Chapter 217: Touring The Temple Fair Together
Gan Ning ate dinner in the study, drank a few cups of wine, and patiently waited for the auspicious hour to arrive.
At this moment, drum sound came from afar; Hai Shi had arrived. This was the auspicious time tonight, very suitable for sacrifice, marriage, and so on.
Gan Ning drained the wine in his cup, slowly stood up. At this time, the door opened, and Xu Wei walked in.
“Husband, the time has come. Come with me!”
Gan Ning took her hand and smiled, “You seem very happy?”
Xu Wei nodded. “I’m happy for A Yu. She waited five years and finally reached this moment. I bless her!”
After a pause, Xu Wei continued, “As long as everyone lives together for life and accepts each other, there won’t be any family contradictions.”
Gan Ning entered Xiao Qiao’s courtyard. Xu Wei gently closed the courtyard gate. Gan Ning locked the courtyard gate and entered the room.
The room was brightly lit by wedding candles. Xiao Qiao was dressed in gorgeous wedding attire, wearing a phoenix crown, sitting shyly in front of the bed.
Gan Ning sat beside her, held her in his arms, and smiled, “The little rapeseed has finally grown up!”
Xiao Qiao covered her mouth and giggled. Gan Ning pulled her into his arms and whispered in her ear, “Shall we put out the lights?”
Xiao Qiao nodded gently. Gan Ning got up and extinguished the candles. The room was pitch black. Gan Ning carried his little bride into the bed curtains and let down the canopy.
Light snow was falling outside, bone-chillingly cold, but inside the wedding curtains, spring was in full bloom. Xiao Qiao had finally waited for the most important moment of her life.
That night, she became a happy little wife.
As soon as the sky brightened, Xiao Qiao was once again taken by her husband to the ecstatic world that intoxicated her.
After an unknown time, Xiao Qiao still kept her eyes closed, unwilling to wake from the blissful happiness for a long time.
“Shall I accompany you to the temple fair?” Gan Ning whispered in her ear.
“Mm!”
Xiao Qiao slowly opened her beautiful eyes. There was faint light in the room. She saw her husband’s handsome face and couldn’t help but actively kiss him.
They kissed for a long time. Xiao Qiao suddenly came to her senses and excitedly hugged Gan Ning. “What did you just say?”
“I mean, I’ll accompany you to the temple fair, and bring your older sister and Yun Qing.”
Mentioning her older sister, Xiao Qiao felt a bit discouraged and muttered, “Older Sister will be angry.”
“With me accompanying you all, of course she won’t be angry.”
Xiao Qiao blinked her captivating big eyes and said joyfully, “Then Husband, go talk to Older Sister.”
“It’s dawn. Let’s get up!”
“I’ll help Husband dress. I still need to brew ginseng soup for Husband! This is the rule, and I’ve always kept it in mind.”
Xiao Qiao sat up. Gan Ning was dazzled by her gleaming skin. Compared to Da Qiao and Xu Wei’s creamy white, Xiao Qiao’s skin had a rosy porcelain glow, extremely pleasing to the eye, truly captivating Gan Ning.
Stepping out the door, a fresh, cold wind hit his face. The sky had brightened, the courtyard was very quiet, and the snow on the ground was a foot thick.
“A Yu, I’m going to the study first!”
Xiao Qiao was busy brewing ginseng tea for her husband. She quickly agreed, “Husband, go ahead! I’ll bring the ginseng tea over later!”
Gan Ning opened the courtyard gate. Outside the door, Xiao Qiao’s two personal maidservants hurriedly bowed, then slipped into the courtyard along the side, starting to tidy the room and sweep the courtyard.
As soon as Gan Ning left, Xu Wei sneaked in and asked Xiao Qiao with a grin, “How was it? I didn’t lie, did I!”
Xiao Qiao blushed and nodded. “That feeling is so wonderful. I really like it.”
“These few days, he’s all yours. Enjoy it well!”
“By the way, Husband said he’ll accompany us to the temple fair.”
“Today?”
Xiao Qiao nodded. “Anyway, the New Year’s Reward was distributed yesterday. We have nothing this morning, so we’ll go browse and come back. Husband needs to go to the barracks at noon.”
Although Xu Wei didn’t particularly like crowds, with her husband accompanying, she was willing.
“Alright then! Let’s go together. I want to buy some exotic flowers and plants.”
