National Tide 1980.

A quarter to ten, Miao Yujuan, Jiang Nianyun's "married wife", finally arrived.

They did arrive a little later than agreed today, but it must be said that this was due to the importance they attached to the matter.

The main reason is that Miao Yujuan, who "shoulders a heavy responsibility", feels bad no matter how she dresses today.

Following the advice of my family, I spent a long time rummaging through boxes and drawers just to figure out which clothes to wear.

In the end, they got into a heated argument over how to apply lipstick.

Without much experience, Miao Yujuan always felt embarrassed because the color of her lipstick was too bright, while Aunt Luo felt that imported lipstick was more natural because it was not dyed with lipstick paper.

In the end, it was Luo Guangliang who advised his family, "Don't worry about makeup anymore. Yunyuan has already prepared professional makeup artists. Not to mention the Japanese crew, even Monka's stylist is ready and on standby. Sister-in-law, you just need to get there."

So they got into the cars driven by Luo Guangliang and Xiao Tao and rushed to Yunyuan, finally not being late.

Needless to say, the first thing they did when they entered the courtyard was to congratulate the host.

The gift from their whole family was an automatic water-pressurizing thermos and a gift of fifty yuan.

This was already a very important gift in that era, and it showed the close relationship between the two families.

Especially since Master Luo and his eldest son delivered 100 kilograms of "Dragon and Phoenix Wedding Cakes" that they had baked specially for Ning Weimin yesterday, it showed how much importance they attached to this matter and demonstrated that distant relatives are not as close as close neighbors.

So Kang Shude accepted the gift on behalf of Ning Weimin and expressed his gratitude again and again.

In contrast, Luo Guangliang and Xiao Tao followed Zhang Shihui in making trouble, and the "Money Dragon Boat" sent by Zhang Shihui was not so popular with him because it was too tacky.

Jiang Nianyun felt relieved after seeing Miao Yujuan in person. She thought that although she was an ordinary person, she had a decent, friendly and likable appearance and was indeed a decent person. She immediately arranged for a makeup artist to put light makeup on her.

Finally, at 10:10, the wedding procession finally set off from the gate of Yunyuan on time.

At this time, Kang Shude and Jiang Nianyun, who had been busy since they got up at five o'clock, stood side by side on the steps of the gate, looking at the bright and expansive blue sky above their heads and the red "囍" characters that could be seen everywhere in the yard. It seemed that even the hydrangeas on both sides of the hanging flower gate and the red silk under the eaves had become more gorgeous and dazzling.

After they witnessed the convoy going farther and farther away and the lead car finally turned out of the alley, the two men couldn't help but smile at each other. There was no need to say a thousand words.

Although they do not have their own biological children, the sense of satisfaction similar to that of biological parents watching their children get married and start their own families clearly lingers in their hearts and brings them great satisfaction.

From this time on, Yunyuan really became lively.

Unlike before the motorcade left, when only a few guests came, at this moment, guests began to arrive in large numbers.

The important subordinates of Saigong and Tangong, representatives of Goldlion, representatives of Monka, the persons in charge of Maxim's Restaurant and Menimus, store managers and supervisors of all the directly-operated stores of Pierre Cattin, and the senior executives of Pierre Cattin, all those who could get away today, came one after another.

These are just some of the direct affiliations, there are many more indirect ones.

The entire leadership team of the Temple of Heaven Park, several main leaders of the Agricultural University and Tianqiao Shopping Mall, Yin Yue and the store managers of the three brand clothing stores she manages, the main members of Huimin Tobacco and Wine Shop and Huimin Reading Club, Director Li of Meishi Street Sub-district Office, as well as the leaders of the street handicraft service agency, the street clothing factory, the brocade box factory that supplies silk figurines, the Donghuaishi Street material factory, the factory that manufactures trolley cases for Ning Weimin, as well as the badge factory, palace lantern factory, antique porcelain, wood carving factory, filigree inlay, enamel factory and other handicraft factory leaders and veteran technicians who have many business cooperations with Ning Weimin, all came to join in the fun today.

There are even more people in the cultural circle.

People like Ning Weimin's Palace Culture Research Association, the presidents and editors-in-chief of many newspapers and publishing houses in Beijing, teachers and students from Beijing's two art colleges, the National Ballet and models who co-founded a modeling school, and many of Beijing's popular singers, movie stars, and comedians, as long as they can get in touch with this connection, are all willing to come and show their support.

In addition, Ning Weimin is also popular in official circles.

Although he didn't deliberately manage it, he had dealings with quite a few people.

