novelhk Chapter 296 The Big Wedding
Chapter 296 The Big Wedding
On February 29th of the 34th year of You'an, the government fell into darkness.
The ninth prince, Prince Yi Fengming, got married.
Zhou Chang stood in front of the gate of Prince Yi's mansion, feeling melancholy.
Today is the wedding of Prince Yi Feng Ming. She couldn't tell whether Feng Ming himself was happy or not, but for her, she didn't have the slightest feeling of being a groom.
Just now in the main courtyard of the back hall, Aunt Jing and Shouhou were busy before she finally put on her wedding dress.
Aunt Jing insisted on choosing the main courtyard at the back palace, the courtyard of Prince Yi's biological mother, Concubine Lan.
Firstly, the bedroom on the east side has now become the bridal chamber, and Zhou Chang can only enter it at night when the bridal chamber is entered.
Secondly, since today is Feng Ming’s big day, as a son, he should inform his parents first.
The main courtyard of the rear hall, which is locked all year round, was restored according to the layout of Huilan Garden in the palace at that time. Above the main hall is the tablet of Concubine Lan, the mother of Prince Yi.
Under the guidance of Aunt Jing, Zhou Chang paid homage to his mother in the main hall and informed her of the news of his marriage today.
Then she changed into her wedding dress in the side room.
Looking at myself in the bronze mirror, my golden and red wedding dress was gorgeous and luxurious, my handsome phoenix eyes were as bright as the morning stars, but my lips, which usually smiled even for no reason, could not smile at all.
This was her first wedding in her two lives, and she planned to have sex with her husband.
She couldn't marry Yuan Qi, and Prince Yi Fengming couldn't marry Yuan Qi.
Yuan Qi and Wen Fei are a perfect match.
It was almost dusk, and Zhou Chang could no longer avoid it, so he came to the gate to welcome the bride.
Most of the guests had already arrived, filling the entire central hall and the central courtyard. The fruit trees had long been removed, and the remaining space was only enough to accommodate more than 30 tables.
According to Aunt Jing, according to the folk tradition of Lin State, the bride's dowry is carried in on the wedding day before the bride's sedan chair is driven into the door.
But Yuan Qi’s dowry was different.
They have been delivered since yesterday, but they have not been completed until this morning.
Zhou Chang went to take a look yesterday. It would have been better if he hadn't taken a look. As soon as he took a look, a series of "ding, ding, ding..." went up in his mind.
"These are all other people's dowries. They must be returned in the future. Don't even think about returning any of them." Zhou Chang shouted in his heart for some reason.
The Viewpoint system did not respond, just continued to place the order.
Zhou Chang could only pretend to be out of sight, out of mind, and turned away.
However, now, the bride's procession was about to arrive, but Yuan Qi's dowry had not yet been delivered.
Zhou Chang didn't dare to look directly at it. He could only stand at the door with his eyes closed, pretending that he was blind.
"Your Highness, did you not get enough rest last night?" The skinny monkey followed Zhou Chang and changed into new clothes.
Zhou Chang had no way to explain and was too lazy to answer, so he just shook his head.
"No matter what, today is your big day," the skinny monkey reminded quietly, "Look, almost all the guests have arrived, it's so lively. I didn't expect so many people to come. Fortunately, the Ministry of Rites took care of it, otherwise our palace would not be able to entertain them all."
Zhong Yu sat at the table on the other side, along with Gao Yun and a few others from Yidanxing, and they were busy accepting gifts and recording them.
Zhou Chang had not expected that not only were there many royal relatives present, but also more than half of the officials of all ranks in the court were present. Many of them were the first time that Prince Yi Fengming had seen them.
According to Zhong Yu's estimation, more than 300 people came one after another.
Now inside the palace, the front hall and the middle hall are packed with people inside and outside.
If the palace had not sent a full set of kitchens, waiters, servants, and even supplies, and set them all up three days in advance, Zhou Chang really would not have known how to deal with such a situation.
The skinny monkey didn't have so many worries, he just followed Zhou Chang and watched the fun: "Your Highness, look at the eyes of those guests, they are so envious that their saliva is flowing. The Yuan family's dowry is added up, not to mention marrying off one daughter, even if it is ten daughters, it will be more than enough."
Zhou Chang was calm. No matter how much the dowry was, it had nothing to do with her.
Ever since she decided to have a fake marriage and then find an opportunity to divorce Yuan Qi, not only her, but also Prince Yi Fengming seemed to have calmed down.
Of course, she had not discussed the divorce with Yuan Qi. It should be said that she had not seen Yuan Qi since their meeting in the back garden of Dafu Tower.
Finally, the last batch of dowry was carried into the mansion.
The skinny monkey kept his eyes on the dowry being delivered to the palace. When he saw the last batch of dowry being carried in, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Your Majesty, this should be the last batch of dowry. Miss Yuan's dowry is too much. Our palace can no longer store it. It has been piled up in the backyard like a mountain. Aunt Jing is worried."
Zhou Chang no longer cared about how worried Aunt Jing was. He opened his eyes, but heard the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers coming from afar. His heart suddenly jumped into his throat and his whole body tensed up.
The skinny monkey was totally unaware, grinning and saying happily: "My Lord, the time has come, the bride should be here soon."
Zhou Chang's body tensed up involuntarily, and he wanted to thank the Ministry of Rites selfishly.
I thought she would go to the bride's house to pick her up and then ride a horse in a parade through the streets, but it turned out that this was not included in the Ministry of Rites' etiquette. She only needed to stand at the gate to greet her.
This made her feel a lot more relaxed, but she didn't expect that Yuan Qi's wedding team had not arrived yet, and she became nervous again.
The Golden Crow sets in the west, and the Heavenly Observer determines that the auspicious time has arrived.
On the long street, a long wedding procession came from the east in the distance, with music and drums, gongs and firecrackers blasting.
The guests in the mansion who heard the noise came out one after another, and the people around who heard the news also came over to watch the fun.
The inside and outside of Prince Yi's mansion had already been surrounded by people, and it was only thanks to the government officials who cleared the way.
The wedding procession was huge, with a young man in the lead, wearing a sky-blue robe and riding a tall, dark red horse, led by servants to lead the way.
The young man came to the door and dismounted. He looked about twelve or thirteen years old, as tall as Yuan Qi, with a handsome face and a pair of deer eyes that resembled Yuan Qi's, lively and smart.
"I am Yuanjie, a young man, and I am here to pay my respects to His Royal Highness Prince Yi." The young man was very polite and bowed to Zhou Chang.
Although Zhou Chang met him for the first time, he knew that he was Yuan Qi's younger brother Yuan Jie.
Behind Yuan Jie were the servants of the Yuan family. The first one was Manager He, who whispered a reminder to Yuan Jie.
Yuan Jie did not wait for Zhou Chang to speak, but bowed and said in a clear voice: "Your Highness Prince Yi, I am here to deliver the last batch of dowry. Please accept it personally."
???
Zhou Chang's mind was already blank and he didn't know what to do next. Why did he send a dowry?
The official from the Ministry of Rites behind him could not help but quietly remind him: "Your Highness Prince Yi, you may as well accept it."
Zhou Chang then remembered that when the officials from the Ministry of Rites came to teach the wedding etiquette, they once mentioned that there was a custom in Lin State of "looking at the dowry", which was to display the bride's dowry for the guests attending the wedding to see.
Over the past two days, the dowries that had been sent in continuously had piled up like a mountain, and the guests had seen enough of them. Now Yuan Jie was personally delivering the last portion of the dowry, apparently in an effort to gain more face.