It was the first day of the first lunar month in 1961, early in the morning.
Today is Lin Sanqi and Pan Ye’s wedding day.
In the Lin residence in Dongmianhua Hutong, biological mother Jin Caifeng and godmother Wang Huiqin have been packing new clothes for Lin Sanqi. These new clothes are cotton-padded jackets and trousers distributed by the unit as New Year's welfare.
This winter, almost no family in the country bought new clothes, so the new cotton coats and trousers issued by the company naturally became wedding dresses.
Lin Sanqi was really at a loss for words. It was the first time for him and his wife to get married in two generations, but he was actually wearing a dark blue cotton coat that looked as tacky as an old farmer?
"Mom, Godmother, I have a woolen coat from Hong Kong and Armani suits and trousers in my closet. I have to wear something nice for my wedding, right?"
Wang Huiqin tapped lightly:
"You idiot, what time is it now? Look at the streets on New Year's morning. Are there any people paying New Year's greetings? Are there any firecrackers? Are there any temple fairs or markets? This doesn't look like the New Year at all.
The entire nation is having such a hard time, but you're the only one who's special? Your godfather said that the more low-key your wedding is, the better. That's why he didn't let you host a dinner. The more high-profile it is, the more people will report it. You're already the vice president, so you have to be mindful of the impact."
Lin Sanqi, from a God's perspective, knew that 1961 would be the last year of natural disasters. After this year, the food crisis would ease starting next year.
But others don’t have a God’s perspective. They have been enduring for two years, and when they see that there is still no snow or rain in the winter of 1961, they know that the harvest will not be good this year.
Everyone is afraid that the natural disaster before them will be like the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty, which will last for decades and eventually lead to war and the people's livelihood will be in jeopardy.
Desperate.
So this Spring Festival, not to mention the old city, the whole country was dead silent, and the people couldn't even laugh.
It just so happened that Lin Sanqi was about to get married at this time. If they didn't get married soon, the parents of both sides were afraid that one of them would not be able to resist eating the forbidden fruit. What if she got pregnant?
The Pan family is a scholarly family that values chastity.
The second son of the Lin family had already experienced this kind of feud, so he didn't dare to do it a second time.
Therefore, the parents of both parties have a strong desire to get married as soon as possible, so that they can do whatever they want and have as many children as they want after marriage.
But how to get married?
Dean Shen's advice was to keep a low profile, as low-key as possible. No dinner invitations, no big banquets, no firecrackers, and even no Lin Sanqi was allowed to borrow a car to pick up the bride.
This is just like writing an essay with a given topic. The outline is very restrictive, so Lin Sanqi has no room to express himself.
In the yard, Chef Zhao from the Red Star Hotel and his two apprentices were busy cooking.
Although Dean Shen requested that the banquet not be held in public, it was always appropriate for the family to have a meal together, not to mention that it was a private house and courtyard, so there was no need to worry about being seen.
The eldest sister-in-law Fu Muxiang and the second sister-in-law Pei Xuehua helped wash the meat and pick vegetables.
Lin Jiageng and Lin Zhenzhen were running around the yard, finding everything in the yard interesting and having a lot of fun.
Pei Xuehua took advantage of everyone's inattention and stuffed a fried meatball into her mouth from time to time, then lowered her head and began to chew it secretly.
At this time, Doctor Lin Kucan was at the gate. He had pasted a big wedding character next to the red couplet to inform the neighbors that someone was getting married here.
Sure enough, many neighbors in the alley gathered around:
"Hey, isn't this Doctor Lin from the Chinese Medicine Hospital? Doctor Lin, Happy New Year! What are you doing..."
Famous doctors have extensive connections and know people wherever they go.
"Hi, today is my youngest son's wedding. We don't advocate extravagant celebrations these days, so I didn't invite you all to have a drink at the wedding. Please forgive me."
The people of the city wanted to save face, so when they heard the famous doctor say this, they all expressed their understanding:
"Who dares to hold a wedding banquet these days? They just have a meal together as a family, and then distribute some candy in the department and that's it."
