The ninth year of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
The sixth day of April.
It was early in the morning, it was still dark, but Wei Zhai located in Laoya Lane was already brightly lit and bustling with people.
Wei Chen was wearing Xuan Xun's official uniform, a black dark coat, a red-yellow lower skirt, a three-beam Jinxian crown on his head, soap-colored thick-soled official boots, and a rhinoceros belt tied around his waist.
There are pearls and jade hanging down from the ears on both sides of the Jinxian crown, also known as "ear ears". At this moment, it is swaying gently as Wei Chen moves forward.
This outfit is the attire worn by scholar-bureaucrats with official status in the Zhou Dynasty when they got married.
At dawn, Wei Chen dressed neatly under the service of the maids and envoys, then left his yard and went to the newly built Wei family ancestral hall on the east side of the front hall.
Wei Chen stood still down the hall and respectfully saluted Wei Xicun in the hall.
Wei Xicun is the third younger brother of Wei Chen's grandfather. He is the elder in Xiyin Village who has the closest bloodline to Wei Chen. He recently returned to Bianjing from Youyang with Wei Chen.
Seeing that Wei Chen had arrived, Wei Xicun took Wei Chen to the ancestral tablets to perform the ceremony of announcing to the ancestors.
Wei Chen took a glass of wine from Wei Xicun's hand as a sacrifice, and after paying homage to his ancestors' tablets, he stood up slowly.
Wei Xicun lectured in a deep voice: "Go and greet your prime minister, take over my sect, and show your respect to me. If you are the heir of your first heir, there will be peace!"
Translated, the general meaning is: Go and greet your wife, inherit the affairs of my family's ancestral temple, try your best to guide her to respect the ways of women, and inherit the aspirations of the ancestors. This is always the case, and you can't slack off!
These words should have been spoken by Wei Chen's biological father, Wei Mingzhao, but Wei Mingzhao had died long ago, so Wei Cunxi could only act on his behalf.
After Wei Cunxi finished speaking, Wei Chen immediately bowed and said: "Here, I don't dare to forget my life for fear of being embarrassed!"
Wei Cunxi nodded solemnly, waved his hand and said: "Go, go early and come back early to strengthen my family!"
"Here!" Wei Chen saluted again, then turned around and walked out of the ancestral hall.
In the courtyard outside the ancestral hall, the household items and personnel for welcoming the bride have already been prepared.
Although Wei Chen didn't stay in Bianjing for a long time, he still had many relatives and friends.
Not to mention anything else, in the same year of Tianyou’s sixth year alone, more than twenty people came.
This is only for those who are officials in Beijing.
More of them were working in local places in the same year and could not get away, but they all sent congratulatory cards and gifts early.
There are also some colleagues from the Hanlin Academy, including Wang Yaochen, Li Zuochang, Cai Xuan and others, who also took leave to come here today.
As for Gu Tingye, Qi Heng and others, they have a closer relationship with Wei Chen, so naturally they will not be absent.
Brothers Sheng Changbai and Sheng Changfeng did not come. They were the woman's brothers, so they naturally had to wait at the Sheng family.
In addition to these people, Wei Chen's favorite disciples Chen Shao, Liao Shiyu and others also arrived.
It's funny to say that Chen Shao just became a groom a few days ago, and Wei Chen, a teacher, lags behind his students in this regard.
By the way, more than half a month ago, in the palace examination held on March 15th, Chen Shao won the first prize in one fell swoop and was selected as the number one scholar by Zhao Zhen.
Before he got the first prize, Chen Shao was already Jieyuan and Huiyuan, so he got the third place!
Since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, there were only two people who could achieve such an achievement. The other one was Chen Shao's teacher, Wei Chen.
The two masters and apprentices, one passed six yuan and the other passed three yuan, can be said to be a rare story that attracted the attention of the government and the public.
If Chen Shao's grandfather had not arranged a marriage for Chen Shao before his death, and the marriage had been consummated after the palace examination, all the wealthy families in Bianjing City would have been vying for him to be his son-in-law.
