[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-overthrowing-han":3,"chapter-overthrowing-han-overthrowing-han-chapter-98":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Overthrowing Han",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1222857,1620,"Chapter 98: A Great Matter (Part 2)","overthrowing-han-chapter-98",98,"\u003Cp>According to the regulations of the *Shihun Li* (Rites of the Scholar's Wedding), weddings in ancient times generally followed six steps... namely Nacai (presenting betrothal gifts), Wenming (asking the bride's name), Naji (divining auspiciousness), Nazheng (sending formal betrothal gifts), Qingqi (requesting the wedding date), and Qinying (personally welcoming the bride). This is what is known as the \"Six Rites,\" the so-called traditional wedding customs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in later ages, no matter how customs changed across East Asia, they have largely still followed this general process and concept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, it is only a general following, because if one truly had to carry out every single step of the *Shihun Li* down to which direction each action should face, it would be far too detached from reality. In fact, even though Zheng Xuan made annotations to the *Shihun Li* a few years ago that were more suited to this era, they still seem cumbersome and redundant, and hardly endearing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, each region still follows its own local customs, as long as the core rites—matchmaking, sending betrothal gifts, and the bride crossing the threshold—remain unchanged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And when it comes to Gongsun Xun's own wedding, he is even further removed from these rites... What truly played the decisive role was still Madam Zhao standing on the street and pointing at her own granddaughter. The various rites the Gongsun family later supplemented were, in truth, merely supplementary. And now, this consummation ceremony and the hosting of guests are even more detached from the rites... after all, the bride, Zhao Yun, has long since entered the gates of the Gongsun household, and the Zhao family members are all far away in Liaoxi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That said, the more straightforward the bride's side is, the more the groom's side must try to be somewhat particular. So, to show respect, Lady Gongsun simply put on her spectacles and began studying Zheng Xuan's annotated *Shihun Li* on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I read it carefully for half the night,\" Lady Gongsun said, seated on a chair at the head of the room. With one hand she removed her spectacles, and with the other, trembling slightly, she picked up a piece of silk manuscript. \"It was all muddled nonsense. Later, in the middle of the night, I truly could not bear it and got up from bed again to read by candlelight, but I could only glean three useful things from between the lines of this *Shihun Li*!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun, standing with his hands at his sides below, suddenly felt a bit uneasy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"One is that the *hun* in *hunli* (wedding) is not a phonetic loan character, but actually means dusk. Everything must be handled at dusk... No wonder Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were able to snatch someone's bride at night in their youth!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun was momentarily at a loss for words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Another is the wild goose—wild geese are needed for everything... If this goes on for long, the wild geese of the Great Han dynasty will probably be driven to extinction!\" Lady Gongsun's tone grew increasingly irate. \"Do they not know anything about conserving resources?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Back in Liaoxi, we already sent wild geese four times,\" Gongsun Xun quickly consoled her upon seeing this. \"This time, we only need to make up one more!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The last one is that when steaming a suckling pig, you must pull out all the nails from its trotters!\" Lady Gongsun ignored her son entirely, and, utterly unable to bear it any longer, crumpled the silk manuscript into a ball and threw it to the ground. \"What on earth is all this?! What use is it to remove the nails from the pig's trotters when steaming it? Don't they know that the trotters are the most delicious part?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun was also momentarily bewildered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Forget it!\" Lady Gongsun, after her outburst, was also quite helpless. \"Let's just follow what's written here, to save the guests from laughing at us...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In any case, it was all up to Lady Gongsun. Since she nodded, Gongsun Xun naturally breathed a sigh of relief as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that the final step of the wedding had its guiding principles, from the next day onward, Pingcheng inevitably grew livelier by the day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not to mention anything else, just the areas around the two residences south and north of the city, which served as the groom's and bride's family homes, were daily thronged with nearly all the children of Pingcheng waiting in these two places, solely to snatch the celebratory money distributed at fixed times at noon and dusk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, what truly brought Pingcheng to life was the guests arriving from various places as the wedding date approached... The local magnates and officials of Yanmen went without saying, but the Viceroys of Bingzhou and Youzhou, the Grand Administrators of Shanggu and Dai Commandery, and even the Zhen clan of Zhongshan—such unexpected parties—all sent representatives to offer congratulations, which inevitably caused tongues to wag.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These so-called \"nobles,\" gathered in large numbers in a small Pingcheng, inevitably had to socialize and get acquainted with one another. For a time, it was truly a case of \"all worthies assembled, young and old gathered together\"... The groom, Gongsun Xun, even took the opportunity to put on the airs of a disciple of a renowned Confucian scholar of the realm, publicly lecturing on the *Mao Odes* for the young and worthy talents from across Yanmen in the city on a sweltering afternoon!