Denghuaxiao

Chapter 249 Concentric
The wedding wine had been sent, the matchmaker had made the decision, the betrothal gifts had been given, and in the blink of an eye it was the Beginning of Autumn.

The auspicious day calculated by Blind He was the first day of August.

The weather was not as hot as it had been the other day, and it was gradually getting cooler. The Medical Bureau was slowly getting started, and Lu Tong was not as busy as before. The Emperor specifically granted Pei Yunying five days off to go home and get married.

Early in the morning, Renxin Medical Clinic became busy.

Since yesterday, the trees along the long street of West Street have been hung with lanterns with the Chinese character "喜" pasted on them. Firecrackers have been blasted since early morning, and the ground is covered with bright red. Ah Cheng carries a bamboo basket tied with red silk and delivers candy from house to house. The neighbors who receive the candy happily say auspicious words such as "golden boy and jade girl" and "a happy marriage for a hundred years".

From time to time, voices of instruction could be heard from the small windows in the courtyard.

"It's a bit low. This bun will be more suitable if it is inserted higher."

In the room, Lu Tong sat in front of the dressing mirror.

Yin Zheng was standing behind her, combing her hair, while Lin Danqing was lying beside her, giving her careful and serious instructions.

Lu Tong has no parents or relatives and lives alone in Shengjing. Mrs. Song from the shop next door once suggested that Lu Tong hire a hairdresser to comb her hair for marriage, but Lu Tong insisted on having Yin Zheng comb her hair.

They have been walking together all the way. Although Yin Zheng is not related to her by blood, she is more like a relative than her. She hopes that when she gets married, she can have her relative by her side.

"Don't worry," Yin Zheng skillfully flew her hands, inserting pearl hairpins and gold hairpins one by one, embellishing the black hair with some brilliant colors, "I used to comb hair well. Knowing that I would do the girl's makeup, I went to Yin Yuefang a month in advance to learn from the best hairdresser. I dare not say that I comb hair better than others, but I definitely try my best. Besides, the girl is naturally beautiful, so she will look good no matter how I comb her hair."

"That's really pretty," Lin Danqing sighed as she sat crookedly on the side. "Our sister Lu doesn't even wear rouge on weekdays. This is the first time I see you wearing a gorgeous red dress. Wow, who are you trying to stun to death?"

She exaggerated and Lu Tong was speechless.

"In fact, I didn't expect that you would end up together with Pei Dianshuai at the beginning." Lin Danqing sighed, "You two, one is from the Palace Front Department and always looks down at people, and the other is from the Medical Officers' Office and doesn't want to spend any time on anything else except making medicine, and in the end you actually ended up being a couple. It shows that there is really no logic to marriage in the world."

"But," she casually picked up a longan from the wedding basket, peeled it and stuffed it into her mouth, saying mischievously, "What did I say at the beginning? I saw that something was wrong between you two a long time ago. My eyes are really sharp. No wonder our ancestors said that our Lin family is the matchmaker who has descended to earth. With this mess of red strings, you can tell who is holding who at a glance."

Yin Zheng couldn't help laughing when she heard this: "Didn't Doctor Lin once say that his ancestor was Hua Tuo who came down to earth?"

Lin Danqing choked and said, "Then Yue Lao can also treat illnesses and set up matchmakers at the same time, so he can do both at the same time."

Lu Tong listened to them talking in the room and felt amused, which alleviated a lot of the nervousness of getting married.

They chatted and laughed like this. Ah Cheng came to urge her several times. Yin Zheng pinned the last hibiscus flower hairpin into Lu Tong's hair and breathed a sigh of relief: "It's done!"

Lu Tong stood up.

The woman in the mirror was wearing a long-sleeved golden silk pleated skirt, with a peony pattern on the outside. The hem of the skirt was delicate and soft, and she moved like a fluttering red cloud. Her black hair was tied up, and she wore a small pearl and jade crown. Although the wedding dress was gorgeous, it was not heavy, and it was light and pretty, which was very suitable for her.

Lin Danqing circled around her twice and said, "Pei Dianshuai spent a lot of money this time. I am tempted by this wedding dress."

Yin Zheng joked, "Doctor Lin, don't worry. Maybe you can wear it soon. My daughter is getting married today. I wonder when I can drink Doctor Lin's wedding wine?"

