Chapter 112 Wedding Ceremony and Matchmaker's Gift
Yu Cai and Peng Ximing's wedding was set for the fifth day of the third lunar month.
Not close, but not far either.
A month is enough time for both companies to make full preparations.
Although Yu Cai lived in the county town after her marriage, she still had to show her face at the Peng family's house, otherwise it would be too disrespectful to the Peng family.
As arranged by Wu Fulang, the two got married at Wu's house, and then returned to Peng's house to hold a banquet to meet Peng's relatives and friends.
So, the two hundred taels of silver were eventually taken back by Mr. and Mrs. Peng.
They planned to use the money to build a house and hold a banquet.
Such a big matter could not be handled entirely by Peng's parents, so Peng Ximing dropped out of school and went home to build a house.
He didn't tell Yu Cai beforehand, but Yu Cai didn't say anything after she found out.
Going to the county school was very simple; all you had to do was pay tuition.
Since he doesn't have time to study right now, he should just drop out of school.
Yu Cai was quite busy; he tidied up all the jewelry and fabrics from the two side rooms.
What should be integrated should be integrated, and what should be given away should be given away.
Like the children of Peng Xiaomei, Peng Ershu, Peng Dajiu, and Peng Erjiu's family, take them and wear them to play with.
Peng Xiaomei was flattered and overjoyed.
She was twenty years old and had never owned any jewelry. When she received the hairpins, ornaments, and bracelets from Yu Cai, she couldn't wait to put them on and then stood in front of the water vat admiring herself—her family didn't have a mirror.
But this didn't dampen her spirits at all. Her new brother-in-law had given her such a valuable gift before even being married into the family, which made her so happy that she couldn't help but joke with her older brother:
She wanted to become her brother-in-law's maid!
She will definitely take good care of her brother-in-law.
Peng Ximing was amused by her words, then seriously refused.
Manager Yu has him all she needs.
From now on, he will definitely be inseparable from Manager Yu.
Although he lived in the village, he bought an oxcart and went to the city every two days to report to Yu Cai on the progress of the new house and chat about daily life to strengthen their relationship.
He and Yu Cai had only known each other for a very short time.
They're getting married soon, so I should at least get to know their life story.
Actually, both of them had simple pasts.
One stays at home, doing needlework and reading.
One is a farmer and a student.
But a person with feelings can be content with just water, and he agreed with whatever Yu Cai said.
No matter what he said, Yu Cai listened with great interest.
Therefore, every time they parted, the two looked forward to their next meeting.
Immersed in joy, Yu Cai did not forget Ye Li. When he was tidying up the side room, he invited Ye Li to come over and pick out a few things.
Fearing that Ye Li might not go, he said he wanted to give Ye Li a gift as a token of gratitude for the matchmaking.
Thank you for the matchmaker's gift.
Ye Li is definitely someone we have to accept; this marriage was truly arranged by Ye Li.
However, once he arrived at the Wu family's house, Yu Cai quickly pulled him into a side room.
One of the side rooms was filled with fabric.
In one of the side rooms, several display cabinets stood against the wall, with jewelry boxes of all sizes on them, all open, containing various gold and silver jewelry.
“Brother Li, I’ve already taken the valuables. What’s left here is all gold and silver, and it’s very simple. There are no pearls or gems on it. Take whatever you like.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Li smiled and said, "Then I'll treat this as browsing a jewelry shop; I'll just take a look around."
Yu Cai was amused by his statement: "With just these, you can't open a shop."
"It looks pretty good."
As Ye Li spoke, she took out a gold comb from the wooden box.
This gold comb is only the size of a palm, small and exquisite.
“Take it back and use it,” Yu Cai said immediately.
“My head is not worthy of such an expensive comb,” Ye Li immediately shook her head.
"How could you not be worthy? With your intelligence, even if it were adorned with pearls and jade, you would still be worthy of it."
"You're just being polite with me."
Yu Caidao.
"Even if you're good friends, you can't take advantage of them as a matter of course. Only by giving and receiving can the relationship last."
Ye Li said with a smile.
"You've arranged a wonderful marriage for me; it's something that no amount of gold or silver can buy."
"Furthermore, a dish of taro paste has also earned me a lot of money."
Yu Cai said earnestly.
