Chapter 298: My Husband Will Come to Marry Me on a White Horse
The snow had stopped.
The snow on the ground was thick.
After returning home to wash up and rest a little, the Jiang Family headed to The Dong Family.
This was a major event.
Jiang Feng was the eldest son of the Jiang Family.
Normally, he should have been the first to marry.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Yu married first.
But that was fine too; they could bring their in-law, Meng Qingshe, along to propose marriage.
Jiang Changtian also invited Censor He. Censor He was an upright man, a rare and eccentric figure in the Imperial Court.
He was one of the few people who could scold the Emperor and still be able to jump around.
This showed he was extremely clever; even when he was scolding people, he likely scolded them right to the Emperor’s heart.
On a rare day off, Censor He had originally intended to stay home and accompany his wife.
He did not like socializing either; ever since he learned that the He Family might be executed to the ninth degree, he had been annoyed by interacting with everyone.
He spent every day thinking about how to change his family’s fate, while also calling his nephew home every day to lecture him.
This morning, he was at home scolding his nephew again, “Jiang Feng is about to get married, what about you? Why are you hiding at home? Do you have a partner?”
After scolding him all morning, he felt much better.
In the afternoon, he came to help with the marriage proposal.
The formal marriage proposal process requires bringing a pair of wild geese and thirty types of gifts symbolizing good fortune to the woman’s side, which can include rice, millet, red dates, peanuts…
If they are officials, there are strict regulations based on rank.
Those above the fourth rank can have eighteen loads of betrothal gifts.
Those below the fifth rank can only have sixteen.
Those below the eighth rank can only have fourteen.
For those without official status, twelve is the limit.
Therefore, some wealthy people would make one load of betrothal gifts as big as a carriage because of the quantity limit.
When commoners watch the excitement, they can also count how many loads of betrothal gifts there are, and generally know how high-ranking the official marrying or marrying off is.
Of course, if it is the royal family or imperial clan, it is a different story. For royal family members, they can have eighteen loads, eighty loads, or even one hundred and twenty loads.
Whatever you like, but usually it won’t be that exaggerated; there is a number, for example, how many loads the Emperor uses to marry the Empress, subordinates remember not to exceed it.
If you insist on courting death, that is up to you.
Most people would not make such a mistake.
Although they were proposing to a Minister’s house, Vice Minister Liu only had people bring twelve loads of betrothal gifts.
Twelve loads looks like a lot, but in reality, it didn’t contain much.
Liu Tong was the youngest son and did not support the household; the Liu Family did not give much to the boy, hoping he would marry someone with a large dowry.
Because his son had no official status, he could only follow the specifications for a commoner.
As for the Jiang Family, although Qin Luoxia loved money, she was not stingy with it.
She was always generous when it was time to spend.
She had originally prepared sixteen loads of betrothal gifts, each one solid and filled with genuine treasures.
After all, they were such a high-ranking official, and they had raised their daughter so well; she looked very well-bred. Raising her to this age, there was no counting how much money had been spent. It was just like their own Jiang Yu; when she was young and poor, there was no choice, but later when conditions improved, Qin Luoxia also did her best to let her daughter live well, broaden her knowledge and vision, and spend as much as she could so she wouldn’t wrong herself.
If she started wronging herself at her maiden home, wouldn’t she be wronged for a lifetime after arriving at her husband’s home?
Putting herself in their shoes, they raised their daughter so well, and she was marrying into your family; money is just an external object. If preparing more could put the other party’s parents at ease, why not do it?
Most parents who love their daughters treat the betrothal gifts as the daughter’s dowry, giving them back and adding a lot more.
It is equivalent to passing it through one set of hands, just a cycle; showing the betrothal gifts expresses your determination to propose. If you aren’t even proactive about this, can you expect to be good to someone else’s daughter in the future?
Qin Luoxia was very generous in preparing the betrothal gifts for her eldest son.
Harmony in the family leads to prosperity; as long as the couple is harmonious, money is not important.
Moreover, you can’t bring it with you when you are born, and you can’t take it with you when you die; it’s useless to keep it, so spend as much as you can.
Shops, manors, jewelry, silk, and she added many corals, agarwood, gemstones, and jade sent by Princess Huiyun.
Sixteen loads were far from enough, so she added four more, making up twenty loads.
Then, they invited General Meng Qingshe and Censor He to be the matchmakers, specially requested a marriage compatibility certificate from Taia Temple, as well as the betrothal letter, and Jiang Changtian personally accompanied his son.
Jiang Changtian, Meng Qingshe, and Censor He all sat in the carriage.
Facing Censor He, Meng Qingshe felt like his toes were curling so hard he was digging out an entire prince’s mansion.
He had seemed to be jumping around quite happily recently, but seeing Censor He now, he felt a bit uneasy.
He sighed in his heart again, “My in-law is truly an honest person with no ulterior motives, actually befriending Censor He. Censor He’s nickname is ‘He of the Nine Clans’!”
Aunt Yin, capable and hardworking, also came along.
Aunt Yin had no choice; she felt that if she continued working like this, she couldn’t predict what would happen in the future.
She was now extremely calm, not even afraid if Mount Tai collapsed on her; if she had to go back to live in the Imperial Palace one day, she reckoned she wouldn’t even change her expression.
As for the groom-to-be, because he had to show his face, he rode a horse.
He had specially chosen a handsome white horse, and Jiang Feng had also deliberately dressed up.