Lin Danqing was shocked and pretended to be aloof and criticized: "You are so young, how can you talk like my aunt? Our ancestors taught us not to give up the whole garden for a flower, and I haven't had enough fun yet. Besides, it's not as interesting to talk about love as to watch others do it."

He turned around again, took out a small box from his arms and handed it to Lu Tong: "Here, this is a gift for you."

When Lu Tong opened it, she was almost dazzled by what was in the box. It turned out to be a heavy golden lantern with the word "喜" (happiness) written on it.

Lu Tong was puzzled: "This is..."

"You married into the Pei family alone. Although Pei Yunying seems to be good to you, it's always a good idea to keep some things in your hand. What can we do with the salary of the Medical Officers' Institute? It's not even enough to buy snacks. After returning from Southern Jiangsu, I kept all the rewards for curing the epidemic and exchanged them for silver. I asked Baoxianglou to make this golden lantern for you."

"It's a bit tacky, but gold is sometimes much more useful than those fancy jewelry."

Lu Tong looked at the big golden lantern. The craftsmanship of this lantern was not very delicate, and others might even say it was "ugly", but it was solid enough, and it was obvious that it was made for its substantial weight.

She suppressed her laughter, closed the box and asked Yin Zheng to put it away, and said sincerely, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lin Danqing approached Lu Tong, "However, Pei Yunying sent so many betrothal gifts. I heard that the owner of your clinic also gave you a dowry. What are they?"

"dowry……"

Speaking of this, Lu Tong's expression changed, and he laughed out loud, not knowing what he was thinking about.

At the same time, under the plum tree of the clinic, the neighbors who came to watch the fun crowded in front of the door. Tailor Ge asked while eating melon seeds, "Manager Du, your doctor Lu is getting married. As the host, what gift did you give? You can't just give a basket of wedding candy, right?"

"Go away," Du Changqing was furious. "Am I a petty person? Not to mention Doctor Lu, even if the plum tree in front of our clinic gets married, we must hang a few golden lanterns!"

"Oh?" Widow Sun was curious, "Then how many golden lanterns did you hang for Doctor Lu?"

"Superficial," Du Changqing snorted, "It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. What I give is naturally the best."

As he spoke, he looked particularly proud.

Lu Tong was penniless. He had worked as a medical officer in the hospital for a year, but earned nothing except the two hundred taels of silver he gave him after the spring examination. He felt like he had worked for a year in vain. Du Changqing was so angry that he wanted to pry open Lu Tong's brain to see what he had been doing for the past year.

Lu Tong was alone and poor, but Pei Yunying was from a wealthy family and worked in the imperial city. Du Changqing thought about it and was unwilling to swallow this humiliation, but if he seriously put together the dowry, even if he added up the monthly salary of all the people in Renxin Medical Clinic, it would still be far behind the other party. After thinking for a long time, he came up with a clever plan.

Du Changqing decided to let Lu Tong take over the clinic as the second owner of the pharmacy.

Lu Tong does not have to spend any money on a daily basis. He just needs to deliver the medical prescriptions on time and run the clinic seriously. In the future, every penny of profit earned by Renxin Clinic will belong to Lu Tong.

Of course, he would never admit that he hoped Lu Tong's prescription could help the clinic prosper.

Du Changqing felt that he was a genius for coming up with this good idea.

"In this way, Doctor Lu will be transformed from a chief doctor to the second owner of the clinic, which sounds very prestigious. Besides, no matter how much money is given as a dowry, what if some bastard embezzles it? It is better to do as I said and distribute the profits on time every month. If one day they get divorced and are kicked out of the house with nothing, they will still have a place to stay and will not have to beg on the street. If Pei Yunying wants to quarrel with Doctor Lu, he will have to be cautious because Doctor Lu has the support of his family."

Ah Cheng was speechless: "Master, Doctor Lu hasn't even gotten married yet, and you're cursing her for a divorce. Isn't that bad?"

"Why can't you say this?" Du Changqing disagreed and taught him earnestly, "Parents' love is far-reaching, you don't understand."

As he was speaking, a little boy in red came outside and urged her to put on her makeup.

When a bride gets married, she always has to be urged to put on her make-up before she sets off. The boy said, "Please hurry up, Manager Du. The groom is on his way."

Du Changqing then rushed to the backyard a few more times with an unhappy look on his face.

When he urged for the third time, there was gradually movement in the yard.

