Chapter 64 How Did She Get Here: Deal! No wonder the Hesheli family has such a story; the patriarch died within two years…
make a deal!
It's no wonder the Hesheri family has such a story; two heads of the family died in two years, and the rest were either selfish to the point of being a headache or not quite right in the head.
Yulang is fairly intelligent, but he didn't quite reach adulthood until he was fifteen. His luck only turned around this year after he married me. The younger children are basically negligible. The fact that this family, already in such dire straits, has managed to survive until now is entirely thanks to the old lady, Madam Tongjia, who tirelessly serves them.
In the first few days after she married into the family, Shen Wanqing thought the old lady was really confused, why was she so biased towards the West Courtyard? Now she thought that the old lady must have known what kind of person Niohuru was all along, but she couldn't be too blunt with her daughter-in-law who had lost her husband, so she could only choose the tallest among the short and maintain the status quo.
Now that the water had been brought to her, Shen Wanqing couldn't help but think to herself that the old lady was really nice. In a good mood, she entered the house with a smile on her face.
As the weather turned cooler, Tongjia had already heated the kang (heated brick bed) in her room a few days earlier. Shen Wanqing stood at the door of the side room, took off the vest she was wearing on the outside, and handed it to the maid beside her. She paused to cool off before entering the side room.
When Tongjia saw the smile on Shen Wanqing's face, she felt much more at ease, knowing that Shen was willing to make this deal with her.
She was getting old, and Fu Xuan had a bad temper, so she could only coax or trick Shen Wanqing into being involved in her daughter's marriage from beginning to end, so that Fu Xuan could turn to her for help if she had any problems with her husband's family in the future. Or to put it more bluntly, she could rely on Shen Shi.
Besides Tongjia, there were two other women in the room whom she did not recognize. One of them was dressed in Manchu attire and looked to be around forty years old. Judging from her clothing, it was clear that this family was of high status, and perhaps the men in the family who held official positions were even higher than those in the Hesheli family.
The other woman was dressed in the attire of a Manchu and Han Chinese, wearing a long, double-breasted gown and a horse-face skirt in particularly festive colors. She also wore a large velvet flower in her hair, and with her cheerful smile, it was obvious that she was the main character of the day: the matchmaker, without anyone introducing her or her saying a word.
"This is our eldest mistress, Lang Ge'er's wife." However, no matter how happy the two looked, it was not as kind and amiable as Tong Jia's smile.
After paying her respects, Shen Wanqing intended to sit in her usual chair, but Tongjia repeatedly beckoned her over and insisted that she sit with her on the warm couch, a spot that usually belonged only to Fuxuan.
“My granddaughter-in-law is good in every way. She is filial, capable, and beautiful. When my second son arranged this marriage for Lang Ge’er, it was a huge benefit for my family.”
"Since she entered the family, I, this old woman, have not had to worry about any of the big or small matters in this household. She has only been here for a short time, but she has already toured all the banner lands under our command. When I first became a wife, I didn't know anything in my first year. Thinking about it now, there's really no comparison between people."
As long as Madam Tongjia was willing to praise someone and flatter them, she could truly utter words that resonated deeply with people. Listening to Madam Tongjia's seemingly unconditional praise, Shen Wanqing, even knowing that Madam Tongjia had ulterior motives, still felt a little pleased, thinking: "That's a wonderful compliment; it would be even better if she could say a few more."
"That's because the old lady is so lucky to have such a wonderful eldest daughter-in-law. From now on, you can just wait to enjoy your life and don't have to worry about anything."
The speaker was an official matchmaker from the Plain Yellow Banner. Her main business was arranging marriages for people from the Eight Banners, or finding spouses for palace maids who were over twenty-five and in an awkward position.
Nowadays, matchmakers don't just do one-off deals. Often, after a match is made, they have to help the family with the entire marriage process. Only when both families have gone through all the procedures for the marriage can the matchmaker's job be considered done well.
