Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 618 Guo Po Nu Waiting at Home
The square was crowded with people. Under the guidance of the priests, everyone lined up and prepared to enter the cathedral.

The Guo family had already arrived at the scene. The commander, his wife, and several family representatives were waiting at the steps in front of the church. Guo Kang was standing next to the great lama Wang, looking a little nervous. Zhu Wenkui deliberately greeted him, and when he saw another familiar face, he relaxed a little and looked relieved.

"Brother Kang looks so handsome today." Little Jeanna started to talk beside him, "He usually dresses too simply, like an ascetic monk. Today he looks like a real monk."

"Stop being a fangirl." Zhu Wenkui raised his hand and knocked again: "You are so young, but you don't study hard. What nonsense are you thinking about? If you have time for this, you might as well go over the etiquette process in your mind to avoid problems later."

"I've memorized it by heart!" Little Jeanna protested, "Besides, I don't have the opportunity to perform alone, so I can just follow everyone else and pretend. If you let me perform a ceremony with Brother Kang, I will definitely study hard. This matter is not complicated, so it's not worth so much thought."

"The ceremony is not my decision. It's useless if I ask you to go." Zhu Wenkui spread his hands and said, "Why don't you go over there and tell the princess now to see if she is happy?"

"Uh..." Little Jeanne was speechless for a moment.

"Let alone that Guo Kang is our old friend, the Great Qin Kingdom now has only one real princess, and her marriage is a major event for the entire country. As a friendly country, we must at least pay attention, otherwise it will not only be ungrateful for their help, but also easily cause diplomatic problems, which is not good for everyone." Zhu Wenkui shook his head and began to lecture: "Whether we can do it is another matter, but we must have a correct attitude. Look at those small tribes that come to pay tribute, they all know this truth. If we can't correct our attitude, we are no better than the barbarians who know etiquette."

However, although Zhu Wenkui tried hard to prove his point, little Jeanna didn't seem to be very interested. She still looked unmotivated and just muttered, "I just don't have any interest. Besides, you always say you want to learn this and that, but I don't know if it will be useful in the future. Are you learning those things so that I can take the imperial examination and become an official?"

"No matter what, it's better to learn than not to learn. My family lives overseas, what else can we rely on except our own knowledge?" Zhu Wenkui disagreed: "They have a good family background and can choose, so they say that learning is useless because they can find better ways; we are originally poor and have no choice. Even if we don't study, is there any other good way?"

"I've been in a lot of trouble over the years, and now I understand that many things we have to do are not worth doing because they are beneficial, but because not doing them will cause greater harm, so we have to do them. You are still young now, and there are always people protecting you, so you won't be forced directly by others, so it's normal that you can't understand these things. When you grow up and need to take on things yourself, you will understand."

Although little Jeanna was sharp-tongued, she could not refute these words, so she could only pout and stop talking. Zhu Wenkui did not care, and looked at the surroundings, thought for a while, and turned around to call for help.

"Jeanne, come here!" He shouted to the large group of followers waiting outside, "Please help me take care of my sister."

At the Wu Palace, Captain Jessica has been in charge of personnel management and work assignments recently. He is also the best at training and educating newcomers.

However, Captain Jessica was also an old mercenary who had managed to sneak into the palace and work as a clerk. When things got tough, he was actually very cunning. Zhu Wenkui sometimes asked him to help out, to take care of little Jeanna and teach her some martial arts when he went to the workshop, but he always passed the task to Miss Tang or Lady Jeanna. When asked, he would say he was busy, or insist that he was not good at educating girls. In short, he would try to turn down the request and was unwilling to get involved.

He will go to the church with Zhu Wenkui to attend the ceremony. He will have to help him carry the talismans and gifts, so he will definitely not have time to take care of this. Therefore, he can only trouble Lady Ranna again.

Fortunately, Lady Jeanna was not very opposed to these tasks. Little Jeanna seemed to be a little afraid of her - of course, for Zhu Wenkui, this was just right. He always felt that he had taken too much care of his sister and spoiled the child. It seemed like a good thing to have someone who could scare her and make this little brat behave for a while.

