Chapter 143 Marriage and Ethics

Murong Ji froze, the voice was... Yu Po!
Then he let go of her hand, "What are you doing here?"

Yu Po breathed heavily, but even so, she hugged Murong Ji tightly, "The old master said that only in this way can the sisters of Lingjiu Palace have a chance to survive."

Murong Ji was stunned for a moment, then he understood what Tong Piaoyun meant, and his face darkened. He was lustful, but not to the point of being crazy.

This is to let him treat the entire Lingjiu Palace as his 'harem'? ! !
"My Lord, I beg you."

Is Grandma Yu pretty? Yes, she is pretty. Although she is not as pretty as Wang Yuyan, she has a more mature charm compared to Mu Wanqing.

There was no conversation that night, only direct communication.

Near the early morning, after helping Murong Ji clean up the crime scene, Yu Po quietly left.

Murong Ji looked at the white-bellied sky outside the window and thought to himself, "I really love this damn feudal landlord class life."

At the age of thirty, for ordinary people in this era, it is time to become a grandmother.

But for practitioners like them, it is really nothing, as they are just at the age of maturity.

After stretching, Murong Ji turned over and took a nap.

A month later, Murong Ji set out from Yanziwu and went to Kaifeng Prefecture to pick up his bride.

Murong Ji's marriage was arranged quickly. After the engagement, once the couple reached the marriageable age, the speed of the marriage would be accelerated.

The wedding process in ancient times was complicated and involved many rules, and required six steps: accepting the bride's proposal, asking for the bride's name, accepting the bride's good wishes, accepting the bride's betrothal gifts, asking for the date, and welcoming the bride.

It takes almost a year to complete the whole process.

But in the Northern Song Dynasty, only four procedures were required: Nacai, Naji, Nazheng and Qinying.

Murong Ji knew nothing about this, so Li Qingluo asked a nanny to teach him.

At this time, there was a nanny riding a horse beside him, whispering to him bit by bit about the rules of passing by the road, visiting the temple, etc.

Murong Ji looked back and saw an endless wedding procession. He knew that the Murong family was wealthy, but he didn't expect that they were so wealthy.

The scene that I had only seen on TV in my previous life actually happened to me.

Murong Ji glanced at the woods on both sides, and saw human figures following them. They were people from the Murong family.

The Murong family has a high status in the martial arts world, but they also have many enemies. Since they cannot take revenge on those people, it would be good for Murong Ji to fill the void.

During this journey to welcome the bride, Murong Ji has gained a lot of experience.

"Greetings, young hero Murong! I am Xu Jia Wenxing from Jiangning Prefecture, and I am here to congratulate you."

Murong Ji frowned slightly. Are they here to cause trouble on his wedding day?
"Hey, let me meet you!" Feng Bo'e lightly tapped his feet, leaped out on his horse, and landed in front of the man. The two of them started fighting in an instant.

Murong Ji could see that both of them were holding back.

"Young master, the martial arts world has its own rules. Naturally, there will be heroes coming to congratulate the Murong family on such a happy occasion." Deng Baichuan suddenly said.

Murong Ji glanced at him who was clearing the way in front of him and frowned slightly. Deng Baichuan had been very honest since he returned to Gusu.

Although he is not as enthusiastic as his rival Murong Fu, he is always eager to do anything.

Murong Ji glanced at the car behind him. Inside were the two people his aunt had invited back. He thought they were Li Qiu Shui's disciples.

"how to say?"

"Sir, at each city and checkpoint during the wedding process, there will be local heroes coming to meet us, and we need our people to come out and fight."

"The two sides fought and celebrated, it can be regarded as making friends through martial arts, that's the idea, it won't be too excessive. At the same time, it is also to show off some skills to some villains so that they don't have any bad ideas."

Murong Ji understood that at any time, the wedding party was the fattest prey. With gifts or dowries, if they were robbed, they could get a lot of beauties.

Thinking of this, Murong Ji's face darkened.

"Congratulations to Master Murong on his wedding!"

After passing Jiangning City, Murong Ji glanced at the Xu family members following behind him. This was an escort, which Murong Ji understood.

The family gave them all the respect and dignity. They escorted them across the Yangtze River and into Luzhou Prefecture, where the Xu family left.

Along the way, we passed Luzhou and Shouzhou. Although they seemed not far away, there were actually many checkpoints and cities. Fortunately, the Murong family had many good fighters and were able to suppress them.

Murong Ji did not take any action and entered Yingtian Prefecture and Dongjing City.

The Murong family had no property in the capital, so the Wang family cleared out a large courtyard for the Murong family to rest, but they were not allowed to get married here.

Once here, Murong Ji could not go out. He was locked in a room and could not see anyone. He was not sure whether there was such a custom, so he could only do what he was told.

The wedding ceremony and the wedding reception have been scheduled, so even if you arrive early, you cannot visit in advance.

On the day of the wedding, just as the sky was getting light, Murong Ji rode on horseback and led the flower carriage to the gate of Tianbo Mansion, and the wedding ceremony began.

After overcoming all kinds of difficulties and with the desperate efforts of several cousins ​​to clear the way, they finally entered the gate of Tianbo Mansion. It was not luxurious, but a pure military family.

