Chapter 167 Su Tong Enters the Door (I)

As the saying goes, it is said that if you lose it, you will get it. This sentence is not wrong at all. Just six months after he was dismissed from his official position, an unexpected thing happened. Ye Tianming, who had just been promoted to the Minister of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty, suddenly wrote a letter back to his hometown and formally agreed to a marriage signed by his daughter Ye Sutong thirteen years ago. Ye Sutong will formally marry Li Weizheng, son of Li Junwai, Li Jia Village, neighboring village. He was busy with the court and could not go home. The woman's parents handed over to Ye Tianming's mother, Mrs. Ye and his younger brother Ye Tianliang, but Mrs. Ye also rushed back to her hometown at the last moment.

At this time, Ye Sutong was already a Miss Shangshu, while Li Weizheng was just a commoner. According to the tradition of "marrying a daughter with high demands and asking for marriage to get married", this family seemed a bit unfamiliar with marriage, but on the contrary, this unfamiliar marriage caused a sensation in Linhuai County, the Zhongdu left the office, and the Fengyang Prefecture sent a gift. The Linhuai County Prefecture came to the door to be the master of ceremonies and sent yamen runners to maintain order. Zhang Yi, the former commander of the Guangdong governor who returned to his hometown, was the witness, and even the Fengyang Office of the Jinyiwei sent someone to give gifts to him.

Marriage and marriage were a major event in the social life of the Ming Dynasty. According to a European revolutionary mentor in later generations, marriage was a continuation of politics, so small families were exchanged for money, goods and property, while wealthy families often meant a combination of interests in the officialdom. In order to show the seriousness of marriage, the Ming Dynasty regulated the ritual system in the first year of Hongwu.

The Ming Dynasty's marriage was divided into four stages: matchmaking, engagement, marriage, and marriage, and marriage. There are generally nine procedures: matchmaking, engagement, appointment, marriage, wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding, and returning home. Only those who have gone through the above stages and procedures can be called "Ming's matchmaking", and can be the wife of an official, and only those who are recognized by the Ministry of Rites and receive imperial edicts.

The matchmaking between Li Weizheng and Ye Sutong began with their mothers. They were both from Songling Town, Suzhou. They met in a neighboring village in Linhuai County when they were 120,000 Jiangnan rich households in early Hongwu. The two wives became close friends. In order to show their friendship, they brought together a pair of children. Li Dalang was twelve years old and Ye Sutong was four years old. By the way, Ye Zitong was ten years old at that time. Li Weizheng's mother did not like her very much because she always had a fight with Li Weizheng, so she did not put this kiss on her.

The engagement was decided by Ye Sutong's grandfather and Li Weizheng's grandfather. Ye Sutong's grandfather was Ye Han. It is said that he had studied the Book of Changes. He somehow realized that Li Weizheng would not be a thing in the pool in the future, so he recognized the grandson-in-law. After the two of them had failed to defeat the horoscope, the Li family sent 1,08 taels of silver and 100 pigs as betrothal gifts, and formally entered into a marriage contract. The year, month, day, and time of the man and woman were born on the "Geng Book", in duplicate, each holding one as the basis. If you want to break off the engagement, you have to return the Geng Book, and you have to sue the two old landlords who have already died. Therefore, the marriage between Li Weizheng and Ye Sutong has not been repaid several times. The key is the latter item, how to explain it to your ancestors?

After getting married, Li Weizheng became the fake son-in-law of the Ye family. He had to visit the Ye family for three festivals every year and sent gifts such as pigs and sheep. Li Weizheng, who went down the well, barely did this, but Li Weizheng, who came out of the well, never went there once and even kidnapped his eldest daughter.

After thirteen years of long waiting, the first day of April 25, the 25th year of Hongwu was a good day. The two families officially decided to be their wedding day. They didn't have to worry about the wedding. They were all done one by one by one by one by one by one. The Li family was busy a month ago. Mr. Li attached great importance to this marriage. When his son's future was set, he took advantage of the good news to rush to the bad luck in front of his son. Therefore, he took out a thousand taels of gold buried by his ancestors from under the bed for the expenses of his son's wife (of course, it was done secretly and could not be discovered by his wife).

It was still midnight when Li Weizheng was woken up by Qianqian. Zi Tong and Yao Ji both went to the Ye family two days ago. According to the rules of their hometown, if the man had married a concubine or a second wife before getting married, the concubine and second wife must also salute with the bride at the same time. In layman's terms, Li Weizheng will marry three women tonight.

