National Tide 1980.

Chapter 1259: Fusang Bride

There will be many contradictions in a person's life.

For example, Ning Weimin clearly knows that there is still great potential in Japan's current speculative market.

If you devote all your resources and continue to focus on this market, you will probably become the richest man in the world soon.

However, in order to prevent the tragic fate of "earning money but not spending it", Ning Weimin, who had just topped the ranking of individual clients, had no choice but to quit while all the stocks he held were still rising across the board.

Several months before "Black Monday", he was forced to reluctantly instruct his stockbroker Kenichi Sagawa to sell most of his stock holdings on the grounds of business needs and overseas mergers and acquisitions.

He also tried every possible means to transfer part of the profits, together with the 5 billion yen loaned by re-mortgaging the Huibundang Bookstore, from Japan to overseas.

For example, Ning Weimin clearly hates people dressing up as Japanese.

If it is not necessary... for example, after taking a hot spring bath, and the only kimono available is the one provided by the store, he will never wear a kimono.

And what he hated most was leaving traces of his dress.

But nothing is certain. This time he got married and held his wedding in front of a shrine in Japan.

However, he had to suppress his hatred and go against his personal preference, wearing a kimono to hold the wedding and taking photos to fulfill Keiko Matsumoto's wish.

There is no way. No matter how great the grievance is, it can be covered up by the word "love".

Speaking of which, when Ning Weimin was first reborn, he still fantasized about having three wives and four concubines after he became rich, how they would go on a threesome, how they would live a life of luxury and extravagance, and how they would spend money like water.

At that time, he never expected to have any love, he just wanted to have a pair of twins with good looks and figures.

However, human destiny is so mysterious that plans often cannot keep up with changes. Who made Tianran let him meet Qingzi?

Once he really met the right person, his soul, even that vulgar and dirty man, was purified. From then on, he decided to be a human being and never thought about any evil things again.

It's magical, seeing Qingzi's face, hearing Qingzi's voice, her every move, her joys and sorrows, all made him happy.

When he was with her, not only did the world become full of fun and colors, but he also enjoyed his meals.

Then again, he was willing to give up all those depraved, dazzling desires for a woman like this.

  Why wouldn't he be willing to take a photo of Keiko wearing a kimono?

And if you think about it the other way around, since Qingzi has sacrificed so much for her, it is only natural for her to sacrifice a little.

Love cannot be given unilaterally. Anyway, Sun Dapao, the great writer Zhou and the Jianhu heroine have all worn it, so she probably won't be regarded as a traitor.

Never mind, let's just leave it like this...

And so, on Saturday, May 1987, 5, Ning Weimin cooperated unconditionally and held a Japanese-style wedding ceremony in front of the shrine with Qingzi.

It should be said that this wedding was very different from the Western-style wedding they were going to hold at the Okura Hotel in Tokyo the next day.

The wedding on May 5rd was not only grand and luxurious, but also public, entertaining thousands of guests and media reporters.

This wedding is only open to family members and the couple's closest friends. It is an extremely private and solemn wedding ceremony.

The only relatives participating on Keiko Matsumoto's side are her parents and her uncle's family.

The elders who are not related by blood include my homeroom teacher in junior high school and my father in business, President Sakomoto of Shochiku Film and Yoshitaro Nomura, the director of "Li Xianglan".

There is also the "Oshima Shigeru" who is familiar to all Chinese people, and the emotional father of Yamaguchi Momoe - Utsui Ken.

Because he was Matsumoto Keiko's predecessor at Daiei Company, this reliable old actor had always been very caring towards her. Although the two did not have much collaboration, they had a good personal relationship in the past, so Ken Utsui was also invited to attend the ceremony this time.

In addition, Keiko Matsumoto also invited several friends in the circle to attend the wedding.

There are Atsumi Kiyoshi and Baisho Chieko under Shochiku, as well as actress Ishida Yoshiko who just won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

As for Ning Weimin, since it was not his home court, even fewer people attended.

He had only one relative, his adopted cousin Shen Cun, who had flown all the way from Beijing for him.

He only had three friends. One was the Asian singing queen Teresa Teng, who had a similar temperament to him; the president of Taurus Palace, Minoru Funaki; and the other was Yao Peifang, who he had temporarily brought in to fill in the gaps.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Ning Weimin is really so unpopular. He has no friends in Japan who are closer to him than these people.