Everything in the courtyard gives people a sense of simplicity and grandeur, which is the accumulation of the heritage of a noble family.

When he was meeting his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Murong Ji saw the tablet on the high platform. Sitting on the seat was a middle-aged man, Yang Huairen, the eldest son of Yang Wenguang.

Murong Ji then realized that his wife, Yang Yueman, was not much younger than him in age, but he had forced them to get married until they were in their twenties.

No wonder my uncle always urges me to propose marriage.

Looking at my cheap brother-in-law, I can see that there is a big age gap between the two siblings. It is mainly due to Yang Wenguang. If you calculate the time, he passed away when Yang Yue was only three or four years old.

The direct descendants of the Yang family seem to have a particularly short lifespan, and living to forty years old is considered a long life.

After the church service, he went out with his wife on his back and got into the wedding car. After they left Yingtian Prefecture, they were followed by his uncle's family.

There are no elders in his family to support him, so his uncle can really help him a lot. More importantly, his aunt is a princess of the Song Dynasty.

Officially, no one dared to make things difficult for him.

The return journey was very fast and smooth. It took nearly ten days to reach Gusu, and both the time and the distance were not taken into account.

When they arrived at the gate of Yanziwu, the Murong family was already beating drums and gongs. When the bride got out of the wedding car, someone threw beans at them for good luck.

After the bride enters the clan hall, she will be worshipped in the chapel. There are many procedures, Murong Ji has seen them on TV and understands them all, but what is tied here is not a love knot, but a "handkerchief".

The newlyweds hold the scarf and first worship heaven, earth and ancestors, then enter the bridal chamber and greet each other as husband and wife.

This overlaps with some rituals of later generations.

Murong Ji understood this clearly because when he was studying with Shi Liaoyuan, he had learned about Confucian etiquette.

He himself had also compared it and found that most of the ethical and etiquette cognition of later generations was inherited from the Song Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, when "ritual" was restored, there were some changes, and the customs at that time were almost the same as those in later generations.

The continuation of Song rituals and Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was thanks to Zhu Yuanzhang, who, in order to inherit the Han dynasty, almost continued the "ritual system" of the Song Dynasty in terms of etiquette.

This has to do with Empress Ma. Thanks to her grace, all women in the world can wear phoenix coronet and bridal robe on their wedding day.

Sitting in the bridal chamber, Murong Ji just sat there blankly. In that instant, he thought of a lot of things, as if everything suddenly became clear to him.

This feeling is very comfortable, just like a piece of meat stuck in the throat, and after suddenly swallowing it, the pain disappears and a mixed feeling of satisfaction arises.

How about Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism?
If it were in the past, Murong Ji would have insisted on calling it rubbish and the dregs of Chinese culture.

Nowadays, Murong Ji hopes to promote Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. Unfortunately, Cheng has passed away and Zhu has not yet been born.

In this era, etiquette is not extended to common people.

Who could have imagined that this is a reasonable phenomenon?

Who could have imagined that in this era, the requirements for officials' morality were so strict, while the requirements for common people's morality were so broad, which were two extremes.

Otherwise, why do we call them herdsmen? In the subconscious of officials, they have never regarded the grassroots people as human beings.

Even in later generations, certain bad habits still exist in many areas.

For example, in terms of attitude towards women, the lower class people want to sell their daughters for a good price rather than marry them off.

In other words, in the eyes of the lower class, women are not women, but goods and commodities.

Just ask the women in Lingjiu Palace and you will know how cruel this era is.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, on the philosophical level of "preserving the principles of heaven and eliminating human desires" and on the constraints in life, is based on ethics and morality.

"My dear? What's wrong?"

Murong Ji came to his senses instantly and realized that he had not yet completed the marriage arrangements.

He glanced inside the room and saw six people, including the couple, two maids, Mei Jian and Zhu Jian.

Murong Ji's face turned dark. What was Tong Piaoyun doing again?

They completed each step according to the requirements, drank the wine together, bowed to each other, and the couple sat opposite each other on the bed, performing the "spreading the curtain" and "closing the bun" ceremonies.

After the hairs are mixed together, they become one as husband and wife, and from that point on, their rise and fall, honor and disgrace are all linked together.

But that’s not all, there are still ceremonies of removing flowers and fanning, all of which are assisted by maids.

Afterwards, Murong Ji saw Yang Yueman's appearance. She was not bad. She could not be compared with Wang Yuyan, who was so beautiful, but she was also a beauty.

Murong Ji glanced at her loose wedding dress, but couldn't see her figure at the moment.

Do you think it's done until the candles are extinguished? No, during this period of time, the couple should not move at all, because close guests will come to "listen to the room", no matter young or old.

If there was any noise, it would become a topic of conversation the next day, such as rumors that Murong Ji was impatient and lustful.

Murong Ji heard the rustling noise outside the window and knew who it was.

"Why is there no movement in there? How long do I have to wait? Is this kid impotent?" Tong Piaoyun looked at Li Qiu Shui with a confused look on his face.

With questions and doubts, she had never been married and had no idea what it was like. Only Li Qiu Shui had rich experience.

(End of this chapter)