Do you know: I, a commoner prime minister

Chapter 31 Red Makeup

"Sister-in-law, I'm leaving this place to you."

"Okay, sister-in-law, you should go now."

After Li left, Sheng Yun put a jade hairpin in Shulan's hair, squatted down to look in the mirror, and laughed, "Our Sheng family girls are all so beautiful. That Zhou family boy is so lucky."

"aunt."

Shulan was a little embarrassed, but looking at herself in the mirror, she felt that she looked better than before.

"You're getting married soon, why are you still so shy?"

Sheng Yun joked around for a few moments, and seeing that Shulan wasn't so nervous anymore, she said, "You're so gentle and weak. I'm afraid you'll be bullied after you get married, so I won't tell your parents."

Remember, if you're wronged, you must speak up. If you can't tell your parents, tell your aunt, understand?

"Mm." Shulan nodded.

Sheng Yun wasn't sure if Shulan had listened to her, but she preferred Pinlan's personality.

Although they are somewhat carefree, they will not suffer in silence if they are wronged.

When Shulan was a child, her personality was actually quite similar to Pinlan's now.

But Li thought about raising her daughter to be a lady from a respectable family, but she forgot that she herself was not a lady from a respectable family, so how could she raise Shulan to be one?

She had met Hualan before. Hualan spoke very formally and seriously at such a young age. Compared to her, Shulan was far inferior in every way except for her appearance.

……

When the wedding procession arrived at the Sheng family's gate, it was stopped by the younger generation of the Sheng family.

Some marriage customs seem to have remained unchanged since ancient times.

The bride's family blocking the door and making things difficult for the new son-in-law is a way to remind him of the hardships he faced when he married her.

The door-blocking was nothing more than presenting some difficult and challenging questions, which Zhou An dealt with one by one. In the end, he composed a poem to urge the bride to get ready, scattered some celebratory money, and then he was allowed to pass.

An elder from the third branch of the family led Zhou An to the main hall.

Inside the main hall, Sheng Wei and Madam Li sat at the head of the table, with many people standing on either side to observe the ceremony.

"Xiao Xu greets his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and all elders!"

After Zhou An bowed in turn, a maid brought tea. He picked up a cup, took two steps forward, and bowed, saying, "Father-in-law, please have some tea."

Sheng Wei took the teacup, looked at him and said, "My eldest daughter has been spoiled since childhood, so she is inevitably a bit spoiled. If she does anything inappropriate after marriage, please bear with her."

This is just a polite way of putting it; it doesn't mean that Shulan is actually spoiled or arrogant.

"Don't worry, Father-in-law, I've got it!" Zhou An replied.

"Um!"

Sheng Wei then took a sip of tea, took the embroidered purse handed to him by the maid, and gave it to Zhou An.

Zhou An took the tray from the maidservant and picked up another cup of tea, then went to Li Shi.

"Please have some tea, Mother-in-law!"

Li was in low spirits. She gave a few simple instructions, drank some tea, and handed over the purse.

"Go and invite the eldest sister here!" Sheng Wei ordered.

The maid waiting at the door hurried away. After a short while, a commotion arose outside. Shulan, holding a round fan to cover her face, entered the main hall with the help of two maids. She stopped to Zhou An's right and stood side by side with him.

A maidservant stepped forward with a love knot made of colorful satin, and let Shulan and Zhou An each take one end.

Mr. and Mrs. Sheng gave Shulan a few more instructions, which were nothing more than to be filial to her parents-in-law and serve her husband.

"It's getting late, you should set off."

Seeing that his wife was about to lose control of her emotions, Sheng Wei immediately spoke up.

After Zhou An and Shulan bowed, they turned around. Sheng Changsong knelt down slightly in front of his sister, picked her up, and carried her outside.

When a woman gets married, it is customary to "leave her parents and never let her feet touch the ground."

This expresses gratitude and reluctance to part with one's parents, and also signifies that the bride leaves her family home with "precious" grace, and that she will have a smooth life in her husband's family in the future.

