Children will always be the first to spread the news. They run in front and behind them; a car with big red flowers tied on it, moved slowly. It"s very conspicuous.
The door opened and Wei Mingyan got down.
Looking at the handsome man standing by the car, the villagers" eyes lit up.
He looks good, the villagers knew that he was good looking, but the usual Hun Zi would always bow to Long-ge, while slowly walking behind. His clothes were sloppy and unwashed, even if it was yellow and smelly, he would still wear it on his body. You can smell the odor of oil from far away.
If it weren"t for the fact that he saved Yi Zhilan in the water, Yi Zhilan would never have liked him. Later, after the two were together, he was urged by Yi Zhilan to not be so sloppy.
But now, he is dressed in a straight suit, with black shiny leather shoes on his feet. A slender figure, with a grinning face. The people-watching were stunned.
It"s really the saying "A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold".
(浪子回头金不换 [làng zǐ huí tóu jīn bú huàn] = A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold; people who didn"t take the right path and change their evil ways are extremely valuable.)
They didn"t expect Hun Zi to come out and look so handsome.
Wei Mingyan helped Aunt Chen, and Uncle Chen gets off the car first. Then he raised his voice to the villagers who were looking at him. “I lost my parents when I was a child, and I relied on the care of the villagers. I used to be young and ignorant and did a lot of wrong things. Here, taking advantage of this wedding day, I would like to apologize to all of you. Today, I won"t accept gifts. I just want to make amends.”
The crowd was in an uproar.
No gifts?! There is still such a good thing in the world!
For a while, the whole crowd was full of praise for Wei Mingyan. When they entered the courtyard, they were shocked to see the fish on the table.
Nowadays, each and every family here were parsimonious when it came to spending, meaning, don"t ever think about stewing fish or cooking a chicken! But this is a whole fish, a whole chicken! How much does it cost?
The villagers sat down in amazement and watched the dishes being served on the table. They were all real fish and meat! They looked straight at the food, it made these people swallow a lot of saliva.
Wei Mingyan went into the house to pick up the bride. There is no rule that you can"t enter without money. But a group of children stopped him at the door. He took out a big bag of candy and sent them off.
(not entering without money = some regions in China have a tradition where the bride"s family or some children would block the groom from entering unless he gives them a red packet/gift/etc. In a friendly teasing manner.)
He followed several villagers with blood ties into the house.
When Aunt Chen got out of the car, she entered the room. She stood at the door to Yi Zhilan"s room. She was the last barrier.
As a matchmaker and an elder, Aunt Chen stopped him and then let him in.
Wei Mingyan entered the room.
On the kang, Yi Zhilan was wearing a beautiful wedding dress and hung her head embarra.s.sedly. He stepped forward and gently took her hand.
(Kang = platform for sleeping that could be warmed up.)
After this, he will be her husband.
“Lan Lan, although I said it long ago, I still want to say it again.”
Wei Mingyan solemnly said, “I must make you the happiest woman in the world, let you follow me to lead a good life. And let our children grow up happily and healthily…”
Yi Zhilan eyes were red. She realized she was at a loss for words. She nodded and whispered, “I believe you.”
The handsome man smiled when he got an answer full of trust. He carefully took out the ring box, took out the beautiful ring inside and put it on the girl"s white finger.
When Yi Zhilan looked at him doubtfully, he replied, “This is a platinum ring, yours and mine.”
He took out another ring and handed it to the girl in the beautiful wedding dress.
“Lan Lan, would you like to help me put it on?”
With tears in her eyes, Yi Zhilan giggled and took the ring, putting it on slowly and seriously on the man"s ring finger.
“In the future, I am married to you.”
“Yes, in the future, you are my wife.”
Wei Mingyan indulged with a smile. Through the wedding veil, he kissed the girl"s forehead.
“I will always protect you.”
“The bride and groom are out!”
“How beautiful!”
