Chapter 189 - 173: Pressing for Installation

Chapter 189: Chapter 173: Pressing for Installation

The main hall was spacious, with three round tables set up inside.

The air conditioning was running, keeping the room pleasantly cool.

"Is this Chen Jun’s boy — Yuan? Look how grown-up you are!"

The hall was lively. Seven or eight people were seated around the table nearest the door, while a few kids ran around playing, red envelopes clutched in their little hands.

"Time flies. The younger generation is getting married off one by one."

Zhou Jianming said with a cheerful laugh.

Chen Yuan felt a little awkward — he barely recognized anyone from the village anymore, let alone Zhou Jianming’s relatives. All he could do was call everyone "uncle" and "auntie."

It wasn’t until Zhou Jianming made the introductions that Chen Yuan learned they were Zhou Jianming’s brothers-in-law — Zhou Lin’s uncles on his father’s side. Both the first and second uncles had come with their families.

Local custom didn’t allow paternal uncles to be part of the wedding escort procession, so the two of them stayed behind to help out instead.

"Come sit down, Yuan. I was telling myself I’d sneak off to the fishing pond for a couple of casts when things quieted down — but when I finally showed up, holy hell, both ponds were packed to the brim."

"I’ve never seen a fishing ground do business like that."

Both uncles were keen anglers at heart, but the demands of work had left them with almost no time for it — which was exactly why they’d never heard of Chen Yuan Fishing Ground.

Otherwise, given the reputation it had built up, there wasn’t a fishing enthusiast in all of Chong City who didn’t know the name.

"Yuan, do you have a group chat for the fishing ground? Add me in — I’d love to come out and fish sometime."

By the end of the conversation, both uncles had added Chen Yuan on WeChat and joined the fishing ground’s group chat. When they saw the staggering number of members, their eyes went wide.

No wonder the place was booming. That many people in one group was no joke.

"Cousin~!"

The uncles’ sons rolled up in their cars — they’d gone to get them washed ahead of the wedding escort. Beyond the uncles’ vehicles, other cars were arriving one after another as well.

Zhou Lin’s eldest maternal uncle had already been there for a while, huddled with Zhou Jianming going over what gifts to bring and who would ride in which car.

"It’s past noon — let’s eat first."

Once the planning was mostly sorted, they got ready to sit down for the meal.

"Yuan, come sit at our table."

Zhou Lin came in with a group of young men around the same age. Together with Chen Yuan, this was his groomsmen squad — four were family relatives, and one was a college friend.

They sat together and started strategizing on how to outmaneuver the bridesmaids and pull off a smooth pickup of the bride.

After lunch, the cars were brought out for decoration. The main wedding car took the longest and ended up looking the most stunning. Once finished, they drove back to the courtyard and began loading everything up. ℯ

"Pack the meat in crates and throw some ice in."

"Don’t hang the chickens yet — wait until we’re close to arriving."

"This one goes in the last car."

There was quite a lot to load.

All of it was local tradition.

The day before the wedding, the groom’s family brings gifts to the bride’s home — a custom called the "bridal urging" ritual, sometimes also known as "sending the powder and face." The idea is to signal to the bride’s family that it’s time to finish getting ready for the wedding.

The gift list was long, and each item came with specific rules. Everything had to come in pairs, and every gift carried its own symbolic meaning.

Take the pig’s head or pork, for example. It carried two meanings: first, since the groom was taking their daughter away, the bride’s parents would naturally feel a sense of loss — the pork served as a gesture of compensation. More importantly, it symbolized that the groom would cherish his bride like the most precious thing in the world.

Then there were the pig’s trotters.

Two front trotters and two back trotters were required. The bride’s family would return the two front ones to the groom’s side — the front trotters symbolized moving forward together after marriage, as well as the idea of giving and receiving, of maintaining close ties between both families.

Wheat or flour also had to be prepared, along with a vanity set. Everything inside had to come in pairs, and two chopsticks had to be included — a play on words symbolizing a speedy blessing of children.

Once everything was loaded into the cars.

Zhou Lin walked over with a large backpack and handed it to Chen Yuan.

"Yuan, this bag’s full of red envelopes. I need you to hand them out."

"Whoa, this thing’s heavy. Don’t worry — I’ll make sure red envelopes are flying everywhere~"

Chen Yuan took it without hesitation, but nearly dropped it the moment he grabbed the strap. The bag was stuffed to the seams — at least two thousand red envelopes, by his estimate.

"Haha, they’d better be flying everywhere."

Zhou Lin burst out laughing.

Truth be told, in terms of closeness, Chen Yuan couldn’t really compare to the cousins and relatives in the groomsmen squad. So why had Zhou Lin picked him to handle the red envelopes?

Because he knew Chen Yuan had the right mindset.

Anyone who could build a fishing ground into what Chen Yuan had built didn’t need to be told how to carry themselves — he was absolutely the right man for the job.

