The new era of chaos begins in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 457: Full House (End)
Since Zhang Lei and Li Xi visited Li's residence, the Li family became lively.

At the end of the seventh lunar month, Chao Buzhi brought Li Shouzhen and an elder from Chenjia Village to propose marriage with gifts.

This is the first step of the "Six Rites" in the "Three Books and Six Rites", the core procedure for marriage between men and women in this era.

[Rites] states that there are six rites in a marriage: accepting the bride’s proposal, asking for the bride’s name, accepting the bride’s good wishes, accepting the bride’s betrothal gifts, asking for the date, and welcoming the bride in person.

Nacai: The man sends someone with gifts to formally propose marriage to the woman's family;

Asking for the name: The man asks the name and birth date of the girl he is going to marry;
Naji: The man has a good fortune in marriage according to divination, and he will inform the woman’s family;

Na Zheng: The man sends a betrothal gift to formally confirm the marriage;

Asking for a date: the date agreed upon by the man to marry the bride;

To welcome the bride: the groom marries the bride on schedule.

After the six ceremonies, the wedding is held at the man’s home, including rituals such as carrying the sedan chair, jumping over the fire basin, worshiping in the hall, and drinking from the same cup.

In early August, Chen Shidao brought Xue Daoyuan and an elder of the Chen family to the Li family to inquire about their reputation.

In mid-August, Liao Zhengyi brought the Zen Master Piling (Xue Daoguang) and the Taoist Master Lingji to the Li family to accept the offer.

In late August, Huang Tingjian brought Chen Tong'e and Shi Laodao to the Li family with a letter of engagement and gifts to formally confirm the marriage.

At the beginning of September, Li Qi led Han Hao, the head of Anyang Han family, and Li Zhu, Mr. Jinjian, to the Li family to ask for a date. They formally agreed that on September 9th, the Double Ninth Festival, when the sun was high in the sky, Mr. Chen would lead the wedding procession to the Chen family's gate to marry the girl from the Li family.

There is also a poem accompanying it:

I ask you, when is the end?
The Double Ninth Festival fills the Ming Pond with rain of flowers.

Why should we cut the western window candle together?
But it is the time of Double Ninth Festival and Rain Flower.

In the third year of Song Chongning, on September 9, the Double Ninth Festival, the weather was clear and windless.

Just as the sky was slightly bright, a patter of yellow chrysanthemum petals suddenly fell from the blue sky from somewhere in Xiangzhou, accompanied by a melodious and cheerful wedding music. A team of carriages and horses hung with all kinds of colorful red silks then moved through the rain of petals, crossing mountains and rivers without stopping.

The rain of petals was strange, as it only covered the convoy and fell around it, sprinkling on the roadside and forming a thin yellow carpet, without affecting other places.

However, at this time, the scene in Li's residence in Qizhou has changed a lot. The house is decorated with lights and there is a lot of noise outside the yard.

After more than a month of fermentation, almost everyone in Qizhou, and even in Jingdong, regardless of officials or civilians, knew what was about to happen in Qizhou.

Li Gefei, the world-famous master of ink plum, will marry his daughter on September 9, the Double Ninth Festival.

As a result, people from all walks of life, whether they wanted to watch the fun or had some ideas about it, all flocked to the scene, making the Qizhou prefecture capital - Licheng - extremely lively inside and outside.

However, what people have talked about the most in recent days is the appointment poem presented by the Chen family's envoy on the first day of September.

Of course, the poem itself is not that outstanding. After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this poem is obviously plagiarized from the famous work "Night Rain Sent to the North" by the pre-Tang poet Li Shangyin, and the plagiarism is very awkward.

The key is the literal meaning of this imitation poem.

The pond is filled with rain of flowers on Double Ninth Festival?
The so-called Mingchi, located on the west side of Licheng, is the Daming Lake which is famous both at home and abroad in later generations.

Compared with the Daming Lake in later generations, the Mingchi in the Song Dynasty was several times wider, with deep and clear water, numerous springs, and beautiful scenery that far surpassed later generations.

Literati have always looked down on each other, especially a guy like Chen Shen who was not considered a real literati. He was fortunate enough to marry the young lady of Mo Meigong's family, which made countless people envious and jealous.

Some scholars with ill intentions used this poem as evidence to claim that the young master of the Chen family wanted to cover the pond with flower rain as a prelude to marrying the beautiful lady.

When people from all levels of Qizhou heard this, they all looked at him with awe.

Not to mention other things, just considering the size of Mingchi, how many petals would be needed to pave the surface of the lake?
This guy is really arrogant!
As a result, people talked about it a lot and spread the news everywhere, just to enjoy the fun.

Therefore, on the day of the bride-picking ceremony, before dawn, the banks of Mingchi Lake were already crowded with people. And on the 80-mile road from Licheng all the way east to the Li Family Residence in Zhangqiu (Mingshui Town, Zhangqiu), many people also stopped and waited.

