Early the next morning, Pan Long saw only the faintest hint of white in the eastern sky through his window and hurried out of bed.
He washed his face, brushed his teeth, changed into new clothes, and smoothed his hair until not a strand was out of place. After fussing for a full half hour, he suddenly realized that today was only for bringing his family into Guangling City. Everyone would need a day to rest and tidy themselves up. They could not visit the Wu residence until tomorrow at the earliest.
No, that was wrong!
They could not visit tomorrow either. The Pan Lineage first had to send a matchmaker to inquire. Once the Wu Family agreed, they would choose an Auspicious Day, and an envoy from the Pan Lineage—not Pan Long himself, nor his parents or grandfather—would bring a wild goose to their door. If the Wu Family accepted the goose, they had agreed to the proposal.
That was the first of the Six Rites: Proposal Gifts.
The whole process of the Six Rites was rather troublesome. Next came Name Inquiry, to establish the bride's name and birth details; Auspicious Divination, to have the bride's and groom's birth details divined for a favorable match; Betrothal Gifts, to present the formal gifts; Date Selection, to agree on a wedding date; and only then Bride Fetching.
Even Bride Fetching was merely the wedding, not the completion of the marriage. Only after the couple paid respects at the ancestral hall and had their places entered in the family register was the marriage complete.
Naturally, every step required an Auspicious Day. The entire process needed seven of them—between Betrothal Gifts and Bride Fetching, there was also the matter of registering the marriage and updating their household records with the authorities, which generally