The courtyards had all been allocated long ago.
Pan Jinhua now lives in the main house, while Yan Min's family lives in the west wing of the west courtyard. Gao Chuan's family now lives in the east wing of the west courtyard.
Li Xushi and Mo Qiaoniang, the second wife, moved into the main house of the east courtyard. Li Qingjing lived in the east wing, and Li Qingjun has now also moved in. The twins live in the west wing of the east courtyard.
Li Qingzhi lived in the main courtyard with Pan Jinhua and was assigned to the west wing, which was closest to Pan Jinhua. Being a young woman, she was more attentive and needed more care from her.
She even assigned Bai Xue, her head maid, to serve Li Qingzhi. That's right, this girl had also come to the capital with her a few years ago.
Several years have passed, and I have made a lot of progress.
The imperial examination is after the New Year, which is still a few months away.
Following Zheng Xingkai's instructions, Li Qingyao did not go out. Even Gao Chuan stayed at home, studying with Li Qingyao every day.
Li Qingduan and Li Qingyi stayed at home for two days before returning to the military camp.
Bai Sha is currently the head guard of the household, in charge of the safety of the masters. The Li family is not yet qualified to form a guard team, so on the surface, Bai Sha is a steward of the household.
As soon as Mo Qiaoniang arrived in the capital, she sent a visiting card to the home of her son's superior, Commander Wang. Only upon arrival did she learn that the commander intended to arrange a marriage between her two sons, which naturally required her to take the matter very seriously.
“My aunt attended the banquet earlier. This family is also from the Ouyang faction, so we have reached a consensus. We are just waiting for you to arrive so we can arrange a time to meet.”
"That's wonderful! I was just at a loss. We're not familiar with Kyoto, and I was worried about how to find a daughter-in-law. Now that someone is willing to play matchmaker, everything is settled."
"I'm afraid you won't want a daughter from a military family."
Yan Min breathed a sigh of relief. In Kyoto, daughters of military officers were never as sought after as daughters of civil officials.
“Why would I be unwilling? They are both military officers now. It would be better if you were more capable so that you could keep these two rascals in check. They have both been promoted to the Imperial Guard, yet they are still so unsteady.”
"You can't say that. These two kids are great. They're outgoing and get along well in the army."
Mo Qiaoniang was just saying that; she didn't really think her two sons were bad. Hearing Yan Min say that made her happy.
However, she was speaking from the heart; a daughter-in-law still needs to be capable. When choosing a wife, one should choose a virtuous one. Nowadays, her family relies on Li Qingyao for literature and Li Qingtong for martial arts.
Now that the old lady is still alive, after the family is divided, our second branch must also have someone to lead the household and not fall too far behind the other branches.
Given Li Qingduan's current status, they are not worthy of having the Commander of a Thousand Households worry about their marriage.
But now the Li family is deeply intertwined with the Ouyang family. Their cousins have not only become godfathers of General Ouyang, but the Li family has also set up a profitable business for the Ouyang family. Now, who doesn't know about "soap"? Even the nobles in the palace are using it.
With this connection in place, Commander Wang would take the marriage of the two seriously.
Li Xushi and Mo Qiaoniang naturally understood the intricacies of the situation. By any measure, their family was now the beneficiary, and it was not their place to complain.
Wang Qianhu's thinking was quite simple. He couldn't get close to Li Qingtong now, but through these two, his relationship with the Ouyang family would be closer. Furthermore, as long as Li Qingtong was successful, their future development would be much more than just this.
Taking advantage of his superior position, he gave the two boys a hint, and sure enough, not long after, the old lady of the Li family came to pay her respects, and the matter was basically settled. As for when Li Xushi and his wife arrived, it was just a formality.
One of the candidates was Wang Zhenzhu, the illegitimate daughter of Commander Wang. Both of them were raised by the mistress and had practiced martial arts since childhood. Although she was not as favored as her elder sister in the Wang family, she was still quite well-off. Commander Wang was a fifth-rank military officer, so marrying a lowly soldier was a complete step down from her station.
The second person was Fu Ning, the daughter of Fu Yinghao, a sworn brother of Wang Qianhu.
Fu Yinghao died young, and his mother remarried, leaving only Fu Ning and her younger brother to depend on each other for survival, entirely relying on the care of Wang Qianhu's family.
Fu Ning was stubborn and determined to raise her younger brother Fu Wei. At a young age, she racked her brains to make a living. Fortunately, her mother left the Fu family property and dowry to the two of them in order to get rid of her.
Ultimately, her mother's actions were detrimental to her reputation, and given their family's circumstances, her marriage was also delayed.
However, Fu Wei lived up to expectations and was admitted to the Vanguard Battalion two years ago. This battalion is under the Emperor's command and has extremely strict assessments. Now he is a squad leader.
Regardless of the circumstances, Wang Qianhu's role in connecting Fu Ning with Wang was partly driven by self-interest.
Pan Jinhua explained the situation of the two girls to the couple in detail.
The two listened attentively, but Li Xushi noticed Fu Ningshi's furrowed brows, clearly indicating he wasn't very satisfied.
“Speak your mind. We’re getting married, not making enemies. If you have any grudges, they’ll always be a problem in the future.”
Seeing his hesitant expression, Pan Jinhua spoke directly.
“Mother is right. I have no objection to the daughter of Lord Wang. But isn’t Fu Ning’s status a bit too low? They are brothers. If their wives’ statuses are so mismatched, I’m afraid it will cause discord between them in the future.”
This is not an exaggeration, nor is it about trust or distrust. People's hearts are fickle, and Li and Xu are just afraid that there is discord in their family.
"From this perspective, you are right. I inquired about this woman before, and she is indeed shrewd and capable."
When her father passed away, she was only ten years old. Yet, with the help of the Wang family, she managed to suppress the servants in the house, struggle to make a living, and even helped her eight-year-old younger brother get out of retirement. Now, they have both joined the vanguard army.
"Such an outstanding woman, if our family could marry her, we would truly have struck gold. Family background is merely icing on the cake for her; a virtuous wife brings wealth to three generations—she alone is worthy of it."
Pan Jinhua's words completely dispelled Li Xushi's doubts, and he looked ashamed.
"Mother's words are like a wake-up call for me; I was being pedantic."
Pan Jinhua waved her hand, saying that as long as you can turn the corner, that's fine.
"Don't worry, Qingduan and Qingyi returned to camp in a hurry and probably forgot to tell you. I have already told them this, and they both accepted it gladly."
Don't forget our family's rules for choosing a son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Family background isn't important; what matters is the person. Don't get arrogant just because you're in a different position now. This is Kyoto; we're still nobody here.
Don't think that everything will be fine just because you've got the Ouyang family on your side. When you first arrived in the capital, the Ouyang family wasn't very friendly to the Li family either.
If it weren't for Li Qingtong's increasingly good performance on the frontier, and the Li family's offering of soap, they probably wouldn't even be able to enter the Duke of Cheng'en's residence now.
It was only after the Li family demonstrated their value that the Ouyang family began to value them, and the "Pan family" slowly began to become special.
Now that everything was out in the open, everyone felt relieved and simply waited for the Wang family's reply.
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