To say that this official of the Great Song Dynasty can really be a little. No, Fang Zhongyong is only six yuan and the first, and he has not made any contribution to the country and the people, so Zhao Zhen is a marriage and a house.

Of course, it is unlikely that you will let Zhao Zhen, who is reluctant to drink even a bowl of mutton soup, build a new mansion for Fang Zhongyong, and Fang Zhongyong does not have such a big face.

It just so happened that the former official department was guilty of dereliction of duty, and his family property was confiscated, leaving a mansion. It happened to be cheaper, Fang Zhongyong.

Don't look at the petty officials who are only from the fifth grade in the examination of merit, and the evaluation of the performance of officials all over the country is determined by him, which is really a first-class fat difference. If the dots are in place, no matter whether they are virtuous or foolish, they will give a "superior"; If you don't understand people's feelings, you can only get a "Zhongping" if you love the people like a son and have outstanding political achievements; If you do evil to him, you will be the only one who will "go down", and you will be demoted or even dismissed.

It's just that this fat difference is too fat, and if you don't have a good stomach, ordinary people can't restrain it.

No, less than two years after taking office, this Lang Zhong was imprisoned for "indigestion". scattered all the family wealth and sent all the beautiful wives and concubines, and only then did he get a judgment of "sending Yazhou, but not forgiveness". You must know that Yazhou is the "end of the world" of Hainan Province in later generations, and the scenery is very beautiful!

When Fang Zhongyong stepped into the five-entry mansion in Nalangzhong, he thought it was an endless amount of arrogance and lasciviousness, and countless jewels and jade. What I didn't expect was that "the carved fence and jade masonry should still be there", but it was empty and didn't even see a mouse. Could it be that Chen Lin, an old thing, stole all the "own" calligraphy and painting treasures?

Seeing Fang Zhongyong looking at him suspiciously, Chen Lin smiled and said, "Lord Fang, don't doubt our family!" We have no children and no daughters, what is the use of those things? To put it mildly, our family's use in the palace is no different from that of the official family, and some yellow and white things may not be able to enter our family's eyes. The original furnishings in this house were either confiscated, or given away, or stolen by the wife and concubine's servants, and this is what they looked like when they came into our hands. ”

Fang Zhongyong was worried: "With such a big yard, how many things do you have to use to fill it?" You can't pile up some straw, can you? Besides, we don't have that much population in our family, why don't we change to a smaller one? ”

Chen Lin pointed at Fang Zhongyong and couldn't laugh: "I've only seen people who think the house is small, how can there be someone like you who thinks the house is too big?" Besides, the plaque of the official royal pen book 'Liuyuan Mansion' has been hung, how can the ordinary courtyard show the royal kindness? You should also relax, the official family knows that your family is poor, and specially allocates millions of money from the internal treasury for you to buy household belongings. The rest of the repairs, furniture, etc. will be undertaken by the supervisor, and you will not have to spend a penny! ”

was despised by Gonggong Chen, who regarded money as dung, and Fang Zhongyong didn't mind, because he was despising Zhao Zhen in his heart. One or two million RMB to decorate a large house of 3,000 square meters, and I don't know who is the turtle?

Seeing that Fang Zhongyong was still not satisfied, Chen Lin began to change his face: "The expenses in the palace are huge, and the officials have always been thrifty, and this million dollars is already a lot. ”

Fang Zhongyong didn't dare to offend the head of the Inner Servant Province for the time being, and hurriedly arched his hand and said, "Gonggong Chen has misunderstood. Originally, he was just a farmer's son, so he would think that the official reward was too little. If it were just me and my parents, there would be a place to stay. It's just that Lord Yan's daughter has been pampered since she was a child, and Wang's daughter has never suffered a day. If you marry me, you will end up with a coarse tea and light meal, and you will work hard every day, which will really make you lose face! ”

Chen Lin smiled when he heard this: "Good you look like a simple farmer!" Uncle Yan Tong is a person of extreme wealth, and Wang Yi is also an official eunuch for many generations, so he can let his daughter eat bran vegetables. The dowry must be very rich, and the servants who accompany the dowry are also indispensable. You can rest assured that you will be the bridegroom! ”

Yes, I accidentally became a soft eater. But who told us that we don't have money? Is it any wonder that after being promoted and raised, only by marrying Bai Fumei can he be regarded as reaching the pinnacle of his life?

