The Shen brothers thought that things seemed to be turning around, but before the joy could reach their brows, their grandfather changed his tune!
"However, he did not want his parents to die early, and he could not tolerate his questioning if his elder uncle wanted to split up the family. If it had been anyone else, he would have taken advantage of the elders' opportunity to split up the family, and he would also split up with him. My brother even went out alone, but he didn’t, so you know he is a responsible person!”
Father Shen also felt that Chu Yi was a good person: "Chu Yi was afraid that the matchmaker would hide something about the marriage, so yesterday he waited until the wedding banquet was over to tell me about his family situation!"
Grandpa Shen nodded and used this matter to teach the younger generation of the family: "When parents see their children, they should take into account the appearance, character, family background, and property of the other person. This is true! But! Nothing in the world is as perfect as you want it to be. Without that perfect family, why don’t we just stop getting married? If someone does everything for you, do you dare to ask for it? "
Seeing that his grandchildren were speechless, Grandpa Shen also stopped.
Returning to the matter of my granddaughter's marriage proposal: "My grandpa thinks that Chu Yi is good. He is honest, responsible and has good skills. Although his life is a little unsatisfactory at the moment, I think this life will get better sooner or later! Besides, , Lu Zhu will no longer be your sister after she gets married. If she doesn’t live a good life, you, as brothers, will just watch and help her?"
"How is that possible!"
"Isn't it over now? Tomorrow the Chu family will come to propose marriage. Don't show off to others."
It's unclear whether Grandpa Shen's rebuttal will make the Shen brothers agree to the marriage, but Mother Shen has dispelled her worries and feels that Chu Yi is indeed a good one!
As the person involved in this matter, Shen Luzhu couldn't interrupt because she knew that everyone in this room, no matter what they thought, was doing it for her own good!
She was an orphan in her previous life, as if to make up for her, in this life she has such a big family to pamper her, love her, and worry about her, how nice it is!
After the meal, the second brother Shen Songjie called the girl aside and said, "Tell the truth to the second brother whether you like that Chu Yi or not. If you don't, the second brother will not let you marry him no matter what!"
He looked as if Shen Luzhu would immediately go for it as soon as he showed the slightest bit of reluctance!
Shen Luzhu was forced to do nothing by him. Looking at his second brother with a confident face, he suddenly had an idea. His black eyes were instantly filled with mist. He pursed his small mouth and murmured in a trembling voice: "Second brother, are you? It’s really like what grandpa said, when I get married, he will never care about me again, and he won’t recognize me as his sister!”
Before Shen Songjie could react to what was going on in front of him, Shen Luzhu had already covered his face and ran back to his room.
The second sister-in-law, Ms. Zhao, who stood by and watched the whole process, felt that her men were stupid sometimes. How could anyone be like him, who forced his sister to admit that she liked her husband? She really deserved to be teased by her sister-in-law!
I had no choice but to drag my man, who was still stunned, back to the house!
Two days later, Mrs. Qin took a piece of yellow paper filled with auspicious dates and went to Chu's house. Grandma Chu looked at it and called Grandpa Chu.
In the end, the date of the marriage proposal was set on the eighth day of September. There is still almost ten days left, so there is plenty of time to prepare.
After the date was set, Chu Yi went to his maternal grandfather's house in the village to tell his grandmother and uncles the good news, so as to make them happy.
"Great, it's finally settled. If your grandpa and your mother-in-law knew about it, they would be so happy! Old lady, I will have the honor to meet your mother-in-law when I go down!"
In fact, Grandma Cui knew the good news two days ago, but she was still very happy when her grandson came all the way to talk to her about it!
The matchmaker, Mrs. Qin, was the natal cousin of Grandma Cui's youngest daughter-in-law. Her grandson was already twenty years old and the marriage had not yet been decided. Grandma Cui was anxious, so she asked her youngest daughter-in-law to find Mrs. Qin.
She spent twenty taels of silver to ask Mrs. Qin to help her go to Chu's house to find out what was going on and find a way to arrange a marriage for her grandson Zhang Luomen. Otherwise, the child would never know how long he would be dragged down!
Grandma Cui gets angry when she thinks of the Chu family. The Chu family's eldest brother only produced a scholar, so she doesn't know how to get better!
