Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

Chapter 49 Wanling Gets Married (Part )

February 2001, 2, the 10th day of the first lunar month, is the day to set up the bed.

Early that morning, the furniture company delivered the big bed, which Kang Qirui had ordered a few days ago. After the bed was delivered to Kang's house, the second sister-in-law, a lucky woman, directed Guangzong Yaozu to move into Kang Qirui's room, which was also the wedding room, at 9:30.

After the big bed was installed, the second sister-in-law spread the dragon and phoenix quilt and sprinkled red and green beans, lotus seeds, red dates, longans, walnuts and other auspicious fruits. After everything was ready, it was Tianxiu's turn to appear. He needed to jump a few circles on the bed and then eat two of each auspicious fruit, which meant that he would have a son soon and have many children.

The day before the bed was set up, the Zhu family arranged for someone to carry the dowry to the Kang family. In addition to precious jewelry and gold ornaments, the dowry also included many things that symbolized good omens. The sputum bowl was used as a bucket for descendants, hoping that the daughter would have many children and grandchildren. The red ruler was used as a ruler for descendants, which meant that there would be endless fertile fields. The vase represented prosperity. The copper plate and shoes meant to be together until old age. The silver-wrapped belt meant to be rich. The scissors meant to fly together. The dragon and phoenix quilt, bed sheet and pillow were paired, wishing the newlyweds a loving and lingering relationship. The dragon and phoenix quilt used when the second sister-in-law set up the bed was part of the dowry that the Zhu family brought over.

After the bed-setting ceremony, no one, including Kang Qirui, could enter the room anymore. They had to wait until the bride was brought back on the wedding day before they could enter the room. So Kang Qirui slept in the attic for the past few days.

By February 2, everyone in the Kang family was ready. Those who worked or went to school had already applied for leave and devoted themselves to the family affairs. At dawn, everyone in the Kang family got up. Kang Qirui went to get married, and the others also had their own plans.

Chongxin means taking a bath in your own home. There are certain rules for taking a bath, which requires taking a bath in hot water boiled with citronella leaves and lemongrass, and then wearing new underwear and new clothes.

After Kang Qirui finished his new year, the other members of the Kang family also prepared the things for the ceremony. There was a large square table in the patio. In addition to incense burners and other tools for worship, there were three bowls of glutinous rice balls (nine in each bowl), a mirror, a red hairband, a pointed comb, a ruler for descendants, and dragon and phoenix scissors.

Kang Qirui came and sat down at the table, and his father came forward to comb his hair, muttering to himself, "One comb will comb all the way to the end, two combs will make the hair as white as eyebrows, three combs will make the ground full of children and grandchildren, four combs will make the four silver bamboo shoots all evenly aligned." Finally, his father tied the cypress to Kang Qirui's head with a red hairband, and the groom's hair was ready.

Then the eldest brother Guang removed the stool, and Kang Qirui began to worship and burn incense. After burning incense, he shared the glutinous rice balls with his father and the four brothers Guangzongyaozu to share the joy of marriage.

"It's finally done. Let's go and have some tea." Kang Qirui let out a sigh of relief after finishing the glutinous rice balls, and then invited everyone to have morning tea.

"Okay, okay." The old woman agreed and urged everyone, "Don't get anything ready yet. We'll get it ready when we come back. Go have some tea first. Don't miss the time."

The Kang family didn't go too far. There were two teahouses on Changsheng Street. They had agreed that the Kang family and the Zhu family would go to one of them to avoid the bride and groom meeting before the wedding. They said they were going out for morning tea, but no one was interested. They just went through the process, ate something, paid the bill, and went back to decorate the flower car and make final preparations.

The wedding car set off from Kang's house at 9:18, and just like the route of the betrothal ceremony, it went around Changsheng Street before arriving at Zhu's house. The Cantonese custom is that the wedding procession does not enter the house, so the red shoes search that Kang Qirui had a deep impression of in other weddings was not included in the Cantonese tradition. And because Mrs. Zhu was eager to marry her daughter, she simply gave a red envelope to the door blocking procession.

After Kang Qirui received Zhu Wanling, he followed his eighth aunt's instructions and went to the Zhu family's living room to offer tea and kneel before Mrs. Zhu. "Mom, leave Wanling to me. I will treat her well." Mrs. Zhu drank her son-in-law's tea and handed over the red envelope with red eyes. "Arui and Wanling, you must take good care of yourself and give mom a grandson as soon as possible."

After a brief chat, the eighth aunt signaled that it was time to go out. Kang Qirui squatted down and carried Zhu Wanling out. The bridesmaid, Zhu Wanling's distant cousin, opened the red umbrella when Kang Qirui stepped through the door. The eighth aunt said at the same time: "Open, thousands of flowers are blooming, the girl is blessed with good fortune, and the son-in-law will make a fortune."

The people next to them began to scatter rice, "Feed the golden chicken, the bride married a good husband." The eighth aunt followed Kang Qirui all the time and said, "May you have many children, be together forever, live happily together forever, a match made in heaven, love each other, be sweet and loving, a perfect couple, live together for a hundred years, a happy marriage, respect each other like guests, a perfect match, and a soulmate." This continued until Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling got into the wedding car.

The wedding car took a longer route back, all the way to Yuexiu District, passing Jixiang Road, Huanshi Middle Road, Hengfu Road, then back to Xiguan, Changshou Road, Changsheng Street, and finally back to Kang's house. Starting from No. 167 Changsheng Street, it took more than two hours to get back to No. 168 Changsheng Street, which shows how much the Cantonese people care about luck.

