Although he is far away from the capital, Mr. Cheng is no stranger to those famous and aristocratic families.
For example, when you say you are a descendant of the Han family, you know that you are talking about the Han family, a wealthy family in Xiangzhou. When you say you are a descendant of the Su family, you know that you are referring to the Su family of Fenzhou, which is famous all over the world.
So when we talk about the Qin family, especially the Qin family in the Princess Mansion, it is the Qin family, a prominent family in Sichuan.
The reason why the Qin family became a famous family was not because they married a princess, but rather because they were the Qin family, so the princess married her.
Mr. Cheng never thought in his life that he would have a relationship with the Qin family.
"You think too much."
Master Cheng, who was holding the tea cup in a daze and even forgot to wipe the tea stains on his body, heard Mrs. Cheng's faint voice in his ears.
"The Qin family is the Qin family, but the Qin family is not all the Qin family."
Just like the Cheng family, the southern Cheng is also the Jiangzhou Cheng, and the Northern Cheng is also the Jiangzhou Cheng, but can they be considered the same?
"Do you think the Zhou family can catch up with the Qin family, or that fool?"
Mr. Cheng woke up and put down the tea bowl while wiping the water stains.
"It's just a trick played by the Zhou family. I don't know what benefits they promised to people. They coaxed some seemingly respectable people in the capital to do the show." Mrs. Cheng said with a snort.
"What other benefits can there be? It's just a dowry." Mr. Cheng said.
No matter how reputable a family is, they can lose their dignity in the face of dowry. When two officials from the capital got into such a quarrel over a widow's dowry of 100,000 yuan, even the emperor had to intervene.
Although Cheng Jiaoniang's mother's dowry was not as much as 100,000 guan, after so many years of business, it was at least 50,000 guan.
Fifty thousand guan is enough to make many people tempted.
Mrs. Cheng nodded, that's exactly what she thought.
"My mother's side said they want to get married next month."
"Then let's do it. It can't be too shabby. It's also a face to our Cheng family, and it also prevents the Zhou family from taking the opportunity to stir up trouble..."
Here the husband and wife are talking about marriage, and over there Mr. Cheng and his wife are also talking about marriage.
"Are you telling the truth?" Master Cheng Er looked shocked, "Qin family!"
Mrs. Cheng Er nodded.
"I've asked everything clearly." She said, reaching out to touch her heart, as if she was out of breath, "Do you know who they proposed marriage to?"
"Who?" Mr. Cheng Er asked.
A family like that wouldn't be for direct relatives, right? Children from collateral clans would be pretty good.
"The seven principal sons of the Qin family are the thirteenth in the clan." Mrs. Cheng Er said, her eyes shining.
Master Cheng Er stared at her.
"Are you a fool?" he asked.
Mrs. Cheng Er pushed him.
"It doesn't matter if he is a fool or a lunatic." She said, "The Qin family! That's the Qin family!"
Master Cheng Er nodded.
"There are several other good ones." Mrs. Cheng Er continued, while thinking deeply, "I think we should take the opportunity to settle our Qiniang's marriage..."
"Don't just take it at face value. The Zhou family cannot be trusted after all." Mr. Cheng Er said, "We Qiniang don't dare to act casually."
Mrs. Cheng Er nodded leaning on his arm, smiling a little intimately.
"I just thought, these families can choose any of them to get married. If the Zhou family wants to share the dowry with us, just give them some..." she said with a smile.
"Why are you so generous all of a sudden?" Mr. Cheng Er asked with a smile.
"Sometimes money is not the most important thing." Mrs. Cheng Er said with a smile, "I think the Zhou family is not bad. If we get closer to them, it should be better than now."
She snorted as she spoke, and curled her lips towards the courtyard on the Madam's side.
"…. We can't even drink soup when they eat meat there. Why?" she said, "Also, if my dear wife gets married this time, regardless of whether it is good or not, we will marry those families, whether we marry or not.
Dear, let's take a look. With the opportunity to move around, won't our Qiniang be able to choose a better one in the future? Also, your future will also have a chance to be better."
Master Cheng Er twisted his beard and said nothing.
"For a fool like that, wouldn't it be humiliating to go around other people's homes?" he said.
"Why are you stupid?" Mrs. Cheng Er said with a smile, "You haven't seen her yet, but now she doesn't look stupid. She is very attractive when she doesn't say anything. So the Zhou family really has some skills, and they can actually
Dress her up like this."
Say this and give instructions to the door.
"Go and ask the eldest lady to come and say that the second master is back."
"I don't want to see her." Mr. Cheng Er said with a face.
The maid outside the door has already answered the call.
Mrs. Cheng Er allowed her son to be brought in again. Mr. Cheng Er was very happy to see his son after not seeing him for a long time. He held and teased his son himself, and the family was enjoying themselves. When the maid came back, she did not bring Cheng Jiaoniang.
"I said I was going to see the great master," the servant woman said.
