Bai Shan went there first, intending to persuade the other party with reason first, if not, then resort to his father-in-law and brothers, if not, then resort to other means.
It's just that the elders of the Bai family insisted, "Zhi Shan, this is your eldest son, how can you not follow Bai's surname?"
"That's right, even if you want to adopt, you should choose a child other than the eldest son. What's more, you only have one son now, and he will have his surname when he is born. What if you don't have any children in the future, or what if you can't give birth to a son?"
Bai Shan: "... Uncle Wu is worrying too much. With Imperial Physician Zhou here, I don't believe I won't be able to give birth to a second son."
Everyone: "..."
Bai Shandao: "The second child's succession to the Xia clan was agreed between our two families before we got married. No one can stand without trust. My nephew doesn't want to be a treacherous person."
"Nonsense, I always thought the second child was the second son, this is your eldest son!"
"Naturally, it doesn't matter whether it's male or female," Bai Shan said, "If the second child is a daughter, then she will follow Xia's surname and inherit Xia's family priests as well. There is no distinction between male and female."
"You are... stubborn, if you spread the word, won't you be messing with the patriarchal rules?"
Someone turned his head around and suggested: "Why don't you change Zhishan's eldest daughter to Xia's surname, so it won't break the promise?"
Bai Shan's face darkened, and even Mrs. Zheng, who had been sitting quietly by the side, got angry, and said angrily: "My eldest sister is equally honorable, and I have said that there is no distinction between men and women. Why do uncles force me?"
"Since there is no distinction between men and women, why can't the eldest daughter take Xia's surname? It can be seen that there is still a difference."
Bai Shan said with a cold face: "Uncle Eight carefully said, there is no difference between my daughter and my son. It would be fine if she had been agreed to take the surname Xia early in the morning, but now she is Bai Jingxing, and suddenly because of her younger brother, she was changed to Xia Jingxing, that means there is a difference. Is Eighth Uncle trying to separate our father-daughter relationship, their sibling relationship?"
He said displeased: "In my opinion, this is the root of the chaos in the family. Are uncles and uncles sincerely looking out for me?"
"What do you mean by that, do you suspect that we have ulterior motives? Fourth aunt, Zhi Shan is resenting the family?"
Mrs. Liu asked plainly: "Are you questioning me for not teaching my grandson well?"
Everyone choked. Among the people present, Mrs. Liu had the highest seniority. With Bai Shan around, they really couldn't question her unless there was someone of her seniority, or...
Someone cast a sneaky glance at Bai Shan. .
Or like ten or twenty years ago, the head of the household was weak and had no one to rely on, so seniority was useless.
Bai Shan felt that there was no progress in arguing any longer, so he glanced vaguely at the servant who was waiting at the side.
The servants retreated quietly, and after a while Bai Erlang came up with old Zhou Tou and Zhou Dalang Zhou Zhoulang.
Old Zhou Tou smiled and said: "The in-laws are all here. Back then, the kitchen boiled a lot of red eggs, all of which were eggs laid in my farm. They taste very good. I'll send some for you to try." .”
Zhou Zhoulang held a basin in his hand, and he was very enthusiastic to distribute the eggs to them, two for each person, and he was not partial.
Seeing the Zhou family coming, Mrs. Bai calmed down her anger, smiled and took the eggs, not wanting to discuss the matter in front of them.
Old Zhou also stuffed two for Mr. Zhuang and Mrs. Liu, then sat under Mrs. Liu, and said with a smile on his face: "Mother-in-law, I heard from Man Bao that they have some kind of family leave when they are officials, right? "
Mrs. Liu held the red egg in her hand and said "yes" with a smile.
Old Zhou Tou said excitedly: "I don't know if the family visit will be long or not. If it is long enough, I want my uncle and Man Bao to take the child to Shangzhou. This child has inherited his maternal grandmother's surname, so I have to go anyway." Make a sacrifice and tell them."
The people from the Bai family couldn't sit still, and couldn't help but said: "This child's first name has just been chosen, and it has not yet been decided whether the surname is Xia or Bai."
"Why hasn't it been decided? Didn't you say it's called Xia Mu?" Old Zhou immediately looked at Bai Shan, "My lord, this matter was agreed in the morning. Your second child will take Xia's surname, so you can't go back on your word."
Zhou Zhoulang also said: "Yes, brother-in-law, you are a scholar and an official, you must keep your word."
Bai Shan quickly and humbly replied "Yes", and then hesitantly looked at everyone in the Bai family.
Master Bai Wu waited silently, and after a long time, someone muttered: "Then you can't let the eldest son take his surname."
Only then did Master Bai Wu discuss with Lao Zhou: "Master Zhou, this is the eldest son of Zhishan, it's not easy to change his surname, how about waiting for the next child?"
"Yes, yes, anyway, they can still have children, and the next child will be the same."
"Since they are all the same, why can't this work?" Old Zhou Tou said: "It was well said before the marriage, and the second child has the surname of Xia, and I also said the same way when I was pregnant with the child. You will change your words when he is born, who knows Will you change your mind when the next child is born?"
"Of course not. This is because of the special circumstances. He is the eldest son."
"I don't think so." Old Zhou looked at them suspiciously, "Did you see that this child is very smart, so you are reluctant to part with it? But what if the next child is also very smart and born very well?" ? Are you unwilling too?"
Everyone in the Bai family: ...
In the end, the hall became a battleground between the Zhou family and the Bai family. Mrs. Liu and Bai Shan were useless and left alone, unable to speak a word.
The Bai family insisted that the child is the eldest son and cannot have another surname; the Zhou family insisted on killing the promise made during the engagement, and asked them if they wanted to break the promise.
The Bai family can't say clearly that we just want to break the promise. After all, the Yu family has a bad reputation. At this time, if Bai Shan is willing to speak up, it will be easy to handle, but he also insists on his face, absolutely keeping his promise and not breaking the promise...
In the end, when Bai's group left, they were exhausted from anger.
"In the end, it turned out that we are not human inside and out."
"It's true that this child took Xia's surname, and it would be embarrassing for our Bai family to spread it. Even the eldest son took his surname. Wouldn't it be reduced to a laughing stock of the family?"
"Bai Shan is too lonely, he doesn't care about the clan at all."
After seeing off all the guests, old Zhou took a teacup to drink water, moistened his throat and said, "In the capital, it's rare to be able to talk so much in one day."
Bai Shan hurriedly added tea for him, and apologized: "I have made my father-in-law tired."
Old Zhou waved his hand to express that he didn't mind, he frowned, "But I think they are very persistent, I'm afraid it won't be easy."
He hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "Will this matter affect you and Man Bao? In fact, what they said is correct. After all, this is your eldest son. If it is really inconvenient, the next child will let him follow the summer." That's the last name."
Bai Shan shook his head, "Father-in-law, that's him, it's not good to be any other child."
Old Zhou was puzzled, "Why?"