After Transmigrating, the Female Lead Went Dark (GL) - Chapter 23

When the sky had only just begun to turn gray, Zhou Zhuying was hauled out of bed to wash up and dress.

Because her identity was special, she could only be married out from Moshan Sect. Therefore, the step of fetching the bride was omitted. Once the auspicious time arrived, she only needed to go directly with Xiao Xinyue to bow in the wedding ceremony.

So when she was woken up this early, she was a little grumpy. “Isn’t the ceremony in the afternoon? Why wake me this early?”

The wedding matron beside her said, “Although the auspicious time for the ceremony is at the hour of You, the time for you to leave your room is at the beginning of the hour of Si. You still need to wash and dress. If you do not get up earlier, you may miss the auspicious time.”

Zhou Zhuying opened her eyes. “Why am I leaving so early?”

“Naturally, you have to circle the town in a wedding procession so the people in town can share in the joy.”

Zhou Zhuying thought that when they paraded through the streets, she should be sitting inside a sedan chair and could still catch up on sleep. So for now, they could fuss over her however they liked!

She obediently sat in front of the bronze mirror and let others put makeup on her. Then she changed into the bright red wedding attire, and finally, the phoenix crown was placed on her head.

She had to admit, this phoenix crown was truly heavy. As someone whose heaviest hair accessory had only ever been a headband, the weight of the phoenix crown was like having dozens of hairpins stuck into her head. It pressed down on her so that even turning her head slightly felt like a wheel axle had rusted.

Zhou Zhuying regretted it. If she had known earlier, she should have switched with Xiao Xinyue and let herself marry Xiao Xinyue instead. In any case, the two of them were the same sex. Who married whom did not decide who would be the pillow princess.

But at this point, there was no room for her to go back on it.

After she finished dressing, she grew hungry. However, the wedding matron said that before the ceremony, she could not eat. She immediately became unhappy. “Why didn’t you say so earlier? If you had said it earlier, I definitely wouldn’t have gotten married.”

The wedding matron was angered nearly to death by her and said, “This is the custom.”

Unable to eat, the Cult Leader immediately entered a mode where she recognized no relatives. “I’m not from here. How would I know what your customs are? The custom where I’m from is to do whatever you want. Why is getting married even more miserable than going to jail? No wonder people say marriage is a grave. I haven’t even bowed in the ceremony yet, and I’m already about to starve to death.”

The female disciple beside them saw that Zhou Zhuying still dared to throw a tantrum at a time like this and said angrily, “Your Demon Sect has always ignored rules and etiquette. Today, since you are marrying our Saintess, you must follow the etiquette of our righteous path.”

The Cult Leader sighed. On the day of her wedding, she did not have a single person from her maternal family. Everyone around her belonged to the in-laws. Just thinking about it felt suffocating.

Fortunately, she was optimistic. As long as she did not deliberately dwell on this bit of loneliness, she would slowly set it aside.

“Can I eat some fruit?” she compromised.

The wedding matron was just about to answer when Xiao Xinyue cleared her throat at the door. “Ahem!”

The Cult Leader had already seen her in the bronze mirror. Because of the weight of the phoenix crown, she was simply too lazy to turn her head and only called out, “Sister Saintess!”

“Saintess, why are you here?” the wedding matron and the female disciple hurriedly asked.

“I came to take a look.” Xiao Xinyue smiled faintly.

The wedding matron said, “This seems rather against the rules.”

“Our marriage does not have many rules to begin with. Everyone here is one of our own, so let us be more casual!” Xiao Xinyue said. She glanced at the Cult Leader and waved her hand. “Go attend to other things first. I have something to discuss with the Cult Leader.”

Thinking that behind this wedding was an important matter concerning the righteous and evil paths, the wedding matron and the female disciple did not hesitate. They left one after another and thoughtfully closed the door behind them.

Xiao Xinyue quickly walked behind the Cult Leader, took out a wrapped bundle from her robes, and said, “Cult Leader, do not be angry. I brought you food.”

