At the bride's table, Yu Ziyu had just sat down when a few of her close friends gathered around.
They peppered her with questions about why there was no ring exchange ceremony.
"You didn't buy wedding rings, did you?"
Yu Ziyu nodded, "That's right! We didn't buy any."
Li Weibo couldn't wear a ring, so what was the point of buying one? Was she supposed to wear one and keep another at home?
Her friends exchanged bewildered glances.
Then, a slightly plump girl spoke up, "Ziyu, this is a bit much. If your in-laws didn't even get you a wedding ring, they clearly don't take you seriously."
Yu Ziyu chuckled and said to her cousin, Li Wanzhen, "Take out the 'changing address' red envelopes and show them. Let's see if my in-laws take me seriously."
When the bride and groom entered, the Li family's unique way of distributing "changing address" red envelopes had the guests whispering. According to custom, these envelopes were usually given during the toast.
These friends also privately mocked the Li family for not knowing the rules.
Li Wanzhen took out thirteen red silk envelopes.
These silk envelopes, clearly handmade, made the friends want to sneer, but upon seeing their thickness, their jaws dropped in astonishment.
Yu Ziyu casually opened one. Inside was a stack of hundred-yuan bills and a one-yuan coin.
Ten thousand and one, representing "one in ten thousand."
Then, she raised her hand and stroked the other twelve envelopes, revealing the height of the money inside. She then asked her friends,
"Did you see clearly? Every 'changing address' red envelope they gave was for ten thousand and one."
"That's thirteen thousand here. Do you know how much gift money I received from the villagers of Kushanli?"
Thirteen thousand was already here! The friends' eyes widened. The villagers of Kushanli must have given a lot too, right?
Yu Ziyu smirked slightly, "660,000. Each household gave ten thousand."
"Do they know me? What do they want from me?"
"Nothing at all. They value the daughter-in-law of the Li family. They are committed to the Li family."
"Why are you saying these things? Trying to sow discord between us? Heh, for this lifetime, I am a member of the Li family, and no one can change that."
"I must live up to the great kindness of the Li family, and I must live up to the great kindness of the villagers of Kushanli."
660,000?
The mouths of several friends opened wide enough to fit an egg.
Looking at the sneer on Yu Ziyu's face, they sheepishly retreated from her side.
Hmph!
Yu Ziyu let out a soft snort. Money, she thought, reveals human nature.
She, had not a single good friend.
Even if she had them in the past, their friendships had been severed by her extravagant betrothal gifts.
These friends, they couldn't possibly not know about her high betrothal gifts, yet they still tried to provoke her, hoping she would become dissatisfied with her in-laws and demand more?
Yu Ziyu only felt fortunate, fortunate to have cut ties early.
Friendship, in the face of profit, was worthless.
Li Weibo pushed the red envelopes away, signaling Li Wanzhen to pack them up. He gently took Yu Ziyu's hand.
"Ziyu, let's go change clothes for the toast."
"Okay." Yu Ziyu followed Li Weibo to a seven-seater car outside the ceremonial hall.
To block the sun, the seven-seater car was equipped with window curtains. Changing clothes here was safe, but inconvenient.
Fortunately, there were two bridesmaids to help, and Li Weibo stood by the car door to shield her. Yu Ziyu stood by the car door, behind Li Weihao, while the bridesmaids zipped up the invisible zipper on her back inside the car.
"Done," Yu Ziyu tugged at Li Weibo's suit.
Li Weibo opened the red umbrella he was holding, shielding Yu Ziyu's head. "Hot?"
Although Yu Ziyu's dress was short-sleeved, it reached her ankles.
Yu Ziyu shook her head slightly at him, "It's okay. Are you hot? You can take off your suit later for the toast."
"Mmm." Li Weibo was indeed hot. Wearing a two-piece suit in May was terribly uncomfortable.
Inside the ceremonial hall, the banquet had already begun.
As soon as a dish entered their mouths, everyone abandoned their pretense and discarded the flattery motivated by self-interest, focusing only on quickly savoring the mouth-watering delicacies.
For a moment, in the vast ceremonial hall, the forty tables of guests only produced the sound of chopsticks clashing against bowls and plates.
That's right, Grandpa Shen had budgeted for forty tables, and all of them were filled.
And each table had twelve people.
