Before the Han Dynasty, wedding ceremonies were not lively. "Book of Rites" said: "Weddings do not need to be joyful, as it is the meaning of darkness. Weddings do not congratulate, as is the order of the people."
People adhered to the Zhou rites and did not play music or celebrate, and this was still the case until the early Han Dynasty. However, marriage is after all a happy event of "great auspiciousness and extremely auspiciousness". With the peace of the Han Dynasty for a hundred years, the world's customs changed greatly, and people were content to enjoy themselves.
"Weddings without celebrations" not only exist in name only, but have developed into an extreme situation that is completely opposite to Zhou Li:
"In the beginning of marriage, men and women are no different, but they are proud of each other."
"Today's wedding party, hammer and stick to supervise the banter."
"Customs" written by Ying Shao, the prefect of Taishan, records a very absurd thing: Zhang Miao of Runan attended Du Shi's wedding, "drunk and played with each other, bound Du Shi, beat him twenty times, and hung his toes, and the scholar then
Until death." The groom died tragically on the wedding day, a red event turned into a bad event, and a happy event turned into a tragedy.
The third son of the Huan family, Huan Zuan, and the girl from the Wang family of Linxiang's wealthy family completed their wedding in this atmosphere full of enthusiasm, joy, auspiciousness, and even a bit of playfulness.
In the afternoon, Liu Jing and Liu Pan came out of the Huan family's mansion. The latter had rested for six days and had to go back to Cao to attend to matters tomorrow. He simply did not want to return home. Liu Jing had to drive back to Longqiu alone.
When Liu Jing got home before dark, he got out of the car and found two strangers sitting under the big locust tree at his house. When they saw him, they stood up and bowed to each other. The middle-aged man in the lead said: "Little man"
Zheng Dang, I’d like to pay my respects to Liu Langjun. I haven’t seen you in the past two years. I wonder if Liu Langjun still remembers me?”
While Zheng Dang bowed and saluted, he secretly looked at Liu Jing. Compared to two years ago, Liu Jing's facial features had not changed much, but he was more mature, but his temperament had undergone earth-shaking changes.
Nowadays, he has completely lost the frivolity of youth. His back is straight, his eyes are clear, he is calm and confident, and his demeanor is so good that even if you look at Nanyang County, which is full of talents, few can match him.
Liu Jing checked carefully and said, "Are you... are you Supervisor Zheng of the Deng family?"
"It's just the villain. Lang Jun has such a good memory." Zheng Dang added: "The villain is here to attend the funeral of brother Jun on behalf of my master, and to deliver a letter to Langjun Liu on behalf of my daughter.
.”
Liu Jing's heart beat several beats faster. The Deng girl's name was Deng Yuan, also known as Shaojun, and she was Liu Jing's fiancée. They were married on the fingertips.
Fingertip marriage first started with Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Guangwu. At that time, his general Jia Fu was famous for his bravery in battle. He was seriously injured and was about to die. Liu Xiu, in order to calm his mind, declared in public, "I heard that her wife is pregnant and has a daughter. My son will marry her.
If you give birth to a boy and my daughter marries him, he will not have to worry about his wife." This is the origin of finger-belly marriage.
Liu Jing was smart and cute when he was young. It happened that Deng You's wife was pregnant, so Deng You joked with Liu Jing's father Liu Shang: "If a girl is born, she should marry as Liu's wife."
Unexpectedly, Deng You's words became a motto, and with the birth of Deng Yuan, the two families entered into a marriage contract.
Liu Jing's father passed away when he was seven years old, and he left Beijing to return home. His memory is blurred, and he only vaguely remembers that Deng Yuan was a quiet and intelligent girl.
The two met again eight years later. The predecessor was traveling to Xiangyang with Ji to study. Since Xiangyang was only two hundred miles away from Xinye, the predecessor naturally had to pay a visit.
Deng Yuan was two years younger than her predecessor. She was thirteen years old at that time, with beautiful hair covering her forehead, a slender physique, and a beauty like a beautiful woman.
Deng Yuan was not only beautiful in appearance, but also talented. The two talked about the essentials of the Five Classics and allusions from historical collections. The predecessor realized that his knowledge was not as good as that of the little girl in front of him. His self-esteem was severely hit, and he felt ashamed and annoyed.
He had to pretend to be calm, but when he heard the Deng disciples taunting him behind his back, he was so sad and angry that he walked away in anger.
The last time we met was at the beginning of this year. My predecessor only dared to look at Deng Yuan from afar on the banks of the Feishui River.
At that time, Deng Yuan, who had just grown haircut, was already a well-known girl in Nanyang. She had an unparalleled appearance. She stood by the river, her ears were humming, her eyes were looking at the waves, her clothes were fluttering in the wind, and she looked like a goddess.
