An Songyu spent the entire day busy in Jiang Village before returning home to Rongdi in the evening.
By now, the An family home had already taken on a festive atmosphere.
Since the couple hadn’t bought a separate marital home, their bridal room was set up directly in the family house.
All the furniture in An Songlin’s original room had been completely replaced.
The old furniture that had been removed wasn’t wasted either.
An Jianping had people haul it straight back to the village.
Now the entire room was filled with bright red decorations, radiating celebration.
Only the bridal bed itself was still empty.
That had to wait for the eldest aunt on the maternal side to come and perform the bed-making ceremony.
Before An Songyu returned, An Songxiang—who had just gotten off work—not long ago—was already helping prepare things.
The wedding would be held in two days, and most of the items needed for welcoming the bride were already ready.
What they were preparing now were the items to go into the wedding book box.
After washing her hands and changing clothes, An Songyu joined her younger sister in carefully selecting everything.
The lotus seeds, dried longans, and red dates that would go into the book box all had to be meticulously chosen.
The lotus seeds had to be plump and full; the longans had to be intact with their shells; the red dates not only had to be bright red but also uniform in size.
The sisters first made a careful selection, after which Bi Lizhu would pick the best of the best.
After dinner, Bi Lizhu also washed up and tidied herself, then began the task with extra solemnity.
She first reselected the lotus seeds, longans, and red dates that her daughters had already chosen, mainly trying to keep their size and shape as consistent as possible.
Only then did she solemnly take out the book box and line the bottom with a layer of red silk fabric.
This red silk came as part of the book box set when it was purchased and fit perfectly.
The first thing placed on the red silk was the lotus seeds.
The white, round lotus seeds were spread to form a full layer, symbolizing “continuous birth of noble children.”
Although it was now the era of family planning—where the number of children one could have wasn’t up to personal choice—this long-standing custom was still preserved.
Above the lotus seeds, the longans were placed.
Bi Lizhu carefully arranged them into a circle, symbolizing reunion and completeness.
On top of the longans came the red dates. Bi Lizhu tried multiple times before finally arranging them into a heart shape.
This represented “early birth of a noble child.”
At the very top of the book box, the written marriage certificate was placed.
This had been handwritten by An Jianping himself.
The certificate hadn’t been cut at home but was bought together with the book box and then written on afterward.
Its size matched the book box perfectly.
Once everything was placed, Bi Lizhu closed the book box.
Then she carefully affixed the red “double happiness” character to the lid.
Finally, using the red ribbon that had come with the box, she tied a neat, beautiful bow.
The entire book box now looked festive and elegant.
Bi Lizhu lifted the prepared book box and solemnly placed it in her son’s bridal room.
This was one of the important items to be brought along during the wedding procession.
An Songyu and her sister watched attentively the entire time.
Only after Bi Lizhu came out of the bridal room did the two of them finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
Hearing each other’s long exhale, the sisters couldn’t help glancing at one another.
Seeing each other’s expressions, they both burst into laughter.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time the two sisters had participated so closely in a wedding.
Over the next two days, the An family became even busier.
Even An Songyu and her sister were run ragged by their parents’ instructions.
Finally, on the last evening of April—which also happened to be a Friday—
Tomorrow would be An Songlin’s wedding day.
But tonight, there was another equally important ceremony to be held at the An household.
In the afternoon, accompanied by Uncle An, Grandpa An and Grandma An arrived.
As evening approached, other members of the An family who were able to come all arrived as well.
After dinner, An Songlin went to bathe and change into ceremonial clothing.
Meanwhile, under guidance, the rest of the family rearranged the tables and chairs in the living room.
When An Songlin came out, under the direction of the eldest aunt, he solemnly knelt on one knee before An Jianping.
Although the wedding had been discussed and prepared for quite some time, seeing his son like this still gave An Jianping the feeling that his child had truly grown up.
An Songyu came forward carrying the traditional scholar’s cap and red cloth.
Amid the eldest aunt’s continuous blessings, An Jianping carefully placed the cap and red cloth on his son.
At just the right moment, the eldest aunt raised her voice again:
“On this auspicious day, the young master dons the cap!”
“From this day on, the young master builds a family, with happiness and harmony for life.”
“May the young master and young madam’s love be sweet as honey, their life happier than honey itself. May they walk hand in hand toward a bright future, with honor and prosperity forever by their side!”
Everyone around joined in with heartfelt blessings.
From this day onward, An Songlin was truly an adult who had started a family and career.
No longer would he be sheltered from the wind and rain by his parents as before.
After the ceremony, it was time to eat glutinous rice balls.
The elders did not participate in this part.
An Songyu and her sister together handed the freshly cooked rice balls to An Songlin.
He then distributed them one by one to all the siblings and cousins present.
That night, nearly everyone in the An family who could come was there.
There was the older male cousin from Uncle An’s family, the younger cousin from Second Aunt’s family.
The younger cousin and cousin sister from Fourth Uncle’s family.
There was also the cousin sister from Youngest Uncle’s family who already lived with them, and a younger male cousin who had come with his parents today.
The youngest among them was a fifteen-year-old cousin sister.
She was from Youngest Aunt’s family.
Taking the rice ball An Songlin handed her, she cheerfully thanked him:
“Thank you, Cousin Songlin. Congratulations on becoming an adult today.”
Those words made An Songlin’s expression stiffen slightly—even on such a happy occasion.
The older cousins nearby were holding back laughter.
The younger cousins didn’t understand the deeper meaning of the remark.
As for An Songyu—being someone who had lived through more—she naturally understood the implication behind her cousin’s innocent words.
She quickly pulled the younger cousin aside so she wouldn’t get teased later by the others.
In another room, the An family siblings and cousins took advantage of the rare gathering to chat.
Second Aunt, who had married into a neighboring village, spoke first:
“Third Brother, are you planning to return to the hometown to develop?”
“I heard you built four houses at once and even boldly contracted several hundred mu of mulberry-based fish ponds and orchards?”
Youngest Aunt, who hadn’t heard about this before, instantly widened her eyes.
She couldn’t help turning to look at her third brother.
No wonder they dared to look at homes in Hongye Haoting for Songlin’s marriage—this was some serious capital.
“It was only when my son was about to get married that I realized we couldn’t even scrape together enough money to buy a wedding house,” An Jianping said with a helpless expression.
Seeing that his second sister still looked unconvinced, he quickly called to his older brother:
“If you don’t believe it, ask my brother. Back then, I was so desperate I was grabbing at straws—I even thought about asking him to transfer two homestead plots in the village to me.”
“Yes, when Third Brother called me, it really gave me a scare,” An Jianguo laughed honestly.
He didn’t mention at all that An Jianping had changed his mind just a day later.
This almost made Yuan Qionghua roll her eyes on the spot.
If it weren’t for Songlin’s big day today, she would have definitely taken him to task over it.
“Then how did Third Brother later decide to go back to the village to build houses and contract mulberry fields and orchards?” Youngest Aunt asked curiously.
“Contracting orchards was my suggestion,” An Jianmin spoke up first.
“Since everyone’s here today, I’ll explain it all at once.”
“A new fruit wholesale market has just been built over in Liangdi.”
“I’ve already reserved a shop stall there, so the demand for fruit will increase significantly in the future.”
“We’re all siblings. If any of you are interested in working with me, you can do the same as Third Brother’s family and contract orchards.”
“As long as the fruit quality is good, I’ll definitely prioritize buying from our own family.”
(End of Chapter)