"Here it comes--" Yin Zheng's laughter came out from inside.

The neighbors gathered outside the clinic stretched their necks to look inside, and saw Lin Danqing and Yin Zheng supporting Lu Tong slowly walking out. The woman had not yet put on her gold-embroidered veil, but was wearing a scarlet silk gold-embroidered skirt, an embroidered red shawl and a double fish gold shawl pendant, like a lotus in the distant mountains, with eyebrows and eyes like a painting.

She was originally beautiful, but her temperament was a little cold. The woman who usually wore plain clothes looked particularly attractive in red makeup, like a plain flower suddenly blooming, so bright and beautiful that it was unbelievable.

There was a moment of silence at the entrance of the clinic.

Suddenly, there were children laughing and shouting, "Here comes the bride! Here comes the bride!"

Du Changqing quickly hushed everyone twice, and Acheng brought a small bowl of sesame dumplings and handed it to Miao Liangfang.

Miao Liangfang sat on a chair at the door of the inner shop, with his cane aside. He held the porcelain bowl and looked at Lu Tong and said with a smile: "Xiao Lu, eat this bowl of dumplings, and your life will be perfect."

When Lu Tong heard this, he was moved for a moment.

Before the bride gets married, her mother feeds her a bowl of glutinous rice balls before she gets into the sedan chair. When she was in Changwu County, she saw that the girls from the neighboring houses all got married in this way.

Now that her parents and siblings are gone, she thought she could skip this step, but unexpectedly the person who fed the dumplings became Miao Liangfang.

Lu Tong grabbed her skirt and walked over to Miao Liangfang and sat down, and Miao Liangfang fed her a snow-white glutinous rice ball.

The sweet aroma of sesame spread along her lips and teeth. Miao Liangfang looked at her and smiled, "Xiao Lu, you and I are not blood relatives, but before the spring exam, I was at least half your teacher. As the saying goes, once a teacher, always a father. Now that you are getting married, I will shamelessly serve as your elder."

Lu Tong smiled and said softly: "Thank you, teacher."

She has two masters.

One taught her to see the cruelty of the world and the evilness of human nature, and the other taught her the importance of medical ethics and benevolence, putting the patients first.

The former taught her to pursue, and the latter taught her to let go.

The sound of carriages could be heard approaching from far away on West Street. Ah Cheng shouted, "The groom's carriage will soon arrive at the alley entrance. Don't dawdle. Hurry and help Doctor Lu get into the sedan chair!"

Du Changqing waved everyone away. He also changed into a new yellow gown today, standing out from the crowd. He walked over to Lu Tong and squatted down, "Come up!"

The brides were all carried into the sedan chair by their brothers. There were several people in the entire Renxin Medical Clinic, so this burden had to fall on Du Changqing.

Yin Zheng helped Lu Tong lie on Du Changqing's back. Du Changqing usually looked boneless and sat crooked in the shop all day, but unexpectedly he had a very broad back and carried Lu Tong easily. He walked towards the sedan chair while muttering, "Did you keep the banknotes I gave you yesterday? Be arrogant when you get to the Pei family, so that people don't look down on you. Yin Zheng will accompany you then, and you should have brought all your jewelry..."

He spoke in a very trivial manner, like a real brother worrying about his sister who was about to leave home. As Lu Tong listened, his eyes gradually became moist.

If Lu Qian were still alive, he would carry her to the wedding sedan chair today. Lu Rou would comb her hair, and her parents would feed her the first glutinous rice balls before she left.

Her family members are gone, and she has new family members. Although they are different people, perhaps the warmth and ties, love and concern are the same.

Du Changqing talked as he walked, cursing Pei Yunying at the same time. When he arrived in front of the bridal sedan, he put Lu Tong down and had Yin Zheng help Lu Tong into the sedan.

"Raise the eaves--" Acheng's cheers came from outside.

So Miao Liangfang gave the colorful satin and wedding money that he had prepared in advance to the guests watching the ceremony.

"Ouch," Mr. Hu was squeezed out of the crowd, with several strands of his beard ripped off. He managed to snatch two strings of wedding money from someone and stuffed a string of it to Wu Youcai beside him: "Youcai, you're still unmarried at this age, it's just right for you to share in Doctor Lu's good fortune!"

Beside Mr. Hu, Wu Youcai, dressed in a scholar's blue shirt, held the wedding money in his hand and smiled shyly.