His clothing was naturally magnificent, but it was a pity the imperial guard uniform hadn’t arrived yet; Qin Luoxia felt that wearing the official uniform would have looked even cooler.
Wearing the official uniform meant one was a person of status.
However, on a day off, it was not appropriate for everyone to wear official uniforms.
Of course, even if they didn’t wear them directly, everyone had many ways to express their rank.
Hats, sedan chairs, shoes, accessories, or the number of servants—all had careful considerations and differences.
Today, Jiang Feng wore a light brown robe, which was relatively steady but not too dull.
The collar and cuffs were dark brown. His facial features were actually very advantageous; his foundation was like his Father, his face was like his Mother, resembling his Mother’s face. While slightly less stunning, the moment you saw him, he gave people a feeling of being very reliable and honest.
He was a young man who looked very good when he smiled and did not have strong aggression.
As for Jiang Changtian, his face was always restrained; if he were to go all out, no one could handle it; he was so enchanting he would reach the heavens.
Today was the marriage proposal, one of the great joys of life.
A tall horse, new clothes, new shoes, a new look.
The snow was also very good, brand new, signifying the opening of a new chapter in life.
When The Dong Family and Vice Minister Liu’s family were stuck in an awkward situation at the door, a more luxurious marriage proposal procession arrived.
Looking at the specifications and signs on the carriage, it was a fourth-rank Attendant of the Yellow Gate.
An Attendant of the Yellow Gate was implicitly half a rank higher than an ordinary Vice Minister.
After all, they were close officials to the Son of Heaven.
Seeing the other party banging and playing, not only were there more betrothal gifts, but they actually dared to bring out twenty loads, and each load looked heavy, larger, and filled with more things. The people playing instruments actually exceeded twenty.
This also had regulations.
Officials with rank could have at most six people holding lanterns and twelve people playing drums and music for marriage proposals.
Officials without rank or commoners could only have four people holding lanterns and eight people playing drums and music.
There were no restrictions for the royal family and imperial clan.
Officials were a privileged class of power, while the royal family and imperial clan were the privileged class within the privileged class.
Watching this mighty and vast marriage proposal procession made Vice Minister Liu’s group look incredibly shabby.
Especially Jiang Feng on horseback, who was the center of attention. He wore a crown, had a sword at his waist, sat across a white horse, his figure was tall and straight, his face was handsome, and one look at him made people unable to help but praise, “What a handsome young man.”
He instantly reduced the timid Liu Tong to scum.
Liu Tong had met Jiang Feng in Jingzhou back then, and he felt a bit awkward. After all, back at the Jiang Family, he had sworn to marry Qingqing, and it was because he was looking for Qingqing that he found the Jiang Family.
Then, for some unknown reason, an Earthquake suddenly occurred, and their group left without saying goodbye, fleeing in a panic.
The carriage stopped, Vice Minister Jiang got off, followed by General Meng Qingshe, and then Censor He.
Vice Minister Liu was a bit stunned; this Jiang guy, dragging Meng Qingshe along was one thing, they were in-laws, but how did he have the ability to invite Censor He? Censor He didn’t even give Prime Minister Lu any face.
But then his heart was filled with wild joy; the specifications of the betrothal gifts before him, the number of people proposing, clearly did not comply with the rank, and this was another point he could impeach, even implicating Censor He.
The Imperial Court had very clear requirements for specifications and heavy punishments, because this was “offending those above,” which would result in public flogging, which was very shameful.
Most people would not easily commit this; this Vice Minister Jiang really didn’t understand the rules at all, his whole body was full of loopholes.
Minister Dong was originally very angry.
He felt that Vice Minister Liu was becoming more and more outrageous, not properly managing his own son, and here he was slandering others.
But he also muttered in his heart; this Liu guy had been very active recently, clearly having defected to Lu Sanshi, and being so confident, he didn’t know what kind of trouble he was trying to stir up.
It was really worrying; if that were the case, his daughter would be too miserable.
He was also very worried that the Jiang Family would come to propose and, seeing this scene, would turn around and leave.
Although a good daughter is sought by many families, there really hadn’t been a case of a proposal meeting another proposal.
There weren’t many people watching the excitement on a snowy day, but because the marriage proposal procession today was so huge and the young man proposing was so handsome, more people came to watch, following all the way to the front of the Dong Mansion.
“Wow, it’s really lively, there’s actually already a marriage proposal procession here.”
Jiang Feng had been a bit apprehensive on the way, but once he arrived, he calmed down.
“Come on, go for it!”
He dismounted, walked to Minister Dong, and bowed generously.
“Jiang Feng pays respects to Uncle Dong.”
Minister Dong was also seeing Jiang Feng for the first time. Although he was satisfied with Vice Minister Jiang and felt the child couldn’t be bad, seeing the person himself, and with the contrast of the timid Liu Tong on the side, he was instantly extremely satisfied. He liked him; not to mention his handsomeness, his eyes were clear, upright, and firm, and he looked smart and kind.
As for Dong E, behind her Father, she saw her lifesaver arrive. A second ago, she had been so angry at Liu Tong that she wanted to stab someone, but now she only felt happy, happy enough to cry.
She stepped forward generously to pay her respects.
“E’er pays respects to Big Brother Jiang. Thank you, Big Brother Jiang, for saving my life, and thank you for keeping your promise.”
Jiang Feng took the fat fish jade pendant from his body and returned it to Miss Dong.
“Miss Dong, for the rest of my life, please take care of me.”
Thank you for reading + listening 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
