Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 746 Dowry and Wedding
Compared to the scene of the wedding and makeup at the Weinan Earl's Mansion when the Duke of Zhao married his daughter-in-law, the grand occasion of the Duke of Zhao's Mansion marrying off his daughter this time was something that the people of the capital who witnessed it with their own eyes all felt that they would talk about it with relish for the rest of their lives!
As for those who shook their heads and sighed about the extravagance and the decline of morals, there were naturally many. However, no matter how much they said, they could not reduce Zhu Ying's dowry by even a little bit.
It is said that the dowry is ten miles long, but the width of the capital is only thirteen or fourteen miles from east to west. The Zhang Garden that the emperor awarded to Zhang Shou and the Duke Zhao's Mansion are both in the west city, and the distance between them is probably less than two miles. Therefore, the first load of dowry has been sent to Zhang Garden, and the last load of dowry has just been sent out from the Duke Zhao's Mansion.
The reason why the dowry was nearly twice as much as the expected sixty-four loads was because the number of sixty-four loads that had been compressed again and again was the result of the Dowager's wife, Jiu Niang and Zhu Ying personally discussing and sending things like furniture to Zhang Garden in advance. That was because there was too much enthusiasm for adding boxes the day before, and the number of families who gave gifts was so large that even the Zhu family themselves were stunned.
The emperor, who had criticized some ministers for extravagant weddings, was generous when he gave Zhu Ying additional boxes yesterday. He even gave her a small farm and a workshop, which were his own private property. The empress dowager, the newly promoted Imperial Noble Consort Hefei, the Yufei, and other concubines and princesses from the palaces joined forces to give Zhu Ying more than twenty loads of dowry.
The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, who always respected Zhu Ying, gave her a pair of jade lion ornaments that he also liked. Even though the Fourth Prince was still outside the palace, he begged his brother to send a treasure chest to his sister Yingying. Of course, the things were bought by him outside, not produced by the eunuchs in the palace. As for where the money came from... the poor kid borrowed it.
The gifts given by the women of the families who were familiar with the Duke of Zhao's mansion were also very generous. Even the three families of Duke of Chu and Earl of Xiangyang, who were said to have a grudge against the Zhu family, were only indifferent to Zhu Tingfang's marriage and sent a representative after the gifts were given, but the gifts for Zhu Ying's marriage were two boxes each, and Earl of Xiangyang even asked his wife to come in person and sent a message asking Zhu Ying to visit his home often after marriage.
Zhu Er was so angry that he complained about the obvious difference in treatment. You should know that when Zhang Qiong, the Earl of Xiangyang, saw him on the road, he ignored him, snorted and walked away as if he hadn't seen him!
Moreover, the three brothers of Duke Chu, who used to be unfriendly to his outstanding eldest brother, would chat and laugh whenever they met Zhu Ying. He now suspected that the three brothers had known for a long time that Zhu Ying might be a princess, so they were so opportunistic.
At this moment, no one was presenting the dowry list at the gate of Zhang Garden, which made the people who were eagerly watching the excitement regretful. They didn't know that Wu, who was holding a thick stack of dowry lists, was feeling lucky that the Zhu family was sensible and didn't ask anyone to read the list, otherwise it would probably take several people a day to read this long thing.
She never thought that Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou had already discussed it and wanted to cut this and that, but the Zhu family didn't listen to the prospective couple at all and still filled the boxes as usual. Everything that was supposed to be delivered was delivered!
Some boxes were so stuffed that the contents almost overflowed once the locks were opened...
Zhang Shou didn't care about the huge dowry team from the Zhu family of Zhaoguo Mansion today, although Zhu Ying's dowry was a lot - even much more than he expected. But for him, he had long known that Zhu Ying would marry with countless gold and silver treasures, and he had no intention of sharing it with her, anyway, his money was hers.
What concerned him more was that on such an important day, Ah Liu was still nowhere to be found!
"Master, your wife is calling you!" Yang Hao rushed over and saw Zhang Shou had walked around the house three times. He couldn't help but whispered, "If Sixth Brother hides, no one can find him, so you should just give up."
Zhang Shou glared coldly at the rebellious boy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and then left in anger. When he met Wu, Wu did not mention where Ah Liu was going, but just reviewed the wedding tomorrow like knocking a wooden fish, nagging him until his ears were callused, and then sent him to the family temple to let him talk to his parents properly.