Ye Li wanted to laugh, so he put the gold comb back into the wooden box and turned to look at Yu Cai: "Brother Cai, do you still need that little bit of money for taro paste?"
"I'm short of cash."
Over the years, he has indeed not lacked anything materially, but he has only saved a little over a thousand taels of silver.
That batch of taro almost emptied his savings.
The profit margin for taro paste needs to be considered comprehensively, because Banxianju does not sell taro paste cakes or taro paste egg tarts separately. If you want to eat taro paste, you have to stay and have a hot pot.
This bundled sales strategy made the store's business as good as when it first opened.
Therefore, he meant what he said.
But Ye Li just joked, "Brother Cai, don't complain about being poor in front of me, or I'll get jealous of the rich."
"...Alright then."
Yu Cai said helplessly.
He knew Li Ge'er wouldn't take it!
Then he added, "I have prepared a gift to thank you for your help in the matchmaking. Let's go back to my room, and I'll show it to you."
"What is it?" Ye Li asked curiously, and walked over to help him walk outside.
"It's just a small token of my appreciation. If you refuse it again, I'll get angry."
Yu Cai deliberately put on a stern face.
Seeing this, Ye Li nodded: "Okay, then I'll take it."
"That's more like it."
Yu Cai smiled.
Once back in his room, he went to the dressing table and pointed to a mahogany square box on it, saying, "This is it. Open it."
Ye Li, curious, stepped forward and picked up the wooden box.
It was quite heavy, so he put it back on the table, opened the lid, and the contents were revealed:
It turned out to be two gold ingots, each the size of an adult's palm!
Seeing his surprise, Yu Cai explained, "I noticed you've never worn jewelry before, and I knew you didn't like these things, so I melted down all the gold jewelry I had before and made these gold ingots."
“I was afraid you wouldn’t take it, so I made it smaller. One is only six taels, and a pair is twelve taels.”
"Converted to silver, that's one hundred and twenty taels."
"You really can't refuse this time, otherwise it means you don't consider me a friend. After all, this is only two months' profit from your workshop, it's really not much."
In fact, 120 taels of silver was a large sum for Yu Cai.
He didn't have much silver, but a lot of gold jewelry.
You can melt down a few random pieces to make a gold ingot.
Therefore, in Yu Cai's view, this thank-you gift for the matchmaker was just right, neither too much nor too little.
If Ye Li refuses again this time, he will be really sad.
Ye Li: "..."
That's not how you do it.
This is a huge sum of money, a huge sum of money!
How can you speak so casually? These are two golden-brown flatbreads, not ordinary pancakes!
In ancient times, one liang (两) typically weighed more than thirty grams.
He had calculated that in Daxia, one tael of silver was approximately thirty-five grams.
Six liang, that is thirty-five times six, a total of two hundred and ten grams.
Twelve ounces, that's four hundred and twenty grams!
Four hundred and twenty grams!
Based on the gold price before he time-traveled, this was a huge sum of hundreds of thousands!
He's incredibly generous!
"Li-ge'er, what are you daydreaming about?"
Seeing Ye Li staring blankly at the two gold ingots, Yu Cai gently shook his arm.
Ye Li quickly regained her composure and explained, "I was excited. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything like this."
He had 120 taels of silver.
He really didn't have a thick gold ingot worth one hundred and twenty taels!
So I got a little excited for a moment.
He reached out and touched the two gold coins.
Each one weighs 210 grams and is quite thick.
He really couldn't refuse such a tempting offer.
He then smiled and looked at Yu Cai, saying, "Thank you, Brother Cai, I like this."
"We'll keep it as a family heirloom."
Yu Cai laughed upon hearing this: "With your wealth, you only have these two cakes as family heirlooms?"
“It’s different, after all, it’s the first pair of gold coins I’ve ever received in my life.”
This is of great significance!
If it weren't for those two gold ingots, he wouldn't have realized that he could earn one or two hundred thousand a month just by working in the workshop—he had only ever dealt with silver before and had never done this kind of conversion.
Now that I think about it, wow, he's really something else.
Upon hearing this, Yu Cai nodded slightly: "That's true. However, besides these two gold ingots, there's one more thing."
"There's more?" Ye Li asked in surprise. "What is it?"
