The next day Qin Dewei went to Xu's house. He was not in a hurry to go in, but waited at the entrance of the alley for a while. Then he saw Mr. Zeng and walked to the gate of Xu's house together.
"Mr. Zeng, are you ready?" Qin Dewei unknowingly changed the title back: "I'm just meeting my mother today, so it's hard for me to speak for you from a position."
Mr. Zeng was worried, but he still responded casually: "Did you know that I have been socializing these past few days, so all the local scholars I met are encouraging me.
Mr. Gu Dongqiao even told me that the hope of the entire Nanjing literary world is on me, which puts a lot of pressure on me."
Qin Dewei: "..."
I don't know why, but I feel like I feel a deep malice coming from the whole city.
Standing at the gate of Xu's house, Qin Dewei hesitated and jumped around repeatedly, which surprised Mr. Zeng. It was rare to see Qin Dewei being so lazy.
Suddenly Qin Dewei said to the door: "Uncle, why don't you say anything?"
Menzi glanced at Qin Dewei and shook his head.
Qin Dewei pestered him and said, "Sir, please say something!"
Menzi scolded: "You already have the number of days in your mind, and you still talk nonsense!"
When the Juren Master came to visit, the treatment was indeed different. Commander Xu personally welcomed him out and took his seat in the hall.
Everyone is an old acquaintance, they are not shy little girls or boys, and there are no outsiders. Except for Commander Xu, Mrs. Xu, and Mrs. Zhou are also there.
After a few words of greeting, Mrs. Xu took the initiative to explain to Qin Dewei: "My little brother will definitely become famous in the future. Your mother has been working as a maid in my Xu family. It is not a long-term solution. If word spreads, it will not affect my little brother's reputation."
not good.
So, with your mother’s consent, I will help you find a good family so that your mother can have a stable settlement.”
Qin Dewei then asked: "The old lady means you have found it?"
Mrs. Xu said: "There happens to be a Baihu official whom my husband also knows. His wife died of illness last year and now she is a single widower.
If you marry like this, you will be the main wife. Moreover, this person has a loyal character and is about the same age as your mother. It seems that he is a perfect match."
When Qin Dewei heard this introduction, he also knew that Mrs. Xu had good intentions. It was normal for her to talk to a matchmaker, not to fool around.
But as a son, Qin Dewei really couldn't express his opinion directly, and he didn't dare to ask his mother's opinion easily. He had to be cautious, otherwise it would be irreversible if Mr. Zhou said "yes".
So Qin Dewei could only signal Mr. Zeng with his eyes, it's your turn to speak!
Mr. Zeng looked at Mrs. Zhou eagerly and asked, "What do you think of me, sister Zhou? As for my thoughts, you all know."
Zhou glanced at Mr. Zeng with a complicated expression, then at Qin Dewei, and sighed: "I should have known that you are all people with great ambitions. You yearn to make contributions and leave a name in history.
So you will definitely not settle for being ordinary, but not everyone is like you."
Mr. Zeng said in a rather obsessed tone: "Before and after I won the election, people in the world had two faces in front of me. There were many people who were arrogant at first and respectful at the end.
Only Sister Zhou treats me the same way before and after. It can be seen that Sister Zhou has a good character and is not a snobbish person who follows the crowd and flatters those who are superior and those who are inferior."
Qin Dewei: "..."
Mr. Zeng, your posture is not acceptable.
Just listen to Mrs. Zhou continue to say: "I don't ask for much wealth, I just want peace and stability. More than the above, less than the below, more than the next, work at sunrise and rest at sunset, the whole family is safe, and there is a companion who cares for me every day.
Sleep peacefully.”
Mr. Zeng responded with appreciation: "So I always thought that Sister Zhou must be a good wife."
Qin Dewei really couldn't bear it, Mr. Zeng was such a waste.
He turned around and asked Madam Xu: "Does the old man from a hundred households whom the old lady has connected have any children?"
Mrs. Xu answered truthfully: "I have a son who is seven or eight years old."
Qin Dewei asked again: "Are your parents still alive?"
Mrs. Xu continued to answer: "My parents are both here and over sixty, so I passed down the family officials from one hundred families to the next."
Qin Dewei asked again: "Do you have any brothers or sisters? Are there any other officials in the family?"
Mrs. Xu didn't take it seriously. It was too common to ask these questions when discussing marriage, so she continued to answer: "There are four brothers and sisters. He is the eldest son. There are no other officials in the family, only this one."
Qin Dewei sighed repeatedly and said in a tone that has experienced many vicissitudes of life: "If anyone marries this master of a hundred households, he will have to serve his parents-in-law and raise his ex-wife and young son. Brothers, sisters, and several families will also depend on this master of a hundred households."
Take care of it!
It's just that a mere official with hundreds of households is indeed more than enough, but if he can't even afford one or two servants, how many resources can he have to support the entire big family?
I don’t know if the family property has been divided. Anyway, it can be imagined that in this kind of life, noisy and noisy are inevitable. And for a new member of the family, there is also a lot of tolerance and acceptance!
If there are more children in the future, but there is only one hereditary official of a hundred households, what will happen to the other children? Can they only be the remnants of the military household, be driven by the superior officials to work as handymen, or go to farm fields?
I'm afraid that I will be busy all day long and have no leisure time, and I have to deal with my parents-in-law, brothers, sisters-in-law, sisters-in-law, etc. I am so tired, why do I still want peace and stability?"
Qin Dewei hissed a few more times and said: "Life is not a pastoral song, but a life of pots and pans. The ordinary and beautiful days of men farming and women weaving are all just imaginary paradises!"
As the saying goes, distance brings beauty, my dear mother, you have been in a rich family for a long time, and you often have unrealistic illusions about the real life outside."
Everyone present: "..."
Such words, which have been tortured by life, actually come from the mouth of a thirteen-year-old kid?
Qin Dewei drank tea calmly. Although he had never been married in his two lives, he had read a lot of Weibo in his previous life, so he naturally understood.
Seeing that Mr. Zeng could only look at him blankly, Qin Dewei felt really angry and asked, "Mr. Zeng, how is the current situation of your father's hall?"
Mr. Zeng said sadly: "Both my parents are gone."
Qin Dewei continued to ask: "Are there any brothers and sisters?"
Mr. Zeng replied: "The ancestral clan is in Taizhou, Zhejiang. My father's generation only settled in Yangzhou. There are no other clansmen in South Zhili."
Qin Dewei asked again abruptly: "Have you ever given birth to children outside?"
Mr. Zeng replied solemnly: "Of course not! How can I be a dissolute person!"
Qin Dewei sighed and said: "I have a car and a house, my parents are dead, and I will have to go out to serve as an official in the future. I don't have any family to take care of me. I can only use rough-handed government servants. Mr. Zeng is really a pitiful person!"
Commander Xu was stunned for a long time and couldn't help but ask: "What do you mean by having a car?"
Qin Dewei's science popularization said: "Car, bus! In the Han Dynasty, buses were used to send virtuous people to the capital. Nowadays, it is likened to going to Beijing to rush for the exam. Mr. Zeng passed the provincial examination and could go to the capital to take the examination. Doesn't it mean that he has a car?"
Qin Dewei sighed secretly. He looked to his thigh to judge his official status and his stepfather to judge his character. It was really worrying.
He was a filial son. From the beginning to the end, he never advised his mother to marry anyone, nor did he advise her not to marry.
