After the wives of both parties supported Xu Wanyi, who was wearing a phoenix crown and a red hijab, and got into the sedan chair, the relevant people offered wedding tea and four-color wedding cakes to the "Pandan God", and then the eight healthy servants who carried the sedan chair started with the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers.
The sedan was lifted up. Zhang Yanling took the lead on horseback, and the procession of seeing off the bride came to Zhang's house in a mighty manner.
When the princess of Dingguo Palace got married, the dowry items were naturally extremely luxurious and varied. In addition to daily necessities such as tables, chairs, benches, shoes, hats, clothing, bedding, and mosquito nets, there were naturally many valuable items. Such as jade Ruyi, gold ingots, gold and silver jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings
In addition, it even included two horses and four maidservants as dowry. Not counting these, Xu Wanyi also kept the daily utensils of her mother's family, the piano, chess, and study room, the canary yellow parrot she raised, and even the things in the house.
The flowers and plants on display, the books, music scores and picture albums were all taken away with them.
There is a saying that marrying a girl is like losing her family. Zhang Yanling said that this is like a Japanese raid, packing up everything and taking away everything.
Of course, for Zhang Yanling, no matter how much the dowry is, it has nothing to do with him. Except for some daily necessities, all the dowry items are regarded as Xu Wanyi's dowry. The right of control and ownership belong to Xu Wanyi. If
A normal couple would naturally give part of the dowry to her husband. But Zhang Yanling was self-aware. Considering that her relationship with Xu Wanyi had been in name only from the beginning, she could not get a penny from the dowry.
The people were not disappointed by the size of the procession and the size of the bride-seeing procession. The people and horses were meandering, and the richness of the dowry made the people watching dumbfounded and sighed. This is wealth that most of them cannot accumulate in dozens of lifetimes. Compared with others,
, it is really frustrating and disappointing. Except for some people who are unhappy, what most people think in their hearts is: Others have a good life, but we have a bad life, so let’s accept our fate.
At half time, the huge procession of sending off the bride arrived at the Marquis of Jianchang. Amidst the sound of silk and bamboo firecrackers, gongs and drums, Xipo helped the bride get out of the sedan chair. Zhang Yanling was stuffed with a piece of red silk and satin in her hand, and she owed Xu Wanyi to cross over.
Various inexplicable saddles, braziers, jars and other things placed at the door entered the front hall.
The hall was magnificently decorated, and Empress Zhang had actually left the palace early this morning and arrived at Jianchang Houfu. The parents and elders of the Zhang family were no longer here, and the eldest sister was a concubine and a concubine, so she could not serve as the elder of the wedding ceremony.
Therefore, Queen Zhang is obviously responsible for acting as an elder.
The newlyweds entered the hall, and Queen Zhang also came out. She stood at the top and married her younger brother with Zhang Heling. There was a piece of clothing and a hairpin on the two imperial chairs, which represented Zhang Yanling's deceased parents.
The master of ceremonies promised that the auspicious time had arrived, and while he was chanting auspicious words, he guided the newlyweds to worship in the hall. After worshiping heaven and earth, parents, and husband and wife, Xipo and the maids gathered the newlyweds to the back house and sent them to the bridal chamber.
中.A set of tedious procedures is finally over.
But the wedding ceremony has just begun. There are many greeting guests at the door. One of the two butlers is responsible for welcoming the guests and accepting gifts, and the other is assisting Axiu in arranging the banquet.
Today, the Zhang family is hosting flowing banquets. There are twenty tables in the courtyard, and another thirty tables are set up under a pergola in the alley at the entrance. The banquets in the courtyard are for serious guests, while the banquets outside the alley are for entertaining ordinary people. Today’s
The rule is that everyone, even if they just say congratulations, can eat and drink a feast and get a wedding gift. This is the so-called pomp.
Fifty tables of running water banquets were opened non-stop, and fifty chefs were invited to set up dozens of pots and stoves in the side yard. All the maids, women, and cooks from the two houses of the Zhang family joined the battle, and seventy or eighty people helped carry water and wash vegetables.
Cutting vegetables, meat, chickens and fish, everyone has been busy since the banquet started at noon. The banquet was finally over when it got dark. There were still many people who came to catch the autumn wind after asking questions but did not get anything to eat. Some
The beggars and beggars gathered around the door and refused to leave. In the end, Axiu sent everyone away with fifty coins and a bag of wedding cakes.
At the end of the day, there was no doubt that there was a lively atmosphere, but everyone was exhausted. Zhang Yanling drank a lot of wine and was very drunk. The guests who came today were all well-known people, big and small.
Everyone came to congratulate them. People from more than a thousand households in Jinyiwei also came. Many civil servants from the outer court also came. Of course, there were a few bachelors in the cabinet and none of the six ministers. Those who came were all low-ranking officials.
Civil servants. The purpose of their coming is to build relationships and gain connections. The important ministers in the outer court behaved very courageously. Even if the two great relatives and wealthy families got married, they did not buy it.
The banquet dispersed and the yard finally became quiet. Zhang Yanling sat on a chair with his legs crossed, and Axiu sat next to him drinking tea. Ma Quan, Huang and others were counting the gifts and gifts. This was the moment Zhang Yanling was most looking forward to. This scene
The wedding cost a lot of money, with more than 20,000 taels of silver spent on banquets, decorations, personnel and other aspects, which really hurt Zhang Yanling's heart. Zhang Yanling hoped to be compensated in terms of gifts.
However, the results of the inventory were disappointing. The total gift money received was less than 8,000 taels of silver. There were not many other jewelry and the like, but there were quite a few worthless things such as cloth, furnishings, calligraphy and paintings. After all estimated, the gift money was
No more than ten thousand taels.
In fact, such a large amount of gift money is not small, but Zhang Yanling's expectations were too high. He thought that this wedding would earn eight thousand taels of silver. But in fact, most people are not from wealthy families, except for the relatives of the honorary family.
In addition to the relatively large amount of family gifts, some small officials are actually living very hard. For example, a fourth-grade official like Xu Gao has a low salary and a very shabby life. Not every official position is a lucrative one.
As for money, not every official can earn money beyond his salary.
In addition to the disappointing amount of gift money, what bothered Zhang Yanling most today was the absence of her emperor's brother-in-law. Originally, Zhang Yanling thought that the emperor would definitely come to support her today, which would be her greatest honor. However, the emperor never showed up.
, I just asked Empress Zhang to send a message of congratulations on her behalf.
Zhang Yanling also asked Empress Zhang before she returned to the palace. Empress Zhang only said that the emperor had said that if he came, everyone would be in trouble. Just receiving the emperor would take a lot of trouble, so it was inconvenient to attend.
Although Zhang Yanling thinks this reason is a bit strange, after all, the emperor did not come, and the queen left the palace with the same pomp. Besides, the emperor must at least give something, such as an inscription, a plaque or something to express it publicly. This
There may be some reasons for this.
But Zhang Yanling had no time to think too much. Today was over, and Zhang Yanling, who was so drunk, just wanted to have a good sleep. So she asked Axiuma, Quanhuangsi and the others to clean up, and then got up and yawned and went to the back house.
.
He habitually walked to the main house of the back house. He saw the red lights flashing and lanterns in the yard from a distance. He suddenly remembered that he couldn't sleep in the main house, so he turned around and went straight to the back house.
Axiu’s residence in the west courtyard of the house.
After entering the room, I took off my wedding clothes and lay down on the bed. My mind was racing, and I fell asleep after a while.