Walking out of the door, I happened to see the craftsman hanging a plaque, and the three big characters of Zhao Zhen's imperial book "Liuyuan Mansion" in the sun are magnificent. Fang Zhongyong thought of the emptiness of the house, and somehow remembered the famous brand similar to it in later generations - two dollar stores. Yes, a two-dollar store is a two-dollar store, who called us poor?

As for the need to rely on the woman's rich dowry to live a happy life, if it is in the future life, it will definitely make headlines as an inspirational story, Fang Zhongyong even thought of the title - "Look, the rich daughter actually did this kind of thing", or the advertising advertorial "The poor boy learned XX, and the daughter of the local tyrant married him".

But more often than not, it can't be on the gossip of the mainstream media, such as "the groom thinks the woman asks for too much dowry, and the wedding car drives back at the door" and other negative energy reports. Even if the groom did not turn his face at that time, but after marriage, the man's parents suffered a lot of hardships in order to repay the high arrears, and the situation that the woman only cared about her own hilarity often occurred, until the hidden danger of disputes was buried for the originally loving young couple. (Are there any book friends who have ever been married, do you feel the same way?) ）

Fang Zhongyong was also worried about the dowry, and asked Yan Rongyue how much dowry she wanted.

Yan Rongyue said with a smile: "How much dowry can Lang Jun give?" ”

According to the three laws necessary for marriage in later generations, the house is available, although it is issued by the public; The car can be purchased by gritting its teeth; deposit, it will be embarrassing, there are less than 500 yuan left, and it is difficult to hold a high-grade wedding banquet.

Fang Zhongyong asked apprehensively, "Is it okay to follow the ancient rites?" ”

Qing Qin Huitian's "Five Rites General Examination" once said that since the Later Qi Dynasty, regardless of the Son of Heaven and the common people, weddings "are said to be Nacai, two are to be famous, three are Naji, four are Nazheng, five are invited, and six are welcomed." These are the six stages of ancient weddings, commonly known as the "Six Rites".

Nacai is the first stage of marriage proposal, after the man asks the matchmaker to propose, the woman agrees to propose marriage, and the man prepares a gift to go to the woman's house to propose, the gift is a goose, and the goose must live. Why use geese? The goose is a migratory bird, taking the symbol of yin and yang, and later developing a new idea, saying that the goose loses its mate, and will no longer be a pair for life, and takes its loyalty.

After asking for the name is a marriage proposal, the matchmaker asks the woman's date of birth and name to prepare for the marriage ceremony. 

Najib is a ritual to inform the woman of the good news of the marriage after asking the name, also known as "engagement". This is the main etiquette at the stage of engagement. In ancient customs, geese should be used as a token of the marriage. Later, it developed into rings, jewelry, colored silk, gift cakes, gift incense candles, and even sheep and pigs, etc., so it is also called sending or hiring.

After the engagement, the man's family sends the dowry to the woman's family, which is a ritual at the stage of marriage. This wedding is also commonly known as a complete or big engagement, a big gift, etc. Later, the ceremony also adopted the practice of returning the gift, returning part or all of the food in the dowry; Or after being hired, the woman will give the man a hat, shoes and socks as a return gift. The number of dowry gifts and the name of the item are mostly auspicious, and the number is taken as a double taboo.

After giving the dowry, choose the wedding date, prepare the gift to the woman's house, and ask for the consent of the ceremony. The ancient custom is to use geese as usual, the gifts are generally simple, and the invitation ceremony is often combined with the dowry ceremony, and the wedding date is determined at the same time as the big gift.

As for the kiss, it's easier to understand, pick up the new daughter-in-law. This ritual is often seen as the main procedure of the wedding, while the first five are used as transitional rites such as marriage and engagement. Some of these forms are due to the needs of social relations, such as the "makeup" of the woman's house, the "opening of the house" and the "hole room" when going to the man's house, etc., which are all rituals to establish social relations. Purely the ritual of welcoming the part, generally using a sedan chair, divided into double or single top, helping the wife to get on the sedan chair "send the sister-in-law", accompany the groom to the woman's house to pick up the "welcome guest", all have their own requirements, get up the sedan chair, return to the horse, welcome the sedan chair, get off the sedan chair, worship the heaven and earth, perform a happy ceremony, enter the cave room......

Among these rituals, although there are also dowry gifts, most of them are food, clothing, and jewelry, which are not necessarily necessities. It seems to be a grand scene, but it doesn't actually cost a lot of money.

