With ten miles of red makeup and thousands of bright lanterns, the traditional wedding in ancient Chinese style is full of elegance and splendor.
The drums sound, the luan and the phoenix sing in harmony, the joy and auspiciousness of the Chinese wedding are accumulated over thousands of years.
With her phoenix crown and golden hairpin and her hair combed with palace-like makeup, the bride was able to amaze everyone the moment her hijab was taken off.
Follow the ancient rituals, worship heaven and earth, pay respect to the high hall, make solemn oaths, and raise your eyebrows to the point where your temples are white.
This is the charm of Chinese weddings.
Gorgeous, solemn and full of style.
Accompanied by bursts of laughter, accompanied by bursts of applause and cheers.
From the time when the old director of the Temple of Heaven Park acted as the officiant and read out the marriage certificate, to the bride and groom serving tea to the elders and relatives of both parties sitting in front of the hall, and then to the congratulatory speeches from various distinguished guests, until the ceremony was completed.
All the wedding procedures were joyful, lively and proper.
Witnessed by friends from all walks of life, Chinese and foreign guests, amidst the admiration and fascination of countless people, and recorded by cameras, Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko completed their wedding ceremony quite beautifully and smoothly.
The calligraphy work written by Huo Yanping himself, "The love between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is as good as seven, and the fate coincides with the perfect happiness", which became the best wishes of everyone present for this Chinese and Japanese couple and their cross-border marriage.
As the parties to the country's first transnational marriage, Song Huagui and Wan Man's live speeches, as well as the concentric knot wall hangings they jointly presented to Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko, became the most appropriate and meaningful wedding at this time and place.
Congratulations.
To be honest, these are nothing.
Because what Huo Yanping said to Ning Weimin in private was a surprise that exceeded his expectations and was his biggest gain from today's wedding.
"Wei Min, the Spring Festival Gala has basically been negotiated. I'm very grateful to you for facilitating this matter. Your contribution this time is not small. It's just a pity that this matter needs to continue to be kept secret and cannot be publicized. With me
The person who came with you can't stay to drink your wedding wine. But don't be disappointed. This letter was given to you by him. It can be regarded as a congratulatory gift. In addition, I was asked to bring a message to you.
If you encounter any policy issues that you don’t understand when doing business in China, you can ask him for advice and he will be willing to help you answer your questions."
The profundity of Chinese language lies precisely in the sense of propriety in speaking, and many things are left unsaid.
After Ning Weimin thanked him, he used the toilet as an opportunity to escape, and first went to a deserted place to secretly open the scroll.
With just one glance, he found that the message of this painting was "the clan is majestic and the toes of the lin are strong, and the clan is solid on the rock". He couldn't help but feel ecstatic and understood everything.
You know, this is a message of congratulations for descendants and a prosperous clan.
For someone who can say this, how loud is it? How much weight does it carry?
Moreover, the value of this calligraphy is not only the signature, but also the name seal. This is a serious promise.
To put it bluntly, the value of this calligraphy cannot be calculated in terms of money at all.
If I were to find an appropriate word to describe it, I'm afraid the only one would be "iron volume alchemy book".
Of course, this is just a symbolic thing.
Ning Weimin would not think that he could do whatever he wanted and walk around everywhere.
I have no intention of really licking my face and asking others to make any excessive demands.
Because he knew that uncontrollable greed was the recipe for disaster, and even the iron-volume elixir book could not save Chai Daguan.
But at the very least, with this thing, as long as he does his duty and does business legally and legally.
Not to mention in the capital, even if he traveled across the country, no one would deliberately forget him.
He no longer has to worry about the kind of unreasonable disaster that private businessmen fear most. It should be regarded as a magic weapon that can make hundreds of ghosts panic and avoid, and can defeat evil spirits and monsters.
From this point of view, even if he doesn't get a penny back from the final filming of the movie "Crazy Rich Asians," he thinks it's worth it!
Then can he still be beautiful?
So when he returned to the table and started toasting, he couldn't hold back his smile lines.
He always grinned and seemed to want to smile for no reason, which made almost everyone mistakenly think that he was doing it for today's glory, and finally became a groom and an official.
But then again, this day is originally a day for everyone to have fun. Not to mention the beauty of Ning Wei and the people, how can the guests on this day not be beautiful?
If nothing else, it’s good to eat, drink, watch, and receive gifts in return. Who wouldn’t be happy?
Let’s talk about eating first. Everyone in the capital knows that the so-called “holding” of “holding a happy event” alludes to hosting a banquet.
Regardless of weddings or funerals, including birthday celebrations, as long as you do not prepare food and wine to entertain relatives and friends, you cannot post invitations to invite people, let alone accept cash or physical gifts from relatives and friends.
