Northern Dynasties

Yu Wenyu's wedding came as scheduled, and the whole Taifu mansion was bustling with activity from dawn on this day.

There have been happy events in the Yuwen family before, but they were all married women, and this is the first time for a new member to be married.Daxingtai was very happy that Huzhong Erlang got married, even though he was only the eldest son of a concubine, and the marriage partner was Duguxin, his friend from the Wuchuan Township Party.

Putting aside the son of Zhao Gui, who is engaged but has not yet married, this is the first time that Yu Wentai has been married to the Wuchuan Township Party, so this wedding also has extraordinary significance.

In order to show the importance of this wedding, Yu Wentai, who has always been frugal with expenses, also allocated a considerable budget for this wedding.Although Li Tai, who was responsible for preparing the wedding, was still a little nervous, he also knew that this was a rare generosity compared to Daxingtai's usual behavior.

As preparations for the wedding progressed, Li Tai also gradually realized that Daxingtai had appointed him to take charge of this matter, perhaps not just to show people at the time that he was still one of Daxingtai's most trusted confidants. The meaning of beating the autumn wind to deceive the local tyrants.

The budget given by Dahangtai is limited, but the personnel required are huge.Although it is said that everything can be done in Feng and Jian, if the wedding is too simple, people will not think that it is because of Daxingtai's stinginess, but will blame Li Tai for not doing things well.

So in the second half of the wedding preparations, Li Tai basically spent money on things himself, as if he was marrying his daughter-in-law, and finally prepared the wedding properly.

On the wedding day, guests came to Taifu in an endless stream to congratulate them, and were arranged to have banquets and music in different halls, waiting to watch the ceremony at night.

Li Tai naturally didn't have time to sit down and drink for fun. He needed to lead his staff to patrol everywhere so that when an accident occurred, he could appear in time and deal with it.

In particular, the atmosphere in Kansai is heroic, and those town soldiers don't care about Sanqi 21 after they get involved. They vent their anger first, so it is even more necessary to arrange some emergency measures to prevent others from messing up this carefully prepared wedding.

Yuwentai was happy to enjoy the success. He had been sitting in the main hall of the inner palace since early morning to receive congratulations from internal and external ministers. His face was red and he was in a good mood. His hearty and cheerful smile echoed throughout the hall.

Li Taiqi, who was so busy that his feet didn't touch the floor, might be passing by here when he saw several Zhu Guo who were accompanying Yu Wentai to banquet and chat in the hall. He couldn't help but murmur in his heart: Just keep it like this, you old guys just sit like this. Drink and drink tea in the hall, leave all external affairs to me, and when the time is right, I will bury you together!
Yu Wentai was unaware of these sinister thoughts in Li Tai's mind. In addition to enjoying the benefits, he would occasionally express his gratitude and condolences to the busy Li Tai, personally fill a glass of wine for Li Tai to come and drink, and he would almost spoil you. A bad doting expression.

Little did he know that Li Tai was not grateful at all for such concern. He picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, then hurriedly left the hall and hurriedly went to another hall to calm the dispute and appease the people.

Fortunately, his current position in the country seems to be No. 1 below that of Zhuguo, and his reputation is enough to control the situation. Whether these people at home and abroad are convinced or not, they always have to give him some face.If you offend Daxingtai, Daxingtai may be magnanimous and not care about it.But if you offend General Li, Zhu Guo Zhao Gui is a living example. After several years of tension, he finally had to bow his head and settle the matter.

In this way, under Li Tai's careful maintenance, although the whole day was lively, there were no fights or disturbances.Some of the congratulators drank too much and were very drunk. They were all arranged in a side room of the other hall. Even if they were drunk, they would not affect the wedding ceremony here.

Finally in the evening, the procession leading the bridegroom, Guanyu Wenyu, set off from Taifu and headed straight for Duguxin's residence in the south of the city.All the congratulators from Taiwan also paused their banquet games and sipped buttermilk, tea and other drinks to soothe their hangovers, waiting to watch the ceremony later.

There is no custom of tea drinking in Guanzhong nowadays. Even in Luoyang during the Northern Wei Dynasty, which was more open and tolerant, tea drinking was still derogatoryly called cheese slaves.This is by no means an elegant term, but the Northern Dynasties expressed their contempt by belittling the eating habits of the Southerners.

It is not that there is no habit of drinking tea in Guanzhong nowadays, but it is mainly concentrated among monks in temples and people who have lived in the Southern Dynasties and came from the North.For example, Li Tai, his cousin Lu Rou, etc., and even his father Li Xiao, although not a big addict, likes to drink a little tea occasionally.Of course, this is just an example, far from being a fashion.

Li Tai knows that the market prospects and profits of tea, a daily drink, are very considerable, so he has been seizing the opportunity to promote the habit of drinking tea.Of course, what he really values ​​​​is not to make profits, but to gradually eliminate the barriers between southerners and northerners through similar living and eating habits.Although the alienation between the North and the South caused by hundreds of years of division and chaos cannot be bridged by a cup of tea, at least it can be regarded as a point of convergence, and it is free of charge and even makes money, so why not?
Today at Yu Wenyu's wedding, while the dignitaries of the Western Wei Dynasty gathered together, Li Tai also regarded tea as a key promotion item.

