Ji Chunmian heard that he was only helping for the first half of the year, so he agreed after hesitation.
Wei Changying was very happy and sent someone to deliver a box of jewelry. In order to prevent Ji Chunmian from rejecting it, he said it was reserved for Ji Yiren to use when he left the palace. She is Ji Yiren's adopted mother, so it is appropriate to add makeup to her adopted daughter.
Not long after inviting Ji Chunmian, Huang's letter arrived. The beginning of the letter contained some not-so-good news: Due to the recent uprisings, people have proclaimed themselves kings and denounced the Wei Dynasty, and the imperial capital was in a state of turmoil and depression. few. Therefore, Huang and others did not go smoothly in purchasing the dowry.
That's okay, the key is that they don't dare to purchase now - because news has spread that Xu Zongwen, Wen Yaozi and others have decided to form an alliance to attack the imperial capital. The Qingzhou Army is currently working hard to build fortifications in the imperial capital and all the important towns in its hands, and is ready for the battle.
The entire imperial capital, including the capital, was in a tense atmosphere of preparation for war, and the little prosperity brought about by the merchants' traffic suddenly dissipated.
The Shen family doesn't have enough manpower there now. If they buy a lot of things, they end up being looted...
This is Shen Zangning's trouble.
As for looking for marriage candidates, Huang said that when the imperial capital of Washington was burned to the ground, many families moved back to their ancestral homes. This time, a storm is coming to the imperial capital, so even more people are leaving.
Even Song Zaijiang decided to take his family back to Jiangnan first.
Of course, no good person could be found in this situation, but when Huang went to visit Song Zaishui with Wei Changying's handwritten letter, Song Zaishui heard that his cousin was worried about the marriage of her husband's family, and asked carefully who and who After making any request, he actually recommended a candidate to be Shen Shuming's wife.
"Song Manlu." Wei Changying knew that his cousin was a steady person. Since she had spoken, it was probably appropriate. He suddenly became energetic and sat up straight to read, "Great-grandfather Song Xinwu... the seniority is just right."
Her grandmother Song Xinci and Song Zaishui's biological grandfather, the current Duanhui Gong Song Xinping, were direct cousins. Although I had never heard of Song Xinwu, when I heard the name, I knew that she was related to her grandmother and Song Xinping. My grandfather is of the same generation, and he is also a descendant of my sect.
Shen Shuming is the eldest grandson of the previous head of the Shen family. Although he will probably not inherit Ming Peitang in the future, his wife's background cannot be too bad. If Song Manlu was the daughter of a side branch, she would not be worthy of her.
Unless Shen Shuming wants to marry her like Song Yuwang...
But it was only after Song Yuwang met Wei Chanying that he had the idea of marrying her. Nowadays, this young lady from the Song family is still far away in the south of the Yangtze River and has never met Shen Shuming. It is impossible to say that she would not marry her. The elders naturally have to consider the family backgrounds of both parties.
Song Manlu's background was barely qualified. Her great-grandfather was not famous and obviously had no achievements. Her grandfather Song Zaishui was not even mentioned—but her father, Song Zaishui, said that he had been the master of King Jiu for several years and was quite respected. But later he resigned due to poor health. Judging from Song's words in the water letter, it should be for other reasons. He even felt that Wei Zuo was in decline and was afraid that he would be involved in the clan too much and would be dragged into the water.
From this point of view, even though he is a little timid, he is still a smart person.
However, the biggest reason why Song Zaishui recommended her was that Song Manlu was both talented and beautiful, and she was very knowledgeable, gentle, virtuous, sensible and filial. Song Zaishui said in his letter that she had Shen Shujing's demeanor. These words reminded Wei Changying of Song Zaishui himself. With the example of Song Zaishui, it would not be surprising for the Jiangnan Song family to teach another role model for ladies.
If it were a girl like Song Zaishui, even if she had some of her spirit, Wei Changying would be very satisfied under the current situation where this lady is in decline. Her requirement for Shen Shuming's wife was that she should have a decent family background, at least not allow people to talk about the Shen family's mistreatment of Shen Shuming, and a virtuous personality. It would be best if she could help persuade Shen Shuming to be sensible and stop going against her uncle and aunt. That’s it.
So after reading Song Zaishui's description of Song Manlu written by Huang, I was very happy and planned to go back and show it to Shen Zangfeng.
But then there was no good news for Huang.
Neither Shen Lianshi's successor nor Shen Shujing's husband has been decided.
In fact, Shen Shujing is the most anxious person... She will be eighteen when the New Year begins.
The captain of the guard, Ying Qie, read the letter with joy and worry, handed it to Lianmei to put away, and then took a sip from the tea bowl. The servant came in to report that it was the tenth lady of our sect who wanted to see him.
These ten ladies were ranked according to the sect's rank. They were the granddaughter-in-law of Uncle Shen Xuan and the daughter of the Qian family in Xinghe.
She had no grudge against Chief Wei Ying. In the final analysis, the conflict between the two was caused by Qian's father-in-law coveting the position of the clan leader. However, Qian and Su Yuyin did have a small personal feud, which happened before Wei Changying and the others returned to Xiliang.
All in all, when he heard that Mrs. Qian was coming, Wei Changying knew that she must have bad intentions, so he ordered: "Sister-in-law ten, please go to the side hall to serve tea, and I will change clothes and go there."