Another student of Wei Chen, Liao Shiyu, was only slightly inferior to Chen Shao, and was selected as the third most popular student in the imperial examination.
In other words, Wei Chen's disciples accounted for two of the top three in Jinke.
As for Gu Tingye, Sheng Changfeng, and Qi Heng, they were all Jinshi, ranking 19th in the Second Class, third in the Second Class, and 57th in the Second Class respectively.
Around April, it is the peak period for new scholars to get engaged and marry. Except for Chen Shao, the marriages of several others have also been settled one after another. However, they are still under discussion and planning, and the best time is not far away.
After Wei Chen returned to Bianjing, he was invited to attend the wedding of Chen Shao and several other new scholars, but today it was finally Wei Chen's turn.
At this moment, in Wei's house, the groom Wei Chen came out of the ancestral hall. Gu Tingye came up to him quickly in the yard, smiled and clasped his fists and said, "Congratulations, congratulations!"
Wei Chen smiled and joked with Gu Tingye for a while, then pulled him and asked, "Zhong Huai, have you decided on a place to live?"
Gu Tingye shook his head and smiled bitterly: "It hasn't been finalized yet, but judging from the old man's intention, he probably wants to put me into the Ministry of War to observe politics."
"The general family..."
Wei Chen patted Gu Tingye's shoulder comfortingly and said, "The old Marquis also hopes that you can inherit the Gu family's legacy in the military."
Gu Tingye also sighed helplessly.
He really didn't want to be a pure civil servant, but he was also resistant to his father's all-encompassing arrangements.
Fortunately, after Gu Tingye became a Jinshi, he was already a confirmed pillar of the Gu family, and his reputation in Bianjing City was greatly improved.
The so-called labels of naughty, lazy, romantic, and playboy can no longer be attached to Gu Tingye.
Instead, there was a man with a bright future as a Jinshi, a prodigal son who could never change his fortune, and a role model among the children of Bianjing's lords.
Gu Yankai was so harsh to Gu Tingye before, just because he hated his son.
Now that iron has finally become steel, although Gu Yankai's mentality is difficult to completely adjust for a while, he will not beat and scold Gu Tingye as often as before.
The relationship between father and son has softened, and they can finally sit down and communicate calmly.
In fact, in the half month after Gu Tingye became the Jinshi, Gu Tingye and Gu Yankai had more heart-to-heart conversations than they had in the previous ten or twenty years combined.
Allowing Gu Tingye to join the Ministry of War to observe politics was already the result of mutual compromise between Gu Tingye and Gu Yankai after several discussions.
As the legitimate son of a marquis, Gu Tingye's official career was naturally smoother than that of ordinary people, but he could not control his own future.
Regardless of the fact that Gu Tingye has now become a civil servant from the son of a lord, if Gu Tingyu dies in the future, Gu Tingwei cannot support his family, and the Gu family lacks successors, Gu Tingye may have to re-join the army.
After all, civil servants generally only have a prominent generation. It is really difficult to accumulate the heritage of a Qingliu family. However, if you maintain the inheritance of the general marquis, you can easily maintain the family's wealth for generations as long as you don't commit suicide.
Gu Tingye took the imperial examination route, and even if he succeeded, it would at best be the icing on the cake for the Gu family. The title of Marquis Ningyuan and his military career were the foundation of the Gu family.
Although Gu Tingye has been fighting with Gu Yan for so many years, their views on this point are actually quite consistent.
"Stop talking about this."
Gu Tingye suddenly smiled freely: "Today is your happy day, Xingyun, why are you talking about this?"
After saying that, Gu Tingye cupped his hands towards Wei Chen and went to greet other friends he knew.
Wei Chen is the groom, so even if he is welcoming guests, he only needs to meet a few important guests of honor. As for the casual guests, Gu Tingye and Qi Heng, who act as guest acquaintances, are in charge.
At noon, the guests gradually arrived and had their meal in the courtyard. Watching the sun set in the west, the time for the welcome was approaching, Qi Heng came over to urge: "Little sir, it's almost time."
Wei Chen nodded. The so-called wedding should be held at dusk, and today it was already sunset, so it was time to welcome the bride.
