Jiang Mengzhen wanted to marry with a clean record and without being criticized by others, so his marriage had to be decided by his mother. It was the orders of his mother and the matchmaker's words.
If he could find someone in a high position to propose marriage, Jiang's mother would naturally not dare to refuse. But those in high positions were either the emperor's favorites or the princesses of the empress. At his age, these princesses were not suitable for marriage. Those who were suitable had already married their husbands early.
After all, he is the legitimate son of the Duke's Mansion. How could he marry someone else and become a maid just for the so-called freedom of marriage
Realizing that Zhang was trying to manipulate his marriage, Jiang Mengzhen contacted his maternal grandparents early. Originally, his maternal grandmother was angry with his mother and him, a member of the Jiang family, because his father died young.
But later he tried hard to repair his relationship with his grandparents, seeking their sympathy and protection by deliberately showing pity.
Out of the twelve months in a year, he spent almost a quarter of the year living at his maternal grandparents' house, learning things from the lady kings. He learned everything and had a photographic memory. He was proficient in poetry, calligraphy, music and chess.
However, he still concealed some of his strength. Although he performed well, he never overdid it. If he was better than the ladies in my grandfather's house, he would inevitably attract their jealousy.
Out of pity for him, his grandfather had already chosen a marriage for him when he was thirteen or fourteen years old. The chosen wife was his cousin, who was seven months younger than him. His grandfather also promised him that his cousin would only marry him in the future and would not have any messy concubines.
When he was seventeen or eighteen years old, both of them were of suitable age for marriage, and his grandfather urged his cousin to come and propose marriage.
But his aunt happened to have an accident at this time. Instead of waiting for his cousin's proposal, he waited for the news that his aunt, a general, died in the battlefield.
According to the Lin family's mourning rules, his cousin had to follow the example of the ancient sages and mourn for three full years before she could come to ask for his hand in marriage. However, his grandparents were too sad to care about their grandson because of the loss of their daughter.
In fact, at the beginning, he knew that his cousin didn't like him enough, purely out of responsibility, but it didn't matter even if she didn't like him, he didn't like her either, and he didn't feel sad about it.
As long as the wife and husband treat each other with respect, and the other party respects him as a legitimate ruler outside and does not interfere in his life, this is an excellent marriage.
In the Jin Dynasty, men could get married at the age of 14, and women at the age of 16. Of course, the rules are fixed, but if there are special circumstances, they can be changed.
He originally thought that it wouldn't matter if he came a few years later, as he could stay at home longer and take the opportunity to get back the dowry left to him by his biological father, Lin. But when he turned seventeen, the Lin family asked him to wait another three years.
It would have been fine if we just waited, at least Lin’s relics were successfully retrieved.
Although Zhang was very reluctant, his mother Jiang Min was already accustomed to relying on him. She was seventeen years old at this time. In many families, boys began to learn to manage finances at the age of thirteen or fourteen. It was impossible for Zhang to teach him these.
He learned on his own and managed things in an orderly manner. Whenever there was a banquet in the mansion, he was the one who took care of it. Zhang could not scold him for being ignorant, so she handed over the key to the warehouse reluctantly.
He had been occupying this huge amount of property for so many years, how could he not use it? Jiang Mengzhen asked his grandfather for the dowry list of Lin when she got married, and counted the items in front of his mother. As he expected, Zhang took a large part of it, and according to the dowry list, there was a full one-third missing.
Jiang Min was naturally furious. It would be fine if Lin had used it to support the family, but Lin died young. According to the laws of Jin, Lin's things had to be left to his biological children. Lin and Jiang Min only had one child, Jiang Mengzhen. It would be embarrassing for her to tell others that the successor had used the predecessor's dowry.
Before Jiang Min really started to get angry, Zhang started to yell, "I took the money to take care of you. I used my own money for my own expenses. If Brother Lin were here, he would definitely do the same."
Jiang Mengzhen had a sarcastic look on his face and was about to say something when he saw Zhang's expression become agitated, and then she suddenly fell backwards holding her stomach. Her mother quickly called for help, and a doctor was invited to the house to take her pulse. After taking her pulse, the doctor congratulated her repeatedly and said that Zhang was pregnant.
