Fenghou

Chapter 357 Wedding

From early in the morning in Chen Qing's mansion, there have been people coming to give congratulatory gifts, and two hired servants acted as temporary accountants to be in charge of registration, and then several soldiers moved the gifts to the inner courtyard.

Generally, the man and the woman each send invitations and receive congratulations respectively, and this kind of favor will be returned in the future.

As for the expenses of the Fengle Building, Chen Qing will bear the cost, which is not cheap. Generally, it costs about a hundred guan for setting up [-] tables of banquets, and even a big restaurant costs only two or three hundred guan. Start with thousands of dollars.

Then Chen Qing spent a total of [-] guan for the green house, worship hall, decoration, bridal chamber and wedding ceremony, plus another [-] guan for decorating the mansion, and [-] guan for this wedding. Enough for the income of ordinary people for more than [-] years.

This is not counting the gift of five thousand strings and a box of priceless jewelry and clothes.

Since the morning, there has been an endless stream of gift givers. Many people who did not give invitations also gave gifts, such as Han Shizhong and Yue Fei. They are not in Chang'an, and some family members also sent gifts. The gifts are the same for both of them. They are all [-] guan, so it is estimated that they have been ventilated beforehand.

Zhang Jun also sent someone to send a gift of [-] pennies. These are high-level military officials, and they will be in touch in the future.

"Mr. Chen, Huyan's family is here to give you a present!" The accountant shouted.

Chen Qing quickly walked out from the atrium. The housekeeper of Huyan Mansion stood at the door. The housekeeper clasped his fists and said with a smile, "Congratulations to General Chen on his wedding. This is a congratulatory gift from my master. A mere thought is not a respect!"

"Thank you! Thank you for your hard work, the old man will go tonight!"

"I'm going. He said that he will definitely attend General Chen's wedding."

Chen Qing flirted with the soldiers, and the soldiers immediately stepped forward to give each of the two servants a bag of money, three hundred Wen, which is equivalent to the small red envelopes of later generations. The money is not much, and it is a celebration.

Generally, people only give ten or dozens of coins, but Chen Qing gave three hundred coins, which is already pretty good. The soldiers also stuffed a small bag for the housekeeper, but it was only one tael of silver.

The steward thanked him again and again, and left with two followers.

The accountant took the gift list and began to copy it. He was shocked. It was two hundred taels of silver and a pair of mandarin ducks carved with tortoise shell. Chen Qing gave his mother a white jade Guanyin before.

The people of the Song Dynasty had a lot of contacts. The most important ones were weddings, funerals, and birthdays. Others included childbirth, full moon, promotion, promotion, house building, and moving. Several invitations were received every month. , people are overwhelmed, and the burden is heavy. The people at the bottom usually only pay one or two hundred cash for gifts, and relatives and friends can only spend a lot of money at most.

Middle-class people usually pay one or two pennies, and giving ten pennies is a deep friendship.

Most of the rich families have dinner parties of ten or twenty, but even so, official families like Li Mei can't afford it. Often, several people give a gift together, and people don't go to the banquet, but the family is rich and The relationship is close, and occasionally they will be around Baiguan.

But there are also those who give very generously. For example, the Huyan family in front of me actually gave two hundred taels of silver, which is equivalent to one thousand coins, and there are also tortoise shell mandarin ducks worth a hundred coins. This is not an ordinary gift. Chen Qing knew in his heart that this It has something to do with Hu Yantong's transfer to his own army.

At this time, Zheng Ping came with gifts in person. He is the best man today and will accompany Chen Qing to greet the bride.

"I'm not late!" Zheng Ping got off his horse and asked with a smile.

"It's just in time. The bride who puts on makeup has arrived and is getting ready."

Zheng Ping handed a gift list to Chen Qing, "My father gave me too much, so I won't give it to you."

Chen Qing took the gift list and couldn't help but sigh, "How can I pay back your father's gift in the future?"

Zheng Ping's father gave a gift of [-] taels of silver, [-] guan!This gift list is getting a little hot.

"He has plenty of money. To him, this amount of money is just a small amount of money. Don't think that he gives too much. My dad is buying favors! When he encounters danger in the future, he will definitely bring his family to your place to seek asylum. .”

Chen Qing nodded, "As long as I have an army, I will definitely protect him, even if it is useless to arrest him with an imperial decree."

Zheng Ping grinned and said, "Just say that my father's eyesight is very poisonous!"

