Hu Lanfang asked Qin Yue again if she could abide by the terms, and Qin Yue replied that she could.
Hu Lanfang then smiled and said, "This is excellent. Since it is mutual affection and a natural progression, with both parties willing to form a union, I, on behalf of Phoenix Village, declare that from today onwards, you two are legally married. Your marital relationship is protected by our village. If either party violates the marriage ordinance, you may come to the village for assistance."
After the official pronouncement, Hu Lanfang presented two marriage certificates adorned with auspicious dragon and phoenix designs to Qin Yue and Liu Ding, smiling.
"From now on, you should address each other as husband and wife."
Hu Lanfang was quite happy. Qin Yue and Liu Ding were the first couple she had successfully brought together in Phoenix Village, giving her a great sense of accomplishment.
Qin Yue and Liu Ding exchanged smiles, their faces beaming with happiness, and they quickly distributed wedding candies to everyone.
After thanking Hu Lanfang, the newlywed couple gracefully departed.
That evening, Qin Yue and Liu Ding received fifty catties of rice, ten catties of cured meat, and ten catties of eggs from the village. The village's generous wedding gifts filled them with joy.
Three more days passed, and the couple held a simple wedding banquet.
Gu Qingcheng disapproved of extravagant feasting and waste, so she stipulated that the banquet should only have three tables, inviting only close family and friends, and not the entire village.
In the past, in villages with intricate clan relationships, it would have been customary to invite all the villagers.
However, Phoenix Village was composed of people from various surnames. With only a few close friends and relatives, the guest list barely filled three tables.
Qin Yue and Liu Ding were the first couple in the village to receive marriage certificates, and their banquet followed Gu Qingcheng's rules, setting a good precedent for future marriages in the village.
From then on, whether it was a remarriage of a blended family or a union of mutual affection between young people, regardless of whether they had relatives to bear witness, as long as both parties obtained a marriage certificate from the village's marriage registry, they were considered legitimately married.
This brought great comfort to the villagers whose families had been broken, and it accelerated the pace of their family reunions.
The family is the cell that constitutes society. As long as families are stable, society is stable. With the formation and reunification of each family, Phoenix Village became increasingly peaceful and prosperous.
By autumn, during the second harvest season, the grain yield in Phoenix Village achieved another astonishing breakthrough.
The twenty mu of millet from before were all reserved for seeds, and over a thousand mu of millet were planted, all yielding a bountiful harvest.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cassava also achieved good harvests.
In addition, the village cultivated a wide variety of fruits, including carambola, yellow peaches, and grapes, which began to yield small harvests.
The loquat trees promoted by Gu Qingcheng grew all over the mountains, but they had not yet reached the fruiting stage. Generally, loquat trees take three to five years to bear fruit.
However, for Zhu Liang at the medical hall, the abundance of loquat leaves was excellent for refining loquat paste. In autumn and winter, loquat paste is the best medicinal ingredient for moistening the lungs and relieving coughs.
Of course, Gu Chaobei and Ge Hong's antidotes also made significant breakthroughs. At least they had begun to understand the initial cause of Prince Xia's transformation into a zombie.
It was because Ge Hong had added a nerve-stimulating drug to one of the medicinal ingredients. However, Prince Xia's usual health-preserving diet contained a medicinal substance that counteracted it. As a result, the two medicinal properties canceled each other out, leaving Prince Xia in a state of being a living dead.
Under the action of these two drugs, a new toxin was produced in the human body. To continuously secrete new toxins, a large amount of protein needed to be replenished.
Therefore, if a zombie were given a live chicken or duck, it would still eat it with great delight. The reason zombies crave fresh blood and flesh is this.
Understanding these factors allows for the targeted development of an antidote.
Of course, it sounds easy, but it is difficult to do. Developing a drug that can counteract the spread of this toxin requires countless experiments and failures.
Fortunately, Ge Hong is a genius in this field, and Gu Chaobei is not one to give up easily. Both of them were very busy and had no complaints.
With the abundant grain harvest and rich produce in Phoenix Village, the villagers lived very prosperous lives.
By early winter, with the arrival of the off-season, more and more villagers entered into marriage.
As a result, Phoenix Village gained a beautiful new scenery: women with slightly bulging bellies could be seen everywhere.
Many women became pregnant very quickly and prepared for childbirth.
Such scenes also surprised Gu Qingcheng. It seemed that the idea of more children bringing more blessings still prevailed, and once married, people were eager to procreate.
This was also good, as it indicated that everyone now considered Phoenix Village their permanent home, and their sense of belonging to the village was increasingly strengthened.
Meanwhile, across the Great Zhou Dynasty, the rising water levels became increasingly severe, with news of entire villages being submerged arriving frequently.
However, the villagers of Phoenix Village did not panic because of this. They were well-prepared and did not feel any fear.
This year's grain harvest was abundant. A rough estimate suggested that if the entire village did not work, they could still eat for over a year.
Coupled with the grain Gu Qingcheng had stockpiled in Jinsha City, it was enough for the entire village to eat and drink for three to four years.
Phoenix Village continued to clear land and plant large quantities of sweet potatoes and potatoes that could withstand famine, and began to develop paddy fields to increase rice cultivation.
Winter arrived, and in the countryside, it was the off-season.
Gu Qingcheng enjoyed eating hot pot with her family by the stove, accompanied by a cup of her homemade sweet white wine, which was slightly sour and sweet. Life tasted very good.
Gu Chaobei would not miss such family dinners.
Normally, his family did not interfere with his work, and when he was busy, he had no time for household chores. However, this did not mean he did not care about his family.
Gu Chaobei and Ge Hong, after an initial acquaintance, developed a deep friendship through their common endeavor.
The longer Gu Chaobei spent with Ge Hong, the more he realized that Ge Hong was a pharmaceutical genius held back by his era.
If he had been born in a later age, with his extraordinary abilities, he would have created countless drugs that benefited humanity.
Therefore, Gu Chaobei now also invited Ge Hong to their home for meals from time to time.
Ge Hong was not polite. Having food was a good thing. He did not know how to cook, and now his three meals a day were delivered by the communal kitchen's Lotus. He ate whatever was prepared for him, but this did not mean he lacked an appreciation for good food.
At the Gu family's home, he could eat an abundance of delicacies.
After tasting raw tuna and salmon, he was astonished and frequently longed for them.
As for the various regional delicacies he had rarely eaten before, such as tomahawk steaks, he ate them without restraint, devouring meat and drinking heartily.
His favorite was the 56-proof Maotai, which would get him drunk for an entire night after just one bowl.
The Gu family also got along increasingly well with the unrestrained Ge Hong.
One day, it rained heavily, and the winter rain caused the temperature to drop sharply.
Gu Qingcheng, looking at the rain falling like thick chopsticks, said to Mi Guo:
"Get the hot pot ready. It would be a waste of this weather not to have hot pot tonight. Go and invite Father and Daoist Ge to join us for dinner later."