The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 162 Marriage

The visitor was a middle-aged woman who was dressed fairly decently, wearing a coarse silk coat and skirt, with three hairpins in her hair, and a complete set of earrings, rings, and bracelets. Although they were all made of silver, they looked well-made.

When Chen Cui didn't go out, she basically didn't wear any jewelry. She just had an ordinary silver hairpin in her hair and wore cotton clothes at home. Compared with the other person, she looked much simpler.

Sure enough, when the visitor saw Chen Cui, he was slightly stunned. Perhaps he did not expect that this seventh-rank imperial edict would be so shabby.

Xu Dagui said that the other party claimed to be an official matchmaker from the government office, his surname was Xu, and he was entrusted by someone to propose marriage to the eldest son.

Chen Cui was speechless. Her eldest son became a scholar, and with him came the peach blossoms.

In fact, as early as when Changping passed the examination to become a student, when he returned to his hometown, the landlord in the town sent someone to tell him that he wanted to marry his daughter to Changping.

Chen Cui did not act on her own, but told Chang Ping and asked for his opinion. However, she felt that Chang Ping would not agree.

Sure enough, Changping refused without hesitation, saying that she wanted to concentrate on her studies and there was no need to worry about his marriage in the next few years.

But now the eldest son has achieved the title of scholar, and in the eyes of everyone, he is not young anymore. It is time for him to get engaged and married. I don’t know if his thoughts have changed.

Although Chen Cui would not promise anything, she still patiently listened to the story of the matchmaker Xu.

She came to propose marriage to the daughter of the rich Ning family in the city. The Ning family was an old family in the city. The family had been running the business for generations and owned hundreds of acres of fertile land and several shops, making the family very wealthy.

According to matchmaker Xu, the young lady of the Ning family is sixteen years old this year. She is beautiful, intelligent, virtuous and capable. She is a rare good girl, and she is a perfect match made in heaven for the scholar in their family.

Anyone who can be a matchmaker must be very good at speaking.

Perhaps because she saw that her attitude was not very enthusiastic, Matchmaker Xu said a lot of random things, saying how favored Miss Ning was in the family and how generous her dowry was. In short, it would be the best thing for their family to marry into the Ning family.

Chen Cui listened to what Xu the matchmaker said, but her face remained calm. When Xu the matchmaker was talking until her mouth was dry, she slowly picked up the teacup and said, "Thank you for coming here today. This is related to the child's lifelong event. I have to think about it more. Please come back in a few days."

Matchmaker Xu didn't take it seriously and said with a smile, "Of course, I'll wait for good news from the lady."

Matchmaking is not something that can be accomplished in one go. Even if the two families have already reached an agreement, it still takes three or four trips to make it happen. In a case like this where the woman takes the initiative to come to the man's house, it is normal for the man to inquire and consider.

What's more, before she left, Mrs. Chen had someone give her a red envelope. Together with the one given by the Ning family, she gained a lot today, and this trip was worth it.

After matchmaker Xu left, the two elders of the Chen family curiously asked Chen Cui what she was thinking.

Chen Cui smiled and said, "What ideas can I have? It still depends on the children's wishes."

No, actually she doesn't want her children to get married too early, but she can't say it too obviously because it goes against the current trend of parents wanting their children to get married and have children early.

Chen Cui can only influence their thoughts subtly in daily life, and talk about some views such as family responsibilities and the responsibilities of being a man.

She also used Wang Hengzhi's family story as an example, warning them to have integrity and principles in their conduct and to love their future wives, which would also be a choice that was beneficial to them.

The two elders of the Chen family sighed when they heard this. In fact, they had some thoughts in mind before coming to the capital.

Dahai’s daughter Caixia is their only granddaughter. She is fourteen years old this year and is the same age as Changan and Changfu.

In the eyes of the two elders of the Chen family, no matter which grandson their granddaughter pairs up with, it is a good marriage, and it also continues the relationship between the next generation of the Chen family and the Liu family.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that since the daughter has a seventh-rank imperial title and three promising sons, her life will only get better and better in the future.

But none of his three sons have much talent, they are just honest and hardworking. There is no outstanding grandchildren either, so it is hard to say what their future will be like.

When the old couple was alive, their daughter was close to her natal family and their grandchildren respected them. But after they passed away, their grandchildren each started their own families and might not be so close to their maternal family anymore.

Marriage was the best way they could think of to maintain the relationship between the two families. Caixia was not a girl who was not presentable. She was diligent and capable, and she was also good-looking. It was not impossible for the two families to become relatives.

However, after seeing the life of their daughter's family in the capital city and the daily lives of their grandchildren, they gradually gave up this idea.

The three grandsons are all working hard to pass the imperial examinations, and their future prospects are limitless. Although they think their granddaughter is great in every way, to put it bluntly, she is just an illiterate farm girl and is no match for her grandsons.

Especially when we see Cuicui’s teaching of Sui Sui, she is so attentive even to her own daughter, so she must have high expectations for her daughter-in-law.

If the old couple proposed marriage in an unrealistic way, it would only make their daughter embarrassed and hurt their relationship as siblings, making it awkward for them to get along in the future.

Therefore, the two elders of the Chen family swallowed the matter and pretended that they had never had such an idea.

In the evening, the three sons came home from school. After the family had dinner, Chen Cui left Suisui in the care of her parents and took her three sons to the study.

She talked about the matchmaker's visit today, explained the situation of the Ning family's daughter, and asked Changping's opinion.

Chang Ping's face did not show the shyness or blushing that a young man would have when talking about marriage. Instead, he frowned and said, "Mom, I've told you that I won't consider marriage in the next few years. If there is such a thing again in the future, just refuse it directly."

He is just a scholar now, and those who come to him for marriage are the landlords and wealthy businessmen in the capital. They just want to impress him with money, invest in him when he is not yet successful, and seek greater benefits in the future.

But his mother had told them about the family's financial situation some time ago, and he already knew that the family was not short of money and did not need to support their studies through marriage, so he did not need to care about the intentions of these people.

Of course, even if his family didn't have so much wealth, he wouldn't talk about marriage at this time.

His goal was to pass the imperial examination and become an official in the future. He had only taken the first step now, and it was the time for him to work hard and not allow other things to distract him from studying.

It won't be too late to talk about marriage after he becomes a Jinshi and is chosen as an official. By then, the woman he can marry will definitely not be such a woman.

As the saying goes, if you haven’t accomplished your studies, how can you take care of your family? A real man should be like this!

Changping's words immediately received positive responses from his two younger brothers. The three of them made bold statements one after another, saying that they would not consider marriage before passing the imperial examination. If this happened again, they would ask their mother to help them reject it.