The Chen family has a three-story mansion in the capital. Chen Shiying would stay here whenever he came to the capital to report on his work or on official business.
The house was not big, but small and exquisite. Jiang lived in the main courtyard, Chen Yulan lived in the west wing, and Chen Afu and the other two girls were arranged to live in the back room.
There was a willow tree planted in the courtyard of the back house, its branches had begun to sprout green leaves, so tender that they could drip water. There was also a curved pond in the middle, with a few koi fish in it and a few large stones piled randomly beside the pond.
The main house has five rooms and two side rooms, and the east and west wing rooms have three rooms and two side rooms.
Chen Afu and Chen Yuqing lived in the east and west rooms of the upper house respectively, and Chen Yuxia lived in the west wing.
The next day, Jiang led her four siblings back to her natal family, the Jiang Mansion. Jiang's natal family was a prominent family in Huguang. Two generations ago, they had a minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Now, many of their family members were officials in various places in the Dashun Dynasty. However, they were not as powerful as the previous two generations. The highest official was Jiang's father, Lord Jiang, who was now the third-rank minister of the Imperial Household Department.
Jiang was the most ordinary-looking daughter of the Jiang family. She even killed two of her fiancés. However, the husband she married was the best among the daughters of the Jiang family. Although Chen Shiying was a poor student, he was the third place in the imperial examination selected by the emperor. He was talented and skillful. He became a fourth-rank official in just over ten years. Although he was only a prefect, he was the prefect of Dingzhou Prefecture, which was in an extremely important strategic position. Anyone who sat in this position well would make further progress.
The Chen siblings kowtowed to Old Madam Jiang. The old lady gave Chen Afu and A Yuxia a gift, then hugged Chen Yuqing and Chen Yulan in her arms, calling them "darlings" and "sweethearts".
Chen Afu knew that his "granddaughter" was an eyesore, so he took Chen Yuxia, led by the girl from the Jiang family, to the garden to see the flowers, so that the three generations of the family could have a heart-to-heart talk.
Early in the morning of the 25th, the Chen Mansion hung red silk and colorful lanterns, and the main gate was wide open. This was the day for the Chu Mansion to propose marriage.
Since Chen Shiying was not at home, Jiang asked her brother to come over and help entertain the guests.
Chu Lingxuan and the matchmaker Fu both took leave and came to Chen's house in person to propose marriage. The betrothal gifts were sixty-four loads and the betrothal money was five thousand taels of silver.
Jiang followed Chen Shiying's advice and put the betrothal money, gold ornaments and fabrics into Chen Afu's dowry. Chen Afu had 6,000 taels of silver as a dowry. With this generous dowry alone, she was already a wealthy woman.
On February 6th, Chen Fu went to Chu Fu to set up the bed.
Chen Afu's heart was also in a state of anxiety as the wedding date was getting closer day by day.
On the afternoon of February 9, Chen Ahfu and her two sisters were sitting on the kang in the east room, chatting and laughing, while Chen Yulan was sitting on a brocade stool beside the kang. Chen Shiying came. He had just arrived in the capital and came here after dinner.
The four siblings quickly stood up and saluted, calling out, "Daddy."
Chen Shiying nodded with relief and said, "Your eldest sister is about to get married, so you should spend more time with her."
Chen Yuqing knew that her father wanted to talk to her sister alone, so she pulled Chen Yulan and Chen Yuxia away.
Chen Shiying sat down on the kang, patted the bed beside him, and said to Chen Afu who was still standing, "Come here, my daughter, and sit next to daddy. From now on you will be a member of your son-in-law's family, so you have to observe the etiquette." After saying that, he sighed dejectedly.
It is very normal for a father to be close to his daughter in the previous life. There is even a particularly heartwarming saying that a daughter is the lover of her father in the previous life and is destined to be loved by him for the rest of her life.
But in ancient times, the relationship between fathers and children would not be too close.
Moreover, Chen Ahfu was already a 17-year-old girl and was about to get married. Logically, Chen Shiying's behavior was not appropriate. However, Chen Shiying was well-read and had a reformist personality. He was also a more emotional person and never followed the old rules in his words and deeds. He could do this.
Chen Afu was not the soul of this era, so he sat next to him.
Chen Shiying held her hand and said, "Fuer didn't grow up with daddy. Daddy never held you in his arms, nor did he teach you to write, nor did he teach you to recite poems sentence by sentence, nor did he feed you candy or food. This is daddy's lifelong regret. When you appeared in front of daddy, you were such a tall girl. Daddy will never make up for those regrets in his lifetime. Hey, starting tomorrow, you are no longer a girl from my Chen family, but a daughter-in-law of the Chu family. Daddy doesn't spend much time with you, and even less in the future. Daddy, I can't bear to leave you..."
Before he could finish his words, his eyes turned red.
Chen Shiying's words suddenly awakened Chen Afu, no, Chen Yanyan, the deepest memories in her mind. Before she was three years old, her father held her up high and deliberately poked her with his hard stubble, which made her giggle and her mother laugh... These fragments that she could not recall later appeared before her eyes. Moreover, the warmth and expression in her father's eyes were very similar to those of Chen Shiying.
Her tears welled up and she sobbed softly, "Dad, Dad..."
Chen Shiying didn't hear clearly and thought she was calling "Daddy". Seeing his daughter crying, he felt even more distressed and hurriedly coaxed her, "Don't cry, my daughter. Even if you get married, you are still your daughter. In the future, if Chu Lingxuan dares to bully you, or if the Chu family dares to wrong you, don't bear it, come back and tell Daddy. Although Daddy is not as high-ranking as his family, Daddy will not let his daughter be bullied. Daddy can't let you continue to suffer in the future after suffering so much injustice in the past..."
When Chen Shiying and Chen Afu appeared in the main courtyard restaurant, everyone could see that they had just cried.
Jiang smiled and joked, "Your daughter is getting married, you can't bear to let her go, right?"
Chen Shiying felt a little embarrassed.
Jiang smiled again and said, "Don't mention the master, even I can't bear to let her go. Although Fu'er was not born in my belly, we women are destined to be together. We haven't been together for long, and she is getting married. I can't sleep well these days."
After saying that, he wiped away his tears.
She said it so nicely, and Chen Ahfu quickly came forward with a blushing face, hugged her arm, and said coquettishly, "Mother."
Chen Shiying laughed out loud and said, "Really? Women get emotional when it comes to the critical moment. It's a happy event for a daughter to get married, but she's still crying."
After dinner, Chen Shiying and his friends went to the living room to chat. Jiang followed behind and saw that her husband and other children had already left the house. She whispered to Chen Yuqing who was supporting her, "Look at how little you have achieved, and you're still jealous?"
Chen Yuqing was really jealous and pouted, "Daddy treats Big Sister much better than he treats me."
Jiang said, "No matter how good you are, you are still your father's only legitimate daughter, and no one can take this status away from you. Silly girl, there is no point in being jealous. Your father is our heaven, so you should do whatever is best for you..."
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