Chapter 398 Children Grown Up

Chapter 398 Children Grown Up

As the girl expected, her good father was soon politely seen off by the old marquis.

The attitude is fine, but wanting more is absolutely impossible.

After all that trouble, not only did they end up with nothing, but they also gave away a young woman to the Marquis's family for nothing, which made the family feel like they had been scammed.

Just when they were filled with regret and remorse, Xie Wanniang once again received a generous reward from the emperor for her meritorious service.

In less than a year, she put her idea of ​​utilizing wind and water power into practice. The speed of her work was so fast that even the emperor couldn't help but feel disgusted with his ministers.

The disliked courtiers: ...Will this woman ever stop?

Xie Wanniang: ......This isn't over yet.

Yes, that's not all.

After the emperor bestowed upon An'an the title of Princess and bestowed upon her family a great deal of gold, silver, jewels, silks, satins, porcelain, antiques, spices, and medicinal herbs, Xie Wanniang continued to innovate.

Nothing can leapfrog to its ultimate form, and the utilization of water and wind power is no exception.

While she was figuring out how to further improve the equipment, Xiaoyang's marriage was finally settled.

Her marriage partner was not one of the many sons of officials who made up the vast majority of suitors, but a young scholar from a family of scholars in Baoding Prefecture.

This young scholar, who was a year older than Xiao Yang, was named Li Da. His father was just a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial civil service examination), and his grandfather had served as a minor official of the seventh rank for a very short period at the end of the previous dynasty.

Going back further, their family had produced a few people with official titles, but that was all. Unlike the Xie family, to which Xie Wanniang belonged, which had high-ranking officials and nobles in the court for generations, they were quite prestigious and illustrious.

However, Li Da's family was not bad off either. They had accumulated a considerable fortune over generations, and because they always did good deeds, they had a good reputation in the local area.

Of course, this was not the main reason why Xiaoyang chose him.

Xiao Yang ultimately chose to marry him, rather than the sons of other officials with greater wealth and better reputation. This was because Li Da's family had an ancestral rule that "a man must be thirty-five years old and still have no son before he can take a concubine," and because Li Da's parents had always been very supportive of Xie Wanniang's girls' school.

Since Xie Wanniang's girls' school opened, Li Da's parents have allocated a portion of the donations to the school's administrators every year.

Xiao Yang got to know Li Da's family through this. Li Da's parents saw that she was a talented scholar and was highly regarded by Xie Wan Niang, and they had long wanted to marry her to their son. However, Xiao Yang was still young at the time, so they did not want to rush to her door to discuss the matter.

It wasn't until Xiao Yang was about to come of age that they specially brought Li Da to the capital, hoping to get some help for their son.

Originally, their family didn't have high hopes for this matter. After all, Xie Wanniang was already a princess, and even if the child she raised had no blood relation to her, there would definitely be many families wanting to marry him.

However, to their surprise, Xiao Yang actually ended up with them, making the Li family, who had only thought about trying their luck, extremely happy.

After Xiaoyang got married, Xie Wanniang entrusted her with the entire management of the girls' school, which happened to be something Xiaoyang was interested in and good at.

As for herself, An'an is already a big girl, it's time to put her to use.

The old mother, who felt no pang of conscience, began to secretly assign various tasks to An'an, starting with the internal affairs of the princess's residence that Xiao Yang used to be in charge of.

Once this part of the work was sorted out and could be handled easily, Xie Wanniang began to secretly introduce her to the managers and estate owners outside.

First, give her a shop to practice in, and then gradually increase the amount until she hands over all the private property she was going to give to An'an. Only then did Xie Wanniang turn her attention elsewhere.

Although she is almost fifteen years old, An'an still has no interest in studying or anything like that. Fortunately, she writes neatly, does a good job of accounting, and is also very good at cultivating orchids and peonies. So, she can be considered to have her own skills to make a living.

Xie Wanniang didn't like to force her children to study, nor did she intend for them to inherit her or Jiang Yuan's profession. Therefore, neither of them intended for their children to master her medical skills, nor Jiang Yuan's martial arts and military strategy.