The predecessor couldn't help but feel ashamed, thinking that he was not worthy of her at all, and even lost the courage to come forward to meet her.
"Please follow me." Liu Jing calmed down and invited Zheng Dang to talk to him in the room.
After the two sat down, Liu Jing did not read the letter immediately. He put the letter aside temporarily and asked Zheng Dang when he arrived in Changsha.
"I won't arrive at your residence until sunset." Zheng Dang replied. Liu Jing did not read the letter, but instead greeted him first, which made him feel better and had a better impression of Liu Jing.
"Have you ever had a meal before?"
"Thank you sir for remembering me. We've already had dinner."
Liu Jing nodded, and then sighed: "It has been two years without knowing it. Is Deng Jun's health always okay?"
Zheng Dang replied: "My master is over fifty years old now. Although his health is not as good as before, he has never been seriously ill. It's just that I suddenly heard the news that Liu Langjun's brother Liu Boming died of illness some time ago, and I often feel sad about it.
It is extremely sad that Jun's father passed away in his prime, but I never thought that Jun's brother would also suffer misfortune at such a young age."
Liu Jing sighed and said, "It is such a big event as my brother's death. I should have come to tell Mr. Deng in person. When I first heard about my brother's death, I was heartbroken. Please apologize to Mr. Deng on my behalf."
"promise."
As the exchange between the two deepened, Liu Jing's words and deeds made Zheng Dang feel like a spring breeze. Thinking about the various rumors he had heard before, Zheng Dang faintly realized that his master Deng You's purpose was probably going to fail.
At least, the balance in Zheng Dang's heart has begun to slowly tilt towards Liu Jing's side.
However, it was the master Deng You who made the final decision. What he wanted to do was to report to Deng You as truthfully as possible what he heard and saw after returning to Nanyang. I believe that with the master's wisdom, he will definitely consider it carefully.
In fact, Liu Jing did not deliberately please Zheng Dang, but his soul came from modern society after all, and his treatment of people was different from that of the ancients. Although Zheng Dang was the chief steward of the Deng family, he still did not get rid of his status as a servant and was treated equally by Liu Jing.
You will definitely feel extremely useful.
When the conversation was almost over, Liu Jing signaled to Zheng Dang to "wait a moment" and slowly opened Deng Yuan's letter by the light of the lamp.
The entire letter is written in eight-point calligraphy, with graceful fonts, rounded strokes, light but not frivolous, soft yet firm, and the calligraphy skills are very high.
The beginning of Deng Yuan's letter reads: "On April 8, Yuan Dun made his first speech."
Liu Jing couldn't help but burst into laughter. Women in the Han Dynasty usually called themselves by their surname, such as Deng, when writing letters. Only men would directly address her by her first name. Deng Yuan called herself Ming Yuan informally, and the image of a free and confident lady appeared on the page.
No wonder her predecessor was beaten to pieces, such a fiancée is definitely beyond the control of ordinary people.
"Time is easy to come by. I haven't seen you for two years. Are you still safe? I recently heard that my brother passed away due to illness, and I feel sad..."
After the simple greetings at the beginning, Deng Yuan's writing seemed to turn into a whisper, expressing his regret for the death of Liu Jing's brother Liu Yuan, and comforting Liu Jingjie to accept the change and take care of his body, hoping that he could get out of his sorrow as soon as possible and become like a young man.
Like a real man, he shoulders the burden of the family.
"My father and my father were in the same palace as ministers. They had similar interests and were irreversible friends, so they got married..."
In the middle part of the letter, Deng Yuan changed her tone and without any evasion, she directly mentioned the engagement between the two. To Liu Jing's expectation, she was extremely determined to marry into the Liu family.
The two only got together for a short day after they grew up, and he behaved very badly. To say that Deng Yuan fell in love with him at first sight was pure nonsense. Even if the other party refused the engagement, he would not be surprised.
Moreover, when Zheng Dang came this time, his "father-in-law" Deng You didn't show any sign of it. It was obvious that he was not very satisfied with him in his heart. Compared with the two, Deng Yuan's persistence became particularly precious.
"Xunzi said: 'You can't stop learning.' Studying requires diligence, and waste comes from playing..."
At the end of the letter, Deng Yuan quoted Xunzi's words and earnestly advised Liu Jing like a real wife, asking him not to slack off because of his return to his hometown. Even if he could not return to Xiangyang to continue his studies, he should study hard at home and take advantage of his family background.
, as long as they are willing to work hard, they will be appreciated by the state and county in the future, and then they can get married.
Liu Jing could tell that Deng Yuan was extremely cautious in the wording of these words. She must have put a lot of thought into it, not only to achieve the purpose of persuading Liu Jing, but also to take into account her fiancé's self-esteem.
"What a beautiful and intelligent woman!" Liu Jing couldn't help but sigh in her heart after reading the letter.