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is said that the atmosphere on site was extremely fervent, and five people were so overcome with emotion that they fainted on the spot!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides this, the cuju matches at the military camp north of the city were also extremely stirring... Taking advantage of Gongsun Xun's grand wedding, initiated by Lou Gui and organized by Lu Fan, the army had been holding daily matches these days, creating a \"Wedding Celebration Cup\"! And three days before the Commandant's wedding, the final victors, the team from the Jiuyuan cavalry garrison, were personally bestowed wine by the Commandant's mother, Lady Gongsun!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the small, inscribed golden cup used for bestowing the wine, it was publicly awarded to the most outstanding squad leader, Wei Yue!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a time, every eye was turned in envy!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, at some unknown point, another matter gradually became the focus of private attention among the Yanmen magnates, and increasingly became open and white-hot... That was the Anli Shop of the Gongsun Commandant's household!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was said that this Anli Shop not only had all kinds of novel goods that opened one's eyes for you to choose from, but it also purchased goods! Bitter buckwheat, astragalus, apricot kernels, daylilies from the mountains... Everyone usually knew these things had some uses, but most of them would just rot in the mountains. Now, the shop was openly purchasing all of them, reportedly to sell to Bohai and Liaodong—in any case, there was no worry about sales channels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And one of the rules of this Anli Shop that these magnates found irresistible was that if your family's mountain forests or fortified settlements could guarantee annual output, you could obtain a corresponding downline tier qualification from the Anli Shop. And once a person had the corresponding downline qualification, they could use a corresponding discount to purchase a certain amount of goods from the Anli Shop!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not to mention those sundry goods, even paper, books, brushes and ink, grain, salted fish, cloth and silk... and even some exquisite silver ingots said to be produced in Liaoxi—all could be discounted!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One must understand that grain and cloth were already common equivalents of value in this age, and silver was a particularly rare precious metal in the Great Han dynasty. Wasn't this kind of discount practically giving money away?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And according to the Anli Shop's rules, if you yourself could make contributions to this commercial firm—such as organizing supply sources or merchant caravans, or simply assisting the Anli Shop in opening a branch or warehouse somewhere—all these benefits would be credited to you, further raising your downline tier and various purchasing qualifications!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, at some unknown point, on the streets of Pingcheng, whether riding horses, sitting in carriages, or even walking on foot, if people meeting each other did not ask, \"Do you know Anli?\" it would simply be too shameful! And it seemed, vaguely because of this, the number of Yanmen magnates coming to attend the wedding was also increasing daily!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And by the day before the wedding, as Grand Administrator Guo personally arrived to offer congratulations to the Gongsun Commandant, the new manager of the Pingcheng Anli Shop dropped the final bombshell that left all the Yanmen magnates dumbfounded... It turned out that if your downline tier reached a certain level, you could actually be allowed to develop your own downlines, and then have a portion of your downlines' contributions counted toward yourself!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, considering that merely reaching the third-class qualification of a second-tier downline allowed one to purchase certain goods on credit, then one day, perhaps one could sit back and collect profits purely based on this downline qualification.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could such a good thing only come to Yanmen Commandery now?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To put it another way, how did those few bastard families in Dai Commandery and Shanggu dare to cut off our financial path and forbid the Anli Shop from coming over before?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or even to put it yet another way, how could this Gongsun Commandant only come to our Yanmen as a Separate Division Commandant at the age of twenty?! Couldn't he have come seven or eight years... couldn't he have come half a year earlier?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, behind this rapidly restored prosperity, things were not so simple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One only needs to think to understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for the Anli Shop using Pingcheng as an important base, engaging in large-scale construction here and providing work as relief, how would it be the children's turn to snatch celebratory money? Even the adults would be fighting desperately for it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for Guo Yun setting aside his pride to requisition large amounts of grain, the people's hearts would have long been in chaos. Who would still have the heart to come work along with the Anli Shop's large-scale construction? They would have long since become bandits!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for the Pingcheng garrison, before the \"Wedding Celebration Cup,\" taking turns to sortie in units of companies, garrisons, and squads, coordinating with the commandery troops to sweep through bandits and routed soldiers in the northern Yanmen region, and driving these captives to build roads and dig canals, how could so many various goods have been transported into Pingcheng? They would probably have been \"consumed\" halfway along the road!