However, her two sons are quite broad-minded and usually treat their two younger sisters very well, so they probably don't have any objections.
"Okay, I'll do whatever you say. When our two sons get married, we'll move them out. After our daughter gets married, the two of us old folks can live together and be more comfortable."
The next day, officials from the Ministry of Rites arrived at the Li family, and the formalities of marriage and betrothal began. Tang Baozhu herself didn't know much about it, so she hired the most skilled matchmaker, fearing that the etiquette might not be thorough enough and would embarrass the princess.
During the formalities, Xiao Ping'an and Xiao Qiangzi's positions were announced. Xiao Ping'an went to the Hanlin Academy, becoming a minor official of the sixth rank. As for Xiao Qiangzi, he was appointed as a second-class bodyguard. Although he wanted to go to the frontier to fight, things changed after he received his official position.
The country is currently at peace and there is no war to fight. Even if someone wanted to join the army, they wouldn't have the opportunity. They could only spend two years in the palace first.
Tang Baozhu was quite satisfied with Xiao Qiangzi's official position. After all, he was too young, and it would be better for his family to wait a few years before he joined the army.
Time passed slowly, and the formal betrothal ceremony began. In the past year or so, Xiao Ping'an's official rank was promoted by one level, and he is now a sixth-rank official, although he is still on duty at the Hanlin Academy.
Because the Li family was betrothed to the princess, Xiao Qiangzi and his two daughters became very popular. When Tan Baozhu was looking for marriage partners for the three young girls, she not only considered the character of the other party, but also the situation of their family. If the family was too complicated, she would not agree.
Xiao Qiangzi's other half is a princess's companion who frequently enters and exits the palace, which is how she met Xiao Qiangzi. It's no wonder that someone likes him, given his good looks. Moreover, Xiao Qiangzi's martial arts skills are exceptional in all aspects, so it's not surprising that someone would be interested in him.
Once Tang Baozhu confirmed that there were no problems, she agreed and began to slowly go through the formalities. However, no matter what, the princess had to enter the house first, since Xiao Qiangzi was five years younger than his brother, but there was no need to rush.
Yao'er and Le'er's other half is Xiao Ping'an's colleague at the Hanlin Academy. Their family conditions are also quite good. Most importantly, Xiao Ping'an has already met them, approved of their character, and knows that they are talented and will definitely not do badly in the future. Their official positions will certainly not be low.
Although their family wasn't as well-off as mine, they agreed to the marriage because my family was so low-key, I was sure my in-laws were good people and didn't seem like the type to scheme against their daughter-in-law.
After having Yao'er and Le'er secretly check it out and confirming that they were quite satisfied, he finally agreed to the marriage.
Tang Baozhu's family had four weddings in three years. Two sons got married and two daughters got married. When they sent betrothal gifts and showed off their dowries, it was an eye-opener. People originally thought that the third-ranked scholar's family was poor, but they didn't expect them to be so rich.
Even if they still wanted to have their eyes on the children in the family, it was too late, because they were already engaged.
After Xiaoqiangzi got married, Tang Baozhu and Li Jun told the two brothers to separate their households and move out, including taking the talents they had trained back to their respective residences.
The property in Qingshan Town was divided among the four siblings, and they were told to arrange for someone to manage it themselves. The elderly couple would only have the estate with the hot springs left, and the profits from the hot spring estate would be distributed among the children.
Fortunately, when the family property was given to the two daughters, the two daughters-in-law were quite sensible and didn't say anything, or perhaps they didn't like it.
So when the family divided the property, Tang Baozhu gave each of her two daughters-in-law one million taels of silver. Thinking of their surprised expressions when they received the silver notes, she was quite happy.
The two daughters were also secretly given 500,000 taels of silver notes each. This was their dowry money to keep hidden away, and they were told to keep it safe and not to mention it unless absolutely necessary.
Originally, after preparing the dowry and betrothal gifts for them, Tang Baozhu and her husband didn't have much money left. However, since they went with the princess, they no longer had to worry about others taking away their money because they had a powerful backer.
That winter, a lot of vegetables were planted at the hot spring resort. When they sold off-season vegetables in winter, they made a lot of money. Tang Baozhu's emptied purse instantly swelled up again.
The business of selling off-season vegetables in winter is indeed particularly good, with prices more than ten times higher than in the normal season. The barren mountains are so large that they grow a lot, enough to supply almost half of the capital.
Of course, the emperor, the imperial concubine, and the empress, the parents of the daughter-in-law in the palace, must have sent the vegetables over when the first batch ripened. After all, they were relying on their daughter's influence to provide them with all the vegetarian food.
Of course, Tang Baozhu and Li Jun weren't fools. If other people in the palace wanted to eat, they would have to pay for it themselves. They just needed to bribe the top few people.
The two daughters felt very important to their husbands' family because Tang Baozhu often sent them out-of-season vegetables, which made their lives easier.
Although things were already going well, they managed to keep their in-laws happy. They had already promised Tang Baozhu that as long as their two daughters gave birth to a grandson before the age of 25, they wouldn't try to force anyone into the relationship between the young couple.
Although Tang Baozhu herself could guarantee that she wouldn't have any more children with her son and daughter-in-law, she couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be anyone else between her son-in-law and daughter. Now that her in-laws had made that guarantee, she could finally relax.
As long as they don't have more children, it's fine. They were originally planning to secretly give their two daughters fertility pills after they turned 18. Now they don't have to worry anymore. They can give the pills to their daughters after they are fully mature.
In fact, as long as both people are healthy, they will have children sooner or later. Most of the time, those who have difficulty having children are those who fail because of the power struggles within the household. Those who only have one wife have an overwhelming number of children.
The two daughters-in-law had already gotten pregnant less than half a year after their marriage. They each had their own trusted servants and nannies, so Tang Baozhu didn't have to worry about them at all.
If you pay too much attention, they might think you're up to something, or trying to do something when they're not available.
So Tang Baozhu didn't visit them often, but would send them things every now and then. They were all good things, including things she had stockpiled in her space that were good for pregnant women and babies. She didn't show favoritism to her two daughters-in-law.
As long as their two sons don't suffer losses in life, that's fine. How their lives turn out depends on how well the couple communicates.
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