Chapter 562: Marriage (Part 2)

What happened next went so smoothly that it was a little beyond Shiyi Niang's expectations.

Huang San's wife went to the Jin family to propose marriage, and the Jin family readily agreed. They asked the wife of the commander of the Wucheng Military Department, Wei Daren, to be the matchmaker and received Xu Sijian's engagement letter. On the Xu family side, Sanye came to greet the Taifu early, happily placed Miss Jin's engagement letter in the ancestral hall, and took the initiative to discuss Xu Sijian's marriage with the Taifu: "Sister Zhen will get married in October. I think our brother Zhao will get engaged by the end of the year and get married in the spring tomorrow. What do you think?"

The lady drank her tea leisurely and said, "Whether you have money or not, you can marry a wife to celebrate the New Year. As for Zhen Jie, she has been ready for two or three years. There is nothing to rush about. I think we can make the decision in July and choose a day in August to get married."

The third master looked at the lady in surprise, but soon came to his senses and said with a smile, "August is the time when the sweet osmanthus is fragrant, and the weather is neither too hot nor too cold, which is the best time to hold a wedding. Mother is really thoughtful."

The lady told Madam Du to bring the calendar over: "I think September 20th is a good date. Zhenjie will get married on October 20th, and the bride will be sent on October 6th. After two days of preparation, it will be Jian'er's third birthday." The lady smiled as she spoke, "Then we can all have fun again!"

The third master replied "yes" with a smile.

The Fifth Lady came over with the list in her hand: "Mother, take a look!"

In ten days or so it will be the first birthday celebration for Brother Shen. Xu Lingkuan and the Fifth Lady decided to hold a grand ceremony and started preparations early.

When the Third Master saw this, he stood up and said goodbye, "This is a matter for the women in the inner courtyard. It is inappropriate for him, a senior master and the child's uncle, to stand here.

The lady did not keep him, and said with a smile: "Danyang is becoming more and more capable. I think this list is well drawn up. When Zhao'er gets married tomorrow, you and your fourth sister-in-law should go to Sanjing Hutong to help."

The Third Master had one foot inside the door and one foot outside. He paused, and then the foot inside the door slowly stepped out.

The lady looked at it and sipped it. Cha smiled and returned the list to the Fifth Lady: "Go show it to your Fourth Sister-in-law. Your Fourth Sister-in-law will also know how to help you arrange it."

The Fifth Lady responded with a smile and went to Eleventh Lady's place.

"...It's hot in June. I have a glass screen in my storeroom. I'll put it in the flower room. I'll also tell the greenhouse to put flowers on the flower tables!"

Madam Wu nodded repeatedly: "Use blue and white porcelain utensils and a bright red tablecloth!"

"Bright red!" Shiyi Niang pondered, "How about lake blue? Although it's not as festive as bright red, it looks refreshing."

"Lake color?" Madam Wu's brows flickered with desire to try it out. "But I'm worried that it will be hard to clean if it gets dirty with wine?" She seemed quite tempted.

Only satin can be dyed into lake color. If it gets dirty, it cannot be washed.

Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "It's better to use coarse ramie cloth. It can be washed if it gets stained!"

"Let's go!" Fifth Lady pulled Eleventh Lady along, "Let's go ask about needlework."

Eleventh Lady was also quite interested and wanted to know whether the coarse gauze cloth could be dyed into different colors. The two of them stayed in the sewing room for the whole afternoon and had dinner together to plan how to hold the first birthday ceremony for Chen Ge'er.

It was a little late when I went to pay my respects to the lady.

The lady looked at the two of them and shook her head. She smiled and said, "You put so much effort into dyeing a tablecloth? Can you finish it in ten days?"

"Mother," said the Fifth Lady, "our son Shen has just celebrated his first birthday. We can't invite relatives and friends to have a gathering like this until his coming-of-age ceremony. Can you just let us dye the cloth?"

"When did I tell you not to mess around?" The lady smiled and held the boy who was sitting beside her concentrating on playing the game of nine-linked rings in her arms. "Just keep dyeing. I'm afraid that if the cloth is not dyed well, you will change the tablecloth to green, and the blue and white porcelain to sweet white porcelain, making us restless!"

"No, no." Madam Wu hastily assured, "The needlework people said that they asked the dyeing room to start working overnight, and it will be ready in five days at most. If not, we will just change to aqua blue. The aqua blue that my sister-in-law and I tried today is also very beautiful, but it doesn't look as good as the lake blue."

The lady watched the two daughters-in-law discussing things with each other, and couldn't help but smile happily. She caught a glimpse of Jian'er who was pouting as he tried to solve the nine-ring puzzle over and over again. She smiled even more happily in her heart and kissed Jian'er, saying, "I don't care about you. You can do whatever you want.

As for me, I only play with our Jin Ge'er and our Shen Ge'er!" As he said this, he kissed Jin Ge'er on the cheek again.

The Fifth Lady went to hold her son's hand and said, "Did you hear me, my son? You need to grow up quickly. You need to be as filial to your grandmother as your Sixth Brother is."

However, Chen Ge'er turned his head and pointed at a plate of lotus seed cake on the lady's kang table, making a sound as if he wanted to eat it.

