Qizhou Provincial Governor's Mansion.
At this moment, the place was filled with guests and bustling with noise and excitement. Wang Renbiao was the Qizhou Provincial Governor and the eldest son of the Wang Family of Taiyuan. Who in the Qizhou officialdom would dare to not attend his wedding?
It wasn't just the officialdom. All the wealthy merchants and gentry in Qizhou were trying their best to attend the wedding. After all, Wang Renbiao was the "boss" of Qizhou. Furthermore, Wang Yu and Princess Tong 'an, two important figures, were also in Qizhou. If they could use this wedding to establish a relationship with Wang Renbiao or the Wang family, they would be completely rich!
Therefore, even if many people could not get an invitation, they still came to send congratulatory gifts. They wanted to get familiar with Wang Renbiao, Wang Yu, and Princess Tong 'an. Even if they could not get an invitation, it was still good to form a good relationship!
However, as a thousand-year-old family, the Wang Family naturally did not lack money. Therefore, in terms of congratulatory gifts, they did not accept any gifts from guests who had nothing to do with the Wang Family! If one came to celebrate Wang Renbiao's wedding, they were welcome to eat at the banquet outside the Provincial Governor's Mansion. However, if one wanted to use this opportunity to bribe Wang Renbiao, then sorry, the Wang Family would not accept these gifts!
This rule was set by Wang Yu. Currently, the Wang Family was in a precarious situation. Three of the Five Families and Seven Hopes were gone. Only four of the Seven Great Families were left, including the Li Family. Now that Wang Renbiao and Wang Yu were both court officials, Wang Yu was quite cautious in his style! In his opinion, with the Wang Family's foundation from two years ago, when had they ever lacked money? There was no need to let the imperial censors get hold of their weakness for such a small profit!
After the fall of the Cui and Zheng families, the imperial censors in the court now especially liked to collect information about the evil deeds of the children of the aristocratic families to prove their integrity and noble character! Wang Yu would definitely not make a low-level mistake in this matter!
Moreover, Wang Renbiao was very supportive of his decision! As the Qizhou Provincial Governor, Wang Renbiao naturally did not want the officials of the counties under him to send expensive congratulatory gifts because of his wedding. Qizhou was not rich and most of the officials could only live on the salary of the court (of course, corrupt officials were excluded). Under such circumstances, how could Wang Renbiao be willing to accept their congratulatory gifts? Moreover, this could easily lead to the wind of comparison!
Therefore, when Wang Renbiao sent people to send invitations to the officials of Qizhou, he had asked his servants to clearly inform them that they could come, but they would not accept any congratulatory gifts!
Such a way of doing things naturally received unanimous praise from the officials in Qizhou. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the governance of various places was still relatively clean. It could not be said that there were no corrupt officials, but the proportion of corrupt officials was definitely very small. Most of the officials were still relatively honest. Before this, many officials were worried when they found out that Wang Renbiao was about to get married. Wang Renbiao was both the Governor of Qizhou and the eldest son of the Wang family of Taiyuan. If the congratulatory gifts they gave him were too shabby, wouldn't they offend their superiors and the Wang family for no reason? But if this gift was too expensive, his money pouch wouldn't allow it! This was truly a dilemma!
Therefore, Wang Renbiao's action allowed most of the officials in Qizhou to breathe a sigh of relief.
Not only that, but the commoners were also full of praise for Wang Renbiao and Li Jingchu's marriage. Today, there were over a thousand banquets set up on the streets outside the Provincial Governor's Manor. Moreover, this banquet would be held for three days. During this period, all the commoners could eat for free.
This was Wang Renbiao's handiwork.
Last year, when Li Zexuan and Han Yuxi got married, almost all the commoners in Chang 'an City were invited to eat "gnawed chicken" (of course, there was a prerequisite at that time, which was that everyone had to bring a bouquet of flowers before they went). Now that Wang Renbiao and Li Jingchu were getting married, Wang Renbiao naturally wanted to make it lively. This was because Li Jingchu had suffered too much for him, and he wanted to use this opportunity to compensate her.
"The bride is here! The bride is here! "
At five in the evening, the bridal procession finally returned. The crowd outside the Provincial Governor's Manor took the initiative to open a path. Wang Renbiao flipped over and dismounted from his horse and led Li Jingchu out of the carriage. Looking at the newlyweds, the surrounding commoners and the guests in the Provincial Governor's Manor couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"Provincial Governor Wang is young and handsome, and Miss Li is beautiful. They are a match made in heaven!"
"Who says they aren't? The bride and groom are really a match made in heaven! "
"Miss Li is from our Yong County. This will bring glory to our Yong County!"
"Maybe Provincial Governor Wang will stay in Qizhou because of this. The commoners of Qizhou will also be blessed!"
"Haha! That's right, that's right! "
There were those who praised from the bottom of their hearts, and naturally, there were also those who made sarcastic remarks. However, these sarcastic remarks only dared to whisper in small voices.
