Chapter 158: The Wedding Ceremony

Let’s not talk about the little thoughts of Cui Jiu’s wife. Cui Shisan came out of the kitchen and met his eldest cousin Cui Da.

Aunt Cui's father, the old lady of the Cui family, was still alive, and the brothers did not split up the family. When it came to their grandchildren, they were named Da Lang, Er Lang, and so on according to their ages. When Da Lang and Er Lang were born, the Cui family could barely make ends meet, and none of them had ever been to school. When the Cui family's life got better, and they needed to put a mortgage on the land deeds and take fingerprints as collateral, they found that the word "Lang" was difficult to write, so they just called them Cui Da and Cui Er.

After discussion among his brothers, when Cui Shisan was able to start his education in a private school twenty miles away from the village, his real name was Shisan.

Cui Shisan was very surprised to see Cui Da.

Since Cui Da helped Dou Zhao manage the farm, his family moved to live on the farm, and they only came back during festivals. The year-end inventory had already passed, and there were still ten days before the New Year... He couldn't help but ask, "Brother, how come you have time to come back today?"

Cui Da laughed and said, "Isn't it almost time for the Fourth Miss's coming-of-age ceremony? I'll go back and discuss with our grandfather what kind of gift our manor should give her." He then waved a two-foot-long big bluefish in his hand and instructed Cui Shisan, "Take it to the kitchen and steam it for our grandfather to eat with his wine. You can also come and have a drink with him."

Dou Zhao had a total of twelve farms, all of which belonged to Cui Daguan. When she was about to come of age, the heads of the farms heard that the managers of her shop were thinking of giving her a coming-of-age gift, and they could not sit still and came to Cui Daguan one after another: "We all work under the Fourth Miss, so it is unreasonable that the managers of those shops give us gifts and we do not give them gifts?"

Cui Da thought it made sense, but he had never had any idea on this matter. Cui Da's wife gave him some advice: "Go back and ask your father, Cui Shisan is at home too." He then hurried back and asked Cui Shisan to accompany him for a drink.

Cui Shisan didn't know that the plan was targeting him again. He just thought about the time when Fan Wenshu dragged him to visit all the antique shops in Kyoto before returning to Zhending. He felt his feet start to hurt again. He couldn't help but mutter, "Why do people talk about this everywhere?"

Cui Da didn't hear clearly and thought that he was unwilling to listen to his orders, so he patted his head with a fierce face and said, "What? You have lived in Kyoto for two years and you are already acting like a spoiled child? Even my elder brother can't do anything? Why don't you go now!"

"No, no!" The farmer's hand was always strong. Cui Shisan was grimacing after being beaten. He quickly took the herring and said, "I'll go right now, right now."

Cui Da looked at Cui Shisan's back with a simple smile, then turned and went to the main house where Old Lady Cui lived.

Old Lady Cui smoked a copper pipe with a white jade mouthpiece and asked after a while, "What do those village heads say?"

"There are all kinds of things!" Cui Da said helplessly, "Some said they would go to the silver shop to exchange twenty taels of silver for a pair of headgear, some said it would be better to buy some antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and some said it would be better to send each other and go together..."

Old Mrs. Cui had not had to work in the fields for the past few years. Usually, when the farmers came to visit, they would just give her two feet of green cloth and red bushes. How could she have any good ideas? After thinking for a while, she said, "How about asking your aunt?"

Cui Da touched his head and said, "I asked. My aunt said there's no need to go to such trouble. Just giving her two pairs of shoes and socks will be enough."

Old Mrs. Cui was also at a loss.

Cui Shisan came in just in time.

Old Lady Cui hurriedly pulled Cui Shisan to sit on the kang and asked him, "Tell me, what kind of gifts do people in Beijing give when they encounter such a thing?"

Cui Shisan laughed and said, "Is there no small family in Beijing?"

"That's true." Old Mrs. Cui laughed.

Cui Shisan said to Cui Dadao: "I think you should just let the bosses do their own thing... You can't steal the limelight from others, right?"

Cui Da nodded: "That's right." He looked at Cui Shisan with more attentiveness.

Cui Shisan coughed in embarrassment, then said: "What the eldest aunt said makes sense. Why don't we just make a few pairs of shoes and socks, and give two rare things as gifts?"

"What's this rare thing?" Old Mrs. Cui and Mr. Cui stared at Cui Shisan with sharp eyes.

Cui Shisan went back to his room and brought out a brocade box: "I bought this from Ji's shop, it's called a kaleidoscope..." Then he took it out to show them.

Mrs. Cui's eyes widened immediately and she asked, "How much does this cost?"

"Thirty taels." Cui Shisan said.

Fan Wenshu bought a lotus jade washbasin in an antique shop in Kyoto for thirty taels of silver, and he also prepared this gift for Dou Zhao.

Old Mrs. Cui shuddered: "It's so expensive!" But she held on to the thing and refused to let it go. She couldn't wait to call "Cui Si's wife" and called Tu Niang over.

"Please keep this." Old Lady Cui stuffed the brocade box into Tuo Niang's pocket and said, "This is our family's coming-of-age gift to the Fourth Miss. You can bring your sisters-in-law and brothers and sisters-in-law to make two sets of clothes for the Fourth Miss. Ask your mother for the money. Then you and your eldest sister-in-law will bring the Ninth Brother's wife to the city to pay respects to the Fourth Miss."

Cui Jiu's father-in-law had worked as a doorman in the county government for several years. Cui Jiu's wife was considered an experienced person in the Cui family, so Old Lady Cui allowed her to go with them to congratulate Dou Zhao.

Cui Da and Cui Shisan never dreamed that the old lady of the Cui family would intercept them halfway. They were stunned and it took them a while to come to their senses. Unfortunately, the thing had already been quickly picked up by Tuo Niang.

