the two figures instantly picked up their pace.

But perhaps because they were running in such a panic, they failed to notice the uneven ground.

One of the thieves suddenly tripped and fell headfirst into a bush on the side of the road, where he became stuck and couldn’t get out.

“Ashu! Help me out!”

“Big bro, why do you always mess up at the worst possible time!?”

“How should I know!?”

The two thieves seemed to be brothers.

The younger one grumbled before hurriedly grabbing the older one’s hands and trying to pull him free from the bushes.

Mengde and Xiahou Yuan were both on horseback, so they quickly closed the distance once the two thieves had stopped.

When they got close enough, Mengde could clearly see the rich, luxurious clothes the two men were wearing.

Judging by their age, they were probably around twenty.

Both had refined and elegant demeanors.

“Ashu…”

Hearing that name from the older thief, Mengde suddenly recalled what he had called the younger one.

‘Could it be—Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu?’

As the possibility struck her, the corner of her mouth twitched.

‘Seriously? Members of the prestigious Yuan family, a clan that’s produced high-ranking officials for four generations—and this is what they’re doing at their age? Petty theft?’

She let out a helpless sigh and decided to help things along by doing what she called her “push-the-plot-along knight” routine.

Mengde called out loudly into the open area: “The thieves are over here!”

Startled, the thief stuck in the bushes thrashed about in panic until he finally managed to break free.

The two brothers then took off running together as fast as they could, leaving the bride behind.

Mengde walked up to the bride, who was still shaken, and gently reassured her.

About half a kè later, Lü Boshe and his guests arrived and took the frightened bride back home.

Mengde politely cupped her hands and apologized to Lü Boshe.

“Apologies—we let the thieves get away.”

“It’s fine. The fact that you were able to bring Zhengjun back is more than enough. I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Lü Boshe said with a smile, trying to comfort her.

“As for those thieves, if we can’t catch them, so be it…”

“Alright then.”

Mengde nodded slightly, appearing resigned.

And just like that, the little incident during the Lü family wedding came to a close.