486. The Wedding
The wedding banquet officially kicked off.
The aunts invited by the organizers flitted from table to table, non-stop serving dishes and taking away empty plates. The chatter at the tables grew louder, while Lin Nan kept her head down, awkwardly picking at the dishes closest to her on the round table, far more concerned about the stirring pot of social anxiety than actually eating.
Her cousins were definitely gossiping about her.
When Lin Qi explained something earlier, it seemed that someone at the next table overheard. Now, she could faintly catch snippets of conversation with her name thrown in there.
What could they possibly be saying? Lin Nan instinctively felt that none of it was good.
This thought made her face heat up even more. She kept her head down, hardly daring to speak, her movements slow and clumsy, obviously out of place amidst the lively atmosphere.
A piece of braised spareribs ended up in her small bowl, and when she looked up in surprise, she saw Lin Jin’s gentle smile.
“It’s okay, just enjoy your meal,” Lin Jin reassured her quietly, gently squeezing Lin Nan’s hand under the table. “After the wedding, you won’t see them much, just think of it like tripping on the street and having a passerby laugh at you.”
Lin Nan stiffly nodded.
“Lin Jin, how’s your family these days? I heard Uncle has stopped gambling?” Second Cousin, who was initially chatting with Lin Qi about work, suddenly switched the focus to Lin Jin. “You must have graduated from college by now, what are you up to?”
“My dad stopped gambling a few years ago. I’m at home taking care of kids,” Lin Jin answered with poise.
“Taking care of kids?”
Just like when Lin Nan first found out, Second Cousin was momentarily stunned by the news.
But he quickly glanced at Lin Jin’s brother: “What about Lin Chen?”
“I’m still in grad school.”
You have to admit, an individual’s environment and education can significantly affect them.
Eldest Cousin, Second Cousin, and Lin Qi all grew up in a village, went to chaotic schools. Rumor has it there were even individuals at one point charging protection fees at the school gates. Factions formed as early as elementary school, and by middle school, most had already dived into society. The highest education among them was just high school.
In contrast, Lin Nan and Lin Jin went to the county city early on. Although their education was still not as good as major cities, and they had classmates who dropped out as early as middle school, at least their schools didn’t have stabbings at the drop of a hat. They both went to regular universities.
Lin Chen was said to be brought to Guangzhou by his mother and is now the most educated among their group of cousins.
The ancestral hall gradually became lively. After a few rounds of drinks, the host suddenly took to the stage, microphone in hand, and shouted in dialect: “Let’s welcome the bride and groom!”
A huge display screen behind the stage began cycling through the couple’s wedding photos, and at that moment, the newlyweds appeared at the entrance of the hall, hand in hand, striding down the red carpet.
Seeing everyone stand and applaud, Lin Nan half-heartedly clapped a couple of times and then quickly went back to stealthily piling meat onto her plate as nobody was looking.
The applause quickly receded like a wave, and after a moment of excitement, everyone sat down. It was then that Lin Nan cautiously peeked at the couple on the stage.
Though Eldest Cousin was already in his thirties, he still looked youthful. Dressed in a suit, he stood tall and was strikingly handsome—a full-on heartthrob.
The bride next to him was a bit on the chubby side, and thanks to makeup, her looks didn’t fall that far behind, but Lin Nan couldn’t help but compare in her mind and figured that the heavily made-up bride might not even be as pretty as her.
When did she start comparing appearances with the girls?
“Are you feeling envious?” Lin Jin suddenly leaned over, whispering.
“Not really,” Lin Nan said, her face flushing slightly, feeling a bit guilty.
If the bride and groom were Chen Yao and her… exchanging rings under everyone’s blessings, making vows, kissing, that actually seemed quite nice…
Her imagination ran wild, and her face reddened even further.
“When I got married, we just had a simple meal at home, invited a few close relatives and friends—no more than ten people in total,” Lin Jin rested her chin on her hand, gazing up at the couple on stage. “Honestly, I envy that.”
Lin Nan asked, “So when you have money, will you throw a bigger party?”
“That sounds too troublesome; I’d rather just enjoy our little life,” Lin Jin shook her head. “It’s not about money anyway.”
It was more about relatives recognizing her new identity.
Lin Nan suddenly realized that if she only invited relatives who accepted her new identity to her future wedding, she might not even fill one table.
It’s a bit sad that such an important ceremony wouldn’t even gather enough people…
She took a sip of cola, and when her cup was empty, Second Cousin immediately pulled out a big bottle of cola from under the table to refill her glass.
“Nan Nan, where are you staying tonight?” Second Cousin poured himself a glass of beer, clinked it against Lin Nan’s cola cup, downed it, and continued, “Are you staying at an inn? Or you could come to my place? I can squeeze in with my brother…”
Then he suddenly remembered his brother was up on stage playing the groom.
Pausing for a moment, he quickly corrected himself: “I’ll just crash on the floor downstairs.”
“Tonight, Lin Jin already reserved me,” Lin Nan managed to force a smile, turning him down.
“You were only five or six when Lin Jin’s family moved away, and all these years, your relationship is still so strong,” Second Cousin marveled.
Lin Nan just smiled and didn’t respond.
Under the host’s direction, the couple started bowing to Heaven and Earth, to their parents, and exchanged vows. Then Eldest Cousin presented the rings, they drank from the same cup, and amidst the crowd’s cheers, they kissed on stage.
She barely glanced and then focused back on her plate.
No matter the situation, she just couldn’t adjust to being the subject of discussions, especially when those discussions weren’t particularly pleasant.
Eldest Cousin began toasting at table after table and soon reached Lin Nan’s table.
Lin Nan, along with everyone else, stood up with a glass, managing to conjure a smile while clinking glasses with her cousins.
Though she was drinking cola, no one seemed to care.
The banquet lasted over an hour from six o’clock, and throughout, Lin Nan felt like she was sitting on a bed of nails. She sensed hostile glances directed toward her or Lin Jin from all around.
Though surrounded by young people, born in the ’90s or even ’00s who were more open-minded than the previous generation, society still can’t fully accept even the more common homosexuality, let alone transformations like those of Lin Nan and Lin Jin.
They didn’t understand what gender dysphoria meant; all they knew was that the two of them switched genders, labeling them spitefully as “really just ladyboys.”
Lin Jin was already used to it, but Lin Nan still struggled to cope with such condemnation.
Finally, the banquet reached its end.