People from the Ministry of Light Industry, the Light Industry Bureau, the Ministry of Textiles, the Textile Bureau, the Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau, the District Cultural Relics Bureau, the Municipal Tourism Bureau, the Municipal Second Commercial Bureau, the District Service Bureau, the District Public Security Bureau, the Dongcheng District Housing Management Office, the Xuanwu District Sugar, Tobacco and Wine Company, as well as the TV Drama Production Center, the Municipal Film Bureau, the China Film Distribution Company, and several people from the Shanghai Film Translation Studio who came to discuss cooperation, all came.

The saying "A rich man has distant relatives even if he lives in a remote mountain" is not false. In the human relationship, the most mainstream one is "icing on the cake", which means "cars flow like water, horses are like dragons, flowers and moon are like spring breeze."

However, Kang Shude and Ning Weimin are certainly not the kind of people who forget their roots, and they have not forgotten any of their poor friends.

Except for Ning Weimin's former colleagues who worked at the front desk of Chongwenmen Hotel, he asked Zhang Shihui to post the invitations on his behalf.

As for the other neighbors in No. 2 Shaner Hutong, he even personally visited their homes to deliver the invitations.

And today, specially for picking up everyone, Ning Weimin arranged an 18-person van to pick up these old neighbors.

However, this car, like the Luo family's, arrived half an hour later than expected.

It’s not that everyone has no sense of time, but because ordinary people have rarely participated in major events. They are most likely to get anxious when encountering a big scene. And they have families to bring with them, so how can there not be chaos?

Sometimes a child wanted to pee, sometimes an adult forgot to take a gift, sometimes someone came out wearing a cross-bar vest and turned back to put on a shirt, sometimes someone remembered that there was hot water on the gas stove and hurried back to turn off the fire.

It was just like sprinkling a handful of salt into a frying pan, and it started to boil over immediately.

It was such a rush and panic, with people going back and forth endlessly in and out of the car.

Fortunately, there were wedding cigarettes, wedding candies and red envelopes, and the driver was very patient and his attitude was as nice as possible.

At about ten o'clock, everyone finally gathered, the car started and drove towards the wedding banquet venue.

These neighbors usually have limited activities and their lives are extremely monotonous.

The only collective activities they have participated in in their lives are probably the "revolutionary activities" during the "movement."

I have never experienced traveling in a car with people I know well.

So the feeling of riding in a tour bus today is almost the same as riding in a "ceremonial car" for visiting foreign heads of state.

They were laughing and chatting happily all the way.

Some people praised Ning Weimin for his thoughtfulness and Kang Shude for his considerate thinking.

Some people said that they had long wanted to see the real appearance of the property that Kang Shude was going to take back. There was endless speculation and discussion about what it would look like and whether it was really as amazing as Mi Xiaohui had said.

Some people also brought up old stories, recalling how they had gotten married riding on a donkey, which made everyone laugh uncontrollably.

In short, there is never a moment of peace in the car.

Both the Bian family and the Mi family showed excitement and joy that had never been seen before.

They looked even happier than the host.

But when we really got to the scene, everyone was speechless and kept silent.

It’s not for any other reason, but because the grandeur and scene here are so huge.

The flower archway outside the courtyard gate and the soft-colored hydrangeas surrounding the courtyard wall are stunning enough, and the two guests guarding the door to let the guests in also exude respectability.

Once you enter the courtyard, the view is completely different. The screen wall in front of you is colorful, with five bright red hydrangeas hanging neatly on the four brick-carved characters of "福利寿喜", which is a striking first impression.

Walking further in, it's even more amazing: the two wall ridges from the screen wall to the front of the hanging flower gate are all decorated with colorful patterns and hung with long and short silk silks.

The breeze blows gently, and the flowers are fluttering in the air. The red is so flamboyant and beautiful.

The final shock came from the hanging flower gate. There were at least ten distinguished guests standing at the door. Not to mention the records of receiving gifts in order, the most important thing was that as soon as you stepped through the door of the theater on the east side, "red" became dazzling and dazzling.

Everyone was stunned to find that all the corridor eaves were decorated with colorful silks and all the pillars were wrapped in red silk. In addition, there were incredibly long gift tables and tea tables under the corridors on both sides of the "Second Gate".

The colorful archways inside and outside the theater and the thirty neatly arranged "official seats" inside the theater were all covered with bright red tablecloths.

  It's so red, so bright, how could it not shock these ordinary people?

It was a grand and magnificent scene that they could never have dreamed of.

For a moment, not only was there no sound, but I was also a little at a loss.

They looked at each other in bewilderment, some swallowing their saliva involuntarily.

Everyone was a little embarrassed by their apparently meager gifts.

Fortunately, Kang Shude and Jiang Nianyun came over in time. Their high-spirited looks and decent clothes could not conceal their sincere enthusiasm.