Let's talk about wild geese, although they were worth a lot in later generations and became a second-class wild protected animal, they only had two or three hundred wen in the Song Dynasty. Although the jewelry is expensive, you have to buy it anyway, so you can't wronged the bride, right?

Yan Rongyue has a bit of a literary and artistic style of "loving and drinking water", and she can understand Ai Lang's difficulties very well, and she held Fang Zhongyong's hand and said: "Lang Jun doesn't need to worry, even if Lang Jun eats bran and swallow vegetables, I am also willing to eat, and I want to come to Sister Wei'er as well." Daddy has always loved me, and when the time comes, I just need more dowry. ”

The dowry was officially recorded in the historical materials in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it was recorded in the "Zuo Chuan" that "Yuan was quite Situ, and he was given a field to marry a princess." ”

There is also a verse in the poem "Hooligans" that "come with a car and bribe me to move". An archaeologist once found a mural in a large tomb during the Warring States period, which depicts a wedding procession, and the dowry is only a few geese, a few dogs and a pig.

Before the Song Dynasty, the marriage of newlyweds had always followed the rule that the dowry was more than the dowry, and the mother's family did their best to equip the daughter with the dowry. In the Northern Song Dynasty, people began to pursue extravagant dowries, and there was even a phenomenon of comparison between scholars and doctors. When the in-laws choose a daughter-in-law for their son, the first criterion is the amount of the woman's dowry. The marriage between the big families, the woman's family invested quietly, and the man's family rejoiced.

During the Han Dynasty, if the family was relatively wealthy, they would prepare a rich dowry for their daughters; During the Tang Dynasty, parents from relatively wealthy families would basically return the dowry given by the man to their daughters as a dowry. In the Song Dynasty, the dowry rose with the tide for no more than two reasons:

First, the law of the Song Dynasty protected the private property of married women, and neither the husband nor the in-laws could embezzle the dowry brought by the woman. It is mentioned in the "Song Dynasty Fact Garden" that if the widow remarries (that is, Fang Zhongyong hangs up, Yan Rongyue remarries. Phew, bad luck), you can justifiably take the dowry away. "Yuan's Shifan" also recorded: "As a wife, the name of the property, the death of the wife and the remarriage, the self-entourage is many." ”

The second is the scholar class of the Song Dynasty, hoping to conclude a good marriage through a huge dowry. In other words, the mother's family hopes to maintain the bond between the two families with a rich dowry, and even if they marry their daughters, they hope to get help from their daughters, sons-in-law, and even grandchildren in the future. Therefore, this "common property" belonging to the two families is also the way back left for the woman's parents for themselves. Realistically speaking, Yan Shu, Wang Yizhi and Fang Zhongyong are the same.

Whether it is a wealthy family or an ordinary family, if you don't budget for your daughter early and save in advance, she will be ignored when she reaches marriageable age.

When Fan Zhongyan first formulated the "Yizhuang Rules", he stipulated: "Thirty yuan for marrying a woman, twenty yuan for remarriage, twenty yuan for marrying a woman, and 20 yuan for marrying a woman, and no money for remarrying." ”

When Su Zhe bought a dowry for his daughter, he sold a good piece of land he had purchased and got 9,400 yuan to make a dowry for his daughter. Su Zhe did have a long face, but when he wrote his diary in private, he still secretly wrote the words "breaking the family and marrying a daughter".

Su Zhe is a small official, and the highest position is only a short-term position from the imperial history of Sanpin, and the salary is not the same as Yan Shu's participation in political affairs, and he is distressed after spending less than 10,000 yuan.

Yan Lao Taishan is much more generous, look at the list of dowries listed by Yan Rongyue: a grange outside Bianliang City, five thousand taels of silver, a number of head jewelry, a number of four seasons clothing, a number of maids-in-law, and a number of servants in the courtyard......

Wang Yi, who had not yet arrived in the capital, was not to be outdone, and sent someone to send a gift list in advance, and the content was almost identical. It's just that his family doesn't have a manor in Bianliang, so he transferred a grange in Linchuan's hometown to Wang Lingwei. Although the value is slightly lower, it is better than the area is large enough.

I don't know if the two old Taishan will feel sorry for the dowry, but Fang Zhongyong is very happy. At least, the two delicate ladies will not be wronged.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed!