A bunch of firecrackers were picked up on long wooden poles outside the Xu family's gate.
Several teenage boys in the village were waiting anxiously with matches in their hands. They only waited for the sledge to welcome the bride back before lighting firecrackers.
Before half past ten, there was a noise in the distance, and a child rushed over and shouted.
"I'm back, I'm back, the bride has been brought back."
The boys who were waiting to set off firecrackers at the door immediately cheered up and stretched their heads to look to the west.
Sure enough, I saw a horse-drawn sledge turning around from a short distance away. Sitting on the first sledge was a person wearing a red cotton-padded jacket. No need to guess, that must be the bride.
"Quick, get ready, I'll say something and you light firecrackers."
Someone said hello, and the other one was waiting with a match in his hand.
When the sledge arrived in front of Xu's house, before the couple's feet touched the ground, the crackling sound of firecrackers rang out.
Xu Shide supported his daughter-in-law Wu Qiuyan and got off the sledge. Amidst the flying firecracker debris and the pungent smell of gunpowder, the newlyweds entered the Xu family's door.
Zhou Guilan stepped forward and took the cornucopia from her daughter-in-law's hand.
Wu Qiuyan picked up the red flowers from the basin, pinned them in her mother-in-law's hair, and called out affectionately, "Mom."
Zhou Guilan was so happy that she couldn't open her mouth from ear to ear and agreed repeatedly, "Hey, hey."
While agreeing, he took out a red envelope from his pocket and gave it to his new wife.
The wedding ceremony in those days was very simple. The newlyweds went into the house to sit in the ceremony, and at eleven o'clock, they came out of the house and went to the courtyard.
Zhao Dahai served as the officiant and said a few words. Then the young couple bowed and thanked the guests, the officiant and the matchmaker, and then bowed and thanked their parents for their kindness in raising them.
A few years ago, you would have bowed to the leader's portrait, but now you can only omit this item.
The warm and simple wedding ceremony ended quickly. The bride was sent back to the east room to rest, and then the banquet started.
Nowadays, every family is not well-off, so there is no way for the whole family to come to a wedding banquet.
Most of the time, the head of the family comes to have wedding wine with the gifts, plus a lot of helpers.
There are a hundred households in the big house, and some people who don't have a good relationship with the Xu family didn't come.
Therefore, including relatives, friends and guests from my mother's family, a total of fourteen tables were set up.
The Xu family has six tables here, and the two neighboring families have eight tables there.
Braised pork with bracken, braised venison, braised bear paw, Sixi meatballs, sauerkraut and white meat blood sausage, soft fried pork slices, fried meat with fungus and carrot, shredded cabbage, mung bean sprouts and carrot shredded cold dish.
There is also a pot of rhubarb rice placed next to each table, and the hot aroma is fragrant.
There are eight dishes in total, seven of them have meat, and there is only one cold dish.
At this meeting, who wouldn’t be able to say a harsh word?
Right now, no one can produce these dishes.
When the dish came up, everyone was amazed and couldn't help but praise it, it must be from Lao Xu's family.
Look at how people are living these days. If you look around the whole village, who can compare to them?
When the food is served and the wine is poured, what else is there to say? Just eat.
It's rare to see oil and water on weekdays. These are all meat and vegetables, so why don't you open your belly and eat them?
So one by one they shook off their cheeks and started to work.
The Wu family's natal family members were all arranged to sit on the Kang in the east room, with exactly two tables.
The two tables of guests from my mother's family had more abundant food and wine. In addition to the eight dishes outside, there were also platters of shredded sweet potatoes and soy sauce meat.
The Xu family arranged for Xu Shiyan's two uncles and Zhao Dahai to accompany the guests, which gave the Wu family enough face.
With such a high-level reception, it was too late for the Wu family to bow their heads to eat and drink. Who had the time to find fault? Naturally, the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves and the atmosphere was harmonious.
After the banquet started, the newlyweds wanted to toast, but the young people in the village made trouble and had to let Xu Shide drink.
Shouting and getting Xu Shide drunk, he couldn't climb onto the kang at night.
The Xu family had already prepared. Xu Shixiang, Zhou Wanxing, Zhou Wancheng and other younger ones came over to help with the drinking.
In the end, all of them had drunk a lot of wine and looked for a place to rest with their faces flushed and dizzy.
Of course, the people who were pouring wine didn't fare much better. They were all stumbling around while drinking, and some of them even slipped under the table.
Before half past twelve, the people from the Wu family who saw off their relatives had eaten and drank enough, got up and said goodbye.
The Xu family found a few young men and drove horses and sledges to send the people back.
As for the other guests, they had almost finished eating, so they left one after another.
After all the guests had left, the helping wives quickly cleared away the dishes.
Nowadays, people’s stomachs are empty. Let alone eight dishes, eight more dishes can be eaten without any leftover.
Almost every table has clean pots and bowls. Even the vegetable soup on the plate has been soaked in rice and nothing is left.
Now, you don't have to worry about washing the dishes. Just put it in the pot and boil it with hot water. At most, rub some baking soda, then rinse it with clean water, and it will be clean.
All kinds of household items, such as dishes and dishes, are borrowed from various families. After being washed, they are sorted according to the marks and compared according to the list. They also have to be sent back to others.
Of course, the items borrowed for weddings are not returned empty, but some melon seeds, candies and other things are packed with them.
Among the helpers, Zhou Guilan also packed some melon seeds, candies, or leftovers for others to express her gratitude.
By the time everything was done and the guests had dispersed, it was already three or four o'clock in the afternoon.
Because the Chinese New Year was approaching and every family was busy, none of the relatives from Daying and Songjianghe stayed. After the banquet, we chatted for a while and then everyone left.
The Xu family has been busy all day, and now they can finally sit down and rest for a while.
"Finally, I can calm down for a while. I have been so busy today that I hit the back of my head with my feet and my whole body hurts."
Zhou Guilan was so busy that day that she finally sat down to rest, feeling like her whole body was about to fall apart.
"Otherwise, people say that marrying a wife is a waste of time. This is absolutely true. It's really tiring.
Fortunately, four of the five sons in our family have already married wives. The fifth son is not in a hurry. It will still take two years, so we can at least take it slow."
Xu Chenghou was so busy that he had time to sit down and smoke a cigarette.
"Okay, let's go back to the house and rest for a while. Dinner is simple, aren't there some leftovers? Just heat it up and eat it."
Zhou Guilan saw that her sons and daughters-in-law all looked tired, so she simply waved her hands and told them to go back and rest.
"Mom, I'll go back first. If I don't have anything to do in the evening, I'll come over and eat. Yingzi and I can just have something at home."
Xu Shiyan was thinking about his wife at home, so how could he be in the mood to linger here? He told his parents before leaving.
"Third brother, wait a minute and I'll bring you some food. You two can just stay home and heat it up to eat by yourself in the evening."
When Zhou Guilan heard that her son was leaving, she hurriedly put on her shoes and went to the ground to pack a bowl of vegetables for Xu Shiyan.
"Yingzi didn't come over for dinner today. Bring her back some delicious food."
According to the rules in the countryside, pregnant women are not allowed to attend other people's weddings, as they may easily offend others.
Although I was always told to break the four olds and so on, some old rules still have to be followed.
After all, there are many people and things going on on your wedding day, so it would be too dangerous if you bump into something accidentally.