Chapter 96 Chapter 96 What is considered "shameful"? ...
The bride's three roommates were arranged to sit at the second seat closest to the main table. Apart from them, most of the people at this table were Lin Qiyun's colleagues from work. They all looked to be middle-aged people with successful careers. The emcee who helped to manage the situation was really polite and respectful.
Cai Weihong wore a nameplate on her chest similar to Lin Xinghuo's, except without the "Junior Researcher" designation. It was a case of proximity. As Lin Xinghuo's roommate, Cai Weihong was the first to accept her and form a team with her when she applied to study Traditional Chinese Medicine. Their team was the first to study Beiyuan bamboo... Because of this small step ahead of others, when Professor Li's laboratory was recruiting, he included her name on the list of support staff.
Lin Xinghuo is not that noble. When it does not violate principles, she prefers to take care of her friends around her first.
Cai Weihong is a hard worker. She has excellent grades and has worked in the company's pharmacy for many years. She possesses both a solid foundation and a keen learning ability. Professor Li's laboratory is also in need of a laboratory technician specializing in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Although Cai Weihong can only assist as an assistant, this presents a rare learning opportunity. Furthermore, with more experience, the assistant position could be promoted to a full-time position.
If Tan Yuemei hadn't been so uninterested, Lin Xinghuo would have pushed her in. Even if she ultimately couldn't gain a foothold, it would be the most valuable experience a student could gain. But this younger person, the one with the most ideas, was the one with the most heart. She was devoted to her family's profession and was already preparing to apply for a graduate program with her uncle's colleague. Tan Yuemei, a clever woman, had already chosen her mentor and even lent her precious coin register to the professor, so she could use it as a reference for her work.
So there were three attractive-looking women at the table, and the Lin family's friends and colleagues who were also there were all a bit tempted. This year, even more educated youth have returned to the city, and there are tons of unmarried older men and women. Who doesn't have a "difficult old man" among their relatives and friends?
But finding a truly desirable partner is incredibly difficult. The city's marriage market is even more chaotic than it was a few years ago, when "matchmaking" was popular. At least back then, there were fewer people messing around, but now it's a mess everywhere, and the number of unemployed young men wandering the streets has become a security problem.
Those with jobs want to find someone who also has one, and those without jobs are even more unwilling to fall behind. If both spouses are left without a job after marriage, it's better not to get married. However, there are fewer working girls to begin with, a situation that was made possible by the leader's words, "Women hold up half the sky." The outdated concept of favoring boys over girls isn't easily reversed... This has led to older women developing a keen eye for matchmaking and facilitating relationships.
Nowadays, the factory nameplate is the most proud thing.
Female college students are still an excellent choice for advancement compared to female employees, and school badges have become the most expensive jewelry.
Unfortunately, next to Lin Xinghuo sat Wu Nian, holding a chubby little girl in his arms, making them look like a family of three. Cai Weihong and Tan Yuemei, however, had come alone, as was customary at banquets these days. With supplies scarce at this time, everyone consciously avoided burdening the newlyweds.
If Xiao Xijin had not looked for Wu Nian before, Wu Nian would not have to come to Xiao Lanqin's wedding banquet today. Xiao Xijin brought a gift at that time, and today Wu Nian and Lin Xinghuo each gave a gift money, which was considered as a return.
The aunts and uncles at the same table all engaged Cai Weihong and Tan Yuemei in enthusiastic conversation, their words filled with inquiries. Soon, Cai Weihong, with her extensive social work experience, "escaped" the small talk and revealed the wedding ring she wore around her neck. The gleaming gold was unmistakable, and the crude design made it look like something an elderly person might hide to pass down to their children and grandchildren. It couldn't be faked, and no one doubted that Cai Weihong was truly married.
The aunts sighed and changed their target. The little girl Tan Yuemei blushed and said that she also had a boyfriend, but no one believed her.
Cai Weihong smiled softly but didn't help her. She simply said to Lin Xinghuo, "Can you and your family take me home later?" Qi Jianmin had gone to the coal mine early in the morning to grab some coal. After he got it back, he had to immediately make it into briquettes, waiting for a few days of good weather to dry it. He definitely wouldn't be able to come pick her up. Besides, Cai Weihong felt that with Qi Jianmin's straightforward nature, he wouldn't even think of coming to pick her up.
"If no one comes to pick up Yuemei, then I'll have to trouble you to take her home as well." Cai Weihong covered her mouth with her fingers and pointed obscurely at the tables in the corner. "I didn't expect Xiao Lanqin's wedding to be so grand. Now that her wealth has been revealed, I don't dare walk alone."
Lin Xinghuo had noticed that something was wrong with the people at the two tables in the southwest corner. They were wearing new clothes that didn't fit them well, and they were all young people in their twenties or thirties. They didn't look like the woman's relatives or friends, and certainly not the guests of Lin Qiyun, who was said to be receiving special training from his superiors at work.
