Chapter 245 – A wedding (3)
“Mom is so pretty.” Both JingJing and Tianbao was dazed when they saw Shu Yan walked out with makeup on. Shu Yan had always been messy in their memories. She had cleaned up ever since they have arrived at City Nan but with her weight and height, she was never that attractive.
“Thank you. Let’s go.” Shu Yan smiled and accepted the compliments from the children.
Xiuxiu was her manager and now Wu Xiuyue’s sister-in-law, so she needed to give her a big red pocket. She decided to put in 600 yuan. An amount for sure was a lot for this era.
She arrived the restaurant with the two children and learned that there was a total of 10 tables and 90% of the guests were relatives from Zhang Huaxiu’s side of the family. As for Chen Fei’s side, his father was the only one there other than his uncle and his family.
Chen Fei looked nothing like his father. Perhaps he looked more like his mother. Chen Fei’s father sat there looking happy. He seemed to be an easy-going person.
“You sit here, Shu Yan,” said Wu Xiuyue as she took Shu Yan to her seat.
“No, it’s fine. Just find me any spots.” Shu Yan declined as soon as she realized that it was the family’s table.
“You are Xiuxiu and Chen Fei’s matchmaker. Who else can sit here but you?”
There were very limited spots at the family’s table so, naturally, Shu Yan couldn’t have her children sit with her. She had them to play with Zhang Chenghan and would bring them food later for them to eat with Zhang Chenghan.
The guests arrived one by one and Shu Yan was seated with Zhang Huaxiu’s grandparents, uncles and aunties. All of them inquired with Mother Zhang who Shu Yan was and greeted Shu Yan after founding out that she was Zhang Huaxiu’s boss.
“Thank you so much for taking such good care of Xiuxiu.” Her grandmother was 75 years old but still looked fairly young.
“Xiuxiu is the one who helps me out a lot. My life is much easier with her helping me managing my shop.” Shu Yan turned around and praised Xiuxiu.
“You gave Xiuxiu the opportunity and training. She would not otherwise be where she is today,” said the grandmother as she laughed. “And thank you also for introducing her to such a fine young man. Xiuxiu had been single for long and I have been very worried about her.”
“Why are you saying such thing on such a happy day?” Grandpa Zhang gave Grandma Zhang a stare.
Shu Yan smiled and chatted with the aunties next to her about local wedding customs. The grandma was particular passion in having Shu Yan eat more when the food was served.
“Grandma, don’t worry. I am not a shy one.” Her exceptional enthusiasm made Shu Yan a little uncomfortable.
“Then have some more. Have some more.” The grandma emphasized that again.
Not too long later, Chen Fei and Zhang Huaxiu came over to toast. It was a festive day and everybody said some congratulatory words and let the two off the hook.
Half way through dinner, two people from the table next to the suddenly raised their voices. Shu Yan looked over and both of their faces were red and, obviously, both were drunk.
Zhang Huaxiu didn’t look too happy. “Who put the two of them together?”
“Don’t know.” Zhang Huaxiu’s aunt didn’t look any happier. “Let me go get Second Brother-in-Law to come over.”
Before Zhang Huaxiu’s father was able to get there, one of them smashed a bowl on the ground. On a festive day like this, he might as well had smashed the bowl into the newlyweds’ faces.
With a loud noise, the entire venue went silent as though a pause button had been pushed. The two who were fighting went silent altogether. The two who were fighting recollected themselves immediate and, looking at Father Zhang who was rushing over, hrumped and turned away.
“Peace always. I wish the two of you peace always and the best of luck,” said Shu Yan as she smiled and stood up.
Some others figured out what Shu Yan was trying to do and also started saying congratulatory words to the couple.
The two of them nodded and thanked the guests stiffly.
Right when things started to die down on this end, Chen Fei’s father grabbed his suitcase and was fussing about wanting to leave.
“What are you doing now?” Uncle Chen tugged Father Chen.
“What’s with that Peace Always? They obviously look down on me and my son. So what they were City Nan dwellers? We are not getting married today. I am going to take my son with me. He will no longer be my son if he doesn’t leave with me.”
“Are you done talking? If you are done talking, put your stuff back down and sit right back down,” said Uncle Chen as he gave Father Chen a warning look.
Father Chen, who was very aggressive suddenly lost steam, put his stuff down, and sat back down.
Truth was, many had witnessed that but they all pretended that they didn’t.
It was the relatives on Zhang Huaxiu’s side of the family who caused the scene and it only made sense that the groom’s father was upset. The groom’s uncle was just being nice quelling the incident.
When all the guests were gone, tears streamed down Zhang Huaxiu’s eyes. “I said to not invite him but you insisted on it. Look what happened now?”
Mother Zhang gave her daughter a cautious look and said, “He is your uncle from your father’s side, we can’t not invite him to your wedding. The other one is uncle from your mother’s side, can we not invite him? I know they never got along, but it had been over 10 years, I thought…”
“You thought what? Alright, it’s all water below the bridge now. Stop crying already. It’s your day. Just look on the bright side. Thanks to Shu Yan for saving the day,” said Father Zhang.
“No need, it’s getting late. I should get my kids home.” This was their private matters and it was somewhat awkward to be listening to their conversation.
“Wait.” Wu Xiuyue came running out with a bag. “You forgot this.”
“I got the wedding candies already,” said Shu Yan. Zhang Huaxiu even gave each of the children one and they got a total of three bags.
“No, this is for the matchmaker,” said Wu Xiuyue as she shoved it into Shu Yan’s hand.
“I am just the matchmaker by name and didn’t really do a whole lot. I shouldn’t be taking this.” Shu Yan shook her head. Truth was the two of them were fond of each other right away. She really didn’t have much to do with it.
“No, you must accept this. Else it’s bad luck.”
With her saying that, Shu Yan had no choice but to accept it.
She opened it up when she got home and it was two cases of cigarettes, two boxes of wedding candies, and two red pockets. One was the one that she had given Zhang Huaxiu. They straight up returned it. The other one was their appreciation for her being the matchmaker with 200 yuan inside of it.
Oookay. She attending a wedding banquet; got a free meal; and received a 200-yuan red pocket with a bunch of other stuff.
