I believe that her aunt, Ke, knew these wedding customs more clearly than her unmarried sister-in-law. Therefore, as soon as the bride price arrived, Ke immediately sent someone to send it intact to Zhanyun Garden, with twelve horses in the bride price. The horse, because the target was too big, naturally Ke couldn't ride it. Not only could it not be ridden, it had to be placed in a stable, where it could be well fed and cared for.
Because, that was the betrothal gift given by the Sixth Prince!
At the same time, Ke also informed Gong Yueyue that the Sixth Prince had already chosen an auspicious day, and it was set on August 20th, just after she had celebrated her 15th birthday and hairpin ceremony.
It is already the fourteenth of July, and there are only more than a month left before the auspicious day. As a result, the preparations for the wedding seem to be in a hurry. Ning Yuan's mother, Xin Hui, Ju Hui, Zhu Hui and other maids are rushing to prepare. Fortunately, as soon as they received the imperial edict to get married, they had already started sewing. It is said that Gong Yueyue should have done the sewing of the wedding dress herself, although she also learned some embroidery stitches from the female master Kou Ru. However, Gong Yueyue's crude female embroidery skills are simply not capable of the difficult embroidery craftsmanship of this ancient era.
You know, in Gong Yueyue's eyes, a wedding dress, not to mention the Chenliu embroidery worth thousands of dollars as a tribute to the palace, and the embroidery patterns on the edges are all exquisite handicrafts, not to mention Let’s talk about the beautiful embroidery on the entire wedding dress.
However, these are not what Gong Yueyue cares about. In short, her poor craftsmanship is well known to everyone, and she does not feel it is a shameful thing. It just so happens that the embroiderers from the palace appointed by the Dance Queen come to the Hou Mansion to guide the Wu girls in needlework. Nühong and Kou Ru, the former female master, were free, so Gong Yueyue asked Ning Yuan's mother to help sew the wedding dress.
When Ning Yuan's mother heard this, she immediately relaxed her brows that had been frowning for the past few days and said with her hands: "This is great. With the help of Master Kou, a famous female celebrity, my sister-in-law's wedding dress will not be finished in a hurry." She was busy at the moment. I went to look for Kou Ru.
What Gong Yueyue is most concerned about now is how to implement her original plan.
After the Sixth Prince made such a big fuss, it is estimated that everyone in the capital knew that her eighth sister-in-law of the Wu family was finally engaged. If she left the house as casually as before, she would probably be criticized. At this time, necessary inspections are still necessary.
Or she could find Zi Lue and let him run errands for her. But when she thought of the two companion houses chosen by the eldest lady, Gong Yueyue gave up this idea again.
Zi Lue has always been with Wu Wei, and he will always return Zi Lue to his fourth brother. Instead of letting him intervene now, it is better not to get involved in it from the beginning.
The fewer people who know about it, the safer it is and the better it is for her.
Gong Yueyue sat in the main room of Zhanyun Garden, holding a tea cup in both hands, and fell into deep thought.
When Xinhui came in, she saw the eighth sister-in-law like this.
Xinhui put the ice cubes in her hand into the ice basins at the four corners of the wall, then silently walked to Gong Yueyue and quietly reported back: "Eighth sister-in-law, Juhui has sent Sangrou the birthday gift for seventh sister-in-law. The seventh sister-in-law was so grateful that she even rewarded Juhui with a hundred coins..."
Seeing that the eighth sister-in-law nodded absently, without comment, she continued to report: "Mr. Wu Lang just came in with a message and asked the eighth sister-in-law if she would go to the fifth camp of the Northern Army tomorrow to watch them compete in martial arts and wait for the imperial edict?"
Yes, how could she forget such an important thing!
Gong Yueyue put down the tea cup and said with a smile: "Go, why don't you go? That's the Jinmamen waiting for the imperial edict to compete!" She lowered her voice again: "Xinhui, tomorrow's affairs must be kept secret, and don't let others know. I know a little bit!"
Xinhui nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, eighth sister-in-law, Xinhui knows how to behave."
She knew that the eighth sister-in-law would not care about Ju Hui's reward of 100 yuan. Fortunately, Juhui privately asked her to make it clear to the eighth sister-in-law that she was not greedy for the reward from the seventh sister-in-law, but that the seventh sister-in-law forced it on her. In fact, the seventh sister-in-law forced her to give it to her. , the eighth sister-in-law cares more about this. Sure enough, as soon as she said she was ready for a martial arts competition, her sister-in-law immediately smiled brightly and her beautiful eyes lit up with anticipation.
"But... the embroiderer in the palace tomorrow is coming to take the needlework needlework class. If our Zhanyun Garden still complains that the eighth sister-in-law has a headache, I'm afraid it won't be easy for the dancing queen to explain..." Xinhui said with worry. .
"Well, that's right. Xinhui, how about we say so this time..." Gong Yueyue whispered to Xinhui quietly.
Xinhui was obviously stunned after hearing this, and then said worriedly: "Eighth sister-in-law, is this possible?"
"You have to do it even if it doesn't work. Remember, my eighth sister-in-law, I'm already engaged!"
At breakfast time the next day, Gong Yueyue took Xinhui to Liaoe Hall as usual. After greeting Mrs. Ke, she had breakfast again. During this period, Gong Yueyue was with her fourth sister-in-law Yin Jiang as usual. Seating on the couch, put the table together and eat.
In fact, since the day she came to the capital, Ke would always arrange for her to sit together with her fourth sister-in-law Yin Jiang whenever she had a meal.
As for the reason, it was the idea that Ming opened her eyes and leaked. Who made her and Yin Jiang the wives and concubines of the sixth prince?
These days, Gong Yueyue clearly felt that Yin Jiang's resentment and hostility towards her were growing day by day, especially after the sixth prince paid the betrothal gift.
In the Han Dynasty at this time, concubine marriage was still quite popular among some upper classes such as the royal family and dignitaries. In other words, when a woman married, she needed to be assisted and perfected by marrying a concubine. A girl who is older than the married girl is a concubine; if a concubine is younger than the married girl, she is a concubine. A concubine like Yin Jiang who is married as a concubine is a concubine.
For the married woman, concubines can sometimes have an unexpected effect of consolidating their favor, but sometimes they can have the opposite effect. For the former, Gong Yueyue privately thought that concubines were actually a spare tire, but for the latter, she She is the opponent of the married woman. To put it bluntly, the concubine is a double-edged sword. If used properly, the concubine is the married woman's ally. If used improperly, the concubine is the married woman's mortal enemy!
Concubines are also divided into high and low. Concubines are those who are married by a clear matchmaker. The status of a woman who is married as a concubine is basically the same as that of the woman who is married. However, the status of concubines is much humbler. In the case of concubines and concubines existing at the same time. Below, the actual status of a concubine is between that of a wife and a concubine.
Since there is such a custom, Yin Jiang, a married woman, should receive the betrothal gift of the Ming matchmaker, that is, as the story of the Han family says, there is a bride price and a betrothal gift.
Han family story: The king of the princes betrothed the queen with two hundred catties of gold and twelve horses; the lady was betrothed with fifty catties of gold and four horses.
Even though Yin Jiang was just a concubine, after marrying, she was at least a young lady, so she should have the "bride price of fifty gold and four horses" as the story says.
However, contrary to expectations, to this day, Yinjiang has not only not received a single cent of the bride price, nor has he even received a bride price from a lame horse!
This is somewhat inconsistent with the story of the Han family, and also somewhat unjustifiable. After all, the fourth sister-in-law Yin Jiang is the concubine of the eighth sister-in-law, and I don’t know how much higher she is than the concubine of the young lady. (To be continued)