After returning from the Liang family, Li Long took the fish to the county compound every day for the next two days. He was not in a hurry to kill the wild boar. After all, there was still time later. Besides, in Li Long's opinion, it might be better to wait until the New Year to sell wild boar. After all, everyone is preparing to celebrate the New Year, and people in the city will basically want to cut some meat and go home to make dumplings.
Every morning there were two cars and one car in the afternoon. After a few days, it stopped at the weekend.
Because this Sunday, Daqiang is getting married.
On Saturday, Li Long went to Tao's house to see if he could help in any way.
The snow outside the Tao family's yard is clean. The gate is the same as the Li family's. There is no gate, it is open. There are couplets on the walls on both sides. The feeling of watching the flying dragons and phoenixes should be given by Gu Boyuan. Written.
Before reaching the yard, he could smell a mixture of aromas. Li Long could barely smell the smell of croquettes, fried potatoes ready to be made into caramelized potatoes, etc. The rest could not be smelled in the cold air.
In the yard, Li Jianguo was discussing business matters with his masters, Lao Gao and Lao Huang, for tomorrow. When he saw Li Long coming over, he just nodded and continued talking about business matters.
As an elder in the village, Li Jianguo was once the chief executive of the canteen, leader of the villagers group, and a veteran general manager - before his death, whenever someone in the village got married, he was basically the general manager.
As for the Tao family's wedding preparations, they decided on someone to help them more than a week ago. When they "invited someone" three days ago, Li Jianguo decided on the specific details at the Tao family.
Invitations for rural weddings are usually sent out more than a week in advance. Of course, you may know about the arrangements more than a month in advance. Official invitations are usually sent out a week in advance.
And in large groups, people usually choose to get married on holidays such as August 15th and National Day. Why? Because the team usually kills pigs, sheep or cows at this time, if you are getting married at this time, go and tell the team leader, and the team will leave a set of offal offal or a sheep to help the wedding family with the affairs.
Of course, this benefit is not available at other times.
As for the official business at this time, the Tao family began to quietly prepare supplies a month ago. When "treating the East", they brought together masters like Li Jianguo, Lao Huang, and Lao Gao, as well as young men who helped. Please come here to treat everyone to a meal in advance, and at the same time, you have a mission.
The steward will ask how many guests are to be entertained. Usually the whole team, except for the mortal enemy, usually needs to be invited. For example, there are basically ten people in the team, so the only thing that needs to be added is that the woman is coming over.
Because it is from the next village, it is easy to get around, so there may be at least two tables of customers here, which is the number of twelve tables of customers. The two master chefs, Lao Huang and Lao Gao, have to draw up the menu according to the owner's ideas, and take it out on the day of the meal for everyone to see if it is suitable. If it is suitable, the owner has to prepare the ingredients.
Of course, the preparation work is not just about the ingredients. The young people who help with the dishes have to go to nearby houses to borrow tables and benches. After borrowing them back, they usually have to write the original owner's first or last name under the bench. Don't get confused when returning it. . These are all arranged by the general manager.
The manager not only has to arrange this, but also arranges who is responsible for which dishes on the table, who is responsible for serving which dishes, and so on.
Li Jianguo became the general manager when he was less than thirty years old, so his overall planning ability is naturally extraordinary. In addition to making these arrangements, he is also responsible for arranging which table people should sit at. The positions of some important guests are determined in advance.
When people from our team come to have a wedding banquet, they have to temporarily arrange seats. After all, some people come with whole families, while some people come with just one or two. This position was decided on the spur of the moment.
When Li Jianguo and Li Long were chatting, they said that in fact, these procedures have been simplified. After all, they have to follow the procedures of their hometown. From the time of accepting the bride, there is a set of rhetoric, both for the in-laws and for the chef. , are very particular about guests. The northern Xinjiang side has been very simplified.
Of course, even if it is simplified, it will be more complicated than in a hotel. Even before Li Long's death in the previous life, at least half of the banquets held in this village were held in the village, while the next village or the general trend was to go to hotels in the county, which saves trouble.