Li Weizheng was originally a person who was afraid of trouble. He had come to see him off these two days. He felt that the etiquette was complicated. While he asked Qianqian to comb his hair, he said a little unhappy: "Wearing is so complicated? Isn't it enough to send a sedan chair, but it just makes people overturned."

Seeing that Li Wei was impatient, Qianqian knocked his head with a comb and said, "Brother, you are still annoying to do nothing. I have been tired for half a month, so I dare not complain! This is the only time for us women in our lives. How can we do the key points? Besides, my elder sister has been hoping to sit in a sedan chair and Yao Ji. She is far away from her hometown and you, you have to think about it for them!"

Li Weizheng smiled bitterly and said, "I'm just complaining, not saying it's really not polite."

"It's not okay to complain, it means you are not sincere." Qianqian still taught him a lesson without giving up.

Li Weizheng suddenly laughed in a low voice and said, "Qianqian, you seem to be very angry today. Do you want to go to the Ye family too?"

Qianqian blushed and knocked him hard and said, "You think beautifully, I don't want to marry you. Besides, I went to the Ye family, who will be your wedding girl?"

Li Wei smiled slightly. This little girl actually wanted to go, but Qianqian is only fifteen years old this year and is still a little younger. Let’s talk about it in two years!

After combing your hair, you will try the groom's uniform. According to the Ming system, the groom's uniforms are usually worn in regular clothes, but it is also allowed to use the ninth-rank official uniform once. Therefore, most people usually wear ninth-rank official uniforms rented from the government when they get married. Perhaps this time in their life, how can they not taste the taste of being a ninth-rank official?

Because Li Wei was dismissed, he was just an ordinary commoner, so his groom's uniform was a red ninth-rank official uniform, wearing a winged black gauze hat and black leather boots. Li Wei was wearing a wedding dress and came to the yard. It was already dark and the yard was crowded and crowded. It was very busy and lively. The sedan chair team for the wedding was ready. Thirty-six drummers and a group of sedan chairmen had already had breakfast. They were gathered together to chat and laugh.

On the side, there are three wedding sedan chairs. According to general rules, one big and two small, but today's three sedan chairs are exactly the same. This is Li Weizheng's special request. Ye Sutong is his wife to the outside world, but in Li Weizheng's heart, Zi Tong, who shares worries with him, is his real wife. Today's marriage is actually a re-issue for Zi Tong to a certain extent. So one of the subtleties of the Li family's marriage today is that all the rules and etiquettes are the same.

For example, most people hired twelve drum musicians, and the Li family hired thirty-six; most people hired a dowry, while the Li family had three, among which Zi Tong's one was prepared by the Ye family, and the Yao Ji's one was prepared by the uncle Gu family for her; for example, most people hired a bridal chamber, but the Li family hired three bridal chambers tonight. Of course, how should Li Dalang arrange tonight? Whether to make the three of them evenly share the rain or dew, or to only cultivate virgin land, is not worthy of being told by outsiders.

At this time, Li Weizheng's uncle Gu Li came up and smiled and said, "Dalang, congratulations today."

Gu Li just arrived the day before yesterday, and his daughter Gu Ying was also here. According to the rules of marriage, his uncle will be the main force of the man's family to welcome the bride. Li Wei is very kind to the Gu family. No matter how busy the store is, the Gu family's father and daughter must come. Moreover, Gu Li must give Yao Ji a generous dowry, which is his wish. His cousin Gu Ying is also a matchmaker. Today, there are three of us. Qianqian is Su Tong's matchmaker, Gu Ying is Yao Ji's matchmaker, and Zi Tong's matchmaker is her cousin, that is, her second uncle's daughter.

When Li Wei saw his uncle coming from the capital, he hurried forward and bowed: "Uncle came here specifically for my business, thank you all the hard way."

Gu Li smiled and patted his shoulder and said, "It's nothing. I'm your uncle. Your mother is gone. I'm going to come anyway. Besides, your uncle's family is small and can't help, so I have no choice."

Li Weizheng's grandfather's family lives in Fengyang Mansion. His grandfather died when he was a child, and his uncle gave birth to three daughters and no sons. After his uncle died of illness five years ago, there was basically no contact with Fengyang Mansion. If Li Wei was in Rong's hometown, perhaps his three cousins ​​would come with their husbands to join in the fun, but today only one of his three cousins ​​in Fengyang came, so they could only help and could not be the storefront.