But when the sun rose, no matter whether it was the onlookers by the Ming Pond or the people standing on the avenue, there was no sign of any wedding procession, nor was there anyone preparing flower petals or anything like that to throw into the Ming Pond.

This situation of waiting in vain continued until the sun rose high in the sky, and everyone felt cheated.

At this time, in the boudoir of the Li family, Li Qingzhao, who was wearing a phoenix crown on her head and a green robe, was also very angry, especially gritting her teeth at a pile of poetry manuscripts. She wanted to tear them up, but was reluctant to do so.

A maidservant beside her advised: "My lady, you'd better change into your wedding dress quickly! Otherwise, when your husband comes to pick you up, you might miss the auspicious time and be impolite!"

Li Qingzhao said angrily: "No! Why wear a wedding dress? He boasted that Haikou Huayupu Mingchi was a laughing stock! I just lost some manners, so I am more suitable for him!"

Although these maids, who had just entered the Li family for a few days, were anxious, they could do nothing about the temper of Li Qingzhao.

Fortunately, the most difficult part of the bride's makeup - the phoenix crown - had been put on neatly already, which at least prevented the bride's bridesmaid who was responsible for making up her face from being too desperate.

Unlike the one-piece phoenix crown in later film and television works, the real phoenix crown in ancient times is a complicated structure composed of dozens or even hundreds of exquisitely crafted ornaments.

When necessary, a special groom would place these decorations on the bride's head in a certain order, like arranging flowers, to form a real phoenix crown shape.

This requires very high beauty techniques and aesthetic vision. After all, every bride has a different head shape and hair volume, so the beauty salon needs to make fine adjustments and on-site designs based on the differences of each bride, rather than making a stereotyped assembly line product.

This also requires more time and patience.

Li Qingzhao herself was very clear about this. It wasn't that she really didn't want to get married. She just felt unhappy because she and Chen Shen had been separated for several years.

So she could let Wanrongniang fix her phoenix crown and makeup all night long, but she could also temporarily ignore the wedding dress that only took half an hour to put on.

Suddenly, a startling cry was heard by the waterside of Ming Pond: "Falling flowers! Falling flowers! Chrysanthemum petals are falling from the sky!"

On this day, anyone who was near Mingchi was fortunate enough to witness an extremely romantic sight.

Countless bright yellow, light yellow, pink and other chrysanthemums were seen falling from the sky like heavy snow, floating on the surface of the pond, the edge of the pond, and even on the hair, shoulders and feet of the onlookers...

Countless curious people rushed to catch the petals, only to find that they were real.

More petals fell from the sky and drifted towards the east, which was exactly the direction of Madam Li's home.

The speed at which the petals are floating forward is not slow, but the speed at which the news of the falling petals is spread is faster than that.

On the 80-mile wedding procession road, the crowds of people watching the fun were not necessarily shoulder to shoulder, but the noise was deafening.

The shouts of "Flower rain has arrived" started from the shore of Mingchi Lake and spread eastward across Licheng. Although many people did not know what they were shouting, or had never seen the rain of flowers with their own eyes, they could not help but respond loudly. Eventually, the shouts reached the outside of the Li family in Mingshui. At this time, the people waiting outside did not know what was going on, but they asked in detail, but could not find out the truth.

After all, the people who actually witnessed the real scene were still dozens of miles away.

However, this did not prevent the nosy little maid from running to tell Miss Li Qingzhao about the incident.

"My dear! My dear! The flowers are raining! The flowers are raining!"

When Li Qingzhao heard the shout, she suddenly had an idea. When the maid came closer, she asked anxiously, "What are you talking about?"

The little maid showed a cute and innocent look, but said: "I heard people outside shouting that flowers and rain fell from the sky in Mingchi, West City (referring to the west of Licheng), all the way to the east!"

Li Qingzhao was a little skeptical when she heard this and said, "Flowers raining down from the sky? How can anyone believe such nonsense?"

The so-called flower rain paving the road is nothing more than the host arranging some flower girls to carry flower baskets and scatter flower petals along the way. Li Qingzhao naturally did not believe in the flower rain falling from the sky.

As she spoke, she could not help but move her head, which was full of head ornaments, towards the west window.

Wan Rong Niang hurriedly stopped him and said, "My dear, please don't break the phoenix crown! It will be terrible if it is damaged!"

Not long after, the maid next to her pointed to the west and shouted, "Look! Something is flying over there!"

Someone ran out of the boudoir, stretched out her hands toward the sky to catch the falling objects, took a look and held them up, shouting, "It's flower petals! It's chrysanthemum petals! It's really raining flowers from the sky! My dear! It's raining flowers from the sky! Mr. Chen is coming to pick you up!"

The boudoir was in chaos at this time, and Li Qingzhao was so excited that she felt weak all over. She staggered out and wanted to feel the flower rain herself.

The maids hurriedly held Rongniang back, shouting, "My dear, please stop being so rude! The wedding procession is coming, so you should make preparations early, otherwise you will lose the etiquette!"

