The growth system comes at the age of 30

Chapter 292 A Sincere Invitation (4.6K)

Back in Jiangbei, Chen Jingle and Li Beixing had no time to rest before throwing themselves back into their busy work.

Next, we should inform our relatives and friends in advance to attend the wedding banquet.

We also need to send out invitations to everyone.

In Jiangbei, wedding banquets are generally notified 20 days in advance, and at the latest, half a month in advance.

This involves determining the number of attendees for the wedding banquet so that hotel banquets can be booked.

Of all the stages involved in a wedding banquet, the one that causes the most headaches for newlyweds is arguably the wedding banquet itself.

If you book too early, it's hard to determine the number of tables; if you book too late, you might not be able to book your preferred hotel.

Chen Jingle doesn't need to worry about the hotel, as it's already confirmed to be Damingfu. The key issue is the number of guests, which needs careful consideration.

The most important thing about a banquet is determining the number of attendees, and it's also the most troublesome part.

Since there's still some time until the wedding day, no one can guarantee what might happen in the meantime.

It's really annoying if someone promises to come but then can't show up for various reasons.

Many people don't know how to determine the number of guests and how many tables to book for the wedding banquet. Chen Jingle's method is to initially book by multiplying the number of households by 1.5.

Since it's the weekend, if it were a weekday, multiplying by 1.2 would be enough.

First, determine the approximate number of households. Then, based on this, judge whether the other party will attend the wedding banquet according to three levels: A, B, and C, and then make additions and subtractions accordingly.

Ten people per table, and then one extra table for every ten tables.

In this way, the results are basically the same.

More is always better than less. Otherwise, if there are too many people and you're not prepared enough, there won't be enough seats for the guests, and you'll be laughed at for the rest of your life.

Wedding banquets are largely about saving face for both sets of parents.

Normally, each household sends one representative, but close guests may bring more than one family member, or even the whole family together.

For example, uncles, aunts, cousins, and younger cousins.

This is not meant as a negative thing. On the contrary, it's a good thing to have family members helping out; the more people, the more lively it is.

Chen Jingle made all the arrangements for classmates and colleagues, but for elders and relatives, he consulted his parents and discussed things with them.

This job is not easy, and the margin for error is low.

Fortunately, they had discussed it with both sets of parents before going to Sanya to take wedding photos, and now they are basically ready, even the invitations have been prepared according to his wishes.

At most, we need to check if anything has been missed.

"Have you decided how many tables you want to invite?" Li Beixing asked curiously.

In the Jiangbei region, it is customary to hold a wedding banquet the night before the wedding.

Then, on the wedding day at noon, it's the groom's turn to be there, and the bride's relatives and friends who are part of the dowry can also come; just arrange their seats in advance.

According to her father, no matter how many tables Chen Jingle's family sets up, they will always set up 10 or 20 more tables than the groom's family, in order to highlight how much importance her family attaches to their daughter's marriage.

Li Beixing himself didn't care.

Chen Jingle was taking stock: "I'm calculating. Rural families generally have a lot of relatives. Almost everyone they have some connection with, or even just a good one, will send an invitation. For relatives, there are about thirty or forty tables. Usually, two or three families can fill one table. As for colleagues, we don't keep in touch with those from work anymore, so we don't plan to invite them. Hongqi will invite some. I've discussed it with your dad, and they'll be placed here along with the bride's dowry relatives. We'll invite the fewest classmates. We might only be able to barely fill one table with people from high school and college."

In the end, he couldn't help but laugh.

Li Beixing chuckled as well: "I'm a little better off than you, but only by a small margin. I might invite more school leaders and colleagues."

Now!
This is what happens when you refuse useless social interactions; you can't find many peers to support you at your wedding, and it's mostly your parents' connections.

But then Li Beixing suddenly thought, "Oh right, could I prepare a few tables for the students in my class?"

Thinking about this, she was very excited; it was a path she had never imagined before.

"sure."

Chen Jingle can afford this amount of money. As long as Teacher Li is happy.

And isn't it nice that a group of energetic students came to send their blessings?

Many people have been hoping for this for ages, but it never happens.

Li Beixing blinked: "Let's keep it at my place, since they're part of my network of connections."

She doesn't have many relatives on her side of the family. Her mother's family has a few more, but most of them are her parents' friends, especially some of her father's business partners. So they simply invited a few tables of students to set the scene.

It happened to be Friday, so we picked everyone up after school, had dinner, and then the parents came to pick them up again.

It's interesting just to think about it.

Of course, I definitely won't accept any money as a wedding gift. It's not a big deal. At most, I'll make them pay for it with their exam results later, so they'll know that Teacher Li's wedding banquet isn't so easy to come by, hmph.

"also."

Chen Jing chuckled.

I'm a little envious of these students. When they were in school, why didn't any teacher invite the whole class to their wedding banquet?
……

After some deliberation, the preliminary number of wedding banquet tables was set at 65 for Chen Jingle and 75 for Li Beixing.

It's all calculated based on who can be invited.

For those who are not local and whose attendance is uncertain, the extra tables reserved will be used for calculation.