Fortunately, they were all large round tables, so twelve people per table wasn't too crowded.
Grandpa Shen sat at the head table. There were three head tables each for the bride's and groom's families.
All the Shen family members were present, including the granddaughters-in-law.
Grandpa Shen watched his relatively well-behaved juniors, nodding subtly. As long as they didn't embarrass him, it would be fine.
Little did he know how much self-control these juniors were exerting to refrain from fighting over dishes, comforting themselves in their hearts that they had another meal at home tonight and could still savor these delicacies then.
The Tang (mother-in-law of Shen Xiaohui's eldest sister-in-law), Tu (Shen Xiaohui's maternal family), Gong (mother-in-law of Shen Xiaoping's eldest sister-in-law), Huang (Shen Xiaoping's maternal family), Cai (Shen Xiaojuan's maternal family), and Wu (Shen Xiaoxin's maternal family) families were all present.
To their congratulations, Shen Jianrong simply responded with a faint "mm," while Shen Jianfang quickly ushered the guests in.
At the registration table, the gift money from the six families was opened and returned. Shen Jianfang explained again.
The six families re-submitted two hundred yuan in gift money and then waited with their red envelopes for the bride and groom to toast them.
They would give the groom red envelopes, surely?
During the toast, the bride's relatives gave red envelopes to the groom, and the groom's relatives gave red envelopes to the bride.
Just as all the guests thought the groom's relatives had already given the bride "changing address" red envelopes, the groom's relatives produced more red envelopes for the bride.
They said these were "toast" red envelopes, different from the "changing address" ones.
This time, the toast red envelopes were in ordinary red envelope packets, but one could see by eye that they contained at least two thousand yuan, as the envelopes were bulging.
The bride's relatives, seeing this, quickly took out money and added it to their own red envelopes.
They couldn't be outdone by the groom's side. The groom's side could separate the "changing address" red envelopes from the "toast" red envelopes upon entry, and they couldn't control that, but in terms of "toast" red envelopes, they couldn't fall behind the groom's side.
Ma Xingxiang, while stuffing money into her red envelope, muttered,
"No wonder they only accepted two hundred yuan at the registration table. The main part is here."
"Shut up!" Shen Jianming hissed at his wife, "We are direct relatives. What's wrong with giving a little more?"
"What will the other guests think if they hear you say that?"
"Let them think what they want," Ma Xingxiang grumbled. "Who does things like this? The groom's side is deliberately trying to make us look bad."
"Stupid!" Shen Jianming cursed. "If they had given the 'changing address' red envelopes at this time, you would have been the one to lose face. I heard it was ten thousand and one. Do you have that much money on you?"
Ten thousand and one?
Ma Xingxiang stopped her hand in surprise. With the age of her grandchildren, how could they be so out of sync with the Li family?
When it was their turn to be toasted, Li Weibo, following his mother-in-law's introduction, called out, "Auntie."
Ma Xingxiang beamed, her smile reaching her eyes. "Good, good, good child. Take this red envelope. Auntie wishes you a happy wedding and a long life together."
A long life together! It didn't matter if her grandchildren's generation couldn't connect with them, as long as Ziyu remained the Li family's daughter-in-law, they could still bask in the reflected glory.
Zhao Qilan, seeing her elder sister-in-law secretly add money, also added some. No matter what, she couldn't be outdone by her elder sister-in-law.
When it was her turn as the younger aunt, Zhao Qilan also offered her sincere blessings.
Shen Jianrong felt much more at ease. At this critical moment, her elder and second sisters-in-law weren't letting her down. She was very happy. This was all she expected from them.
Among the guests, some gave red envelopes, and some did not, as these were considered familial "changing address" red envelopes, given at their discretion.
Finally, they reached the Tang family's table. The Tang family directly gave the original gift money of two thousand yuan to Li Weibo.
Li Weibo refused to accept it. The Tang family was a matrimonial alliance of the Shen family. Given the status of the Yu family, their address to the Tang, Gong, Cai, and other families would have included the term "in-laws" at the beginning. There was no need for them to accept "changing address" red envelopes.
Besides, the conflict that arose with the Gong and Tu families when purchasing the wedding attire was about to be avenged. What would it look like if he accepted red envelopes?
Li Weibo refused and quickly moved to the next table, letting the Tang family understand that the matter at the attire shop was not to be overlooked.