"Whose relatives and friends are at that table?" Wu Nian asked.
But they really were guests from the groom's family. A rather flamboyantly dressed auntie in her fifties at the same table answered, "They're relatives from Vice Minister Lin's hometown. You came too late to see the bride's reception. Wow, dozens of people from their hometown showed up to make things even more festive! Only Vice Minister Lin's children didn't show up..."
There is something hidden in the aunt's words. From the title of "Deputy Minister", one can guess that she probably doesn't have a good relationship with Lin Qiyun, and this person has someone to rely on, so people are not afraid of him.
Lin Xinghuo and Wu Nian exchanged a glance. Lin Qiyun had no family to call his own. The once-glorious "Golden Snow," who had done nothing good, had long since been crushed by the wheels of history. Although they had studiously avoided contact with Lin Qiyun for over a year, they hadn't completely ignored him. The clues they had secretly uncovered suggested that Lin Qiyun was indeed the Jin family's former enemy who had escaped.
But the more they investigated, the more they discovered something unusual about Lin Qiyun. His behavior over the past year or so was vastly different from the man Lin Xinghuo had met before, and even his personality seemed to have changed significantly. Back when Fang Tongjian was still free, the Lin Qiyun who frequently visited him was gentle and courteous, with an uncharacteristically good temper, and his speech and mannerisms perfectly portrayed the image of a "good guy." But now, Lin Qiyun had become much more aggressive. To put it nicely, he was "more assertive," but to put it bluntly, he was eager for quick success, fluctuating between calm and impetuous, and incredibly volatile.
But he gave Wu Nian a feeling of even greater danger. Wu Nian was a demon beast, and unlike humans, beasts were accustomed to recognizing scent first. He had never before experienced such a complex aura from a human. A mixture of life, decay, sweet and fishy, burnt... It all blended together, giving Wu Nian a strange, perilous feeling of explosion and rupture.
This time, Wu Nian was worried and actually accompanied Xinghuo to the wedding banquet.
Xiao Lanqin's banquet was a lavish affair. Before the meal began, several plates of sunflower seeds and peanuts, mingled with candies, were laid out on the table. Lin Xinghuo and the others were probably concerned about appearances; their plates remained empty even when the food was about to arrive. Without waiting for the waiters to leave, the people at the corner table, standing on stools and groping, pointed at their table and shouted something. Two men in their twenties ran over, grabbed the plates, and emptied their pockets.
The people at the same table frowned and hid away when they saw the black fingernails on those two hands. Someone vaguely stopped them and pointed at Lin Beiguo in Wu Nian's arms and said, "Hey, there's a child here. Why don't you leave the candy for the child!"
The young man, his pockets bulging, turned around, looking very aggressive, his eyes wide as if bulging, his upper lip wrinkled as if he was about to curse. The other man, who had poured him the candy, spat down his throat at the speaker's feet, picked out two pieces of candy, and threw them into the center of the round table.
After the two of them left, cursing quietly, the others spoke. The lively atmosphere surrounding Xiao Lanqin was gone. The aunt who seemed a little dirty to Lin Qiyun complained: "What kind of quality!"
Lin Xinghuo glanced at the people running around in the yard, and suddenly felt that they were a bit like the thugs who followed the landlord Huang Shiren in the drama White-Haired Girl... Or rather, this kind of people have some common characteristics, because this is often the habit of "gentlemen" raising "vicious dogs": they want the vicious dogs to be obedient and ferocious, but they are reluctant to spend more money and time to correct the vicious dogs' bad habits.
The food came, but those people were still restless. However, when Lin Qiyun and Xiao Lanqin came out to toast, the two tables in the southwest corner became quiet again - they were more like "vicious dogs" trained by humans, and they were only afraid of their master.
Although the wedding banquet was lively and sumptuous, Lin Qiyun did not participate in any ceremony. He only showed up before the toast and welcomed several important guests to the specially set up table in the small Western-style building.
Others felt that considering Lin Qiyun's age and the fact that his children from his first marriage were already grown, this was considered a proper ceremony. However, Xiao Lanqin was very unhappy, feeling that her marriage was shameful. She had just been attending to relatives and friends, and Lin Qiyun hadn't even been there. That's why she insisted on changing the traditional ceremony of the bride and groom raising a toast together to one toast per table.
Lin Qiyun glanced at the bright sky outside and asked again, "Are you sure?"
Xiao Lanqin touched her abdomen and nodded firmly.
Lin Qiyun drooped one eyelid and gave an ambiguous laugh: "Alright then."
"You want to change your clothes? You haven't worn that thick cheongsam you made earlier, have you?"
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The author has something to say: In the old days, "marriage was a ceremony held at dusk, so it was called marriage".
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