boyutpedia Chapter 105 Bastard Farming 9
Chapter 105 Bastard Farming 9
Matchmaker Wang visited the Cui Mansion with gifts prepared by Mrs. Zhao from the Li Mansion.
"Mrs. Cui, look, this is the book of the second son of the Li family. Take a look at his birth date and horoscope. He is a perfect match for your daughter."
"Mr. Li is now a scholar, with a handsome appearance, well-read, and has a bright future ahead of him."
Mrs. Cui looked through the information about the man and felt unhappy. He was born a concubine's son, and lived separately after his father died. Now he was just a small scholar. Although her daughter didn't like him, she was a legitimate daughter. How could she be worthy of the daughter of a minister?
In another secluded courtyard in the backyard of the Cui mansion, Cui Luanluan was doing needlework, embroidering a purse with peony patterns, preparing to give it to her mother.
"Miss...something's wrong, Miss." A round-faced maid ran to the door, panting.
"A matchmaker has come to the mansion and is with the lady."
"One of my little sisters heard that it was a young man from the Li family who was introduced to the young lady who came to propose marriage."
"And he's a bastard." The maid looked at the young lady worriedly.
Cui Luanluan exerted too much force with her hand and pierced her thumb, becoming anxious and worried about her marriage.
Ever since she broke off the engagement with her cousin, the servants in the mansion and her sisters have been talking about her behind her back, and the rumors about her have spread outside the mansion. From then on, no one came to propose marriage. Her parents were also worried about this matter, fearing that it would affect the marriage of their children, and they were even more indifferent to her.
"Qiao'er, go find out if your mother agrees."
She no longer had any interest in needlework, so she put down her needle and thread, sat on the couch by the windowsill, and stroked the birthmark on her face.
"Madam, you should also think about the other young masters and young ladies," Nanny Chen beside her whispered to the madam.
When Mrs. Cui heard this, she thought of her youngest daughter. She couldn't let her other children be affected by a daughter she disliked.
The Li family is also a family of officials, and their second son is already a scholar. If he works hard and continues to take the imperial examinations, he can also obtain the status of a Jinshi.
"Matchmaker Wang, I think this young man is also a handsome man. We agree."
"Notify the other party to choose a date to accept the marriage proposal and go through the six ceremonies"
After hearing Mrs. Cui's consent, the matchmaker immediately agreed and was very happy. She made another deal. Mrs. Zhao gave too much, but it was a pity that Mr. Li, such a handsome man, was paired with an ugly woman.
South City Li's House
Li Changgui was thinking about the betrothal gifts in his study. All the finances of the divided family were in Suzhou. He never thought that his stepmother would arrange a marriage for him after he returned to Beijing. All the women on the list had problems, so he could only choose the better one, Cui Luanluan. He didn't care about the birthmark on her face, as long as his wife had a good personality and they could get along well.
In her own space, she found the gold and silver jewelry she had collected in previous years. She picked a pair of phoenix hairpins, a pair of gold hairpins, and six dragon and phoenix bracelets of different styles and thicknesses, and put them in a wooden box. She picked jadeite, light purple, pink and white, and white jade bracelets, one pair of each color. The pink pearl necklace was a precious find dug from the South China Sea in her previous life, and she put it in the jewelry box.
He then took out three thousand taels of silver from the banknotes and gave them to Sanbao to exchange for silver ingots at Datong Money House.
At noon, he took his servants to the store in a carriage and bought a lot of cloth, four-color sugar and cakes for the engagement, a pair of live geese, various kinds of dried fruits, and ten jars of ten-year-old daughter's red wine.
He mixed in all the things he had sorted out from the space without letting the servants next to him notice.
Sanbao personally packed the betrothal gifts, which included three thousand taels of silver that filled a small box, and next to it were more than twenty boxes of various jewelry prepared by the young master.
"Second Master, the betrothal gifts will be officially paid tomorrow. Madam has asked me to send you ten rolls of silk fabric."
The person who came from Li's house left the things and left.
Sanbao and his servants cleaned the house and hung up the red lanterns they had bought, with a row of them hanging at each door. The red gauze curtains were replaced with the old ones, and the house was now a sea of red.
The next morning, before dawn, Sanbao dug him out of bed and dressed him.
Mrs. Zhao knew that Li Changgui had just arrived in the capital and did not have many people with him, so she asked all the servants in the mansion to go there to help.
When the time was almost up, Matchmaker Wang also started to come to the door.
More than ten servants carried fifteen sets of betrothal gifts to the Cui Mansion.
Li Changgui was a little nervous. It was the first time he had presented his betrothal gifts so formally. When he arrived at the gate of Cui's house, he was invited into the front yard.
Mr. Cui did not go out on his day off, waiting for the matchmaker to give the betrothal gifts and meet his son-in-law.
"Master Cui, this is Li Changgui, the second son of the Li family."
Lord Cui looked at his son-in-law, who was handsome, well-mannered, and a scholar, and showed a hint of satisfaction.
Although his daughter had defects and he didn't like to see her, he couldn't just marry a commoner with no achievements.
"I heard that you settled in Suzhou City. Do you plan to live in the capital permanently?" Mrs. Cui asked.
"It doesn't matter where you live. It depends on whether the girl wants to live in Beijing or come back to Suzhou with me." Li Changgui thinks it's okay to live anywhere, it just depends on where the girl wants to live.
The maid who was peeking behind the window heard this and carefully left the front yard and ran to the back yard.
"Girl, a little sister of mine heard the news," Qiao'er happily congratulated the girl.
"Although Mr. Li was born a bastard, he is gentle and considerate, and handsome."
Cui Luanluan had a gloomy expression and didn't care who she married. All men in the world like beauty. As long as she could live a stable life and be respected by her, that would be enough.
She knew that her mother just wanted to marry her off as soon as possible, for fear that it would affect her sister's marriage.
"We don't want any betrothal gifts. We will take it back with our daughter as her dowry." Lord Cui is too proud to covet his daughter's betrothal gift.
Mrs. Cui, who was standing beside him, wanted to stop her husband from saying anything after seeing all the betrothal gifts being opened. The jewelry was really too exquisite, especially the pink pearl necklace which was priceless. She wanted to leave the pearl necklace to her youngest daughter.
The rest is just miscellaneous stuff and a lot of fabric.
After Li Changgui left, both parties had agreed on the following days to complete the six rituals as soon as possible.
"Girl, come out and take a look"
"All the betrothal gifts sent by the son-in-law have been delivered to you. The master also said that all of these betrothal gifts will be regarded as your dowry."
Cui Luanluan looked at the many boxes in the yard. After opening one of them, she found that there were many jewelry boxes containing gold hairpins, phoenix hairpins, dragon and phoenix bracelets, and jade bracelets. The quality of the jewelry was very good and they were all in pairs.
Among them was a pink pearl necklace, which she fell in love with at first sight.
"Girl, these are all your brother-in-law's thoughts for you." Qiao'er knew the girl's worries.
"As long as he treats me sincerely," Cui Luanluan now began to look forward to her fiancé.
Li Changgui had no idea of his fiancée's expectations of him. He returned to the Li Mansion and reported to his stepmother that the engagement had been successful, and the two families agreed to complete the six rituals as soon as possible.