Getting married is a lifelong event, and Fen Dai was still nervous. She twisted her fingers and asked Feng Yuheng: "I heard that daughters have to bid farewell to their parents before leaving home, but I..."
"If Fourth Young Miss doesn't mind, how about I ask for an elder status?" An said, a little embarrassedly: "I'm not so lucky. No matter what happens now, I was a concubine in Feng Mansion after all. Concubines are just slaves to the young ladies, and can never be called elders. But in this situation... If Fourth Young Miss doesn't want to, just pretend I didn't say anything."
"No, no, no, I do, I do!" Fen Dai was so happy that she told An: "Aunt An, do you know? I wanted to be your daughter before. I hated Shen since I was a child. Madam Yao was too high up to dare to get close to her. My second sister was also indifferent at that time and rarely paid attention to me. Only my third sister was closer to me. You eat well in your courtyard, and Aunt An has a dowry shop. At that time, I thought, how great it would be if I were also Aunt An's daughter, so that I could eat delicious food, dress better, and have more pocket money than the monthly silver, so I could buy some favorite little things. Aunt An, you know, the monthly silver given by Feng Mansion before was not enough to manage the servants on weekdays. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. It was fairer when Madam Yao was here. Since Shen was in charge of the public, for a long time, we relied on selling the jewelry that my aunt brought out from Fengyue Alley to make a living."
Everything in the Feng Mansion is a sad story. Xiangrong saw that Fendai's eyes were red again. She didn't want her to think about sad things on the night before the wedding, so she smiled and said, "It seems that it's not just me who will give you some dowry. My mother will have to give you some dowry, after all, she is your elder!"
An nodded repeatedly, unable to hide her excitement: "There is a dowry, there is a dowry. I have prepared it for you a long time ago, but I always felt embarrassed before and didn't know how to give it." As she spoke, she took out a silver note from her sleeve pocket. Feng Yuheng glanced at it. Five thousand taels was a small amount for her, but for An and Xiangrong, it was really all they had. After all, no matter how well the embroidery shop was run, it was just an embroidery shop, and it didn't make as much money as the jewelry shop and antique shop she had.
Fen Dai also felt that it was too much and refused to give it, but An said, "Since you recognize me as your elder, then these are my gifts to your daughter. To be honest, in addition to these five thousand taels, I also kept another ten thousand taels, five thousand of which were given to Xiang Rong and the other five thousand to your second sister. In my eyes, you are all the same, without any bias or preference, and everyone has something, so don't despise them."
Fen Dai couldn't hold back any longer and burst into tears while hugging An. Xiang Rong also wiped her tears but still advised Fen Dai: "Don't cry, you still have to get on the bridal sedan tomorrow, and it won't look good if your eyes are swollen from crying."
"I don't care. Xuan Tianyan has to endure it even if it doesn't look good." Her temper flared up again. "If he dares to say something I don't like, I'll kick him! Besides, don't we still have our second sister? With her around, even if I'm swollen like a bun, it can go down."
Feng Yuheng didn't think that she could cure this disease that made her eyes swollen from crying, but she didn't refute it immediately. She felt that the children of the Feng family lived too depressed and had no way to vent their emotions. They accumulated in their hearts for a long time, which would cause distortion. It's fine like it is now. You can cry when you need to, laugh when you need to, and say what you need to say. There is no need to hold it in because of something. She said to Fendai, "It's okay, cry! I can't cure it, but like you said, whether it's swollen or not, Your Highness the Fifth Prince has to hold it in, because... you are my sister. I said that if anyone dares to bully my sister, I, Feng Yuheng, will never let him off easily." She patted Fendai, "Sisters will become sisters-in-law tomorrow. So, I have to call you sister-in-law."
As soon as she said this, several people burst into laughter again.
An had given her dowry, and Xiangrong had also given her dowry money and gifts long ago, leaving Feng Yuheng with a large portion of money left to give away. She waited patiently for Fendai to finish crying, wiped her tears herself, and then said, "Originally, the maternal family should be the biggest support for a daughter. We all thought that the Feng family would be able to support us for the rest of our lives, and that with a father who was the prime minister, we would not be bullied no matter where we married in the future. Unfortunately, my father is unreliable, and the Feng family is even less reliable. Now that we have no maternal family to rely on, we can only rely on ourselves. But you still have me as your sister, and I will never let my sisters be laughed at in their husband's family. Fendai, I will give you a dowry today, and it is 30% of the property of my Princess Ji'an's mansion."
As she spoke, she winked at Wangchuan Huangquan beside her. The two maids immediately went out and came back in a short while later. They said to Fendai, "Please ask Miss Four to come to the yard and receive our princess's makeup!"
Feng Fendai walked out in a daze, with Feng Yuheng's words rolling in her mind. "30% of the property of Princess Ji'an's mansion", my God, how much is that? Everyone in Dashun knew that Princess Yu was rich enough to rival a country, and she actually gave her 30% of her wealth?
Finally, she stood in the courtyard and watched the servants carrying large wooden boxes into the courtyard. Each box was very heavy and people had a hard time carrying it. Fendai counted them one by one until she reached forty-eight boxes, and then she kept counting. She couldn't count any more. How much did her second sister give her? Her courtyard was small to begin with, and it couldn't hold any more. Many boxes were piled up together.
