At the same time, Mr. Du Er was talking to Xu Gucheng about accepting gifts in the hall of the Xu family. 【Read the latest chapter】
Before the Song Dynasty, there were six etiquettes from the marriage proposal to the consummation of the marriage, namely the six steps of nacai, asking for names, naji, nazheng, asking for date, and personally welcoming. In the Song Dynasty, only four procedures were retained: nacai, naji, nazheng, and personal welcome.
When accepting the marriage, the man's family invites a matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's family. After the woman's family agrees, the man's family prepares six marriage proposals.
Today, the Du family did not ask a matchmaker to propose marriage according to the etiquette, but came directly to propose with six rites. This can be seen as rude because they don't take it seriously, or it can be seen as coming to the door in person because they value it. What the Xu family thinks depends on the Du family today. attitude.
Du Erye is tall and thin, so the metaphor of a bamboo pole is a perfect fit. His cheekbones are very high, which makes his face very three-dimensional. His eyebrows and eyes are somewhat similar to those of Aunt Du.
Xu Gucheng calmly listened to Mr. Du's words, stroked his wrinkle-free brocade robe with his hand, and said in a gentle voice: "Liu Niang is still young. I have no plans to propose a marriage for her for the time being. I'm afraid Renguang's trip is It’s not possible.”
Du Erye, thirty-three years old, named Hui, whose pseudonym is Renguang.
Xu Gucheng, thirty-six years old, has a regular character.
"A man can marry at fifteen, and a woman can marry at thirteen. It's a good age for the Sixth Lady to discuss marriage. Why not make early plans for her future?" Mr. Du smiled, with wrinkles on both sides of his eyes.
How could Xu Gucheng not know what he was thinking and refuse: "Of the six ladies in the Xu family, only one is getting married. The sixth lady is the youngest. We shouldn't discuss marriage so early."
Mr. Du laughed twice and put down the tea cup in his hand: "Brother Wenchang, you and I have known each other for a long time. I understand the affairs of the Xu family fairly well. Isn't Xu Sanniang engaged?"
Xu Gucheng was resolute, tried to persuade him many times and finally declined politely. It wasn't that he looked down on the Du family as a family of merchants, but Du Dalang had a really bad temperament, and Mrs. Du was full of ideas, which was too different from his standards for choosing a husband for his daughter.
Du Erye was unhappy, but he couldn't show it. After all, Xu Gucheng was the governor of Suzhou, and he was not someone he could scorn.
He originally felt that his son's marriage to Xu Liuniang was a bit of a disadvantage, but with Xu Gucheng's refusal, he felt that Xu Liuniang was not that bad and could take the marriage seriously. When I walked out of the house, I made up my mind that it would not be too late to find a good matchmaker to propose marriage in two months.
One of the two is very comfortable in the officialdom, and the other is very comfortable in the business world. The confrontation is so exciting that I won’t go into details.
Xu Nuo followed Du Erniang in a carriage to the Du family's house. After getting off the car, she found that Xu Sanniang and Xu Wuniang were also there, as well as several ladies she didn't know. I thought Du Erniang had an acquaintance in Suzhou, so this time All invited.
A group of people walked around the screen wall, entered through the hanging flower door, walked along the hand-painted verandah into the courtyard, crossed the courtyard and walked for a section of the verandah, and saw a cluster of red peonies. After a closer look, they found that there was a circle of pink flowers in the middle of the flower bed. , and in the middle is the white peony.
Six or seven ladies suddenly became excited when they saw the peonies blooming beautifully and gracefully, and hurried past with their skirts in hand.
Xu Nuo walked at the end, and the rich fragrance of the nearby flower garden hit my face, feeling relaxed both physically and mentally.
Chuntang Qiyue also came over. The two of them looked at the peony flowers intently, both showing joy. Qiyue even praised: "I have always heard people say that the Du family's peony flowers are the best in Suzhou. I still didn’t believe it, but now that I’ve seen it, I know it’s not a lie.”
Chuntang pulled Qiyue's sleeve and said, "This is not Mingjin Pavilion, don't talk nonsense." After speaking, he glanced at Aunt Du.