But the original excitement is missing.
Tao Daqiang told Li Long early that he hoped he could follow him to pick up the bride, and Li Long naturally said it would be no problem.
Because it was winter, a temporary shed was built in the yard. It was a substandard reed shed dragged directly from Lao Ma. Although the light was a little dim, at least it would not be possible if it snowed. Need to eat in the snow. The two newly built high-top stoves now still have fires inside and pots on them. Most of the ingredients are almost ready now. Tomorrow I will just fry some oil and heat it up before eating. It is considered as a day's preparation. After all, it cannot be made at the last moment.
There are children crawling in and out, grabbing handfuls of melon seeds from the table to eat. Usually at this time, the melon seeds are mixed with peanuts and fruit candies, but now of course only sunflower seeds are left.
Li Long entered the house and saw Tao Daqiang sitting there in a Chinese tunic suit, listening to what his father was saying. Sitting next to them were Tao Dayong and his wife. When they saw Li Long coming, they all stood up.
"Xiaolong is here." Tao Jianshe didn't wear new clothes, with a smile on his face, "I'll trouble you and Daqiang to pick up the bride together tomorrow."
"That's okay. What's the trouble?" Li Long said with a smile, "Isn't it just lively?"
Tao Daqiang stood up and said to Li Long:
"Brother Long, let's go and see my new house. Look." He took Li Long to the new house on the other side.
The new house is decorated with latte art. Although the walls have not been repainted, they have been carefully cleaned. There is a new satin floral quilt on the bed. There is also Double Happiness on the pillows. The washstand and washbasin also have the word "happy" on them. There is a plate of melon seeds, a plate of fruit candies and a box of cigarettes on the table.
The most eye-catching thing is naturally the radio on the table near the window. In this era when flashlights can really be used as household appliances, having a radio means that this family is considered middle-class or above at least at this time.
The radio is covered with a thin gauze towel to prevent it from gathering dust. Just like a few people will have TV sets in their homes in a few years, there will be a hand-sewn cover on it or a gauze cover. .
At this time, people don’t care about whether the TV has good heat dissipation, they just hope that it will not collect dust, which also shows the value of this thing. Later, it was the same with washing machines and refrigerators. The elderly at home would insist on covering every valuable thing with a cloth.
The radio plug was not inserted into the socket - the socket at this time was still black and could only accept one plug. There are white ones that are directly connected to wires, but they are rare.
There was also a sewing machine placed against the east wall. It was brand new. Li Long could tell that Tao Daqiang had spent all his family money to get married. After all, the money he earned this year, excluding the sewing machine, bicycle, radio, and the new furniture in this room, there was not much left.
"The layout is pretty good." Li Long said with a smile, "Are you nervous?"
"A little bit." Tao Daqiang smiled naively, "Actually, it's common, but I'm thinking about tomorrow. Go pick it up, maybe... I'm still a little nervous." Li Long smiled, took out a wad of money from his pocket and handed it to Tao Daqiang:
"I'll see you tomorrow. I will give you five yuan when you give me a gift. It’s not good to write more. I’ll give this to you privately. We have been working together for almost a year and you have helped me a lot. It is a great event for me to get married. I originally wanted to buy something, but I thought about it and just give him the money. You can just keep the money and buy whatever you need after getting married.”
"Brother Long, this money..."
"Take it." Li Long couldn't help but put the wad of money into Tao Daqiang's hand, "When you get married, you become an adult, and you can take care of more than just We are a family. There are many places to use the money, so you can take it with confidence."
Tao Daqiang can feel that it is a hundred yuan, which is a lot.
My heart is filled with gratitude.
The contrast is too strong.
Why? The eldest brother and sister-in-law next door came over to discuss with his father whether the gift money he received tomorrow could be lent to them. They wanted to buy a radio.
Alas.
"Okay, I see you are almost ready. What time will you pick up the bride tomorrow?"
"Ten o'clock in the morning." The days are short and the nights are long, so ten o'clock is almost perfect. It's bright, so it won't work if it's too early.
