The procedures of the wedding have always been in charge of the Ministry of Rites, and the Wailang Prince Sun was the only man present. I saw that he was flying like a pen, and recorded all the harsh and strange conditions of the eldest grandson queen and her sisters word for word. Empress Eldest Sun said for a long time, and after thinking about it, she didn't seem to have left anything out, so she asked, "What Lord Wang said in this palace may be completed?" ”

Wang Zishan looked at the dense questions on the notebook, and replied with a horizontal hand: "Please rest assured, there is nothing that Wenxiang can't do!" The minister will help from the side! ”

Empress Changsun was very satisfied with his answer and couldn't help but chuckle, and Aunt Bolt was even more happy when she saw someone praising literature and art, and she laughed along. As everyone knows, people have taken on a bunch of inexplicable tasks for literature and art, such as asking for a marriage bed inlaid with gold and jade, a sedan chair with sterling silver, a ten-mile red carpet, and so on...

After Nacai came the "Ask for Names". The man will ask the matchmaker to ask for the woman's name and date of birth, and perform divination to facilitate the preparation of the subsequent wedding ceremony. During the Tang Dynasty, the more representative wedding divination was the so-called calculation of the birth date. There is no need to worry about literature and art when asking for a name, Si Tianjian's bull-nosed old man can be active, and he sent the chief big fool, eh, the chief divination master Li Chunfeng came to the Wenfu to be responsible for calculating the eight characters of the birthday. This is also the first time that literature and art have met Li Chunfeng, a famous astronomer, mathematician, and Yi scholar in history. The two sides chatted very closely, from mathematics to geography, and from geography to astronomy, and finally began to brag about themselves, Li Chunfeng stroked his long beard under his chin and smiled slightly: "When I traveled all over the world, I went to a place in the extreme north, where there were not only fierce and brutal white bears, but also Kun who didn't know how long. And I haven't seen the night for a few days, so I guess I should have arrived in fairyland. It's a pity that it's too cold, and the poor road can't stand the cold so he has to go back. ”

Wenyi took a bite of food and said: "The fairyland that the Taoist chief said is actually just the North Pole, and it is not a coincidence when you go, where it is half a night and half a day." The danger is low during the day and dangerous at night, but at night there will be a beautiful aurora. If you've ever seen the Northern Lights, you'll believe it's a fairyland, but it's just the far north, I call it the North Pole. Listen to me, Phew! Listen to me, when I was not yet a teacher, Master Zeng went to the deep sea to find the Dragon Palace. The underwater world is beautiful! The fish swam in schools, the corals were everywhere, and there were a lot of tiny fish hiding in the corals, and it took me a lot of effort to catch one. It's a pity that the Dragon Palace didn't look for it, only found the remains of a temple, and there are collapsed stone buildings everywhere, which according to my master should have been thousands of years old. It should be the dojo of the ancient immortals. Unfortunately, it sank to the bottom of the sea for unknown reasons. ”

Li Chunfeng said again: "Poor Dao went to the top of Kunlun back then, and found a lake that was not frozen in the ice and snow. I think it should be the Yao Pond of the Queen Mother, where not only the scenery is beautiful, but also the white ape guards, and those who are not sincere cannot go up the mountain. ”

Wenyi drained the glass of wine in one gulp, stood up and gestured: "I went to the West with my master to climb the Optimus Pillar, and I don't know how high it was to go straight into the sky. Unfortunately, I didn't find a ladder to the top of the mountain. According to my master, the peak of the Qingtian Mountain is 3,000 zhang high. ”

Li Chunfeng did not admit defeat and said: "When Poor Dao traveled to Xiangxi, he encountered a strange incident, and when Poor Dao was resting in the broken temple one night, he heard a bell ringing outside, so he quietly came out to investigate, but he didn't expect to see a Taoist holding a gong and rattle bell leading three or five corpses with rune paper on their faces and walking slowly forward. Although the poor Dao is good at the classics of the Dao family, he has never seen the Tao method of walking with a corpse. Poor Dao wanted to catch up and ask for an understanding, but he disappeared in the blink of an eye. ”

When Wenyi heard this, he laughed: "What the Taoist chief said is the Xiangxi corpse chasing faction." They specially carry the corpses of people who have died in other lands, although it seems terrifying, but it is a good deed. I've heard the master say that they have a rule called 'three rushes and three don't rush', which means that those who are beheaded must have their heads sewn together, those who are hanged, and those who stand in a cage and die can be rushed. Legend has it that because they were all forced to die, they died unconvinced, and they missed both their hometown and their relatives. Spells can be used to lure their souls, charm them in their corpses, and then use spells to drive them to climb mountains and mountains, and even get on a boat and cross the water to return to their hometown. The three non-rushes refer to those who die of illness, those who die voluntarily by throwing themselves into the river, and those whose limbs are incomplete by thunder and fire. Among them, the souls of those who died of illness have been swept away by Hades, and their souls cannot be summoned back from the Ghost Gate; The souls of those who have been thrown into the river are 'replaced', and they may be in the process of handing over, and if new souls are summoned, the old souls cannot be replaced, and the rebirth of the old souls will be affected. ”

