The road to wealth of a peasant widow

"Captain Qi is the only son in his family. His mother died young. Now he and his disabled father are the only two in his family. They have a few servants and some assets. Although they are not very rich, they are simple and quiet, so life is much easier."

Zhang Hongjuan reported the information her mother had collected to Chen Cui.

Captain Qi's conditions were actually average, but his biggest advantage was that he had a small family, so there would be no mother-in-law when he got married, which would save him a lot of trouble.

Zhang Hongjuan knew very well that it would be difficult for most mothers-in-law to be as tolerant and unrestrictive to their daughters-in-law as her own mother-in-law.

There are even mothers-in-law who, in order to demonstrate their own authority, will make things difficult for their daughters-in-law in every way possible to show their unique position in the family.

With her temper, if she met a mother-in-law like this, she would have been unable to live.

She understood very well how much her mother-in-law doted on her sister-in-law and was worried that she would be bullied in the future. She knew it would be a good thing for her sister-in-law to not have a mother-in-law over her, so she reported this candidate.

Chen Cui carefully looked at the information brought by her second daughter-in-law. It included Captain Qi's background, address, and even his father's former position in the army. It was really very complete.

Although Captain Qi was only of the sixth rank, which was not high, his family conditions were a big advantage. He came from a well-off family, was an only son, and had no mother. This was indeed a good choice for parents who loved their daughter.

However, Chen Cui had a question: "Captain Qi is already seventeen years old, so has he not yet been engaged?"

According to her understanding, these people in the army generally get married early in order to continue the family line in time to avoid being extinct if something unexpected happens once they go to the battlefield.

Someone like Captain Qi is considered to be in good condition among the lower-level officers, so why isn't he engaged?

Zhang Hongjuan was not vague and directly told what she knew: "It's not that no one wants to marry into his family, but Captain Qi is determined to marry a real official lady, so he is neither high nor low, and has been delaying the marriage until now."

According to the rules of the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty, civil officials were superior and military officials were inferior. Among officials of the same rank, military officials were inferior to civil officials. When they met civil officials on the road, they had to salute them. There was even a situation where a fifth-rank military general was inferior to a seventh-rank civil official.

Captain Qi himself was just a low-ranking military officer with no background, so it was not easy for him to marry a young lady from an official family with a good family background.

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for your hard work. Thank my mother-in-law for my help."

Chen Cui put away the information and said to her second daughter-in-law.

Although the mother-in-law did not express her opinion on the spot, she said she would consider it, which made Zhang Hongjuan very happy.

She has been married for so long and has received a lot of care and love from her mother-in-law. Now she can finally do something for her and make a little contribution to this family.

Chen Cui put away Captain Qi's information and planned to find an opportunity in the next two days to show it to Sui Sui together with the information about Young Master Zhu and ask for her opinion.

But before she could tell her daughter about this, another uninvited guest came to the Liu family.

Strictly speaking, they were not uninvited guests as they had sent their invitations in advance. However, their family had never had any dealings with the Yong'an Marquis family, and it seemed a little strange that Mrs. Zhou had so rashly sent them an invitation.

However, since the invitation has already been received, there is no reason to turn her away. Given the status of the Liu family, they do not have the confidence to reject the future mistress of the Marquis' Mansion.

This Madam Zhou is the wife of the Prince of Yong'an. She is in her early thirties, with a round face that always has a smile on her face. When she smiles, her eyebrows and eyes are curved. She looks like a very blessed person.

That's right, Lady Yong'an is her biological aunt, and she and the prince have been childhood sweethearts. They have a good relationship after marriage, and now have two sons and a daughter. Her position as Lady Yong'an will be secure in the future.

Chen Cui learned all this from Li Wanqing. She was not well-informed about the news about the powerful people in Beijing. Because they usually interacted with mostly middle and lower-level officials, they rarely had dealings with the nobles and dukes, so they did not worry about these matters.

However, since her third daughter-in-law came into the family, she began to understand these nobles a little better.

Although the elders of Prince An's Mansion are no longer around, there are still many relatives in the royal family. Many of these princes and marquises have connections with the royal family, and many families have become relatives in a roundabout way.

Just like the Mrs. Zhou who came today, after counting with Li Wanqing on her fingers, she found out that they were actually cousins. Chen Cui couldn't figure out how it was arranged, but anyway, she was called sister, and she also became an elder and was called "aunt".

The three of them chatted and laughed for a while, and then Madam Zhou asked with a smile: "I heard that there is a girl still in the boudoir in your mansion. I wonder if you can invite her to meet her?"

Chen Cui felt her eyebrows jump and had a bad premonition. Why did this sound like a marriage proposal?

She thought carefully about what her third daughter-in-law had told her about the situation in Yong'an Marquis' Mansion. It seemed that several young masters were married and there was no one unmarried. What did Madam Zhou mean?

No matter what the other party meant, she could only ask someone to invite Sui Sui over first. After all, the other party hadn't said it yet. If anything went wrong later, she would just have to deal with it accordingly.

Although Suisui was surprised that her mother and third sister-in-law treated the guests so well and asked her to go out for no reason, she had no choice but to change into clothes suitable for meeting guests and go to pay her respects to Madam Zhou.

But she had no idea that Mrs. Zhou treated her very politely. She called her "sister" as soon as they met, held her hand, looked her up and down, and then showered her with nice words, praising Sui Sui from head to toe.

Even though Suisui often boasted in front of his family and thought he was thick-skinned enough, he couldn't help feeling hot on his face at this moment.

Mrs. Zhou was so enthusiastic that it was simply hard to resist. Fortunately, she quickly loosened her hand and let go, and Suisui took the opportunity to escape.

Chen Cui felt even more uneasy. Why did this look a bit like a marriage?

Sure enough, after Sui Sui left, Madam Zhou revealed her real purpose: "Aunt, I am here today because someone asked me to propose marriage to our daughter. My cousin, Wei Shaojing, the Earl of Yongchang, is interested in marrying your daughter as his legal wife, and he wants me to be the matchmaker. I hope you can agree!"

Chen Cui was stunned when she heard this. Isn't this Yongchang Bo the young man they met in the suburbs a while ago? He asked to marry Sui Sui. Did she hear it right?

Madam Zhou seemed to have anticipated her reaction and did not take it seriously. She began to praise her cousin for being so gentle, clean and self-disciplined. He said he would respect his wife and treat her well with all his heart. He was definitely not like other nobles who had a bunch of concubines!