Chapter 885 The night of flowers and candles in the bridal chamber
A few days later, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Sheng Changbai went to Haijia more frequently.
Because the newlyweds could not meet each other before the marriage after the appointment, Sheng Changbai could not see Hai Chaoyun when he went to the Hai family.
It's only three days and two days in the past, it's the past time to give makeup reminder gifts.
The man sends pollen to the bride and groom, and the woman returns to the bride's robe and flowers. This goes back and forth several times, and it is not until the last three days before the wedding that the make-up reminder is over.
It is also true that the homes of noble officials have these particularities. In the homes of ordinary people, one time of makeup is enough.
On the day before the wedding, according to wedding customs, the Hai family went to the Sheng family to make the bed.
It is said to be making the bed, but just like in later generations, it is actually to send the woman's large dowry, which is difficult to transport, to the man's house in advance and arrange it in advance.
Pieces of red furniture, boxes and cages were carried into the Sheng house like running water.
The yard where Sheng Changbai lives is full of things.
Although many things will be stored in the warehouse later, the dowry still needs to be seen by others, and it still needs to be displayed in the wedding room.
It is no joke that the Zhou Dynasty advocated generous marriages for girls.
The Sheng family only prepared a house. The furniture, furnishings, and decorations in the house all came from Hai's dowry.
The furniture is all complete sets made of precious wood. After the marriage was decided, the Hai family sent someone to the Sheng family to measure the dimensions in advance.
It has been carefully crafted by excellent craftsmen in recent years.
Other boxes and cages are also filled with clothes, silks, silks, various calligraphy and paintings, silks, porcelain, jade, bronzes, and all kinds of imaginable and unexpected supplies.
One hundred and twenty-eight units alone are not enough to explain the richness of Haishi's dowry.
In short, Hai Chaoyun is much richer than Sheng Changbai, a little rich woman.
When Sheng Changbai went to serve abroad, he received 50,000 yuan.
But this money belongs to the Sheng family and cannot be regarded as Sheng Changbai's private property.
If Sheng Changbai had a relationship, he would have spent it on living expenses, but if he didn't use them up, he still had to turn them over to the public school.
After returning to the capital, Sheng Changbai returned Zhuangzi's land deed and the remaining money to Sheng Hong.
In fact, Sheng Changbai also has to turn in his monthly salary. Although the Sheng family does not lack this, Sheng Changbai still needs to have the attitude of living together as a family and living together.
Most of the money Sheng Changbai has comes from Wang Ruofu.
The big head was Wang Ruofu's dowry village in the suburbs of Beijing. After it was handed over to Sheng Changbai for management, the financial gains were also given to Sheng Changbai for his own disposal.
…
The next day came the wedding day of Sheng Changbai and Hai Chaoyun.
On the wedding day, Sheng Changbai started busy from early in the morning.
Get up early and greet the old lady Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu, and then have dinner.
After breakfast, Sheng Changbai got busy and began to entertain some early guests.
Some of Sheng Changbai's peers and colleagues came earlier, and they were the ones who were going to follow Sheng Changbai to the Hai family to welcome his bride.
There are also some family members and servants from each family who come to give gifts.
Many people were away from home or held important positions, were reserved due to various reasons, and were unable to attend. Basically, they sent people over early to deliver gifts.
After all, Sheng Changbai's contacts were mostly literati, and the gifts he gave were relatively elegant.
Usually they are some elegant objects, fans, calligraphy and paintings, inkstones, etc., plus some gifts.
There is no unified standard for gift money. It varies based on family background, family assets, and closeness.
Because there is a reason for the existence of an elegant thing whose value cannot be easily measured.
Even if you give more gifts or less, it won't be ugly.
After the time was almost up, Sheng Changbai took several friends and colleagues of the same age and set off to the Hai family to welcome the bride.
Of course, all the guests at home were left to Sheng Hong to entertain.
Because Sheng Changbai married Hai Chaoyun, there were unexpectedly many guests.
There are many families who have good relations with the Hai family, and there are even more disciples and former officials of the Hai family.
This kind of scene is suitable for Sheng Hong, who is elegant in all directions and dancing in long sleeves.
Although the Sheng family has a small population, Sheng Hong can serve several people by himself, so he will not neglect the guests.
Sheng Changbai rode a horse, relying on the clearing in front, followed by his friends acting as grooms, holding vases, candles, incense balls, makeup bags, photo stands, skirt boxes, clothes boxes, knots, cool umbrellas and other items, surrounding the sedan chair.
Behind them were dozens of musicians and dozens of singers.
Then we walked to the inner city, and when we arrived at the main gate of Haijia, we continued to play the drums and the monk called the door.
During the Zhou Dynasty, wedding customs could be said to have basically taken shape.
The process of picking up a bride and calling the family already existed in the Zhou Dynasty, and the solution was very similar to that of later generations.
