In the early morning in Qin Province, the air was still quite cold.
Yu Yao yawned, her head was foggy, and she slowly and methodically fiddled with the basin, towel, and enamel mug.
She had no female elders, and the women's director, Yu Lan, had a good relationship with Sun Meiqin, so she acted as her elder today. Before anyone else arrived, she started getting busy.
Anyone who didn't know better would think it was her own daughter getting married. However, Director Yu put almost as much effort into this wedding as she would into her own daughter's wedding.
"My dear aunt, hurry up! There's still a lot to do later. Don't miss the auspicious time."
Director Yu complained that she was too slow and even brought her a toothbrush and an enamel mug, urging her to finish quickly.
They had to scare her; at this hour, what difference was there between her being woken up in the middle of the night and being a night owl?
Especially last night, thinking about getting married tomorrow, she tossed and turned and didn't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.
After finally washing up, Yu Yao was pushed into the room by Director Yu to start getting ready.
Director Yu brought over a red wedding dress. "Yu girl, come on, change into your wedding dress first."
Yu Yao: "Not this one. Today I'm wearing a different red and gold dress."
Grandma Hu prepared two wedding dresses for her. In addition to the red and gold thread wedding dress she had seen before, there was also a spare red wedding dress.
When I went out just now, Yu Lan helped me take out and tidy up the clothes; it was a spare wedding dress.
Yu Yao placed the spare wedding dress by the bedside and changed into the red and gold thread wedding dress.
The woman who did Yu Yao's hair and makeup was a well-known woman of good fortune in Dongfeng Commune. Her surname was Yan, and she had both parents and children. She was a loving wife and husband, and her siblings were harmonious.
I heard that people from the county and provincial capitals even invite her to their weddings; she's far better than the hairdresser Su Ya found for Mu Hehe.
The people of Baihe Brigade all say that if they can get Yan Quanfu's wife, their marriage will definitely be happy.
Previously, there were rumors that Yu Yao was not well-liked by the Lu family. The Lu family went out of their way to have Mrs. Yan Quanfu do Yu Yao's hair and makeup done. If they still didn't like her, then all the married women could be thrown away.
Yu Yao naturally heard and remembered what the people of Baihe Brigade were saying.
With swift fingers, Mrs. Quanfu braided Yu Yao's waist-length hair into a fishtail braid from the back of her head, then coiled it into a princess updo that covered her face.
Yu Yao stared wide-eyed at the mirror. She had seen people style this hairstyle on Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social networking site) in her later life.
At the time, she thought it would make her hair look fuller and prettier, and she tried to learn how to do it for a long time, but she couldn't. Unexpectedly, she actually managed to wear it up on her wedding day in the 1970s.
Seeing her delight, Mrs. Yan Quanfu's expression also showed some pride and joy: "This hairstyle is something I just came up with, and it's especially suitable for women like you with delicate features and fair skin."
After arranging her hair, Mrs. Yan Quanfu took a red plastic flower from the dresser next to her and put it in Yu Yao's hair.
This flower is a characteristic of this era. Brides may not wear wedding dresses, but they must wear a big red plastic flower in their hair.
It may seem a bit tacky from a later perspective, but that was the aesthetic of that era.
Fortunately, Yu Yao is naturally beautiful. Wearing these flowers not only doesn't make her look tacky, but also makes her look more gorgeous and charming.
After her hair was done, Mrs. Yan Quanfu quickly applied a simple makeup look for her. At Yu Yao's request, the makeup was natural and not heavy.
After this makeover, Yu Yao looked like a completely different person. It wasn't that she wasn't pretty before, but she was even more beautiful after the makeup. Standing among a group of women, she seemed to shine.
Those who came to help and to see the bride were stunned, and praise poured out like it was free.
Even though Yu Yao is thick-skinned, she blushed from the praise.
After getting ready, Yu Yao sat on the bed and waited for the groom to come and pick her up.
The room was bustling with activity. A large group of young women, led by Director Yu Lan's daughter, surrounded Yu Yao and chatted with her. Yu Yao also enjoyed chatting with them.
Director Yu, who couldn't sit still, started tidying up the room when he saw that there was nothing else to do. He picked up the spare gift from earlier and asked Yu Yao, "Yu Yao, should we put this dress back in the wicker trunk?"
Just as Yu Yao was about to nod, she suddenly smelled a sweet, cloying medicinal scent. It wasn't pungent, but it had an indescribable smell that made her uncomfortable.
Her gaze fell on the spare wedding dress.
The smell seemed to be coming from the wedding dress.
If the smell were poisonous, all the people in the room should have been poisoned by now. The fact that they weren't poisoned means the smell is harmless.
Yu Yao got up, walked over, picked up the wedding dress, and smelled it.
Seeing her serious expression, Yu Lan asked, "What's wrong?"
"Aunt Yu, did you sprinkle perfume on this wedding dress?" Yu Yao knew that some people in Baihe Brigade liked to imitate ancient women when they got married and would put perfume on their wedding dress.
Yu Lan didn't understand at first, why the conversation suddenly turned to perfume powder. But then, remembering Yu Yao's actions earlier, she realized, "Did someone put perfume powder on your wedding dress?"
Yu Yao didn't dare touch it with her fingers, but only sniffed it: "It's not perfume powder, it should be more accurate to say it's medicinal powder."
Yu Lan shook her head, "I've never used perfume powder, let alone medicine powder."
She looked down and smelled the wedding dress. "I didn't smell this when I took the wedding dress out of the box."
Yu Yao asked the people around her, "Did you see anyone sprinkle the powder?"
Everyone shook their heads.
“We were in the room the whole time and didn’t notice if anyone else came in, nor did we see anyone scattering powder.”
In other words, a stranger secretly sprinkled powder on Yu Yao's wedding dress while everyone was busy.
One of the girls watching the commotion casually remarked, "It's such a joyous occasion, not some kind of wedding favor. Who would bother sprinkling powder on someone's wedding dress? I wonder what they're thinking."
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