Since Zhang lost her child, he hadn't gotten pregnant for several years. The doctor said that she had suffered a miscarriage before, so for the sake of the Jiang family's incense, Jiang Min took in a very docile man as a concubine, but he only gave birth to a son after two years in the mansion. After seven or eight years, Zhang finally got pregnant again. Whether it was a boy or a girl, it was enough for Jiang Min to pay attention to.
A pregnant woman cannot be angry or treated harshly, and Jiang Min naturally cannot be angry with her pregnant husband, so the matter was left unresolved. Jiang Mengzhen became increasingly disappointed with his mother, and took advantage of Zhang's pregnancy to seize power in the mansion on the grounds that he could not work too hard.
At that time, he had never thought of taking action against Zhang. Although the people around Zhang were very strict, he held the power in the mansion, and it was easy for him to give her medicine. But he was thinking about the affection Jiang Min had given him. Although he didn't like Zhang, he thought of the child in his belly, who was half his blood, and he didn't have the heart to do it.
Zhang's belly was very lucky, and it was destined to be a daughter. Although her body was a little weak, it was enough to make Jiang Min very happy, and she held banquets for many days.
Jiang Mengzhen leaned in Hao Cheng's arms and said in a quiet voice, "My mother always thought of my father's kindness and was not bad to me. But when she had a daughter, she began to regard me as a thorn in her side, as if I would harm her daughter."
Jiang Min was a soft-hearted person with no real ability. While she relied on her capable son, she was also somewhat afraid of him. She was even more uneasy after Zhang gave birth to a daughter. The doctor said that Zhang was in poor health and might not be able to have another child after giving birth to this child. The Jiang family had always had few children, so it was very likely that she would only have this one daughter in her life.
Everything in the Jiang family was to be left to their son. Jiang Mengzhen loved money so much that soon after he came of age, he couldn't wait to get his biological father's money in his hands. He also firmly grasped the power of managing the mansion. It was obvious that he was a man with a strong desire for power.
Zhang was always whispering in her ear, basically worrying that Jiang Mengzhen would murder her own sister in order to inherit the Jiang family.
Hao Cheng touched the top of his head to comfort him. Jiang Mengzhen's hair was very soft and fine. Unlike those men who put on makeup and paint, who liked to apply greasy hair oil, his hair felt clean and refreshed.
She asked softly, "And then, he found a bad marriage for you, and your mother agreed to it?"
Jiang Mengzhen changed his sitting position so that he could lean back more comfortably. "Of course she agreed. She was afraid that I would harm her precious daughter, so she couldn't wait to marry me off. I originally wanted to contact those people outside, but the letter was intercepted. I didn't think about giving up and finding someone, but I was worried about the worse. Maybe it was because I was still greedy for the glory and wealth, and I didn't have the courage at the time."
He said this in a self-deprecating way, but Hao Cheng put his hand on his lips: "Of course you are good, they forced you to do it." Parents' orders and matchmakers' words, unless you are an orphan, free love will only be regarded as a private transaction. There are many rules in the mansions of the rich and powerful. If Jiang Mengzhen was a woman, it would be fine. He is a man. If he ruins his reputation, he will also be the one who will have a hard time.
Jiang Mengzhen was only 17 or 18 years old at the time. She was still a high school student when she was 17 or 18 years old, and her parents did not even allow her to have an early love relationship. In her opinion, Jiang Mengzhen was already very remarkable. With such a biased mother and a mean stepfather, it was inevitable that she would have concerns.
Jiang Mengzhen added: "For various reasons, I finally married the one chosen by Zhang. On the surface, the person he chose was very good. She had no relatives, was young, had good looks, and had a decent family background. She was the only daughter of General Weiyuan."
Naturally, Zhang would not treat him badly in public. The only daughter of General Weiyuan sounded good, but she was actually very promiscuous. She did not have a formal concubine, but had been hanging out with concubines at the age of thirteen or fourteen. She also liked to go to places of entertainment, and her body was hollowed out by alcohol and sex at a young age.
