Early the next morning, Xu Ping was called up, and Xiuxiu was waiting for him to dress up. At this time, Lin Wensi was mostly preparing for the New Year in the capital, and Xu Ping had the highest status in Zhuangshang, and he was indispensable for Lu Song's wedding. Lu Song and Li Si's sister-in-law both moved from other places and had no relatives in the local area, as the main family, Xu Ping wanted to be the elder of the two to officiate at their wedding.

Before dawn, the team to welcome relatives has set off, Lu Song rode Xu Ping's horse, and Zhuang Shang went to Zhongmu County to rent a sedan chair, which was carried by Zhuang Ke to Baisha Town to welcome relatives. Because of the four festivals, there are gongs, drums, and suona instruments on Xu Pingzhuang, although they are not complete, and a group of villagers have barely come up with a band.

Waiting for the welcoming team to leave, Xu Ping took Xu Chang to arrange fireworks in front of the village to welcome the relatives. Although it has not yet reached the ideal explosive danger, the firecrackers made in the village can also sound at this time, but they have not yet been made into firecrackers, but a few large explosions are arranged in a row in front of the door. The fireworks are relatively simple, they are all experimental products anyway, and more than twenty of them are placed on the side in several rows.

After cleaning up, Xiuxiu waited for the tea and dinner, and Xu Ping sat in the main hall and waited patiently.

This is a very wonderful experience, Xu Ping himself is not married, it is said that he cannot marry others, but in the countryside, all customs give way to the authority of his owner. Fortunately, everything is simple in this wedding, otherwise it would be enough for Xu Ping to have a headache.

As a widow, Li Si's sister-in-law got married for the second time, and she was not suitable for big things, everything was just for a good time. According to the customs of this time, it is not difficult for a widow to marry, and a second marriage will not be looked down upon. On the contrary, because she is a widow, the man pays less dowry, the woman has more dowry, and the wedding simply spends less money, and the widow with good conditions is still a hot commodity among the people.

In the Song Dynasty, the marriage customs were still based on the ancient six rites, but they have developed towards practicality. For example, the first ceremony is the so-called marriage book in the world, the man will clearly list his property on the post, and the woman's reply will clearly list the dowry brought when he got married, which is quite the meaning of Xu Ping's premarital property notarization in his previous life. In the future, once the divorce is obtained, it is the official so-called "reconciliation" at this time, and the property of the man and woman will be divided according to this. Therefore, after the husband and wife get married, the greater the proportion of the woman's dowry in the joint property of the husband and wife, the greater the right to speak, and it is not much different from that of later generations.

Just when Xu Ping drank two cups of tea in the hall and was a little anxious, the sound of gongs, drums and suona came from outside the door. When the bankers heard the sound, they all ran out, and Bian Xiuxiu followed to see the excitement. This wedding is different from the last Xu Chang's wedding, that time it was handled by Xu Zheng and his wife, and due to some special reasons, it was sloppy, but this time it was much more formal.

Xu Ping, as the head of the family at this time, couldn't run around, so he had to sit in the hall alone and wait.

When the team arrived at the gate, Xu Chang commanded the villagers to light fireworks. Due to the poor proportion of gunpowder, the firecrackers only made a few muffled sounds, and the fireworks in broad daylight were much inferior.

But these are all things that people at this time have never seen before, hearing the noise, watching the fireworks, and cheering together. Looking up at the remaining gunsmoke in the air, the aftertaste is endless.

A mother-in-law helped Li Si's sister-in-law down from the sedan chair and said to her: "Fourth sister-in-law, look, it's so lively!" In the countryside within a hundred miles of the distance, there is no one as prosperous as Xujiazhuang, and your newly married Langjun has a ministry in the village, so you can live a good life with peace of mind from then on. ”

Fourth sister-in-law Li smiled slightly and did not speak.

Because Lu Song is cautious, although he did not become a guard, he is also a guy in the village, and he has 50 yuan more than ordinary bankers a month. Now the scale of Zhuangzi is small and it can't be seen, if it continues to develop at this rate, a few years later, Zhuangzi will develop, and Lu Song will be a figure with a head and a face, and the so-called rising tide will lift all boats.

