The happy day of Wall and Yang Ying has finally arrived. This family affair has caused a sensation in the whole city, who doesn't want to come to see "Yang Daotai marrying a daughter, and a foreign devil marrying"? So the curious people waited on both sides of the greeting route early to see the rare liveliness and novelty.

Wall's naturalization, largely for Yang Ying, and he actually said that Forrest was naturalized with him. In Forrestal, he also has his own plans, one is to become a naturalized citizen, and the reward of the imperial court is one level higher - he got the third-rank general, and Bai Qiwen only got the guerrilla from the third-grade, which is proof. The second is that he really likes China, has a good temper, and gets along very well with the Chinese - when he was still patrolling the house, the Chinese in the concession always called him "Fu Devil", and he smiled and did not think of the pestle.

After the two became naturalized, they found two adjacent houses on the same street in the north of the city and became neighbors. Because he wants to marry a daughter-in-law, he is naturally the one who lives in Wall. Forrest is a widower, and the location of the foreign gun regiment is in Pudong, and he has to cross the river, so he doesn't have much time to go home on weekdays, and he can enjoy himself with such a small house.

Wall's family affairs were discussed very quickly, and it was almost necessary to avoid the complexity of the matchmakers on both sides. General family affairs, fast or slow, are on the woman's matchmaker, with strange goods to live in, slowly entangled with the man's family, must be the bride price to the extreme, the marriage scene must also be sufficient, to be considered competent, the woman's thank you gift will also be heavy. Therefore, according to the customs of Jiangnan, to be a matchmaker, there are "twelve and a half chickens" delicious - from the beginning of "asking the name" to the "six rites" will be completed, the matchmaker has to make at least six round-trips, and the host has to kill chickens for hospitality every time. It's the day of the "good days". There is also a chicken to eat. But the bride has to get into the sedan chair. You can't chew calmly, you can only eat half a piece at most, which adds up to "twelve and a half".

The matchmaker invited by Yang Fang is the famous matchmaker "Huang Tiezui" in the seven counties of Songjiang Province, and he has never had an opponent in the wedding field, but this time, he unfortunately met the matchmaker of the man's family is Guan Zhuofan. Commander of the Xuan Army. If it weren't for Guan Zhuofan's repeated politeness, please "don't be polite", he would probably have to kneel on the ground to "listen to orders", how to talk about other things?

"Mr. Huang, come on. Eat chicken, eat chicken. Liu Xun, who was ordered to take care of his affairs, beckoned Huang Tiezui to enter the table. Take out a list during the banquet, which day to change the post, which day is small, which day is big, what is the bride price, how much the bride price, a number of bride money, are listed one by one, zuihou gave two auspicious days to welcome the family, and asked the woman to choose - this is to avoid the days when the bride is uncomfortable, so as not to "bump into the joy" when the round house.

Huang Tiezui is also a very shrewd character, knowing that there is this chicken to eat, he has already given himself enough face - a big military war, he can move when he says, how can he allow himself to eat a chicken on his left and a chicken on his right? What's more, on the list handed over by Liu Xunji, the bride price and dowry are very rich, and with this list, it is enough to pay a difference in Yangfang.

Guan Zhuofan secretly laughed at Yang Fang's cunning - he was rich and rich, and he didn't care about the bride price, but this time he married his daughter, hoping to do it quickly, but he refused to let others gossip, so he invited the most powerful matchmaker to show people calm. At the same time, he secretly entrusted Guan Zhuofan to preside over his affairs for Wall, knowing that no matter how powerful the matchmaker was, he would not be able to exert his power in the face of Guan Zhuofan, so he had an explanation for his lizi and face.

The auspicious day was finally set on the sixth day of the fourth month. On the morning of this day, the dowry team first set off from Yangfang's house, with two jujube red horses in front and behind, which were divided into guidance and pressure formations - they did not dare to use white horses, because they were taboo. In the middle is three carts, and dozens of people shoulder to shoulder, the transport of cages, all kinds of quilts, Western mirrors, etc., dazzling, just the toilet, there are four - this is also called the descendant bucket, which is full of dates, peanuts, guiyuan, lotus seeds, take the meaning of "early birth of a precious son".

When the team arrived in front of the house in the north of the city, they stopped in turn, and under the command of Huang Tiezui, they moved a dowry into the house, and all the cages, before entering the door, must open the lid of the box, and show the crowds outside the door - this is called "praise dowry", which means that my daughter, with a noble status, brings a dowry, enough to be proud, and has never insulted her husband's family. Among them, there is a silver box, which is the bride's body, commonly known as "the money at the bottom of the box", as soon as it is opened, the viewer immediately stirs, only to see the silver light is bright, two hundred small silver bills are arranged neatly, and a piece of jade is stacked on it, a gold ingot, and it is the meaning of "full of gold and jade".

When this bustle ended, the team that went to Yang's mansion to welcome relatives set off. Wall rode on a horse, draped in red and hung colors, completely dressed as an ordinary Chinese groom, but the battle behind him was not ordinary - a Daniel Zhang made face for him, and from the Xuanjun horse team, sixty skilled horsemen were specially selected, with blue, yellow, red, and black war horses, to control the slow march in columns, to be his honor guard, and a red and four blue sedan chair with a total of five palanquins in the middle, used to pick up the bride and the Yang family's female relatives.

