The next day, early in the morning, Shen's family changed into their new clothes for the New Year, and also brought out the hairpin that Zhou Zhanggui had brought to wear on Zi Qing.

  "Mother, I think I'll give it to Second Aunt; the bride will look even more beautiful wearing it." Shen's wife poked Zi Qing twice with her finger and turned to leave.

  Zi Qing only knew that today, her big brother would take her and second brother to see off the bride. They would probably stay at Second Aunt's house tonight as it was too far to return. Shen Shi reminded Zi Fu to take good care of his younger siblings.

  When Erzi Qing and her family arrived, San Popo was preparing to open Xia Yu's face. She first took a boiled hot egg and rolled it back and forth on Xia Yu's face, then took a thin thread and rubbed it back and forth on her face. San Popo gritted her teeth, and the pain made Er Gu's mouth twist in agony. After opening Xia Yu's face, the sky had already brightened, and it was time to put on makeup. The person invited to do the makeup was someone Erzi Qing didn't know, but later she heard that it was Old Master's cousin's daughter-in-law, a very capable person. First, she plucked Xia Yu's eyebrows, using some tool that Erzi Qing couldn't see clearly, then drew her eyebrows with a burnt wooden stick. The lip color was applied by rubbing red paper several times, and the rouge was first moistened with some water before being applied to the face, carefully spreading it evenly. It looked much better than Erzi Qing had imagined, still quite delicate. Erzi Qing had always thought that ancient brides' makeup was just a thick layer of red rouge piled on their faces, like a monkey's buttocks.

  After finishing her makeup, she started combing her hair. Zi Qing took out the pair of embroidered shoes and Qiu Yu snatched them over, asking where such beautiful shoes were bought from. Zi Qing said: "Someone brought them from the capital, Second Auntie, you have to remember, these are a gift from me to you."

  Things from the capital are just different, the style is good-looking, the workmanship is exquisite, and the materials are superior. Of course, wearing it has a different effect. Amidst everyone's admiration, Xia Yu began to change clothes, wearing yesterday's red cotton-padded jacket, with a big red new wedding dress outside, embroidered with dragon and phoenix auspiciousness. After this fuss, the wedding sedan chair had already arrived at the door.

  Xia Yuduan sat on the bed, Zeng Ruiqing had just set off firecrackers and welcomed the guests who came to attend the wedding into the house. Tea was served first, and the children who came to attend the wedding all received a red envelope. At this time, the guests from the village also started coming in one after another, and it was time to start eating lunch. The lunch did not have the braised pork of last night's banquet, but steamed large pieces of meat, and the quality of the dishes was slightly inferior to that of the banquet last night.

  After dinner, the old man and Tian Shi sat in the main hall. Tian Shi's eyes turned red again, choking back tears, as did Xia Yu. The newlyweds were about to bid farewell to their parents, kowtowing three times. Tian Shi gave the groom a red envelope. Zeng Ruiqing carried Xia Yu out of the door, with Xia Yu already covered in a red veil embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in water.

  Zeng Ruixiang set off firecrackers at the gate, and Old Master and Tian's family saw off the guests at the gate. The banquet was over, and except for Old Master and Tian's family, everyone else followed into the village. It turned out that they were going to the ancestral hall, but at this time, the female guest was not allowed in. Zeng Ruixiang set off a string of firecrackers when the newlyweds entered the gate of the ancestral hall. After the bride finished worshiping, she was carried out by her elder brother and got on the flower sedan chair. Zeng Ruixiang set off another string of firecrackers, and at this time, the drummers and musicians began to play. Those who sent off the wedding party were all unmarried younger generations in their families. Shen's family was a bit worried about Ziying, but Ziying strongly requested to follow along, so Shen's family could only remind her again and again.

  The ones who sent off the relatives were Autumn Jade, Zi Ping, and Zi Qing's family of three, Spring Jade's family of three, Mao and eldest daughter Guiying. After leaving the village, the band stopped playing. The groom Zhou Tianqing walked beside the sedan chair, on the other side was Autumn Jade. Zi Qing felt that it was really far away. Several children took turns sitting in a rickshaw, one by one, until they reached a single-plank bridge. Zi Qing looked down and said she didn't dare to pass, her legs were trembling, and she was really shaking. The single-plank bridge seemed very high above the water surface, and the water was flowing loudly, making her dizzy. It wasn't easy for people to push the rickshaw either. In the end, they had to find someone to carry them across. Autumn Jade even laughed and said, "Fortunately, she's only seven years old. When she grows up, she'll have to marry into another family."