"The wedding car has arrived at the door, and the son-in-law has bought a house and a field." The wedding car stopped at the door of Kang's house. The eighth aunt in the car behind got out first and said auspicious words before opening the door of the wedding car and helping Zhu Wanling get out. Kang Qirui got out on his own at the other side. Zhu Wanling carefully stepped over the fire basin at the door of Kang's house with the help of the eighth aunt, and the eighth aunt said: "The new couple will enter the house, and the house will be full of gold and silver, and the husband, the master and the family will be prosperous."

After Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling entered the Kang family, the second brother, the witness, led them to the ancestral tablets and knelt down to pay homage to the ancestors. "First, pay homage to heaven and earth." After paying homage to heaven and earth, the two came to the old Dou's mother, who was already sitting in the main seat. The two knelt down and paid homage, "Second, pay homage to the parents." The eighth aunt brought tea from the side, and Zhu Wanling took it and handed it to the old Dou's mother, "Grandpa and grandma, have some tea."

"The new master has drunk the tea for the new bride. The new bride listens to her parents-in-law and will be rich and prosperous." With the blessing of the eighth aunt, after drinking the tea poured by Zhu Wanling, the old lady gave Zhu Wanling a big red envelope, which was a change of name.

"The bride and groom should serve more tea, and add more children and grandchildren to bring happiness to the family." Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling poured tea for the old Dou mother together. Just now, the bride changed her words, but now the bride and groom served tea to their parents together. After the old Dou mother drank the tea, she presented a gold bracelet and a gold ring.

Kang Qirui took it and helped Zhu Wanling put it on. "If you wear a gold bracelet, you will be rich and prestigious." "If you wear a gold ring, you will give birth to a golden boy."

After paying respects to the parents, it was the turn of the eldest brother and his wife, the second brother and his wife, and Ayao Xingzi to receive tea from the newlyweds. "Congratulations to the groom, you have won a small honor today. Marry a wife and have many children, both boys and girls, and you will have a lot of windfall." The tea pouring ceremony ended with the auspicious words of the eighth aunt.

Finally, the last step of the wedding is "sent to the bridal chamber." Of course, it doesn't happen right now, but after Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling enter the bridal chamber, Zhu Wanling sits on the bed, Kang Qirui picks up Tianxiu and puts him on the bed, Tianxiu somersaults on the bed and pees again. (Of course, he doesn't peed directly on the bed, but catches it with a plate.) This implies that there is gold and silver.

After Tianxiu completed his mission, Kang Qirui also sat on the bed and leaned against Zhu Wanling. Guangzongyaozu and the eldest and second sisters-in-law Xingzi pushed the two of them to roll around on the bed until all the peanuts and lotus seeds on the bed were crushed, which meant that they would have a son soon. At this moment, the wedding was considered a complete success.

Everyone rested for a while, changed into clean clothes and went to the hotel for dinner. Kang Qirui chose a five-star hotel and had 18 tables. There were more people than when A Yao got married, mainly because Kang Qirui taught at a school and Zhu Wanling worked in a hospital, and they both had many colleagues. These days are different from decades later. Decades later, colleagues got married and you had to go. Now, if you don't invite your colleagues to your wedding, you are impolite and you don't want to mix with your colleagues.

After the wedding banquet, many relatives and colleagues returned to the Kang family to continue celebrating the happy event. It was not until eight or nine in the evening that all the guests left and the Kang family returned to its former tranquility. At this time, Kang Qirui and Zhu Wanling were exhausted, and Kang Qirui lay on the bed to rest and accumulate energy.

Zhu Wanling was opening the red envelopes and counting the money. "One thousand and one, one thousand and two... one thousand two hundred and thirty-five!"

Kang Qirui was a little confused, he sat up and said, "Only over a thousand?" Although he didn't care much about the amount of the red envelope, and didn't think about making money from the wedding, but the fact that so many people only received over a thousand did make Kang Qirui feel that it was a bit too much.

"Oh, no. These are scattered. The real ones are here." Zhu Wanling handed over a stack of 100-yuan bills, "There are 48,500 yuan here. Well, the eldest uncle and the second uncle each gave 5,000. The master and the third uncle each gave 3,000. The rest was given by other relatives and friends."

"Why give it to me? Just take it." Kang Qirui didn't take it. Are you kidding me? Kang Qirui has never seen a Cantonese woman who doesn't want to manage money after marriage. It's not that they are greedy for money, but they think it is their duty. It's just that they think men don't know how to save money and men only know how to spend money, so most Cantonese women will ask to control the financial power of the family after marriage.

Seeing that Kang Qirui didn't answer, Zhu Wanling's smile became even brighter. "By the way, my mother has given me all the gift money you gave me before. It adds up to more than 100,000 yuan. Come with me to the bank to deposit it tomorrow."

"Okay." Kang Qirui agreed. He stretched out his hand to Zhu Wanling dishonestly: "Look, I'm so well behaved, should we complete the last step of the wedding?"

"Wait for me to put the money away, why are you so impatient?" Zhu Wanling slapped his claws away, opened the secret compartment in the closet, put all the more than 60,000 yuan in gifts given to her by Mrs. Zhu today and the more than 40,000 yuan in red envelopes she received into it, and then said, "How about taking a shower first?"

Kang Qirui rolled his eyes. Why was he still shy? Kang Qirui pulled Zhu Wanling over and pressed her under him. "Wife, we promised mom today that we would give her a grandson. Let's not waste time, hahahaha."

(End of this chapter)