Such a scene, which has never been seen before, naturally attracts endless colorful voices. When he arrived at Yang's house, Wall kowtowed to his father-in-law Yang Fang, and gave tea to the elders in the house, and completed all the etiquette, before taking Yang Ying, who was crowned with a phoenix, got on the big red sedan chair, and in the sound of firecrackers, got up the sedan chair and went north, and returned to "Washington" to make a ceremony.

At this time, Washington was naturally full of guests, in addition to the officials in the Shanghai officialdom and the Xuan army, the local gentry were also invited. In terms of concessions, many consuls from various countries sent representatives to send congratulatory gifts, and the American consul Charles, because of Wall's special status, personally attended the ceremony to congratulate him. Because it was expected that there would be many guests, the house of Forrest next door was also "requisitioned", and the entire wedding banquet was naturally transferred by Hu Qingqing.

There are many guests, so there are naturally many congratulatory gifts. In general, the congratulatory gifts sent by Chinese officials are heavy, and the congratulatory gifts sent by foreigners are light, this is a difference in customs, but there is nothing to say, the strange thing is that everyone is polite, but only Guan Zhuofan's share, so everyone thinks that Guan Zhuofan is the hard work of this wedding as a gift.

Both Hua Er and Yang Ying are Western-style, so before the ceremony, there are congratulatory messages from the elders of both sides. The women's family is Wu Xu speaking on behalf of Yang Fang, all sides are stable, all aspects, in short, congratulations to a couple of newlyweds for spending a good moon. It was the man's turn, but he pushed it to the American consul to say this, Charles was not polite, praised Wall, praised him as "a hero of the United States", came to China thousands of miles away, demonstrated the American spirit, and now joined the Chinese nationality, and Yang Daotai's daughter formed a good relationship with Qin and Jin, which represents the good-neighborliness and friendship of the people of the two countries.

Guan Zhuofan listened with a smile, and waited until Charles finished speaking, then stepped forward, looked at Wall, looked at Charles, and took out a red envelope.

"Mr. Charles, both Wall and the American officers and men in the foreign guns, have made great contributions to the victory in this battle of Shanghai." Guan Zhuofan smiled and said: "Here is a cashier's check of 50,000 taels of Standard Chartered Bank, of which 10,000 taels are donated to his motherland according to Wall's wishes, and the other 40,000 taels are regarded as Xuan Jun's donation to your government to show his gratitude." I hope that this money will help your country to quell the rebellion. ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall was suddenly silent-it turned out that He Jin, who was in Guan Domain, was here. However, the imperial court lost the war, and there was such a thing as compensating for the military expenses, but it was really unheard of to take the initiative to donate money to foreigners! Also, is there a rebellion in the United States?

Wall was stunned for a moment, and then he was so excited that he almost couldn't help himself: "Yixuan...... Xuan Shuai, you have such a heart, call me...... Call me ......"

What do you know in return? Guan Zhuofan saw Wall's appearance, and then looked at Charles's surprised expression, knowing that he had done a good job, but he was a little ashamed in his heart: Is it a bit too much to play tricks by himself? smiled and said, "Brother Hua, today is your big day, this point of heart, as my congratulatory gift, you don't have to be polite." ”

Wall's mood was excited, but the American consul was thinking more than that—the Civil War in his own country was in full swing, and the government had suffered several defeats, and the situation was worrying, which Charles knew very well. The 10,000 taels of silver donated in Wall's name is probably the largest personal donation ever received by the U.S. government, and the 40,000 taels donated by Xuan Jun, no matter how surprising, must be accepted first—at this time, even the tiniest liliang will help the war a little, not to mention the real 50,000 taels of silver, which is a great help to the government.

So Charles expressed his heartfelt thanks on behalf of the U.S. government. However, he is different from Wall, after all, he is a diplomat, and he still secretly speculates about Guan Zhuofan's intentions in his heart.

Guan Zhuofan didn't care about him, and when the noise was over, he looked at the master of ceremonies, and the master of ceremonies understood, and shouted: "Salute-"

One worships heaven and earth, and the other worships the high hall - because Wall's parents are not there, this worship is a distant worship. After the husband and wife worship each other, this exotic marriage will come to an end.

A good couple, full of joy, Guan Zhuofan was also infected by such an atmosphere, thinking that these days are so busy that there is almost no stop, and when he really wants to drink a few glasses after a while, he will be loose.

Before he could finish his thoughts, he saw Túrin come in through the door, and hurried through the crowd in the hall to him.

"Master, Tianjin's three-mouth minister of trade is Chonghou, accompanied by Xue Futai and that Xu Changshan, and has already disembarked at Xiaodongmen." Túrina glanced around his eyes and said in a very small voice: "As soon as I got off the boat, I revealed the identity of the Qincha, and sent someone to seal the telegraph office of the county government with the guard of the Qincha. ”

*(To be continued......)