"Da Lang, congratulations." Another old man walked next to him, about sixty years old, and seemed leisurely in every move. He was Zhang Yi, the Marquis of Heqing who was dismissed from office and returned to his hometown. Last year, Li Wei, who was a thousand households in the Jinyiwei, went to Guangdong to investigate the disaster relief grain case. Zhang Yi was the commander-in-chief of Guangdong. In the disaster relief grain case, he escaped by chance because Li Wei was helping and framed Yu Guangqing of the Nanhai Guard. Although he was eventually lost by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The crime was dismissed, but his whole family escaped. For this reason, he was deeply grateful to Li Weizheng. His ancestral home was on the other side of Yuanbao Mountain, very close to Lijia Village. He arrived before dawn. Today he would be the witness. Moreover, Zhang Yi also made a lot of efforts to marry Li Weizheng. Not only did he send 30 servants to help, but he also specially sent more than a hundred sets of good Guangdong porcelain, which just solved the urgent problem for the Li family.

Seeing that he was coming before dawn, Li Wei was grateful and quickly bowed to thank him: "I have caused trouble for the elders this time."

Zhang Yi laughed and said, "Dalang's words are wrong. Do you still need to be so polite between you and me? If you say polite words, I will leave."

Zhang Yi is a veteran who has been in the battlefield for a long time. Although he was dismissed, he was only in his early sixties and could still make a difference. Therefore, after Li Weizheng returned to his hometown, he was very close to him. The two encountered the same experience and had a speculative conversation. He gradually became friends of age. Li Weizheng also hinted that he would start a massacre in the next two years, Zhu Yuanzhang would start another massacre, with the goal of fighting against him. Although Li Weizheng analyzed the reasons, Zhang Yi was still skeptical. In fact, he was the first group of people to be killed in the Lan Yu case in history, but Li Weizheng's appearance allowed him to escape this disaster.

Zhang Yi looked at Tianse and smiled, "Graduation in his hometown is the most time-consuming, and now we can set off."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mr. Li ran out of the house like a gust of wind, waved his arms and shouted, "The time is here, prepare to set off."

The most tiring thing about his son's marriage is his father. Mr. Li has been busy since a month ago. From discussing the wedding date with the Ye family, discussing the wedding gifts, to borrowing a few tables, preparing a few sets of bowls and chopsticks, etc., all the trivial matters of Mr. Li are all handled by him. This month's hard work has caused him to lose ten kilograms. Seeing that Li Wei was still standing still, he seemed to think it was still early, he explained: "Darang, the rules for marrying in his hometown have to pass Yuanbao Mountain, which is very time-consuming, so he has to leave."

Zhang Yi also smiled and said, "I'm right! I got married but I set out before dawn."

"Let's go! Let's go!" As Gu Li urged her repeatedly, drums and music soared into the sky. Li Wei was cleaning up briefly, then rode on his beloved Lingzhi BMW and went out to welcome the bride.

This is a huge bride-welcoming team. The nearly 100-year history of bride-welcoming in Lijia Village can be considered unprecedented. Twenty-four sedan chairmen, thirty-six drummers, and more than 40 Li family members welcomed relatives. A total of more than 100 people set off. Later, they followed the large group of children and villagers watching the fun. The most important part of the bride-welcoming team is a father, who will invite the elders of the Ye family, usually by uncle or uncle. Today, it is naturally Gu Li, followed by a matchmaker, although the marriage between Li Weizheng and Ye Sutong is

The two mothers decided, but the matchmaker still had to do it. The matchmaker today was Li Weizheng's distant aunt, who was also a professional matchmaker. The second is the matchmaker. The second is the matchmaker. Yun Ying's unmarried young woman should be the one who is not married. Today there are three wedding girls, Qianqian, Gu Ying and Zitong's second uncle. They all sat in the sedan chair first, and they will take the bride into the sedan chair later. The sedan chair is very wide and can sit three or four people. In addition to the bride, there are also wedding girls and dowry maids sitting together. Their task is to comfort the bride who is crying in the family.