No matter how numerous, grand, or grand the ritual activities are, they are still called "not doing anything."
To put it bluntly, eating and drinking are the main content of all celebration activities.
In the past, this was called "biting the head." For example, as soon as the traitor returned home, people who had not been there would ask, "How about the 'biting the head' prepared today?"
If the traitor replies, "Yes, the preparations are really tough. The work in the shed is done very well."
That is to say, the meals prepared by the host are very affordable and enough to satisfy the guests.
If you say, "Hey, don't mention it. Even the salt seller was beaten to death. It's not for people to eat."
That is to say, my family is stingy and prepares few dishes. I am afraid that there will not be enough food, so I have to ask the cook to make the dishes extra heavy to cope with the problem.
Both of the above statements are very blunt and rude, but they are the general evaluation of the host's affair.
The former, the "rigorous" preparation of the table, invisibly sets off other ceremonial and entertainment activities, so it is a complete affirmation.
In the latter case, the victim deceives the invited relatives and friends in terms of eating and drinking. No matter how good the ceremonial and entertaining activities are, they will be written off and completely denied by the perpetrators.
Therefore, from ancient times to the present, "outsiders" in the capital always pay attention to the preparation of banquets when celebrating weddings.
Don't look at the invitation that says "respectfully treat me with courtesy", it's just a polite word of courtesy.
In fact, it must not be too thin, especially when it comes to birthdays and birthdays.
Why?
Just because marrying a wife, hiring a girl, or sending an old man away cannot be avoided, no matter whether you are a rich or a poor family, the quality of the banquet should be done according to your ability, and relatives and friends will naturally understand.
Only when it comes to birthdays and birthdays, this is the icing on the cake, and it is an act of "showing off wealth". If the banquet is not prepared well and the food and drink are too limited, it will inevitably affect the character of the host family.
, making people suspect that the owner deliberately "cast a net to catch fish".
And in this regard, how did today's wedding go?
Needless to say, this "four to four to the end" fruit banquet is enough to surprise the guests just from the number of dishes and the routine.
Ordinary people, let alone ordinary people, as long as they have never had an "official banquet" at Tan Gong Restaurant, who has seen such a grand scene in their life?
Who has ever seen a banquet with dozens of dishes, both hot and cold, all at very low prices?
Not to mention, every dish is made by home-owners, there is no cheating, and the taste is always delicious.
If you don’t believe it, let’s just count and see.
The dried fruits are produced by the eldest son-in-law of the Luo family. They are from an aristocratic family. In the past, Nancheng was famous for its "Beng Douding".
Now he has been hired by Tan Palace and has become a formal employee. He earns the salary of a head chef every month and does nothing every day except making dried fruits.
The dim sum pastry is baked by the chefs of Tan Gong Restaurant according to the methods taught by Master Luo and Luo Guangsheng.
The Luo family also has a good reputation, and they learned from the authentic Manchurian pastry shop "Zhengming Zhai".
It was the leading company in the Oven Bureau in Beijing in the past. It was founded the earliest and had the most complete categories.
At that time, Daoxiang Village didn't have anything to do, not even a pastry shop, but you, a Nanwei food store, were just a junior.
The real banquet is jointly controlled by Master Pang, who is from the famous family, and Master Li from Sichuan Restaurant.
This not only ensures the efficiency of cooking, but also ensures the quality and taste of the dishes.
Even the raw materials are extraordinary. In addition to delicacies from mountains and seas, there are also good things like chestnut mushroom, palace yellow, and Jingxi rice.
Think about it, if this banquet is not wonderful, then what other banquet is worthy of such a word?
Even apart from that, the most rare thing is that the famous chef "Zhang Dashao" fulfilled his promise and cooked the day's finale for Ning Weimin's wedding banquet - thirty pieces of "Eight Treasure Gourd Duck"
”.
Once this dish was served, it stunned the whole audience, allowing all the guests to experience the incredible wonders of Chinese cuisine and palace delicacies.
This dish is very unusual. It is a famous dish from Jiangnan that Qianlong brought back from his southern tour.
The word "gourd" in Babao Gourd Duck is homophonic to Fulu, which means family prosperity.
The production process is more demanding than the name, and requires a high level of chef skills.
Chefs in Suzhou and other places mostly use small sharp knives when making "Eight Treasure Gourd Duck", but Zhang Dashao is good at conquering the world with just one dish, using all his strength.
He had already ordered the people in the kitchen to prepare the food according to his requirements. When making it, he only made a small opening of 4.5 inches in the duck body to debone the whole duck without damaging the skin. The whole process was completed in one go.
Babao means eight kinds of auxiliary ingredients.
Use lotus seeds, shrimps, scallops and other aquatic products, stir-fry them until half cooked, and add glutinous rice to help the filling absorb the essence of duck meat.