It’s not that he didn’t consider Axia, Maria, the Kagawa sisters, and the Taniguchi family as friends in his heart.

In fact, the key lies in the fact that the location of their Japanese-style wedding is also very special.

Because it is not in Tokyo, but in Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture, more than 300 kilometers away from Tokyo.

According to Keiko, after coming here on her high school graduation trip, she has been thinking that one day, she will hold her wedding here.

Now that she had finally met the person to whom she would entrust her life, she naturally came to Itsukushima Shrine to fulfill her vow.

As a result, not only did this wedding have a more necessary meaning, but objective conditions also meant that only a few people could participate in the wedding.

After all, if guests wanted to attend the wedding, they had to fly from Tokyo to Hiroshima, which was really too troublesome.

Among all the guests, only Yao Peifang came from Osaka, which was slightly closer.

Ning Weimin thought about it from another perspective. He was really embarrassed to disturb everyone and disrupt the normal life and work arrangements of so many people.

Therefore, for everyone else, it would be best if we all return to Tokyo the next day and meet at the Western-style wedding at the Hotel Okura.

Anyway, no matter what, although the wedding held at Itsukushima Shrine was low-key and not very fussy, it was a complete success.

First of all, although the place is far away, it is really nice.

Miyajima is not a big place, rich in oysters and deer. Apart from a shrine, there is only one commercial street.

But the shrine here has a long history. It was founded in 593 AD, and has a history of years. It is the head shrine of the other Itsukushima Shrines in Japan.

The three goddesses enshrined here are mainly Tashinahime-no-mikoto, Ichikishimahime-no-mikoto, and Tsuzuhime-no-mikoto.

Therefore, since ancient times, this place has been regarded as a sacred island where goddesses live, and it has gradually become the center of Japanese Shinto beliefs.

Moreover, Itsukushima Shrine was built on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea.

When the tide is high, the azure blue water rises to the foot of the shrine's covered bridge, and the entire shrine magically becomes a "building in the lake".

In addition to the large torii gate in front of the shrine standing in the sea, the "Miyajima Scenic Spot" is considered one of the "Three Great Scenic Spots in Japan" along with Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture and Amanohashidate in Kyoto Prefecture. To be honest, Ning Weimin didn't have much expectations at first.

But when he got here, he couldn't help but feel emotional.

I thought my wife was really good at choosing places, and she would choose such a wonderful place for my wedding.

Among the guests, whether it was Ishida Yoshiko, who had an unhappy marriage, or Teresa Teng, who hated getting married but couldn't, they were all excited by the scenery here from the bottom of their hearts.

Before the guests even got to speak, as soon as they met, the two of them expressed their blessings with envy.

One said, "You are so lucky to get married in a shrine like this. The goddesses will definitely protect your marriage and the beautiful Keiko..."

Another said, "How can there be such a person who invites people from far away just to show off their happiness. The point is... Hey, why did you choose to get married here? You are too happy. Please, can you please consider other people's feelings? I envy you so much..."

Secondly, it is worth mentioning that Japan’s wedding industry is also quite mature and developed.

Wedding services in Japan are a very lucrative business these days.

A reporter from NHK TV revealed after an investigation that the average cost of a full wedding ceremony for Japanese people is about 6 million yen.

Therefore, even places like Itsukushima Shrine have specially-cooperated wedding planning companies to organize weddings.

The money spent by Ning Weimin and his family on today's wedding must have been sufficient, so when they get here they just need to follow the arrangements, and everything will be arranged perfectly.

Specifically, the wedding company not only invited the chief priest of the shrine to personally preside over the wedding ceremony for the newlyweds, but also arranged for a makeup artist and prepared a space for the relatives to wait and rest.

Taking into account the inconvenience of changing clothes for the newlyweds, several people were specially arranged to help them change clothes.

The photographers and assistants in the photo studio are ready, waiting for the newlyweds to change into their wedding attires and then take a few photos of them in a beautiful place as "wedding anniversary photos."

However, although Japanese photographers are very skilled, the light, shadow and objects in the photos they take are extremely beautifully matched and breathtaking.

