Ma Daya actually had her own ideas. She felt that after she got married, she couldn't listen to them.
Her father said that after she gave birth to a son, she should ask the Gu family for money and food to support her brothers... She felt that if she really did that, she would be unpopular with everyone...
Half a month passed with her worried.
Gu Yanzhang brought his son and some relatives from Gujiagang to pick up the bride in a donkey cart, but the Ma family didn't even give Ma Daya a penny as a dowry.
Not even a wooden box for clothes. Not to mention, a clean new set of clothes.
Gu Erzhu saw with his own eyes that his daughter-in-law had nothing in her hands and no shoes on her feet. She walked out of the house barehanded and barefoot, and was taken to a donkey cart by his father. He felt very embarrassed.
In ancient times, people held weddings at dusk. At dawn today, Gu Yanzhang went to Tongzhen to pick up his eldest daughter-in-law. At that time, the Jiang family made the wedding ceremony very lively.
They invited a band and a drama troupe, played gongs and drums, and set off firecrackers. They also displayed their daughter's 16-kg dowry on the long street at the gate of the courtyard.
A brand new quilt.
A new dress.
A toilet.
A load of benches, tables and chairs...
...a total of 16 loads of dowry, and the Jiang family also asked some relatives and friends to help carry it.
The mighty procession of bridesmaids, from Tongzhen to Gujiagang, made the villagers along the way jealous.
They all felt that the five taels of silver from the Gu family was well spent!!
Families with many sons were all thinking that if their sons could also marry a daughter-in-law like the Jiang family with a large dowry, then their whole family would be rich.
The morning wedding reception was held in a lively and orderly manner with the joint efforts of the Gu and Jiang families. Both sides felt proud.
Especially Gu Dazhu, who personally picked up his daughter-in-law.
Seeing his elder brother smiling from ear to ear after he went to pick up the bride, Gu Erzhu was still thinking that although the Ma family was a little poor, his family had many male members.
He didn't actually need his family to pay much for the dowry, he just hoped that his family could give his daughter some face.
For example, they could beat gongs and drums, send her off for ten miles, and give her some rough and conspicuous, cheap tables and chairs... In this way, his face would be taken care of, and their own inner self would be saved.
...
Gu Erzhu thought so in the morning, but when he went to pick up the bride in person in the afternoon, he realized that he had made a mistake. He thought things were too simple.
Thinking about how his wife had nothing just now, wearing a tattered dress with patches all over, and was not even fit to carry shoes for his eldest brother's woman, Gu Erzhu's face became long as he thought about it, and he almost lost his temper on the spot.
...
There were more than 20 members of the Gu family who came to welcome the bride, plus a donkey cart.
None of the men from the Ma family went out, and the women went back to work. It felt like Ma Daya was an unimportant person. These welcoming teams of the Gu family were not just ordinary people...
Gu Yanzhang, who was walking on the mountain road with several respected elders, felt particularly embarrassed.
He thought to himself, if he had known that the Ma family was like this, he should have listened to his wife.
The second son is 17 years old this year
. What has he experienced at such an age?
He is not a person with good eyesight. Let him pick and choose by himself, what good can he choose?
Just as he was depressed, they returned to Gu's home in silence.
At dusk, after rushing home, a banquet was held in Gu Yanzhang's yard.
The two brides, supported by Nanny Quanfu, stepped over the fire basin to get rid of bad luck, prepared to wash and dress, worship the heaven and earth, worship their parents, and worship each other as husband and wife.
However, Ma Daya was a person with nothing. She didn't even have new clothes to change into, and her family didn't come.
Noticing that the people sitting at the dinner table were looking at her in a subtle way and saying something like "this is from the Ma family", Ma Daya blushed and lowered her head, wishing she could find a way to get in.
She vaguely felt the disdain and ridicule of some people. Those aunts and uncles seemed to be saying that the people in her family didn't know etiquette...
Gu Erzhu, who was in the crowd, heard the laughter of those people, and he also wanted to find a way to get in.
At this time, he was already regretting it.
He couldn't understand why he chose this girl from the Ma family...
Just as Gu Erzhu was staring at Ma Daya fiercely, Ma Daya was pulled into the bridal chamber by Nanny Quanfu.
"My dear, we have to wash and dress up quickly. Your husband's family is considerate and willing to give you a face massage. The hot water has been prepared long ago. Even the comb for combing lice has been handed to me. Come on, take off your dirty new clothes first. Take a bath and wash your hair..."
When Ma Daya heard this, she became anxious, "Auntie, no... I, I don't have any clothes to change into..." After
hearing this, Nanny Quanfu looked her up and down, and then she found Chen Xuanxuan who was sitting and entertaining the guests. When
Chen Xuanxuan heard her say that the young lady of the Ma family had nothing, not even a new piece of clothing, let alone a change of clothes, she shook her head subconsciously in her heart.
Families that value daughters over sons are usually like this. When they asked their daughter to get married, the higher the betrothal gift, the better. Sometimes, they even wished that she would go out naked.
Thinking of her own place, she actually had a set of clothes that she rarely wore. Chen Xuanxuan thought about it, then apologized to her mother, returned to the innermost room, and took out the dress from the closet.
This dress is particularly old-fashioned in both style and color.
When worn on a person, it looks like she has aged more than 20 years.
Thinking that the second son's wife is only 18 years old this year and is very young, she should be able to hold up after wearing this dress no matter how old she looks, so Chen Xuanxuan handed the ankle-length navy blue robe to the Quanfu mammy.
When the mammy took the clothes in her hands, her eyes lit up immediately.
"This cloth is really thick. The stitching is also very good! Moreover, there is not a single patch on it..."
"Such a good dress should cost several hundred coins, right?"
Chen Xuanxuan smiled and nodded when she heard it. "This dress is a good dress that I have kept at the bottom of my box! I usually don't want to wear it. Mammy, you know I am a farmer. Even if I have some money, I still have to do farm work and take care of all kinds of housework every day. Good clothes are easy to wear out when worn on the body..."
Knowing that the dress was expensive, Mammy Quanfu was more careful when taking the dress.
Thinking that the daughter of the Ma family had a lot of lice on her body, she thought about it and hurried to the old house of the Gu family. She began to wash her hair and bathe her with soap, scrubbing the dirt on her body...