General Weiyuan had died a long time ago, and Wei Yanan only got a lucrative position with a name but no power because of the protection of his late mother, and it would be fine if he had no ability. Wei Yanan's biological father was a close friend of Zhang, and they had a very good relationship. It was obvious that if he married Zhang, he would have to endure the torture of his father-in-law alone.
He whispered, "My father-in-law and my stepfather were close friends, and they had a very good relationship. Naturally, they wanted to teach me a lesson after I got married. Even if I died in the mansion, they could find a reason and easily take the matter over. The wedding day was very grand, but on the wedding day, Wei Yanan went to a brothel and stayed there all night, making me a laughing stock in the entire capital. Not long after that, she got syphilis and died."
Of course, he was telling the truth, but he also hid a lot from Hao Cheng. For example, Wei Yanan saw that he was good-looking, so she went to his room on the wedding day, but because of his childhood, he was too sensitive to that kind of obscene look, and he had no reaction to her at all.
Wei Yanan was usually served and controlled. It was always the men who flirted and prepared for her to have sex, but Jiang Mengzhen showed no sign of getting hard. Her movements were extremely rough, and Jiang Mengzhen showed no reaction at all. She grabbed him and slapped him on the spot, cursed him and walked away.
When he came out the next day with the slap mark on his face, he realized that he had become a joke in the whole capital. He was extremely proud. If he had been in the Jiang family before, he would have torn the person to pieces if he had encountered such humiliation. But at that time, because of Jiang Min and a miscalculation, he could not contact the people who had stayed in the Jiang Mansion, so he could only endure it silently.
Afterwards, Wei Yanan had thought about touching him, and had slept with him several times. But he felt it was too disgusting. Why would such a woman let him lower himself to serve him
Even if he needed to be patient, he would never make such a sacrifice. In order to end this period of tormenting him as soon as possible, he used drug powder every time to make Wei Yanan hallucinate. On the wedding day, he was checked very strictly, not even a hair was left out. When he got married, he had freedom of movement, and it was easy to use simple materials to make the hallucinogenic drug powder that his nanny taught him.
He endured it in his mansion for a while and saved a beautiful woman who was thrown out of a brothel and had syphilis. He only gave her a gentle push from behind and Wei Yanan took the bait. She soon contracted syphilis and lost her life.
His medical skills were good enough to cure Wei Yanan, but she wanted to harm him when she got sick. He was the mastermind, so how could he expose his medical skills to save her? Wei Yanan loved visiting brothels so much that no one thought it was strange that she got sick.
She was not fast. The old lady in the mansion, who had always been in good health, fell ill again because of the grief over the loss of her daughter. The mansion was in chaos. As Wei Yanan's legitimate husband, Jiang Mengzhen naturally took over the affairs of the mansion and quickly supported the family. In just half a year, he firmly held all the power in his hands.
The old man had previously thought of ways to torture him, including making him soak in cold water and kneel in the ancestral hall, and he also said a lot of insulting words. He originally wanted to let him go with his daughter, but after thinking about it, he just added a little medicine to the other party's medicine. From then on, the healthy old lady Wei suffered from constant illness.
It would be better for him to keep these dirty things to himself. There was no need to tell his scholar about them, lest he scare him away.
Hao Cheng said sullenly, "You have such a hard life, I feel sorry for you, but if you hadn't met Wei Yanan, you wouldn't have met me. For this, I was actually somewhat lucky. Do you think I am a bad person?"
Jiang Mengzhen raised his head and kissed her chin: "Of course not, you are very good and treat me very well."
Speaking of marriage, Hao Cheng thought of one more thing: "If that's the case, then when should I ask you for marriage? If we stay together like this every day, it's bound to be criticized."
Although she still wanted to stay together for a while, there was no such thing as breaking up in this era. Since they were going to get married sooner or later, it would be better to do it sooner rather than later, so as to avoid being caught by someone and being accused of having something in private.
Since she wanted to take the imperial examination, she had to take her reputation as a scholar into consideration.
Jiang Mengzhen was stunned. He didn't expect Hao Cheng to be so proactive and bring it up so early. A part of his heart softened again, and he boldly kissed Hao Cheng on the mouth: "There's no rush for this matter. Just listen to me, and we'll take it slowly."
His reputation had long been ruined by Wei Yanan, but Hao Cheng had to be clean.