"But I heard that the Li family is only a merchant's family, while Provincial Governor Wang is from the Wang family of Taiyuan. Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"
"That's right! It's said that this time, the head of the Wang family and Princess Tong 'an traveled thousands of miles from Suizhou just to break up this pair! "
"Then why are they still together now?"
"You don't know about this, right? It's said that … "
Wang Renbiao and Li Jingchu naturally couldn't be bothered to listen to these gossips in private. The two of them were clear that it wasn't easy for them to be together now. Naturally, they wouldn't add to their troubles because of other people's opinions.
Wang Renbiao and Li Jingchu held a red silk ribbon together and walked on the red carpet into the Provincial Governor's Manor. Next, the newlyweds had to go through three 'checkpoints' — crossing a brazier, crossing a saddle, and crossing a rice bag!
In the courtyard, the master of ceremonies sang loudly, "The Jade Phoenix raises its foot and crosses a brazier of fire. The evil spirits hide on both sides. Good fortune descends from the heavens to the nest of blessings. Good days are prosperous! The newlyweds cross a brazier … "
"A piece of sandalwood carved into a jade saddle. When the newlyweds cross, each step is safe. The newlyweds cross a saddle … "
"There's food and clothing. Each generation is better than the previous. The newlyweds cross a rice bag … "
At this moment, taking advantage of the newlyweds entering the manor, the senior official of the Provincial Governor's Manor also began to sing the congratulatory gifts. This congratulatory gift singing was an essential part of the wedding. Firstly, it showed the groom's family's connections. Secondly, it was a form of respect for the guests who came to send congratulatory gifts.
Previously, Wang Yu and Wang Renbiao had indeed told the officials and commoners in Qizhou that came to the banquet not to bring congratulatory gifts. However, that was because those people's relationship with the Wang family hadn't reached that level. Even if they sent congratulatory gifts, they didn't come to sincerely congratulate Wang Renbiao on his marriage. Instead, they used it to curry favor with Wang Renbiao and climb up to the Wang family. However, this didn't mean that the Provincial Governor's Manor didn't accept congratulatory gifts today.
For those who had a closer relationship with the Wang family or Wang Renbiao, they still had to accept their congratulatory gifts. After all, this was a courtesy that should be reciprocated between friends and acquaintances. If they didn't accept it, it would seem unreasonable.
At the entrance, the senior official held a long list of gifts and sang loudly.
"Xiangzhou Provincial Governor Liu Wenchang has come to congratulate. Gifts of 400,000 yuan. A pair of pure gold buttons inlaid with jewels, a pair of white jade mandarin duck buttons, and a golden hairpin with longevity fruits in its mouth."
"Sui County Magistrate Zhang Wenfang has come to congratulate. Gifts of 100,000 yuan. A jade Buddha, a pair of golden cups, and six silver necklaces."
"Xiangyang County Magistrate Deng Guangcai has come to congratulate. Gifts of 100,000 yuan. A pair of white jade mandarin duck buttons, and a jade Buddha."
"Sui County Magistrate Zhang Jing has come to congratulate. Gifts of 30,000 yuan. A set of the four treasures of the study, and a set of calligraphy by the Sage of Calligraphy, Wang Youjun."
"Xiangzhou Provincial Governor He Wenqing has come to congratulate. Gifts of 30,000 yuan. A copy of the 'Zither Chiseling Painting'."
(The 'Zither Chiseling Painting' was created by the East Jin Dynasty painter Gu Kaizhi. His representative work was the 'Luo Shen Painting'.)
The people at the front of the list of gifts were mostly local officials in Sui County or nearby Sui County. Of course, there were also teachers from local schools. Wang Yuyu had been an official in Sui County for a long time, so of course, he knew many local officials. The Wang family naturally had to accept these people who came to congratulate and send gifts.
Among these gifts, there were gold, silver, jewelry, calligraphy, and paintings of famous people. In general, these gifts could not be considered to be extremely valuable. However, the gift was light, but the sentiment behind it mattered. After all, these people were either officials of a region or teachers of a government school. They could not be said to be extremely wealthy and wealthy!
They weren't rich or wealthy. As for the Sui County officials who came to congratulate, the people and guests who knew the inside story weren't surprised. However, everyone felt that these gifts were lacking. After all, 10,000 yuan was only about a dozen strings of coins. 100,000 yuan was only about a hundred strings of coins. For a thousand-year-old family like the Wang family, it wasn't worth mentioning at all.
But soon, the 'nouveau riche' that everyone was looking forward to arrived.
"Fanyang Lu Family's Lu Chengqing came to congratulate. He sent four million yuan, four gold necklaces, six silver necklaces, one golden phoenix with pearls, one golden phoenix hairpin with two phoenixes holding longevity fruits, a pair of golden phoenix hairpins with pearls, a pair of Hetian white jade phoenix hairpins inlaid with jade, and a pair of phoenix hairpins inlaid with jade ~!"