Zhou Zhuying smelled meat buns and hurriedly turned around. As a result, with this twist, she nearly sprained her neck. Holding the phoenix crown steady, she turned back and saw the meat buns wrapped in lotus leaves in Xiao Xinyue’s hands. Her eyes instantly lit up. “Ah, they’re soup dumplings! But this doesn’t smell like ordinary pork filling. What meat is inside?”

“Mutton. The mutton was also prepared with a special cooking method, so it will not leave much of a smell after eating,” Xiao Xinyue said with a smile.

These soup dumplings were just the right size. After they cooled slightly, in order not to rub off her lip rouge, Zhou Zhuying simply opened her mouth wide and ate them one by one.

After eating two, she did not forget to pick one up and bring it to Xiao Xinyue’s lips. Xiao Xinyue smiled. “I have already eaten. These are all for the Cult Leader.”

Zhou Zhuying’s mood instantly became even better. Suddenly, her attention shifted from the soup dumplings to Xiao Xinyue. She had originally thought Xiao Xinyue would be dressed like a groom, but when she looked carefully, she discovered that this was not the case.

Although Xiao Xinyue’s wedding attire was different in cut and style from hers, it was clearly a women’s style. Zhou Zhuying’s was in the style of a front-opening ruqun, while Xiao Xinyue’s was a cross-collar ruqun with a large red gauze outer robe, so at first glance, it seemed like men’s clothing.

Most importantly, Xiao Xinyue was also wearing a phoenix crown, though its style was simpler than Zhou Zhuying’s and did not look as heavy.

However, Zhou Zhuying could tell Xiao Xinyue had drawn her brows, applied powder, and put on lip rouge, because at this moment, she carried a little more cosmetic fragrance than usual. But wasn’t that why she was the female lead? Even with makeup on, her face was still so outstanding. Just one look at her felt as if one had tasted what it meant to love someone.

Seeing Zhou Zhuying staring fixedly at her, Xiao Xinyue asked in confusion, “What is the Cult Leader looking at?”

“Sister Saintess, you are especially beautiful today!” Zhou Zhuying said sincerely.

Xiao Xinyue was stunned, then amused. “There was no sugar added to the buns. Why did the Cult Leader’s mouth suddenly become so sweet?”

“It isn’t because of the buns! As long as I think about Sister Saintess’s beautiful appearance being seen by other people too, even food tastes like wax.”

Xiao Xinyue automatically interpreted this as the Cult Leader being jealous.

She smiled and said, “They can only look at me for one day, but the Cult Leader and I will be together morning and night. From now on, day after day and night after night, you can enjoy me all to yourself. Thinking of it that way, does the Cult Leader feel better?”

Zhou Zhuying’s heart suddenly opened up. Right, after she married the female lead, the female lead would be hers! She would be a little magnanimous and let those people take a look this once!

As soon as the Cult Leader became happy, she brought the soup dumpling to Xiao Xinyue’s lips again. This time, Xiao Xinyue did not refuse. She bit half of it, and some of her lip rouge stained the remaining half.

For some reason, the Cult Leader thought again of that kiss from that day. Then, thinking that tonight would be their bridal chamber and wedding-candle night, she became slightly nervous. Her face felt hot, and she forgot that the remaining half of the soup dumpling in her hand had been left by Xiao Xinyue. She directly put it into her own mouth.

Xiao Xinyue was just about to remind her, but seeing that she seemed distracted, she simply swallowed the words back down.

The wedding matron’s voice sounded from outside the door. “Saintess, the auspicious time has arrived. We cannot delay any longer.”

Xiao Xinyue and Zhou Zhuying both came back to themselves.

“I understand.” Xiao Xinyue was just about to leave when Zhou Zhuying suddenly grabbed her, picked up her own lip rouge, and handed it to her. “Touch it up.”

Xiao Xinyue remained motionless and let Zhou Zhuying apply the lip rouge for her.

Zhou Zhuying’s fingertip brushed over her lips with just the right pressure, carefully spreading the lip rouge over every corner of her lips. Xiao Xinyue looked at her serious and focused expression. There seemed to be flowing light in her eyes, and her joy even reached the tips of her brows.

“All done.” Zhou Zhuying looked at her work with satisfaction, then watched Xiao Xinyue leave.

