In this era, for an ordinary family, the dowry for a daughter usually consists of items with auspicious meanings, such as the descendants' bucket, dragon-and-phoenix quilts, vases, and copper basins.
For a wealthy and prominent family, it is common to accompany the bride with shops and fields.
And undoubtedly, the most grand wedding with the most lavish dowry is when the emperor marries off his daughter.
Years ago, when the Princess Pingyang got married to the Marquis of Gaochang, the dowry stretched for miles along the street, becoming a much - talked - about topic among the people of Yongding for several years.
After that, there had never been a comparable grand occasion in Yongding City.
Therefore, when Bai Zheng's dowry first appeared, people only watched it as a novelty.
After all, the betrothal gifts sent by the Marquis of Dingyuan's Mansion, which filled the entire courtyard of the Bai Mansion, had made countless young ladies in Yongding envious.
It was almost the highest - level standard for a court official to marry a wife, second only to that of the emperor, which showed the groom's sincerity.
Now, it was the Bai Mansion's turn to show their affection for marrying off their daughter. People wondered how much dowry they could offer.
Everyone craned their necks and rushed forward to take a look.
They saw that in the first carrying pole at the front, there was nothing but ten thick adobes.
But as soon as they saw the adobes, everyone's expressions changed.
These adobes were not ordinary things. They represented fields. One adobe represented one hundred mu of land, so ten adobes meant a full one thousand mu of fields!
Among the betrothal gifts sent by the Marquis of Dingyuan's Mansion, there were already five hundred mu of fields.
No one expected that the Bai Mansion would be so generous as to return one thousand mu!
Several women who had never seen the world turned pale on the spot.
However, what surprised them even more was yet to come.
The second carrying pole that appeared right after the adobes made many people who had witnessed the Princess Pingyang's magnificent wedding procession almost scream out.
On it were placed sixteen roof tiles.
These tiles were not ordinary ones. They represented real estate. One tile represented a property in the manor, so these sixteen tiles meant a total of sixteen properties in the manor!
Some gossiping people almost immediately thought of the betrothal cancellation in front of the Bai Mansion not long ago.
Everyone still remembered how the people from the Prime Minister's Mansion had scolded and looked down on the third young lady of the Bai Mansion, and how Chu Feng had vowed to cancel the engagement no matter what.
If the young master Chu from the Prime Minister's Mansion had known that the Bai Mansion could offer such a generous dowry today, would he still have insisted on canceling the engagement?
No one knew that at this moment, there was a young master with a rather unpleasant expression squeezing through the lively crowd.
The young master looked at the gorgeously decorated eight - sedan chair going away in grand style and felt a thousand emotions welling up in his heart.
But at present, no one had the time to pay attention to him. Everyone's attention was focused on the third carrying pole carried out of the Bai Mansion.
When the third carrying pole came out, even some well - dressed people couldn't help but show greed in their eyes.
They were abacuses, a whole stack of them!
It took people a long time to count that there were exactly twenty abacuses on the carrying pole.
No wonder they were so envious. In the dowry, abacuses represented shops. Twenty abacuses meant that the Bai Mansion was accompanying the bride with twenty shops.
Even when the emperor married off his daughter, he might not have been so generous!
The people on the whole street were completely boiling. No one had expected that a mere third - rank assistant minister's mansion could afford such a fortune.
Just the items in the first three carrying poles were already comparable to the betrothal gifts given by Feng Linyuan.
Moreover, at the gate of the Bai Mansion, there were still a continuous stream of dowries being carried out, one carrying pole after another, as if there was no end.
There must be at least seventy or eighty carrying poles, if not more than a hundred!
Bai Di, who had not gone far, showed a truly uncontrollable ferocity on her face.
As a niece of the Bai Mansion, she knew exactly what the Bai Mansion could offer. She thought it was already good that they didn't come to the General's Mansion for help. How could they suddenly offer such a decent dowry?
Thinking of her hasty wedding a few days ago, although her parents had let her take away all the dowry they had originally prepared for her to marry Feng Jingxuan, compared to Bai Zheng's grandeur today, it was not even a fraction.
Not to mention Bai Zheng's fanfare and the eight - sedan chair!
With a "snap", half of the nail of Bai Di's little finger on her right hand broke.
But she didn't even notice the pain in her hand. She just stared venomously at the procession carrying the dowry, and her eyes became darker and darker.
People thought that the fields, real estate, and shops represented by the first three carrying poles of the Bai Mansion's dowry were the highlights of the day. Although there were still many carrying poles behind, there should be nothing more amazing.
However, when the fourth carrying pole came out, the women and young ladies watching the excitement on the whole street went crazy.
It was a wardrobe.
But it was a style that no one in the Great Zhou had ever seen before.
In the Great Zhou at present, ordinary families usually had only a few clothes, so there was no such thing as a wardrobe. Generally, there were only a few wooden clothes boxes.
Wardrobes were already rare.
Moreover, this wardrobe was so wide and large, with a full - length mirror that could almost reflect the whole person.
Even the emperor had never seen such a thing!
The mirror inlaid on the wardrobe was even more eye - catching. It was not an ordinary copper mirror, but the same kind as the one Bai Zheng had taken out when doing her makeup. It was a silvery - white mirror that could reflect people very clearly and through which one could clearly see the color of their clothes.
For men, this mirror was just a bit novel, but in the eyes of those women and young girls, it was completely different.
Especially some wealthy and vain young ladies.
No matter how big the copper mirrors at home were, they always had a yellowish light when looking at them, and the clarity was limited.
But this mirror was different. It could reflect things clearly, just like seeing them with one's own naked eyes.
What did this mean? Every woman would probably go crazy for it!
From then on, they could safely admire their beauty in the mirror without any blind spots, and they could also remedy and perfect any tiny flaws on their faces.
The women's eyes were bloodshot, and their gazes seemed to be glued to the mirror.
"Find out which shop this is from immediately! I want to buy one too!" Such voices rang out spontaneously on the street.
Several servants got the order and soon ran around Yongding.
On this side, the procession of the dowry continued.
After the wardrobe with a mirror came the dressing table with a mirror, the rosewood moon - shaped flower - arranging bed with a unique style and indescribable beauty, and the rattan - drawer chairs that looked very comfortable and soft.
Everyone stared with wide eyes, not even blinking.
Although the furniture in front of them were the most familiar daily items, their appearances were completely different from what they had seen before.
Moreover, for some reason, the beds and chairs carried out by the Bai Mansion just gave people a feeling that sitting on them would be extremely comfortable.