Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 363 - 360: It’s a Dusk Ceremony, Not a Wedding Ceremony
After sharing some parent-child time with little Qingyu on the bed, Lin Wanwan pulled her up.
Hearing the noise from inside the room, the voices of Hua Nong and Yun Shang sounded at the door: "Madam, are you up?"
"Yes, you can come in." Lin Wanwan walked to the door, pulled open the latch, and let them in.
Hua Nong, Yun Shang, and Hong Yan entered one by one, and attended to the two as they went to the small bathroom inside the room to freshen up.
After that, Lin Wanwan sat in front of the dressing table, listening to Yun Shang report on the events at home during the four days she was away.
Actually, there wasn’t much going on; the days passed routinely, little Qingyu attended school, and they cleaned the house and looked after it.
However, something was happening within the Lin Family Manor today: Lin Mengxing’s wedding was happening today.
July and August are off-peak for farming; besides fishing, there’s not much work in the fields, so weddings are generally held during these two months.
Lin Wanwan didn’t expect to return right on time, and she was quite happy about it. She almost forgot about this event, but luckily she made it.
Last time Lin Mengxing’s family gave her Golden Cod Fish Roe, Lin Wanwan had thought about making a big cake for his wedding day long ago.
This would be the first local wedding she attended since coming to Great Tang, and she was quite interested in watching the fun.
"Is Lin Mengxing’s house already lively now? Let’s hurry up and finish breakfast so we can go check it out."
Little Qingyu, with her keen ears, also heard and happily raised her head towards Lin Wanwan, saying, "Mother, I want to go, I want to go."
Lin Wanwan shook her head at her, saying, "Isn’t today a school day? You have to go to school."
Little Yu’er immediately pouted, feeling unhappy, "Mother, why do kids have to go to school?"
Lin Wanwan laughed and replied, "Only learning can help you understand things. Without learning, you would become a fool. Does little Yu’er want to be a fool? Then I’ll call you little fool, okay?"
"No, no, no!" Little Qingyu shouted, "I’m not a little fool!"
Although little Qingyu didn’t actually know what a ’little fool’ meant, it was the first time she heard the term. But just from Lin Wanwan’s tone and expression, she could discern the meaning’s good or bad.
Lin Wanwan gleefully said, "Alright, if you don’t want to be a little fool, you have to obediently go to school."
After getting dressed up, Lin Wanwan held little Qingyu’s hand and went downstairs together. Hua Nong brought their breakfast from the kitchen, which was delicious and nutritious bird’s nest lotus seed soup and sliced small steamed buns.
Lin Wanwan hadn’t really enjoyed Hua Nong’s cooking for several days, and seeing the bird’s nest soup and small buns on the table made her appetite grow. Midway through the meal, Lin Wanwan heard lively voices outside the courtyard wall.
"A lot of people outside, what are they doing?"
"Rongrong, go and take a look." Yun Shang instructed the little maid Rongrong to investigate.
Soon, Rongrong ran back, "Madam, many people are going to the ancestral hall to clean it."
Lin Wanwan understood, it’s preparation for the wedding ceremony, but why didn’t they do it earlier and wait until today? It’s puzzling.
As she was about to finish eating, Lin Mengbo’s two kids from next door peeked around the door.
Lin Wanwan waved them over and fed them a small bun each, asking, "Have you had breakfast?"
The older girl nodded with a full mouth, "Yes, we came to find little Qingyu to go to school together." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
Though it’s just two steps away, the children still like to go to school in groups.
Lin Wanwan naturally wouldn’t stop them, smiling as she watched little Qingyu finish her breakfast in a few bites. She held the older girl’s hand with her left hand, linked arms with little Crab with her right, followed by little Rongrong, and then a line of attendant students, heading grandly towards the front courtyard school.
Even just going to school, the little ones managed to create a parade-like atmosphere as if they were going on a spring outing.
After breakfast, Lin Wanwan planned to go to Lin Mengxing’s house to watch the fun.
Hong Yan laughed and said, "Madam, at this time, the house will surely be busy. They might not have the time to entertain you."
"I don’t need them to entertain me, I just want to watch the fun."
Hong Yan said, "In the morning, they must be busy cleaning up. Guests usually arrive in the afternoon. Why not go in the afternoon? If you go now, their house would surely be in chaos."
Lin Wanwan wasn’t specifically informed about wedding customs in Great Tang, and curiously remarked, "Oh, guests come in the afternoon? Then does the bride also arrive in the afternoon?"
No need for Hong Yan to answer, Yun Shang smiled and chimed in, "Madam, although I’ve never been to a wedding, I know weddings are held at dusk, and naturally, the bride is brought back at dusk."
Hong Yan curiously asked, "Madam, you lived in the mountains before. Don’t you know the customs down here?"
Lin Wanwan nodded along, "Yes. My master didn’t teach me, so I truly don’t know. You tell me."
Since she heard the bride is picked up in the evening, Lin Wanwan wasn’t in a hurry to watch the fun. She leisurely went to the ear room, sat on the tatami, and prepared to listen to the two maids explain the customs of Great Tang.
As for Hua Nong, naturally, she carried the plate back to the kitchen to work.
Hong Yan sat kneeling below Lin Wanwan, explaining, "Families down here, when marrying off a daughter, the groom always arrives with brothers and male relatives before dusk to ’capture’ the bride."
"Why capture?"
"A custom, I suppose. For the fun of it, capturing and creating a commotion makes it more festive! When the groom arrives at the bride’s parent’s house, he has to overcome several obstacles to take away the bride. In Qiantang County, grooms often prepare tons of poems to knock on doors, but I’m not sure if rural families do that."
"Surely, they don’t—I’ve never heard of Meng Xing writing poems. He doesn’t even know a single character, how could he write poems?" Yun Shang remarked.
As the three of them chatted, Lin Mengbo’s voice came from the door, "Wan Wan, you’re back! I’ve brought some fresh sea cucumbers for you, found yesterday, and they’ve been nurturing in mud overnight."
Lin Wanwan welcomed Lin Mengbo inside, and Yun Shang went to get the fruit drink. Lin Wanwan seated him on the cushion and inquired, "Cousin Mengbo, I’ve been meaning to ask you, is cousin Meng Xing going to ’capture’ today? Who is he preparing to go with? Can I go along?"
Lin Mengbo chuckled, "Wan Wan, why do you want to follow along for the ’capture’? It’s quite chaotic. Plus, you’re a woman, I’ve never heard of anyone taking a female relative along for a capture, seems it’s not a custom, it’s all about the brothers going."
"Ah." Lin Wanwan was a bit disappointed; she really wanted to join the fun and see for herself, it was a lively marital history!
Lin Mengbo saw her like this and said, "Wan Wan, if you’re truly eager to join, then go; it’s no big deal. Anyway, there’ll be over fifty brothers going with us, one more doesn’t matter."
"Ah, so many people going?"
Lin Mengbo said matter-of-factly, "Of course, or how would it succeed. Besides, on the way back, there’ll be people blocking the path asking for money and gifts; how can we go without enough people to intimidate them? As long as we have plenty of brothers, those people won’t dare to cause trouble."
Lin Wanwan listening felt this was quite similar to the modern custom of blocking cars for wedding money! Turns out this tradition has been popular since the Great Tang!
