Chapter 30
A normal bride, after the ceremony, could stay in the bridal chamber with the maid of honor until the service began
But Xu Wen was no ordinary bride
Her groom left halfway through the wedding
After sending her off on her expedition, she went back to her bedroom and did not leave her daughter behind
Her sister-in-law, not Sang Xiaoqing, who was pregnant and didn’t dare tire her out, was another sister-in-law and aunt
They wanted to say that it was out of order, but when they thought about it, Xu Man’s wedding was never out of order, so they left her alone
Dongsheng stayed with Xu Man the whole time, trying to cheer her up even though she was obviously very sad herself
Xu Man held Dongsheng in his arms, “I’m fine It’s you, cry if you want to!”
Dongsheng shook his head, his voice choked up, but his tears didn’t flow down, “Dad said, a man’s blood doesn’t shed tears”
“That’s a manly man, you’re just a little kid You can cry when you miss your dad”
“Really?”
“Really!”
“Woo-hoo” Dongsheng hugged Xu Man’s waist, “I don’t want dad and my uncles to go on missions Every time they go out, they always come back with a few uncles missing I’m afraid that daddy won’t come back one day”
Xu Man’s heart tightened, rubbing Dongsheng’s head gently, “No, your father will come back”
Everyone says Dongsheng is a child who doesn’t know anything, but in fact, children are always more understanding than adults think
The door was knocked twice, two women pushed the door in
Dongsheng wiped away his tears and thoughtfully introduced Xu Man: “This is Big Grandma and Little Grandma”
Xu Man’s eyes fell on their corsages, one reading “Auntie” and the other “Uncle”
In Wei Zhuang, to distinguish the status of the guests, the main family organizing the wedding would often prepare some red boutonnieres Literally flowers, palm-sized red silk flowers with a golden ribbon, on which is written the relationship to the bride or groom
For example, Zhu Meijin had a corsage that said mother on it Meaning the mother of the bride
So these two should be Lu Yuanzheng’s aunt and uncle
“Auntie, auntie” Xu Wen stood up, holding Dongsheng and calling out to the people
“Ask, sit down quickly” Auntie hurriedly came over and pushed Xu Man back onto the bed, “It’s Zheng Zi who has wronged you today I’ll apologize on his behalf”
Xu Man smiled, “It’s fine He can’t help it in this profession”
“That’s true Ask, from today onwards, we’re a family, so if you have any problems, you can talk to auntie”
Auntie chimed in, “Yes, you can call us if you need anything Zhengzi is always away from home, so we women have to do some work at home If you need anything, just say something If you don’t want to cook, take Dongsheng to my house to eat”
Whether true or not, these words were very heartwarming, and Xu asked for thanks
Aunt Bo Niang was probably afraid that Xu Man would be even more upset if he was left alone, and dragged Xu Man around to chatter about family matters until the door was knocked on again
Outside, it was the master of ceremonies, who had come to pay his respects to them
Xu Man held Dongsheng and followed his aunt and uncle to the courtyard
The red cloth was still on the ground in the yard, and Bo Niang and Auntie went to the red cloth and knelt on it, taking yellow paper and lighting it on fire
The two of them each held a wooden stick, and while picking at the yellow paper to make the fire burn more vigorously, they chanted in a broken voice
“Old ancestors of the Lu family, your grandson Lu Yuanzheng is getting married today, I beg you to bless him ”
When Xu Wen got married, this paragraph was read by Zhu Meizhen, she felt that it was too blind vernacular did not listen, but today she also wanted to follow the reading, hoping that the ancestors of the Lu family can really have the spirit of heaven to bless Lu Yuanzheng
Who knew that the next moment she would hear her aunt and auntie read: “Toggle toggle toggle toggle toggle toggle toggle toggle toggle toggle toggle, have a good son!”
This phrase is a local dialect, and the scoop refers to a water ladle, which is made of steel to be burned in the fire
This is not the point, the point is that Lu Yuanzheng is not at home, who is she going to have a child with?
Wishing Lu Yuanzheng a prairie on top of his head?
Aunt Buniang after chanting about also reacted, looked at each other, skipped this paragraph, extinguished the fire and got up
After the worship is the thanksgiving
The master of ceremonies sings the amount of accompanying gifts according to closeness and distance, and then the bride and groom give thanks, usually with the groom kowtowing and the bride making a symbolic bow
“Twenty dollars for his great uncle!”
Xu Wen hesitated, not knowing whether he should bow or kowtow Just then, he saw Little Dongsheng flop down and kneel on the red cloth cushion, and kowtowed squarely toward the uncle that the officiating officer had pointed out
Xu Wen hurriedly followed suit and bent his head, the discomfort caused by the crowd of spectators replaced by warmth
“Twenty dollars for his second uncle”
Dongsheng, who had just stood up, knelt down again and kowtowed to his second maternal uncle
The onlookers, spontaneously, began to applaud
Others shouted, “The old man is a hero, the son is a good man! See how understanding this child is at such a young age!”
“I’ve heard of a father paying his debts to his son, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone kowtow for his father!”
In fact, the kowtow thing is just a symbolic kowtow ten or eight, slowly to the back will not kowtow
But Dongsheng people small do not understand, Xu asked to wear after the spectator once also missed this link, also do not understand
She was not willing to watch is not like, the most important wedding ceremony is not the wedding ceremony but to the ancestors graves to the accompanying people kowtow?
Isn’t this putting the cart before the horse?
