When Sheng Changbai spoke, he deliberately carried some emotions, and his words contained a hint of anger and sarcasm.
After all, the Zhou Dynasty was a feudal society where men were superior to women. It was always not a glorious thing for a man to control a woman.
The status of women in Dazhou is not low, and there are fierce wives in various families. It is not uncommon to see a lion roaring in the east of the river.
But those who can't be controlled by others are the head wives. Like Sheng Hong, who has to get a concubine to agree to everything. It's rare to be satisfied.
No matter how you look at it, Sheng Hong is not a man enough. According to the standards of scholars, Sheng Hong cannot even do the Qi family.
"Bai'er, you, Miss Lin, is Mo Lan's biological mother after all. It's a great pity that she can't personally arrange the marriage for her daughter. Mo Lan's marriage must be approved by her."
Sheng Hong explained awkwardly, because Lin Zhishuang always used "coaxing" methods to PUA Sheng Hong.
Sheng Hong didn't have much rebellious psychology, and I quite enjoyed it.
"Then what father means is that if Lin Xiaoniang remains unwilling, Mo Lan's marriage will not be finalized?" Sheng Changbai asked rhetorically.
"That can't be left to her. I'm going to hold a cultural gathering in a few days and call a few children to my home to find an opportunity for mother and daughter to see each other face to face."
Sheng Hong still has some sense. Without Lin Zongshuang, Mo Lan will give up if he doesn't want to. He is still trying to find a way to make Lin Zongshuang and Mo Lan accept it.
But if persuasion fails, it's hard to say whether Sheng Hong can forcefully decide to give Mo Lan a shabby move.
"Okay, let's arrange it during Xiu Mu. I will also participate to see how the moves my father has chosen are going to be, and also to help the fourth sister test her talents and skills." Sheng Changbai agreed and was about to arrive. Time to check it out.
Although Mo Lan and Lin Zongshuang were optimistic about Sheng Hong's work from a humble family.
I don't care about appearance, talent, education, or character. I simply look down on my humble family background.
But according to the current conditions, Mo Lan has no possibility of marrying high.
Maybe there are some playboys among the nobles, who are not the right wife for them.
Just like Gu Tingye's before, his reputation was completely ruined and he was hated by everyone.
There is a slight possibility that such a person would be willing to find Mo Lan with such conditions.
But when encountering such a descendant of Xu Gui, Lin Zhishuang and Mo Lan should pick out the person's appearance, talent, learning, and character.
People with family background dislike character and talent; people with character and talent dislike people without family background.
Lin Zoshuang and Mo Lan just want to have both.
But there is no way a person like Qi Heng, who has both of them, would marry a woman with Mo Lan's basic conditions.
In short, without some tricks, Mo Lan had no chance of marrying her ideal noble man.
In the end, Mo Lan was destined to marry into a poor family.
Compared to marrying a middle-aged gentleman whose wife died to fill a house, marrying a high-ranking official in the court to be a concubine for a lot of old men, or marrying a wealthy businessman and landlord in a rural area.
Finding a potential candidate from a poor family was Mo Lan's best choice.
"Even if you don't mention it, I will ask you and Chang Feng to participate together. You are both young people. After you get to know each other, you can get along with each other in private. What I have heard about is that they have good character, but this is just a rumor. Real people How good the quality is, you still have to get in touch with it to know.”
After receiving a lesson from Hua Lan, Sheng Hong became more cautious in arranging his children's marriages.
Normal people still take a hard time and gain wisdom.
…
The cultural conference requires a little preparation time to choose a theme, choose a time, and send out invitations.
The cultural gathering has not been held yet, and Mo Lan's marriage has not progressed yet.
No one has taken the initiative to promote Minglan's marriage.
On the contrary, there has been progress, and someone has already chased him to his home.
"Sir, the old lady's old friend, the old lady, is here. She wants to meet the brothers and sisters at home. The old lady has told you to go to the Shou'an Hall after you leave the office."
After returning home and entering his courtyard, Yang Hao said to Sheng Changbai.
"Okay, wait a minute, I'll go over there."
In this era, the way to show closeness to people is to take them to meet their family members.
After Sheng Changbai changed clothes, washed and tidied up, he came to Shou'an Hall.
Inside, I saw four people sitting in the main hall of Shou'an Hall, with old lady Sheng and a strange old lady sitting at the top.
At the bottom sat Minglan and a strange young man.
Two old people and two young people were chatting separately, and the atmosphere seemed pretty good.
The other grandchildren of the Sheng family are all idlers. They must have seen Mrs. He at home all day long.
When Sheng Changbai arrived, these were the only people in the room.
"Changbai, you are back from the office. Let me introduce you. This is the grandmother of the He family. This is He Hongwen..."
