Chapter 67

The New Year's celebration of the fourth year of the Yingli era (954 AD) was the first New Year that the time travelers celebrated, and everyone naturally took it very seriously. In addition to following the New Year customs of this era, all the time travelers, including those responsible for training the soldiers at Feilong Fort, temporarily came down from the mountain. Before the arrival of New Year's Eve, they gathered at the Qiji Family's villa, which had been renamed "Jingyuan," and set up a table with various offerings in the backyard. They bowed deeply towards the direction of the sea, remembering their deceased relatives from their previous lives and reminding themselves of their origins. This was a rule established at the initial general assembly.

After the ceremony, Qian Yuanshan and others hurried back to Feilong Fort, while the rest returned to Yuxu Palace. Following Wang Feng's request, You Yuan took out 150 firecrackers and distributed them to all the time travelers to set off, adding to the festive atmosphere. Amidst the thundering and flashing of over a hundred firecrackers, everyone happily welcomed the first day of the fourth year of the Yingli era.

After a few days of celebration, on the fifth day of the first month, the relocation plan, which had been put on hold for a month, was brought up again. Considering that Wang Feng would marry Zhong Ziqi on the eighteenth day of the first month, everyone had to prepare in advance and start moving during the festive season.

Fortunately, with the experience from the previous move and the fact that Yuxu Palace now had enough carts, everything was packed up in just one morning with everyone's efforts. After lunch, the group bid a tearful farewell to Yuxuzi and the other Taoist priests at the palace and set off down the mountain.

According to the new resolution, for safety reasons, all time travelers, except those staying at Feilong Fort, would first move to "Qingyuan" in the city. They would wait until the training at Feilong Fort was completed and a new security team was formed before dispersing to live according to their respective roles. This meant that the trade group could conduct business as usual, while the technology group could only do some preliminary preparations and could not start large-scale research and development as planned. As a result, the engineers, including Li Junwu, would find it difficult to deliver the flintlock guns and other weapons to the security group on time.

Although the members of the technology group had some complaints, they did not slack off. Instead, this motivated them even more. After internal discussions, they decided to use the two blacksmith shops in Liangxiang City to produce the metal components, outsourcing the work to them. The blacksmiths would forge the parts based on the diagrams provided by the technology group, which would then further process the parts. Similarly, the wooden parts of the muskets would be subcontracted to different carpenters for processing, and finally assembled with the metal parts.

Of course, the diagrams would not be given to the contractors all at once, especially the metal parts. The diagrams would be divided, and different time travelers would take the diagrams of individual parts to the two blacksmith shops at different times. The blacksmiths would not be told the purpose of the parts, only to forge them according to the diagrams. This way, the two blacksmith shops would only see part of the diagrams and would not know what the parts were for, effectively preventing the leakage of technology.

The committee approved the technology group's plan and emphasized the importance of maintaining technical confidentiality. They insisted that even if the development of the products was delayed, the confidentiality rules must be strictly followed. The technology group naturally had no objections.

The top priority after moving into "Qingyuan" was to prepare for Wang Feng's wedding. Over the next ten days, with the help of Zhong Fu, the steward sent by Zhong Yuanyou, and Deng An, the former steward of the Qiji Family and now the steward of "Qingyuan," all the time travelers and the servants in the house worked hard to get everything ready by the eighteenth day of the first month. Even Tang Chao and Qingchen, who were staying at Feilong Fort, along with Liu Xiaoliu, representing Liu Wanbao, arrived at "Qingyuan" on the seventeenth day of the first month, waiting for the wedding day to arrive.

On the morning of the eighteenth day of the first month of the fourth year of the Yingli era, Wang Feng, dressed in formal attire and adorned with red ribbons, mounted a tall horse and led a lively wedding procession from "Qingyuan." They headed to the Zhong Family's villa outside Liangxiang City, where the wedding ceremony would take place. The reason for going to the Zhong Family's villa was that Zhong Yuanyou, considering the long distance between Liangxiang and FanYang, had brought his family to the villa in advance to save time on the wedding day.

The time travelers were grateful for Zhong Yuanyou's thoughtfulness, regardless of his intentions in befriending them. After the wedding procession arrived at the Zhong Family's villa, all the formalities were observed. The bride, Zhong Ziqi, dressed in a red wedding gown and covered with a red veil, was helped into an eight-person sedan chair. The large procession then returned to "Qingyuan" with music and celebration. After a series of rituals, such as crossing the fire basin, shooting arrows, and stepping over a saddle, the two newlyweds were led to the wedding hall. Amidst the thundering of the 150 firecrackers, they bowed to heaven and earth, to their parents, and to each other before being sent to the bridal chamber.

