Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 848 The ceremony is completed
There's a custom in Yunhu: when the groom's wedding procession arrives at a place, they set off a small string of firecrackers at each stop.

Chen Fan wasn't quite sure what it was like to pick up a bride on foot in ancient times, but ever since the advent of bicycles or horse-drawn carriages, there has been someone specifically responsible for setting off firecrackers.

Later, after cars became more common, there were even "special cars" to set off firecrackers.

They put them out one way at a time, and then put them back the same way.

It is said that there are two purposes: one is to ward off evil spirits, and the other is to bring good news.

If there are acquaintances along the way, or even strangers, they will set off a string of firecrackers at their doorsteps to offer their congratulations. Then, the person in charge of clearing the way in the wedding procession will immediately offer two packs of celebratory cigarettes and a handful of wedding candy as a token of gratitude and to share in the joy.

Uh, there's a problem here.

So, it seems the same custom applies during funerals?
The only difference is that the wedding cigarettes and candies are replaced with mourning cigarettes and towels, and then you just go and don't care about coming back. Everything else is the same.
Cough cough, that's not the point.

The key issue is that we're on the water now, and the groom has already run off ahead. What are we going to do with the wedding procession behind him?
Fortunately, both Director Yang and Secretary Li are people with rich life experience.

Since the cargo ship had a loudspeaker, they played auspicious songs. Then they found a long bamboo pole, attached firecrackers to one end, lit them, and stretched them to the bow of the ship. Accompanied by songs like "Starting Over," "Young Ambition Knows No Sorrow," and "Young Friends Come to Meet," the firecrackers crackled and popped, creating a lively scene that attracted the few residents on both sides of the river to come out and watch the fun.

If Chen Fan were here and heard them playing these songs, he might just sing "Today You're Marrying Me" or "Sweet Honey" on the spot to tell them what kind of songs they should play on their wedding day!

However, in order to make it to the auspicious time, the groom drove the yacht very fast, and because the cabin was well-sealed, he couldn't even hear what songs were playing in the back.

Half an hour later, Lujiawan came into view in the distance.

The Liuhua River flows into the Luwan River at Team 7 of Lujiawan. At the confluence of the two rivers, a large group of people stood on the Lujiawan wharf and riverbank.

Tang Yong, the militia squad leader of Team 7, even boarded the Luwan No. 4 boat. Standing on the top of the boat, he ignored the biting north wind and stared motionlessly ahead with binoculars in hand.

Just then, a voice came from the walkie-talkie hanging on his waist, "Have we arrived yet? Have we arrived yet? It'll be 12 o'clock in another ten or twenty minutes."

Tang Yong held the binoculars in one hand without moving, and picked up the walkie-talkie in the other. He said helplessly, "Not yet. I'm practically blind. All I can see are two small fishing boats. Hey, Captain, do you think we should ask them to come ashore temporarily? I'm afraid that when Teacher Chen's boat comes over, it will capsize their little boats."

Tang Xianjun said irritably, "Today is Teacher Chen's wedding day, can't you be a little more discerning? Stop paying attention to all that nonsense and keep a close eye on things. If you miss the auspicious time, I won't let you off the hook!"

Tang Yong was completely dumbfounded. I wasn't the one who was driving the boat or welcoming the bride, so what does it have to do with me?

Just then, a small white dot appeared in the telescope and flew rapidly toward it.

He quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie and shouted, "Uncle, uncle, I saw a small white boat, it was going really fast, it must be Teacher Chen's boat."

Tang Xianjun immediately said, "Okay, now we won't be late. I'll tell everyone right away."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Also, when you're at work, you should use your job title. At this time, light the firecrackers, don't let it interfere with your work."

After he finished speaking, there was no sound from the walkie-talkie.

Tang Yong didn't reply. He turned around, picked up the tin megaphone, and shouted, "Teacher Chen is back from picking up his bride! Quickly set off firecrackers! The firecrackers can't stop until the boat has passed!"

A response immediately came from below, "Don't worry, we've prepared two boxes of electric firecrackers today. They're not only loud and fast enough, but also more than enough!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a bamboo pole was lifted up, followed by a series of crackling firecrackers.

Chen Fan steered the boat and slowed down at the confluence of the two rivers. He saw crowds on the riverbank, at the dock, and on the cargo ships moored at the dock, and heard the faint sound of firecrackers. He smiled and sounded the ship's horn in response to them.