He felt that everyone in his family had become a burden to his scholar, and he would definitely suck their blood and live off of them in the future, so he wanted to make a clean break, and actually encouraged his parents to separate the family for him and lead a single life!
Her good in-laws not only did not beat or scold their unfilial children and grandchildren, but actually agreed to it. They also said that they were afraid that their own family would make coffins and that their poor background would affect their eldest grandson's career, so they had no choice but to separate the family.
Fart, what kind of official career does a poor scholar have?
Two people whose hearts are set on their navels! It’s impossible to think that everyone else is blind!
I feel sorry for her good grandson. Not only does he have to support such a large family, but the marriage has been delayed for so long, it is really hateful!
However, Grandma Cui did not intend to talk about these things in front of her grandson: "Can you tell Grandma whether the daughter of the Shen family is handsome? Also, since the date of the marriage proposal has been set, have all the etiquette been prepared? What if? If you need anything, ask your uncles to find it for you..."
When men and women get married in Daqian, they must follow the steps of proposing marriage, asking for names, accepting gifts, accepting invitations, asking for dates, and welcoming in person. Six rites are indispensable.
Each ritual has its own particularities and is complicated. In some homes of dignitaries, there will be a delay of ten days or even more than a month between each ritual to show solemnity.
However, in rural areas, there is a lot of work in the fields and in front of the house. Although you still know how to go through the six rites, most of them are simplified and complicated, just for the sake of auspiciousness.
Just after midnight on the eighth day of September, I saw a group of four people setting off from Kaoshan Village on the other side of the river.
The one leading the way was the matchmaker Mrs. Qin. The eldest uncle of the Chu family walked alongside her, followed by the two brothers Chu Yi and Chu Li.
Usually when going to the bride's house to propose marriage, the parents would bring the husband and the matchmaker together. The Chu family was in a special situation, and the third uncle had many leg and foot problems, so Grandma Chu called her eldest son, who had already separated and was single, to come back to support the scene.
The Shen family also received a message from Mrs. Qin early. When they saw Chu Yi and others coming from a distance, they hurriedly greeted them. The two families were introduced by Mrs. Qin, and then went to the main room of the Shen family to sit down.
Chu Yi stepped forward and bowed to the elders of the Shen family as Qin's matchmaker taught him: "Chu Yi, the second grandson of the Chu family in the mountain village, would like to say hello to the elders of the Shen family. There will be a lot of trouble when you come to the door in a hurry, so be prepared." It’s a small gift, please don’t be offended by the Shen parents!”
As he spoke, he handed over the four wedding gifts of pork, eggs, candy cubes, and tea bricks wrapped in red paper and red string.
Grandpa Shen stroked his specially grown goatee: "You are here as a guest today, and I am not even happy about it. There is nothing to bother you about. Just stay at home and have some light food at noon before going back!"
This is the tradition of Daqian. When proposing marriage, the man needs to bring gifts to the door. The two parties act like visiting relatives and friends without mentioning anything about the marriage. If the woman approves the marriage, she will use the gifts brought by the man as table seats. Please ask the man to stay for dinner.
Mother Shen got up and took her two daughters-in-law with gifts to the kitchen to prepare meals. As soon as the eldest daughter-in-law Zheng left the main room, she burst into laughter. Before her mother-in-law could ask her, she stepped forward and whispered something to Mother Shen. After saying this, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law laughed together.
It turned out that as soon as she accepted the marriage gift, she felt that it was wet in her hands. She was stunned for a moment before she realized that the husband of the Chu family must have been too nervous today. The red rope was actually held by him. The sweat got wet!
Here the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are preparing a banquet in the kitchen. Over there, the Chu family continues to be accompanied by Aye Shen, Father Shen, Uncle Shen and the Shen brothers.
The two sides exchanged words with each other, praising each other's children in various ways, and the atmosphere was particularly harmonious.
After eating and drinking, today's marriage proposal is considered complete.
Later, Mrs. Qin took out the yellow paper she had prepared in advance and arranged for the two families to write Chu Yi and Shen Luzhu's birthdays on it. Then she folded it and put it in her arms, and then asked them their names and gave them a gift.