Wenyi looked at the stunned Li Chunfeng and smiled proudly, and continued: "The method used is also quite interesting, generally on the day before the autumn execution, the relatives and fellow villagers of the guest death row prisoners and even those good people who are good at doing good deeds will pool some silver for the old secretary they invited, and the practice is to wear two people in green clothes and red clothes to buy all the items. On the day of the execution, Lao Si, his assistants, and those who helped had to wait outside the court. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the knife and axe hand rose and fell, and the head of the death row prisoner fell to the ground. As soon as the supervisor leaves the court, the red-clothed old man will perform the ritual and recite a mantra, and the assistant will help sew together the heads of the beheaded guest death row prisoners, and then the old priest in Tsing Yi will place cinnabar or cinnabar in seven places of the deceased's head, back heart, chest and heart, left and right hand plates, and palms of feet, each of which is pressed with a rune, and then tied tightly with five-colored cloth strips. According to legend, these seven places are the places where the seven orifices enter and exit, and they are sealed with cinnabar runes to retain the seven spirits of the deceased. After that, some cinnabar is stuffed into the ears, nose, and mouth of the deceased, and then plugged with Chenzhou charms. Legend has it that the ears, nose and mouth are the places where the three souls enter and exit, and in doing so, their souls remain in the body of the deceased. Finally, the neck of the deceased should be covered with cinnabar and a rune should be affixed, and tied tightly with strips of five-colored cloth; Then put on a dumpling leaf hat for the deceased. After everything was done, the old man in red finished reciting the incantation and shouted "Rise", "The dead body will stand up in response..."

The rise of literary theory: "The person who chases the corpse is a mage wearing Taoist robes." In front of these corpses, draped in black corpse cloth, there was a living person, known locally as the 'corpse chaser'. No matter how many corpses there were, he was the one who drove them. No matter what the weather, you must wear a pair of straw sandals, a green cloth gown, a black belt around your waist, a green cloth hat on your head, a gong in your hand, and a bag of charms hidden in your waist bag. The mage is not behind the corpse, but leads the way in front of the corpse, and does not carry a lantern, because he is leading the group of corpses forward while beating the small gong in his hand, shaking a soul bell in his hand to keep the night walkers away, and informing those who have dogs to lock up the dogs. If there were more than two corpses, the corpse chaser would string them one by one with straw ropes, one at a distance of seven or eight feet, and when he walked in the dark, he would put a high blanket on his head and a few pieces of yellow paper with a few inscriptions on his forehead and hang down his face. On the way to drive the corpses, there is a 'dead corpse inn', this mysterious and unpredictable 'dead corpse inn' is extremely hidden, only the dead corpse and the corpse chaser, ordinary people do not live. Its doors are open all year round, for behind the two large doors is where the corpses rest. The Taoist said that their sudden disappearance should be to enter the 'corpse inn' to rest. The corpse chaser drove the corpse, arrived at the "corpse shop" before dawn, and quietly left at night. The corpses were all standing neatly against the wall behind the door panels. When it was difficult to walk in heavy rain, I stopped in the store for a few days and nights. ”

Speaking of this, Wenyi touched the wine glass with Li Chunfeng, who was stupid, and continued: "Two or three days before arriving at the destination, notify the family of the deceased in advance, prepare the clothes and coffins, and when the body arrives, immediately put on the deceased's clothes, hats and shoes and put them in the longevity wood. This kind of burial process is all undertaken by the corpse chaser, and no one is allowed to interfere and watch, just as the corpse is not allowed to peep when lifting the corpse out of the coffin when setting off. It is said that at these critical moments, as soon as the living approach the corpse, there will be a danger of 'shocking the corpse' and 'defrauding the corpse', and the burial process must be in the middle of the night. All arrangements are ready, that is, after the deceased is buried, the bereaved family will go to claim it. As soon as the coffin lid was opened, the eyebrows appeared, and it was indeed a bereaved relative, looking like yesterday, but it was sleeping in the coffin for a long time, sad and miserable, devastating people's hearts, and suddenly some cried loudly, and some cried silently. ”

Li Chunfeng was dumbfounded when he heard this, he didn't expect that the first prime minister of the dignified hall would be so good at chasing corpses, and he could still talk about such terrifying things while eating meat! Li Chunfeng couldn't help but stretch out his thumb and praised: "Wen Xiang is really a god!" ”

Literature and art hurriedly said a few polite words, and then the business blew at the end of the banquet. It was noon when Li Chunfeng came, and it was already late at night when he returned. The slightly drunk Li Chunfeng always felt as if he had something to do when he walked on the road, and after thinking about it for a long time, he patted his head with an "ah", and only cared about bragging with literature and art, and he actually forgot to measure the eight characters of his birthday! Looks like I'm going to have to do it again tomorrow...

The next day, Li Chunfeng measured the eight characters, and Aunt Bolt entered the palace again, informing the woman of the divination results and the preparation of the wedding, this etiquette is called "Naji", also known as "Covenant", and the "Alliance" in the "Sea Oath Mountain Alliance" of the ancients originated here. Aunt Bolt and Empress Eldest Sun discussed the engagement token again. In the Tang Dynasty, engagement tokens were not just a random thing to use, but there were special gifts for engagement, including rings, jewelry, colored silk and even pigs and sheep and other livestock, which could be used as engagement tokens, so the Tang people also called it "send" or "fixed appointment", and the letter of appointment in the "Three Books" was also completed at this time, and exchanged with the engagement tokens. The engagement token prepared by Literature and Art is a pearl he collected from Dongying, which is the size of an adult's fist, smooth and round, and extremely rare. aroused the jealousy of the other princesses, and found an excuse to run to Shu'er's bedroom every day, just to take a look at this unparalleled pearl in the world!