The Hidden Immortal

Chapter 29 The Big Wedding

Chu Xun's marriage is a major event in Songguo Village.

Whether it was the families who had helped him before, or the women he had helped later, they all took the initiative to come and help with the arrangements.

If it weren't for Chu Xun's insistence, they wouldn't have even wanted the money.

During those years of severe drought, many families suffered and couldn't even get enough to eat.

It was Chu Xun who provided them with grain and bought them a lot of firewood, which helped them get through those difficult days.

The debts of gratitude are the hardest to repay.

Chu Xun was very generous, buying a lot of food and making a lot of fried nuts and seeds with Zhang Sanchun.

After the adults finished their work, they sat down to eat and drink.

The children ran around in the yard, each holding a handful of sunflower seeds or roasted peanuts.

My favorite is, of course, rice cakes.

It's sweet and crispy, and so delicious you can't stop eating it.

Dozens of red lanterns were hung all over the front and back of the house.

Even Zhang Sanchun's house was covered with red paper.

Li Shoutian even went so far as to use his connections to procure a slightly worn blue cloth sedan chair from the town, its poles worn smooth and shiny.

A group of strong young men vied to be the first to carry the sedan chair.

In the end, there were too many people, so they had to draw lots to select eight people.

In previous years, when a daughter from Songguo Village got married, it was usually carried in a sedan chair by two or four people.

This is the first time we've ever used an eight-bearer sedan chair.

At the front were the second son of the Wang family and the third son of the Qi family, both of whom had received help from Chu Xun during the severe drought years ago.

Now he is strong and healthy, with his sleeves rolled up and his back straight.

The villagers who were watching the commotion joked, "Erzi, Shuanzhu, you'd better make sure you carry the sedan chair properly. If you drop his bride, you'll have to pay for it later."

The two young men grinned in response, their steps steady.

The children, carrying roasted nuts and seeds, ate while shouting, "Anxiu is going to have a baby!"

Inside the sedan chair, Zhang Anxiu, dressed in bright red and wearing a red veil, had a flushed face.

Clutching the wedding dress on her legs, she felt like she was having trouble breathing.

When the sedan chair was carried to the courtyard gate, Chu Xun had been waiting for a long time.

Li Shoutian's wife, Xue Huilan, acting as matchmaker, stepped forward, lifted the curtain, and called out with a smile, "The bride is getting out of the sedan chair! Groom, hurry up and carry your wife!"

According to village custom, the bride's feet cannot touch the ground when she enters the house; she must be carried in by the groom.

Chu Xun walked over and glanced at the sedan chair door. All she could see was the red veil and the hand nervously gripping the red dress.

He smiled, turned around, and bent down.

Xue Huilan helped the nervous Zhang Anxiu onto Chu Xun's back.

Chu Xun bent his body lower to prevent her from slipping, and whispered a reminder: "Hold onto my neck."

Zhang Anxiu's hands trembled as she reached out her hand.

Eight young men carrying the sedan chair ran over and blocked the way, laughing and stretching out their hands: "Groom, where's the wedding money? If you don't give us the wedding money, we won't let you pass."

This was also a village rule. Li Shoutian walked over and stuffed the copper coins he had prepared into the hands of the group.

It wasn't much, just three coins per person, purely for good luck.

The eight young men accepted the copper coins, lined up on both sides to make way, and then shouted in unison: "Marry a wife and you'll get rich, with abundant harvests!"

Li Guangmao, accompanied by several young men, came over, took out the prepared candy, and laughed loudly, "Make sure you wipe the soles of your feet clean, or you'll miss out!"

After saying that, he grabbed a handful of candy, roasted peanuts, and red dates, and threw them into the air.

Things were scattered everywhere.

Regardless of age or gender, everyone rushed forward to grab them.

Even Li Tianjian's two grandsons and one granddaughter were involved.

Seeing this lively scene, and thinking about how her own son's wedding wasn't this lively, Li Tianjian's wife couldn't help but purse her lips.

"They've only been established for a few days, and they're already so extravagant!"

Li Tianjian frowned and said, "Today is a joyous occasion for Chu Xun, so let's not say such strange things."

His wife was acting purely out of jealousy. She knew it wasn't the right day to be making strange noises, so she muttered a few indistinct words and then stopped talking.

He only thought to himself that when his grandson grew up and got married, it should be even more lively than Chu Xun's wedding!

Because Chu Xun's parents had died early, some steps of the wedding were omitted.

After Zhang Anxiu was led to the bridal chamber, Li Shoutian banged a gong and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Bring the wine!"

"Serve the food!"

Those of higher seniority in the village were arranged to stay in the courtyard.