Chen Jingle was very curious about how those people who set up four or five hundred tables or even thousands of tables could invite so many guests.
He doesn't have that many relatives or friends at all; even if you include all of them, there aren't that many.

After the list was roughly finalized, invitations began to be sent out.

First, send the gifts to relatives; they will definitely be there.

The first batch was sent to the closest relatives in the village.

In Chen Jingle's hometown, the entire village was surnamed Chen, and almost everyone was related by blood. His parents knew better than he did who should receive the gift, so his father and second uncle helped with the delivery.

When Chen Zhenwei told them that his son was getting married, the village's elders and relatives all expressed their surprise:
"Jing Le is getting married? Oh, she really should get married. Is she 30 this year?"

Chen Zhenwei's face beamed with a smile: "He's 31. There's no pressure about it. He just thinks it's suitable. The key is the person. Luckily, he met a suitable girl who is beautiful, talented, and kind, so they settled down."

"He's already 31 in the blink of an eye. It's so fast. I remember him as a child, thin and weak, who only knew how to bury himself in his studies. Now he's about to start a family and build a career."

"You and I are both over fifty, almost sixty, do you still think it's twenty or thirty years ago?"

"..."

The biggest wish of Chinese parents is for their children to get married and start a career as soon as possible.

Chen Zhenwei had thought his son would find a girlfriend and get married soon after graduating from university, but it has been so many years since then.

It's truly heartbreaking.

Fortunately, this day has finally arrived, and I feel a sense of triumph.

It can only be said that some people spend their whole lives secretly comparing themselves to others.

After delivering to the villagers, they started delivering to their relatives.

Chen Jingle has two aunts, plus various cousins, uncles, aunts, and so on.

Even the deceased great-grandmother's family and grandfather's uncle's family had to be sent, since there was a very old person there who had maintained contact with them.

Then we went to my mother's family home, where there were two uncles, two aunts, and my married cousins.

After going through all that, even the average person would feel overwhelmed.

Previously, to help Li Beixing quickly memorize his relatives, Chen Jingle even drew a mind map of interpersonal relationships centered on him by hand. Hilarious.

This is the nature of interpersonal relationships in rural areas, which are as intricate and complex as a spider web.

Chen Jingle drove his parents to deliver the relatives' invitations to each family.

He is not a snob, and he doesn't say that he will cut off contact with his poor relatives once he becomes rich. Whether or not he is willing to maintain the relationship depends entirely on the other person's character.

Fortunately, most of his relatives are good people. Even if there are two or three unreliable ones, they don't go so far as to break the law.

Invite everyone who should be invited.

"Oh dear, you could have just said it over the phone, why did you have to come all the way here to deliver the invitation?" My aunt said with a hint of disdain but also a smile on her face.

Chen Jingle chuckled, "To show more sincerity, let's set the date for Saturday. Uncle is working out of town, so Aunt, please remember to bring Wenhui and Wenrui over for dinner. Wenhui should be fine with that, right?"

My cousin Li Wenhui is taking the college entrance examination this year.

My aunt said, "We'll see how things go. We should be able to have lunch together."

"That's good. Don't worry, we'll open the tables at 12 noon sharp, and you'll usually be full by 1 p.m.

"..." Uncle's house.

When the eldest uncle received the invitation, he was shocked: "Jing Le is getting married? So soon? I thought it would be at the end of the year or next year. I didn't hear that he had a girlfriend during last year's Spring Festival. I just heard from my younger sister that he had a boyfriend recently. And now he's getting married?"

This level of shock is second only to Chen Jingle, who doesn't even have a girlfriend, suddenly announcing that he has a child.

Actually, Chen Jingle had previously heard from his mother that his cousin Liu Guanghai had a baby, which confirmed it.

My mom chuckled and said, "Actually, they've been dating for about six months. The key is that they both felt it was a good match, so they decided to commit."

"It's good that you can settle down. Like my Guanghai, it's good to have children early, while you two are still young, so you can help take care of them." After a moment of emotion, the eldest uncle started rambling on and on.

Chen Jingle: "..."

Now that the invitations had been delivered, we prepared to leave and head to the next place.

The eldest uncle urged, "Aren't you going to stay for dinner?"

Dad waved his hand: "No, no, I have to send it to my eldest and second eldest sisters."

"Ugh, going to each and every one of them is such a hassle, just make a phone call."

"Since it's already written, let's just deliver it to them. It's not far anyway."

"Alright, Jingle, drive slowly."

"Okay, goodbye Uncle!"

"..."

Even if they only chatted with each household for a few minutes, it still took two whole days to distribute all the invitations.

This only covers Chen Jingle's responsibility for the man's family and friends; Li Beixing and her parents are responsible for the woman's side.

That's how it is in rural areas when you want to hold a banquet; you have to send invitations to people.

For those who live too far away, the invitation is written and sent to them in the form of a photo. After they confirm their attendance, the invitation is then asked for their address to see if it needs to be mailed to them.

Speaking of which, the content of the invitation is also quite particular.

Those who are single usually just write their name. Those who are unmarried but have a girlfriend add "Double Love" after their name, meaning they can bring their family. Those inviting the whole family write "Complete Blessing," meaning anyone can come.