Li Qingzhao laughed with tears in her eyes, "Hurry up! Help me change my clothes! Change my clothes! My lover is coming!"

The maids hurriedly took out the red silk wedding dress with gold thread that had been prepared a long time ago, and wrapped it around Li Qingzhao in a busy but orderly manner, and sewed it tightly with gold thread to make it look like a seamless dress from heaven.

More and more petals fell from the sky, and soon covered the entire Mingshui Town.

Everyone present cheered and exclaimed at this miraculous rain of flowers.

Suddenly, a dragon-like neighing of horses pierced through the rain of flowers. Along with the joyful wedding reception, a team of carriages and horses suddenly jumped into everyone's sight.

Thirty-six dragon horses pulled eighteen cloud chariots.

The dragon colts were all ten feet tall at the shoulder, with majestic bodies and fur like brocade, which could be black, white, red, yellow, or purple, all pure colors.

As for the cloud chariot, its streamlined body seemed to be made of jade, and its ribs were painted with cloud patterns. It also had two pairs of bird-wing-like oblique sails folded at the sides, making it look like the chariot of the god in the clouds.

Each cloud chariot is pulled by two pure-colored dragon horses, with a driver sitting on the throne and musicians playing harps and flutes on both sides.

The first cloud chariot was pulled by two white dragon horses. Chen Shen wore a phoenix-wing purple gold crown, a colorful Shu brocade robe, and held a gold and silver whip. He sat in the main seat. Qin Guan and Dou Chong'er sat beside him.

After the Xihe Camp Incident, Chen Shen took some time out to visit Yumen Pass and brought Dou Chong'er, who had been temporarily placed in the stasis field, back with him.

Originally, Douchong'er's soul suffered almost irreparable trauma due to the invasion of evil spirits, but now this problem has long been solved.

Of course, the one who really helped Dou Chonger solve his soul problem was not Chen Shen, but Qing Bao Tianzun who had other intentions.

Now Douchonger has his own real name - Li Rui.

As soon as the imperial carriage arrived, the crowd of onlookers split like waves and came straight to the door of Li's house.

At this time, the welcoming team that had been waiting in front of the house also struck gongs and drums and played "Phoenix Seeking the Phoenix".

Li Rui jumped off the cloud carriage first, and then Qin Guan announced loudly: "The envoys welcoming the bride have arrived!"

The next step is a series of procedures to welcome the bride into the sedan chair.

In fact, the whole process of welcoming the newlyweds was not very standardized. For example, Chen Shen always sat on the cloud car and never got off the ground.

It's not that Chen Shen didn't want to, but he had an agreement with Qingbao Tianzun that he would not cross the border and set foot in Qi and Lu in the next twenty years.

But he couldn't delay Chen Shen's marriage, so Li Rui became an indispensable member of the Huayu Party.

Li Rui had only one mission, which was to carry Li Qingzhao, who was wearing her wedding dress, out of her boudoir and onto the cloud carriage.

Thanks to Chen Shen's careful care over the past few months, Li Rui's small body was quite strong and he did not make any mistakes in the process of sending his sister off.

The bride boarded the cloud car, and the corresponding guests also boarded and took their seats.

Including Li Gefei, after asking his nephew Li Jiong to take good care of the family home, he also got in the car and left.

Accompanied by the rain of flowers and festive music, the cloud car team slowly set off.

The huge horse hooves stepped on the road covered with countless flower petals, driving the cloud car faster and faster, but the people in the car did not feel the bumps at all.

Soon the convoy disappeared from everyone's sight.

Li Rui looked at the rain of petals gradually fading away from the sky, his eyes became hazy, and he felt as if he had given away something very precious.

Suddenly, he felt someone patting his shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was his cousin Li Jiong.

Li Jiong said: "Brother, although your uncle has been demoted by the government, you must not give up on yourself because of this. When you enter the Imperial College in the future, you must study with an open mind and live up to your uncle's reputation!"

Li Rui ignored the scattered wedding relics around him and bowed, saying, "Brother, you are right!"

On the other side, as the dragon colt ran faster and faster, the speeding cloud chariot gradually left the ground, and the oblique sails behind it also spread out on both wings, turning it into a glider, and flew westward at a high speed under the traction of the dragon colt.

Wherever it passed, the former rain of flowers all shattered into illusory bubbles.

When the convoy passed Guantao, a thunderous voice rang in Chen Shen's ears, a voice that only he could hear: "Chen family son! I am sending my most precious daughter to you in marriage. You must not break your promise or I will not forgive you!"

Chen Shen stood up, shook the whip in his hand, and shouted loudly: "The bride is coming! All evildoers, retreat!"

Li Qingzhao heard it clearly in the cloud carriage. She lifted the curtain to peek, and her eyes met with Chen Shen's. She felt that her eyes were filled with colorful red, which was so dazzling and mesmerizing.

(End of this chapter)