After giving the instructions, he followed the crowd attending the ceremony and slowly walked into the church.

The seat of the Prince of Wu's Palace was in the first row of the auditorium, in a specially designated position. Across the aisle was the seat of the Yuan Dynasty representatives. Sun Shiwan was still dressed in luxurious silk clothes, and was standing there with a few followers, talking about something. When they saw him, they greeted him. After the two of them sat down, other guests also filed in and came to their seats under the guidance of the etiquette staff.

Thanks to the grassroots tradition of the God Worshipping Society, the ceremony itself did not have many parts and was not expected to last long. Moreover, Zhu Wenkui looked at the guests present and suspected that this ceremony could not be forced to last too long.

Many of the guests present were elders with considerable authority in various forces. The various pre-wedding ceremonies had already made this young man, who worked as a blacksmith every day, a little tired. Those elders had to travel a long way and still had to participate in the whole process. It was good enough that they could bear it. If the ceremony was too long, the guests would probably lose their composure because they were too bored. This kind of important ceremony was actually divided into many separate small occasions, probably to give everyone some time to rest.

As he was thinking, the band changed the tune. Guests stood up to welcome the arrival of the parents of both parties.

The Queen Mother, Baisai Khan and his wife, and Zhanshuai and his wife came in under the escort of the honor guard. Da Lama Wang personally came forward to greet them and guided them to sit in front of the stage. However, everyone was familiar with each other, so they were not very nervous. Zhu Wenkui even had time to observe the reactions of other guests and the crowd outside the church. However, the people who came out here were also experienced people. After looking around, he didn't see any special expressions on their faces. He could only cheer with everyone and express congratulations.

Baisai Khan looked very happy, waving and greeting everyone, accepting the greetings of his subordinates and vassals, and then came to the front row to greet the representatives of friendly countries one by one. When he came to the first row, he also shook hands with Sun Shiwan and Zhu Wenkui, and then came to the host seat and asked everyone to sit down.

Then, a priest came and whispered to Zhu Wenkui: "Your Highness, you can go and welcome the groom."

Zhu Wenkui nodded and asked Captain Jessica to hold the flag and the scepter and stand beside their position. Then he followed the priest and went out through the side door.

Today, he was the representative of Wu Fan and also the best man for Guo Kang. He walked out of the church quickly and saw Tuo Huan, Shi Ke and others waiting for him. Even Li Xuanying, who he hadn't seen for a long time, rarely came out and looked around nervously.

"Where is your lover?" Zhu Wenkui was more curious about his situation than Guo Kang, and asked directly.

"It's on the opposite side." Li Xuanying replied quickly.

"Oh?" Zhu Wenkui looked back and saw that there was indeed a large group of people gathered at the bride's side. He looked carefully and saw many familiar faces. In addition to Shi Huizhen and Li Anning, even Eudocia appeared among the maids.

"Ms. Shi is here..." Zhu Wenkui muttered, "But I don't see Miss Guo. Is she really not coming to the wedding?"

"Uh……"

Li Xuanying and the others were speechless for a moment, and they couldn't help but look at Guo Kang. Guo Kang himself was a little embarrassed and couldn't say anything for a while. Finally, Tuohuan shook his head and said, "If she comes, the wedding may not be held..."

"Didn't you see that Mr. Huang is not here? He couldn't come in person to take care of his grandson's life event. He is just at home looking after her." He said helplessly, "Let's get down to business first."

Zhu Wenkui couldn't help but think of his sister, and inevitably felt a little overwhelmed, so he nodded quickly.

At this time, Theodora had already arranged her clothes and came over. The clothes she was wearing were made of a large piece of silk that the Javanese had just sent. They were layered and very complicated. The most luxurious clothes Zhu Wenkui had seen before were the ones worn by Sun Shiwan. But Sun Shiwan's own dress was not as luxurious in pattern and color.