When Wu Youcai received the wedding invitation from Renxin Medical Clinic, he asked for two days' leave from the family where he taught, and returned to the city to watch the wedding. He is now a teacher outside the city, and he is happy. People see that he is happier than before, not as worried as before. It is said that the family where he teaches treats him very well, and last year they asked him tactfully whether he would like to work in the future, but Wu Youcai refused tactfully.

Sometimes, when people look into the distance, they feel that the world is vast and not confined to one place.

"Ouch," Wu Youcai turned around after being bumped by someone, and saw a woman in a cloth skirt being pushed back by the crowd. Seeing this, she bowed her head and apologized to him: "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it."

"It doesn't matter."

He Xiu bent down and picked up the colorful satin that had fallen on the ground.

She came specially to watch Lu Tong's wedding.

After Cui Min, the director of the Medical Officers' Office, got into trouble, no new director has taken office yet, and Chang Jin has been appointed to take over. The new emperor cleaned up the court, and the Medical Officers' Office and the Imperial Pharmacy conducted self-examinations from top to bottom. The doctors who were originally sent to the Southern Pharmacy finally got a chance to redress their grievances, and those who were oppressed and bullied in the past and could not raise their heads in the sun could start over. Just because the original regulations for sending doctors to the Southern Pharmacy were unreasonable, from now on, new medical officers, regardless of their status, will take turns to serve in the Southern Pharmacy.

Mei Erniang also resigned from the Medical Officers' Institute and left the imperial city.

He Xiu remained in the Southern Pharmacy, but she no longer did tasks like collecting red fragrant fluff. Shi Changpu of the Imperial Pharmacy thought that she was good at sorting out medicinal materials, so he asked the Imperial Pharmacy's director Tong Changjin to ask for a favor and transferred He Xiu from the Southern Pharmacy to the Imperial Pharmacy.

The affairs of the Imperial Pharmacy were much easier than those of the Southern Pharmacy. He Xiu followed Shi Changpu, who was the most lazy and perfunctory person. Her life suddenly became free. After Lu Tong sent her the wedding invitation, he asked for leave from Shi Changpu and came to West Street.

The red fluff poison in her body has now been completely eliminated, and the rashes on her face have all disappeared. She goes home every month to reunite with her brothers and sisters, and she is happy in her heart and her joy is written all over her face.

He Xiu took two steps forward and Lu Tong also saw her. He Xiu secretly waved to Lu Tong, and Lu Tong laughed, and He Xiu also laughed.

He Xiu felt that Lu Tong was much more relaxed now than when she was in the Southern Pharmacy. At that time in the Southern Pharmacy, the two of them picked red catkins together. No matter what happened, Lu Tong always had a calm face. Although this calmness made people feel at ease, it was like an invisible wall that clearly separated Lu Tong from others.

Now that the wall is gone, the woman smiles in a somewhat childish way, just like a girl of her best age, simple and happy only for what is happening before her.

As he was speaking, someone outside suddenly shouted, "Here he comes—the groom is here—"

The neighbors who were crowded on the road made way for them upon hearing what was said. They saw a carriage gradually approaching from the end of the long West Street. The person leading the carriage was riding a tall and fine horse with a bright saddle and bridle. He was wearing a red silk round-collared robe, a gold-buckled belt, and black leather boots. He was handsome and elegant, and looked very proud as he rode towards them.

It’s not like there’s no one getting married in West Street, but this is the first time someone has worn a red robe so eye-catchingly.

"Ah," Widow Sun in front of her gasped when she saw this face, and excitedly pinched the arm of the person next to her: "What a 'handsome leader'!"

Dai Sanlang silently endured the pain of Widow Sun pinching his arm and turned his face away.

Lu Tong also heard the noise outside.

She wanted to lift the curtain to see what was happening outside, but Yin Zheng's voice came from outside the curtain, "Miss, you must not come out. The sedan will be lifted soon, hold on."

Lu Tong had no choice but to suppress his impulse.

Then, the voices of Pei Yunying, Du Changqing and others saying goodbye were heard outside, and the bridal sedan was slowly lifted up.

She felt the sound of horse hooves stop beside her, as if the other party was watching her from outside, and her heart calmed down a little.

There were more sounds of wedding money being thrown outside, and the sedan bearer shouted loudly:

The sedan has started.