If you just send a mini-program over, who's going to bother with it?
If you treat others perfunctorily, they will naturally treat you perfunctorily in return.

……

Next up were the classmates and friends from both sides.

This part is relatively simple. For example, Chen Jingle doesn't have many classmates he still keeps in touch with. All things considered, from elementary school to university, he'd be lucky to get enough to fill a table.

I'm too lazy to maintain those useless social interactions.

He used to give gifts, but they hadn't been in touch for years, so they had basically lost contact. Chen Jingle was too lazy to send an invitation just for the sake of the gift money.

If we can't get it back, we can't get it back. We'll just consider it a buyout of a classmate friendship.

The best friends were naturally Liang Cheng and his high school classmates. They also had a few good relationships with him in college and maintained contact with them.

There were only a few left from elementary and middle school. There was only one girl who was related to me by marriage, and we've kept in touch and met occasionally over the years.

Chen Jingle is not good at managing interpersonal relationships and firmly believes that sincerity is more important than quantity when it comes to friends.

However, the invitations still need to be sent.

I arranged to meet Liang Cheng at Shuangde Square.

I ordered the same tea cake as before.

Chen Jingle felt his wallet had shrunk considerably after the wedding, but he could still afford two cups of milk tea.

"Here, here's the first invitation for you, classmate."

When Liang Cheng appeared, he immediately took out the invitation and handed it over with a smile.

"You absolutely have to give it to me!" Liang Cheng chuckled as he accepted it.

Among all these classmates, the two of them had the best relationship. They had been classmates for more than ten years and had never lost contact. They even shared the same political views and could be called like-minded comrades.

When we graduated from high school, everyone was curious about who would be the first to get married, and no one expected it to be Liang Cheng.

Then everyone else got partners, leaving Chen Jingle the only one single. But unexpectedly, he surpassed his roommates and got married earlier.

The developments that followed are quite remarkable.

Liang Cheng glanced at the bride's name, then closed the book again and asked, "Is everything ready?"

Chen Jingle nodded: "That's about it. We still have about ten days to fill in any gaps."

"These two weeks are the hardest. Just hang in there and get through it."

As someone who had been through it all, Liang Cheng deeply understood, feeling both sighed and somewhat gloated.

Another man about to enter the walled city.

Chen Jingle could roughly guess what he was thinking just by looking at his expression, and chuckled to himself.

He and Teacher Li have a very good relationship, and Teacher Li listens to him most of the time. Even after they get married, things won't change much compared to before they got married.

The two chatted briefly before leaving; they had too much to do.

After returning home, Chen Jingle sent messages to some other classmates he planned to invite.

"Handsome, I'm getting married on the 24th of this month, can you come?"

"Class monitor, long time no see! I'm getting married on the 24th of this month. Would you be free to come?"

"..."

Without exception, the message included a photo of the invitation.

As Chen Jingle had guessed, most of his relatives and friends in the local area said they would come to attend, and his cousins ​​who worked in the Pearl River Delta would also come back.

Only a few university classmates haven't confirmed their offers yet, partly because of the long distance and partly because of their busy work schedules, but they all said they would give a result within a week.

After all, Chen Jingle had already written invitations for them and even arranged accommodations.

This shows so much sincerity, it's much better than simply sending out an electronic invitation link.

Chen Jingle also expressed his understanding for the students who were unable to attend.

After all, not everyone is as free as him; the reality for most people is that they are busy and struggling to make a living.

……

Once the guest list and the number of banquet tables were finalized, the standards for the banquet were also determined.

No matter what standard is set, there will always be statements like "not as good as XX".

Chen Jingle decided to follow his own ideas and devised a menu after discussing it with the kitchen team.

It's around the standard of 5888.

In a small place like Jiangbei, this is considered a very high-end option, but not one that would be seen as flaunting wealth.

Unless Chen Jingle himself says so, no one knows the exact price per 100cm.

The boss is hosting a wedding banquet at his own home, so he will definitely only charge the cost price. Therefore, this price is actually enough to meet the standard of 10,000 yuan per table.

In the Lingnan region, people don't expect to recoup their costs by giving money as gifts at banquets; they just want everyone to eat and drink well.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime marriage, and Chen Jingle can afford to pay for it.

Speaking of wedding gifts, the amount has increased significantly in Jiangbei in the past two years due to external influences. It usually starts at 200 yuan, and even for close friends, it can be as high as 500 yuan.

Of course, compared to some provinces that easily have thousands, this is considered a small number.

……

Finally, there are the souvenirs.

The key is whether the wedding candy tastes good; of course, attractive packaging and delicious taste are even better.

Teacher Li has her eye on a "Good Fortune with Persimmons" porcelain candy box. It's much more expensive than a regular gift box, but the capacity is about the same. After the candy is finished, it can be used to store other things, which is quite practical.

Since she liked it, Chen Jingle made the decision without hesitation.

They chose the wedding candies together, deciding to buy them to share with their guests only because they thought they tasted good.

After all this busy work, there are less than two weeks left until the wedding, a little over a week.

It can be said that everything is ready and all we need is the east wind.

(End of this chapter)