Chapter 433 Three Books and Six Rites
The extravagance of the Xue family's banquet left all the guests dumbfounded, especially Wang Xifeng, who was secretly shocked. She thought her own aunt was so generous that she spent 10,000 or 20,000 silver coins to host the banquet, which was unique in the whole Shenjing City.
There is no need to elaborate on the host of the third day . All the families gathered together, and the event was more lively and spectacular than that of the Lin and Xue families.
The banquet lasted for three consecutive days, and almost the entire Shenjing was in turmoil. It was not until three days had passed that Shenjing City, which had been bustling for several days, gradually returned to peace.
Afterwards, the clan office came to register the names of Baochai and Daiyu, which also meant that from now on, the two of them and Jia Cong were legally a family. The next step was naturally the six rites required for marriage.
Wedding is one of the most important rituals in any era, and this ritual has a long history.
The Book of Rites says: The wedding ceremony is to unite the two families, to serve the ancestral temple and to continue the future generations, so men attach great importance to it. Therefore, in the wedding ceremony, including accepting the betrothal gifts, asking for the name, accepting the auspicious sign, accepting the betrothal gifts and asking for the date, the host sets up the banquet outside the door, and the bride enters the room, bows and yields, and then ascends, and listens to the orders of the temple. The bride bows and yields, then ascends, and listens to the orders of the temple. Therefore, the wedding ceremony should be respectful, cautious and correct... Only when it is respectful, cautious and correct can the father and son have a close relationship. Only when the father and son have a close relationship can the ruler and the minister have a correct relationship. Therefore, the wedding ceremony is the foundation of etiquette.
The wedding process in ancient times was also extremely complicated, especially for the level of royal family nobles. Not only did it take a very long time, the etiquette was also extremely strict and grand.
The whole process is also called "Three Books and Six Rites".
The so-called "three books" are the engagement letter, the gift letter, and the welcoming letter. The six ceremonies are the above-mentioned acceptance of marriage proposal, asking for the bride's name, accepting the good news, accepting the betrothal gift, asking for the date, and welcoming the bride.
Nacai is the first of the six rituals. Simply put, the man asks a matchmaker to propose to the woman.
Asking for the name means that after the woman agrees to the man's proposal, the matchmaker will ask the woman's name, birth date, etc., and then the man will ask someone to tell fortunes to determine whether the man and woman are suitable for marriage.
Therefore, the so-called maiden name is not known to everyone. If others know your maiden name, it is no different from losing your virginity. This is why Daiyu was so angry that she almost hanged herself when Baoyu took one of her paintings to ask a man outside to comment on it.
After the man has his fortune told, they exchange documents and go to the ancestral hall to report to their ancestors. At this point, the marriage is basically a done deal.
Na Zheng is also called Guo Da Li, and in later generations it was also called "Bride Price".
In fact, most of the previous Nazheng were just symbolic, and the woman also needed to give a corresponding return gift. After all, this was a gift between two parties, not selling children. I don't know which ancestor caused such a big trouble for the descendants. According to records, in the Republic of China period, Nazheng was changed to "Nabi".
These two words express everything nakedly...
Asking for a date and going to pick up the bride means that the man calculates the date and obtains the woman's consent, and then goes to pick up the bride.
For ordinary people, there is naturally no need to be so troublesome. It is enough to just comply with basic etiquette. But it is different for Jia Cong.
Why is it said that even an arranged marriage still takes one or two years? First of all, the etiquette of each process needs to be prepared for a long time in advance, and it is not a matter of picking a date at random, but the Imperial Astronomical Observatory needs to calculate the best time for the ceremony. In this way, the time required for the six ceremonies can be as short as one year or as long as two years, which is not uncommon at all.
In addition, girls waiting to be married also need to spend a long time learning the rules.
Therefore, if you want to have your wedding night, you still need to wait for a long time. As for the time of the marriage proposal, the empress and the emperor had already asked the Imperial Astronomical Observatory and the Great Illusion Immortal to calculate it, which is around August 15th, but the name will have to wait until around the New Year, which is half a year.
Just two days after the grand banquet at the Jia Mansion, the Queen selected four of the most reliable old maids in the palace to move into the Jia Mansion.
Being taught by the maids in the palace is a good opportunity for the girls to improve their reputation. Moreover, the maids in the palace are the most strict and naturally teach all the rules much better than others.
It goes without saying that Baochai and Daiyu are the main characters. Although they are not at home, the Jia family will send a carriage to pick them up every day and let them come to the Jia family to learn the rules on time.
Naturally, the three sisters in the Jia family would not miss such an opportunity, including Xiangyun and Baoqin, who also suffered the same "disaster".
As for Xing Xiuyan's matter, after discussing it with Jia Cong, Jia's mother also set a date. She would be allowed to move in at the end of July. Therefore, during this period, the maids in the palace needed to give Xing Xiuyan special treatment and teach her some things in advance.
Of course, these maids could not treat all the girls equally. Sanchun, Xiangyun, Baoqin and others only learned the rules, while Baochai and Daiyu, in addition to learning the rules, also needed to study the contents of the album of paintings and photos treasured by the royal family. Therefore, after studying every day, Daiyu and Baochai were both very shy.
The contents of the picture albums were still too difficult for the two little girls to accept.
After finally settling this major matter, Jia Cong began to arrange another matter, which was to build the Grand View Garden in the Jia Mansion.
The old lady agreed to this matter. After all, she didn't need to spend any money. Once the garden was built, it would be the property of the entire Jia family. Why not do it?
Jia Cong had already agreed with the old lady that the Grand View Garden would not only occupy the territory of the East Palace, but also some of the territory of the West Palace.
Jia Zheng, the current head of the West Mansion, didn't care about this at all. The old lady agreed and just let Cong do whatever he wanted.
The area of the Grand View Garden demarcated by Jia Cong is not small, and is basically similar to that in the original novel. First, the entire Huifang Garden of the East Palace is included, and then it goes west to the territory of the West Palace.
Most of the backyard of the West Mansion, including the Lixiang Courtyard where the Xue family lived before, the skirt houses to the west and south of the Lixiang Courtyard, and the entire backyard where the Zhen family lived now, were all included. However, this did not have much impact on the West Mansion, after all, the masters of the West Mansion all lived in the front, and the area from Wang Xifeng's courtyard to Chenwu Courtyard was mostly empty.
After demarcating the area, Jia Cong asked Jia Zheng to find a master carpenter and someone skilled in piling up sand and earth in the Ministry of Works to make a plan.
The person they were looking for was the royal master carpenter Shan Ziye. His surname was Ye, and the word "Shan Zi" indicated that he was best at piling up sand and earth and designing rockery.
Although Jia Cong had read the Red Mansion before, he did not have a very specific impression of the Grand View Garden. Fortunately, he found the original owner Shan Ziye, so he just let him think about it. Moreover, this kind of thing cannot be decided in three or five days, so Shan Ziye was allowed to live in the Jia Mansion temporarily. When the planning of the garden was finalized, Jia Cong would make the final decision and pay for it.