"We’re just about ready. Everyone get in the cars."

Zhou Lin’s eldest maternal uncle came over and gave Zhou Lin a pat on the shoulder. He had a calm, dependable air about him.

"You’re in charge of the red envelopes, right? Ride in the second car, right behind the wedding car. Whenever the car in front stops, get out and hand a few red envelopes to the driver."

Zhou Lin’s eldest uncle gave Chen Yuan his instructions.

He went down the line, assigning everyone their positions — calm and methodical.

Before long, the entire wedding escort was loaded up and ready to go.

At that point, Zhou Jianming and his wife went around handing each driver a large red envelope and a pack of cigarettes, and then the convoy set off to the sound of crackling firecrackers.

The bride’s family didn’t live in Chong City — they were out in Baijiang District, on the outskirts of the provincial capital. Technically, it was still just a county for now, set to be incorporated into the city proper and designated as a district in a few years’ time.

Development there was in full swing.

The distance was neither particularly near nor particularly far — over a hundred kilometers spanning the entire provincial capital, which meant a little over an hour and a half on the highway.

With the stops and starts along the way, the convoy left at two-thirty and didn’t pull up to the bride’s home until five-thirty.

"Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!"

The bride’s family gave them a warm welcome. As soon as the firecrackers died down, people came rushing over with cigarettes before anyone had even climbed out of the cars, then pitched in to help unload everything.

"Get the pork and trotters into the freezer right away — it’s warm out, and the ice we packed is almost completely melted."

Zhou Lin’s eldest uncle coordinated with the bride’s family on the handover.

Once everything had been brought in, the guests were ushered inside to rest.

The bride’s family lived in town, in a two-story house with a courtyard out front. Despite the crowd, it didn’t feel cramped at all.

"The groom’s here~!"

The entire bridesmaids squad came charging out, grinning at Zhou Lin like a pack of wolves eyeing a lamb headed for the slaughter. The look on their faces made Zhou Lin noticeably nervous.

"Surrounding Zhou Lin won’t do you any good — Boss Chen’s the one with the red envelopes. And Boss Chen’s single, by the way."

The bride called out from behind them with a laugh.

"Who’s Boss Chen?"

The bridesmaids’ eyes lit up. They fixed their gaze past Zhou Lin, scanning the group of young men behind him like they were scouting for prey.

"Whoever you think is the most handsome — that’s Boss Chen."

Zhou Lin laughed and fired the first shot at the bridesmaids.

Chen Yuan wasn’t wearing the backpack at the moment — the red envelopes were sitting against the wall behind him. There were just too many to keep carrying around the whole time.

"Groom, talk like that and you might find yourself locked out tomorrow."

The bridesmaids smiled at Zhou Lin, their expressions loaded with meaning.

Sneaky groom. There were six guys in the groomsmen squad — asking them to pick the most handsome was a trap. No matter who they named, the others would take offense.

And if they guessed wrong and upset the guy holding the red envelopes, there’d be no hope of getting any at all.

"How about we both give a little ground?"

Zhou Lin said with a grin.

"Sure."

All six bridesmaids agreed without a second’s hesitation.

Clearly, none of them meant a word of it.

"Give a little ground" just meant he had to go first — whether they’d hold up their end tomorrow was tomorrow’s problem.

"Boss Chen, it’s all yours."

Zhou Lin turned and looked at Chen Yuan.

It was all just good fun — weddings were meant to be cheerful, and nobody was taking any of this seriously.

Chen Yuan knew that perfectly well.

He casually grabbed the backpack, pulled over a stool and dropped himself onto it, then started fishing out red envelopes and handing them to the other groomsmen.

Then he looked across at the bridesmaids with an easy grin.

"So, ladies — what do you think of our groomsmen squad?"

"Handsome. Incredibly handsome."

"I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many good-looking guys in one place."

The bridesmaids crowded in.

"Not buying it. Be specific."

Chen Yuan shook his head and kept the red envelopes firmly in hand.

"I genuinely think this groomsman is gorgeous — especially his eyes. They’re bright as stars, absolutely captivating. I think I’m falling for him."

One of the bridesmaids looked straight at Zhou Lin’s eldest cousin.

"Haha — you happy with that, big cousin?"

Chen Yuan turned to him with a grin.

"More than happy."

Zhou Lin’s eldest cousin was beaming from ear to ear. Sure, he knew it was all part of the game — but who didn’t love a compliment? Especially since he had a pretty clear-eyed view of his own looks and had never once been praised like that before.

He felt like he was floating on air.

"Well, if you’re happy, we can’t be stingy about it — you’ve earned a reward."

Chen Yuan laughed and gave the signal, and the cousin snapped back to reality just in time to hand over every red envelope he was holding.

The other bridesmaids followed suit, laying on the flattery thick and laying it on hard. The groomsmen floated away on a cloud of compliments, red envelopes flying out of their hands at a frantic pace. At this rate, the whole war chest was going to be wiped out.