Therefore, these matchmakers generally knew about the families in their usual social circles, which families had eligible men and women, and what the situation and trends were in each family. The recent news that the fifth daughter of the Shen family of the Han Banner had become so powerful after marrying into the Hesheli family was certainly something she had heard about.
It was clear that the whole family had fallen into Shen Wanqing's hands, but in the matchmaker's mouth, it was said that the old lady was lucky and would just enjoy life from now on. Hearing this, Tongjia's eyelids twitched and she almost couldn't maintain her smile.
“The old lady is a blessed person, and we are here today to bring her blessings. I’m not exaggerating, but my nephew is really good in every way, and it is precisely because he is good in every way that our whole family is hoping that he can find a wife who is perfect in every way.”
“Your daughter is a well-known darling, and my nephew’s future is sure to be bright. It would be perfect if our two families became in-laws.”
The man's relatives came with the matchmaker, and they were quite serious, but what they said was a bit strange.
Shen Wanqing took the draft document detailing the groom's family background from Tongjia's hand, and without regard for the presence of the matchmaker and relatives, she opened it and began to read it herself. After all, she was now the capable and virtuous matriarch, and there was no need for her to pretend to be polite.
The family that asked the matchmaker to come and propose marriage was from the Plain Red Banner. The man they wanted to marry was their second master, Ulanara Tulin.
Tu Lin is currently a captain in the Plain Red Banner. He has been following the army on campaigns for many years and was promoted to captain last year for his meritorious service in the campaign against Galdan. Captain is considered a mid-level military rank in the Eight Banners, and a captain can usually command five to six lieutenants.
However, the position of Zuo Ling (佐领) is mostly hereditary, serving not only as an official post but also as a continuation of a clan's lineage. As long as the family line doesn't die out or cause any major trouble, the Zuo Ling will essentially remain with that family. The position of Can Ling (参领), on the other hand, is merely an official post for one person. If their descendants want to succeed in the future, they will have to rely on their own efforts.
This meant nothing to Shen Wanqing. He was already a captain, what more could she ask for? In Shen Wanqing's eyes, this man was already very good. A Manchu youth in his thirties who could go to the battlefield and make meritorious contributions was a hero and a talented individual no matter where you looked.
But when she glanced at Tongjia's face, she could tell at a glance that Tongjia was still a little dissatisfied that the man's family did not have hereditary titles and official positions.
Then there's Tu Lin's age; he's already twenty-eight. His first wife passed away from illness four years ago. He has a son, eight years old, and a daughter, four years old. It's uncertain whether the four-year-old daughter was born to the first wife or a concubine. If the first wife died giving birth to this daughter, the situation becomes even more complicated.
An eight-year-old boy will be ready to get engaged in a few more years. If Fuxuan marries into the family now, it would be better if she could have a child in the next year or two.
If she doesn't have children in the next few years, she'll have to arrange a marriage for her stepson before she even has any kids. That alone is enough to negate most of Tu Lin's other advantages.
"Auntie, I'm young and don't know any better. I'm just taking advantage of that to ask a few more questions. If I say anything wrong, please forgive me."
“Please ask, Madam. Of course, we can’t keep a marriage alliance a secret all the time. Even if we can hide it for a while, we can’t hide it forever. If we start making trouble after the couple is married, it will look even worse for both families. I’ve been a matchmaker all my life, and I still care about my reputation.”
The official matchmakers who specialized in arranging marriages for Manchu families were indeed more reliable than private matchmakers, since they were mostly women from Manchu families themselves. They spent their entire lives on this small plot of land; if they acted recklessly and without conscience, they could easily implicate their entire family.
"I would like to ask this commander's first wife, who passed away four years ago. Why hasn't he remarried in the past four years? After all, the children in the family were still young at the time, and there was no one to manage the household affairs. So who has been helping to take care of the household matters in the past few years?"
When a first wife dies, the husband is expected to observe a year of mourning. A year is not a long time, but in Manchu families where the mistress of the house makes all the decisions, some families will even arrange a second marriage after the hundredth day of mourning, just waiting for the one-year period to end so that the wife can move in.
