At the enthusiastic invitation of the aunts, Xia Zhi and his friends finally agreed to go to the banquet together tomorrow.
That night, before going to sleep, the five of them lay on the big bunk bed and discussed the matter.
"We're going to a banquet, so should we give each other a red envelope?" Xiao Han put his hands behind his head. The thought of facing so many strangers tomorrow made him feel nervous and uneasy as he had social phobia.
"Give one, it's not appropriate for us to go to a wedding empty-handed." Cheng Yunan pinched his chin and thought, "How much should I give?"
"I don't know." As a young master of a wealthy family, Sang Luo usually gave gifts in the tens of thousands when attending wedding banquets. He had no idea about the specifications of rural wedding banquets, so he stretched out his arm and touched Xia Zhi beside him, "Xia Xia, do you have any idea?"
Xia Zhi didn't sleep well in the hospital, and now he was a little sleepy. He closed his eyes and muttered, "I haven't participated in it, how do I know?"
Jiang Zhixia suddenly said, "In the village, marriages between distant relatives usually cost two or three hundred yuan."
Cheng Yunan was surprised: "You even know this."
Jiang Zhixia nodded lightly and did not explain further.
"Then let's make it 300 each." Sang Luo made the final decision. "If it doesn't work out, let Xiao Han go up and sing a song."
"Why me!" Xiao Han sat up from the bed in shock.
"You are a musician." Several teammates said in unison.
"You guys are still a boy band!" Xiao Han slammed the wall in protest, "We are a team, we have to embarrass ourselves together!"
The next day, the five of them wore more formal clothes, but they didn't dress up too much so as not to steal the limelight from the newlyweds. After breakfast, they waited for the aunts to pick them up.
Around ten o'clock in the morning, Aunt Qingxiang and Aunt Niu showed up as expected. However, because it was Aunt Hua's nephew's wedding, Aunt Hua stayed at home to help today and did not come.
Aunt Qingxiang asked, "Are you all ready? If you are, let's go! The feast is about to begin!"
"Okay." The five people responded.
Because they were going to record the show, the production team had communicated with the host family through Aunt Hua the night before. When the host family heard that a star would be attending the wedding banquet tomorrow, they immediately agreed and warmly invited all the staff to go as well.
However, in order to avoid attracting the attention of the villagers as much as possible, only the photographer and the accompanying director were sent to go with them the next day.
The five people followed the two aunts into the village. After walking for about five minutes, a house appeared in front of them and everyone couldn't help but become nervous.
Although this was their third day in the village, it was also their first time to truly step into the village.
Walking along the dirt road beside the field, when passing the first house, Aunt Niu pointed to the mud house in front of them and introduced it to everyone: "This is your Aunt Hua's home. You can come to her if you have any problems in the future."
The village is not big, and news spreads quickly. In two days, the news that outsiders were coming to the village to film a TV show had spread throughout the village, so wherever they went, they would attract onlookers.
Walking all the way from the beginning to the end of the village, just when Xia Zhi felt that he was about to be stared through by the villagers' eager gazes, he finally arrived at the host's house.
The host got the news and went out to greet them.
Those who came were the groom, his parents, and of course Aunt Hua.
The groom's family all looked very simple and honest rural people. The groom looked to be about 27 or 28 years old, tall and thin, with regular features but dark skin. He looked very honest and didn't talk much.
The groom and his family still had to entertain other guests, so the crowd didn't want to disturb them for too long. After giving their gifts, they followed Aunt Hua and the others to their seats.
The aunts probably noticed their discomfort and very considerately chose a seat in the corner.
"Xiao Xia, come and sit down." Aunt Hua patted the chair beside her and invited her warmly.
"Okay." Xia Zhi took a seat, and the other four followed suit.
A round table can seat twelve people, and with the cameraman and the director, it was just full. Except for the three aunts, everyone else was a little reserved.
Aunt Hua grabbed a handful of melon seeds on the table and passed them around one by one, saying, "Don't be restrained, it's just like eating at home."