The first is to continue playing the music and let the musicians play the invigorating music vigorously. This is the simplest method and can be done.
The second is to throw coins. As long as the red seal is big enough, the door can open by itself.
The third one is the most elegant and the most difficult.
"Open the door, let's get married." The grooms knocked on the door and shouted.
The door of Haijia opened with a bang, but there were still many people pretending to be a human wall, blocking the door.
"It is said that Tanhua Lang is very talented and has great literary talent. If he wants to marry a girl from our Hai family, he doesn't even write a poem to encourage her to marry him. How can he do it?" said one of the leaders of the Hai family.
"Zecheng, I urge you to write poems, but I can see you writing poems again. You have a good poetic talent, but you have always hidden it. Whatever is going on, I don't see how you can escape today. "
Not only the Hai family members were watching the fun, but Sheng Changbai's friends were also cheering and watching the fun.
Sheng Changbai has no poetic talent, he is just a cultural porter.
It was impossible for Sheng Changbai to write whatever he wanted. More importantly, writing poems and poems conflicted with Sheng Changbai's pragmatic thoughts.
Therefore, Sheng Changbai moved a few famous pieces on necessary occasions and then did not continue.
"The crystal tent is open with silver candles, the wind is shaking the pearls and the clouds are clear. The flowers are evenly decorated with red and pink flowers, and I will return to Yujing with Shuangluan early."
Knowing that coming to a scholarly family like the Sheng family to welcome his bride, Sheng Changbai came prepared.
"What a poem. Open the door, brothers!"
"Don't worry, I heard that Tanhua Lang is good at both civil and military skills. We have seen the literature, do we also want to see Tanhua Lang's martial arts skills?"
"If you want to compete in martial arts, come together."
Sheng Changbai said confidently. These children of the Hai family look like they are just ordinary literati.
Even if you maintain some literati traditions and practice some martial arts, such as chastity and archery, it is impossible to compare with real martial arts.
Even if there were ten or eight of them, Sheng Changbai would not take them seriously.
"Tanhualang, it's a big day, so don't use violence. Let's compare our archery skills."
The descendants of the Hai family saw Sheng Changbai being so confident and said quickly.
"Get the bow."
Sheng Changbai was just joking about the fist fight. After all, this was a wedding ceremony, and it was impossible to have a real fight.
It is said that it is an inspection of military affairs, but in fact it is still the same as that of literati, talking about military affairs on paper, talking about war, and debating.
It is more about archery, the easy difficulty is about throwing pots, the normal difficulty is about foot shooting, and the high difficulty is about riding archery.
The Hai family was well prepared, and within a few moments, they had a target set up on the street.
"I'll go first."
After Sheng Changbai took the riding bow from the servant of the Hai family, he got on his horse with a pot of arrows.
The horse went to the target eighty paces away, started to speed up, drew the bow and nocked an arrow, and shot out a pot of arrows in one go.
Five targets, each with two arrows, all hit the bullseye.
This time Sheng Changbai also performed at his peak level.
"A hundred shots hit a hundred hits, a hundred steps can pierce the Yang, so good at shooting!" Sheng Changbai's men cheered and shouted.
"Come, come, come, I'll give you the red envelope. I'm going in right now."
Sheng Changbai took the prepared red envelope from Liu Tao's hand, stuffed it into the arms of the leader of the Hai family who was stunned, and broke into the Hai family with them.
The Hai family was a wealthy family during the troubled times of the previous dynasty, and was not comparable to the nouveau riche like the Sheng family.
Not only is the house located in the inner city, it is also much larger than the Sheng family house.
Sheng Changbai walked through the door and arrived at the main hall of the Hai family, where he met his father-in-law-to-be and his mother-in-law.
The father-in-law-to-be specially chose this time to return to Beijing to report on his work, just so that he could watch his daughter get married.
After Sheng Changbai arrived, Hai Chaoyun also covered his face with a fan and walked to the hall dressed in red.
Although the wedding dress of the Zhou Dynasty was red for men and green for women.
But there is also a saying that if you marry a high person, you will wear green, and if you marry a low person, you will wear red.
The father-in-law-to-be is already a transport envoy in charge of several routes and a high official in the border areas. His official position is far above that of Sheng Changbai. Of course, Hai Chaoyun is wearing red clothes.
Sheng Changbai felt more comfortable looking at the red wedding dress.
Sheng Changbai and Hai Chaoyun saluted Master Hai and Mrs. Hai together, while Hai Chaoyun's uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters-in-law, sisters, brothers-in-law and other close relatives looked on.
"From now on, you two must live in harmony as husband and wife, work together as one, respect each other as guests, and fulfill your important responsibilities for the prosperity of the Sheng family." Master Hai instructed.
