The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

The aristocratic weddings of the Zhou and Qin dynasties had their own set of rules, such as the betrothal, the name, the marriage proposal, and the betrothal. Heifu had completed these procedures in the past few months: he asked General Wang Jian to be his matchmaker. Wang and Heifu had a good relationship, so Wang Jian readily agreed.

But the following betrothal and marriage proposal were a bit awkward. After Ye agreed to the marriage, Wang Jian had to ask Heifu about the woman's birth date and date of birth. Heifu had to take the woman's name and birth date to the ancestral temple for divination...

In this regard, Heifu, who had been a poor peasant for eight generations, could only roll his eyes.

"Ancestral temple, what is that?"

He could only repair an ancestral temple in his new house and fill in the cheap father and ancestors he had never met.

He knew the name of his cheap father, but he didn't know the names of the generations before him. His mother couldn't answer him, so Heifu could only make up stories with his eyes closed.

So he wrote on the tablet with a big stroke of his pen:

"My grandfather's name is Chongba, my great grandfather's name is Wusi, my great-great grandfather's name is Chuyi..."

In this way, at least four tablets were gathered to deal with the Naji ceremony. However, these strange generals Zhang Cang was stunned. He remembered the "abacus" that Heifu asked the craftsmen to make, and thought it was a family tradition. He asked curiously:

"Your grandfather and father are both good at mathematics?"

Heifu shook his head: "My family is poor and I have no surname. I took my name at random, either my uncle, my uncle, or directly according to my date of birth."

Zhang Han, Zhang Cang and others looked at each other, wanting to laugh, but couldn't. They felt more and more that it was not easy for Heifu to get to where he is today...

At the same time, they felt that compared with Chongba, Wusi, and Chuyi, "Heifu" sounded like a formal name.

"During the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Huan of Zhou was called Heijian, and Duke Cheng of Jin was called Heitun..." The erudite Zhang Cang began to research, his fat face full of seriousness.

According to the etiquette, on the night of the wedding, the man's family should "provide wine and food to call the villagers and colleagues", and the villagers and colleagues should bring gifts to congratulate, and at the same time, they should gather carriages to help Heifu to welcome the bride. Zhang Han, Zhang Cang, Gong Ao and other friends and old subordinates all arrived to help Heifu.

Today, Heifu wore a set of Juebian, black clothes, silk skirts, and black belts, which were the groom's attire. He rode in a black painted carriage, and Zhang Cang, who was skilled in etiquette and acted as a "banner", sat in the carriage. There were two auxiliary carriages behind, driven by Zhang Han and Cheng Shang, who had higher status. In addition, there was a woman's carriage decorated with curtains, driven by Jing.

A group of people drove a high carriage and drove to Neishiteng's mansion. It was almost dusk. There were torches in front and music behind. The people who had just finished shopping on the roadside knew that a noble was going to get married, and they stopped to bow and congratulate.

Heifu did not strictly follow the etiquette of this era. He asked Gong Ao, Ji Ying and others to distribute paper-wrapped red sugar to the people on the roadside from the car behind to thank them for their support, just as wedding candy. This move triggered a cheer. The children shouted for candy and followed the wedding car happily until they arrived outside Neishiteng's mansion...

The banisher Zhang Cang got off the car and reported. After a while, Neishiteng came to the gate in a black dress.

Perhaps because his only daughter was going to get married, Neishiteng, who agreed to the marriage, looked very bad and had a stern face, but he still bowed to the west according to etiquette. Heifu hurriedly got off the car and bowed to the east in return.

With one step and one bow, they finally entered the gate of the Ye family's ancestral temple. Heifu presented the wild goose he had held for a long time as a gift, and bowed again, which meant reporting to the ancestors of the Ye family that he was going to marry their granddaughter.

Ye Teng said slowly: "The Ye family originated from the Mi surname of Chu State, Zhuanxu is the distant ancestor, and the Ye Gong Zhuliang of the Spring and Autumn Period is respected as the ancestor."

"Everyone says that Ye Gong likes dragons, and he likes a husband who looks like a dragon but is not a dragon."

"I admire your talent, but I still feel strange when I think of you marrying my daughter... I just hope you can treat her well."

After sighing, Ye Teng made way, revealing the bride standing outside the temple gate waiting.

