Chapter 332: New wedding gift in the eighties

After returning from the Liang family, Li Long pulled fish to the county courtyard every day for the next two days. He wasn't in a hurry to slaughter that wild boar for a while. After all, there was still time later. Moreover, in Li Long's view, it might be better to sell wild boar meat before the New Year. After all, everyone would be preparing for the New Year by then, and people in the city would basically think about cutting some meat to take home to make dumplings.

Two carts in the morning and one cart in the afternoon, after pulling for a few days, it stopped on the weekend.

Because this Sunday, Daqiang was getting married.

On Saturday, Li Long went to the Tao family to see if he could help with anything.

The snow outside the Tao family courtyard was cleared clean. Like the Li family, there was no gate, just open. Couplets were pasted on the walls on both sides, looking like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing, which should have been written by Gu Bo Yuan.

Before arriving in the courtyard, he smelled a mixed fragrance. Li Long could barely smell the smell of fried meatballs, fried potatoes prepared to make pulled-silk potatoes, etc. Others couldn't be smelled in the cold air.

In the courtyard, Li Jianguo was discussing tomorrow's main business with the master chefs Old Gao and Old Huang. Seeing Li Long come over, he just nodded and continued to chat about the main business.

Li Jianguo, as a veteran of the village, the former steward of the big canteen, and the team leader of the villagers' group, was a veteran general manager—before he passed away, whenever someone in the village got married, the general manager was basically him.

And the Tao family's wedding preparations were set for the helpers more than a week ago. Three days ago, when "inviting the host," Li Jianguo was at the Tao family to determine the specific matters.

Rural weddings usually send invitations more than a week in advance. Of course, those who knew about the business might have known about it more than a month ago, and formal invitations are usually sent a week in advance.

And during the big collective era, people getting married usually chose festivals like the Mid-Autumn Festival or National Day. Why? Because at this time, the team usually slaughtered pigs, sheep, or cattle. Getting married at this time, going to tell the team leader, the team would usually leave a set of beef offal, or a sheep, to help the family getting married handle the business.

Of course, there was no such benefit at other times.

And at this time, formal business was handled. The Tao family started quietly preparing materials a month ago. When "inviting the host," they invited Li Jianguo, master chefs like Old Huang and Old Gao, as well as the young men who helped, to come over. It was to invite everyone to eat a meal in advance, and it was also a task.

The general manager would ask clearly how many guests to entertain. Usually, the whole team, except for dead enemies, generally had to be invited. For example, if the team basically had ten tables of guests, then what needed to be added was how many people from the woman's side would come.

Because they are from the neighboring village, coming and going is convenient, so at least two tables of guests might come over, which is twelve tables of guests. And the two master chefs Old Huang and Old Gao had to draft the menu according to the host's ideas, and take it out on the day of inviting the host for everyone to see if it was suitable or not. If it was suitable, the host had to prepare these ingredients.

Preparation work is of course not just ingredients. Those young people who serve dishes and help have to go to nearby houses to borrow tables and benches. After borrowing them, they usually have to write the surname or name of the original owner's family under the bench, so as not to mix them up when returning them. These are all arranged by the general manager.

The general manager not only has to arrange this, but also arrange which young man who serves dishes is responsible for which tables, who is responsible for serving which dishes, etc.

Li Jianguo became the general manager when he was less than thirty years old, so his coordination ability is naturally not ordinary. Besides arranging these well, he also has to be responsible for arranging who sits at which table. Some important guests' positions are determined in advance.

And when people from the team come to drink wedding wine, that is temporary arrangement of seats. After all, some families go with the whole family, and some only come one or two. This position is decided on the spot.

When Li Jianguo chatted with Li Long, he said that in fact, these procedures have already been simplified. After all, if you follow the procedures of the hometown, from the time of picking up the bride, it's a set of rhetoric, for the in-laws, for the chefs, for the guests, all have their own emphasis. And the Northern Frontier side has already been simplified a lot.

Of course, no matter how simplified, it's still more complicated than in a hotel. In the previous life, even until Li Long passed away, at least half of the weddings in the village were still in the village, while the neighboring village or the whole big trend was to go to the hotel in the county, which was easier.