Kang Shude respectfully bowed to the male guests and said "please do me a favor", "please show me your kindness", and "please give me face".

Jiang Nianyun also greeted the female guests warmly, expressing her gratitude for "causing trouble to everyone".

They were still so humble and amiable, without any trace of arrogance or pride of wealth.

This eased everyone's discomfort and everyone began to congratulate.

But congratulations are congratulations, and the shock cannot be eliminated.

Praise is inevitable.

For example, Uncle Bian couldn't help but say, "Lao Kang, your scene is amazing. I have only heard of rich people in the past, but never seen one. This is really an eye-opener."

Aunt Bian also said, "Yes, this is the yard you got back. Your house is like a dream. How much money did it cost? If it were us, we wouldn't be able to afford it even if we sold everything we had."

Aunt Mi said, "When I got married, I heard that rich people would have such flower archways to show off. Today I finally saw what it was like. It's so beautiful. If it were in the past, people would believe you were in a royal palace."

Master Mi, however, took advantage of his job to become a big shot.

He first rudely criticized his wife, "Tsk, that's because you don't have much knowledge. The movie "Camel Xiangzi" used a wedding tent like this when Mr. Liu held his birthday party. There had to be eaves on all four sides, and the pillars had to be wrapped with red cloth. There had to be glass windows and glass grilles, and the door had to be decorated with colorful patterns."

But then he told the truth, "It's just that it doesn't seem to be this advanced and exaggerated. Lao Kang, you are really good! You made such a big fuss for Wei Min, you really deserve to be your apprentice."

However, no matter how much praise he received, Kang Shude always waved his hands and was humble again and again.

First, he claimed that this was due to the government returning his private property to him.

They said that they actually held a buffet for the occasion, because Ning Weimin had many friends and the place was large, so they seemed wealthy and respectable.

Secondly, he used the explanation that he had already agreed with Ning Weimin and said that it was just a coincidence that they had managed to hold such a grand ceremony.

It just so happened that the Japanese daughter-in-law, Keiko Matsumoto, was a filmmaker and needed to shoot such a grand scene, so she did it this way.

Although it seems wasteful, they are actually borrowed from the light used in filming movies. These studios are movie sets and it is only the crew that paid for it. They themselves did not spend much money.

Jiang Nianyun also cooperated with Kang Shude in singing.

She said that Yunyuan has now been converted into a foreign-related hotel. If this business was not opened, Kang Shude would not be able to afford the consumption of coal, water and electricity.

However, hotels also have their advantages. For example, the tables, chairs, benches, cutlery and cups used for the wedding banquet naturally do not need to be charged, so the expenses are not as exaggerated as everyone imagines.

After hearing this, the old neighbors couldn't help but nod their heads frequently, and their psychological pressure was relieved a lot.

So, with everyone believing it, they all started joking and laughing, and some people even made a few self-righteous comments.

But just as they finished their polite words, they were taken into the theatre one by one and seated.

After everyone let Kang Shude and Jiang Nianyun go about their business, soon someone with insight figured out the new approach.

Because apart from anything else, the wedding candies on the plate were either wrapped in gold or silver paper, and half of them were chocolate.

The other half are also fancy foreign candies.

When I took the cigarettes scattered on the plate, I found out they were actually Zhonghua cigarettes.

Wait for the teapot to be brought up, and then taste the tea. Wow, it's so fragrant.

Especially the tableware on the table, it is not uncommon to see them in pairs.

But the covered bowl is painted with a yellow background with a golden double happiness and hundreds of butterflies pattern, which symbolizes joy and auspiciousness.

The plate has a yellow base, with a pattern of good fortune and longevity painted in alum red and gold.

Such royal-style porcelain, full of nobility, is magical in the eyes of ordinary people.

Although they did not know that this antique porcelain was made by Liu Yongqing for Ning Weimin in imitation of the porcelain used for Emperor Tongzhi's wedding, they could feel its beautiful, complex and auspicious patterns.

God knows how much it costs to put up all these things just to eat.

As the saying goes, a little detail can reveal a lot.

How could the drinks used in the banquet later be bad?

Soon, the neighbors came to their senses.

What the other person said just now were just a few polite words and he was being deliberately humble.

Shocks, amazement and discussions inevitably flooded the air.

This was the first time that these common people realized the true meaning of "haokuo".

Even though they see each other every day and have been neighbors for so many years, it was not until today that it was discovered that Kang Shude and Ning Weimin are really very capable people.

Not only is he knowledgeable and capable, but even his clothing and daily life are different. He is truly not an ordinary person. (End of this chapter)