After greeting each other, the two old ladies chatted in the room.
Sheng Changbai and Minglan took He Hongwen around the garden of the Sheng family.
At the beginning, it was necessary for Mrs. Sheng to expand this garden at home.
When guests come to your home, you always have somewhere to wander around, so you don't have to stay in the house all the time.
After coming out, the main thing was for Minglan and He Hongwen to talk.
The two of them had been in contact for a while in Youyang and were already more familiar with each other.
When the He family's ancestors and grandchildren come to the Sheng family, they also come to Minglan. This is something that both families know very well.
Sheng Changbai followed the two of them mainly to avoid suspicion.
With Sheng Changbai following him, there will be no situation where a man is alone and a woman is alone.
With the current relationship between the two of them, it is not suitable for them to be too close.
It's quite troublesome to give two people space to get in touch without getting too close.
Of course, Sheng Changbai and He Hongwen also talked a little bit. What the two of them could talk about was the customs and medicine of various places.
He Hongwen did not take part in the imperial examination and only wanted to devote himself to medicine.
Sheng Changbai and He Hongwen talked about medicine, which was also a test of He Hongwen's professional talent.
He Hongwen has a good foundation in medicine, but what he lacks now is experience in diagnosis.
As worthy of the family tradition of being an imperial doctor for generations, studying medicine is no better than a scholar taking the imperial examination. He studies less and suffers a lot more.
At this age, He Hongwen has such a solid foundation, which shows that he is a smart and motivated person.
Being able to learn my major well will gain me a lot of points with Sheng Changbai.
After waiting for the He family's grandparents to leave, Sheng Changbai called Minglan and asked
"Sixth sister, what do you think of Brother He?"
"Brother from the He family is very nice, with good character and good medical skills. I heard that brother from the He family has started to visit the hospital for medical treatment." Minglan replied politely.
"In other aspects, does Sixth Sister have any comments about Brother He?"
"Brother He really knows a lot. Brother He has also read the medical books and manuals written by you, second brother." Minglan's answer obviously didn't answer the question.
The Three-Character Classic brought over by Sheng Changbai was promoted by the emperor, and the effect was very good. It has been spread to various counties and villages.
The promotion of the Barefoot Doctor's Handbook has been pretty good over the years, and this book is already available in most state capitals throughout the country.
It is still far from Sheng Changbai's idea of having a copy in every village, but it can be considered a big step forward.
"That's all, Sixth Sister, you are a smart and perceptive person, and you have an old lady to help you, so my second brother won't ask any more questions about your affairs."
After all, she is still a thirteen-year-old girl, and Minglan is still shy to express her feelings.
Minglan's answers were all clichés.
Sheng Changbai really couldn't decide what Minglan's attitude towards He Hongwen was now.
But in terms of external conditions alone, without Qi Heng to compare with, He Hongwen is still excellent in all aspects.
Minglan's impression of He Hongwen should not be bad, and she should still have a positive attitude towards the union of the two people.
It seems that those who are proactive have a better chance than those who are passive.
He Hongwen had already chased him to the capital, and Sheng Changbai was originally more optimistic about Li Yu, who was still in his hometown in Youyang.
When Li Yu passed the exam in his hometown and went to Tokyo for Spring Festival.
Maybe Minglan and He Hongwen's marriage has already been decided.
If you are decisive, you will have a chance; if you hesitate, you will be defeated. This makes sense.
After Sheng Changbai was worried about the marriage of Sheng Laosi and Sheng Laoliu, the only thing missing was the fifth Sheng, Sheng Rulan.
Mo Lan has his own little wife to care about, and Minglan has an old lady to take care of her.
The only one left was Ru Lan, who was already fourteen, not too young, and only a few months behind Mo Lan.
But Ru Lan's father, Sheng Hong, has been worried about Mo Lan during this period.
Not to mention that Sheng Hong already had a preference for Mo Lan, even if they were ranked according to their age, it was right for Sheng Hong to discuss Luo Mo Lan's marriage first.
Her mother, Wang Ruofu, also had to take care of Sheng Changbai's marriage and could not take care of Ru Lan at all.
Ru Lan is a legitimate daughter, but now she is in a situation where her father doesn't kiss her and her mother doesn't care about her.
"My mother has been working hard recently. I asked the kitchen to stew some good bird's nests and sent them to my mother."
Wang Ruofu couldn't take care of Ru Lan, so Sheng Changbai could only find an opportunity to remind her.
"My mother is willing to be a little bit tired in organizing your marriage."
Wang Ruofu seemed to be in a good mood, but he could indeed see some fatigue on his face.
To hold a traditional wedding, there are so many things that need to be prepared.
