Compared to the scene of the wedding and makeup at the Weinan Earl's Mansion when the Duke of Zhao married his daughter-in-law, the grand occasion of the Duke of Zhao's Mansion marrying off his daughter this time was something that the people of the capital who witnessed with their own eyes all felt that they would talk about it with relish for the rest of their lives!
As for those who shook their heads and sighed about the extravagance and the decline of morals, there were naturally many. However, no matter how much they said, they could not reduce Zhu Ying's dowry by even a little.
It is said that the dowry is ten miles long, but the width of the capital is only thirteen or fourteen miles from east to west. The Zhang Garden that the emperor awarded to Zhang Shou and the Duke Zhao's Mansion are both in the west city, and the distance between them is probably less than two miles. Therefore, the first load of dowry has been sent to Zhang Garden, and the last load of dowry has just been sent out from the Duke Zhao's Mansion.
The reason why the dowry was nearly twice as much as the expected sixty-four loads was because the number of sixty-four loads that had been compressed again and again was the result of the Dowager's wife, Jiu Niang and Zhu Ying personally discussing and sending things like furniture to Zhang Garden in advance. That was because there was too much enthusiasm for adding boxes the day before, and the number of families who gave gifts was so large that even the Zhu family themselves were stunned.
The emperor, who had criticized some ministers for extravagant weddings, was generous when he gave Zhu Ying additional boxes yesterday. He even gave her a small farm and a workshop, which were his own private property. The empress dowager, the newly promoted imperial concubine Hefei, Yufei, and other concubines and princesses from the palaces joined forces to give Zhu Ying more than twenty loads of dowry.
The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, who always respected Zhu Ying, gave her a pair of jade lion ornaments that he also liked. Even though the Fourth Prince was still outside the palace, he begged his brother to send a treasure chest to his sister Yingying. Of course, the things were bought outside, not made by the eunuchs in the palace. As for where the money came from... The poor kid borrowed it.
The gifts given by the women of the families who were familiar with the Duke of Zhao's mansion were also very generous. Even the three families of the Duke of Chu and the Earl of Xiangyang, who were said to have a grudge against the Zhu family, were only indifferent to Zhu Tingfang's marriage and sent a representative after the gifts were given, but the gifts for Zhu Ying's marriage were two boxes each, and the Earl of Xiangyang even asked his wife to come in person and sent a message asking Zhu Ying to visit his home often after marriage.
Zhu Er was so angry that he complained about the obvious difference in treatment. You should know that when Zhang Qiong, the Earl of Xiangyang, saw him on the road, he ignored him, snorted and walked away as if he hadn't seen him!
Moreover, the three brothers of Duke Chu, who used to be unfriendly to his outstanding eldest brother, would chat and laugh whenever they met Zhu Ying. He now suspected that the three brothers had known for a long time that Zhu Ying might be a princess, so they were so speculative.
At this moment, no one was presenting the dowry list at the gate of Zhang Garden, which made the people who were eagerly watching the excitement regretful. They didn't know that Wu, who was holding a thick stack of dowry lists, was feeling lucky that the Zhu family was sensible and didn't ask anyone to read the list, otherwise it would probably take several people a day to read this long thing.
She never thought that Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou had already discussed it and wanted to cut this and that, but the Zhu family didn't listen to the prospective couple at all and still filled the boxes as usual. Everything that was supposed to be sent was delivered!