Upon hearing the whistle, the crowd cheered again.

Tang Yong even shouted, "Light all the firecrackers to congratulate Teacher Chen!"

The next moment, a dozen bamboo poles were lifted up to bid farewell to the speedboat as it departed.

As the speedboat disappeared into the end of the river, someone quietly approached Tang Yong and whispered, "There's another boat behind us. We've run out of firecrackers. What are we going to do?"

Tang Yong turned to look at him, his eyes filled with astonishment, "Not even a single whip was left?"

The man shrugged and said, "Light all the firecrackers! You told me, squad leader!"

……

Teams 7 and 6 of Lujiawan are connected. It takes half an hour to walk there, about ten minutes by bicycle, and only five or six minutes by speedboat.

Before the boat even docked, Accountant Liu, who was waiting on the shore, took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and then calmly took out a match.

I wipe, I wipe, I wipe and wipe.

As the ship was about to dock, Accountant Liu turned around dejectedly, "The wind is too strong, I can't light the matches."

The custodian, Huang, rolled his eyes, not even daring to look at him.

He immediately moved to the north side of him, pulled open his clothes to block the wind, and said, "Be careful, don't burn my clothes."

Accountant Liu immediately replied, "No, at most I'll compensate you with one item if it gets burned."

As they were talking, the fuse for the firecrackers was lit. He quickly flung the firecrackers away, and Liu Jujiang immediately lifted them up on a bamboo pole.

Amidst the crackling of firecrackers, Chen Fan embraced Jiang Lili around the waist and stepped onto the small pier.

Jiang Tiantian followed closely behind, holding up the hem of her coat.

As the groom carried the bride over, followed by the wedding party, everyone else crowded around them in a lively atmosphere.

Accountant Liu scratched his face, frowned, and asked in confusion, "Why is there only one person accompanying the bride? Where are the others?"

The custodian, Huang, turned to look in the direction the river was flowing. "Uh, it should be over there, right?"

Accountant Liu's eyes widened. "Behind?"

He turned to look as well, "Then we still have to wait?"

After a moment's hesitation, the custodian, Huang, slapped Accountant Liu on the shoulder and placed his other hand on Craftsman Liu, saying in a deep voice, "The task of waiting for them and setting off the firecrackers is now yours. Goodbye."

After saying that, he ran to the back of the crowd.

On the dock, Accountant Liu and Craftsman Liu looked at each other in bewilderment. They also wanted to run away, but if they both ran away, who would be responsible for setting off the firecrackers?

It's fine if it's just our own people, but what if there are other wedding guests on the following boats?
Surrounded by the crowd, Chen Fan walked up the embankment and was about to continue forward when two horses trotted up to him. They were saddled and had a big red flower tied around their heads.

His eyes lit up immediately. "Who is such a genius?"

He actually thought of using horses to pick up the bride. Although he didn't care about the effort, it would be fun!

Jiang Lili's eyes lit up as she looked on, "Are we going to ride horses back?"

Chen Fan coughed twice, said nothing, and helped her sit down on the horse.

At that moment, Jiang Lili suddenly remembered that he had also helped her mount the horse and taught her how to ride, and her eyes instantly filled with sweetness.

Seeing that she was seated, Chen Fan turned around and mounted another horse. However, instead of immediately setting off, he suddenly bent down, grabbed Jiang Tiantian's arm, lifted her up, and placed her behind Jiang Lili. Only then did he take a rein in each hand and ride down the riverbank.

The surrounding crowd looked on, somewhat bewildered. What was going on? They'd never seen anything like it before.

The oldest men in the village exchanged glances. Captain Yang's father, Old Captain Yang, suddenly coughed and said, "They're here to escort the bride. They have to stay with her from beginning to end. We can't just leave them behind and let them go on their own."

"That's it."

The driver, Mr. Liu, nodded vigorously. "It's just like sitting in a car, sitting in the front or back seat. It's normal, perfectly normal."

As he spoke, he thought to himself: This is outrageous; I've never seen anything like it in my life.

This young man, Chen, was always a bit muddle-headed, only half-understanding many things. I thought that now that he's a great writer and a university professor, he'd know a lot more, but I never expected him to make such a fool of himself. He should be sharing a horse with the bride, and giving the other one to the wedding party. Dragging two horses like this, what kind of spectacle is that?