"We don't even have sugar this year. The street used to give out coupons for one pound of sugar for weddings, but this year they've canceled them."
"Doctor Lin, why is your youngest son living in this courtyard? No one has lived here for years."
Lin Kucan knew this was a good opportunity to explain, so he pointed to the door and said:
"My youngest son is the vice president of the Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and enjoys the treatment of a director. This is the organization's housing allocation. He was assigned this place. From now on, we are all neighbors and can help each other."
"He's a mid-level cadre now, so he should be able to get a room."
After hearing this, people around started talking about it, and some neighbors who had ulterior motives gave up their thoughts after hearing it.
If this were an ordinary public housing unit, and if a family was allowed to live in it with its own door and yard, the neighbors would not be happy and would have to report it to the street office, otherwise they would insist on turning the courtyard into a slum.
But if the housing is allocated to senior officials, ordinary people will have no say in it.
People in the old city are straightforward, but they are not stupid. They would not be stupid enough to compete with cadres for housing.
Doctor Lin Kucan was helpless. He didn't dare to say that the house was private property and was bought by his youngest son.
If he really dared to say that, all the higher authorities would receive letters of complaint one after another tomorrow, and he would definitely be in big trouble.
While everyone was still chatting, Lin Sanqi had already come out pushing a bicycle, followed by his eldest and second brothers, each with a bicycle.
Jin Caifeng and Wang Huiqin followed behind and warned:
"Big brother, you'll get your share of cigarettes when we get to the bride's place. Second brother, you'll get your share of candy. We'll be on the train for half an hour at most, and we'll be back with the bride in half an hour. Don't cause any trouble on the way."
"I know, I know!"
Lin Sanqi thought, he clearly had a small jeep, but he insisted on riding a bicycle to pick up the bride, and this bicycle was borrowed from someone in his unit.
It's fine if there's no wedding banquet, but even the wedding banquet is so shabby. It's like walking in fine clothes at night, feeling uncomfortable all over.
How could this look like a convoy to pick up a bride? It looked like a group of friends going out to see a movie.
The three of them walked east along the street and arrived at Pan's house in less than 10 minutes.
There was no wedding celebration at the Pan family either, but the yard was crowded with neighbors, and even many neighbors from the next yard came.
Everyone knows that a woman from the Pan family is getting married, and the son-in-law is an open-minded man and never comes empty-handed.
Sure enough, as soon as the three Lin brothers entered the courtyard, a group of neighbors immediately surrounded them, offering congratulations and polite words.
"The new son-in-law is here~~"
"Hello, Dean Lin, congratulations on your wedding~~~"
"May you have a happy marriage forever~~"
As the eldest brother, Lin Gancao quickly took out his cigarette case and distributed cigarettes to the neighbors. Because there were so many people, the cigarettes were all gone in a short time.
Many people exclaimed as soon as they saw the cigarettes: "Wow~ Daqianmen, this new son-in-law is so handsome!"
The situation on Lin Duzhong's side was even more exaggerated. Half a sack of candies was almost distributed. There were really too many women and children at the scene. Each person got two candies, and some even came to claim them repeatedly.
Of course, Lin Duzhong also had a lot of money in his underwear and outer pockets. This couple was the type who took advantage of others.
Lin Sanqi entered the house alone. All the relatives of the Pan family were in the house. The place was small, so it was really crowded.
Mr. and Mrs. Pan were very satisfied with their son-in-law, so they quickly introduced to Lin Sanqi all the uncles and aunts in their family.
Lin Sanqi was not short of money, so he gave each male relative a box of cigarettes and each female relative a piece of chocolate. The Pan family relatives were so happy that they showered blessings on him as if they were free.
"Mr. Lin is generous in his actions, great!"
"Xiao Yezi is indeed a man of good taste. My elder sister will be blessed in the future!"
Although there was no wedding, there was at least a sense of ceremony. When Lin Sanqi wanted to enter the bride's boudoir, he was stopped by the children.
Pan Ren and three or four children blocked the door and shouted together:
"If the groom wants to get in, he has to have a red envelope."
