The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

Chapter 405 Wedding Ceremony

The two people hold the two ends of the red hydrangea, which means eternal love.

In order to take care of the bride, Zhang Pingan walked very slowly on purpose.

To be honest, today's wedding banquet was even more grand than the previous Juren banquet. Many wealthy families in Lin'an, who were completely unfamiliar to us, sent people to come and congratulate us.

Neighbors also sent nice gifts.

Almost all the classmates from the provincial school and the Imperial College came, including Ye Xiaoshu.

However, Master Lu did not come, he only sent someone to deliver a gift. There were too many acquaintances at such occasions and too many people to deal with. He felt tired and it was not quiet enough.

Zhang Ping'an can only wait a few days until he returns to the provincial school to visit again!

The status of most of the guests was much higher than that at the Juren Banquet.

It can also be seen from here that the current circle is completely different. There is a huge difference between having someone to lead you and going it alone.

As soon as the two entered the door, the crowd suddenly became noisy, with all the words of well-intentioned blessings.

Zhang Ping'an's face was almost frozen from smiling as he dealt with the guests along the way. He didn't know many of them, but fortunately, Lin Junhui and others helped him a lot.

It took more than two quarters of an hour before he finally arrived at the main hall.

The bride followed quietly and obediently behind.

She had her own dowry of maids and servants, more than sixty in number. The one supporting her at the moment was a close wet nurse, so Zhang Ping'an felt relatively relieved.

Zhang Laoer and Xu had already been sitting at the head of the main hall, feeling a little nervous.

The wedding ceremony was presided over by a ceremonial officer, a respected local gentleman invited by Zhang Ping'an. The other party was very willing to help with this matter, which was both festive and could bring the two families closer together.

After the two entered the main hall, the ceremonial officer guided them to burn incense to heaven, earth and ancestors to express their respect.

Then they stood at the side and sang "Bow to Heaven and Earth", which required the two newlyweds to pay their respects to the tablets of Heaven and Earth and thank them for their cooperation.

The next step is to pay respect to parents twice to express gratitude for their upbringing.

Zhang Laoer and Xu were very excited, their voices trembling slightly as they said, "Good, good, good boy!"

Then let the two of them stand up.

The bride staggered when she stood up, which made Zhang Ping'an feel nervous, but fortunately she was fine in the end.

The last part is "husband and wife bowing to each other", Zhang Ping'an and the bride bow to each other, symbolizing mutual respect and love.

After the couple bows to each other, they are sent to the bridal chamber as everyone knows.

The people watching the ceremony around them started to boo even louder.

Amidst the well-intentioned cheering, the bride was helped back to her bridal chamber by the nanny and maid.

Normally, there should be a disturbance in the bridal chamber, but this marriage was special and Dazhu and his friends absolutely did not dare to do so. Lin Junhui and others heard that the woman was in poor health and had no intention of causing a disturbance, so this step was skipped.

"I'll let you go today," Lin Junhui said with a smile.

"Thank you very much," Zhang Pingan was indeed relieved.

Wedding pranks are terrible, especially in the countryside. They dare to use any kind of food or drink. If the groom does not have some courage and independence, the bride will suffer a lot. Zhang Ping'an has seen a lot of them before, which makes him have a very bad impression of wedding pranks. This kind of corrupted custom should be banned!

The bride went back to her bridal chamber to wait, while Zhang Ping'an had to stay to continue entertaining the guests. He could only go back to his room after the wedding banquet was over in the evening and the guests had left.

It was still early and it was impossible to let the bride go hungry for the whole afternoon, so the sisters Da Ya and Er Ya brought the specially cooked wedding noodles to see the bride.

When he reached the door of the room, he was stopped by one of the maids that came with Miss Qian's dowry.

However, the other party was indeed trained by a wealthy family, and spoke very beautifully: "This old servant would like to thank the ladies for their concern on behalf of the young lady. It is a blessing for our young lady to have such kind and thoughtful ladies like you. However, my young lady is a little shy and has rarely seen guests since she was a child. I am afraid she needs to adapt to it as a new marriage. Just give me this side, I will bring it in to the young lady, she will definitely be happy!"

"What do you mean? We are all women, and nuns at that. There is no problem. Is it not possible for us to meet?" Erya frowned.

Wu Ya and Liu Ya also frowned slightly, but didn't say anything.

Daya gently pulled Erya, signaling her not to say anything more, and said softly, "It's normal for a new bride to be shy. We've all been through this before, so we understand! Thanks for troubling Madam!"

"Aunt, please don't be so polite. I have served the young lady all my life. This is what I should do," said the nanny with a smile.

After saying that, he took the tray.

Then he asked the maid to lead a few people back to the side yard where the female relatives were having the feast.

With the maid present, the sisters remained silent.

After sitting down, Erya snorted slightly, "Our sister-in-law is really a big deal!"

"Don't talk nonsense. She is a rich lady, and there is a world of difference between her and us," Daya admonished in a low voice.

"No matter how noble she was in the past, she is married now," Wu Ya muttered.

"Second sister, fifth sister, that's not what I meant. You all saw the ten miles of red wedding today. This marriage is a marriage of high status for our family. Don't talk nonsense and cause trouble for me. It doesn't really matter whether you see the bride or not," Liu Ya advised slowly.

Seeing that the fifth sister wanted to say something else, she paused before continuing, "After all, we are married out, so it's not our place to get involved in our parents' affairs. Besides, this isn't a big deal. If there were any conflicts, our parents wouldn't stand on our side, and we'd be embarrassed then!"

Daya nodded, with some admiration in her eyes: "Sixth daughter sees it clearly! That's the truth!"

Erya thought about it and realized that her temper came and went quickly. She quickly put the matter behind her and concentrated on eating.

After hearing this, Wu Ya became even more depressed. She had no status in either her natal family or her husband's family. She felt like neither of them belonged to her, and she felt a little uncomfortable.

The wedding was a lively affair and ended around 3 p.m.

The return gift was also arranged by the housekeeper, who is now responsible for all purchasing expenses in the mansion.

Zhang Laoer and Xu can just be hands-off managers.

Zhang Lao Da, Zhang Lao San and Xu Xiaojiu are the direct elders, while Da Ya, Er Ya, Wu Ya and Liu Ya are aunts. Even though the gifts given by the families are relatively small, the housekeeper still prepared generous return gifts according to etiquette.

Of course, this abundance is relative.

There were plenty of good snacks and fine fabrics, as well as a complete set of exquisite Ru kiln porcelain and a jar of good tea.

All in all, each family earned nearly twenty taels of silver.

This was decided by the housekeeper after much deliberation and after carefully checking the gift list based on the amount of the gift money. It really couldn't be any less.

But in the eyes of Zhang Lao Da and his family, this was a pie in the sky. The gift was too generous. Even if they didn't know much, they knew that these things were worth a lot of money.

At this moment, Zhang Lao Da, Zhang Lao San and Xu Xiaojiu were all thinking about finding a chance to sell the things for cash tomorrow. Silver was the most practical thing, and it would be a waste to let them use these good things.

The return gifts from other guests were glass ornaments with good meanings and exquisite shapes. Even the boxes they were put in were made of rosewood.

Zhang Laoer and Xu were heartbroken when they saw this, but they said nothing.

The biggest advantage of these two people is that they know their own strengths and weaknesses. It is best to speak less in today's occasion to avoid making a fool of themselves for their son.

It would be fine if they couldn't help, but they absolutely couldn't hold their son back.

After all the guests had left, Zhang Pingan collapsed in his chair and tiredly ordered the butler, "Ask the kitchen to make me a bowl of hangover soup and bring me some food!"