In the newly decorated bridal chamber, Wang Feng, urged by the guests, lifted the red veil covering Zhong Ziqi's head with a weighing rod, revealing her shy and beautiful face. After drinking the ceremonial wine, the newlyweds changed into new clothes and went to the banquet hall to toast their elders and relatives.

Although the county magistrate Hu and other officials from Liangxiang County, as well as Chief Constable Zheng, were present to offer their congratulations, the number of Zhong Ziqi's relatives was clearly smaller than that of the time travelers. Besides her uncle and aunt's families, there were only some of Zhong Yuanyou's former colleagues and friends. In contrast, the time travelers, including Yuxuzi, Qingchen, and several young Taoist priests, had nearly forty relatives and friends.

However, the few relatives from the bride's side were not without highlights. The most eye-catching was Zhong Ziqi's cousin, Han Qingwen, the daughter of her uncle, Han Deyi, the Censor of the Nanjing Garrison. Han Qingwen was as beautiful as Zhong Ziqi, but her demeanor was much more graceful and elegant.

As Zhang Weixin whispered to Wang Xiaojun, this young lady, though slightly less beautiful than Yang Xiaoyun, had an elegance that matched or even surpassed Yang Xiaoyun. Yang Xiaoyun's grace and elegance were the result of long-term training and two years of work experience, which Han Qingwen could not have. Her elegance was likely formed by growing up in an official family and being influenced by her surroundings, making it appear more natural and pure.

Wang Xiaojun had not initially noticed Han Qingwen, not because he was indifferent to women or had poor taste, but because, as the brother of the groom, he had to deal with the many guests offering toasts, especially the time travelers. Although Wang Xiaojun was usually very approachable and often talked and joked with the team members, his position as a committee member, and the influence of Zhang Weixin, had gradually made him a leading figure in the team. As a result, the team members, while still communicating with him, no longer joked or gossiped with him as they used to.

Taking advantage of Wang Feng's wedding, the time travelers seized the opportunity to joke and drink with Wang Xiaojun. Out of the thirty time travelers, except for the groom Wang Feng and Zhang Weixin, who was busy protecting his friend, the other twenty-eight, including the fifty-year-old engineer Li Junwu, came to toast him. The bride's relatives, especially Chief Constable Zheng, known for his drinking capacity, also joined in.

Faced with a constant stream of toasts, Wang Xiaojun had no time to look at the beautiful women. It was only after Zhang Weixin whispered to him about Han Qingwen that he took a closer look at her when no one was toasting. He then whispered back to Zhang Weixin, "Not bad, she is indeed a beautiful and graceful lady."

Zhang Weixin, however, seemed to disagree with his friend's assessment. Shaking his head, he said, "More than just beautiful and graceful, I would say she is a rare beauty."

After another look, he pinched his chin and muttered, "Judging by her attire, she is probably still unmarried."

Wang Xiaojun patted his shoulder and teased, "What are you thinking? Whether she is married or not has nothing to do with you. Are you not satisfied with having a beauty like Yang Xiaoyun? Do you also want to add Han Qingwen to your collection? Although men in this era can have multiple wives, if you keep falling in love with every woman you see, our house will soon be too small to accommodate them all."

Zhang Weixin immediately denied it, "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not that kind of person. I'm thinking about the team. We have about twenty people, including you, who are still single and not young. If we stay single for too long, it could cause problems. When we had no place to stand, we didn't have the time to think about this. But now that we have a foundation, we should consider the marriage of the team members. I think Han Qingwen, with her beauty and grace, could be a good match for one of us. This would not only solve the personal issues of our single members but also help us form a connection with Han Deyi, the Censor of the Nanjing Garrison, which would benefit our future development."

Wang Xiaojun did not immediately respond to Zhang Weixin's suggestion. While he hoped the team members could find love, he was not in favor of mixing political considerations into marriage. Just as Zhang Weixin was about to discuss this further, Zhong Yuanyou, who was at the same table, raised his glass and said with a smile, "What important matters are you two discussing that you forget to drink and eat? Come, let me toast you both."

Wang Xiaojun and Zhang Weixin could not tell Zhong Yuanyou that they were discussing his niece and planning to take her for themselves. They quickly said they were discussing official matters and raised their glasses to toast Zhong Yuanyou.

Zhong Yuanyou toasted them one by one and waved his hand, saying, "Today is such a happy day, we should drink to our heart's content. Official matters can wait until tomorrow."

Wang Xiaojun and Zhang Weixin agreed and drank their wine in one go.

After they stopped talking about Han Qingwen, others took the opportunity to toast them. After dozens of toasts, despite the low alcohol content of the drinks and Zhang Weixin's help, Wang Xiaojun, the leader, began to feel dizzy and uncomfortable in the stomach, as he had been drinking without eating much. He excused himself to Zhong Yuanyou and went to the backyard to relieve his stomach.

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