Yu Cai explained, “Before, when my elder brother got married, County Magistrate Yu gave him 500 mu of land to collect rent to supplement his family’s income. Now that I’m getting married, County Magistrate Yu has also given me 500 mu.”
"Didn't you want to buy land? I'll transfer fifty acres to you, how about that?"
Ye Li: "..."
Good heavens!
Luckily, Yu Cai is his brother Cai, otherwise he really would have fought these powerful people.
He wanted to buy land but couldn't, while County Magistrate Yu offered 500 acres in one go!
He immediately hugged Yu Cai's arm, his face full of emotion: "Good brother Cai, thank you, brother Cai, from now on you are my brother!"
Yu Cai was amused by his reaction and bent down to take a wooden box out of the dressing table drawer.
This wooden box contains the land deed.
Although these 500 acres are a large number, they are not a continuous stretch.
With the lesson learned from 21 years ago, the government is now cracking down on corrupt officials. Even though Yu is a county magistrate, he wouldn't dare to cause a tragedy like the destruction of his family for the sake of land.
These fields were purchased by County Magistrate Yu using his position.
To buy and sell land, one must go to the government office to change the land deed. He made a deal with the clerk in charge of this matter, and when ordinary people went to the county government to complete the procedures, he took the opportunity to intercept them.
He bought at the market price, without deliberately trying to lower the price, and since he was also a county magistrate, ordinary people were more inclined to sell to him.
Using this method, he has acquired some land over the years.
However, they are quite fragmented and scattered throughout the county.
Yu Cai didn't know the total number.
But now that he's giving it to her, Yu Cai will take it.
If he and his elder brother don't want it, then their enemy will benefit.
He pushed the box in front of Ye Li: "Take a look at these land deeds, see which one you want. They are all medium and high-quality land."
Ye Li immediately replied, "I can't afford top-quality land, medium-quality land will do."
A mu of top-quality land can yield as much as thirty-five taels.
Don't be fooled by his earlier shock and pride at earning millions a month; he's in the Great Xia Dynasty now, after all.
He earns money, and he spends money.
He earned sixty taels a month from his workshop, but that was only enough to buy one mu of top-quality land.
So he decided to buy medium-sized fields instead, as they were more economical and cost only 22 taels per mu, which was much cheaper.
Even if you add up fifty acres, it will only be worth 1,100 taels.
The workshop can be bought after operating for a year and a half.
“But, Brother Cai, this money…”
Yu Cai smiled upon hearing this: "Take the land deed first, and give it to me when you have more money."
Ye Li was even more moved by those words: "Good Cai-ge, I'll get it to you as soon as possible!"
"No rush. I still need to buy a courtyard house. County Magistrate Yu gave me one, so I took the opportunity to find out if he owned any other houses. Turns out he did."
"One of them is in the same alley as the one I chose."
"If you're going to buy it, I'll get him a discount."
Yu Caidao.
He has already chosen his new home.
But Ye Li has not yet finalized the deal.
He took this matter very seriously. County Magistrate Yu had extensive connections, and he inquired about it while County Magistrate Yu was giving him a dowry.
As luck would have it, it actually existed!
Upon hearing this, Ye Li immediately asked, "Which place specifically? If it's suitable, I'll buy it."
“It’s definitely suitable. It’s a small courtyard with two sections, enough for you to live in.”
"Let's go take a look tomorrow."
Yu Caidao.
Ye Li nodded: "Okay!"
What a fruitful day!
Cai Ge is so nice!
The next day, Ye Li and Yu Cai went to check it out. The courtyard wasn't big, but it had everything they needed. His family was small, so it was definitely big enough for them.
He wanted to buy it, so Yu Cai went to County Magistrate Yu to negotiate the price.
They drastically reduced the price from 600 taels to 400 taels.
However, he is not in a hurry to move in, so the tenants can move out before winter.
Now that she had a house and land, Ye Li was overjoyed. When she brought Jiang Ji his meal, she couldn't wait to share the news with him.
Jiang Ji was also quite happy.
They became even more attentive to finding a wedding gift.
Yu Cai is indeed my older brother!
In the midst of our busy lives, the days fly by, and in the blink of an eye, the mountains and fields are covered with intoxicatingly bright new greenery.