Mrs. Cheng Er immediately stood up and stretched out her hand to push Master Cheng Er.
"See, you don't want to see her, but someone is anxious to see you." She said, "Go quickly, that's your daughter, they can't take advantage of her."
Mrs. Cheng Er had wronged Mr. Cheng, and he was also surprised when he heard that Cheng Jiaoniang came to see him.
"Meet me?" He frowned and said, "Why do you want to see me?"
"Oh, I told you that I wanted to see you the day I came back." Mrs. Cheng said.
"No!" Mr. Cheng said with a serious face.
Mrs. Cheng quickly stopped her.
"Let's meet." She said, "Meeting her is actually meeting the Zhou family to see what the Zhou family wants her to say."
"Whatever the Zhou family likes to say, do I have to listen to them?" Mr. Cheng said with a snort.
Mrs. Cheng waved to the maid, and the maid hurriedly left, and not long after, she led Cheng Jiaoniang in.
"Look at that girl." Mrs. Cheng said in a low voice.
Mr. Cheng looked over reluctantly and couldn't look away.
With a face as white as jade, dark clothes, dignified shoulders, and flowing clothes, she stepped forward.
What a beauty!
"...That girl was sent by Mrs. Zhou. She came back last time and ran away with the Zhou family. Look, it's her again this time..."
Mrs. Cheng's voice whispered in her ear, but Mr. Cheng never looked away.
That girl? Which girl? With this woman walking so gracefully, the sky and the earth are a little pale, so why can she see anyone else!
Such magnificence is worthy of a marriage proposal from the Qin family in central Sichuan.
This thought suddenly flashed through Master Cheng's mind, and he himself was shocked by this thought.
"I met my uncle."
The woman in front of me knelt down in front of her, straightened her body, and bowed her head.
Mr. Cheng had the urge to return the favor for a moment.
"You..." He sat upright, coughing lightly and said, "Sit down."
Cheng Jiaoniang saluted and thanked her again, then sat upright.
Mr. Cheng couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Although the daughters in the family were specially taught by others, none of them were as fluent in etiquette as this woman.
Asking someone to teach you is worse than being an idiot who has never been taught?
In just over a year, the Zhou family can teach people so well? No matter how much effort the Zhou family spends, as the saying goes, what can be carved is not rotten wood. Is this fool... really not stupid?
But how is this possible?
"My dear, what do you want from your uncle?"
Mrs. Cheng had already spoken first.
Mr. Cheng came back to his senses and looked at the woman sitting in front of him.
Before the woman spoke, she gave Mrs. Cheng a slight salute.
"I want to see the family tree," she said.
As soon as this was said, Mrs. Cheng and his wife were stunned.
They thought about all kinds of things this woman would say, but they really didn't expect it to be such incomprehensible words that couldn't be beaten.
"What are you looking at that for?" Mrs. Cheng asked with a frown.
Before Cheng Jiaoniang could answer, Mr. Cheng spoke first.
"Did you know in advance that someone came to the capital to propose marriage?" he asked.
Mrs. Cheng was startled again and looked over in surprise.
Why are you asking this suddenly?
Mr. Cheng was a little surprised when he asked. In fact, he didn't know why he asked this.
"They really came to propose marriage?" Cheng Jiaoniang smiled slightly and nodded, "I know."
Mrs. Cheng was not surprised by this answer. The Zhou family would naturally discuss this matter with her.
Mr. Cheng's expression changed slightly. This short sentence seemed to have some indescribable feelings. He wanted to say it but couldn't.
"Then what does your uncle mean, my dear?" Mrs. Cheng asked, "Do you listen to your uncle or to your family?"
After she finished speaking, she glanced at the girl sitting on her knees by the door.
The girl was very quiet the whole time, not even raising her head.
It can be seen that I have been taught what to say and I am not worried at all at this time.
Mrs. Cheng snorted in her heart.
"I listen to myself." Cheng Jiaoniang said, looking at Mr. Cheng, "So uncle, I want to see the genealogy, and I want to know who I am."
This answer made Mrs. Cheng frown in confusion, but Mr. Cheng's eyes lit up.
Listen to herself. If you want to know whose family she is from, she is naturally from the Cheng family. Naturally, the Cheng family will not listen to what the Zhou family says!
"As long as you have this intention." He nodded and looked out the door, "Liu Wen."
Not long after, an older, kind-hearted man walked in quickly.
"What are your orders, sir?" he asked respectfully.
"Take her to see the genealogy." Mr. Cheng said. After he finished speaking, he remembered that the woman was illiterate, "read it to her."
The man responded, glanced at Cheng Jiaoniang slightly, then exited and waited.
Cheng Jiaoniang saluted and thanked her, got up and went out.
"Hey, what are you talking about? What do you mean? Why are you looking at the genealogy?" Mrs. Cheng frowned and said, "Why did you agree to let her read it?"