At this time, the cook came out and invited them to have a simple lunch. Chen Qing said with a smile: "Eat first, and then start to make up after eating!"

After lunch, dozens of people came to Chen Qing's mansion. They were all arranged to do business. They began to lay carpets and spread them all the way to the lobby.

The welcoming team sent by Fengle Building also arrived at Chen Qing's Mansion, including an eight-member drum band, a luxurious carriage, eight dowry carts, nine coachmen, nine attendants, and a master of ceremonies. As well as Chen Qing's twelve personal guards, the team is indeed huge.

In the afternoon, when it was time for departure, Chen Qing and Zheng Ping came out of the mansion on horseback. The groom, Chen Qing, was naturally wearing a bright red wedding gown, with a gauze hat on his head, and a silk flower pinned to it. His face was carefully groomed, and he looked extraordinarily tall and handsome. , full of energy.

The best man, Zheng Ping, was also dressed similarly, but he didn't wear flowers on his head. This was the biggest difference from the groom, and he could be distinguished at a glance.

"This carriage is nice!"

Even Zheng Ping, who had seen the world before, also praised the big carriage. The two white draft horses were extremely tall, majestic and beautiful, with wide shafts, and the wheels of the carriage were as tall as a person. The carriage compartment was like a room, covered with gold leaf. The decoration is radiant and extravagant, with ten double-happiness flags inserted in front of the roof, one can tell it is a big wedding car at a glance.

The coachman smiled and said: "This is one of the three most luxurious carriages in Lin'an, except for the dragon chariot of the emperor and the phoenix chariot of the empress dowager, and then this is it. Usually, our proprietor doesn't even sit in it. It's only used to welcome relatives. Just looking at it, you can tell it's the wedding carriage of Fengle Building."

"The auspicious time is here, let's go!"

The master of ceremonies shouted loudly, and the wedding party set off in a mighty manner.

Chen Qing's mansion is actually not far from Lu's mansion, the straight line is only two miles, but the convoy has to go around the city. Circle on the line.

Although it was agreed in advance that the marriage should be simplified, there are some links that cannot be simplified anyway. The wedding ceremony is one of the most important links. What we call a beautiful marriage refers to this link.

Seeing that he was about to arrive at the Lu Mansion, Zheng Ping suddenly remembered something, and shouted loudly: "Oops!"

"what happened?"

Zheng Ping slapped himself on the forehead, and said with frustration on his face: "Arrange me to recite some opening poems, I have completely forgotten about it."

In the Song Dynasty, there was also a custom of knocking on the door when going to the bride’s house, but the Song Dynasty did not rely on brute force, but on poetry and money to open the door. Usually, the bridesmaid would recite a few doggerel poems, and then they would definitely not pass, and then money would clear the way, but everyone would speak poetry. If you can't sing well, but you will never say that you give too little money, using poems to cover up and ask for benefits, it can be regarded as a kind of fake elegance!
But if the bridesmaid can't sing even a poem, then he doesn't even have the qualifications to offer bribes.

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "I'll do it myself! I'm good at doggerel. I'll make up two poems temporarily. You are responsible for paying the money. If you pay more, they won't embarrass me."

"Okay! Just give it a little more force, it's not my money anyway!"

Chen Qing gave him a hard look.

The procession finally stopped at the gate of Lu's Mansion. Naturally, the gate of the mansion was closed tightly. More than a dozen children of Lu's family blocked the gate, and the outside was full of spectators.

The master of ceremonies came running and shouted, "Quickly chant poems and call for the door!"

Chen Qing dismounted from his horse, walked forward slowly, and chanted loudly: "I am a banished fairy in the sky, bound by a thread of marriage for thousands of miles, I don't envy wealth or honor, but I want to rebuild the fate of my previous life." '

Someone inside shouted, "The voice is too low, I can't hear you clearly!" It was Lu Wei's voice.

Chen Qing gave Zheng Ping a wink, and Zheng Ping threw a wooden barrel into it, shouting: "All good poems are in the barrel, see for yourself!"

In the wooden barrel were fifty ingots of one tael of silver, all wrapped in red paper.

The disciples of the Lu family didn't expect to give money, so they burst into smiles, snatched away the money, and shouted: "Good poem! Good poem!"

The door burst open, and the wedding party came in one after another. The Lu family invited them to drink sweet-scented osmanthus egg custard.

Now Chen Qing is going to pass the second level.

Still, Zheng Ping, the best man, followed him with the silver bucket in his arms.

(End of this chapter)