Zhang Shou could only sigh in his heart about Wu's habit of never forgetting her roots. However, after all, the couple who had long been reunited in the underworld were the ones who gave him a second chance at life, so he would not be too stingy with his respect.
When he arrived at the ancestral temple, facing the spirit tablet that Wu had brought out the day before and carefully wiped, and the two portraits that he didn't know how similar they were, Zhang Shou lit incense and paid his respects. Then he thought for a while and prayed silently in his heart. At the end, he talked about tomorrow's wedding.
"Tomorrow is the day I marry Yingying. Everything is ready except for the east wind. But I don't know what Ah Liu is doing behind the scenes. He has disappeared. I really can't rest assured. I just hope that you two will promise not to cause any trouble tomorrow."
Just as he said this, he heard a muffled voice above his head: "Master, don't you believe me?"
Zhang Shou looked up suddenly, only to see Ah Liu squatting on the high beam. He couldn't help but feel angry and amused. Ah Liu was picked up by Wu and grew up with him, but he had no feelings for his deceased parents, so it was understandable that he behaved so recklessly in the ancestral temple. But being understandable didn't mean he would let it go so easily.
"How dare you say that? Who is the person who has been avoiding me these days? Do I not believe you, or do you have to hide it? What kind of temple is this? How dare you walk around like this? Come on, come down!"
However, Ah Liu still squatted on the beam without moving, looking down at Zhang Shou for a long time. The young man then said word by word: "Master, just wait to be the most glorious groom in the world, don't worry about other things."
Zhang Shou frowned when he heard this. However, just when he wanted to ask for details, he saw Ah Liu leap forward and actually jumped down from the high beam, but then he fled out of the door like a puff of smoke, and he couldn't even catch him! He was so embarrassed that he could only curse him in a bad mood, and then he lit incense again and offered sacrifices in front of the spirit tablet.
After saying a few words of comfort to the deceased and paying homage to Ah Liu, Zhang Shou finally came out of the ancestral temple. He comforted himself in his heart by saying that Ah Liu would not invite a bunch of heroes from all over the country to attend the wedding banquet. At best, the surprise turned into a surprise. Maybe his adoptive mother, Wu, was also an accomplice... Otherwise, how could he be so calm?
After figuring this out, Zhang Shou let him go with the flow. However, he could be the hands-off manager, while those who were busy counting and storing the treasures did not touch the ground. It was not easy to lock the boxes of treasures into the warehouse. As for displaying them, that would have to wait until later. There would be many guests tomorrow, and no one wanted to risk losing something.
On the next day, the wedding day, Zhang Garden was swept clean early in the morning, as was the street in front of the gate. Zhang Shou was treated like a clothes rack, and had to try on several sets of spare crowns and clothes. In the end, everyone had to admit that the ordinary fifth-rank official uniform was the most suitable.
Fortunately, Zhang Shou insisted on refusing to wear makeup, so those gossipy ladies didn't put powder on his face - however, the mother sent by the Duke of Zhao's mansion to help certainly didn't say this to Mrs. Wu and the presiding lady Ge, the old master of the wedding.
The person's words were extremely flattering: "Mr. Shou looks good in anything he wears, and he doesn't need to put on makeup like other grooms, he still looks radiant. Oh, if we go to the wedding like this, I don't know how many girls on the road will envy my eldest daughter!"
As long as people praised Zhang Shou, Wu would immediately show her joy, and she was naturally in a very good mood at this time. As for the old Taishi Ge who came here today to act as Zhang Shou's paternal elder, he was also a well-known boaster in the capital. Whenever it came to Zhang Shou, he would say nothing bad about it. At this time, all his wrinkles were smoothed out by his smile.
Zhang Shou's father was not around, and his family was poor, so he, as a teacher, took on the role of a father. When Zhang Shou came to say goodbye in new clothes, he saw Wu's eyes filled with tears, as if she was regretting that her wife didn't see this scene. He then slowly said word by word according to the etiquette: "Welcome your good wife and take care of your family."
"How dare I disobey your orders?" Zhang Shou agreed, bowed again, and immediately turned around and strode out. When he arrived at the door, he saw that the wedding procession had already arrived, and standing at the front was the eldest son of King Jiangdu who had volunteered to be the matchmaker.