Seeing that Li Si's sister-in-law got off the sedan chair, a group of Zhuang guests surrounded her and Lu Song and shouted to block the door for money. At this time, when it came to the last step, it was not the time to be stingy, Lu Song took out two large handfuls of copper coins and scattered them indiscriminately towards the crowd. The Zhuang guests all went to grab the copper coins, and Lu Song led Li Si's sister-in-law into the village with Tongxin brocade.

Xu Chang and the mother-in-law who sent off the relatives led the two relatives to the front of the hall and worshiped heaven and earth. This first worship should be to worship the ancestors according to the rules at this time, Lu Song is a floating guest, and there are no ancestors to worship, so he has to take heaven and earth as his ancestors, and he barely counts. Then he was led to Xu Ping, and the couple bowed to him. This worship was originally to worship his in-laws, but Lu Song didn't, so he had to let Xu Ping, the main family, reluctantly take on this role. According to the law at this time, the Lord's family is the head of the family, and it is reasonable. After that, the newlyweds will pay their respects, and the ceremony will be completed.

This is a rural place, everything is not exquisite, and Li Si's sister-in-law is a second marriage, so she wants to be simple, and all other red tape is omitted.

After the ceremony, Lu Song led the bride back to his small courtyard outside the village, where the bride could rest. Originally, there was a custom of spreading the tent, when the bride's family showed off the dowry, the new house was guarded by the mother's family to prevent others from entering. Fourth sister-in-law Li is the only one in the family, and she has no elders, and there are children and other juniors, all of which are also omitted.

Sent Li Si's sister-in-law back to the new house, accompanied by Xiuxiu and Su'er, the two little daughters, Lu Song returned to the village courtyard and accompanied the villagers to drink and celebrate.

Although Lu Song has already started a house outside the village, he is fundamentally a guest of Xujiazhuang, and he has the status of master and servant with Xu Ping, which is not considered to be a separate family. At least in the legal sense, he and the Xu family are living together and sharing wealth, and they have not changed their registration and set up another account. All ceremonies, including the celebratory banquet, were still held in Xu Ping's courtyard.

Seeing Lu Song coming in, Sun Qilang jumped up from the stool and shouted, "Lu Song, from now on, you will be regarded as an adult!" Come over and have a bowl with a few of our brothers! ”

Xu Ping hurriedly stopped: "Don't be in a hurry to pour the groom's wine first!" The send-off is still here, and a few of you have come over to toast them and thank them for sending the bride! ”

Sun Qilang applauded, and Gao Daquan came to the main table with Lu Song on the left and right, and toasted to the people who sent off their relatives.

Li Si's sister-in-law has no relatives, and there are two elders near her home who come to see off her relatives, one is a grocery store at home, known as Zheng Guanren, and the other is Song Xue, who runs a bookstore. The bookstore does not sell books, but writes letters and various documents on behalf of others, and doubles as a notarization of various civil contracts. There is also a matchmaker and a tooth wife, who is responsible for supporting the sedan chair for Li Si's sister-in-law. These people are willing to come, one is that Li Si's sister-in-law is usually very popular, and the other is that Xu Ping's Zhuangzi has a good reputation around at this time, and everyone is willing to come to make friends, not to mention that there is endless wine in the village.

After filling the wine, Xu Ping took the bowl and saluted: "A glass of thin wine is not a tribute, thank you to the two elders and your mother-in-law for their kindness, hard work all the way!" ”

Everyone drank the wine, and the three small leaders of Xu Chang and Gao Daquan Sun Qilang also came up to salute, and everyone began to eat and drink.

After three rounds of drinking, Zheng Guanren, Song Xuezhi and the two mothers-in-law got up to say goodbye. According to the custom at this time, the woman's relatives had to go back after drinking two glasses of wine, and could not eat and drink to their heart's content at the man's house. Xu Ping didn't stay long, and asked Xu Chang to prepare a gift for each of them, which was nothing more than wine, meat, fruit, etc., and sent these people out of the village gate, and thanked them repeatedly.