In the second month of spring, when the grass grows and the orioles fly, peach blossoms bloom and rapeseed flowers also bloom.
The azure sky is often dotted with cotton candy-like clouds.
When driving an oxcart along the road, one's mood naturally brightens.
After taking off their cotton-padded coats and putting on spring clothes, it was March.
The day of Yu Cai and Peng Ximing's wedding has arrived.
The wedding was held at the Wu family's house.
On the fourth day of the third lunar month, Yu Cai moved to her new home.
Ye Li also moved in, helping with chores and incidentally giving Yu Cai her wedding gift.
Yu Cai was surprised that he would give her this, and felt a little embarrassed, but also found it funny. This was exactly the kind of thing that Li Ge'er would do!
But Yu Cai didn't have time to look at it right now; she was getting married tomorrow, who had time to look at this?
Hehe, tonight is the last time he'll crawl in and out of the bathtub naked.
With Peng Ximing around, things will be much more convenient.
Moreover, although he had met with Peng Ximing frequently over the past month, these meetings only intensified his longing for Peng Ximing—he yearned to be inseparable from him.
He longed to have a long chat with Peng Ximing.
Therefore, he was filled with wonderful dreams for the future and had no interest in studying the precious book that Ye Li had painstakingly found for him.
He was radiating excitement, joy, and even a little anxiety, so Ye Li didn't bring up the topic again.
It doesn't matter.
As for virgins, they don't know what it's like. Once they experience it, they'll study it carefully.
At night, the two slept in the same bed, whispering to each other for half the night before finally falling asleep.
When the rooster crowed for the second time, Granny Wang woke the two of them up.
Time to get up and get ready.
The young man's makeup was simple and required little time.
During his dressing process, Yu Cai's former playmates came over to chat with him about their childhood fun and their hopes for a harmonious marriage.
The new house suddenly became lively.
Get everything ready before dawn.
Just then, the wedding procession arrived.
Yu Shiting, the elder brother, didn't make things difficult for Peng Ximing. Peng Ximing simply slipped some red envelopes into the bridal chamber and smoothly carried his new husband out of the room.
Lying on Peng Ximing's broad back, Yu Cai's heart was beating much faster than usual.
Oh dear, Scholar Peng walked so steadily.
It can indeed serve as his crutch.
According to custom, the new husband is brought home in the morning, and the wedding ceremony and banquet are held in the evening.
During this time, the guests dispersed.
However, Yu Cai was the son of the county magistrate, so the Wu family courtyard was bustling with activity all day long, with congratulatory words constantly being heard.
Whether it's genuine or not, on the surface, this marriage is indeed a good match.
Peng Ximing had already achieved academic success, passing the imperial examination at the age of twenty-one. Given the Peng family's circumstances, this was enough to demonstrate his exceptional talent.
This was his first marriage; he was neither a widower nor had any concubines.
He also has thick eyebrows, big eyes, regular features, and is tall and handsome.
Aside from his family being poor, he was a perfect match for the 26-year-old Yu Cai in every other way.
It is indeed a good match!
This Scholar Peng, what a perfect timing to appear!
As for the future, well, who dares to say?
That's all for now, just congratulations.
So, amidst the blessings of many guests, Yu Cai and Peng Ximing bowed to heaven and earth, and then were led to their bridal chamber for the banquet.
Ye Li led the two little ones to sit at a table with Peng's mother, Peng Xiaomei, Peng Ershen, and others.
The Wu family's wedding banquet was quite grand, with almost all the dishes on the table consisting of meat.
Chicken, duck, fish, shrimp, lamb—all kinds of meat that can be found are available.
So everyone at the table enjoyed their meal.
In the new house, Yu Cai was also seated at the table.
However, after taking a few bites, he ordered the food to be taken away.
He's not hungry.
He ate too much at noon—according to custom, he could only eat some snacks to fill his stomach at noon so as not to ruin his makeup. But at home, he could touch up his makeup anytime, so he ate and drank well at noon.
He got up, walked around the room casually for a bit, and then listened intently to what was happening outside.
It's quite lively outside, so it's clear there's still some time before it ends.
After thinking for a moment, he went to the trunk and took out the treasure book that Ye Li had given him.
Since he had nothing better to do, he figured he might as well browse through them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