But it lacked the original liveliness.

Tao Daqiang told Li Long early on that he hoped he could go to pick up the bride with him, and Li Long naturally said no problem.

Because it was winter, a temporary shed was built on the courtyard, directly using the unqualified reed bundles dragged from the Old Horse Corral. Although the light was a bit dim, if it snowed, at least there was no need to eat the banquet in the snow. The two newly built high-platform stoves still had fire inside, and there were pots on them. Most of the ingredients were actually almost done. Tomorrow is just to pass through oil and heat it up, which counts as a day's pre-made dishes. After all, it couldn't be made on the spot at that time.

There were children drilling in and out, grabbing a handful of melon seeds from the table to eat. Usually, at this time, peanuts and fruit hard candies would be mixed in the melon seeds. Now, of course, only sunflower seeds were left.

Li Long entered the room and saw Tao Daqiang wearing a Zhongshan suit sitting there blankly, listening to what his father was saying. Next to him sat Tao Dayong and his wife. Seeing Li Long come over, they all stood up.

"Xiao Long is here." Tao Jian She didn't wear new clothes, his face was full of smiles, "Tomorrow I'll trouble you to go with Daqiang to pick up the bride."

"What trouble is that," Li Long said with a smile, "Isn't that just right to be lively."

Tao Daqiang stood up and said to Li Long:

"Brother Long, let's go, go see my new room." Saying that, he took Li Long to the new room on the other side.

The new room was decorated with pull flowers. Although the walls hadn't been repainted, they had been carefully cleaned. New satin flower quilts were placed on the bed, and there were red double happiness on the pillows. The washbasin stand and washbasin also had happiness characters on them. A plate of melon seeds, a plate of fruit candies, and a box of cigarettes were placed on the table.

The most conspicuous one, naturally, was that there was a radio on the table by the window. In this era when a flashlight can really be used as a household appliance, having a radio means that this family is at least middle-class or above at this time.

The radio was covered with a thin gauze scarf to avoid dust, just like a few years later, when a few families had televisions, they would have a hand-sewn cover on them, or be covered with gauze.

At this time, people wouldn't care if the television's heat dissipation was good or not, they just hoped it wouldn't get dusty, which also showed the preciousness of this thing. Further on, washing machines and refrigerators were all like this. The elderly in the family would persistently cover every precious thing with cloth.

The radio plug wasn't plugged into the socket—at this time, the socket was still the kind of black one that could only plug in one plug. There were also white ones that were directly connected to wires, but few.

There was also a sewing machine by the east wall, brand new. Li Long could see that Tao Daqiang had basically emptied his family's bottom for this wedding. After all, the money he earned this year, minus the sewing machine, bicycle, radio, plus this room full of new furniture, didn't have much left.

"Decorated not bad." Li Long said with a smile, "Are you nervous?"

"A little." Tao Daqiang smiled honestly, "Actually, we see each other often, but thinking about picking her up tomorrow, maybe... still a little nervous." Li Long smiled. He took out a stack of money from his pocket and handed it to Tao Daqiang:

"Tomorrow when I give the gift, I'll give five yuan. Writing more isn't good either. This is given to you privately. We've been working together for almost a year, you've helped me a lot. You getting married is a big happy event. I originally wanted to buy something, but thinking about it, it's better to give money directly. You take the money, and after you get married, just buy whatever you're missing."

"Brother Long, this money..."

"Take it." Li Long didn't allow refusal, and stuffed that stack of big unity into Tao Daqiang's hand, "Married, that's an adult. What you take care of is not just yourself, but a family. There are many places to use money, you can rest assured and take it."

Tao Daqiang could feel that it was one hundred yuan, not a small amount.

There was only gratitude in his heart.

The contrast was too strong.

Why? The big brother and big sister-in-law next door came to discuss with his dad whether they could borrow the gift money received tomorrow. They wanted to buy a radio.

Sigh.

"Alright, I see you guys are almost ready here, what time is picking up the bride tomorrow?"

"Ten o'clock in the morning." Now the days are short and the nights are long, ten o'clock is about when the sky is bright, so too early won't work either.