In the countryside, if you want to be a character with a head and a face, in addition to your natural identity, you have to let others know you, then you must either be a wicked person to make people fear you, or be a good person to make people respect you. With Xu Ping's temperament, he can't be a wicked person, so he works hard to be a good person and earn a good reputation among his neighbors.

Send the people who sent their relatives away, there are no outsiders in the village, and all the villagers let go of eating and drinking. At this time, the New Year is approaching, and the atmosphere of the festival is getting stronger and stronger, and everyone has no scruples about drinking.

Sun Qilang called Lu Song to the table with Gao Daquan and Xu Chang, pressed his head and poured three bowls of wine first, and said in his mouth: "Since tonight, someone has warmed your bed, but our brothers still have to boil it!" Let's not talk about it in the future, but tonight we must get you drunk, so that you can't climb into the bed of the Hun family, and also let out the evil anger in our hearts! ”

Lu Song drank the wine and said to Sun Qilang: "Seventh brother, why didn't you say that when you got married?" Don't you lie to me being honest? ”

Sun Qilang blushed: "You bird's beak!" Even if you can compare? He is the master of the family to manage the village here, how is it the same? But we're usually brothers! ”

Xu Chang smiled: "Qilang speaks upside down! A few of us get together is fate, what's the difference? Full of nonsense, drink three bowls of sober and sober first! ”

Several people drank together, but Xu Ping was a little bored on the side.

His identity is there, no matter how amiable he is, others can't let go of him together. This is also different from the status of the leader and subordinates in the previous life, he is the master of the family, others are hired, and there are etiquette and legal constraints. After barely drinking two bowls of wine, Xu Ping took care of the lack of wine, went back to his small courtyard, and let a group of villagers in the village enjoy themselves outside.

When he arrived in the small courtyard, listening to the noise outside, Xu Ping felt bored. Entertainment is scarce at this time, especially in the countryside, and there is not much to do as soon as the sun goes down.

After sitting for a while, Xu Ping lit the lamp and took the book he brought with him to read.

This is a collection of the imperial examination system he bought in the capital a few days ago, in addition to the scriptures, he read these imperial examination questions to pass the time.

At this time, the imperial examination was still from the Tang system, mainly based on the high grades of the endowment, and the other items were mainly based on following the rules and not making mistakes, and it was difficult to distinguish between good and bad. Fu is not only a rhyme, can see the literary style, but also has a certain length, can write a certain content, just right.

The more he reads these fu, the more Xu Ping feels that this is somewhat similar to the material questions in his previous life's political class. Although the questions are ever-changing, in any case, the central idea of the buckle revolves around a few principles, and most of them do not come out of a few classic theories of Confucianism. Xu Ping's task is to summarize a few universally applicable points from these real questions before the next imperial examination, and use them as the central idea when he participates in the imperial examination in the future. Just like the dialectics, contradictions, materialism, etc., no matter what the question is, the answer is always inseparable from these few items, and it can always be buckled.

Although the imperial examinations in the Tang and Song dynasties were based on Confucianism, they were not absolute, and there were several other exams such as Taoism and Legalism in the classics, and the role of reading scriptures was not great. And at this time, there is also a solution to the question during the exam, that is, after the exam paper is sent, if the candidate feels that the exam question has not been seen and does not know what classic it comes from, he can ask the examiner to solve the question, explain the meaning of the source of the question, and then write the answer sheet.

At this time, when preparing for the imperial examination, it is important to understand its spirit, and it is useless to memorize it by rote.

Unconsciously, in the middle of the night, the noise outside continued, and Lu Song had already been irritated and sent back to the new house.

Xiuxiu and Su'er came back, and they played together in the courtyard by lighting the immature small fireworks made by Xu Ping.

Some of them couldn't light up, but they just turned around twice on the ground, and the two little girls laughed and scolded twice together, and went to order the next one.

Xu Ping was in the study, watching Xiuxiu and Su'er play with the collection of gifts, and suddenly felt that their happy time had left him. In the past six months, he has done a lot of things, suddenly matured, became an adult, lost a lot of fun, had a lot of troubles, and the happy days of childhood are gone.