Having said that, she slowly drank the tea in her hand, and asked Lianju to come up and squeeze her shoulders for a while. She probably got impatient with waiting, so she went into the inner room and changed into plain clothes and went out.
Sure enough, Qian was filled with anger after being left out for so long.
As soon as Wei Changying entered the door, she said in a cold voice: "My sister-in-law is really making a big show! I thought it was a joke that my sister-in-law asked me to wait here, but now I have been forgotten for a long time!"
She was angry, but Wei Changying was not angry. He smiled and said: "How dare I take what Sister-in-law Shi said? How could I forget Sister-in-law Shi? To be honest, something happened to delay me just now, otherwise I've been here a long time ago, right?"
Of course Qian didn't believe what she said, and what Wei Changying said just gave her room to come today. She leaned back and said angrily: "So my brother and sister were delayed because they had too many things to do? But it’s not good. It’s my sister-in-law who’s doing this today, and I’m a member of my own family. I’ve just been wronged at your hands, so just say a few words and let it go. But if it’s an important matter, you can handle it. But come here, wouldn’t that be a big mistake?”
Without waiting for Wei Changying to answer, she continued, "I heard that Su Yuyin offended my younger siblings two days ago, and my younger siblings don't want her to help. So now there is someone missing. Is this why my younger siblings are delayed? But younger siblings You're too ridiculous. We don't have only one sister-in-law, Su Yuyin. She can't help. Why do you need to find an outsider? Eyes? If this spreads out, at least it will be said that you look down on your sister-in-law and instead promote an outsider; at worst, we, the wives of the Shen family, are not up to par, and we have to hire a commoner with a rude background to take care of the trivial matters in the backyard. The woman is here to help! Sister, do you think this is true?"
Wei Changying thought to himself, I knew you were here for Ji Chunmian.
Since she invited Ji Chunmian, of course she was prepared to deal with it. At this moment, he smiled lightly and asked Qian to drink some tea to moisten his throat. He also took a sip and said unhurriedly: "I wonder why Sister-in-law Shi came here today. It turns out she was just telling me about Sister Ji. ?"
Ms. Qian hummed, "Let's talk about this first." The implication was that she might not have anything else to talk about.
"I have to say that Sister-in-law Shi must have heard the rumors!" Wei Changying nodded and said.
Qian frowned and said, "Why didn't you ask that Ji to come over and help you with the housekeeping?"
"What I'm talking about is that the fifth younger sister offended me, so I don't want her help." Wei Changying said displeasedly, "The fifth younger sister had to call me cousin before we came here. We have always gotten along with each other since we came here. Hehe, when have you ever blushed? When did she offend me and I don’t want her help? I’ve never heard of this, it’s so funny!”
"Then it's not the first time or two that Mrs. Su has been working together with you. The two of you talked behind closed doors in the past two days. As a result, Mrs. Su allegedly cried a lot when she returned to her yard, and then sent someone to Go and tell you that she is sick and in poor health and can no longer take care of things. Now, part of what she is in charge of is given to Shen Shujing for training, and part of it is given to Ji Chunmian..." Qian thought to herself, "It's not her fault. What's the point of being deprived of your power? Now you're still pretending like this!"
However, just as Qian was about to retort about this matter, she remembered that she came here today mainly for Ji Chunmian. Whether Wei Changying was pretending to attack her sister-in-law was not the main point.
So she said lightly: "Oh? Is that so? That must be the nonsense of the people below. It is true that I have wronged my sister and brother."
The topic changed again, "So it's time to take care of these people! Now you dare to tell stories about your younger brothers and sisters. In a few days, you won't dare to say anything and spread any rumors?"
"So I asked Sister Ji to help." Wei Changying put down the tea bowl and said calmly, "The fifth brother and sister have not been feeling well these past two days, so I let her rest. The sixth brother and sister have always been relatively weak, which is very important. Sister-in-law, you know it too. It’s a pity that Jing’er is young and the young lady of our family, so she is not as convenient as the sisters-in-law who are already married to me. However, my capable Aunt Huang is not here now. I thought about it. I still have to ask someone to help me.”
"That's true, but the people in our family..."
"Sisters-in-law all want to love me, I understand that. But I also have to be considerate of my sisters-in-law, right?" Wei Changying raised the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were cold and without a smile, and said, "Take you, Sister-in-law Ten, for example. , you have a couple of children, a cousin and an aunt above you need to be filial, and you have to take care of the house when you have time, why do you think I have the nerve to ask you to live here to help? "
Qian frowned and said, "I didn't say anything about me! But our family has many children..."
Her words were interrupted again: "So my sister-in-law is blaming me for not promoting the family to have children, but asking sister Ji for help? I know, someone must have come to my sister-in-law and made up something, right? This is really funny, these people Do you remember that you are a slave? It turns out that it is their turn to intervene in the affairs of the boss and his wife, but the master has to look at others, which family has such rules!"
Qian felt that Wei Changying was messing around, and said sternly: "Brother and sister, what you said is unreasonable! Firstly, no one came to me to accuse you of wrongdoing. Secondly, what you did this time was unreasonable for everyone." You are wrong. How can anyone live in this ancestral hall? It was just a few times in the past. After all, Ji Yiren was your adopted daughter. Now, everyone knows that Ji Chunmian has a rough background. ... She is from Caojiapu. Who doesn't know about this? Caojiapu, what kind of place is that? How come our family is so good, you didn't look for anyone inside and outside, but you chose her. Isn’t that ridiculous?” (To be continued)