Chapter 90 Wedding
Regarding the wedding, Chen Yunniang shyly said that everything was up to the prince and Cheng Yu.
Cheng Yu took it very seriously and went through all the procedures including three matchmakers and six engagements. He even went to catch wild geese himself and took people to renovate his residence. It was difficult to find a matchmaker as there was none in the border town.
Jinsui asked Yan Shiyi to help find an official matchmaker, but it turned out that Yan Shier Niang came in person with the official matchmaker.
The little girl was really happy for Chen Yunniang and gave her a generous dowry.
Seeing how much effort had been put into mobilizing so many people, Chen Yunniang privately said to Cheng Yu: "Brother Cheng, Yunniang's current status means there's no need for such a grand wedding. Just keep it simple."
Cheng Yu knew what she was worried about, and said softly, "Yun Niang, there are some things I have wanted to tell you for a long time. When we got engaged, you were my wife-to-be."
"The hardships you've been through are also my responsibility. It was me who failed to protect my fiancée."
"The principles of this world are always harsher on women. You must not take all the blame on yourself. I don't ask you to forget the past, I just ask you not to be too hard on yourself."
"Our eyes are in front of us, so we need to look forward. From now on, you and I will be united as husband and wife, and follow the prince to settle down in this border town."
Yunniang was so moved that she burst into tears. She was also concerned about one thing: "Brother Cheng has no contact with the Cheng family because of Yunniang's matter, right?"
Cheng Yu did not answer. When the Chen family was in trouble, in fact, as long as Cheng's father and mother persisted, they could have rescued Chen Yunniang with the marriage certificate.
However, they did not want their son with a bright future to marry a criminal, so they watched coldly as Chen Yunniang was sold.
Later, he did pass the imperial examination. His parents wanted to arrange another marriage for him, but he refused. He even rejected an official position in Chang'an and came to Yan to be a minor official.
In the first two years, the Cheng family often sent people to persuade him, but when they saw that he was often drunk, behaved in a dissolute manner, and looked like a broken jar, the Cheng family gave up.
Cheng Yu estimated that even if the Cheng family knew that he had married Chen Yunniang, they would not be happy for the two of them. He did not want to tell Chen Yunniang about these things.
Zhu shook his head and said, "The affairs of the Cheng family have nothing to do with Yunniang. Just treat it as a severance of friendship. Yunniang doesn't need to take it to heart."
But when Yan Shier Niang first met Jin Sui, she didn't know how to face him.
But seeing that Jinsui had no grudge against her and they were talking and laughing, Yan Shier Niang also relaxed and returned to her old lively self.
In short, the wedding was prepared very quickly. It only took five days from the time Jinsui mentioned her to the official wedding.
During this period, Wei Zhubo rushed back from the East China Sea with a large amount of sea salt. The salt bags were wrapped in straw and kelp was placed on top, so no one could tell that there was salt inside.
At the same time, the temporary trading house for collecting coal at the foot of the mountain also became busy. With the leadership of one person, the refugees in the mountains saw with their own eyes the rice, flour, grain and salt being exchanged. They no longer had any doubts and all ran out to carry coal to exchange for supplies.
Before, only the young and strong came out, but now the old people and women also come out to carry the goods, and even the teenagers carry half a basket.
Even if you can only exchange for half a work point at a time, earning ten work points a day can be exchanged for a full meal and two kilograms of millet flour.
They could even exchange it for a little salt or sugar, but they were reluctant to eat the meat in the rice.
They wrapped them in lotus leaves and stuffed them into their arms, preparing to take them home for their younger brothers and sisters to taste.
When Wei Zhubo came back, he was shocked. How long had he been away? How come there were so many refugees coming to the border town? Looking around, there were at least several thousand refugees coming and going.
When herdsmen came with furs or live sheep, they were also welcomed by the soldiers of the Black Feather Camp.
Unlike refugees, herders prefer to exchange for sugar, salt and tea rather than food.
Jinsui took the opportunity to give a list, furs, medicinal herbs, pig iron, horses, cattle and sheep could all be exchanged.
On the day of Cheng Yu's wedding, a tribal chief unexpectedly arrived with several carts full of furs, dozens of sheep, and three good horses, to exchange for linen, sugar, and tea.
Jinsui asked Hanxing to receive them. He would pay a huge sum of money for horse bones, and the first group of people who came must be rewarded generously in order to attract more herdsmen.
The wedding was held in a grand manner. More than 3,000 soldiers from the entire border town attended the wedding banquet, which was a buffet.
Chen Yunniang was married off from the Tuntianying camp. She recognized Captain Liu and his wife as her adoptive parents and married off from the Liu family.
Cheng Yu led a large wedding procession from the Black Feather Camp to pick up the bride. It was lively with music and drums, and they also brought candies and snacks to give to the women and children who came to watch the fun.
When had there ever been such a lively event in the border town? Everyone treated this wedding as a big event for the whole city, and even the trees ten miles away from the border town were covered with red wedding paper.
Chen Yunniang's wedding dress was given by Yan Shier Niang. It was extremely luxurious, but Chen Yunniang did not wear those gold and jade jewelry.
She simply wore a silver hairpin and the jade pendant that they had received as a gift for their engagement when they were young, around her neck.
Yan Shier Niang also said that she wanted to invite a troupe of actors from the city, but Jin Sui took into consideration that the Zheng family was not sure what was going on and it was not appropriate to have too many outsiders come to the border town at this time, so she did not invite them.
The border soldiers performed a few programs themselves. There were some soldiers in the Tuntian Camp who could sing folk songs, and they sang two songs.
Among them was our own Dave, who had a lisp but sang surprisingly well.
A young soldier from the Black Feather Camp had heard Cheng Yu singing while drunk, so he learned to sing as well. He went on stage and sang a very appropriate song "Taoyao", which won applause from the whole audience.
Hei Hu led a dozen soldiers and had a boxing match, and some soldiers also performed sword dance.
In short, although we didn't invite a troupe of actors, our wedding was a thousand times more lively than any other wedding in the city.
Because everyone present was sincerely congratulating Cheng Yu and Chen Yunniang.
After many twists and turns, the two finally became husband and wife.
When they were getting married, after three bows, Cheng Yu took Chen Yuniang to pay his respects to Jin Sui.
To be honest, the two of them could become husband and wife, they should thank the heavens and the earth, the border soldiers, and especially the prince.
If it weren't for the prince, the two of them would have been separated forever, let alone married.
Jin Sui's eyes were red with tears at what he said, and she accepted their gifts and sighed once again, no matter whether what she did during her time as King Li was right or wrong.
Judging from the wedding in front of her alone, she felt that her merits outweighed her faults.
Jinsui asked the blacksmith to make dozens of iron pans specifically for the wedding banquet and taught them how to stir-fry in hot oil.
The fragrant aroma of stir-fried ginger and garlic made the Zheng family, who were still digging the pond, drool.
They never thought that in the eyes of the Yanzhou people, the border town was shabby and a group of border soldiers who were only worthy of eating bran and vegetables would eat such delicious food! Even the big pot dishes of these captives were better than what they ate at the Zheng family.
The only guests from outside were the Yan siblings. They brought a lot of gifts and added a lot of things to Cheng Yu's house.
Yan Shiyi also specially brought several hundred kilograms of salt to the Li Da Wuxian Restaurant to show his role as a salt carrier.
Jinsui did not tell him that the border town was no longer short of salt. After all, the drying of sea salt had to be kept secret. If Li Heng knew about it, he would definitely report it to the court.
To be honest, the salt drying method requires little technical skills and is easy for people to learn.
(End of this chapter)
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