"Okay." Everyone agreed, but their smiles were still somewhat perfunctory.
At this time, other guests were seated at the surrounding tables one after another. After greeting everyone, Aunt Hua raised her head, looked at a certain place and suddenly said "hmm", then moved between Aunt Qingxiang and Aunt Niu and asked in a low voice: "Why did Chunyou bring his wife here? Didn't he say he was divorced?"
"No! Why divorce?" Aunt Niu explained in a lower voice, "His wife refused to divorce and refused to divorce. Chunyou couldn't divorce even if he wanted to."
"It makes no difference whether they are divorced or not," Aunt Qingxiang snorted coldly, "Chunyou rarely comes home throughout the year, and he has a new wife outside, so how can he still remember the one at home? To put it bluntly, his wife is just looking after the house for him in the village!"
The aunts spoke in the local dialect, which the other people at the table couldn't understand. However, even though they couldn't understand what they were saying, they could guess from their body language and the increasingly quiet voices that they were definitely gossiping!
There are probably few people in this world who can resist the temptation of gossip, even the social elites present. Several people looked at each other and saw that the aunts were talking with relish, and they were all a little curious. After listening for a while, Cheng Yunan couldn't help it first, and leaned over to ask in a low voice: "What are the aunts talking about?"
Aunt Hua stopped and pointed at a middle-aged man and a middle-aged woman sitting at the end of the table. She whispered to everyone in accented Mandarin: "The man is the former village chief of our village, and the woman is his wife. But the couple has no love. After the man stopped being the village chief, he went to the city to do business. He did quite well and made a lot of money."
Aunt Niu took over the stick and continued to explain to everyone: "But this man became bad after he got rich. He became promiscuous after getting rich and started to keep women outside!"
Although everyone had already guessed the direction of the plot, they still showed surprised expressions.
The aunts were indeed very satisfied with their reactions.
Cheng Yunan couldn't help but grab a handful of melon seeds to eat, moved closer to Aunt Niu, and asked in a low voice: "Does his wife know?"
"Of course I know. How could I not know?" This time it was Aunt Qingxiang who told the story. "The man went to the city to do business, but his wife didn't go with him. As a result, another woman took advantage of the situation. The man didn't dare to tell his wife about his mistress, but our village is so small. If one person knew about it, the whole village would know about it. It didn't take long for the news to reach his wife's ears."
Xiao Han became angrier and angrier as he listened, frowning and asking, "Then why doesn't his wife divorce him?"
"They say she's young," Aunt Hua smiled at everyone, "his wife is from another place. She's been married to our village for more than 30 years, and her family is gone. She hasn't worked since she got married, and she's been supported by her husband. If they divorce, she can't even support herself, so it's better to waste time. As long as she doesn't divorce, she will have a share of the man's money and the house, and the woman won't be able to enter the house."
Cheng Yunan's speed of eating melon seeds became faster, and he asked anxiously: "What about the last one?"
Although the original wife won in the end, no one present was happy. They all looked at the two parties not far away.
The couple came to dinner together today and seemed to be quite affectionate. The man even picked up food for the woman several times, and the woman also adjusted the man's collar in an intimate manner. As to whether they are truly in love or just pretending to be in love, I'm afraid only they know.
Wedding banquets in rural areas are probably more lively because they are not restricted by the environment.
Once all the guests were seated, the wedding officially began.
The wedding process is similar, with only a few steps going back and forth. The only difference is that rural weddings have a stronger rural flavor. Xia Zhi sat down to watch the ceremony, listening to the MC's jingle one after another, and inexplicably wanted to eat melon seeds.
The ceremony ended and the banquet officially began.
Aunt Hua started to greet everyone again: "Everyone, eat vegetables. These vegetables were bought from the market early this morning. They are fresh. Come and eat!"
Everyone agreed, picked up their chopsticks and tacitly picked up a piece of the dish in front of them to taste it, and surprisingly found that it tasted good.
