CHAPTER 101: CHAPTER 100: GAO FAMILY WEDDING BANQUET

After the series of unpleasant customs such as kicking the sedan chair door, pinching, and choking, the bride was finally escorted into the main hall.

Next, Yu Xiaolian saw that Teacher Li she had met at the academy the other day, muttering a long-winded slew of entrance words.

"The flower hall is set with grandeur, the five-colored clouds show auspice.

The blue phoenix dances in a thousand-year meeting, the phoenixes’ harmony brings prosperity for a hundred generations.

Finding a peach garden to avoid Qin, peach blossoms come with another year of spring.

The fairy fish in the peach garden follow the water flow, just waiting for the fisherman to ask the way."

It seems Gao Fusheng has invited Teacher Li to officiate the wedding, and since Teacher Li is a teacher at Qingquan Academy, having him host the wedding is indeed quite prestigious.

After the entrance words were recited, Teacher Li immediately began chanting the obeisance words for the wedding ceremony.

"One bow to heaven, earth, sun, moon, and stars; two bows to the east, Jia and Yi wood,

three bows to the south, Bing and Ding fire, four bows to the west, Geng and Xin metal,

five bows to the north, Ren and Gui water, six bows to the center, Wu and Ji earth,

seven bows to the ancestors of three generations, eight bows to fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, and all brothers.

Nine bows to the relationship with teachers, ten bows to the ceremony with relatives and friends."

Wow, this is not just three bows, this is a complete set of bows.

The continuous bowing left the bride and groom dizzy, finally, the jubilant woman handed the groom a red and green silk, the groom passed the other end to the bride’s hand, then gently led the bride with small steps into the bridal chamber.

As soon as the bride and groom entered the bridal chamber, Mrs. Sun pulled Yu Xiaolian aside, beaming, and congratulated the Gao family, then whispered to Yu Xiaolian, "I’m going over there to register the gift, you find a corner to sit for a while."

Yu Xiaolian found a corner and sat down at a table and chair with no one around. Just as she sat down, she overheard some people discussing the bride’s dowry.

"Oh, this Scholar Gao really married a wealthy partner, the dowry has been carried in one after another since the ceremony started, and it’s still not finished!"

"Just a merchant’s daughter, no matter how rich, she’s marrying up."

"Don’t say that, doesn’t the Gao family also run a general store? I heard they used to source goods from the bride’s family, both families are merchants, so it’s quite a good match, isn’t it?"

"That was the past, now that Gao Fusheng has passed the scholar exam, it’s a different story. With the scholar title, the Gao family is now a scholarly family. She, as a merchant’s daughter, is indeed marrying up."

"If you put it that way, if Gao Fusheng hadn’t passed the scholar exam, the girl might not have even considered him. He’s been a bachelor for over twenty years, ten years older than her!"

"True, he seeks her wealth, she seeks his name."

As the woman finished her spiteful remarks, she noticed that the other women had left her to sit at another table.

"This person’s mouth is too venomous, can’t stand seeing others doing well, let’s sit at a table without her!"

In a blink of an eye, a few women joined the table at the corner where Yu Xiaolian was sitting, the very ones who had just split up unhappily from the gossip session.

"Oh my, this girl is really pretty." A woman wearing peach-colored silk turned her gaze to Yu Xiaolian, "Whose family are you from?"

"I’m a neighbor of the Gao family, just moved in across the street." Yu Xiaolian gave a perfunctory fake smile to the woman in peach-colored clothes.

"Ah, I know, you bought the house from the Zhao family, right?"

"How much did your house cost?"

"How many people are in your family?"

"What does your family do for a living?"

"How old are you this year?"

The women launched a barrage of questions at Yu Xiaolian.

Yu Xiaolian almost cried, someone save this child?

She got social anxiety.

Normally, she felt she could talk quite well, but now facing these saliva-spraying women, she felt her head spinning. Can’t you ask one by one?

Fortunately, after saying a few responses, Mrs. Sun finished the gift registry and came back, and the women turned their attention to her.

Mrs. Sun handled things with grace, chatting with the women unhurriedly until the dishes started being served, and only then did they stop talking and beckon their children to take seats.

It was the first time for Yu Xiaolian to attend a wedding banquet in ancient times, and she was curious.

The first thing served was not a dish, but a platter of red dates, peanuts, sunflower seeds, with a few pieces of malt candy on top.

Then, a big pot of hot tea and a stack of tea cups were brought out.

The two little girls next to Yu Xiaolian didn’t look much older than her; they were sitting quite properly but were afraid of falling behind when they saw the malt candy.

The two of them picked all the candy out of the platter and held it in their hands. They exchanged a glance, wondering why Yu Xiaolian didn’t scramble for the candy?

"Pretentious!"

"Exactly, making it look like we’re so greedy."

Yu Xiaolian glanced at the two girls, is there so much malice?

Not competing for candy is also wrong?

"What are you looking at? We won’t share the candy with you; I still need to take it home for my little brother!"

Yu Xiaolian laughed, "I didn’t want to eat any!"

"Even if you did, we wouldn’t give you any!"

The two little girls carefully tucked the malt candy into their clothes pockets.

Just then, the first dish was served, a plate of braised pork.

It was immediately followed by braised carp and stir-fried pork lung.

Most ancient wedding banquets consisted of three hard dishes and three soft dishes, six dishes in total.

The three hard dishes refer to meat dishes, the three soft dishes are vegetarian dishes.

After the meat dishes were finished, stir-fried cabbage with mushrooms, stir-fried potato shreds, and fermented bean curd were served.

Finally, steamed cakes and lotus seed porridge were served, which could be considered the main course.

The women praised the Gao family’s food, saying they hadn’t had such a good feast in a long time.

Six dishes for over ten people, although the servings were large, in the end, they left nothing behind.

This was with Yu Xiaolian and Mrs. Sun not eating much.

"You kids love the excitement, why not go watch them prank the bridal chamber later? We’ll greet the hosts and leave first."

After Mrs. Sun and the women left, the two girls gave Yu Xiaolian a hostile look, "You can go by yourself if you want to watch the fun, we’re not bringing you along."

Scoff...

Without you, I’d still be lost?

The women’s side didn’t drink, so they finished eating quickly, but on the men’s side, they were still drinking heartily and hadn’t ended the banquet.

The groom hadn’t returned to the bridal chamber, so they naturally couldn’t watch the fun.

Yu Xiaolian, bored, sat on a wooden stool waiting.

Su Jingchen’s voice suddenly sounded above her head, "Why haven’t you gone back yet?"

Yu Xiaolian smelled a faint scent of alcohol on him, "Did you drink?"

"No, it’s just rubbed off on me."

"Oh. Has the banquet ended? By the way, why didn’t Zheng Yuanfeng come?"

Zheng Yuanfeng and Gao Fusheng are also classmates, how come Su Jingchen came, but he didn’t?

Su Jingchen smiled softly, "His relationship with Gao Fusheng is just average."

Average?

Actually, it means they don’t get along, why put it so mildly?

"Then you and Gao Fusheng are on good terms?"

"I wouldn’t say that."

His time at the academy was short, and being the top scorer in the autumn examinations, there were many people who wanted to befriend him, and Gao Fusheng was among them.

Considering he lived near Gao Fusheng, he hadn’t wanted to embarrass him.