The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 222: Marriage in Chang'an

Since she was going to have a son, Chen Cui asked Zhang Ruomei to reject the Gu family's proposal and start preparing to propose to the Zhang family.

After Zhang Ruomei got the news, she ran over and asked Chen Cui for details.

"I never thought that Changan likes a girl like this!" Zhang Ruomei exclaimed.

"Yes, I didn't expect that. I'll have to trouble you to act as a matchmaker for this matter. After all, Miss Zhang's family is also from Shuzhong, and they have some connection with your family."

"Don't worry about this matter. For my nephew Chang'an, I will definitely do my best. But I can't guarantee anything about General Zhang. After all, I got married early and have never had any contact with his family. I don't know much about the situation inside."

Zhang Ruomei said hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. Just do your best and leave the rest to fate." Chen Cui said seriously.

The reason why she said this was because Zhang Hongjuan's father, Zhang Kaishan, originally opened a martial arts school in Shuzhong. There were many talented disciples among his disciples. Later, somehow, he became connected with the Zhang family where Zhang Ruomei was, and the two families gradually began to interact.

When the emperor was still the King of Shu, he led his men to raid the base camp of the Western Rong people. Due to lack of manpower, he conscripted the Zhang family and their disciples to join the army to fight the enemy.

Zhang Kaishan and his disciples made many contributions in the war to wipe out the Western Rong people. After the current emperor ascended the throne, he rewarded people according to their merits. Zhang Kaishan went from being a commoner to an official and was given the title of General Xuanwu, a fourth-rank official. Many of his disciples were also rewarded.

Although Zhang Ruomei is a daughter of the Zhang family and is of the same generation as Zhang Kaishan, she has been married for many years and as her husband is in office, she has little contact with Zhang Kaishan and is not familiar with him.

It was only this year when Zhang Kaishan was transferred to the capital that the two families began to visit each other.

However, one of the two families was a civil servant and the other was a military general, and they were not even in the same circle, so they didn't know much about his family's affairs.

"But you have to be prepared. Hongjuan has been practicing martial arts since she was a child. She loves to wield spears and sticks. She is not the kind of lady you have seen. Do you really want to marry such a daughter-in-law?"

Zhang Ruomei said the ugly words up front to avoid being dissatisfied with the person after he or she gets married, which would cause conflicts and put her in a difficult position.

"Don't worry, I have already seen Miss Zhang's heroic spirit." Chen Cui said with a smile.

That day, after Zhang Hongjuan tamed their horses, she turned around and jumped onto her own horse and rode away. Chen Cui saw it all.

This girl never touched the ground from beginning to end. Not to mention her son, even she felt that she was extremely cool!

Who didn’t have a martial arts dream when they were young? When I was young, I often wrapped myself in bed sheets and pretended to be a female warrior!

It's a pity that her old bones are not strong enough. The most she can do is practice the Five Animal Exercises and Eight Section Brocade to strengthen her body. It is impossible for her to have that kind of skills.

However, Suisui is still young, so she can learn some kung fu for self-defense.

Chen Cui's eyes lit up and she immediately thought of a good idea.

But then she began to shake her head again. The most important thing right now was the marriage between Chang'an and Miss Zhang. Now the girl had not been married yet, so they had to wait until the marriage was settled before talking about other things.

However, what she didn't expect was that the marriage would go much more smoothly than she had imagined.

Zhang Mansion.

Zhang Kaishan sat in the main seat angrily, complaining to his wife: "Isn't he just a seventh-rank official? I am now a fourth-rank general after all, and my daughter is a daughter of a general. Why should I marry her to a peasant boy with no background?"

Mrs. Zhang was so angry that she put her hands on her waist and said, "Listen, you are so arrogant. When we opened a martial arts school, you had to bow and scrape when you saw the county magistrate. You were a small official of the seventh rank. If he was sent out, he would be the county magistrate. Now that you are wearing an official uniform, you have forgotten your roots. You have forgotten the days when you begged for food on the street and fought with dogs for food. You still say that he is a farm boy. How shameless!"

Zhang Kaishan was originally from a farming family. Both his parents had passed away, and the only house and land in his family were occupied by his uncle. As a young boy, he was reduced to begging on the streets and fainted from hunger on the streets.

Later, he was rescued by his father-in-law who ran a martial arts school. He was accepted as an apprentice, married his junior sister, and inherited his father-in-law's martial arts school. He turned the small martial arts school into a prosperous one, and this is how the Zhang Family Martial Arts School came to be known.

The two are nominally husband and wife, but in fact they are childhood sweethearts who grew up together. He is used to being "bullied" by his sister. Even though he is now an official and is the majestic General Zhang outside, he still listens to his wife at home and is a typical "henpecked man".

But since it concerns his daughter's life, he had to express his opinion. He muttered, "We can't just promise our daughter away like this. We have to look for someone better. There are so many good families in the capital. There must be someone better!"

Madam Zhang said angrily, "You're still looking for it. We've been in Beijing for more than half a year. Look at the well-known families in Beijing. How many are willing to associate with us? Besides, don't you know what my daughter is thinking? She likes gentle and refined scholars. The second son of the Liu family is exactly what she likes. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come out to meet him when he came to her house a few days ago. The two of them even had a very pleasant conversation."

Zhang Kaishan sighed: "Ah, we have so many disciples, why doesn't Juan like any of them? She has to like that pretty boy!"

Madam Zhang glanced at him sideways, "If you weren't an official, we wouldn't be able to marry that pretty boy. I've made inquiries. Although Mr. Liu's family has lost his father, his three brothers are all Jinshi. His eldest brother even married the daughter of the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice. She's not some farm boy as you say. His family has done several profitable businesses with the fourth aunt of the Zhang family who came today. The family is well-off. Our daughter will definitely not suffer if she marries him!"

She knew that her husband was reluctant to let his daughter get married, fearing that she would suffer disadvantage or be wronged if she married into a wealthy family. However, her daughter Juan was already seventeen years old and had always been a wild child at home with little discipline. He originally wanted to find a son-in-law from among the disciples of his own martial arts school so that his daughter would be protected by him and would not be bullied.

But who knew that her husband would have such good fortune. Now that he has become an official, my daughter has made it clear that she doesn't like those fellow apprentices and only likes scholars. This makes it a bit difficult to deal with.

Because their family came from the underworld, not to mention the civil officials, even the military generals looked down on their background and were unwilling to have any contact with them. There was simply no suitable family for them to marry into.

But they also wanted to fulfill their daughter's wishes, so they gave birth to four sons before they had a daughter. She was spoiled and brought up, and neither of them could bear to disappoint her.

Today, the second son of the Liu family is already the best choice for a son-in-law, and the daughter herself likes him, which is the most important thing.

Zhang Kaishan was helpless: "Then go ask your daughter what she thinks. If she is willing to have that boy, I won't say anything!"

Mrs. Zhang glared at him. Why didn’t he say it earlier? It made her waste so much time talking about it. What a shame!