"It's delicious, isn't it?" Aunt Niu said with a smile and pride, "My husband has been cooking for more than 40 years. Whenever there is a happy event in the surrounding villages, he is invited to cook."
"So this dish was cooked by uncle," Cheng Yunan gave her a thumbs up, "Aunt Niu is in luck."
Aunt Niu covered her mouth and laughed: "If you like, come to my house some other day, I'll ask him to cook his specialty for you."
Everyone agreed with a smile.
As everyone was eating, the host's voice suddenly rang out on the stage.
"Ah, it's like this," the MC held up the microphone, his tone somewhat excited, "I just got the news that there are several TV stars among the guests attending the wedding today. How about we invite them to come on stage and say a few words?"
"good!"
In the corner, five people who were concentrating on eating, holding chopsticks in their right hands, froze at the same time.
The MC craned his neck to look around the stage: "Where is our big star?"
In an instant, countless pairs of eyes gathered towards the five people like a spotlight.
The MC followed everyone's line of sight and finally saw them. He praised the five people from their backs, "Wow, you can tell at a glance that they have extraordinary temperaments and are very good-looking! Friends, let's warmly welcome the big stars to the stage!"
The applause was deafening.
A few aunties were afraid that others would not see them, so they waved their hands excitedly to attract everyone's attention: "The big star is here! Here!" The hands hidden under the table kept fiddling with Xia Zhi's waist, and urged softly, "Hurry up! Go up!"
Xia Zhi: “…”
For the first time, Xia Zhi felt that not all flowers and applause were worth looking forward to.
The situation was already dire. Facing the enthusiastic villagers, Xia Zhi had a premonition that if they didn't go on stage today, they might not be able to leave the banquet hall.
He glanced at the four companions around him and saw deep despair in their eyes.
The applause became more and more enthusiastic, as if they would continue clapping until the end of time unless they went on stage.
"Why don't you go up and show your faces?" The accompanying director suggested weakly, "Otherwise I'm worried that we won't be able to go back tonight."
Five people:"… "
The five of them went up on stage with heavy steps and a dreary back, but they still tried hard to force smiles on their faces.
The five people stood on the simple stage and the audience immediately started talking.
The MC standing by couldn't hide his amazement and praised him sincerely, "You are indeed a big star, you are really handsome!"
Everyone smiled, their smiles were awkward and guilty.
When the emcee first heard that there were stars at the scene, he thought they must be quite famous. But when he invited them up, he didn't recognize any of them. He thought they must be unknown 18th-tier artists, so he became more casual in his tone.
"Everyone, please introduce yourselves first." After saying that, he handed the microphone to Sang Luo beside him.
Sang Luo took the microphone, smiled at the audience, and said calmly: "Hello everyone, we are the domestic male idol group Vic."
Vic is the abbreviation of Victoria. Sang Luo did not introduce her full name because he was used to calling her that and also did not want to cause unnecessary trouble. After all, there were quite a few young people at the scene, and there might be some who were keen on surfing the Internet.
Sure enough, when Sang Luo introduced the group, there was no reaction from the audience.
I haven't heard of the emcee either, so I guess they are from some small band that just debuted. But no matter what, he still has to give them enough superficial compliments.
So he smiled and continued: "So it's the popular group - Vic Boys Group! I often hear friends mention it, saying that it is a very good group."
Sang Luo touched his nose, looking a little embarrassed: "Well, actually our group is not that popular."
“Really? That’s probably because my friends all like you guys.” The MC calmly tried to make amends, “Haha, it doesn’t matter if you’re not popular now. You just debuted and you still have a long future ahead of you.”
“In fact, we have been in the industry for nine years.”
"..." The MC's smile was already a little off, and he pretended to be calm, "That's okay, there's still a long way to go, and I believe that one day you will become a top-notch boy band in China!"
"Thank you very much for your encouragement," Sang Luo said with a calm smile, "but our group has been disbanded for eight years."
(End of this chapter)