Xu Zhi naturally knew that her family planned for her and Zheng Boyuan to get married after the New Year. This was something Xu Zhi looked forward to, but it was also something that made her a little sad. Getting married meant leaving the home she had lived in for more than ten years, and it meant that she would have to face the ups and downs of life alone and could no longer be a little girl hiding behind her parents and grandparents.
Zheng Boyuan's situation is very special. He is an adopted son. Although he is responsible for the continuation of the family line of the second branch, he cannot be the head of the household. Although the Zheng family has divided the family into two branches, Zheng Boyuan's biological father is still alive, and there is also a grandmother who tries her best to protect Zheng Boyuan and his sister. Most importantly, the current head of the Zheng family is his second wife, and she is a stepmother who sees Zheng Boyuan as a thorn in her side.
When I return to the capital with Zheng Boyuan, I will inevitably have to deal with these people. I may even suffer a lot of grievances because of the existence of Zheng Boyuan's biological father. Although there is no principle of "one son with two fathers", the law is the law and human feelings are human feelings. In the future, not only Zheng Boyuan, but also myself, will have to treat the Marquis of Pingxi with respect and show respect to the Marquis of Pingxi. Zheng Boyuan went to great lengths to be adopted by his sister in order to secure a future for himself and his sister and to escape the control of his stepmother and avoid being harmed by her.
Xu Zhi had considered all these issues and seriously planned how to get along with the Zheng family if she really wanted to return to the capital. Although the Pingxi Marquis's Mansion had separated the second branch and set aside three large courtyards on the back wall of the mansion as their residence, there was not enough space to accommodate the whole family if she really wanted to go back. Xu Zhi felt that it was impossible to buy a house outside. If she really bought a house outside and moved out with the whole family, people would say that she was unfilial and unjust.
The wedding was held in Hexi. Zheng Boyuan's current courtyard was not enough, so he found another large courtyard with five courtyards. All the houses in Hexi were built by Xu Rao under a unified plan. There were not many courtyards with five courtyards in the whole county. Zheng Boyuan had to go to great lengths to find this courtyard. This courtyard belonged to a local family in Hexi. The child of that family had become successful. He used to be a shop assistant in a warehouse. He was clever and willing to learn. After the owner opened a branch in Ganzhou, he sent the shop assistant there as the head manager. The shop assistant bought a house in Ganzhou and sent his parents, wife and children there with him.
The shopkeeper's father was reluctant to sell the house in Hexi, saying it was his ancestral home and that his children's business had only prospered after they moved there. He planned to return to live out his retirement there. Zheng Boyuan originally intended to buy it, but the shopkeeper disagreed. Zheng Boyuan also felt that he couldn't live in this small town forever, so he rented it.
The courtyard had only been built a few years ago, and everything was very new. Before the New Year, Granny Wang found several craftsmen to come and inspect the place. Braving the severe cold, she began to repair the house. Some places needed to be repainted, but fortunately, there were no major repairs required.
Winter in Hexi was truly bitterly cold. Every day, besides helping Granny Lu check the household accounts and arranging the servants' shopping, Xu Zhi was busy preparing her dowry. Xu Zhi took her marriage very seriously. Time was too tight, and she didn't have time to embroider her wedding dress herself, but the red veil and the pair of mandarin duck pillows were all embroidered by Xu Zhi stitch by stitch.
Xu Zhi's embroidery skills were not only honed little by little under the guidance of Granny Lu; embroidery was once Xu Zhi's livelihood.
Following the Duke's mansion, they endured wind and rain all the way. When they arrived at their lodging, Xu Zhi began learning embroidery from a skilled nanny who served the Duke's family. This nanny was a dowry maid who accompanied the Duke's family, so her needlework skills were naturally excellent.
Xu Zhi had a clear understanding of the situation. To the Duke's mansion, she was someone who was dispensable. If she wanted to continue following the Duke's mansion, she had to learn a skill that could earn money. Only by earning money could she support herself and make the people in the Duke's mansion feel that she still had value.
Xu Zhi was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl at that time. She knew very well that although the Duke's mansion was an exile, if she left the mansion, as a weak woman, it would be very difficult to find a way out in that environment. At the beginning of the Duke's mansion's exile, Xu Zhi did support herself with her embroidery. Unfortunately, later the people of the Duke's mansion thought that they could get more money by selling her. Xu Zhi knew that the Duchess also felt that her son would die after Xu Zhi married into the family. In the capital, she would not have to see her, but in Lingnan, she would be seen by her side every day. The Duchess felt a little disgusted by this. Just then, someone came to her and wanted to buy Xu Zhi to be his wife. The Duchess sold her without saying a word.
These were the things Xu Zhi recalled while doing needlework. The more Xu Zhi thought about it, the stranger her marriage seemed. It was either a substitute marriage or an early marriage, so she couldn't get married like other girls.
The red veil in her hand was almost finished being embroidered. Xu Zhi cut off the thread with scissors, picked it up and examined it. The bright red silk was embroidered with a pattern of blooming flowers and wealth. The veil was edged all around and had tassels at the four corners. It looked both rich and magnificent. Xu Zhi couldn't help but nod.
Although the marriage was forced upon her, Xu Zhi still didn't want to compromise herself too much. She wanted to make all the things that other girls could have when they got married. Her wedding dress was brought from Jinxiu Pavilion in the capital. The old lady arranged for someone to make it according to Xu Zhi's measurements, and asked the best craftsmen at Jinxiu Pavilion to rush it out.
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