However, this dress was a bit of an obstacle to her movements, even for her physical strength. Shi Huizhen and Li Anning had to stand by and help hold the ribbons and sleeves to prevent her from tripping. There was also a long skirt trailing behind her, so she couldn't walk normally. Eudocia and Miss Wang had to roll it up and hold it together, and follow behind.

"That's ridiculous. Four people helping one person walk. Why not stand on the shield and let them carry you..."

As expected, he heard Guo Kang muttering to himself. However, Theodora turned around and glared at him, and Guo Kang stopped his sharp comments and kept silent.

Zhu Wenkui himself didn't have so many things to do. Although he was also dressed in formal attire, Guo Kang's clothes were actually ceremonial armor used by the military for ceremonies. Although it looked gorgeous, it was still much simpler than the bride's, and he didn't need help from others. According to the original plan, Zhu Wenkui stood a little behind Guo Kang's left, Tuo Huan stood on Guo Kang's right, Shi Ke and Li Xuanying stood at the back, and like the bride's side, they formed a team with a little distance in the middle, men on the left and women on the right, and the two teams entered the gate together. Anyway, the door of the Niangniang Temple was very wide, and there was enough space even if so many people were side by side.

However, at this moment, Theodora suddenly came over from the right, forced herself to move closer, squeezed Li Anning and Tuo Huan aside, and grabbed Guo Kang's hand. Then, with a proud look on her face, she stood side by side with him, motionless.

"what?"

This time, not only Zhu Wenkui, but everyone else was dumbfounded. Even Guo Kang himself stared with his eyes wide open, unable to react for a moment, and had no time to complain.

However, the priest in charge of the ceremony, who was indeed an elite of the Roman Catholic Church, immediately came to his senses and quickly told everyone that it was okay to stand like this and it would not affect the ceremony.

Since Tuohuan was pushed away directly, he hesitated and had to ask Tuohuan to go to the left and let Zhu Wenkui step back a little. The teams on both sides were slightly changed in this way. Behind him, Shi Ke saw that Eudocia was on his right, and took advantage of the change in the queue to pull Li Xuanying and let him change positions with him and get closer to her.

Of course everyone saw it. Eudocia's eyes lit up and she whispered a thank you to him, while Li Xuanying lowered his head and said nothing. Anyway, the team was reorganized because of Theodora, so the others didn't say anything, which was considered as tacit approval of this little action.

"It's okay, it's okay. Just adjust it as you see fit." The leading priest also hurried to smooth things over.

Tuo Huan in front looked back and laughed. When the two of them made eye contact, Zhu Wenkui couldn't help but shook his head and whispered to him, "These two couples are more disgusting than each other. Fortunately, it's not my wedding, otherwise I would be embarrassed..."

"Oh, I think you're almost there too." Tuohuan replied briefly.

"what?"

"Watch the wedding, watch the wedding!" Tuohuan quickly turned around and asked everyone to continue the ceremony.

The crowd ended this little episode and entered the church hall to the accompaniment of the band and the cheers of the people outside.

After that, it’s the routine part.

Da Lama Wang came down from the stage again, came to greet them from afar, and then led the team to stand in front of the stage. The bridesmaids put down their skirts and ribbons, and Zhu Wenkui and his team also dispersed a little. Then, Da Lama Wang walked to the altar and invited the bride and groom to come forward, greet everyone, greet their parents, elders, and guests.

Guo Kang was obviously a little nervous. He took off his ceremonial helmet and subconsciously wanted to withdraw his right hand to straighten his clothes. However, Theodora grabbed him and pulled him onto the stage to greet the two elders.

"She was so anxious..." Zhu Wenkui couldn't help but mutter when he heard Tuohuan.

However, Da Lama Wang was also very experienced, and these minor situations did not disrupt his rhythm. Soon, he got to the point.

The Patriarch waved his staff and gave orders to the priests, and a big hole opened up on the platform above their heads. Amid the roar of steam and the sound of steel clashing, a smiling statue of the Heavenly Brother hung down and sat on the seat in front of the cross on the shrine.

