People who attend the ceremony generally include the bride's sister-in-law, the matchmaker, the groom's sister-in-law, and the groom's brothers.
Even if the man and woman know each other, they have to find a matchmaker, so after the Liu and Su families discussed it, they found Su Tiantian's aunt Shi Xiaoqin to be the matchmaker.
If the groom's sister-in-law is not a close relative, then look for a close relative. If there is no close relative, look for a cousin. Liu Jingze looked for his cousin Ren Zhenghong's wife, his second cousin Ruan Lebing.
The groom’s brothers do not have to be biological brothers, friends can also be accepted, but both parents must be alive. Liu Jingze found Zheng Ziyang, Xiao Boyang, Ren Zhengxuan, and Ren Zhengyu.
Female elders were also required. Apart from Grandma Lu, the Liu family had no female elders, no aunts, or cousins, so they invited four grandmothers-in-law who were good friends with Grandma Lu in the village, as well as her eldest cousin Ren Zhengmin.
Miaojie, the eldest aunt, looked at the candidates for female elders and said tactfully, "For the male's female elder, it's best to find a relative, someone of a higher generation. As the saying goes, there are uncles in heaven and uncles on earth. Isn't it said that the groom has four uncles? Then you can ask your aunt to go."
Grandma Lu said, "Miaojie, you don't know that Jingze's uncle and aunt are from Kuoshan City, a five-hour drive from here. They have different customs and languages. Three of the aunts don't speak the local language very well, so we asked Jingze's eldest cousin to come. She's used to situations and knows how to handle the social etiquette."
The aunt suddenly understood.
There are 12 people in this group, so three cars are just right. However, my aunt said that the number of cars for a big gift should be even.
An even number? Easy, two seven-seater SUVs are just right. Seeing Liu Jingze make a call, two SUVs arrived within five minutes. Even the aunt, who was used to all kinds of wedding scenes, blamed herself for making a fuss.
Everyone in the village knew that the Liu family was rich. If it weren't for the fact that Grandma Lu and the Su family liked to follow the village customs, the wedding might have been planned by a wedding company.
Before one o'clock in the afternoon, two cars arrived at the Su family's house.
I saw that a wedding tent had been set up on the road facing several neighbors' houses near Su's house. People in the countryside set up tents like this when they hold wedding banquets at home. The sound of firecrackers rang out, and the man's people stopped the car not far from Su's house and got out.
Everyone picked up the items they were supposed to take and walked towards the Su family. Walking in front was the second cousin-in-law Ruan Lebing, who was holding a double happiness box.
The custom here is "sister-in-law receives the box", which roughly means that the man's sister-in-law holds the double happiness box and hands it to the woman's sister-in-law with both hands before entering the woman's door and stepping over the threshold of the door.
The eldest sister-in-law stood by and said loudly: "Please ask the bride's sister-in-law to come over and take the box. First bow, then take it with both hands." Su Tiantian did not kiss her sister-in-law. It was the eldest sister-in-law Lu Minhong who took the box.
Both sides followed the traditional customs and performed all the etiquette. Everyone sat down to drink tea, chat, eat fruits and snacks. Other matters were left to the eldest sister-in-law and the female elders of the Su family, such as Sang Yimei. They had to count whether the gifts were complete and how to return the gifts.
Su Tiantian sat on the chair, and the men's eyes fell on her. Ren Zhengmin took out a jewelry box from her big bag and walked up to Su Tiantian: "Tiantian, right? I'm Jingze's eldest cousin Ren Zhengmin. I've seen your photo."
Su Tiantian stood up a little awkwardly and said, "Hello, cousin."
Ren Zhengxuan and Ren Zhengyu had already stood up and walked quickly to Su Tiantian's side. Ren Zhengxuan whispered, "Cousin, don't be nervous. This is my eldest sister."
Ren Zhengmin has a beautiful and cool temperament. She is 168cm tall and wears 5cm high heels and shoulder-length straight hair, giving people a strong feeling.
She smiled and said, "Ah Xuan, what are you afraid of? Are you afraid that with so many people around, I will bully your cousin's wife?"
Before Ren Zhengxuan could answer, Ren Zhengyu rushed in and said, "Sister Min certainly wouldn't bully my cousin's wife, but my cousin's wife is a bride and will be shy."
Ren Zhengmin said, "Okay, she's shy, so let me finish the job."
Ren Zhengmin opened the jewelry box, and inside were three gold bracelets. She said, "Tiantian, you should know that Jingze has nine cousins. According to custom, those who have fewer brothers and sisters than you and haven't yet divided the family line don't have to give gifts to you and Jingze. But regardless of that, if anyone among the ten of us has a happy event, the other nine will give a gift. So, three of us will get one gold bracelet, and nine of us will get three gold bracelets in total for you."
Ren Zhengxuan said, "I already knew it was a gold bracelet. Anyway, I will just pay my share, no matter what you buy."
Ren Zhengyu said: "There are actually quite a few choices for cars under 100,000 yuan."
Ren Zhengmin said readily, "As for the car, once your cousin's wife gets her driver's license, your cousin will personally take her to buy one. Not to mention a 100,000 yuan car, even a 300,000 yuan one would be worth it. As for the gold bracelet, most women like it, right? Tiantian, do you like it?"
The four mothers-in-law that Grandma Lu called over were all acquaintances of the Su family. They were from the same village and had been in contact with each other for a long time. They spoke directly. One of the mothers-in-law, who was wearing a red printed dress, said, "Of course Tiantian likes it. Jingze's cousins actually gave such an expensive gift."
Another mother-in-law said: "No wonder Jingze likes Tiantian so much. Everyone in the village knows that Tiantian is beautiful, smart, capable and well-educated."
Ren Zhengmin stuffed the box into Su Tiantian's hand and said, "Tiantian, put the gold bracelet away first. If you don't like these styles, let Jingze accompany you to modify them."
Ren Zhengxuan on the side also said: "Cousin, please accept it. When I get married, my cousin and they will also give gifts like this."
Ren Zhengmin complained, "Ah Xuan, you're less than a month younger than Jingze, and you don't even have a girlfriend. How dare you bring me up?"
Ren Zhengxuan said confidently, "Don't worry, I'll definitely let you know when we get married."
I guess if he wasn't in the Su family, Ren Zhengxuan would definitely feel the love from his biological sister.
The female elders called by Sang Yimei included Su Tiantian's aunt, aunt-in-law, aunt-in-law, cousin-in-law, cousin-in-law, and several nearby mothers-in-law. Among them, Grandma Wu lived next door to the Su family and also served as an introducer to Su Tiantian.
Grandma Wu smiled and said, "Aqin is the matchmaker this time, so the matchmaker's red envelope must be quite a lot. You are the matchmaker, and the sister-in-law who receives the wedding is your eldest daughter-in-law. You will attend both the groom's and bride's wedding banquets."
One mother-in-law said, "Tiantian, when you and your husband return home for the third day, when you offer tea to your aunt, ask her to give you a big red envelope. It's her fault that she accepted red envelopes from the matchmakers of your husband's family and your own family."
Su Tiantian smiled but said nothing.
Shi Xiaoqin said loudly, "I was embarrassed to be the matchmaker, but Liangjie came to my house and said I was the most suitable. He said that I was the one who accompanied Jingze's mother to the hospital, and I was also the one who accompanied Tiantian's mother to the hospital. He said that I had seen them born and grew up."
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