"She said she wants to be a member of the Cheng family, so she won't listen to the Zhou family." Mr. Cheng nodded and twisted his beard.
Mrs. Cheng looked at him.
"She said? When did she say it? Why didn't I hear it?" she asked.
Mr. Cheng twirled his beard with his hand.
"It's just that she didn't say she wanted to know who she was by looking at the family tree. She just listened to herself..." He said with some stuttering.
Before he could finish his words, he was angrily interrupted by Mrs. Cheng.
"Did she say this? You obviously said it yourself!" She shouted, "You are dizzy, what are you thinking!"
Yes, what was he thinking about? What this woman said, why did he think of this?
However, when he watched and listened to this woman say these words, he felt that this was what he meant...
Could it be that that's not what he meant at all, but that he was overthinking it? Why would he overthink it? It was as if from the first sentence this woman spoke, she was leading the conversation...
The most important thing is that all this is not deliberate, but just a natural thing. How is this possible! It is impossible for a junior to do this in front of him, let alone a stupid junior.
What's wrong?
Mr. Cheng couldn't help but stretched out his hand and pressed his forehead.
"You can watch it if you want, it's not important." He said casually.
After finishing speaking, he was stunned again.
Genealogy..
It seems like this is the second time in the past two months that someone has asked to read the genealogy.
So is there any connection between these two times?
The thought flashed through his mind, and Mr. Cheng quickly shook it off.
No matter what the connection, he was overthinking it! How could the people from the Beijing government last time have anything to do with this idiot from his own family!
Speaking of the last time, what happened to the people in Jingzhong? Is it really necessary to check the statement? The statement of a small official who is posted outside is so important that Jingzhong sends someone to check it personally?
At this time, Mr. Cheng was not the only one who found this matter strange and asked about it.
There were many people sitting in the capital, the palace, and the Queen Mother's palace, talking and laughing.
"Oh, by the way, Your Highness." Gao Lingbo, who was wearing an official robe and smiling broadly, suddenly turned his head to look at Prince Jin'an who was playing chess with the second prince on the other side.
The prince of Jin'an County looked over with a smile.
"Does Your Highness recognize Guo Quan from the Ministry of Revenue?" Gao Lingbo asked with a smile.
Prince Jin'an nodded.
"I've heard of it, he's a judge, right? I think someone mentioned it before?" He said, frowning and thinking again, then looked at the eldest prince sitting beside him, "I heard His Highness mention it, what was mentioned in the meeting?
?”
Before the eldest prince spoke, the imperial concubine beside him smiled.
"Children know a lot about government affairs, so don't talk nonsense in private," she said.
The eldest prince attended the court meeting but casually talked with others. This behavior was really not safe.
Gao Lingbo obviously knew it and immediately changed the subject with a smile.
Naturally, he would not continue talking about topics that were harmful to the eldest prince.
Prince Jin'an smiled slightly, lowered his head and continued to play chess with the second prince.
"What happened to that man?" The Queen Mother, who was leaning on the couch, heard what they said and asked.
"It's nothing. I heard that some time ago, someone was asked to check the explanation of a minor official without permission. It was really strange." Gao Lingbo said with a smile.
"What's so strange about that? We don't dare to interpret the situation arbitrarily. Isn't that what the Ministry of Households does? It is to take care of people for Your Majesty." The Queen Mother said with a smile.
Everyone laughed.
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Household Affairs is not only responsible for this." Gao Lingbo said with a smile.
"Well, it would be great if they could do this well." The Queen Mother also smiled.
The queen mother did not criticize the important affairs of the imperial court, and without waiting for others to remind her, the Queen Mother changed the subject and joked for a while, and everyone stood up and left.
"Your Highness, slow down and don't run."
After walking out of the Queen Mother's palace, the second prince immediately pulled Prince Jin'an into a trot, causing the panicked servants to trot after him to try to dissuade him.
"Hurry up, hurry up, I want to find my father." The second prince said.
"Father is still busy with government affairs, so don't disturb me." The eldest prince said, holding his hands.
The second prince turned back and smiled at him.
"My father asked me to go," he said.
"You were the one who pestered His Majesty first, and His Majesty had no choice but to agree." Prince Jin'an took the words and said with a smile, holding his hand and asking him to slow down.
These words made the eldest prince's complexion improve a lot, and he raised his head a little.
"I'm going to do my homework." He said, looking back at the imperial concubine and Gao Lingbo behind him.
The imperial concubine smiled at him.
"Okay, go ahead." She said.
"Your Highness is so diligent." Gao Lingbo also nodded and praised.
The eldest prince then turned around and walked away with satisfaction.
Watching them leave, the smile on the imperial concubine's face immediately dissipated, and she looked at the retreating second prince on the other side.
"Sixth brother is so smart that Your Majesty likes him more and more." She said slowly.
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I was lazy on the weekend and wrote 4,000 words, one update today. (To be continued)