Lin Sanqi had already prepared for this. "Okay, you can give me a red envelope if you want, but you all have to change your words. Whoever changes their words gets it."
After saying that, Lin Sanqi took out a thick red envelope and waved it:
Seeing this, Pan Ren was the first to surrender: "Hello, brother-in-law. I wish you a happy wedding and a baby soon."
Lin Sanqi stuffed a red envelope in his hand and said, "Well said. There's a reward. Use it to buy candy."
The adults around were all laughing. Pan Ren happily took the red envelope and was about to put it in his pocket, but he found that the red envelope seemed to be a little different, so he quickly opened it and took a look.
I didn’t know this when I saw it, but I was shocked:
"Wow, this red envelope is so big."
"How big is it?" The children became excited when they heard it and gathered around to count.
"One, two, three... ten. Wow, my brother-in-law gave me a 100 yuan red envelope. My brother-in-law is so generous. Long live my brother-in-law. Please come in~~~"
After Pan Ren received the big red envelope, he decisively sold his sister.
When Pan's mother heard this, she became anxious. When no one was paying attention, she snatched the red envelope from her son's hand and said, "What if you lose so much money? I'll keep it for you."
Pan Ren didn't make a fuss, knowing that if it was ten or twenty cents, the money was his. If it was one hundred or two hundred, he just passed the money through.
The other Pan children protested, "No, no, we haven't received our red envelopes yet, so we can't go in."
Lin Sanqi laughed heartily: "Okay, okay, everyone gets a share. Come on, say something nice and you'll get a red envelope~~"
"Hello, brother-in-law~~~"
100 yuan red envelope
"Hello uncle~~~"
100 yuan red envelope
"Hello, uncle~~~"
100 yuan red envelope
After a long commotion, Lin Sanqi finally walked into Pan Ye's boudoir and saw that the bride was wearing a red cotton coat and a rare little red flower in her hair.
Seeing the groom come in, Pan Cen asked with a smile: "Brother-in-law, is my sister beautiful?"
Lin Sanqi looked at the beauty in front of him, and his heart melted:
"Beautiful, so beautiful! Your sister is the most beautiful bride I have ever seen in this era. Fortunately, she is my bride, otherwise I would be envious to death."
Hehehe~~~ Pan’s relatives heard this outside the door and burst into laughter again.
At this time, Pan Cen took his sister's hand and handed it to Lin Sanqi:
"Brother-in-law, I'll leave my sister to you. I hope you'll have two children in three years, three children in five years, and make more contributions to the country."
Lin Sanqi held the bride's hand, looked at Pan Ye with smiling eyes, and happily stuffed more than ten red envelopes into his sister-in-law's hands.
"Here, buy some candy."
Pan Ye was a little blaming: "Why did you give her so much?"
Lin Sanqi whispered in Pan Ye's ear:
"Oh, you're already worried about your husband's money before we even get married? Hey, this is a betrothal gift. Since your parents won't accept it, I'll give it to them in the form of a red envelope."
Lin Sanqi really has no shortage of money. He already has tens of thousands of dollars in cash. This time, his company gave him another 60,000 dollars to buy New Year's goods. He can't spend it all, at all. He is also a noble person who doesn't care about money.
Pan Ye's uncle looked at his watch and then urged:
"It's almost time, mother-in-law, hurry up and cry a few times to get married."
Traditionally, when marrying off a daughter, the mother would wail profusely to express her reluctance to part with her. The louder the cry, the higher her status in her family, and the more she hoped her son-in-law would value her.
Pan's mother was also inexperienced in marrying off her daughter for the first time, and she deliberately wanted to howl a few times to express her reluctance to see her daughter get married.
But after thinking about it for a long time, and thinking about all the sad things in my life, I still couldn't cry. In the end, I laughed:
"I, I can't cry. I don't even have time to smile because I have such a good son-in-law. I'm so sorry, so sorry."
Hahahaha~~~
Everyone in the room was laughing so hard that they couldn't stop. (End of this chapter)
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