After the stuffing is stuffed into the duck belly, the knife edge is tied tightly with straw rope, and it is carefully made into a gourd shape.
After being steamed in a basket, the gourd-shaped duck embryo is finally deep-fried.
After several times of cooking, the duck skin is golden, translucent, tight and shiny when it comes out of the pan.
The crispy duck skin, the tender and juicy duck meat, and the soft and fragrant stuffing all present a delicious blend of salty, fresh and mellow flavor.
How would you describe the effect of this dish when it is served?
It should be almost similar to the scene in the movie "Man-Han Banquet" where Zhong Zhentao finished cooking the yellow croaker and then opened it with chopsticks.
Almost everyone is not surprised when they see the core of this eight-treasure gourd duck.
Even the "VIPs" who spent every day at banquets had their butts opened - their eyes were opened.
And what about Fu Jie and his wife who had eaten this dish in the past?
He was also quite satisfied and said straight away, "This is a delicacy that is perfect in color, flavor, and shape, without any distortion. It is a great honor to be able to taste it again now."
In short, based on Zhang Dashao's dish, the size of today's wedding banquet can directly catch up with the state banquet.
In addition, as the saying goes, "There is no party without wine", especially weddings, you need to pay more attention to wine.
Since "wine" and "jiu" are homophonic, people naturally change the meaning of "wine" to "long time" for good luck.
In the past, the most commonly used wine by people in Beijing was "shaohuang wine", which was called "gin wine and silver wine".
These two things are naturally not lacking in the weddings hosted by Ning Weimin.
For his wedding banquet, he used Maotai for shochu and Jimo old wine for rice wine.
However, in order not to be ostentatious and to prevent others from gossiping, the wine at the wedding banquet was poured into pots and served.
The advantage of this is that not only are the utensils exquisite and paired with the tableware, but people with high levels of taste can still drink from it, making it look elegant and subtle.
Like most people in the officialdom, they are almost always good at it.
He nodded naturally, smiled, and raised his glass happily.
Although ordinary people do not know the goods and only know the taste, they can still feel at ease because of this.
For example, Master Mi from Courtyard No. 2 of Shan'er Hutong is a man who has only drunk Erguotou and keeps talking to Uncle Bian.
"Look, this Lao Kang is really shrewd. One bottle of Lao Bai is enough to make two or three pots. Even if there are so many tables, you can't actually use a few bottles. This is such a skill. If I have a son,
I have to do the same. No wonder this old guy is rich, he is really a businessman, he really knows how to save money."
Uncle Bian is quite fair. "Look what you said, they will give you a refill after you finish drinking this. Besides, this wine is so good. How can you get a good wine for three yuan? Why do you want it? You should try to waste as little as possible.
And those red ones, beer and soda, which ones have you not drank? Are these cheap?"
Indeed, today there are not only soju and rice wine, but also white and red wines. There are also the Osmanthus Chen, "Five Star Beer" and "Polar Bear" soda that have been artificially chilled early, and they are also placed together with tin buckets.
On the oil table next to it.
It has everything you need, and its main focus is to be considerate and take care of the different needs of guests of different genders and ages.
In addition, there is also an unexpected and thoughtful gift in return for all guests in terms of food.
You know, at Ning Weimin's wedding today, once a guest leaves, there must be a gift in return as a way of saying thank you.
Crafts such as wedding cigarettes, wedding candies, utensils, jewelry, and concentric knots will not let guests leave empty-handed anyway.
However, among all the return gifts, there is also a gift of assorted steamed food, which is even more unique.
The steamed food in return is mainly steamed buns. This is because after the guests return home after having a full meal, most of them will be too tired to move.
With steamed buns, once they get hungry, they don't need to open fire anymore, they can just use steamed buns to satisfy their hunger.
What's special is that the bun fillings are not available in restaurants in the market.
For example: chicken, duck and mushroom diced stuffing, sea cucumber, scallops and magnolia slices stuffing, eel stuffing, green clam stuffing, white lotus root stuffing, milk taro stuffing, jasmine tea leaf shrimp stuffing, they are truly unique.
Jiang Nianyun personally selects the ingredients and mixes the fillings for all the buns, and they are finally put out of the pan. Jiang Nianyun needs to see them with her own eyes before they can be put into cattail bags and paper boxes as gifts.
The old lady has very high requirements for the quality of the dough. The alkali used must be moderate and it must not be slightly yellow or yellow to be considered decent.
Speaking of which, this was actually a pioneering work of the Ma family, the richest man in the capital, when they were doing business. However, Jiang Nianyun, who lives here as a guest, saw it and embezzled it today.
This should be regarded as a kind of inheritance, and it is appropriate.
After all, with Ning Weimin's assets today, he has already become the new generation's richest man in the capital.