Guoxiang people thought they knew Chen Tongpao well. In his opinion, what Chen Shilang meant by "being able to write and be smart and witty" was nothing more than finding a chess piece for him that he was willing to use and a tool to pass on the family line.
That's all. People in Hunan have long been accustomed to Chen Tongpao's otherworldly calmness, but now after communicating with him, they still feel shuddering, and all the alcohol in their bodies has been driven away.
He walked down from the restaurant, paid for the food and drinks with the shopkeeper, and went to the street to catch some air, and his head suddenly stopped feeling dizzy. The Xiang people felt that this was not bad, at least it would not disturb them from doing their own work.
He only rested for a moment in the mansion, and then began to visit everywhere, claiming that his friends planned to take concubines, and asked someone to help introduce some beautiful women. It happened that an official from the court met the concubine, and told him,
A matchmaker once came to her door and told her that there was a businessman surnamed Song in Xicheng. He had a large business and raised three sons and four daughters. However, due to recent years,
The situation was bleak, he became more and more degenerate, and was extremely poor. Because he still owed a lot of debts outside, he sold tables and chairs, but still couldn't pay for it, so he thought of selling his third daughter as a concubine. But the businessman was extremely stubborn.
He refused to let his daughter live in an ordinary family unless she was a high-ranking official. He also talked about many of his daughter's qualities, which were consistent with Chen Tongpao's requirements.
The people in Guoxiang were overjoyed and reported the news to their colleagues. After hearing this, they hurriedly ordered their servants to go to Xicheng to inquire about the situation and meet the businessman. The latter heard that it was Chen Shilang who wanted to take a concubine, so he couldn't help but say a few things
With the word 'good', I wanted to put my daughter in the car immediately and take her to the Chen Mansion. Seeing his enthusiasm, the servant was afraid of dampening his interest, so he only said slowly
: "My master is not a ruthless person, but he will eventually have to face the bloody storms in the officialdom, and his requirements for his family will naturally be stricter. Your old daughter not only has to be obedient, but she also has to understand the current situation, and even have some
Only those who have the awareness that they will die for me can do the job. If Mr. Chen is satisfied, he will naturally not forget his lover outside the staff and send money here every year."
How could the Song merchant care about all this? He flattered every word he heard and vowed never to disappoint Chen Shilang, so he sent the servant away and went to teach his daughter in the house.
Ever since the third daughter heard that she was going to be a concubine in another house, she had been crying so hard that her eyes were blood-red, and no one could stop her. After three or five days, she gradually became tired of crying, her face became as yellow as wax, she couldn't swallow her food, and her voice became louder and louder.
The hoarseness made her mother burst into tears and her father was even more upset.
On this day, a merchant from the Song Dynasty came to the inner room to talk to his daughter and told her that he had arranged for Chen Tongpao, the minister of civil affairs, to live in his house. After everything was settled, he would send someone to greet her.
The third daughter knew that the situation was irreversible, so she just lowered her head and sobbed without uttering a word.
The merchant of the Song Dynasty sighed: "Now that our family situation is getting worse and worse, if we can survive like this, we will only be able to beg for money, which will be even more destructive for you. It is better to find a high-class family. Although the status is worse, the food and clothing are good.
Don't worry, just do it as hard as you can."
The third daughter did not argue, grabbed the quilt, and said in a trembling voice: "Okay, I will listen to daddy..."
Merchant Song held the edge of the bed and said: "This Tongpao Chen has always been involved in officialdom. He has a reputation for being ruthless and is not easy to serve. You usually work in the accounting room with your father and know some worldly principles. You can barely deal with him."
That's enough. But when you get to him, remember not to act arbitrarily, or even show any unnecessary joy, anger, or sorrow, just do it according to his wishes."
The third daughter's eyes flashed clear again. She was startled, then flicked away the tears with her left hand, and asked in an extremely hoarse voice: "Doesn't show joy, anger, sorrow and joy... Is this Chen Tongpao such a person...
…”
After hearing this, her father was speechless for a long time. He slowly stood up and turned around, leaving only his back to her: "I don't know even if I am a father. You should take good care of yourself in the future and don't think about it anymore..."
The third daughter understood what her father's words meant. She watched his back pass in front of her. The setting sun outside the house was hitting her dull face, and the light from her eyes was gradually swallowed up by the unspeakable void.
Three days later, the Song merchant and Chen Tongpao signed a document, and the latter contributed one hundred and fifty taels to bring his daughter Song into the mansion. The third daughter had no choice but to dress up for a long time, and then hesitantly got on the Chen family's sedan chair.
, put on a red gauze hijab, asked someone to pick him up, and left home in a bumpy way.
Chen Tongpao personally greeted her in front of the mansion. When he arrived at the sedan, he held Mrs. Song's two delicate hands and helped her out. He entered the central hall, paid homage to the ancestors' memorial tablets, and then led her to see Zhuo Lengping, the main room, and called her softly.
Kneel down.
Leng Ping looked at the girl kneeling tightly on the ground. She was only eighteen or nineteen years old, but she looked exactly like herself back then. She suddenly felt sad and wanted to look up to see what kind of expression Chen Tongpao had when facing this scene.
, but for fear of the consequences of his extra actions, he just looked numbly at Mr. Song's long black hair, sitting like a sculpture.
This was exactly the scene that Chen Tongpao was satisfied with. He didn't want two people who were working for his own purposes to have any trouble with each other, so he hurriedly ordered Mrs. Song to stand up and gave her a polite smile; the latter smiled in fear.
With more than a dozen servants holding candles leading the way, the two of them walked along the bright red lights to the front of the bedroom. Tongpao Chen asked Mr. Song to go first, then he closed the door behind him and blew out all the lights in the room.
The servants knew that Mr. Chen was going to consummate their marriage, so they ordered everyone to disperse and go to the middle hall to drink.
The next morning, Guoxiang was very happy to receive the money as a reward from Tongpao Chen. Although he heard about her experience at the house of a Song merchant from idlers, he did not feel any guilt and argued: "This is his third daughter."
I'm so squeamish that I don't know the benefits of Mr. Chen. Once the marriage is consummated today, we can live happily ever after." By the way, I wrapped thirty taels of silver for him, so I should treat him as a congratulatory gift.
Not long after Chen Tongpao welcomed his new concubine, he received an order from above in just over ten days, requiring him to go to Shandong immediately to supervise the school without neglect. So he hurriedly left his wife and concubines at home and went to the palace to meet
Meet Yan Wen.
Yan Wen selected two clerks for him, gave some more instructions, and then ordered some of the best horses in the garden to be prepared, urging them to set off quickly; everyone received the order.
The land of Shandong has changed a lot since Ye Yongjia left many years ago. The prefect of Jinan was replaced three times, and in the fourth term, he was demoted due to repeated disasters. The new prefect was no more than a director.
It was really frustrating to have such a heavy burden lifted by Yan Wen in half a year.
"Your Excellency, the newly established county school in Qufu and the affairs of Xuetian..."
"That's enough." Before the magistrate had finished listening, he waved his hand and replied helplessly: "If it doesn't work, just keep talking until the squires are satisfied!"