The previous busy period was all about preparing the betrothal gift. Now that the betrothal gift has just been delivered, there are still many things to do next.
The first step is to invite guests and distribute invitations.
Marriage is a big event, all kinds of in-laws have old friends, and as long as the friendship is sufficient, invitations will be sent.
No matter where you are or how far you are from Bianjing, you must try your best to be polite.
Depending on the closeness, identity, and status of the guests, there is a need to arrange when to send them off and who to arrange to send them off.
The second thing is the house. Sheng Changbai still lives at home after getting married.
There is no need to buy a house, but the original courtyard is used as a wedding room and needs to be repainted and decorated.
The entire Sheng family yard also needs to be repaired as a whole.
Then there are the things that need to be used at the wedding, from the sedan chair, the flags, firecrackers, various braziers, scales and other items that need to be used.
Red cloth, paper cutting, dress for home decoration.
When Sheng Changbai gets married, of course it is not enough to just make a few sets of clothes for Sheng Changbai.
Even the servants at home have to make a suit of clothes for each of them, so that it is festive and decent for receiving guests.
Then there is the matter of arranging dozens of banquet tables, and preparing all kinds of drinks, tea, rare mountain delicacies, and dried seafood in advance.
You also need to make reservations for the maids and chef teams from major restaurants that will come to help you on the wedding day.
There are special people in Bianjing City who handle this kind of thing.
Business is indeed prosperous in Dazhou, and there are prototypes of such wedding companies.
"Thank you for your hard work, mother. There is still some time left before the end of the day. It's better for mother not to work too hard. She still needs to pay attention to her health. If mother is exhausted from this, it will be unfilial to her children."
The wedding process is a bit complicated, although it has a sense of ceremony, but it is also really tiring.
It is better to simply do one to save worry, but the prosperous Sheng family needs face and dignity.
The woman, Hai Chaoyun, is the official daughter of the Hai family, a long-established official, and the legitimate daughter of a wealthy family. She also represents the face of the family.
No matter where you are concerned, this wedding is not suitable for simplicity.
"It's enough for you to have this heart. It's said that there will still be some time, but there is still so much time. The day is coming in less than a month. How can I not arrange everything as soon as possible."
"Yes, but mother doesn't have to take care of everything herself. If you can leave things to the servants, let them do it."
At home, only Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai want to go to work normally and not be busy.
Others, Sheng Changfeng, wanted to send out invitations on behalf of the Sheng family, and Sanlan wanted to prepare gifts for Sheng Changbai, hand-embroidered embroidery.
Although except for Minglan embroidery, Mo Lan and Ru Lan all work in partnership with the embroiderer and let her do the main work, but this is still a lot more work.
The servants at home are even busier and have more things to do, and the main stewards are not enough.
Not only does he have to send invitations everywhere on behalf of the Sheng family, but he also has to be responsible for purchasing. One person can't wait to be divided into two tasks.
"Just wait a minute. After I have been busy these days and arrange everything, I can feel a little more relaxed. When your marriage is finished, I will only have to worry about your sister Rulan."
"During this period, the marriages of the fourth sister and the sixth sister are being planned. I wonder what mother thinks about Ru Lan's marriage?"
Sheng Changbai was waiting for Wang Ruofoti Rulan. After hearing this, he quickly answered.
"What I originally wanted was to marry Ru Lan back to your uncle's house. I had expressed my intention to your uncle a long time ago, and your uncle was originally willing. But recently I wrote to ask again, and I found out that you
Aunt Kang, promised Yuan'er to your uncle's family, and now Rulan has no whereabouts."
This time it was Sheng Changbai who mistook Wang Ruofu. Wang Ruofu's mother did not completely ignore Ru Lan's marriage.
It's just that Wang Ruofu had a good plan. Like many women of this era, he married his daughter back to his natal family.
However, there was only one son among the three generations of the Wang family, so Aunt Kang had overtaken her plan.
Apart from the fact that the blood relationship is too close, close relatives are not suitable for marriage.
Considering the family background of the Wang family, a Ru Lan would definitely be considered a good match.
After all, the Wang family is after the Grand Master, and there is still some shadow left, and the descendants can serve as officials.
Although Uncle Wang's talents are average and he cannot achieve much in the officialdom, he is also a stable and stable person and is a qualified and established leader.
From Wang Ruofu's huge dowry, we can know that the Wang family has rich wealth.
Although Cousin Wang's talents are average, he is honest enough and doesn't have any fickle thoughts or bad habits.
It seems that like Uncle Wang, he has the ability to be a responsible person.
You can also rely on your grandfather's legacy and become an official in the court. There is no shortage of ways out.
Apart from the Wang family, it would be very difficult for Ru Lan to find a marriage where the two families knew each other well, and the man had an official position and a rich family fortune.