"Are you riding a bicycle? Do you want me to ride on the bicycle? And let Junshan ride on my brother's bicycle?"
"Okay, is it convenient?"
"Of course it is convenient." Li Long said with a smile, "We will come over at ten o'clock tomorrow."
Li Junshan, Li Junfeng and the others will also come over tomorrow. Tao Jianshe not only sent invitations to Li Jianguo and others, but also sent invitations to the people in Lao Mahao. To be honest, for Li Anguo and the others, the share money is not much. At this time, the share money is basically 50 cents. One yuan is for those with relatively close connections. If close relatives can spend five yuan, they are all big households on the gift list. .
So Tao Jianshe sent them invitations, which represented recognition of them, and they would definitely come.
Back at Laoma No., Li Long gave the explanation. Before Li Junshan opened his mouth, Li Junfeng said immediately:
"I'm going, I'm going, I'm going to pick up a bride! I haven't seen a kiss here before. Junshan, how about you go to the banquet with the second uncle and the others, and I ride a bicycle to pick up the bride?"
"Okay. "Li Junshan smiled honestly. He actually wanted to go, but since his cousin asked, he agreed.
As a family, we don’t have to worry so much.
After having breakfast at Ma Hao the next day, Li Long and Li Junfeng rode their bicycles to Tao's house.
In fact, there is a shortcut from Tao's house to the next village, just go through Weigou. Now the reeds in the ditch have been harvested. People often pass by, and the road has been stepped on in the middle.
But when it comes to picking up a bride, you have to take the right path, so they won't take the side road today.
When we arrived at Tao's house, several young men, including Yang Yongqiang, had already arrived. Tao Daqiang had big red flowers tied to his bicycle. Here I saw Li Long and Li Junfeng riding bicycles. Immediately, the sister-in-law who helped took out big red flowers from the house and tied them to the bicycles. Someone also brought a towel and wiped the bicycle well.
Li Long can tell from this comparison. His bicycle was the first to buy it, and it is also the one with the worst appearance among the three bikes. I usually don't pay much attention to it, so there is a lot of dirt stuck on it, and the paint is peeling off in some places.
Then just walk at the back of the bicycle.
Looking at the time, the manager Li Jianguo said:
"Let's go and pick up the bride now."
He is the manager and is responsible for things here. He appointed another person from the village to lead the team to pick up the bride and be responsible for communicating with the in-laws.
A group of people came out of Tao's house in a lively manner. Three bicycles were also pushed. After all, they were followed by some people on foot and took the main road to the next village.
There is still the sound that should be there. The sound of firecrackers directly announced today's happy day.
This was the first time Li Long visited Tao Daqiang's partner, or his wife's natal family. There were red couplets posted on both sides of the courtyard. When the team to pick up the bride arrived at the entrance of the courtyard, firecrackers also went off over there.
The procedure is not complicated. The person in charge went to the door and started "negotiating", and soon the people over there got out of the way. At this time, the process was not that complicated. There were red envelopes, wedding candies for the children, and wedding cigarettes. There are those that need to be handed over, but those that sell wine and block doors are gone.
After all, it is a happy event, and both parties hope that the matter can be handled happily and happily, rather than causing problems for either party.
The three bicycles headed by Qin Lang with big red flowers tied on them are still very conspicuous. Although the Li family owns two and rides them every day, there are actually no more than ten bicycles in the entire village, and the village next door does not have such resources, so the number of bicycles is even less.
A set of procedures came over, a cannon was fired here, and the bride, wearing new clothes and red flowers, sat on the back seat of the groom's bicycle. Li Long was not impressed by this girl. The bride lowered her head and showed no expression, but seeing that she followed Tao Daqiang out, she must be quite happy.
There was a little boy following the bicycle. The bride pulled Tao Daqiang and signaled the little boy. Tao Daqiang reacted immediately and handed over a red envelope. The boy took it and ran away happily. , the bride nodded.
The team to pick up the bride is rushing back, and the bride’s home is getting ready to receive guests. (End of this chapter)