Zhu Wenkui and his friends had seen this mechanism before, but most of the guests saw this kind of "mechanical deity" for the first time and were greatly surprised. Wang Da Lama and his friends obviously wanted this effect. Seeing those experienced messengers couldn't control their expressions and almost laughed out loud.

However, Lama Wang just laughed for a moment and immediately continued the ceremony. He began to guide the bride and groom to the statue of Tianxiong according to the traditions of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Roman Khanate.

He first asked the groom's parents whether they approved of him separating from his parents and establishing his own independent family; then he asked the bride's parents whether they would allow their daughter to leave her family for marriage.

After getting the approval of both parties, the groom is asked if he is willing to accept the bride, and the bride is asked if she is willing to join her husband's family. The bride and groom swear to the heavenly brother that they are willing.

After all four questions were asked and confirmed, Da Lama Wang turned around and asked the best man, bridesmaids, and guests present to bear witness. At the same time, he also asked them if anyone had doubts or objections to the marriage. If there was evidence that the marriage was illegal, it could be raised in public for the church to review.

Although it sounds a bit funny, Zhu Wenkui also understands that the church is developed from the grassroots after all. Although this process has long been reduced to a formality, and the church itself is not necessarily a good person, it is better to have this formality than to have nothing - for ordinary people, in a chaotic place like Europe, if lovers and families are abducted and forced to marry, they can only hope that the church will step in.

Of course, today's situation is definitely just a formality. After all, everyone knows that there is indeed someone who is very opposed to this marriage, and it was indeed withheld by the court and the family through some shady means...

Zhu Wenkui felt that if he thought about it carefully, it seemed that everyone did not follow the requirements of the doctrine, and they were playing tricks in front of Brother Tian and doing unfair operations. But the requirements of the opponent himself seemed to violate the doctrine... He couldn't figure out what to do. I'm afraid that even if Brother Tian himself judged, he would find it too abstract.

"Fortunately, I don't have so many troubles." Thinking of Tuohuan's words, Zhu Wenkui said to himself: "Grandpa Taizu, I have much less trouble than them. You will definitely not be as embarrassed as Brother Tian and the others..."

While he was distracted, Da Lama Wang had already finished his waiting. Amid the approval of the crowd, on behalf of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, he announced the marriage and blessed them.

Then, the newlyweds knelt down, bowed to the shrine, thanked the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, bowed to the parents of both parties, thanked them for their upbringing, and said goodbye to them, starting a new family. Finally, the two bowed to each other, saying that they would respect each other in the future and thank each other for their contributions to the family.

The assistant priest took out the wine that represented the Heavenly Brother, and the great Lama Wang poured it for the two of them, asking them to drink from the cup in front of the shrine. Then he ordered another assistant priest holding a document to record their information.

Lama Wang explained to the guests that this represented that the new family had been recognized by the Heavenly Father and was in communion with the Heavenly Brother. At the same time, as everyone knows, Rome was appointed by the Heavenly Father to manage the secular affairs of the world; the Church was the Heavenly Brother who preached the scriptures and guided the religious affairs of the world. Therefore, this family, as a basic unit, also became a part of Rome and a part of the Church. It was registered in the sacred heaven and in the sacred documents of the Roman Ministry of Revenue, and from then on it would be protected by the Empire and the Church.

Everyone applauded and cheered again to celebrate, and the wedding ceremony was completed.

Of course, although the ceremony itself is short, there will be a lot of follow-up activities for a wedding of this size. Tonight, there will be an important banquet, and everyone has to attend.

However, unlike other royal weddings, everyone present was very excited this time, especially the bride, who was already spinning around with her groom in her arms, and obviously didn't have the heart to think about so much.

Zhu Wenkui and others also stepped forward to dissuade him, saying that the family members and guests had not left yet, and now that there were so many people, they should restrain themselves. Not to mention the image problem, it would not be good to hit someone... It's not Dian Wei, why are you holding someone?

As for other follow-up matters, there are special people to handle them, so they can’t take care of them for the time being.

(End of this chapter)