Those of lower seniority stayed outside the courtyard.

Even the children were given special seats.

This made the children very happy, as they never had the chance to sit at the table to eat during happy occasions in the past.

All I could do was put some food in my bowl and find a place to squat down.

Although there was no wine, the food was the same as that for adults.

The children's faces flushed with excitement, and they couldn't resist reaching out to grab the food.

Nine-year-old Shi Tou immediately shouted, "Grandpa Village Chief hasn't even struck the gong yet! What are you doing, trying to steal it! Today is Xun-ge's wedding day, don't embarrass him, or I'll beat you up!"

He was robust and strong, and Chu Xun had taught him a few wrestling techniques.

In the village, there wasn't a single child who hadn't been thrown around by him.

Upon hearing this, the children quickly withdrew their hands.

At another table, Qi Ermao stood on a stool and shouted the same thing.

"Whoever embarrasses my Xun-ge, I'll beat them to death later!"

Intimidated by the two men's "tyranny," the children had no choice but to endure it, no matter how much they wanted to eat.

Only after all the food and wine had been served did Li Shoutian run off to set off firecrackers, bang on a gong, and shout, "Let the feast begin!"

Stone and Qi Ermao, who had been drooling with anticipation, shouted at the sound of the cannon, "Alright, alright, let's eat!"

The group of children then scrambled to stuff the meat and vegetables, which were a rare treat, into their mouths.

Shi Tou and Qi Er Mao were relatively patient, pretending to be quiet and using chopsticks to pick up the food, but they couldn't compete with the others grabbing it with their hands.

Seeing that the last piece of pig's trotter was about to be taken away, he anxiously shouted, "Leave me one!"

Li Shoutian was drinking in the courtyard when he watched the children outside scrambling for food on the table and couldn't help but laugh.

Back when his father was the village chief, he said that he would be considered a qualified village chief when the children could eat meat in large quantities.

It wasn't the village chief, but Chu Xun, who let the children eat meat in large quantities.

"If only Ah Xun would be willing to take the position of village chief," Li Shoutian thought to himself.

He looked up at the eaves; today was quite unusual.

Whenever I came to Chu Xun's house, I would always hear crows cawing and flapping their wings.

Not a single crow came today, and the quiet made him feel somewhat uneasy.

Even Chu Xun couldn't help but glance outside the courtyard a few times. The birds and animals that had accompanied him for many years, whether he was working in the fields or at home, would often come over and let him tease them.

On such a joyous occasion, I didn't see a single one.

Li Guangmao came over carrying a wine jar, his face flushed and reeking of alcohol.

He has a calm and composed personality, but he loves to drink.

Even when working in the fields during the hot summer, one must carry a gourd of wine with them at all times.

At such a young age, she already has rosacea, her nose is all red and looks like a carrot.

"Ah Xun, this wine you bought is great! Come on, let's have a drink!"

Li Shoutian laughed and scolded from the side, "This is aged wine that A-Xun specially bought from Bai's wine shop. It's twenty catties a jar and costs three taels of silver! If you spill it, you'll have to become A-Xun's tenant farmer next year to pay off your debts."

This was, of course, a joke. Although the Li family wasn't as wealthy as Chu Xun, they weren't short of a few taels of silver.

Then several other people his age came to ask Chu Xun to drink.

This was the first time they had ever tasted fine wine that cost three taels of silver per jar. Even though they weren't big drinkers, they wanted to have a few more bowls.

The commotion lasted until late at night, and the two meals were combined into one.

They got many villagers drunk to the point of unconsciousness. The women dragged them home while cursing them for drinking so much that they couldn't hold their liquor.

It's just a jar of wine worth three taels of silver, what a worthless thing!

How embarrassing!

At this time, the Water God Temple was still under construction on the pine and willow bank.

The temple echoed with the clanging and chiseling of a carpenter hammering and chiseling wood to carve a deity statue.

Some people wanted to offer incense, but were told they couldn't go in, so they had to bring their incense to the shore.

They would stick a few incense sticks on the bank, then kneel down respectfully and kowtow, praying for a good harvest and the safety of their family members in the coming year.

At this moment, the river water surged and splashed up waves.

Someone looked up and exclaimed in surprise, "What's that?!"

The others looked in the direction of the sound and saw a giant python, about ten feet long, with its head sticking out of the river, seemingly holding something in its mouth.

Or perhaps sensing the gaze of the people, it quickly disappeared into the water.

The people who came to offer incense hurriedly ran to the shore.

Such a large snake is a rare sight.

They wondered to themselves, could it be true, as the rumors said, that the Pine Willow Water God was a giant python?