The lineup that accompanied him to welcome the bride today was also extremely large. In addition to Zhang Chen, Zhang Wu, Zhang Lu, Ji Jiu and others, almost all the students of Banshan Hall came out. Ji Jiu also picked out some good-looking classmates from Jiuzhang Hall. Then Zhang Chen generously sponsored all the clothes for everyone today, and then he brought out a large group of people to help their teacher to welcome the bride.
I heard that the Zhang family's huge wedding procession was composed of young men with clean-cut faces and gorgeous clothes. Countless young girls and wives heard the news and came here, and both sides of the road were packed.
However, Zhang Chen had planned today's scene long ago, and he promised everyone that after today, their heroic spirit would be spread and they would become the dream lovers of many girls in the capital. But not long after escorting Zhang Shou out of Zhang Garden, Zhang Chen discovered that things were not at all as he had imagined.
Following Zhang Shou, he could not even imagine winning the favor of any stunning beauty. Although there were countless exclamations from all around, they were all directed at Zhang Shou!
"Everyone says that Master Zhang looks like a banished immortal, but he usually appears and disappears mysteriously, and sometimes he is wearing a bamboo hat even when he is seen. Today I finally saw the real person! Ah, the rumors are really true, he really has a good-looking face like an immortal from heaven!" This is obviously an infatuated unmarried woman.
"Don't all men think that dying under a peony flower is romantic even as a ghost? But I've been to so many famous restaurants and hotels, and I've never run into a man like her! Why do men like her rarely go out for social events? Why is he so old-fashioned?" The person who said this seemed to be a singing girl wandering around the streets.
"Look at those people behind Master Zhang. They are just like a bunch of flowers against a peony. They are so far behind!"
The people who were talking were a group of young wives, who were chattering non-stop and even judging each other in a daze. This one was fat, that one was dark, this one had pockmarks on her face, that one smiled too obscenely...
If there was a table that could be overturned, Zhang Chen felt that he would have overturned it by now.
Zhang Chen knew without even looking that the people behind him must be all gloomy-faced, and some might even be blaming him in their hearts. So even though he was furious, he could only pretend that nothing had happened. He snorted with contempt and said, "These mediocre women know nothing! You can't just look at the appearance of a person, you have to look at the inside!"
At this time, a faint sneer came from behind him: "In terms of inner qualities, do you think you and others can compare to our teacher?"
Zhang Chen looked back and found that a fat man with different clothes and body shape had sneaked into his wedding procession. He was immediately angry and said, "Lu Sanpang, what are you doing here? You, a married fat man, have no right to sneak into our group!"
"I can't stand you being the leader, so I came to remind you. If you take my kindness for granted, I can't do anything about it!" Lu Sanlang laughed and said lightly, "You still have the mind to show off here. The three little guys of the Fourth Prince are rooted in the people every day, and they are very hardworking."
Zhang Chen immediately became even more angry. Wasn't he busy? He had promised long ago to lend manpower and various tools to take care of all the arrangements for Zhang Shou's wedding. If he left the current mess in front of him to focus on the gambling game with the four princes and the three guys, wouldn't he be a person who broke his promise?
Therefore, he was not willing to admit defeat and simply snorted disdainfully: "What do those three guys know? They have walked more roads than I have crossed bridges! I will just let them run a little ahead. Anyway, I will definitely win in the end!"
The little fat man immediately laughed: "Since you are so confident, Master Zhang, I will wait for you to come back and report your victory!"
Zhang Shouer heard the verbal battle behind him, and he finally coughed heavily in frustration. When he heard that there was no sound behind him, he said without turning his head: "Lu Sanlang, since you have so much free time, do all the questions on pages 82 to 92 of the sixth volume of my exercise book... Zhang Chen, don't think you have nothing to do, and submit a feasibility report on the water-powered loom later."
Zhang Chen never thought that he would enjoy the quarrel until the homework came down on him. When he looked at Lu Sanlang again, his face suddenly became more bitter than if he had eaten Coptis chinensis. He forgot that his homework was extremely difficult and just laughed with glee as if he was gloating over his misfortune.
Therefore, the others behind the two men secretly felt lucky that they did not get involved and escaped a disaster. In this way, they forgot what the people on both sides of the road said and did. Some smart people were still whispering and discussing what the so-called water-powered loom was... Maybe they could also ask someone to make it. Not to mention getting ahead of Zhang Shou, but they could show their face in front of Zhang Shou and recommend it to the emperor?