"Grandpa..." Cui Shisan wanted to cry but had no tears.

Old Lady Cui said calmly, "It's just thirty taels of silver, isn't it? You can ask your grandmother for it later. You young men can just go to the provincial capital tomorrow." Then she waved her hand and told Tuo Niang, "Hurry up and serve the meal! The people working in the fields should be back by now."

What else could Cui Da and Cui Shisan say? They ate a few mouthfuls of food in a hurry and hurried to the provincial capital that night. They finally managed to buy a pair of glass bowls and a palm-sized tortoise-shell incense burner before Ji's shop closed for the New Year. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief.

On the ninth day of the first lunar month, Cui Da and Cui Shisan drove a horse-drawn carriage and took Cui Da's wife, Tuo Niang, and Cui Jiu's wife to the county town.

On the way, they saw several well-made black carriages with flat roofs.

Cui Jiu's wife had lived in the city for a few years and asked curiously, "Why are there so many carriages today?"

Not everyone can afford to ride in this kind of carriage.

Cui's wife and Tu's mother also squeezed against the car window and looked out.

"Oh!" Tuoniang saw a familiar face and smiled, "That's the carriage of Magistrate Lu's family. I guess it's Mrs. Lu who came to attend the Fourth Miss's coming-of-age ceremony."

"Fourth sister-in-law even knows people from the prefect's family!" Cui Jiu's wife said with envy, "Mrs. Lu must be here to help Fourth Miss with her hairpins!"

"I just met Lord Lu's coachman when I came to pay my respects to the Fourth Miss last time." Tuo Niang explained hurriedly, "The Fourth Miss is coming of age, so she may not arrange for Lady Lu to give her a hairpin!"

"If not Mrs. Lu, who else should we arrange?" Cui Jiu's wife couldn't help but widen her eyes.

In her heart, it was a great honor to have Mrs. Lu help her with her hairpins.

"There are so many ladies in the Dou family." Tuoniang just felt that Madam Lu was not qualified to help Dou Zhao with his hairpins and pins. She said vaguely, "Who knows which lady will be arranged to help with the hairpins and pins."

As they were talking, the carriage had already arrived at the side gate of the Dou family. Tuo Niang and Cui Jiu's wife heard Cui Da, who usually kept quiet, suddenly curse, "...This Tian Fugui actually got a pair of golden chickens as a gift for the fourth young lady!"

Several people couldn't help but look over, and saw a fat man holding two gilded bird cages, one on the left and one on the right. In each cage was a colorful pheasant. Under the gaze of everyone, he walked into the side door of the Dou family with a proud look on his face.

"It's really a delicious dish!" exclaimed Mrs. Cui.

The people around were also buzzing and talking: "Who is this person? He actually sent a pair of golden chickens!"

"It seems to be Zhuangtou Tian Fugui on Dongtou Tianzhuang!"

"Where did he get it? He really has a way!"

Cui Da laughed and said to Cui Shisan, "Fatty Tian is now famous!"

Cui Shisan also laughed: "I didn't expect this fat guy to be so capable." He was thinking about whether he should take this man to his shop in Kyoto. His business was getting better and better, and he needed to find a capable helper.

As the thought flashed through his mind, he heard the rumbling sound of a carriage behind him. The driver shouted arrogantly, "Make way, the carriage of the Marquis of Jining! Those in front, make way!"

The sound was like a huge rock dropped into calm water, and the area in front of the side door immediately became noisy.

"Someone's coming from the Fourth Miss's in-laws' family!"

"As expected of a marquis' mansion, look at that horse, it's so majestic!"

"There are three carriages in total!"

While everyone was talking, they were busy making way for the Wei family.

The Dou family received the letter and opened the door.

The carriage stopped in front of the gate.

The servants in blue held the brocade boxes and moved them in one by one.

"I wonder what they're delivering?" The person at the side door stood on tiptoe and stretched his neck to look over there. "There are so many!"

"Of course!" The person next to him took over the conversation, "Don't you think about what kind of family that is! The Marquis's Mansion! Our fourth young lady is going to be the Marquis's wife in the future!"

"That's it, that's it!"

Before the exclamations here were over, someone over there shouted, "Look, look, another carriage is coming!"

Everyone's attention was drawn to it...

Dou Zhao, who was in the mansion, jumped out of the main room and hugged his sixth aunt Ji who had just walked into the hanging flower gate.

"Sixth Aunt!" She couldn't hide her joy in her eyes and eyebrows. "Why are you here? Why didn't you tell me before?"

Ji looked at Dou Zhao, who had grown taller, and hugged his shoulders lovingly: "If I had told you earlier, would you be so happy?"

Dou Zhao chuckled.

The maids, daughters-in-law, and old women beside them also started laughing.

Dou Zhao's fifteenth birthday had not yet arrived, but the Dou family was already filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Ji leaned to the side and introduced a young girl behind her to Dou Zhao: "This is my niece, her name is Lingze, she is three years older than you. I brought her here specially to introduce her to you."

Dou Zhao suddenly felt as if he had been struck by thunder.

Ji Lingze is the cousin of the Ji family who eloped with Dou Dechang.

She couldn't help but blink her eyes, and then she could see clearly the graceful girl in front of her.

Her jet-black hair was tied up with a hairpin inlaid with southern pearls. Her skin was as smooth as jade and her face was as beautiful as a mountain. She had an elegant temperament like the spiritual rain in an empty mountain, which was unforgettable.

"Cousin Ji!" Dou Zhao bent his knees and saluted Ji Lingze, but he couldn't help smiling bitterly in his heart.

At this time, Ji Lingze had not yet married, but was engaged to the sixth son of the Han family in Huzhou.