In addition, it also implies that one should not take away the wealth and fortune of one's maternal family.

Sheng Changsong carried his younger sister out of the courtyard and walked towards the bridal sedan chair.

"Press down the sedan chair!"

After seeing his sister off in the bridal sedan chair, he looked at Zhou An and said, "Treat my sister well!"

"Don't worry, brother-in-law!"

Zhou An bowed respectfully, then mounted his horse.

Amidst the sound of gongs and drums, the wedding procession began to move forward.

After the wedding procession passed by, the Sheng family's carriages carrying the dowry and porters immediately followed.

When they arrived, the wedding procession, including the bridal sedan chair, wasn't very long, but when they left, it stretched for miles, followed by a procession carrying the dowry.

The so-called "ten-mile red bridal procession" actually refers to the fact that the bride's dowry is quite extensive, and the procession stretches for ten miles.

However, in a small place like Qinghe County, it is almost impossible to see such a magnificent scene.

The Sheng family provided a substantial dowry, but the entire wedding procession only stretched for five or six miles.

Even so, once they arrived in Qinghe County, the wedding procession passed by, but the dowry procession continued for a long time, leaving the people of Qinghe County speechless with amazement.

"Goodness gracious, whose wedding is this? Such a grand affair!"

"I heard it's Master Sheng from Youyang, a very wealthy family."

"Even if the Sheng family is rich, they wouldn't give such a large dowry for their daughter's wedding, would they? I think this wedding procession is several miles long."

Not to mention the common people, even Zhou An, when he looked back outside the city, saw that it stretched as far as the eye could see.

As evening fell, the wedding procession stopped in front of the house, but the last porters carrying the dowry had not yet entered the city.

As the bridal sedan chair came down, the maidservant who had accompanied the bride helped Shulan out of the sedan chair and presented her with a love knot for the two of them to tie together.

Amidst the sound of firecrackers, the two entered through the gate.

Zhou An glanced at Shulan out of the corner of his eye, but could only see her profile.

To be honest, he still hasn't seen what his future wife looks like.

After arriving at the main hall and completing the wedding ceremony, Shulan was led to the bridal chamber, and the wedding banquet officially began.

There were many guests today, and although the county magistrate did not come, he sent someone with a gift.

Other officials, like the county magistrate, and even the minor clerks came.

The clerks are different from the officials. Officials are promoted and transferred, so they don't care much about scholars like Gu Ning. Sending a congratulatory gift is enough.

However, these minor officials were mostly from local gentry backgrounds. Some scholars who had passed the imperial examinations but failed to become Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest level of the imperial examinations) would choose to serve as minor officials in their localities.

Since we're all locals, we'll naturally give them some face.

Accompanied by Lu Wang, Zhou An and his father went from table to table toasting each other.

For minor officials and local tycoons, the toasting ceremony would involve a brief chat to get to know each other.

…………

After Shulan was sent to the bridal chamber, some female relatives who were related to the Zhou family came, led by Zhou An's two maternal aunts.

Usually at this time, they would tease the new bride, but these were all ordinary people, and they were even more nervous than Shulan, the bride.

Especially after hearing that the Sheng family had given such a large dowry, how could he dare to tease her anymore?

They made a perfunctory gesture, and finally served Shulan a half-cooked pastry, asking with a grin, "Are you having children or not?"

Shulan blushed and lowered her head, whispering almost inaudibly, "Sheng."

"Everyone has heard that! The new bride says she will give birth, and the family will surely flourish, bringing many children and abundant blessings!"

After completing the rituals, the group of women left the banquet.

Shulan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to instruct the maid to prepare hot water to help her with her dressing when she saw a little girl of about five or six years old walk in.

The little girl just stared at her with such curiosity.

"Are you Sister Yu?"

Shulan wasn't embarrassed in front of a young maid. She had heard her mother talk about Zhou An's family situation, and at this time, the only maid who could run to the bridal chamber was Yu Jie'er.