But there is actually nothing new about the Japanese photographers and the "artistic photos" that later became notorious in my country.

To put it bluntly, it's all routine.

There are already regulations on what kind of umbrella to hold and which hand to raise, so taking photos is easy.

If there is any difference, it is that the Japanese do pose for photos at the wedding scene, and they are indeed photos from a real wedding, and the prices are more expensive.

Usually, the starting price for a package of seven or eight photos to make a book is 100,000 yen.

The price will increase by more than 20,000 yen for each additional photo selected. If you want to take a decent photo, it will cost 300,000 yen, 500,000 yen, and even 1 million yen photos can be taken for you.

Of course there are cheaper ones, the price is 25,000 yen, which is the lowest price, which is only more than 1,000 RMB.

But, hey, there is only one photo...

In short, the thoughtful service of the wedding company is quite impressive, at least it improves the efficiency of work.

Especially the traditional bridal makeup and dressing is time-consuming and laborious. It may take several hours at the slowest, and it takes even longer to remove the makeup. It is by no means an easy burden.

You should know that the best time to start a wedding at Itsukushima Shrine is at high tide, which symbolizes the perfect love between husband and wife and the climax of the event.

If you miss it, it would be as disgusting as the Chinese people who are delayed by an accident on the road and miss the auspicious time.

If it weren't for the fact that a group of old ladies in the shrine were very skilled in this, they could easily tidy up the bride no matter whether she was square or round.

It is impossible for the newlyweds to catch the high tide in time by their own ability.

And unlike Ning Weimin, who was wearing a black kimono called "Montsuke Yuori", he looked like a fishmonger and there was really nothing to praise about him.

To pick up a fan is just like a barber's request.

The bride's attire is indeed quite eye-catching, very special and very beautiful.

Japanese brides wear a two-color kimono with a red edge and a white base, and also wear a white hat. Under the tall hat, only a beautiful face is revealed, making her look very dignified and holy.

To be honest, the white wig on the bride's head looks a bit like a wedding dress.

Especially when entering the shrine, when someone holds a red umbrella behind the newlyweds, it seems to bring ancient romance.

If the surrounding environment had not reminded Ning Weimin that this was a real ceremony, he would have thought it was a movie.

Keiko's graceful demeanor makes her worthy of the title of "Fuso Flower Bride", a very imaginative name.

Later, Ning Weimin specifically asked Qingzi and found out that as a bride, everything she wore today was very particular and there were many mysteries involved.

The white cape on her head is called "jiaoyin", which reminds the bride not to lose her temper when she arrives at her new home, and even if she has "horns", she must hide them.

It turns out that the Japanese tradition of describing a wild and unruly woman does not use the allusion of the Hedong Lion's Roar, but rather says that the woman has "horns on her head", which means a white wedding hat.

It means that no matter how unruly the bride is at ordinary times, she must tuck her fox tail between her legs and act docile and dignified at the wedding, covering her horns. Hence it is called "jiaoyin".

This headdress is traditionally made of white silk, and sometimes has a red silk lining to give it a more festive feel.

This kind of clothing originated from the Edo period. It is said that the customs were different back then, and children would run behind the bride and shout "Hide your horns".

Later, people felt that it was really indecent, so they changed the habit and simply used this kind of hat to hide the "horns" before getting married.

The white dress on Keiko is called "Shiromuku", which sounds like a very poetic name.

However, it is completely different from what Ning Weimin understood. This does not mean that the bride is pure and innocent.

Rather, it means that the bride is like a blank slate when she arrives at her new home.

This means that from now on, the bride has to start everything from scratch, and her "white wedding dress" can be "dyed with the same color as her husband's family style."

To put it bluntly, as we Chinese often say, only with a blank piece of paper, starting from scratch, can we draw the most beautiful and best picture.

  Think about it, Japanese brides actually have horns, how does this resemble the stories in "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio"?

Isn't this just like treating the bride as a witch?

  Return to my family tradition... Including my master, isn’t our basic color the color of money?

Could it be possible that such an elegant and beautiful girl like Qingzi would also become a money-grubbing and stingy person?

This... is totally unimaginable... Will the couple's only common topic in the future be settling accounts together?

This, this, let’s just forget about it…