Yi Zhilan took the man"s hand and knelt down in front of the elders to offer a toast.
The wedding may be half Chinese and half western, some of which are different, but it is undoubtedly the best wedding that the villagers have ever seen. They bless the couple and envy the Yi family.
This kind of envy reached the climax when Wei Mingyan took out the gold necklace, bracelet, and ring he had already prepared.
Although he felt that the gold necklace was not as beautiful as platinum, three gold wedding tokens were essential. Because he didn"t want Yi Zhilan to wear them, Wei Mingyan bought the ones that are as thick as possible.
These gold ornaments were very heavy. Actually, they aren"t very beautiful, even a little ugly. But every woman present looked at them with burning eyes and yearning.
In the village, new jewelry is enough to kill most people with envy, let alone gold!
When it was the bride price"s turn, the crowd could not even express their wonder.
(bride price = something like a dowry, but it"s given to the bride"s family from the groom, on a wedding day. It depends on how you look at it, but it"s not always about selling a daughter.)
Three thousand yuan!
What does this mean?
In their shabby little mountain village, 300 yuan as a bride price is already a high amount. But Wei Mingyan actually gave 3,000!
That"s 3,000 yuan!
How many things can someone buy with that?
Envious and jealous eyes almost punctured Aunt Yi.
Uncle Yi and Aunt Yi couldn"t react either.
Why, why was it as high as 3000 yuan?!
But right now, so many people are watching… Even if they were confused and wanted to stop the scene, they could only cough a little, pretending to nod calmly.
After drinking the ceremonial tea, Wei Mingyan was obviously very happy. He toasted wine everywhere and his face turned red. The more he did, the more he proved Yi Zhilan"s position in his heart. Aunt Yi completely forgot how much she disliked him before. At the moment, the more she looked at this niece"s husband, the more satisfied she was.
After a few greetings, she took the 3,000-yuan given by Wei Mingyan, and went into the small room to find her niece; who was looking out through the window with a smile.
“Lan Lan, you keep the money. It will be convenient for you to have if there is any need for it in the future.”
Yi Zhilan didn"t accept it. “Aunt, you can take the money. Mingyan told me that he still has a lot. You and uncle deserve it.”
As she said this, her eyes turned red again and her voice choked up. “My parents died early. If it weren"t for you both, I wouldn"t have lasted a few days. You"ve been busy for most of your life trying to raise tuition fees for me, it"s time for you to relax.”
Speaking of this, thinking of all these years, Aunt Yi carefully nurtured a little baby girl into a clever and sensible girl. She became a college student and got married immediately. Aunt Yi"s eyes also became red.
“You listen to your aunt. Your uncle and I are still young and have a long way to go. If you really miss us, you can come back and visit. We really can"t accept the money. This is 3,000 yuan. Everyone in the village who cares about their daughters returns the bride price as a dowry. If your aunt and uncle take this money, I"m sure Mingyan wouldn"t be happy.”
“No.” Yi Zhilan was a little embarra.s.sed, and laughed a little with pride, “to put it bluntly, he never intended to take back this money, he said …”
The girl blushed shyly and said in a small voice, “He said, that if I could marry him… it would be the biggest dowry.”
In fact, the original words of Wei Mingyan is that; if he can marry her, and if there is a child in her belly, that would be the best dowry.
Yi Zhilan"s worries about the future have all disappeared at the moment, not to mention, she still has some small expectations.
Her child with Mingyan, what would he or she be like?
The two refused, but Yi Zhilan refused to accept it. In the end, Aunt Yi just accepted the money.
“Uncle and Aunt won"t use it. We will keep the money at home. If you want to use it, you can take it from here.”
Knowing her Aunt and Uncle"s characters, they would never accept this money. Yi Zhilan cleverly nodded and agreed.
Because she had to rush to school, in the afternoon; under the eyes of Uncle Yi and Aunt Yi, they got in the car and set foot on the road to City A.