Cen Biqing and Xu Hongyuan stood beside the imperial carriage. Confucius bowed to Cen Biqing and said, "Master Lingxia Xuanjing, this is the 'departure' to Northern Juluzhou. You and your disciples do not need to go there. You can stay here."
"Okay." Cen Biqing nodded, and then he saw Confucius and others urging the dragon horses. After a neighing sound that resounded through the sky, twenty imperial chariots, pulled by a hundred dragon horses, formed a long row and flew into the blue sky, heading straight towards the direction of Uttarakuru.
The speed of the dragon horse was extremely fast. In just eight days, the caravan entered the Northern Juluzhou from the Dongsheng Shenzhou, and then directly arrived outside the Hongqing Palace in the Duanjie Mountain.
Mei Xianzhang and Zhe Yu had already been waiting outside Hongqing Palace with everyone else. When the motorcade landed, Confucius was the first to step down from the imperial carriage and shouted, "Come in, matchmaker."
The Four Heavenly Masters immediately got off the imperial carriage and walked forward holding ceremonial gifts. Mei Xianzhang and Zhe Yu brought people forward to take over the ceremonial gifts from the Four Heavenly Masters, and then invited Confucius, the Four Heavenly Masters, and the Seventy-two Sages into Hongqing Palace.
In Hongqing Palace, Confucius, the Four Heavenly Masters, and the Seventy-two Sages met Fang Jian, while Lan Xin sat on the right side of the hall.
Now Fang Jian came forward as an elder, so Confucius and his party did not perform the ceremony of a minister paying homage to the king, but instead greeted each other with courtesy.
After the greeting, the four Heavenly Masters will come forward on the bodies of the matchmaker to "make the order". The so-called "making the order" means that the man asks the matchmaker to express his intention to propose marriage to the woman.
After the four Heavenly Masters finished their orders, Fang Jian spoke up and said, "This is a match made in heaven, a perfect couple. I am Lan Xin's master, and it is my heart's desire that my disciple has such a good relationship."
Fang Jian agreed to the marriage, and then asked Lan Xin, "Lan Xin, do you agree to this marriage?"
How could Lan Xin disagree? She immediately said, "Master, I agree."
Then the seventy-two Confucian sages performed the ceremony. After some more etiquette between the two sides, Confucius led everyone on the imperial carriage and returned to the Dongsheng Shenzhou.
The "order" has been completed, and the next step is "Nacai". It is still the same twenty imperial carriages, accompanied by various ceremonials, which is "Nacai".
The matchmaker then asks the woman's name, which is called "asking for the name".
After asking for the names, a Taoist master was invited to divine the names of the man and woman. After the divination was completed, the hexagram showed that the marriage was "very auspicious". So the man's elder Cen Biqing took the rituals and went with Confucius and others to ask the woman's family to present gifts and ask her to "accept the auspiciousness", which means "accept the great fortune".
After the acceptance of the marriage proposal, the formal betrothal gift came, which is called "Na Zheng". Both Cen Biqing and Xu Hongyuan had to go to Na Zheng in person, so this time the motorcade had Cen Biqing, Xu Hongyuan and Confucius in the first car, the Four Heavenly Masters in the second car, and the Seventy-two Sages in the back.
After the betrothal ceremony was completed, the next step was to select an auspicious date for the wedding. This date was chosen by Confucius, approved by Fang Jian, and officially confirmed as the ninth day of the ninth month in the year 1862 of the Jade Emperor's reign, which was ten days later.
The six rituals of issuing the order, accepting the betrothal gift, asking for the name, accepting the good news, accepting the betrothal gift, and asking for the date took more than three months to travel back and forth between Dongsheng Shenzhou and Beijuluzhou. By the time the wedding was held ten days later, the entire process would take nearly four months in total.
After the auspicious date was determined, Fang Jian and Cen Biqing notified all parties again, and then the emperors of the heavenly court and the golden immortals from all sides began to descend to the mortal world and visit Qingfeng Cave to prepare to attend the wedding.
The next step was to choose the best man and bridesmaid. This matter should have been decided by Fang Jian and Cen Biqing, but they still handed it over to Confucius and gave him full authority.
So Confucius began to publicly select best men and bridesmaids. The initial number was nine best men and nine bridesmaids. Given the relationship between Mei Xianzhang and Xu Hongyuan, she was naturally the first bridesmaid. Then Luan Ling'er, a disciple of Master Cai Jing, became the second bridesmaid. Then Fairy Lingdie was chosen. The other female fairies from Lingxia Mountain also wanted to be bridesmaids, but unfortunately they were either not tall enough or had too much demonic aura, so they were not suitable. Even Juan'er was rejected by Confucius because she looked too seductive and was not suitable to be a bridesmaid.
Juan'er was so angry that he kept calling her a "sour scholar" and a "fool", but he couldn't refute her. After all, being coquettish is not a derogatory term sometimes, it just means that she is not suitable to be a bridesmaid.
But soon, someone else came forward to recommend himself, but it was to be the best man.
"Have you chosen your best man? If not, count me in."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, and their eyes lit up when they saw a 'beauty' standing before them, dressed in jade, with a purple gold crown on her head, a face as white as jade, lips as red as vermilion, bright eyes and star-like eyebrows, a tall figure, and a gentle and graceful demeanor.
When Confucius saw this person, he was surprised and asked, "Demon Emperor?"
The person who came was none other than Demon Emperor Tang Yu. Tang Yu said with a smile, "Old Master, do you think I'm qualified to be a best man?"
Confucius nodded repeatedly and said, "Not to mention being the best man, she's even qualified to be the bridesmaid."
Suddenly, there was a burst of laughter around. Confucius turned his head and looked, and then his eyes lit up again. It turned out that Tang Yu was accompanied by three dignified and elegant women, namely Yingxu, Yaoji and Jingwei.
"Could these three fellow Taoists be the three daughters of the Southern Lingzhen Old Heavenly Monarch?" Confucius asked.
Tang Yu smiled and said, "Exactly."
Confucius said quickly, "You've arrived just in time. I see that the three of you are dignified and elegant. Why don't you all be bridesmaids?"
"Ah?" Yingxu and Jingwei were a little surprised and asked hesitantly, "Can we?"
Confucius smiled and said, "The height and temperament are very suitable."
Yingxu and Jingwei looked at Yao Ji again. After all, Yao Ji was once an immortal official beside the Lord Haotian and had seen the world.
Yao Ji smiled and said, "Since Master Wenxuan thinks highly of the three of us sisters, then I can be the bridesmaid."
Confucius was delighted after hearing this. He immediately wrote down the names of the three people on the jade slip in his hand and said, "Mei Xianzhang, Luan Ling'er, Lingdie, Yingxu, Yaoji, and Jingwei. That's six people, missing three bridesmaids. And there's a Taoist friend named Tangyu as the best man, so there are still eight missing."
After saying that, Confucius raised his head and said to Cen Biqing, "We still need to find three more bridesmaids and eight groomsmen."
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