After the wedding matron and the female disciple came in, they saw the lotus leaves still left on the table. How could they not guess what Xiao Xinyue had come here to do?

They sighed helplessly. Forget it. Neither of the two newlyweds cared whether these actions were unlucky or not, so why were they worrying blindly?

—

Once the auspicious time arrived, Xiao Xinyue came to the door of Zhou Zhuying’s room surrounded by a group of Moshan Sect disciples. There were already quite a few disciples there playing the role of door-blockers. According to the original ritual, these disciples would pretend to stop her and symbolically make things difficult for Xiao Xinyue.

However, when they discovered that Moshan Sect’s Fifth Elder, Zhuo Zidan, was also mixed in among them, blocking the door became truly blocking the door.

Zhuo Zidan said, “If the Saintess can defeat me, I will let you in.”

Everyone looked at one another. Who did not know that in the entire sect, aside from the Sect Master, the Fifth Elder’s martial arts were the highest? If not for his powerful martial arts, even after being recruited by the Saintess, it would not have been his turn to become an elder at such a young age.

“Then I ask Elder to be merciful.” Xiao Xinyue still wore a warm smile on her face, as if she could not see that Zhuo Zidan was truly intending to stop her from marrying Zhou Zhuying.

Zhuo Zidan did not speak. But as his true qi released outward, everyone immediately felt a wave of pressure. Disciples with slightly weaker martial arts discovered that their heartbeats had already sped up, as if they were somewhat unable to bear the burden.

True qi was unique to their cultivation world. It was also the source energy of cultivation. Without true qi, one could not speak of stepping onto the path of cultivation. Once Zhuo Zidan possessed true qi, the gap between his status and that of ordinary people was like a natural chasm.

Therefore, when Zhuo Zidan released true qi outward, unless one was also a cultivator with true qi or an expert with over a hundred years of internal force, ordinary people would find it very difficult to withstand.

Xiao Xinyue’s expression did not change at all. She removed her large red gauze outer robe, took off her phoenix crown, and cupped her hands. “Elder, please make your move.”

Zhuo Zidan frowned and withdrew his true qi. “Since you are not using it, then I will not use it either.”

After saying this, he suddenly attacked Xiao Xinyue.

Although he did not use a weapon, the moment he attacked, he carried a sharp and fierce aura that ordinary people absolutely could not withstand. But Xiao Xinyue responded with ease, and she even looked as if she still had strength to spare. Everyone who saw it sighed. “As expected of the Saintess. She actually lasted five moves under the Fifth Elder.”

Seeing that Xiao Xinyue still had not used her full strength, Zhuo Zidan felt slightly annoyed in his heart. He could not help becoming serious as well, as if the person before him were an enemy he had to defeat.

The smile on Xiao Xinyue’s face faded slightly, and her expression became serious too.

At this moment, Zhou Zhuying inside the room heard the commotion outside. Then, hearing the disciples discussing it, she was immediately shocked. Holy crap, the male lead and female lead started fighting?

How could that be allowed? The male lead was a cultivator. If he got serious and hurt the female lead, what would they do?

She also knew that perhaps the male lead was unwilling to watch the girl he loved marry someone else, so out of jealousy, he had done something irrational. But right now, her carefree life depended on clinging to the female lead’s thigh. If something happened to the female lead and she fell into the male lead’s hands, wouldn’t she only have one ending—being sliced like a watermelon?

Thinking this, she immediately ran out and shouted, “Elder Zhuo, are you on my side? Just fighting casually is fine. If you get serious, I really won’t be able to marry out!”

With this interruption, the originally tense atmosphere instantly relaxed. Some disciples laughed out loud in amusement. Other disciples said to her, “Why are you not reserved at all?”

Zhou Zhuying was not embarrassed in the slightest and said with perfect confidence, “Being able to marry Sister Saintess is a blessing I cultivated over several lifetimes. I wish I could marry her sooner. If I act reserved at a time like this, who knows, this blessing might run away!”

Author’s Note:

Cult Leader: I’m laying my cards on the table. I’m not pretending anymore. I just can’t wait to marry the female lead!

Door-blocking disciples: Originally, we didn’t want to really block the door. Now we kind of do.