Chapter 621: The Ceremony of Accepting the Marriage
Although the garden was stopped for a while during the New Year holidays, the progress was still quite fast. After all, a large amount of money was spent and the money was earned.
The entire Huifang Garden was incorporated into the garden, and only part of this area needed to be rebuilt. On the contrary, the West Mansion was more troublesome. All the houses that needed to be demolished were demolished, and then the earth was piled up to build mountains and stones were taken to create landscapes. All the pavilions and towers were supervised by the master craftsmen of the Ministry of Works, and the construction was carried out very quickly.
The two chatted with Wang Xifeng for a while and then said goodbye. In fact, they came to pay their respects to Lady Jia, but they just came to mention this matter to Wang Xifeng. After all, such a small matter was not worth a separate trip.
Several days passed in a flash. After being "enlightened" by the retired emperor, the Minister of Rites finally gave up his insistence. So, on the eighth day of May, two mighty teams came to the Jia Mansion again to prepare for the betrothal ceremony tomorrow.
Although Jia Cong was not around, he naturally would not forget the betrothal ceremony.
Especially the betrothal gifts for Baochai and Daiyu, Jia Cong had already made arrangements. Within the scope of etiquette, all kinds of precious items, rare objects, gold and silver, if all were calculated in silver, would probably be a huge amount of two or three hundred thousand.
Although the West Palace is not as wealthy as the East Palace now, the old lady, Jia Zheng, and Mrs. Xing have all made some additions to it.
Mrs. Xing bought some farms and shops under the name of the eldest wife, and Jia Zheng bought a lot of rare books. In order to win over her grandson, the old lady directly opened her private treasury and took out some of her most valuable treasures and put them into the betrothal gift.
Besides this, there was the Imperial Household Department. Given the current state of the imperial court, it certainly didn't have . However, when it came to various precious items, it was definitely not something that any ordinary noble could compare to.
At the suggestion of the two emperors, a lot of various gifts, including rare overseas items, were also included in the betrothal gifts.
These things are simply difficult to measure with silver. Some of them are simply out of stock and cannot be bought even if you want to.
The last one is the one prepared by the Ministry of Rites. In comparison, the betrothal gift prepared by the Ministry of Rites is the simplest, but it is also the most important part that cannot be ignored.
If other betrothal gifts demonstrate "wealth", then the betrothal gifts prepared by the Ministry of Rites demonstrate "nobility". This is not surprising. The betrothal gifts are prepared according to the level of the Crown Prince marrying the Crown Princess. How can the quality be low?
Mrs. Xing, along with Li Wan, Wang Xifeng, and Youshi, spent half the night counting all the betrothal gifts.
It is no exaggeration to say that Wang Xifeng's eyes were shining, and even Li Wan and Youshi showed a bit of envy in their eyes. Money is very tempting. If you are not tempted, it may be that the amount of money is not enough.
A betrothal gift, hundreds of thousands of silver coins, and various treasures of inestimable value. If the Xue family and the Lin family were small families, they could suddenly become rich with this betrothal gift.
"My two sisters are truly the envy of all the girls in the city." Wang Xifeng said with a hint of bitterness.
The people in the Jia family were able to accept the expensiveness and regulations of the betrothal gift. After all, after the stimulation of several previous gifts, this was just another one.
That night, the Jia family held a grand banquet to entertain the distinguished guests. However, after all, there were important things to do the next day, so everyone only ate a little and did not want to get drunk.
The old lady's original intention was to keep the gift-giving a secret from her own Baoyu. After all, if her Baoyu became insane and made a fuss, not only would she be heartbroken, but it would also embarrass these distinguished guests.
After mentioning this to Jia Zheng, he readily agreed. However, after returning home and thinking about it, Jia Zheng felt that it was still not safe. After all, who knew which servant might accidentally spread the word? How could such a thing be completely concealed? So, Jia Zheng came up with a more reliable idea.
Two or three days in advance, Baoyu was summoned to Mengpo Zhai for examination.
After the examination, he found the fault and directly fetched the whip. Jia Zheng was indeed a studious student. Since acquiring the whip, he had been practicing it in various ways, taking it even more seriously than his duties at the Ministry of Works. Now, Jia Zheng could proudly state that he knew exactly what force would cause what kind of injury, how many strokes would require a few days of recuperation, and what kind of beating would alarm the old lady. In short, he was as skilled as a butcher cutting up an ox.
He estimated the strength in his hand, secretly counted the number of times, and carefully beat the girl for five days until the injuries were healed. Only then did he reluctantly put the whip away. After all, if he beat her again, it would be to the extent of alarming the old lady.
Afterwards, Baoyu was taken back and detained in the courtyard to recuperate for five days.
…
At dawn the next day, the main gate of Ningguo Mansion was wide open, and the huge ceremonial guard and the long betrothal team were already prepared.
Since the protagonist Jia Cong was not there, the elders still went on their behalf, just like when they were accepting the marriage proposal. The old lady, Mrs. Xing, and Mrs. You went to the Lin Mansion, while Jia Zheng and some male members of the side branches went to the Xue Family.
The Xue and Lin families also barely rested all night. Not only did they clean up inside and outside, they also checked all the gifts over and over again, fearing that they would miss anything. They also prepared all the dishes for the banquet in advance, and prepared all the red envelopes and reward money for the guests.
When Duke Yansheng and Lady Jia arrived outside the Lin Mansion, Lin Ruhai and some colleagues who came to watch the ceremony were already waiting outside the door.
The two sides exchanged greetings, and then the main gate of the Lin family opened wide to welcome the betrothal team in.
The old lady and other female relatives went directly to the back house, while the others exchanged betrothal gifts in the front yard.
An official from the Ministry of Rites stood beside Duke Yansheng, holding a thick list of betrothal gifts. Every time he finished reading out an item, someone would bring in the corresponding item, and someone from the Lin family would come forward to count it.
The rest was fine, as Jia Cong's betrothal gift was indeed generous, but Lin Ruhai was almost planning to sell all his family's wealth to make up for the dowry, so the difference was not much. But when the official from the Ministry of Rites read out the words, "four jade ruyi ruyi with dragon and phoenix patterns, and a set of enamel plates with dragon and phoenix patterns", Lin Ruhai was dumbfounded.
To be honest, the reason why he wanted so much for the dowry was, firstly, that he loved his daughter. Dowry is a woman's foundation. The richer the dowry, the better life his daughter will have in the future. Secondly, he might also be thinking of using the dowry to suppress the betrothal gift.
It is true that your Jia family is rich, but my Lin family's daughter is also a noble lady, not much worse than your Jia family.
However, other things were easy to deal with, but what could he use to compensate for this thing? As a close minister of Emperor Longxing, Lin Ruhai's family naturally had many things bestowed by the emperor, but these things could not be used as a dowry.
"This bastard!" Lin Ruhai gnashed his teeth in hatred, secretly thinking that he might as well not keep those rare and ancient books he had hidden away...