The fifth lady gently slapped her son's hand and said, "You are such a foodie!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

When no one was in the room, Madam Du quietly reminded the Madam, "You are getting old, and Jin'er is getting heavier. Let Yuban and the others hold the Sixth Young Master!"

The old lady disagreed: "I know it in my heart." She paused, and couldn't help but defend herself, "Jian Ge'er had a hard life, and he looks like the fourth child when he was young. When I look at him, I think of the fourth child when he was young." As she spoke, she showed a look of reminiscence. At that time, the second child was also there..." As the old lady spoke, there was some sadness in her eyes.

This is the old lady's sorrow, like a scar that will bleed if opened, and no one dares to touch it lightly.

Mother Du smiled and changed the subject: "Would you like to try the little dress embroidered with white lotus flowers that the Fourth Madam made for you a few days ago..."

"You don't have to interrupt." They have been together for decades and they already know each other very well. The old lady was refreshed after hearing this and said with a smile, "I used to feel unhappy when I saw the mess in this family. I often thought that if the second son didn't leave... this family would be in a different situation. But now, I gradually come to my senses. Everything has its destiny. If the second son didn't leave, how could the title fall on the fourth son. If the title didn't fall on the fourth son, the family business would have been ruined long ago!" As she spoke, the old lady sighed softly and talked to Mother Du in private, "The old marquis said it back then. The second son has a gentle temperament, is kind and sincere, and he will inherit the business. Although he will suffer a little loss, he will not lose his kindness and righteousness. With Yizhen's support, the family reputation will not be damaged.

"The fourth son is strong-willed and resourceful, while Yuanniang is smart and decisive. No matter how bad the world is, they can make a living, and we will let them start their own families. If the emperor favors us and grants us a title, we will give the fifth son the title. He is the youngest, and we spoil him more than we discipline him. I am afraid he will not be able to achieve great things in the future. We only hope that he will not make mistakes, not bring honor to our family. That is why we decided on Danyang's marriage so early."

The lady said this with a slight pause in her tone.

"Though the third son is kind, he is easily influenced and has no opinion. He only wants to be a good person. I originally wanted to marry him to a daughter of a scholar, so I hired a teacher to teach him at home. But it is not easy to find a daughter of a scholar. The famous families disliked him because he had no achievements and was born out of wedlock. As for the poor family, I was afraid of being labeled as being unkind to a son of a bastard. So I asked Gan to marry him.

"When Gan first came into the family, she followed the rules and never made a single mistake. I was happy to see her. But the old marquis said that her eyes often flickered when she looked at my sister-in-law and brother's wife. I'm afraid she is not a peaceful person. If there is any bad thing, it is mostly caused by her. Let me give her a good scolding whenever I have time.

“I didn’t think so at the time.

I always feel that she is the daughter-in-law and I am the mother-in-law. The boss also said that the third child has no talent for studying and can only make up for his shortcomings with hard work. I think that if he continues to take exams, it will take at least ten or twenty years. During these ten or twenty years, they will live under my nose. If she does something wrong, can I not control her? Besides, I have always been kind and cheerful to Yizhen and Yuanniang, how can I be so rude to her alone!

"The old marquis has scolded me a lot for this! I have argued with him a lot too!"

The lady smiled bitterly.

"I didn't expect that everything was predicted by the Marquis!"

This was the first time that Mother Du had heard these words.

But no matter what, she was a servant, and the lady-in-waiting told her that she looked up to her, but she could not forget her own status and position and mix it in. Once she mixed it in, the fate between her and the lady-in-waiting would be over.

Mother Du could only say something nice: "The old Marquis has a sharp eye when encountering things. Among the several lords, only the Marquis can be on the same level as the old Marquis."

"Alas!" Mrs. Tai shook her head gently and murmured, "At that time, Yuan Niang wanted to separate and live alone. I saw the fourth child hesitating in front of me, and I felt very uncomfortable. Well, they thought Let's live alone! Anyway, the old Marquis wanted them to establish their own business. Who knows, but the old Marquis disagreed, saying that the current situation in the court was turbulent. , I am afraid that the second child will not be able to cope with it alone. The family has few children, and that one is far away in Nanjing, so there is no one to help. If the fourth child is separated at this time, the family will have no prestige. Year, let’s see what happens. He also joked that if the world is peaceful, it would be okay, but if it is not peaceful, I can only rely on the fourth child "..."

The lady's eyes dimmed.

“Sometimes I think, maybe this is fate!”

Before he finished speaking, tears started falling.

…

When the old lady and Mrs. Du were talking about their son and daughter-in-law, the son and daughter-in-law were also talking about the old lady.

"So, mother wants to let my brother get married in Sanjing Hutong?"

The third lady's face turned red and purple, and she paced around the room like an ant on a hot pot.

Although the Third Master looked calm, his brows revealed a hint of sadness: "There's nothing wrong with living in Sanjing Hutong! Everyone knows we've moved out anyway!"

"What's the difference?" The third wife said anxiously, "The guests, the gifts and the wedding scene will be different... It's already very aggrieved that Zhao Ge'er married the daughter of the deputy commander of chemicals, and now he has to..." As she said this, she sat on the kang with her back to the third master and started crying.