I did not expect that now it is his turn to be the protagonist, Lu Yuanzheng is not there, she will do whatever people say
As a result, Dongsheng kowtowed twenty times, and Xu Wen accompanied him and bowed twenty times Or the main person can not stand to see the stop and not let another Dongsheng kowtow again
After kowtowing, there was a toast
This time Dongsheng can not for the road expedition, he carried a plate and followed behind Xu Man with a glass of wine tables to the past
A total of more than twenty tables of guests spread out in every room of the courtyard house as well as the surrounding neighbors on all sides
About all of them had heard about Lu Yuanzheng’s temporary departure, and when they saw Xu Man leading Dongsheng to make a toast, none of them asked or mentioned it, as if it was the right thing to do
Xu Wen was relieved and grateful
Only the Xu family’s table was laughing with tears
Especially Zhu Meizhen, who was even more like the one left behind than Xu Man, cried and drank the wine Xu Man toasted
Xu Qiushi said, “Ask about the big day, don’t cry all the time! It’s bad luck!”
However, after drinking the wine in the cup, he also red-eyed
Who understands the truth
Only when it was his turn did he realize how sad it was
Hold in the palm of the daughter to marry, even the wedding did not start the groom to go, this go do not know monkey years and months to come back, leaving this halfway mother and child
Xu Wen red-eyed sniffing down the nose and said: “is brother can not afford you”
Xu Wang also came and stroked Xu Wen’s head like a child, also with a pair of rabbit eyes, only sighed softly and said nothing
Dongsheng placed the tray on the table, took two steps back, knelt on the ground and thumped his head twice
Xu Man and Xu Wang, who was close by, hurriedly helped Dongsheng up
Xu Man was so distressed that he touched Dongsheng’s reddened forehead, “Dongsheng, what are you doing?”
Dongsheng pushed away Xu Man’s hand and looked at the table of Xu family members in a serious manner, calling out one by one, “Great-grandma, grandma and grandpa, aunt and uncle, great-aunt and great-auntie’s husband, little uncle My dad’s not home for a while but I’m still here” He patted his small hand to his chest, “Don’t worry guys, I’ll take care of Ma Ma!”
The Xu family all broke into smiles at once
The adults all praised Dongsheng for his understanding
Only Xu Che disliked him, “You’re not even as old as me, and you’re still taking care of my sister?”
Dongsheng was not willing to give in: “Then you are so old and still don’t know how to do anything, how dare you say that?”
The people at the table were amused by the two children, and the sad atmosphere was swept away
In addition to expressing gratitude to the guests who came to the wedding, the toasts also received red envelopes
Guests who were closer to each other were given red envelopes after drinking
Originally, it should have been the Lu family’s people giving red envelopes to Xu Wen, and the Xu family’s people giving red envelopes to Lu Yuanzheng
Now all the red envelopes went to Xu Man
Dongsheng, who was responsible for serving the wine, followed Xu Man to toast the last table of wine, leaving a pile of colorful tickets on the tray
The amount is not large, the smallest five cents, the largest there are big unity
Xu asked from the early morning to toast to the end of a mouthful of things have not eaten
She herself is okay, see Dongsheng old touch stomach, let him sit next to Xu Che first eat something to pad the stomach
She herself did not have time to eat, had to see off the guests
Some of the guests had finished eating early and were waiting for the newcomers to make a toast, so after Xu Man finished making his toast, some of the relatives from far away began to say goodbye
Xu Wen stood at the entrance of the courtyard, exchanging pleasantries with the departing guests, most of whom she didn’t even recognize
The Xu family knew that Xu was busy today, and didn’t say much when she left, only saying that she would let Xu Wen pick her up tomorrow
Send off the guests, but also have to wrap up
The member responsible for registering the gifts handed over the account book and money to Xu Man, who thanked him and sent cigarettes and candies to thank him
Other members of the community who came to help knew that Xu Man was new to the city and didn’t know anything about it, so they spontaneously returned the pots and pans, tables, chairs and benches
Finally, others helped Xu Man clean up the yard and put back the furniture that had been moved out of place for the banquet
Xu Man gave the remaining food in the kitchen to the neighbors
For one thing, the food could not be put away in the summer, and for another, he thanked everyone for lending them tables, chairs, and benches
When he was able to close the door and catch his breath, it was already twilight
Xu asked himself to pull two mouthfuls of leftover food, began to visit his new home
This courtyard is relatively empty on the whole
The two west rooms are empty, only put a bed each
One of the east rooms was a utility room and one was the kitchen
There were two kitchens and one in the east room
The east room was used as a living room and was particularly large, so a partition was made behind it, one of which was the kitchen, and one of which had some urns and other miscellaneous kitchen items
One of the west rooms has just been converted into a bathroom by Lu Yuanzheng, which seems to have been prepared for Xu Man
The south room is also empty, and you can vaguely tell that it has just been cleaned out
The living room was partitioned and square Inside were a few freshly made pieces of furniture, all tied with red cloth bands
On the chest of drawers was a brand-new radio, which Xu Man carefully studied and found to be one of the most popular types of recorders
In the corner stood a sewing machine
The last turn of the turn-a-ring is about the same bicycle that Lu Yuanzheng rode to pick up his relatives today, now parked in the big doorway
Dongsheng is a child, from the early morning alarm until now has yawned
Xu Wen took a large basin and mixed warm water to help Dongsheng wash and carry him on his bed
Dongsheng hugged her and asked with his eyes closed, “Ma Ma, can I sleep with you? Just once”
“Good” Xu Wen carried him back to the master bedroom again, placing him on the inner side of the bed, and followed suit by laying down after taking a shower herself
Just as she was about to lose consciousness and sink into sleep, she heard a tone ding in her head
“Congratulations, activating the Stepmother System!”