The County Government Office's rear courtyard, the County Magistrate's residence.
In the main hall, Li He and Madam Li sat in the seats of honor. Beside them stood the eldest and second eldest brothers-in-law, who had hurried back especially for their younger sister's engagement.
Lin Ze sat beside the matchmaker.
The hall was filled with gifts wrapped in red silk. These were the betrothal gifts Lin Ze had brought that day.
The matchmaker had already presented Lin Ze's betrothal letter and begun reading out the gift list, which recorded the names and quantities of the gifts.
First came the betrothal money—the customary bride price—ten thousand taels of gold, symbolizing Li Yunhua's status as a thousand-tael young lady.
Then came betrothal cakes, seafood, three kinds of livestock, fruits, wine, tea, and other gifts symbolizing good fortune.
Next came the special gift Lin Ze had prepared for Li Yunhua: a pair of glazed ruyi scepters, each one foot and eight inches long, polished to a translucent shine and carved with mandarin ducks, symbolizing a union that would last a hundred years.
The pair of ruyi scepters lay in a gift box. As soon as Lin Ze opened it, the glazed scepters resting on the silk immediately drew everyone's attention.
At that moment, whether it was Li He and his wife, the two brothers-in-law, or even the matchmaker reading the gift list nearby, everyone looked at the pair of bright-red glazed ruyi scepters in Lin Ze's box with astonishment.
These were precious works of glazed glass, and not the tiny, finger-sized trinkets worth only a few taels of silver. They were large pieces, a full foot and eight inches long, carved with a design symbolizing a union that would last a hundred years and carrying an auspicious meaning.
Even as the centerpiece of