By the time the Chu family and Mrs. Qin left the Shen family yard, it was already getting late, and Shen Luzhu, who had been bored in the house all day, was finally able to come out and take a breath.
According to custom, she could not meet the Chu family on the day of the marriage proposal, and even had lunch alone in the house.
Shen Luzhu was about to stretch his back when he saw his cousin Shen Changshan running over, taking out something wrapped in a handkerchief from his arms and handing it to him: "What is it?"
"I don't know either. It was the eldest brother of the Chu family who asked me to give it to my cousin before he left!" Shen Changshan shook his head and ran away quickly after speaking.
Chu Yi? Shen Luzhu pinched the handkerchief in his hand, feeling a little puzzled. He opened the handkerchief and found a wood-carved hairpin inside. Unexpectedly, Chu Yi, who looked cold, actually knew how to secretly give him a gift!
This wooden hairpin is a little different from the ones Shen Luzhu has seen. Most of the wooden hairpins on the market are carved with flowers and plants of various shapes, or styles such as wishful thinking, auspicious clouds, and flying butterflies.
The hairpin sent by Chu Yi was actually carved with three large, juicy peaches, with a few peach leaves underneath. The hairpin was polished very smoothly, retaining the original dark red color of the wood. The body of the hairpin is not straight. , but with some slight bends, it looks more like spreading peach branches, lifelike and very beautiful!
What girl doesn't like beautiful jewelry? What's more, this hairpin is exquisite and novel in style. It's not just something you can buy casually!
Shen Luzhu has always been a lively and outgoing person. After getting a piece of jewelry that he likes, he naturally wants to show it off to his father and mother!
Neither of the Shen parents are conservative and stubborn, so it is perfect that the prospective son-in-law is interested in his own daughter!
After proposing marriage and asking for names, it was Najib. That day, Matchmaker Qin and Grandma Chu went to Qichan Temple ten miles away.
I asked for a lot in the Marriage Hall, and handed it to the master who understood the lot along with the birth date: "Amitabha, the lot requested by the donor is the forty-eighth lot. "Feng Bu Luan took it naturally, and the embroidery is holding the thread now, and I am happy. Look at Liang Hong and Meng Guang, and they will live together forever. 'These two people are in perfect harmony with each other, their yin and yang are in harmony, they are like a phoenix in flight. They are a match made in heaven, and they are well-matched for marriage! Congratulations to the donor!"
"Thank you, master!" After bidding farewell to the master, they added some incense money to the temple, and then they returned home satisfied.
After Najib, it was time for the Chu family to prepare the betrothal gift. In addition to the necessary geese, wine, tea and fruit cakes, the most important thing was the betrothal gift.
"We will pay two taels of silver as the bride price..."
Seeing that Cisun was stunned for a moment, Grandma Chu continued without saying a word, "Grandma Chu will ask someone to go to the town to buy wine, tea, and cakes. The geese will have to try their luck in the mountains and forests. If there is no Wooden geese are also available.”
"Grandma, are you a little short of two taels?" Chu Yi knew early on that grandpa and grandma wouldn't get too much dowry. He might as well have saved some himself over the years, so it wouldn't hurt to chip in. .
But two taels of silver is too little. When people in the village go to work as part-time workers in the town during their spare time, they only need six or seven hundred copper coins a month.
"Life at home is not easy..."
Before Grandma Chu could finish speaking, Uncle Chu took over the conversation: "Mom, if my son remembers correctly, when the eldest nephew got married, our family's situation was already not very good. Dad and Mom also gave birth to ten liang. Silver, although life is not easy right now, it is not like this, these two taels are indeed too little!"
Maybe she was refuted by the juniors, and she was a little embarrassed. Grandma Chu couldn't help but become anxious: "How can it be the same? Don't say that life is sad now, but it's not sad. Aren is a scholar, and he married the only daughter of a scholar in the town. No matter how good the daughter of the Shen family is, she is nothing more than a farm girl, how can she compare?"
"Mother, Aren, and Ayi are all sons and daughters of our Chu family. What's more, when the eldest nephew got married, the eldest brother's family had already been divided!"
Grandma Chu's face turned red, she glared and gasped, "Shut up! How many times have I told you that the boss is only for Ren's career and for our family! Do you still want to admit that you are your eldest brother?" "