An'an and Linlin had only learned a little about what they were best at, but the guards and female doctors that Xie Wanniang had trained over the years had all performed exceptionally well in both medicine and martial arts.

When An'an turned fifteen, Chang Yao and his wife from the Marquis of Dingbei's mansion personally went to the capital to ask for An'an to marry their second son.

After hearing the two explain their purpose, Xie Wanniang was completely stunned.

Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, wasn't too surprised because Chang Yao had expressed this idea to him quite often.

It took Xie Wanniang a while to come to her senses.

She did remember the child, but how many years had it been since she left the North? Who knew what the child looked like now?

Whether someone's face and figure are crooked or not is secondary; what Xie Wanniang values ​​most are their character, personality, talent, emotional intelligence, and other intangible qualities.

Furthermore, the Marquis's mansion did not prohibit its descendants from taking concubines or wives.

Xie Wanniang became increasingly unwilling to marry her daughter to that young man, but she couldn't very well refuse outright.

After telling the couple she needed to think about it and politely seeing them off, Xie Wanniang grabbed Jiang Yuan's ear and demanded, "What did Chang Yao mean by giving you that wink before he left?"

For the first time, Jiang Yuan cursed in his mind, and the person he cursed was Chang Yao, who had been kind to him.

He turned to the side, letting Xie Wanniang pull his ear, and honestly confessed, "He talked to me about this two years ago, but I didn't agree."

He paused for a moment, then added, "But he never gave up. Every time he wrote to me, he praised his son for this and that."

Xie Wanniang frowned, "No matter how good he is, I can't possibly marry An'an back to Baoding Prefecture."

Jiang Yuan rubbed his ears and whispered, "He said he would send that kid to the capital."

Xie Wanniang: ? ? ?

Jiang Yuan said, "It's about time they sent a direct descendant to the capital."

Although he, Xie Wanniang, and most of the people of Baoding Prefecture still habitually refer to the Chang family as the Dingbei Marquis's Mansion, in fact, the Dingbei Marquis's Mansion had long been the Anguo Duke's Mansion.

When their family's rank was elevated, the imperial court had already prepared a magnificent and beautiful Duke's mansion for them in the capital, in accordance with regulations.

However, no one from the Chang family has ever moved into this Duke's mansion.

Chang Yao was related to the emperor, and the emperor trusted him quite a bit. However, even the highest level of trust needs to be carefully maintained to be sustained. Therefore, after inflicting another heavy blow on the Tatars and forcing them to retreat back to the depths of the grasslands, Chang Yao had the idea of ​​sending one of his sons to the capital.

He couldn't very well wait for the emperor to bring it up first.

He was still agonizing over whether to send his youngest son or his second son to the capital, but unexpectedly, his second son, while planning to arrange a marriage for him at home, took the initiative to express his desire to get engaged to An'an.

Chang Yao's second son is impeccable in appearance, talent, personality, and character. Jiang Tong is worried that his sons are not good enough and he cannot find a suitable heir. Chang Yao's wife, on the other hand, is worried that her eldest son is just as good as her second son. She wonders if the two children will fight each other for the title when they get older and realize the benefits of the title.

She dared not mention this hidden worry in her heart to anyone, but unexpectedly, her second son took the initiative to propose to An'an when she was planning to find a marriage for him.

Who is An'an? She is Xie Wan'niang's darling. Anyone who wants to marry her will have to live under Xie Wan'niang's watchful eye, which is the capital of the Great Wei.

She looked at her son with a somewhat complicated expression and slowly explained the pros and cons to him.

Her second son listened patiently to her, but his expression never changed for even a moment.

Clearly, he knew that once he left Baoding Prefecture, he would lose the opportunity to take command of the military.

After all, regardless of what the emperor thought, even if it was just for the sake of balancing the court, he would not allow the Chang family to command more troops.

Her second son was fully aware of this, but he still made the decision to go to the capital as a "hostage".

Chang Yao and his wife had mixed feelings, but they had to make a choice. If it wasn't him, it would be their youngest son. In any case, they would definitely send one of their sons to the capital.

Now that their second son has brought it up himself, the couple discussed it briefly and readily agreed.

As for his desire to marry An'an, the couple said they could only do their best to help him make it happen, but they couldn't guarantee whether Xie Wan'niang and Jiang Yuan would agree.