Shen Wanqing never denied the existence of love, but she wasn't naive enough to believe that Tu Lin hadn't remarried for four years because of love. Or to put it more bluntly, even if he truly loved his first wife, it wouldn't stop him from finding another wife to take home as his housekeeper.
It would be very troublesome for a Manchu Eight Banners commander to not have a wife in his household. His interactions with his colleagues would be more distant than others, not to mention the management of servants, land, and shops at home and outside.
This means that either Tu Lin himself has a problem, or what that problem might be.
Either he already has someone by his side who can replace his wife, or whether that person is a concubine, a nanny, or someone else, as long as Fuxuan chooses to marry into this family, they will have to fight it out head-on to determine the winner.
Shen Wanqing's question wasn't wrong at all; it was absolutely right. Tongjia's smile faded upon hearing it.
The problem is actually quite obvious, but because Fuxuan's marriage has become a major headache for the family, and suddenly Tu Lin, an official who has risen to the rank of military commander, came to propose marriage, they were only thinking about his family background and future prospects. Only after Shen Shi pointed it out did they realize what they had felt was wrong before.
"To be honest, Madam, the previous commander's wife fell ill suddenly. At that time, she was pregnant and was due to give birth in just two months."
The illness came on without warning. The mother couldn't bear to part with her child and didn't even dare to take the medicine prescribed by the doctor. Every time she agreed in front of the family, she would turn around and throw the medicine away.
He endured this for over a month until he was completely exhausted, and he was too weak to continue after the child was born. Perhaps feeling guilty towards his wife, or perhaps because his first wife was truly worried about the children, the maids and wet nurses left behind by this lady did not leave the Ulanara household, but instead stayed by the children's side to serve and care for them.
The Ulanara family tacitly approved of this, and over time, most of the matters in Tulin's courtyard were discussed and handled by the former madam's former nanny and Tulin's own nanny.
After the year of mourning, the Ulanara family considered arranging another marriage for Tu Lin, but when they asked about the situation in Tu Lin's courtyard, they all waved their hands in refusal. Being a second wife was never a good thing; it was one thing for the first wife to leave behind two children, but why did she also leave behind a house full of maids and servants?
Those people weren't just left behind by the first wife; they also left behind her sincere heart. The living can never defeat the dead, because the dead can't make mistakes.
If your own daughter were to marry into that family, not to mention how to get along with the stepchildren and how to win over the husband, just figuring out how to deal with all the servants left behind by the first wife would be a headache.
After a while, they couldn't reach an agreement, and the matter of getting a second wife was delayed. Tu Lin was focused on his official career, and since he had no shortage of concubines to serve him, he stopped thinking about it.
"Commander, your kindness and loyalty are truly touching. It really makes me feel terrible. Such a good person is hard to find even with a lantern. If your wife were still alive, I don't know how moved she would be."
After his wife passed away, all the servants and stewards who had served her remained and continued to do the same things as before. Even without their mother, the two children suffered far less hardship and misery than children in similar circumstances.
Tu Lin treated his first wife and children with great kindness, but this kindness was not a good thing for those who came after him.
After all, the woman who came later had never received any kindness from Tu Lin, and this situation was a complete mess for her.
If it were Shen Wanqing, she would rather be dragged into being a member of the Crown Prince's faction by Yu Lang than become Tu Lin's second wife after transmigrating and waking up. With her temper, she probably wouldn't even live to see the first deposed Crown Prince before she dies of anger, exhaustion, and humiliation.
So after much polite back and forth, Shen Wanqing and Madam Tongjia didn't give the matchmaker or the aunt from the Ulanara family a definite answer. They only said that the family valued Fuxuan highly, otherwise they wouldn't have kept the girl unmarried until now. The family still needed to discuss the matter further and would give them an answer in a couple of days.
After seeing the matchmaker off, before Shen Wanqing could even speak, Tongjia Shi pulled out a small booklet from her sleeve and handed it to Shen Wanqing for her to look at carefully.