After breakfast, Gan Ning took Xu Wei and Xiao Qiao into the carriage. Da Qiao had to look after the children and couldn’t go with them.
The New Year Temple Fair was held at the City God Temple. Chaisang had a strong commercial atmosphere, especially valuing the New Year Temple Fair. Every year it was packed with surging crowds, so crowded it was hard to walk. Nanchang County was lively during the Spring Festival on the second day of the second lunar month, but its temple fairs were much quieter than Chaisang’s.
The carriage stopped opposite the City God Temple. Looking at the dense throng of people, Xiao Qiao and Xu Wei were stunned. There were too many people—how could they browse?
“Husband, how about we go back? With so many people, we can’t even squeeze in.”
Gan Ning waved his hand and smiled, “Wait a moment!”
Soon, the personal guards cleared the crowd at the temple fair entrance, revealing a carriage path. This was arranged by Gan Ning a few days earlier—a path opened with heavy baffles to separate it, convenient for transporting goods in and allowing high official families to participate in the temple fair. It appeared for the first time this year.
“Eh! Ping’er.”
Xiao Qiao suddenly spotted her friends Yang Ping’er and Qiao Jingjing. The two were also standing outside the gate in a daze. With so many people, they didn’t dare go in.
Xiao Qiao hurriedly opened the carriage door and shouted, “Ping’er, Jingjing!”
Yang Ping’er was the youngest daughter of Xiao Qiao’s uncle Yang Jing, and Qiao Jingjing was the daughter of her second uncle Qiao An. They were about the same age as Xiao Qiao, both quite ordinary-looking, already engaged but not yet married.
The two girls saw Xiao Qiao and ran over quickly. “A Yu, didn’t you say you weren’t coming?”
They suddenly spotted Gan Ning and instantly understood, both sticking out their tongues embarrassedly.
Gan Ning smiled faintly. “I’m heading to the barracks anyway. You four take the carriage to browse the temple fair! If you need anything, have the guards buy it for you. Don’t get out of the carriage.”
Gan Ning gave Xu Wei a look, signaling her to watch the three girls and not let them off the carriage.
Xu Wei smiled and nodded. “Husband, don’t worry! We’ll browse a bit and come back. We won’t get out.”
Gan Ning left with the personal guards. Over a dozen personal guards and four female guards escorted the carriage as it slowly entered the path.
It had to be said that Gan Ning’s departure was wise. Though Xiao Qiao was reluctant to see her husband go, once he left, the four relaxed completely. Laughter and chatter filled the carriage all the way.
The New Year Temple Fair was actually a New Year sacrifice to the City God. The Spring Festival on the second day of the second lunar month was a rural sacrifice to the Land God, with various activities held simultaneously, attracting large numbers of citizens to participate. Many citizens brought specialty products to the temple fair to sell and cover travel expenses.
Thus, the temple fair’s specialty products were all very distinctive, especially those from Mount Lu, and of course, those from the Yangtze River.
Hawkers’ calls and shouts rose and fell. Xiao Qiao’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she shouted, “Stop the carriage! Stop!”
The carriage stopped. Xu Wei asked puzzledly, “A Yu, what did you see?”
Xiao Qiao pointed. “Look, what’s that in that person’s hand?”
A large crowd surrounded a small stall. The stall owner held up a huge deep yellow rhizome high. The surrounding people eyed it greedily. Many bargained, but the stall owner ignored them and shouted, “Fixed price: ten Guan Qian. Not a penny less.”
“That’s ginger, right?” Yang Ping’er said hesitantly.
“Not ginger!”
Qiao Jingjing recognized it. “It looks like Polygonatum!”
The four women all exclaimed in surprise at such a large Polygonatum.
Xiao Qiao grinned and whispered to Xu Wei, “We’ll pool together to buy it and give it to Husband to nourish his body.”
Xu Wei blushed. “If you want to buy it, buy it. Why drag me in?”
“You said it! Then I’ll buy it myself.”
Xiao Qiao took out ten taels of silver and handed it to the female guard Sang Ye.
Sang Ye pushed through the crowd. The man was indeed selling Polygonatum, dug from Mount Lu, over twenty catties in total. This piece was at least a thousand years old.
If there were connections, even at a Hundred Strings of Cash, it would be snapped up by the wealthy. But this was a temple fair, a gathering of common citizens. At ten Guan Qian, no one could afford it.
Under countless envious gazes, Sang Ye directly bought this extremely rare Thousand-Year Huang Jing with ten taels of silver.