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for the grain requisition deadline ending and Guo Yun and Gongsun Xun both hardening their faces, sending Cheng Pu and Gao Shun far to Lu County at the southernmost tip of Yanmen, to strike down two fortified settlements of insignificant minor magnates in the Taihang Mountains, then exterminating their clans as a public warning, killing the chicken to scare the monkey, how could a large group of Yanmen magnates have braved the heatwave to wait in Pingcheng for over half a month, solely to attend the wedding of a Commandant of Equivalent to a Thousand Dan? Wouldn't it have been far more pleasant to stay home, eating large white pears by the deep well water?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, one must also give additional praise to one person here, and that is the Khan Tanshihuai, who burned the Danhan Mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for this brilliant and mighty steppe hero slapping the face of the Western Xianbei, and then running off to the east to seize the Wa people as fishing slaves, Gongsun Xun would probably still be exhausting himself running along the Great Wall at this time... likely unable to even enter the bridal chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But regardless of everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this transition between summer and autumn of the sixth year of the Xiping era (177 AD), as Gongsun Xun and his newlywed wife together enjoyed that suckling pig without its nails, drank the bitter wine poured from a *jin* (bitter gourd ladle), and entered the bridal chamber, the entire Yanmen, amidst an untimely prosperity, had unknowingly reforged its order!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I wonder why my lady is called Yun?\" After completing the final step of the rites and untying the ribbons of his wife's ceremonial crown, Gongsun Xun asked a question that rather puzzled her. \"Is this not the same as your honored father's name?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun's father-in-law, who had been enfeoffed as a Village Marquis, was named Zhao Bao. *Bao* has the grass radical, and so does *Yun*... This was indeed somewhat strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I will not hide it from my lord,\" Zhao Yun, under the candlelight, answered somewhat shyly. \"This matter is related to the original meaning of the character *Yun*, and there is also a story behind it...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Tell me about it,\" Gongsun Xun said, asking curiously while helping her remove the ceremonial crown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yun could not help but lower her head slightly: \"It... it is like this. When my mother gave birth to me, her body was weak. Neither medicine nor divination was effective, and she was nearly in mortal danger. Then one day, my father, holding me, was reading the *Huainanzi*. Upon seeing the entry about the character *Yun*, he could not help but sigh with emotion and said to my grandmother: since Mother was in such a state because of my birth, why not call me Yun, using the life-restoring effect of the *yun* herb to heal Mother? Afterwards, Mother indeed recovered greatly!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun immediately grasped his wife's hands and praised her: \"That is quite an interesting story.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed,\" Zhao Yun could not help but blush. \"Later on, my father gradually felt it was inappropriate and wanted to change it back several times, but was always stopped by my grandmother... I will not hide it from my lord: outsiders who occasionally learn of my name probably all think my *Yun* is the *Yun* for clouds!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Even my mother initially thought you were that *Yun*!\" Gongsun Xun could not help but laugh, then placed one hand on her waist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yun's face turned bright red, yet she still slightly raised her head and replied: \"Actually, thinking back now, it is also fate between my lord and me. Both of our names, husband and wife, are taken from the *Huainanzi*—one is a fine jade, the other a divine herb. They truly complement each other perfectly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun nodded slightly: \"There is indeed such a layer of fate, but it may not be as interesting as that *Yun* for clouds...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yun could not help but panic: \"What does my lord mean by this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun immediately laughed again: \"Before coming to Yanmen, my lady should have been taught some things by the married women. That being the case, do you know what is meant by 'seven advances and seven withdrawals'?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With these words, Gongsun Xun could finally hold back no longer. He pushed his wife down onto the wedding bed, preparing to complete the final step of his life's great event.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The candles were blown out, the lamps extinguished, clothes were loosened and skirts removed. Even if a cat suddenly meowed from under the bed, nothing else mattered anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—————I am the dividing line of undressing and removing skirts—————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The master goes out, and the wife returns to her place. Then the offerings are removed in the chamber, as when they were set out in the ceremonial hall, with the wine vessel left untouched. The master removes his ceremonial garments in the chamber, and the bride's attendant receives them; the wife removes her ceremonial garments in the inner chamber, and the master's attendant receives them. The matron presents the cloth. The master's attendant spreads the mat in the southwest corner of the chamber, and the bride's attendant spreads the fine mat to the east, both with pillows, with the feet pointing north. The master enters and personally unties the wife's sash. The candles are taken out.\" — The Rites of the Scholar's Wedding\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: Embarrassing... Right now I'm basically coding every night, and my state today is really not good... I hope everyone will understand. Actually, if it really doesn't work, it's fine to just read it the next day. Sorry, everyone. My apologies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, there's a new book group. Interested classmates can join: 684558115.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",2738,"2026-06-04T19:42:03.441Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","790776eee3a61f5fd54e24ef734834ed0f66c122fd23e46ee43808507564a0dc","overthrowing-han-chapter-99","overthrowing-han-chapter-97",548,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Foverthrowing-han-cover.jpg"]