Qi Qiyue stuck out her tongue and looked enviously at others putting flower hairpins on their heads, her eyes never stopping for a moment. Although she was promoted to a first-class maid, Xu Nuo didn't go out to banquets very often, and when she went out, she was always followed by Chun Tang, so she rarely saw such scenes.
Xu Nuo was about to fold a half-opened peony when Aunt Du suddenly appeared with a rare smile on her face: "I know you like to order tea. There is a tea set over there in the wing, do you want to take a look?"
He stretched out his hand so as not to hit the smiling man, and promised to respond with a smile.
When they were approaching the wing, Aunt Du suddenly suggested: "These maids don't know the tea ceremony, so why not let them play and reward each of you with two flowers."
Qi Qi had been coveting the hairpins on those ladies' hair just now, but now her eyes lit up with joy.
Xu Nuo couldn't bear to let her down, so he agreed. I vaguely felt that Aunt Du's behavior of being so close to her was a bit abnormal.
Entering the side room, she saw a good tea set. Aunt Du politely said she wanted to try the tea made by Xu Nuo, and Xu Nuo happily accepted.
While she lit a fire to boil water, she started grinding tea cakes on the other side.
Xu Nuo now has Ms. Ye as his teacher, and his tea ceremony has already surpassed the level of the tea ceremony during the Qingming Festival. His movements are so skillful and elegant that no one can fault him at all.
Xu Nuo, who was obsessed with ordering tea, didn't notice Aunt Du's movements. When she went out, she just glanced at her with her peripheral vision and didn't pay attention.
When Xu Nuo flicked it, she smelled an aroma that was not tea. The aroma was very light, but it was enough for her to notice. When ordering tea, other aromas would interfere with one's sense of smell when tasting tea, and she couldn't help but frown. Just as he was about to look up to see where the incense burner was in the house, he heard footsteps, and then a young man walked in, it was Du Chen.
Du Chen was wearing a bright brocade robe and a jade belt around his waist. He was sitting next to Xu Nuo with a smile: "Liu Niang, I heard that you have surpassed Xu Liuniang in tea ceremony. I wonder if I will be lucky enough to taste one?" He was always unreasonable and said And rude, these two sentences were the most polite words he had ever said.
When Du Chen came in, Xu Xu felt bad. Since it was the Du family who came to propose marriage, and the person who came was Mr. Du, it must be for Du Chen, but Du Chen shouldn't come to the Xu family at this time.
Even if the Du family didn't find a matchmaker to propose marriage, they would not let Du Chen come, which shows that he came here secretly.
Xunuo frowned and asked Du Chen to go out, but he heard his own voice being inaudible, and then found that he couldn't use any strength in his hand when blowing, and the soup bottle in his left hand almost fell to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, I thought of the fragrance I smelled before.
There is no incense burner in the house, so...
Is it the smell coming from the water-heating stove?
No wonder Aunt Xu left early, was she afraid of asking about the fragrance?
Xu Nuo used his last strength to pour the water from the soup bottle into the fire, and the aroma dissipated as expected.
Du Chen laughed a few times: "Liu Niang is really smart, she discovered it so quickly. Xu Siniang also said that this fragrance is tasteless and has great medicinal effect. I knew she was bragging, and it was true!"
Xu Nuo lowered his eyes and did not look at Du Chen's smiling face. When he tried to stand up, he found that his legs were rude and his head was very dizzy. She actually capsized in the gutter!
As Zijuan said, Xu Qian will not settle down and is even more dangerous than before.
Xu Qian is very scheming, and Aunt Du didn't show it at all along the way, but Du Chen just said a few words and revealed Xu Qian, so I guess it's not difficult to deal with him.
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ps: "Song Gui" will be released tomorrow. The first update will be posted before two noon, the second update will be posted around four o'clock, and the third update will be posted at eight o'clock. I hope sisters can support the author and subscribe to the official version. Thank you all.
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Recommend Rabbit's book [bookid=="Fengzhuang"]: The family is ruined, everyone is running away from marriage, and on the road of survival, he accidentally picks up a miserable second-rate woman. Splendid mountains and rivers, picturesque beauties, let’s see how she handles her husband and becomes a dominant emperor!
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