  The sun was setting, and finally, they saw the Bridge Village. The trumpeter began to blow his trumpet, and they entered the village. The second house on the right was Zhou Tianqing's home. The white courtyard wall was very eye-catching, with "Fu Di" engraved on it. The gate was pasted with red couplets, firecrackers went off, and the groom carried the bride into the house. Their courtyard took up quite a bit of land, and inside, there was a stone path paved with pebbles. Zi Qing turned her head back, and saw that the gate was very high, with eaves on the wall and wild grass growing on it. On the lintel above the gate, there were four characters: "Ji Shan Ren Jia" (A Family of Accumulated Goodness). The east and west wings of the house were not small either. After entering the main hall, even the children received a red envelope with two copper coins inside.

  The relatives of the bride's family were sitting in the main hall, when the master of ceremonies began to shout, "First bow to heaven and earth, second bow to the ancestors, third husband and wife bow to each other." After that, they sent them into the bridal chamber. The bride could only sit foolishly in the new room. Autumn Jade secretly took some food and asked Zi Qing to go and make a disturbance, afraid of being seen as a joke. It seemed like it hadn't been long before the outside became noisy, and the crowd surrounded the groom and came in. Zi Qing saw that her uncle had used a pole to lift up Er Jie's veil, and Er Jie's gentle lowering of her head dazzled her uncle's eyes.

  The wine party started soon, and the groom's family was having a formal dinner. Zi Qing and others were also invited to sit at a table, and the groom's two brothers accompanied them to toast. Then the bride came out, and she had to kneel down to pay respects to her elders in the family and relatives' families, and receive their blessings. Zi Qing thought it was just like last night, not very interesting, so he looked around at the house, which was about the same size as his old house. It also had a hall with two rooms on each side, a kitchen in the back, and two more rooms. The back door led to another family's house. In the middle of the courtyard, many tables were set up for the banquet.

  At night after dark, at home except for the red candles, Zi Qing also saw his uncle's younger brother holding a stool in the middle of the hall standing up, wondering what he was going to do. It turned out that in the middle of the hall hung a three-flower lamp, with wicks in all three directions, shining brightly inside the house. It seems that the Zhou family's conditions were indeed much better than the Zeng family's before.

  At this time, the relatives at home were making a fuss about the bridal chamber, and everyone was cheering. The bride took out dried fruits from under the quilt for everyone to eat, which were just dates and peanuts, and also took out two dry pomelos. This child didn't know what it meant, so she asked Zifeng, and it turned out that locally they called it "ganzi", with "gan" having the same pronunciation as "sweet". The groom took over the ganzi, peeled it and ate a slice, and everyone asked: "Is it sweet?"

  "Sweet, really sweet." However, Zi Qing looked at the dried-up thing and estimated that it wouldn't taste good. It was also a wonder how Tian's family managed to preserve it until now. The crowd started teasing the newlyweds, with several people using pot bottom ash to smear the bride and groom's faces. No one knew what time it was when they were shouted out to go for a midnight snack. Later, everyone found a place to sleep randomly.

  The next morning, Ziyu was woken up early. It turned out that Xiayu had gotten up early to cook breakfast and set the table. The grandparents were seated in the main hall, while the newlyweds still had to kneel down. Today was the day they would change their address, and the grandmother would give them some money for changing their address. Yesterday's gift was a meeting gift, so Xiayu put away the red envelope and invited the grandparents to sit down. She stood aside herself. Because it was the first day and there were still people from the bride's family around, Mrs. Zhou hurriedly asked Xiayu to take a seat. Ziyu and the other eight children sat at one table, eating mostly leftovers from yesterday.

  Zi Qing saw the bride wearing a new red velvet jacket and her hair was styled in a round bun. After breakfast, Qiu Yu took Zi Qing and several others back home, while Xia Yu reluctantly sent them off at the village entrance.