Afterwards, I have to cover for him. I must drink a couple more glasses of wine later; it would be a loss if I didn't drink one.

The groom, accompanied by two brides, returned home with a flurry of chatter. Two strings of 1,000-shot firecrackers were immediately lit, causing Gun Gun, Chang Chang, and Shui Shui to retreat back to the panda house. However, they couldn't bear to leave the excitement and peeked out the window to watch.

The two golden monkeys clung tightly to Tang Li and Yang Xingxiu's clothes, almost hiding their heads.

Duo Duo and Qiu Qiu were quite brave; they didn't run away when the firecrackers went off, and as a result, several flying firecrackers hit them on the head. They barked and circled around, wanting to get revenge but afraid of being hit themselves.

Five gyrfalcons circled back and forth in the sky, chirping occasionally, as if accompanying firecrackers, but were unfortunately drowned out by the sudden "firecracker" sound.

Those were firecrackers as thick as a child's arm; setting one off was like thunder, and probably only a real cannon could suppress them.

The hawk that was resting on the treetop was startled by the sound of the cannon, and flew up cursing as it landed in the woods in the backyard.

But after only a second or two, unable to resist the urge to watch the excitement, it flapped its wings and flew to the rooftop.

As soon as it folded its wings, it saw the young lady who had disappeared for a long time and used to love feeding it meat sitting on the horse.

Then it got confused: why are there two girls?
Upon reaching the gate, Chen Fan dismounted. He first helped Jiang Tiantian down, then put his arm around Jiang Lili's waist and picked her up again. Amidst the cheers of the crowd, the three entered the gate and went straight up to the second floor.

On the large bed in the master bedroom on the second floor was a bright red wedding quilt.

This is where things get a little awkward, because the normal procedure is to bring out the bride's dowry, and then have the women of the family with many children lay it out one by one.

But the dowry was still to come, so Jiang Lili could only sit on the bed, her fingers intertwined, her face already flushed, and she pursed her lips, not daring to utter a sound.

Jiang Tiantian quickly sat down next to her and took her arm, which helped her calm down.

In the living room on the second floor outside the room, Master Lu was helped up. Seeing this scene, he laughed and said, "The newlyweds have entered the house, so the mission is accomplished, and the time is just right. As for making the wedding quilt, it doesn't matter if it's a little late."

He then waved his hand and said to Secretary Yang, "The newlyweds must be tired after all this travel. Tell everyone to go down and let them rest for a while. Once the rest of the group arrives, it will be close to the auspicious time, and then we can have them hold the ceremony."

Once the old man spoke, even those who really wanted to watch the excitement obediently followed everyone downstairs.

After everyone had left, Chen Fan immediately closed the door, turned around, and saw the two sisters breathe a sigh of relief at the same time.

He couldn't help but laugh and said, "There's no need to be so nervous, is there?"

Jiang Lili took a breath and said with wide eyes, "How could I not be nervous? This is my wedding!"

Jiang Tiantian glared at him, annoyed. "I think you've taken it for granted now that you've married me. That's why you're so heartless."

Chen Fan walked over, squeezed next to the two of them, opened his arms and put them on their shoulders, and laughed, "Being heartless is one thing, but not cherishing things is another."

He paused for a moment, then his smile faded, and he said seriously, "Today is my wedding with Lili, and we're going to focus on this wedding with all our might."

Then he turned to look at Jiang Tiantian, a smile appearing on his face, "I will definitely give you an explanation too."

Jiang Tiantian smiled, took a deep breath, and said with a smile, "Really, I really did plan not to get married before, so I didn't have high expectations for the future."

She turned to look at Chen Fan, her eyes filled with complex emotions. "The first time I saw you, you were massaging my feet. Later, after hearing Lili's impression of you, I was very worried. I was worried that if Lili fell in love with you, given our family backgrounds, things might not end well."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lili immediately reached out and grabbed her hand, "Sister."

Jiang Tiantian squeezed her hand tightly and smiled, "Remember? I even advised you not to overthink things and to stay away from him."

Jiang Lili chuckled twice, glanced at Chen Fan, and said nothing.

Chen Fan deliberately widened his eyes, "There's actually such a thing?"