The boxes were all made of the finest mahogany, and were tied with big red flowers. Feng Yuheng said, "Tomorrow you will carry these dowries when you get married, so that people can see that the Feng family has not failed! When the daughters of the Feng family get married, their dowries are still as beautiful as ten miles of red dowries that no one can match."
Finally, all the boxes were carried. Xiangrong helped to count them and said excitedly, "Oh my God! Fourth sister, there are exactly 128 boxes!"
Qingyu, who was in charge of all the business and accounts of the Princess's Mansion, came over in person, holding a gift book in her hand, and stood in the middle of the courtyard, reading out the gift list loudly in front of everyone, "Princess Yu gave the fourth young lady of the Feng family two jade screens as a dowry, nine dragons inlaid with gold jade, twenty white jade ruyi handles, fifty blue and white porcelain vases, ten jade cabbage ornaments, five gold crown vases, ten red coral gilded covered bowls, ten multi-treasure trees, five sets of white jade three-ram pots, ten gold eight-treasure double phoenix basins, twenty white jade covered cups, ten sets of gold-inlaid jade pots and tray cups... a white jade carved phoenix pendant, two gold-engraved double happiness rings, nine pairs of gold-inlaid nine-dragon playing with pearls bracelets, a gold-engraved linked flower hairpin, ten pairs of gold-inlaid pearl and jade earrings, ten gold-inlaid peach bat hairpins, a pair of jade-inlaid jewel bee pattern earrings, ten blue and white jade rings... twenty boxes of various scattered jewels, totaling two thousand kilograms..."
Everyone collapsed!
Feng Fendai murmured to herself, "Am I alive again? Have I been dreaming all these years? Is this the Ninth Prince offering a betrothal gift to my second sister?"
Her words spoke out the thoughts of everyone. Xiang Rong and An were also shocked, and the same thought rose in their minds. Such a scene was only seen when the Ninth Prince offered the betrothal gift to the Second Miss of the Feng Family! Over the years, every time I think back to the scene at that time, I am amazed.
Now, the grand occasion of that year reappeared, and people could hardly believe it. They all thought they were hallucinating and had returned to the midsummer of the year when Feng Yuheng had just returned to Beijing. It was a full sense of déjà vu!
Qingyu stood in the yard and read the gift list for half an hour, and drank water twice in between. There was no other way, she was too tired and her throat was dry. Her young lady was too generous, and 30% of the property of the Ji'an County Princess's Mansion was just a word, but in reality, who could imagine that these things were enough to buy at least two cities in Dashun.
Gradually, people came back to their senses and were no longer in a trance. They finally realized that these things were the dowry that Feng Yuheng gave to Fendai. They also heard Feng Yuheng say that the same dowry was also prepared for Xiangrong.
Isn't this dowry too lavish? Fen Dai thought, it was really lavish. When the Ninth Prince gave the betrothal gift to the Feng Mansion before, she was also shocked, but compared with Feng Yuheng's gift, it was still inferior. Because Feng Yuheng always gave ten pieces of things at a time, and he would give twenty or thirty pieces of the same thing at any time. She was almost confused. What had her second sister done all these years? Did she rob people? Where did all this come from?
Qingyu hadn't finished reading the gift list in her hand yet, as she had already read out most of the usual things. Next, she copied what Xuan Tianming had done back then. She thought, "Princess Yu will give Miss Feng Si three pieces of Guanghan, Liangrenjin, Shuiyunduan, and Ruoyesha, and five pieces of Ruanyanluo. Princess Yu will give Miss Feng Si one million taels of silver and five hundred thousand taels of gold!"
Damn it!
People collapsed again.
Five hundred thousand taels of silver, two hundred thousand taels of Huangquan? And a lot of five treasures... this, this, this, this...
But that was not the end. Finally, Qingyu asked someone to bring something forward, then took a sip of water and said to Feng Fendai, "Fourth Miss, Princess Yu has also prepared your wedding dress."
"Huh?" Feng Fendai was stunned, "My wedding dress?" Then she looked at Xiangrong and Anshi, "Wasn't my wedding dress made in my own embroidery shop?" She felt ashamed when she said this. According to tradition, the bride should embroider her own wedding dress, but her craftsmanship was really poor, and Dongying was pestered by Xiaobao every day and couldn't help her. Fortunately, Anshi asked the embroidery shop to take over the job, saying that she would embroider the most beautiful wedding dress for her.
But now, facing Fendai's question, An and Xiangrong just smiled and said nothing. Qingyu spoke again and said, "The pattern and tailoring were indeed completed in the embroidery shop, but the fabric was sent by Princess Yu. So, this wedding dress is a gift from Princess Yu, the third lady, and Madam An to you!"
After she finished speaking, she raised her hand and pulled off the cloth covering the things entrusted by the servant beside her, and then she said loudly again: "Princess Yu, give Miss Feng Si a brocade wedding dress and a pair of Shuiyun forged embroidered shoes to her husband!"
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