The old patriarch said that Zheng Xiu had to get married within two months, and that was no joke. From the next day, the Zheng family took turns to arrange people to stay at the Zheng family to supervise their progress.
Because of their urging, the six rituals of Nacai, Wenming, Naji, Nazheng, and Qingqi were skipped.
Zheng Ren looked up the almanac, and because May was an evil month and not suitable for marriage, Zheng Xiu's wedding date was set at the end of April.
Zheng Xiu's sixteenth birthday had just passed, and she didn't expect that it would be her wedding day so soon. There was no time to embroider her wedding dress, so Zheng Xiu asked Madam Su to find ten embroiderers to make her wedding dress.
Old Man Zheng and Old Lady Zheng began to plan the wedding banquet list and wedding banquet food.
Xue Zhi only had one son, Xue Shao, in his hometown. He gave the bag of jade to the Zheng family. He had nothing except several dozen taels of silver from the pawning of the fan.
Zheng Xiu couldn't bear to leave her family. After discussing with Xue Zhi, Zheng Ren decided to let Xue's father and son move to their own house after they got married.
Xue Zhi didn't disagree. It didn't matter where he lived. Zheng Xiu didn't want to be separated from her family, so he just accommodated her.
This alone made Zheng Xiu feel touched and grateful. In this era, if the man lived in the woman's house after marriage, it would be considered as marrying into the woman's family. There must be people who gossiped behind her back.
Xue Zhi even comforted her by saying, "The rumors are bad now, but they won't matter in the future. There's no need to let those foul-mouthed people affect your life. Besides, it's fine for us to live in those two shabby huts of my family, but it's not right for you to come and live here. I should thank you, Miss, for letting A Shao and I live in such a nice house." He felt like he was dreaming to marry her, so naturally, everything else was based on her thoughts.
His pretentious tone made Zheng Xiu smile.
"Well, I'll clean up two empty rooms in the next few days so that you and A Shao can move in directly."
When they were talking, Xue Shao was whispering with Zheng Yu. Hearing this, Zheng Yu nudged Xue Shao with her elbow, and Xue Shao said, "Sister, there's no need to prepare a room for me. I can just live with A Yu."
Zheng Yu also smiled flatteringly, "Yes, sister, it's not that troublesome. My room is so big, A Shao and I can each have half."
The two of them were meant to be together, so it was normal for them to want to sleep together. Zheng Xiu took them one by one and told them, "Then we have to agree that you have to be good when you are together. You have to do your homework together every day, then wash up and go to bed, and go to bed on time."
The two children agreed quickly.
Xue Zhi watched from the side, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. After wandering outside for so many years, he felt at home for the first time.
The Zheng family prepared a wedding banquet list first. After looking through it, Old Man Zheng and Zheng Ren found no omissions. They then asked Xue Zhi how many relatives would come so that they could make arrangements.
Xue Zhi said, "No one from my family will come to the wedding banquet. My father-in-law only needs to take care of the Zheng family."
The wedding date was just around the corner, so he naturally changed his words. But Zheng Ren still felt weird every time he heard it. They were clearly brothers when they were drinking together before, but in the blink of an eye, Xue Zhi actually married his precious daughter. The phoenix returns to the nest, and only loves the expensive concubine! .
When he said this, the Zheng family tacitly accepted that there was no one left in his family. But they were not surprised. Xue Zhi had a hard time raising this child alone outside, so he thought that the family was also like that.
Xue Zhi did not touch the things he gave because they were too valuable, but directly handed them over to Zheng Xiu.
Zheng Xiu was also very surprised when she saw these jade wares for the first time. She had only seen such good things at auctions on TV before, but now, one item could be sold for hundreds or even thousands of taels. She also packed them up intact, preparing to return them to Xue Zhi or leave them to Xue Shao in the future. At the end
of April, Xue Zhi, wearing a bright red uniform, riding a date-red horse, and leading a team of musicians to welcome the bride, arrived at the Zheng family's door.
Zheng Xiu got up before dawn and dressed. Madam Su came to put on her makeup, the county official's wife came to comb her hair, and Old Lady Zheng also helped.
After dressing up, Zheng Xiu's eyebrows were as dark as distant mountains, her eyes were like autumn waves, her lips were cherry red, her skin was whiter than snow, and she had a faint smile. She was as beautiful as a person in a painting.
Old Lady Zheng looked at her and her eyes became red.
Zheng Xiu could only smile and comfort her: "Grandma, why are you crying? I'll just take a ride around the town in the sedan chair and be back before lunch."
The county official's wife was a middle-aged woman with a round face. She looked very amiable and also advised: "Don't cry on such a happy day, old lady. It will be troublesome if our bride sheds tears and her makeup is ruined." Old
lady Zheng wiped her tears and smiled: "Oh, grandma, don't cry. Our little girl Xiu looks so beautiful today!"
Zheng Xiu put on the phoenix crown embellished with a dozen round pearls and felt like her neck was about to be broken. Actually, this phoenix crown was the one her mother wore when she got married. Zheng Ren had someone redecorate it and replaced the yellowed pearls. After the renovation, there was no trace of it being an old item. The phoenix crown was shining, and it matched the bright red wedding dress with exquisite embroidery, which highlighted the color of the dress.
After the red veil was put on, Old Lady Zheng and Madam Su helped Zheng Xiu out of the house on each side.
Although she still lived in her own home after getting married, she would be named Xue Zheng with her husband's surname, and would be considered a member of someone else's family. Before getting on the sedan chair, she had to pay her respects to Old Man Zheng and Zheng Ren.
Zheng Xiu was under the red veil, and she didn't know what her father and grandfather's expressions were. She only felt that her father's hands were shaking slightly when he helped her up.
By this time, the sedan chair had already stopped outside.
Zheng Xiu, carried on the back of a cousin, got on the sedan chair with a jade bottle in one hand and an apple in the other.
Amid the blast of firecrackers and the bustling voices of people, Zheng Xiu got on the sedan chair.
Xue Zhi bowed to the elders of the Zheng family, mounted his horse, and shouted "Let's go." The wedding procession started playing music again, and a group of people carried the sedan chair and set off along the street.
Zheng Ren started to collect dowry when Zheng Xiu was little, and collected a total of sixty loads. In the whole town, even in the county, it was the first. The people carrying the dowry followed the wedding procession, becoming another eye-catching landscape.
The wedding procession circled the town three times before returning to the Zheng family.
It was noon, and the Zheng family had already started the banquet.
Zheng Xiu was supported by Madam Su and returned to the house. Apart from feeling drowsy from the bumpy ride in the sedan chair, she did not feel any discomfort. After all, to her, it was just a circle outside, and she returned home and moved to a new room. There was a lot of noise
outside, people came to congratulate and drink, and there was an endless stream of people.
Zheng Xiu had been hungry for a long time and felt a burning sensation in her stomach. She wanted to eat the apple in her hand, which symbolized peace and happiness. Fortunately, Aunt Qian quickly broke off a bowl of Tremella fuciformis porridge and brought it in. She lifted a corner of the red lid and fed her one spoonful at a time with a spoon.
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