Fortunately, their second son is quite accomplished, and his only weakness—his residence in Baoding Prefecture—will disappear because of his decision to go to the capital.

Jiang Yuan told Xie Wanniang, "The Chang family's child is indeed quite good. I have had him thoroughly investigated in every aspect. What's most remarkable is that he doesn't live with the young master and his wife."

He is outstanding enough and virtuous, without any philandering. Since he is about to move to the capital and will be living there for a long time, his future wife will not have to serve her mother-in-law or deal with her sisters-in-law for most of the time after marriage.

For An'an, this is indeed a very good marriage.

After hearing Jiang Yuan's words, Xie Wanniang was no longer as opposed to the marriage as before, but she still had a small request: "I want to keep An'an for a few more years and not let her marry as soon as she comes of age. If the Chang family can accept this, then please arrange for the two children to meet."

Jiang Yuan nodded, "We should wait until An'an is at least eighteen. Didn't you say it's bad for the child's health if she's too young?"

Xie Wanniang nodded, "Speaking of which, you've reminded me. I was planning to suggest to His Majesty that the rule 'one must be eighteen years of age or older to marry' be added to the law."

Whether it's Xiaoyang, her An'an, or even her maids, she can control their wedding times, but she can't interfere with the wedding times of the millions of young girls in the world.

Even though she tried her best to popularize common sense, she ultimately couldn't overcome customs, traditions, and ingrained perceptions.

But it's different when it's written into the law.

Thinking this, Xie Wanniang took out a charcoal pencil and wrote down this sudden thought in her homemade notebook.

The Chang family responded quickly. They not only agreed to Xie Wanniang's conditions, but also stated that their son would never take a concubine or engage in promiscuous behavior.

Their second son was a clever man. He knew what Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan valued most, so in order to increase his chances of success in proposing marriage, he took the initiative to add this promise.

When Chang Yao and his wife heard this, they were quite surprised. Mrs. Chang even grabbed his ear and warned him not to make empty promises if he couldn't keep them.

“Princess Hui’an is no ordinary person. You’re making such a promise to marry her precious daughter right now. If you can’t keep your word and hurt An’an, she’ll skin you alive.”

Moreover, their family couldn't afford to lose face; breaking their word would severely damage the Chang family's reputation and credibility.

Her second son, however, insisted on adding this point, saying, "Mother, since I've said it, I will definitely not go back on my word."

He only gave up military power in the North, not his entire life, so he wouldn't be the kind of faithless, fraudulent man who would deceive his wife into marriage.

As he expected, the condition he proposed pleased Xie Wanniang.

To his surprise, Xie Wanniang was really not polite at all. When she heard his parents say that, she actually proposed to write this clause into the marriage certificate. She also said that if he could not do it, then the Chang family would have to agree to let An'an take the child and dowry and divorce him.

Chang Yao and his wife knew Xie Wanniang very well, so they were not surprised at all that she would make such a request. Seeing their son's dumbfounded look, Chang Yao felt a rare sense of schadenfreude.

He said, "They told us to come back and ask for your opinion first. If you don't agree, then this marriage will be called off."

His second son shook his head. "I agree. I'm just a little surprised." He was surprised that Xie Wanniang was even more formidable than rumored.

In the third year after the two families agreed on the marriage, Linlin took the imperial examination and passed it all the way up from Xiucai to Juren.

It must be said that compared to Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan, he is indeed exceptionally talented in studying.

A child who comes from a good family, is capable, has a handsome appearance, and a good personality and character will naturally be liked by many.

On the same day he passed the imperial examination, several matchmakers came to his house, and for a period of time afterward, the number of matchmakers was countless.

Xie Wanniang had no time to deal with so many people, so naturally she had even less time to investigate what kind of families and potential partners these people were talking about with her son.

After thinking it over, she simply refused all the matchmakers who came to her door, citing the reason that her child was still young and needed to continue focusing on his studies.

Of course, her manners were impeccable, leaving no room for criticism.

Three years later, Linlin passed the imperial examination and became a second-class scholar.

Then, before the matchmaker could come again, Xie Wanniang announced the good news that her son was engaged.