"Zhao County's Li Family's Li Jingxuan came to congratulate. He sent four million yuan, a pair of white jade mandarin duck buckles, four pairs of pearls with pearls, two small knives with ivory handles, four gold necklaces, and six silver necklaces ~!"
The crowd immediately let out a burst of exclamations.
"Wow! Four million yuan! People from Fanyang Lu Family and Zhao County's Li Family actually came! Provincial Governor Wang really has a lot of face! "
"Lu Chengqing? Li Jingxuan? They are the eldest sons of Fanyang Lu Family and Zhao County's Li Family! They actually came in person! "
"Only the Wang family can have such influence!"
While the crowd was discussing, the chief official of the Provincial Governor's Office continued to read aloud.
"Chang 'an Marquis of Yong' an sent people to congratulate his adopted sister on her marriage with Provincial Governor Wang. He sent eight million yuan, four pairs of top-grade night pearls, one golden phoenix hairpin with pearls inlaid with jade, a pair of phoenix hairpins inlaid with jade, a pair of Hetian white jade phoenix hairpins inlaid with jade, a carriage from Strange Taste Pavilion, three second-generation bicycles, and a special electric car from Strange Taste Pavilion!"
More than a month ago, there was a locust plague in Guanzhong and Qizhou. When Li Zexuan led the Sky Pheasant Brigade north, he passed by Qizhou and wiped out all the locusts in Qizhou's farmland within a few days. The people of Qizhou all remembered Li Zexuan's kindness. Now that they heard the chief official of the Provincial Governor's Office read out the three words' Marquis of Yong ', how could the people and guests not be shocked? Not only were the people shocked by the gifts in the list, they were also shocked by the bride's other identity.
"Eight million yuan! The Marquis of Yong 'an is really generous! "
"What? The Marquis of Yong 'an also came to congratulate? "
"I heard that the Marquis of Yong 'an and Provincial Governor Wang are good friends. I didn't know if this rumor was true, but it seems like it's true now!"
"If that's the case, then won't the people of Qizhou be blessed? The Marquis of Yong 'an's Flaming Yellow Chamber of Commerce has many new and interesting items. When the time comes, I wonder if they can open a branch in Qizhou! "
"Who says there won't be a branch? The carriages sold by Miss Li's family's carriage shop are all from the Flaming Yellow Chamber of Commerce! "
"There's actually such a thing?"
"Tsk tsk! Eight million yuan! How much money is that! I've never seen so much money in my life! "
"Tsk! What is this? Listen to the last two gifts in the list, they are the most precious! "
"What gifts?"
"There! It's the second-generation bicycles and the special electric car from Strange Taste Pavilion! "
"Second-generation bicycles? The second-generation bicycles that were mentioned in Datang Daily a while ago? Even our Qizhou doesn't have many of them, right? "
"Isn't that so? Look at how generous the Marquis of Yong 'an is, giving away three at once! Actually, this isn't much. The most precious gift is the special electric car from Strange Taste Pavilion! "
"What's this electric car? Why haven't I heard of it before? "
"Heh! This electric car is too amazing. Most people don't even know about it. My uncle has always been doing business in Chang 'an, so he heard some news! It's said that this electric car is a huge metal box. When a person sits in it, they don't need animals to pull it, nor do they need to use their feet to push it. The car can move by itself. It's amazing! "
"Wow! There's such a car in this world? "
"Yes! Before this, there was only one in the entire Tang Dynasty. It was given by the Marquis of Yong 'an when the son of the Minister of Works, Yan Shaoning, got married. I didn't expect that the Marquis of Yong' an would give one to our Provincial Governor Wang for his wedding. If I could see it with my own eyes, I would have no regrets in life! "
"Eh? Wait, did you guys hear the Provincial Governor's Office say that Miss Li is the adopted sister of the Marquis of Yong 'an? "
"Yes, yes, yes! I heard it too! "
"When did Miss Li become the adopted sister of the Marquis of Yong 'an?"
"Heh! Previously, there were people who said that Miss Li and Provincial Governor Wang's families were not compatible. Let's see who dares to say that now! "
"Yes! Miss Li and Provincial Governor Wang are obviously a match made in heaven. If anyone dares to say that they are not compatible in the future, I will tear their mouths apart! "
A month ago, Li Zexuan had saved hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland in Qizhou, which meant that he had saved tens of thousands of people in Qizhou. In the hearts of the people in Qizhou, Li Zexuan had already become their savior. Therefore, when they heard that Li Jingchu was Li Zexuan's adopted sister, they began to respect and love Li Jingchu, the bride, even more!
This was Li Zexuan's reputation in Qizhou! Although he was not an official in Qizhou, his reputation was not much worse than Wang Renbiao, the Provincial Governor of Qizhou!
"Adopted sister? Wang … Renbiao, when did I become Marquis's adopted sister? "
While the people were discussing and cheering, Li Jingchu's mind was filled with questions. She had just finished crossing the rice bags with Wang Renbiao and couldn't help but stop in her tracks. She tugged at the red silk in Wang Renbiao's hand and asked softly.
…
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