Jiang Tiantian smiled and looked at him, saying softly, "But I never expected that not only did Lili fail to seize the opportunity, but I also got caught up in it myself."

Before Chen Fan could speak, she took a deep breath and said, "I know this is wrong, and I've tried to stay away from you more than once, but I just can't control myself."

So I have no other desires. Just being able to keep you all company like this is enough for me. I haven't thought about anything else, nor will I.

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow but remained silent. Although Jiang Tiantian usually seemed like a younger sister to him, almost always obedient to him, she actually kept her feelings very deep inside and almost never revealed her true thoughts.

I never expected to say a few words from my heart at this time.

He wanted to say something, but in the end he swallowed it back.

Some things are better done than said. Taking action when the time comes is far better than making baseless promises now.

The three chatted upstairs for a while longer, and finally heard the sound of firecrackers being set off on the dock in the distance, as well as the whistles of cargo ships.

They quickly tidied up and opened the door.

Five or six minutes later, Zhou Yali, Yang Ju, Yang Mei, Huang Ying and other "female warriors" came in together carrying their dowries.

Eight thick cotton quilts were piled on the bed, and then Zhao Wanru, who has both a son and a daughter, personally took charge of folding all the quilts.

After a flurry of activity, the formal wedding ceremony was prepared, and everyone then escorted the newlyweds downstairs.

Inside the living room, on the north wall, hangs a huge portrait of Mr. Li.

After the windy day, Master Lu stepped onto the stage for the first time to officiate the wedding for the two.

Today's wedding is a combination of traditional and modern customs.

Wearing a brand-new Zhongshan suit, Master Lu stood beside Mr. Li's portrait and loudly proclaimed, "Today, we are delighted to witness the union of our two families, a marriage contract signed in this hall, a blessed union forever, a perfect match. Behold the peach blossoms in full bloom today, a sign of a harmonious and prosperous family; may our descendants flourish and prosper in the years to come. With this vow of lifelong commitment, we write this on fine paper, so that our pledge of love may be recorded in the marriage register."

He paused for a moment, then turned around to face Mr. Li's portrait. "The newlyweds bow. First bow to Mr. Li, and life will be infinitely beautiful; our marriage is predestined."

Chen Fan and Jiang Lili immediately bowed, while the others around them watched.

Master Lu continued, "Second bow to elders and relatives, to uphold the family tradition of filial piety and brotherly love, and to enjoy a peaceful and joyful life. Third bow to husband and wife, to live in harmony and mutual respect, and to ensure a peaceful and prosperous family."

Neither set of parents were present—well, Chen Fan's parents were genuinely not here, and Jiang Lili's parents were just not here. Therefore, the traditional greeting of bowing to the parents was omitted, and instead, gratitude to elders and relatives was expressed, which involved bowing to everyone.

Finally, the couple bowed to each other.

After the three bows were finished, Master Lu read aloud, "The ceremony is complete, this is the certificate."

Secretary Yang immediately handed over two marriage certificates that looked like award certificates.

Originally, marriage certificates were supposed to be obtained from the commune. However, as mentioned before, grassroots units were quite arbitrary these days. For example, household registration, birth registration, marriage, and house construction were all handled by the commune if it wanted to. If the commune found it too troublesome, it could delegate the authority to the production brigades below and let them handle it themselves, then they could just report the information.

Lujiawan has changed a lot in the past two years, with a lot of applications coming in. To reduce trouble, Nanhu Commune has delegated all civil affairs procedures to the brigade headquarters so that they can handle them themselves.

Therefore, these two marriage certificates were issued by the brigade headquarters itself.

Secretary Yang knew his handwriting was poor, so he asked Master Lu to write it. Master Lu was only responsible for stamping the documents and then handing them over.

Master Lu took it with both hands, then handed it to the two newlyweds, one in each hand.

At that moment, the onlookers around them burst into applause.

Liu Jujiang and Liu the accountant, who were waiting outside, saw this scene through the window and quickly ran to the edge of the threshing ground. One of them raised a bamboo pole, and the other lit firecrackers.

Amid the joyous sound of firecrackers, Chen Fan and Jiang Lili received the gift in each other's hands. They first looked at each other, then looked up at each other, their smiles growing even wider.

From today onwards, we are officially certified, and we are no longer afraid of that Yali coming over to freeload or secretly sleeping in separate rooms!
(End of this chapter)