"From now on, as a husband and wife, the man will take charge of foreign affairs and the woman will take charge of domestic affairs. The husband will sing and the wife will follow you. We will work together to bring glory to our family." Mrs. Hai then ordered.
After Sheng Changbai and Hai Chaoyun agreed, it was over for the Hai family.
He put Hai Chaoyun on the sedan chair, continued to play music, and welcomed him back to Sheng's home with the flute player.
When I returned, there were dozens more people, all of whom were married to Hai Chaoyun.
In addition to the maids, mothers-in-law, and servants who serve Hai Chaoyun.
Among these people are those who manage farms and shops for Hai Chaoyun.
After arriving at the door of Sheng's house, the bride needs to have a bite of her husband's meal in the sedan chair.
Then get off the sedan chair, step on the saddle, step on the grass, and finally step on the scale, which means peace and safety.
"Worship the ancestral hall."
After people enter a home, they first go to the ancestral hall to pay homage to the gods and ancestors.
"Worship the high hall."
Then from the ancestral hall, move to the main hall and visit the high hall.
"House of husband and wife."
Finally, they move from the main hall to the new house, where the couple bows to each other.
Although compared with later generations, the prayers were almost the same as these three, but it was still a lot of trouble to change three places.
When doing these things, the bride always covers her face with a fan, which is really not as convenient as a hijab.
After the bride enters the new house, she just waits in the room.
Sheng Changbai couldn't let things go like this and had to go out to accompany the guests.
With dozens of tables of guests accompanying him, Sheng Changbai could only say that luckily he could cheat.
Otherwise, the alcohol content is not high, but if you drink too much, you will still be intoxicated.
After dealing with the guests, it’s natural to have a wedding night.
Sheng Changbai had experience, so naturally he would not let others disturb his bridal chamber, and would clear them out early.
…
There was no surprise. When he went to serve tea to his parents the next day, Wang Ruofu laid out the music.
Not only did he look bad throughout the whole process, but he also said some inappropriate words asking Hai Chaoyun to help Sheng Changbai in his career.
Although the matter is such a thing, it would be too hurtful to only talk about interests.
Because of Hai Chaoyun's height, Wang Ruofu was afraid that he would not be able to suppress his daughter-in-law, so he wanted to give her a blow from the first day.
The daughter-in-law is required to set rules, take care of herself at dawn and dusk, and serve meals.
"Chaoyun, please be more considerate of my mother."
Although he knew that Hai Chaoyun was more than capable of dealing with a simple-minded Wang Ruofu, he still needed to be concerned.
"This is something that every daughter-in-law has to go through. It's what I should do. It's not something to be burdened with."
After all, Hai Chaoyun received this kind of education, and it was not as difficult to endure such things as Sheng Changbai thought.
"You serve for a few days first. After waiting for a few days, I will go and tell mother."
It was definitely not possible to find Wang Ruofu a few days ago.
Whether a daughter-in-law should set rules or not is a status struggle between women in feudal houses.
Wang Ruofu, the mother-in-law, must first establish her authority.
With so many maids and servants in a wealthy family, there is certainly no shortage of people to take care of them.
The reason why you have to let your daughter-in-law serve is to establish your family status.
As for the time for the daughter-in-law to establish rules, she can be very flexible.
Generally speaking, it is one to three years. In extreme cases, it may last for several days, months, or even a lifetime.
The Sheng family currently has a family of 200 people, so it is definitely not possible without a clear leader in the back house.
On the third day, after the newlyweds returned home for three days, Sheng Changbai took Hai Chaoyun back to Hai's house.
"Meet my father-in-law and mother-in-law."
Nothing complicated, I just came to Haijia again with some gifts.
No matter what era, it is the same. After returning home, the daughter will be called away by her mother-in-law.
The son-in-law can only play with his father-in-law and brother-in-law.
Both Weng and his son-in-law were officials. Although they started talking about daily life, they unconsciously turned to politics.
"Zecheng, are you doing well at Yushitai?"
"It's okay. Although things have to be done according to the wishes of the officials, it's not a waste of time at the Yushitai. You can always clean up some silverfish for the court."
Because the old Zhao family and the scholar-bureaucrats jointly governed the world and treated scholars favorably, the official administration of the Zhou Dynasty was really not good.
"Zecheng, please be patient for a while longer. When I went to the official family to say goodbye, I heard that the official family already had the intention of relenting on the matter of opposing the crown prince. After the official family appoints the crown prince, I don't think I will be here.
I’ve made things difficult for you.”
Now that Sheng Changbai and Hai Chaoyun's marriage is over, the father-in-law should really go back to his place.
After all, he is also an important member of the party. It is normal for the old emperor to take a breather first before bidding farewell to Bianjing and returning to his hometown.
"Father-in-law, does the official family want to be crowned King of Yong?"
Although King Yong was domineering and did not show any ability to govern the world, for the old Zhao family, having many sons was the greatest advantage.
