Chapter 336: If Grandma and Grandpa don’t pamper us, we will pamper ourselves
Bai Ruozhu’s eyes narrowed in laughter, thinking the old lady was indeed being ridiculous. Was she belittling others or belittling herself? Their procession moved on quickly and the other side of the road was not affected at all, but what about the old mansion of the Bai Family? The awful smell could drift inside. Wasn’t the old lady humiliating herself?
She really felt baffled by the old lady’s lack of intelligence.
The wedding procession enlivened again, having taken a small detour to avoid the feces on the ground, it kept moving forward.
Inside the yard of the Bai family’s old mansion, the old lady was trembling with anger. She wanted to open the door and shout at them all, but there were too many people outside. If she shouted, she would end up reprimanding everyone. Moreover, her action just now was indeed quite disgraceful, not something to be spoken about openly.
Before the wedding procession reached the Wan Family, news of what had happened in front of the Bai family’s old mansion had spread. Wan Qilao frowned and said, "Bai Fu is thoroughly confused now, he can’t even control his own women, doesn’t he mind losing face? Now he is notorious!"
Wan Su, who was illiterate, didn’t exactly understand the meaning of "notorious", but she managed to get the general idea and remained in high spirits, feeling amused by it all.
She thought about it and said, "Their grandparents don’t care about Zehao, but we do. When he arrives, we’ll serve good tea to our new grandson."
Wan Qilao nodded, "Right, if Zehao’s grandparents don’t love him, from now on, I and your mother will be his grandparents!"
Old Lady Wan also nodded, "Zehao is diligent and hardworking, I really like him."
While they were talking, the wedding procession made its cheerful appearance. Wan Su looked at the scene from a distance and felt even happier. She didn’t compare vainly with others, but the grander the wedding procession, the more it showed that the bride’s family valued this daughter-in-law. This would give her daughter Caiyue greater status in the Wan Family.
In a hurry, Wan Su ran into the yard, poured three cups of tea, put them on a tray, and brought it to the door.
In a short while, the wedding procession had arrived at the door of the Wan Family. Wan Su stepped forward with a smile and said, "Father-in-law, mother-in-law, Zehao, you must be hot. Have some tea quickly and don’t upset yourselves over irrelevant matters."
Lin Ping immediately understood that Wan Su had already learned about the doings at the Bai family’s old mansion. She was saving face for her son Zehao. Having a mother-in-law who served tea even before they entered the house really indicated she cared loads about her son-in-law.
"Mother-in-law, you are so thoughtful," Lin Ping gratefully responded, her eyes welling up with tears.
Zehao accepted the tea and said with much emotion, "Thank you, mother."
The crowd laughed out loud. Someone shouted, "It truly is a case of mother-in-law liking her son-in-law more with each passing day. It’s clear that our bridegroom is highly appreciated by his in-laws!"
"He’s very charming, you see, he has already started calling her mother," an old woman joked, prompting another round of laughter. Zehao’s face turned as red as a ripe apple.
Normally, one would only start addressing the in-laws formally after the ceremony. But Zehao, overcome with emotion, had jumped the gun. In any other household, this would be seen as being too hasty. But everyone had witnessed the old Bai Family’s behavior and the Wan family’s heartfelt care. They therefore didn’t blame Zehao for becoming emotional.
Wan Qilao laughed heartily and said out loud, "I really like Zehao. From now on, he and my wife will be his grandparents."
Everyone understood the implication - the Wan family wanted the whole village to know that since the Bai family didn’t care for Zehao, the Wan family would. The Wan family would support Zehao in the future and the Bai family old mansion should weigh their actions very carefully.
Hearing this, Zehao felt even more emotional and immediately knelt to bow to Wan Qilao and Old Lady Wan.
Wan Qilao quickly helped him up, his eyes filled with approval, thinking that Zehao’s sincerity would surely result in him treating their Caiyue well in the future.
Those who came with the wedding procession nodded in agreement, feeling that the union of the Wan and Bai families was a good match. Seeing how closely they bonded, they could foresee the younger generation of the two families having a harmonious future.
Due to the unforeseen incident of the Bai family, the Wan family did not block the door for a red envelope and warmly welcomed Zehao into the house. Bai Ruozhu followed the procession into the yard and went to Caiyue’s room. As soon as she entered, she affectionately called her "sister-in-law".
Caiyue hastily lifted her red veil, blushing as she asked Bai Ruozhu, "I heard that you’re in charge of the cooking today. Will you be able to handle it?"
"There are a few aunts from the clan helping out, I won’t be too overwhelmed. Sister-in-law, you can rest easy," Bai Ruozhu replied with a cheeky tongue-out smile.
Caiyue’s face turned even redder and she mumbled, "We haven’t even completed the ceremony yet, don’t let people hear and make fun of us."
"Hehe, that would only be a joke on you, how would it affect me, your little sister-in-law?" Bai Ruozhu laughingly teased.
"Oh, you little sister-in-law, you’ve started to bully your sister-in-law already." Caiyue playfully replied, and they both burst into laughter.
At this moment, the matchmaker came in and adjusted Caiyue’s red veil again. Bai Ruozhu then left the room. Upon stepping outside, she saw Wan Su serving Zehao sugar water boiled eggs. When she saw the poached eggs in the bowl, she almost burst into laughter.
It was the custom of their generation to serve the son-in-law sugar water and poached eggs before he left for the wedding. Generally, the more satisfied they were with the son-in-law, the more eggs would be served. Normally, four or six was considered a lot, but Zehao’s bowl was filled with poached eggs, and there was not much sugar water. Bai Ruozhu estimated there were as many as eight eggs.
Bai Ruozhu laughed so hard her stomach hurt, guessing that her big brother wouldn’t want to see poached eggs again for a month.
Although Zehao was thrilled, he soon became worried. There were too many poached eggs and it was hard to eat. He wanted to drink some soup, but most of the bowl was filled with eggs and there was very little soup.
Luckily, Wan Su noticed Zehao’s dilemma and added a spoonful of soup for him. Only then did Zehao finish eating all eight poached eggs.
The onlookers marveled at the sight, whispering about the Wan family’s deep satisfaction with Zehao. Eight poached eggs was unprecedented in the village!
After that, in Back Mountain Village, when families with decent conditions married off their daughters, they developed the tradition of serving their sons-in-law eight poached eggs. The poor sons-in-law of Back Mountain Village nearly choked on poached eggs during their weddings. But of course, this was a story for another time.
In those days, the village families didn’t carry the bride in a sedan chair when getting married. For those who lived far away, they used a donkey cart decorated with red flowers to bring the bride home. For couples from the same village, the groom carried the bride home on his back. The bride’s feet couldn’t touch the ground all the way. When they reached the groom’s house, the bride had to step on a prepared rice cake to enter, symbolizing continuous advancement.
When Zehao carried Caiyue on his back, the onlookers laughed again. Some mischievous children even shouted, "Oh, Zhu Bajie is carrying his wife!" Some adults scolded the children for talking nonsense, saying that Zehao looked handsome and how could he be compared to Zhu Bajie?