Of course, the most important thing is our groom. Li Dalang put on light makeup on his face, rode a tall horse, wore a red ninth-rank official uniform, with big red flowers hanging on his chest, and a hairpin on his black hat, looking energetic and full of spirits. Behind him are a group of young young people. In a sense, welcoming a bride is also called robbing a bride. He has to bring more people. Of course, this is just a custom, and no one dares to really rob.

A large group of people first circled around the village, then rushed towards Yuanbao Mountain with the sound of drums and music, crossed Yuanbao Mountain, and then circled back from the official road to Yezhuang.

At this time, Yezhuang was very lively. The Ye family was the largest family in the township. In the early years of Hongwu, the Ye family moved from Suzhou. The Ye family moved a total of more than 20 households. Although they were foreign households, they had strong financial resources and were kind and generous. They built roads and bridges in the village to help the poor. Within a few years, the village name originally called Hanzhuang was changed to Yezhuang, and the Ye family took root here.

In more than 20 years, the Ye family has increased from the initial 100 to more than 400, and more than 70 families. The patriarch has always been the Ye Tianming family's house. At first, it was Ye Tianming's father, and later Ye Tianming. After Ye Tianming passed the Jinshi exam and went out to be an official, his second brother Ye Tianliang took over. Today, the Ye family married a daughter, and Ye Tianming's two daughters married a husband together. This is a major event of the Ye family. According to the rules, the Ye family set up a flowing table in the village three days ago and invited all the villagers.

At this time, Ye Sutong, dressed in a gorgeous dress, was sitting quietly in the room. She was wearing a colorful and dazzling phoenix crown and a bright red and happy clouds. Her eyebrows and eyes were carefully made up. She was beautiful and brilliant. Today she was about to marry her brother Dalang, who had been childhood sweetheart since childhood. This was hoped, but she was afraid of many years of life events. In the past two years, she had almost spent her regret and sadness. Because of her partial consent, she lost her lover in Hanyang, and her sister replaced her. After she knew the truth, regret made her almost desperate about life, but God still favored her. Two years later, she finally got married to Dalang, whom she loved deeply since childhood.

The door opened, and Zi Tong, who was also wearing a phoenix crown and auspicious blouse, walked in. Although today was her happy day, she did not want to snatch away the happiness that belonged to her sister. Like Yao Ji, she married Su Tong only because of her marriage customs and etiquette.

Zi Tong was holding a box in her hand, and she walked up and smiled, "Are you nervous?"

Su Tong nodded. She looked at her sister and saw that she was bright and beautiful, she sighed softly: "It's still my sister who is beautiful in wedding clothes."

"What nonsense? Today is your happy day. My sister is the one who has benefited from you." Zi Tong put the box in front of her and smiled: "According to the rules of my hometown, the closest person will give you a date. It should be my mother who will do it, but today my sister will help you open it!"

Seeing that there were two silver threads in the box, Su Tong couldn't help but ask curiously: "Sister, what is opening the face?"

"Opening the face, that is, using two silk threads to snatch the hairs on the bride's forehead, which means that the age of a girl is over." At this point, Zi Tong sighed and said, "My sister's biggest regret is that she did not get married as well as you. The hairs on my forehead were pulled out one by one."

After saying that, she smiled and said, "But being able to marry the person you like is the greatest happiness of our women, and there are two cute little babies."

"Where are the two of them?" Su Tong asked with a smile.

"I'm still sleeping! I have a wet nurse taking care of them, don't worry, okay, don't move! Hold on." Zitong carefully twisted the silver thread with her fingers, and pulled out all the hairs on her sister's forehead. Su Tong frowned gently in pain. After she opened her face, Zitong stroked her sister's smooth forehead with her hands. She said with emotion: "Sister, we will be together in the future. We will always be good sisters. My sister will give in to you, just like when we were young."

Su Tong silently snuggled his head on his sister, blood thicker than water, and the sisters' affection made all the estrangement between them disappear at this moment.

Suddenly, the drum music for the wedding came faintly, and Mrs. Ye hurriedly ran in and said, "Are you okay? The wedding team is here."

Zi Tong pulled her sister up, walked up to her mother and knelt down and said, "Mom, from today on, we will really leave you. We can't be filial to you. Mom, take care of yourself."

Mrs. Ye also knelt down, and she hugged her two daughters and said in tears: "As long as you live a good life, your mother will be the happiest. Your father is also worried about our family. He cannot come to participate in your marriage, so don't resent him."

"We won't hate Dad."
Chapter completed!