There is a special case between every two guest seats, and a maidservant is arranged to serve tea. Various large and small porcelain jars contain various seasonings such as tea foam, orange peel, ginger, garlic, pepper, and sugar. A small red clay stove was set up, and the maid who served the tea put in various condiments one by one. Regardless of how the drink tasted, it was already full of ritual, and it was several times more stylish than the buttermilk drank by a cow. .

Taking advantage of the convenience of Li Tai's introduction of tea in the inner palace these few days, Yu Wentai has gradually developed a hobby for it, and now he has become a health care expert in the circle of friends, holding the tea and laughing: "Mingcha is popular." In the southern country, it was passed down to the northern land but few people like it. It is not that the properties of the material are not good, but that the predecessors did not drink it in the right way. Today, it goes to Jianghan, connects Huainan to the east, connects Hubang to the west, and reaches Jinshan in the north. Tea from Jingxiang, oranges from Huainan, pepper from the Western Regions, and milk from Jinshan are combined into a precious drink. How can anyone who knows the taste not love this?"

As he spoke, he took a sip of the warm and spicy tea soup, then sipped and tasted it between his lips and teeth, and then swallowed it gently into his throat, exclaiming in praise: "It's really refreshing!"

When the King of Liang who was sitting on the side saw this, he quickly raised the sugar in the porcelain jar and said: "Although the tea is not as sweet and thick as buttermilk, if it is paired with frost, sugar and stone honey, it will be sweeter and last longer." Be willing to come back!"

It is still difficult to make people accept a new eating habit in a short period of time, so there is no harm in trying new things.

In particular, the two highest-ranking people present expressed their love for it, so the guests in the hall also tried it one after another, and soon all kinds of praises could be heard in the hall.This artistic conception is rather like the emperor's new clothes, even some people who can't adapt to this taste in a short period of time will be embarrassed at the moment.

While the crowd was still tasting tea in the hall, the team that welcomed the bride had returned to Taifu.The Duguxin family's house was not far from the Tai Mansion, and it seemed that they did not make things difficult for the wedding team, so they welcomed the bride back so quickly.

Next, Daxingtai and all the guests who watched the ceremony moved to the Qinglu felt tent outside the hall, waiting for the auspicious moment to salute.At this moment, Li Tai still had no time to watch people worshiping. Instead, he took the inner government officials to take stock of the bride's dowry and put it into the inner treasury.

When Li Tai got married, his father-in-law prepared a large dowry for his young lady, including but not limited to various kinds of wealth, utensils, manor, slaves, etc.

Originally, he was still secretly thinking that his father-in-law would have to spend a lot of money this time, but when he checked to receive the dowries, he was quite surprised. Although there were dozens of dowries in large and small boxes, and hundreds of pieces of silk and assorted colors. There are dozens of various utensils such as copper, tin and lacquer, ten male and female servants each, and a garden covering several hectares on the outskirts of Huazhou, which is all the dowry.

Of course, it cannot be said that this dowry is meager. For ordinary people, it is still very considerable. It is enough for a poor family to become a well-off family. However, for a Zhuguo family like Duguxin, it is definitely not rich.Especially compared to when the eldest daughter got married, it could even be said to be shabby, and even Li Tai felt a little guilty when he saw it.

But when I think about it, I also paid for Yu Wenyu to prepare for the wedding. As a brother-in-law, it is definitely interesting. If Yu Wenyu is picky and dissatisfied with him because of this, it would be a bit ignorant.

Because of his own experience in getting married, Li Tai also asked the servants in the palace to carefully check all the dowry boxes and cages to avoid the buy-one-get-one-free farce like last time.Although he has many sisters-in-law, they cannot be sent away like this.

By the time he finished his work here, the ceremony had been completed in Qinglu, the guests returned to continue the banquet, and the newlyweds were sent to the bridal chamber.Naturally, Li Tai did not need to follow him to the bridal chamber. After handing over all the accounting records that he was responsible for to the house steward, his task was completed and he could finally go to the hall to have a glass of wedding wine.

When he came to the hall, all the guests were already drunk, and Yu Wentai was also drunk. When he saw Li Tai entering the hall, he quickly waved for him to come forward, then he set a table next to his and placed the table in front of him. The wine and food were served to Li Tai's case, and he said with emotion: "Boshan is really my confidant. Regardless of public or private matters, as long as Boshan takes care of them, I have nothing to worry about!"

Li Tai stepped away from the table, held the wine glass in both hands, raised it high above his forehead, and replied: "I am a young disciple of Meng Lang. Fortunately, I was appreciated by my master and conquered the palace. I was diligent in repairing, generous and indulgent. After thinking about it, I had to be honest and sincere." , sharing the same taste, and receiving the greatest kindness from all my colleagues, how dare you not repay it with all your heart and soul?"