!.

"Are you riding a bicycle? Do you want me to ride my bicycle too? And let Junshan ride my brother's bicycle too?"

"Okay, but is it convenient?"

"That's naturally convenient." Li Long said with a smile, "We'll come over at ten o'clock tomorrow."

Tomorrow Li Junshan and Li Junfeng and the others will also come over. Tao Jian She not only sent invitations to Li Jianguo and the others, but also sent invitations to these people in the Old Horse Corral. To be honest, for Li Anguo and the others, that little gift money isn't much. At this time, the gift money is basically five mao, one yuan is a relatively good relationship, and close relatives can take out five yuan, which is a big household on the gift list.

So Tao Jian She sent them invitations, which represents a recognition of them, and they definitely have to come.

Returning to the Old Horse Corral, Li Long told the people over there. Before Li Junshan could speak, Li Junfeng immediately said:

"I'll go, I'll go, I'll go pick up the bride! I haven't seen picking up the bride here yet. Junshan, you follow the second uncle and the others to eat the banquet, how about I follow and ride a bicycle to pick up the bride?"

"Okay." Li Junshan smiled honestly. He actually wanted to go too, but since his cousin spoke, he agreed.

A family, don't need to be so calculating.

The next day after breakfast at the corral, Li Long and Li Junfeng rode their bicycles to the Tao family.

Actually, there is a shortcut from the Tao family to the neighboring village, passing through the reed ditch. Now the reeds in the reed ditch have been harvested, and people often pass by, and a road has been stepped out in the middle.

But picking up the bride, naturally, one has to take the main road, so they won't take the small road today.

Arriving at the Tao family, several young men, including Yang Yongqiang and the others, had already arrived. Tao Daqiang's bicycle was tied with a big red flower. Seeing Li Long and Li Junfeng riding their bicycles over, a sister-in-law who was helping immediately took out a big red flower from the room to tie it to the bicycle, and some people brought towels to wipe the bicycle clean again.

Comparing this, Li Long saw it. His bicycle was bought the earliest, and it was also the worst-looking one among the three bicycles. He didn't pay much attention to it usually, it was stuck with a lot of dirty things, and some places were knocked and lost paint.

Then he should walk at the very end of the bicycles.

Seeing the time was about right, the general manager Li Jianguo said:

"Let's go, go pick up the bride now."

He is the general manager, responsible for the matters here, and designated another person in the village to lead the team to pick up the bride, responsible for communication matters with the in-laws' side.

A group of people came out of the Tao family lively. The three bicycles were also pushed. After all, there were some people walking, walking on the main road towards the neighboring village.

The sound that should be there was still there. The sound of firecrackers directly announced the big happy day today.

It was Li Long's first time going to Tao Daqiang's partner's, or rather, the bride's maternal family. Red couplets were also pasted on both sides of the courtyard gate here. When the bride-picking team arrived at the courtyard gate, firecrackers also sounded over there.

The procedure wasn't complicated. The person in charge arrived at the gate and began to "negotiate." Soon the people over there let go. At this time, the process wasn't so complicated yet. Red envelopes were there, happy candies for children were there, and happy cigarettes had to be handed over, but things like spreading wine, blocking the door, etc., were not there.

After all, it's a happy event, and both sides hope to handle the matter lively and happily, rather than giving problems to either side.

The three bicycles tied with big red flowers led by the groom were still very conspicuous. Although the Li family had two, they rode them every day, but in fact, there were no more than ten bicycles in the whole village, and the neighboring village didn't have that many resources, so the number of bicycles was even fewer.

After a set of procedures, firecrackers were set off here, and the bride wearing new clothes and a red flower sat on the back seat of the groom's bicycle. Li Long didn't have a deep impression of this girl. The bride lowered her head and couldn't see her expression, but seeing her come out with Tao Daqiang, she should still be quite willing.

A little boy followed by the bicycle. The bride pulled Tao Daqiang and signaled to the little boy. Tao Daqiang reacted immediately and handed over a red envelope. The boy took it and ran away happily, and the bride nodded.

The bride-picking team hurried back, and the bride's family over here also had to prepare to entertain guests. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 333 =====