It was not the bright red dress favored by later generations, but a plain dress corresponding to Heifu's black dress, with a pale edge and wide sleeves. A maid helped to carry it behind her. Today, Ye Zijin had a woman's hairstyle, with gold and jade ornaments all over her head, but only light makeup on her face. A few steps away, Heifu could only see her face above the bridge of her nose, because the bride held a feathery "magpie fan" to cover her mouth and nose.

This magpie fan is equivalent to the red veil in later generations. Fortunately, Heifu could see her eyes, which were wise and smart, and there was a hint of shyness when their eyes met.

After another round of admonitions from her father and mother, the bride bowed to her parents and ancestors, followed Heifu, and walked out step by step.

Ye Teng did not see her out, standing in the temple, feeling a little lost.

Once my daughter leaves home, she will belong to someone else's family...

"The ancestors of the Ye family, I only hope that the decision I made is the right one!"

...

"The night is still long, the light of the courtyard is bright. I think of the gentleman, wearing a black robe and a purple skirt. That beautiful Meng Jiang, the sound of a phoenix is coming. Her face is like Shunhua, and she is like Qingyang. I will hold your hand and live with you forever..."

The groom has brought the bride back to the mansion, and the melodious wedding music resounds inside and outside the mansion.

As a new noble in Xianyang, the wedding of the right general Heifu is very lively. Although there are some guests with bad intentions who want to see this poor boy make a fool of himself in the ceremony, with the help of Zhang Cang, a scholar who is proficient in etiquette and music, as the "guest", this aristocratic wedding banquet is solemn and grand, and no one can find fault with it.

The wedding etiquette is complicated, but every step is indispensable. Because it is quite different from later generations, Heifu also feels very novel.

For example, from the middle of the gate of Heifu's house to the main hall of the wedding banquet, the bride still said nothing, holding a magpie fan, and followed Heifu step by step. After arriving at the main hall, Heifu turned around and bowed to her, and the bride returned the bow.

This was arranged by Zhang Cang, "When the wife arrives, the husband bows to the wife to enter." In every wedding, the husband bows to the bride first, and then enters the room to complete the ceremony.

The color tone of the wedding hall is mainly black and white. A modern person who doesn't know the preferences of the Qin people might think that this is a funeral! The groom is in black and the bride is in plain clothes, which is elegant and solemn, and has a bit of a suit and wedding dress feeling. They sit at the same table.

The first thing that starts is "rejecting the fan". Heifu invites the bride to sit down and takes the magpie fan she has been holding for a long time, which is equivalent to lifting the veil in later generations.

Behind the colorful feathers was a beautiful girl's face, with the purity of a seventeen-year-old girl, and the woman's hair accessories made her charming.

Seeing this, the guests also praised the "talented man and beautiful woman". Of course, it is unknown whether anyone secretly cursed "black pig pushing white cabbage". Heifu didn't care, and even couldn't wait.

The waiter brought a copper basin filled with clear water and washed the hands of the two.

The two hands reached in together. Heifu's hands were black and Ye Zijin's hands were white. The copper basin was not big, so it was inevitable that they touched each other. When their skin touched, Heifu found that the bride's face was a little red under the light of the candle...

After washing their hands, they first ate the sticky millet rice after cooking, and then ate together. Cut a thin piece of roasted pork, dip it in sauce and suck it, then rinse their mouths with rice wine, and then came to the last procedure: drinking from the wedding.

The gourd was split into two, each containing wine. The two took it, and then faced each other for the first time, looking into each other's eyes. They did not exchange cups like in later generations, but just exchanged the gourd wine in their hands and drank it all!

The taste buds tasted bitterness, but after swallowing it, it was sweet aftertaste. The gourd is bitter, and the wine it is used to hold must be bitter. The gourd was split into two, symbolizing that the couple was united by the wedding and shared the joys and sorrows.

Hei Fu found that the bride's red lips were wet after drinking, and there were still some wine beads at the corners of her mouth. She licked it gently without making a sound, and found that Hei Fu was staring at her. She smiled slightly and returned to her quiet and solemn appearance.

After drinking, amid the noise of the guests, the bride and groom stood up, and the foreplay came to an end. The only thing left was "餕 (jùn) 余設袵 (rèn)", which is usually called the bed-closing ceremony, and they officially became husband and wife.