"The matchmaker was supposed to come by herself today, but the lady of the Ulanara family was worried and asked her sister-in-law to come along. Fortunately, the matchmaker knew what was important and told us the important things as soon as she entered, which saved us from embarrassment."
The booklet was a draft from another family, which listed in detail, including but not limited to, the name, birth date, ancestral home, official position, and official positions of the man to be betrothed for three generations.
Logically speaking, this is only the first time a matchmaker has come to propose marriage, so the preliminary agreement shouldn't be so detailed. After all, things are still far from settled, and not only should the woman's family be reserved, but the man's family should also put on a show of respect. In any case, the original owner of this body had never seen such a detailed preliminary agreement from Master Yu.
"Grandma, is this family not in the capital? Did they ask a relative in the capital to help them find a spouse for their child?"
"You're so clever; you guessed what was going on right away. This family is stationed in Jingzhou, and they definitely won't be back for at least three to five years."
Three to five years? It's not uncommon for the Eight Banners to stay in their posts for more than ten or twenty years. Even a great general like Shi Wenbing would rotate between Jiangnan and Fuzhou after leaving the capital, and wouldn't be transferred back to the capital for ten years.
The post states that the Dong E family went to Jingzhou a long time ago and served as Zuo Ling (a military officer) from the previous generation. This means that their branch of the family did not have any high-ranking titles or official positions. Under such circumstances, thinking they could return to the capital in three to five years is really wishful thinking.
However, compared to the Ulanara family, his family had one advantage that Shen Wanqing couldn't refuse outright: the young master of the Dong'e family had never been married.
Two years ago, the head of the Dong'e family passed away. At that time, Dong'e Decheng, who was sixteen years old, was just on the eve of his engagement. Before the two families could make an agreement, his father died.
The girl over there was already sixteen years old. She had failed to be selected in two talent shows, so she had finally given up on getting married. But then this unexpected incident happened, and the marriage was thrown into turmoil again.
The girl didn't want to wait another three years, and she also felt that Dong E'de's family had lost its pillar, so it was uncertain whether their future would be good or bad. She insisted that her family break off the engagement.
They were just one step away from getting engaged. If Dong E Decheng stubbornly refused to break off the engagement, the woman's family would have no choice but to wait. Instead, Dong E Decheng decisively broke off the engagement. Based on this alone, Shen Wanqing felt that he was at least a man of principle.
However, no matter how good a person is, it can't overcome the fact that Dong E's family is far away in Jingzhou. Tong Jia's sixtieth birthday is in two years.
It was rare for a person to live to seventy in ancient times, and nowadays, living to seventy is considered a rare thing. Unlike many people in later generations who can't tell their age, a woman who is almost sixty is not like many women in later generations.
If Fu Xuan were to marry far away to Jingzhou, no one could say for sure whether she would ever have the chance to see Tongjia again. This one thing alone was enough to make Tongjia hesitate again and again.
Shen Wanqing placed the two companies' drafts side by side and then summarized and analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of both companies again.
“Grandma, I understand what you meant by having your nanny pass on a message to me, and I agreed. However, both families have their own advantages and disadvantages. I would like to hear your thoughts first before giving my opinion, otherwise I might not be able to say what you think, and I'm afraid you might have a problem with me.”
Tongjia knew that it would be difficult to choose between these two families. If Fuxuan married into one of them and did not live well, there was a great chance that she would be blamed. It was understandable that Shen Wanqing was unwilling to say anything now.
But it was precisely because of her attitude that Lady Tongjia had already guessed which family she thought was the best. She wanted to ask her why she preferred the Dong'e family, but then she heard the maid outside call out "Second Madam" with undisguised surprise.
Hearing the noise, Shen Wanqing got up and walked towards the door. She thought she had misheard, but it really was Shumulu standing at the door, her face pale. Shen Wanqing couldn't help but turn around to look at Tongjia, who was also looking at her with a blank expression. Both of their faces clearly conveyed the same meaning: Why is she here?
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