Along the way, the people blocking the road for treats were relatively civilized; a few cigarettes, a handful of candy, and some auspicious words were enough to make them happily clear the road.
There wasn't the kind of situation seen in later generations' short videos; everyone was just joining in the fun.
Among neighbors, whose family doesn't hold a happy event?
If you cause too much trouble, they might retaliate when your family has a happy occasion.
Stopping and starting all the way, by eleven o'clock in the morning, the motorcade finally arrived at the maternal uncle's small courtyard.
After a burst of firecrackers, the bride was carried off the car on the groom's back.
The person distributing wedding candy had been replaced by the third maternal uncle's 14-year-old cousin.
It seemed they were really short-handed today, otherwise, it wouldn't have fallen to a little kid to hand out candy.
At the midday wedding banquet, Tan Jincheng was no longer treated like the driver's table.
According to local customs, Tan Jincheng's family today held a status second only to the bride's family.
Of course, today was also a day of big spending for Tan Lihua.
Speaking of which, Tan Lihua's gift money today was quite a dilemma; he wanted to be fair to his three younger brothers, but since their wedding years were different, it was impossible to give the same amount.
However, this was not something Tan Jincheng needed to worry about.
In the rural hometown, the relationship between elders and juniors was highly valued.
No matter how capable, wealthy, or distinguished Tan Jincheng was, as long as Tan Lihua was present, he had no right to speak.
Having three biological younger brothers, in later generations, no one would dare to marry into such a family; even if she wasn't a "brother-serving demon," the social obligations with three younger brothers' families would be a considerable sum.
In fact, it was true.
Tan Lihua and his wife had good incomes and were usually quite frugal.
Over the years, social obligations among relatives had become a very large portion of their household expenses.
When prices soared in later years, relatives could no longer bear such social obligations, and they all agreed that there was no need to buy gifts; simply having a meal together during festivals and holidays would suffice.
Tan Jinyue was not brought along today; she stayed with her grandma to be looked after.
There were too many people, and the wedding banquet was noisy, so they were afraid of scaring the child.
Tan Jincheng's family sat together at noon.
They still received two packs of cigarettes.
He couldn't drink alcohol, as he was responsible for sending the bride's relatives home after the banquet.
Speaking of which, hosting banquets these days really makes you lose money hand over fist.
The gift money is generally not high, but whole families attend wedding banquets.
Calculating for a family of three, they would receive six packs of cigarettes, not counting other candies and gift boxes.
Tan Jincheng's family alone received eight packs of cigarettes from attending the banquet today.
The driver would also get an additional carton of cigarettes, but Tan Jincheng didn't take it.
Building a house and getting married, the maternal uncle Zhang Qingxuan's earnings over the years must have been completely depleted.
To not owe money was already incredibly impressive.
From another perspective, studying was still useful; even if they were both working, the high school graduate maternal uncle earned money significantly faster than his peers who hadn't studied much.
However, Tan Jincheng knew that his maternal uncle Zhang Qingxuan was the one his father looked down upon the most among all the brothers.
He entered his senior year of high school as the eighth-ranked student in the best high school in the county town, but then he got carried away and ended up failing his college entrance exams.
The youngest son and the eldest grandson are generally favored.
Young and reckless, his family doted on him relentlessly, supporting his studies, and his grades were good.
It was somewhat normal for him to get a bit arrogant, and failing the exams was his biggest lesson.
But after marriage, Zhang Qingxuan, who was the best off among the brothers, was the one who treated his parents the worst, even less filial than his two paternal cousins.
This was the reason why Tan Lihua, as his brother-in-law, was most enraged.
It wasn't that he completely ignored them; it was just that he was quite selfish in how he conducted himself.
Apart from normal food rations, he hardly gave his parents any other money.
He also left his children for his parents to raise, without paying for it, naturally enjoying the privileges of being the youngest son.
Tan Lihua had told him to his face more than once that "all the books he read went into a dog's belly," which made Zhang Qingxuan, his brother-in-law, quite intimidated by him.
Many people, you can't really say how bad they are, but due to their personality, being around them can make people uncomfortable.
Zhang Qingxuan was probably one such person; he didn't have many friends in the village, and people rarely invited him to play mahjong.
The lively wedding banquet ended amidst drunken compliments.
Guests dispersed, and the driver team members, after sending the bride's family away, all went home.
Tan Jincheng's family didn't plan to return for the evening banquet.
It was already the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, and they had some relatives and friends in the city, so it was impossible to spend the entire holiday in the countryside.
It was time to pack up and prepare to return to the city.
After the formal wedding ceremony, besides the groom's return gifts, there was also a segment where relatives from the bride's side would come to give gifts, typically red packets, thermos flasks, bowls and chopsticks, etc., symbolizing adding bricks and tiles to their daughter's married life.
Tan Jincheng himself wasn't entirely clear on what exactly was given, as he hadn't seen much of this tradition.
Zhang Qingxuan even wanted Tan Jincheng to help pick up guests again on that day.
However, Tan Jincheng couldn't wait until then.
After the official holiday, February was already halfway over, and he needed to go back and prepare for a business trip to the Canton Fair.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Tan Jincheng drove his parents and younger sister back to the city early in the morning.
Relatives in the city didn't have as many formalities, so Tan Lihua could just visit them himself.
Tan Jincheng could finally sleep in for two days.
"Dad, you visit the relatives yourself after we get back. I've already found excuses for you; my sister is too young, so Mom and I will stay home and look after her."
"You kid, fine, fine. You've really worked hard these past few days. You'll be back to work soon, so get a good rest for two days." Tan Lihua smiled helplessly.
Except for the first day of the Lunar New Year, his son hadn't rested.
Whenever relatives lived a bit further away or drank too much, they would ask his son to pick them up and drop them off.
It was Lunar New Year, and he was a junior, so it was hard to refuse these requests.
With constant back-and-forth, his son was either driving or on his way to drive during the first month of the Lunar New Year.
Although Tan Lihua and his wife were proud inside, they also felt sorry for their son.
He earned money, bought a car, conducted himself properly, and while facing relatives' probing questions without losing face, he was also good at keeping a low profile.
This greatly gratified Tan Lihua; his son had truly grown up.
Tan Lihua was afraid his son would get too arrogant and boast everywhere after earning a bit of money.
But as it seemed now, if Qingliang hadn't mentioned the renovation that day, even he wouldn't have known that his son had bought an apartment in Beicang too.
Wasn't this a bit too low-key?
However, this was a good thing.
Tan Lihua felt that his son's performance this year had completely won back the face he lost because of him last year.
Last year, when he returned to his hometown, everyone he met would subtly criticize, saying,
"Why is your son so naughty and senseless?"
But this year was completely different.
Wherever he went, he felt more confident.
From the fifth to the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Tan Jincheng truly stayed home and didn't go out.
Tan Lihua could finally get his hands on the steering wheel and happily drove off to visit relatives and friends.
On the evening of the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Xupeng's family came to visit.
The two families had agreed to have dinner together that night.
After today, these two children would be returning to Yongcheng.
(End of chapter)
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