The next afternoon, not only did Zeng Jingrong and his three companions arrive, but Chen An also took the train from the provincial capital. Li Zhengguo arranged for them to sleep on the floor in the men's room.
It was May, and the weather was already very hot, so sleeping on the floor was not a problem.
Li Weiyan and Li Weixin went to the kitchen to see Li Mu. Li Mu hadn't seen her second grandson in a long time and fussed over Li Weiyan with a lot of concern.
This made Li Weixin incredibly jealous. He leaned on Li Mu's shoulder and said, "Grandma, don't you see me?"
Li Mu patted her mischievous grandson's head. "You went home for New Year's. Your Yan Yan ge hasn't been back in a long time."
"He's worried about being pressured into marriage if he goes back," Li Weixin said without hesitation about his eldest cousin. "That's why he'd rather stay away than come see you."
"Is that so?" Li Mu asked her second grandson.
"Grandma, don't listen to Ran Ran's nonsense," Li Weiyan refused to admit it. "I was on a mission. This year, I'll be home for New Year's."
"Good, good, good," Li Mu nodded repeatedly with joy. "Lili is also coming home for New Year's this year, so we'll have a family reunion."
Li Weixin rolled his eyes at his eldest cousin, knowing he was just fooling Grandma.
In the living room, Li Weihao delivered good news to his parents. "I'm in a relationship."
Tian Jing smiled. "Congratulations, my son."
Li Zhengguo also nodded with a smile. "Are you feeling any lingering fear?"
"Yes!" Li Weihao sat up straight and nodded solemnly. "Very much so. Fortunately, Mom stopped me."
Tian Jing also felt a pang of fear. "It's my fault. I thought giving you freedom was enough."
She hadn't expected her eldest son to take freedom too far, even planning to use marriage as a transaction.
"It's my fault," Li Weihao took the blame. "I was lazy, I was arrogant."
Tian Jing was about to take the blame back when her husband interrupted. "You mother and son, stop blaming yourselves."
"Nothing irreversible has happened. I just want you both to stop being lazy from now on."
"One doesn't want to be involved, and the other is willing to settle for anyone."
Tian Jing glanced at her husband.
Li Zhengguo threw his hands up in surrender, still asking, "Did I say something wrong?"
Seeing her father admit his mistake while also being stubborn, Li Weihao quickly got up. "I'll go check on Grandma."
Tian Jing glared at her husband. "When we get home, we'll settle the score slowly."
Li Zhengguo...
On the afternoon of the 14th, Tian Jing and her husband, along with Ouyang Meihua and her husband, drove two cars to the flower shop to pick up the order.
The ten thousand roses and baby's breath had all been selected by the florist and packed into cardboard boxes.
Though the quantity sounded large, it only filled seven large cardboard boxes.
Three boxes contained the roses, and four boxes contained the baby's breath.
Finally, the florist handed a small box containing corsages and a bouquet to Tian Jing.
"You only asked for eight corsages, but I made twenty."
"The groomsmen and bridesmaids also need corsages. These light-colored Phalaenopsis are for the bridesmaids."
"The purple Phalaenopsis are for the officiant, and the light-colored champagne roses are for the principal officiant."
"The carnations are for the parents, and the pink roses are for the host. The brooches and ribbons are also included."
Tian Jing smiled as she took the small box. "You've been very thoughtful. Thank you."
"You're welcome." The florist was still a bit dazed. Selling over twenty thousand flowers at once felt like a dream.
When she was organizing these flowers that morning, she had been disbelieving, worried she was being scammed.
Then she thought, who would use five thousand yuan to scam her, a small flower shop?
Even with this self-consolation, she was still worried the customer wouldn't show up.
When the customer arrived and paid the remaining balance by card, her hands were trembling. This was over half a year's worth of sales.
Tian Jing also spent another 666 yuan at the flower shop to book decorations for the wedding cars, which would be done the next morning.
The florist assured her she would open at 4 AM.
Tian Jing waved her hand. "No need. We don't have a procession. Opening at seven or eight in the morning and finishing the car decorations before ten will be fine."
The florist nodded vigorously, assuring them she would open at 7 AM and could decorate the main car's flowers within two hours.
...
When Tian Jing and the others arrived at the compound's mess hall, Zeng Jingrong and all the Li family members were waiting there.
After the large boxes from the car were unloaded, they used a seven-seater vehicle to pick up carpets and over a hundred rose vine arches from the Yu family.
These rose vine arches were formed by twisting and intertwining tens or even hundreds of rose vines.
On the rose vines, light pink, white, and rose-colored rose buds were about to bloom.
With so many people, the main stage was quickly assembled in the southwest corner of the mess hall.
A red carpet was laid down, and the largest arched vine was placed behind the back wall of the main stage.
On either side of the large arch, two medium-sized arched vines were placed.
From the steps of the main stage to the large entrance of the mess hall, six small arched vines were placed on each side, creating a reserved path for the red carpet, about 1.5 meters wide.