…

The servant came out with a candle, and the door was gently closed. After the snickering gradually faded away, only two people were left in the room.

In the bedroom, tripods, vases and other food utensils were displayed, and dozens of incense candles as thick as arms illuminated the bridal chamber.

Hei Fu looked back at the bride sitting on the wedding couch, twisting her hands, and silently. Her "wedding dress", that is, the scenery dress she wore outside, had been taken off by the maid, leaving only the plain white black dress, which was reflected by the candlelight, making people's heart move.

He also took off his heavy outer clothes, walked over and smiled: "From the time I personally came to pick you up until now, you haven't said a word. Don't you want to marry me?"

"That's not the case."

Ye Zijin hurriedly explained: "It's just that I didn't dare to say much during the wedding ceremony, for fear of being laughed at by the guests."

Then, perhaps to mediate the ambiguous and awkward atmosphere, she told a joke that was widely circulated in the Central Plains.

A man in Wei State married a new bride. As soon as the bride got on the carriage, she asked, "Whose horses are those?" The driver said, "They are borrowed." The bride told the driver, "Hit the horses on the sides, not the one in the middle."

When the carriage arrived at her husband's house, the bride, as soon as she was helped off the carriage, told the bridesmaid, "Go put out the fire in the stove, be careful of fire."

She walked into the house and saw a stone mortar on the ground, so she said, "Move it out of the window, it's blocking people from walking back and forth."

When the people in her husband's family heard this, they couldn't help laughing at her. There was nothing wrong with these three sentences, but they were inevitably ridiculed because the bride had not yet married into her husband's family, but she acted like a hostess and said things she shouldn't have said.

"I don't think the new bride of Wei State is funny."

Hei Fu calmly sat down beside the bride and said, "Perhaps she loves her fiancé deeply, and has regarded herself as the hostess before the wedding ceremony is completed."

"My dear..." The bride used this title for the first time. She lowered her head and said, "My dear looks very opinionated, not like a talkative woman. I don't want to annoy you."

"It depends on what you say. In the boudoir, I want to hear you talk more."

Hei Fu, who is as dark on the outside and sweet on the inside as brown sugar, began to show his special skills. He kept praising the bride for her pleasant voice. He couldn't forget it after hearing it for the first time on Shangsi Festival. He also praised her face and posture that became more and more beautiful as she grew up.

The bride's face became redder and redder, and Hei Fu's hands became more and more restless as he praised her. He held her little hand or touched her hair, and he got closer and closer, and his breathing became more and more rapid. Of course, the next step was to complete the last procedure in a natural way.

Fear, worry, shyness, and all kinds of emotions made the bride grab Heifu's hand around her waist to stop him from taking the next step.

"What?" Heifu already held the beauty in his arms and whispered in her ear: "Do you want me to blow out the candles?"

"Don't..." The bride was very nervous, but she couldn't help laughing when she heard this, and she couldn't help but throw herself into Heifu's arms and laughed for a long time.

"What are you laughing at?" Heifu felt puzzled.

The girl looked up at his bronze face. Although Heifu was dark, he was not ugly. On the contrary, he had some masculine beauty that Qin people appreciated.

She looked away: "Too rude, I dare not say it."

"Hurry up." Heifu didn't let her go and hugged her waist again. He became more and more excited.

"If I say it, I hope you won't blame me."

"Don't blame me, don't blame me. What can't be said between husband and wife in the boudoir?" Heifu liked the current atmosphere.

After getting Heifu's assurance, Ye Zijin leaned close to his ear and whispered something.

"I'm afraid that if I turn off the candles and it's dark in the room, I won't be able to see my beloved..."

Heifu was stunned at first, but then he reacted.

"Okay!"

He stood up and stared at the innocent girl, her mischievous eyes, her beautiful face, her slender neck, and her slender waist under her black clothes...

Heifu was so angry that he didn't blow out the lights. He pulled the curtain of the bed, pushed her weak shoulders, and pressed her on the bed.

Although his hands were gentle, his words were very fierce:

"How dare you laugh at your husband's dark complexion? Today, I will let you see what is really dark!"

...

On the wedding night, the lights in the bedroom were on until dawn...