The mess hall faced south and had two large doors, east and west. The west door, closest to the main stage, was closed, and only the east door was opened.
The small arched vines couldn't be placed too close together; there was a one-meter gap between each arch.
The space north of the red carpet path was large and used for banquet tables.
The space south of the red carpet path was small and had a row of chairs for guests to sit casually.
Tian Jing, with her youngest son, arranged all the arched vine plants, ensuring that the bases of the arches were stable.
Others were either inflating balloons or inserting roses and baby's breath into the vine arches.
Tian Jing didn't have strict requirements for the flower arrangement; they just needed to be secured in the gaps of the vines.
Except for the three arched vines on the main stage, which were densely decorated, the other small arched vines were sparsely decorated.
She would do the final adjustments later.
With many hands, the flowers on all the vine arches were quickly inserted.
Tian Jing told the balloon inflaters to stop using their mouths and switch to hydrogen tanks.
Suddenly, there was a series of popping sounds as balloons exploded.
Once they mastered the inflation technique and timing, fewer balloons burst.
The mouths of the hydrogen balloons were tied with roses and baby's breath as requested.
Tian Jing arranged the balloons by color and lifted them to the ceiling, creating the outline of a heart.
The young people saw this and thought it was simple enough for them to do.
Tian Jing completely handed over the balloons to the young people.
She then used her powers to "organize" the roses on the vine arches. Immediately, the messily inserted roses began to stretch in the direction Tian Jing wanted.
The arched vine gates instantly gained a lively, three-dimensional feel.
Once everything was arranged, Tian Jing instructed everyone to clean up the trash and set aside the remaining flowers and balloons for replenishment the next morning.
With everything tidied up, it was time for the rehearsal.
Shen Jianrong's family of three, Old Master Shen, and Shen Jianfang's family of four, along with two other bridesmaids, had arrived.
Upon seeing the decorated mess hall, Shen Jianfang and Shen Jianrong both marveled at the transformation.
The mess hall was spacious and bright, but it had been so empty it felt oppressive.
Simply put, it was just a large open space, providing shelter from the elements, but completely lacking in beauty or warmth.
Now, with various shaped balloon designs overhead and roses hanging down from the balloons, the entire ceiling of the mess hall was no longer empty and plain, but filled with warm romance.
The three arched backdrop walls on the main stage, with flowers and green leaves of various colors, made the square main stage look as if it were situated in a vibrant spring.
Yu Ziyu, surrounded by the three bridesmaids, inspected the mess hall.
It was so beautiful! Roses and roses were mixed on the vines, looking as if they were growing on them, full of vitality.
It was more vivid and lifelike than the pure rose-decorated arches found in grand hotels.
Li Wanzhen was fine, but the other two bridesmaids were very envious of Yu Ziyu finding such a good family.
They had assumed that holding a wedding in the compound's mess hall would be a mere formality, like their parents' generation, followed by feasting.
Moreover, Yu Ziyu was marrying someone not from the compound, and even the wedding procession the next morning had been canceled. What kind of wedding could it be?
To their surprise, there was even a rehearsal. The disdain in the two bridesmaids' hearts disappeared when they saw the transformed mess hall.
There must have been thousands, if not tens of thousands, of roses here!
This was truly a lavish affair! Over ten thousand yuan had been spent solely on flowers.
Bridesmaids and groomsmen were not needed for the rehearsal, so the six of them sat in the audience and watched.
Downstairs, there were only round tables north of the red carpet path; there were no guest seating arrangements like in Western weddings.
The three bridesmaids and three groomsmen sat diagonally opposite each other around the round tables.
Although they hadn't met before, Li Weiyan recognized Li Wanzhen from her photo.
He nudged his brother's foot. Li Weiyu understood immediately and started a conversation with the bridesmaid sitting opposite him.
With his brother taking the lead, Li Weiyan naturally struck up a conversation with Li Wanzhen.
Li Wanzhen recognized Li Weiyan, and since he had initiated the conversation, she answered while observing him.
Upon closer inspection, she couldn't really see Li Weiyan having the personality that her mother and aunt had heard about from Aunt Ouyang.
Seeing that two pairs were already chatting, the other bridesmaid took the initiative to talk to the dazed Chen An.
While the six of them were chatting lively, the rehearsal on the stage was also lively.
Especially Old Master Shen, who took out a prepared speech to read.
The principal officiant's words were blessings and advice for the newlyweds.
Old Master Shen delivered a lengthy speech of advice, instructing his granddaughter on how she should conduct herself.
This left Shen Jianrong both amused and exasperated. She took the manuscript and shortened it, limiting his speech to three minutes.
Even though the manuscript was cut in half, Old Master Shen didn't mind and asked his son-in-law to rewrite it for him.
After a simple run-through of the ceremony, everyone felt the effect was good.
It was neither too complicated nor too perfunctory, and coupled with the decorations on the main stage and in the mess hall, it was stunning enough.