weaving

Chapter 238
In mid-April, the weather became hotter and hotter. Even under the shade of the trees, it was unbearable. Two young maids stood sideways behind the two old ladies, fanning them.

Zhang Cheng sat on the small stool beside his mother, listening to his aunt say: "Cheng'er, my cousin is very interested in your marriage. ,
There are indeed some official ladies who are about the same age as you and have a similar horoscope. Now, as long as you say a word, my cousin and cousin-in-law will help you handle this matter. "

The corner of Zhang Cheng's mouth is raised, it is a blessing in life to be promoted and get rich and marry a wife!

I heard my aunt continue to say unhurriedly: "Now there are two official ladies who are especially interested in your cousin in Beijing.

One of them is the second young lady of the Ministry of Rites, the head of the Ministry of Rites, and she is eighteen years old, and her horoscope matches yours. She is also very beautiful and handsome. I can still trust you as the sunshine of your aunt in Beijing;
The other is the eldest lady of Mr. Ji's family who is a five-rank attendant lecturer from the Imperial Academy. This Mr. Ji's ancestral home is Songjiang Mansion. He is a person who has read poetry and books. This Miss Ji is 16 years old this year. People are also generally elegant and refined, with the grace and delicacy of Jiangnan women,

Your cousin is very fond of this Miss Ji, and he emphasized in the letter that this Miss Ji has been a female worker since she was a child, her embroidery, singing and dancing are top-notch, she is extremely intelligent and eager to learn, and she has some accomplishments in poetry and poetry.

But for a well-known talented girl in Beijing, there are many people who come to her door to propose marriage every day, just because this little girl's thoughts are quite arrogant, coupled with the doting of her parents, so far the family has never agreed,

According to what your cousin said in the letter, she really doesn't have much confidence in the Ji family's hurdle, but fortunately, Cheng'er, you are now well-known in Beijing, and all the neighborhoods, teahouses and restaurants are all about your deeds.
Perhaps, you can impress Miss Ji's heart. If you have no other intentions, I will write back to my cousin, seize the opportunity, and use some means to handle this matter well. "

Zhang Cheng was also thinking secretly in his heart, his body was already 23 years old, if he didn't marry a wife, he might be called a freak.

But the matter of marrying a wife is not a joke, he pondered for a moment, and said: "When you marry a wife, you should marry a virtuous person. In this regard, I can trust my aunt, and I can also trust that aunt of the Han family.

However, Cheng'er's first wife doesn't require her to be both talented and beautiful, to be as beautiful as a flower, to be virtuous and virtuous, but she also needs to be seen in the past, after all, she will be together day and night in the future, right? "

"Cheng'er, just rest assured, my cousin's vision is quite good. If she sees it well, she will definitely not be bad. If that's the case, I will study books with my cousin and ask him to help with this matter in Beijing." Aunt Zhang Cheng said happily.

In his mother's concerned eyes, Zhang Cheng said: "In this way, I will trouble Aunt Han's family, and ask her to write a book. I will send my guards and horses straight to Beijing, and I will take it to Aunt Han's family to tattoo a thousand taels of silver as wealth." , it’s not easy to help our family with affairs, but use other people’s own money.”

Neither the mother nor the aunt thought that Zhang Cheng's attitude would be so good now. They looked at each other with relief in their eyes.

…………

On April [-]th, Zhang Cheng was seeing Wei Zhice off on the official road outside the south gate of Xuanfu Town.

He sent Wei Zhice back to Beijing to deliver a letter to the cousin for his aunt. The reason why he sent Wei Zhice was that he was originally from the family of Huolu in Jinan, and Wei Zhice was originally a student, so it was quite appropriate to go to Beijing to walk among various officials. .

At the same time, because the road was not peaceful, Wei Zhice carried a lot of silver, and he sent the guards of Niu Sheng's team to accompany Wei Zhice.

In addition to delivering the letter, Zhang Cheng also assigned Wei Zhice three other tasks, asking him not to come back in a hurry, and to get everything done before returning to the Xuanfu.

The first is to visit the supervisory censor Yu Shangyou introduced by Yang Tinglin at the beginning, and bring him 200 taels of silver. He told Wei Zhice to have a good relationship with this censor master, and asked Yu Shangyou to try his best to make some censor friends in Beijing. No need to worry about money, Zhang Cheng will take care of it here.

You must know that there are more than 100 censors in Beijing, and they are all only seventh-rank officials with extremely low salaries. It is very difficult to maintain the family, let alone social.

Moreover, the censor at this time sounds a bit high-ranking, but in fact he is not very popular, and it is difficult to be filial on weekdays, and it is not like those small officials who hold real power in various ministries have lucrative money. .

So most of them lived in poverty, but Zhang Cheng didn't think so. Most of the powerful Beijing officials had their eyes high above the top, so they were not easy to make friends with. However, these censors were poor for a long time, but it was easier to make friends with them.

Zhang Cheng didn't know what other people thought, but anyway, he firmly believed that these censors would be of great use in the future, so he was very enthusiastic about Yu Shangyou, and had already presented him with a hundred taels of silver when he left Beijing last time.

Second, he also asked Wei Zhice to use some connections in Beijing, and he could even ask Yu Shangyou to try his best to find out about the situation of the eldest lady of the Imperial Academy's servant and lecturer Ji, especially the appearance of the official lady?

Although, Zhang Cheng also believed what his aunt said, her cousin in Jingzhong who married Wu Jinkang, a doctor of the Ministry of Construction, would never have a bad vision, but he had watched too many movies and TV dramas before traveling.

In those dramas, there are some matchmakers who make deductions from them. They take advantage of the marriage of the matchmakers to develop their personal connections. They can say that the ugly is the same as the beautiful, and they will control the thoughts and wishes of the newcomers.

Although, Zhang Cheng believed in his aunt's vision, and the person she trusted would never do such a thing, but he still had to prove it himself. If the information Wei Zhice got back was consistent with that of the Han family cousin in Beijing, it would be even better. believable.

Thirdly, Zhang Cheng secretly brought Wei Zhice another 1000 taels of silver. He asked Wei Zhice to open a restaurant in central Beijing as a place to spy on and collect information in Beijing and to contact and bribe those Beijing officials.

After the restaurant opened, Niu Sheng was temporarily in charge of taking care of it, and his team of sentry cavalry also stayed in Beijing for the time being, so as to pass news between them.

Zhang Cheng told Niu Sheng to choose another place outside Beijing and open a large cart shop as a cover, and keep war horses and mules here, so as to hide his identity. Only one or two sentry riders in the team will stay in the capital. Inside, the rest of the people stayed outside the city, divided into two places, and it was safer.

In addition, he also told Wei Zhice and Niu Sheng that whether the restaurant here makes money is the second priority. The main thing is that the location must be good and the transportation must be convenient, so that it is convenient to entertain those Beijing officials, win connections, and collect information.

Although Niu Sheng was reluctant, he did not dare to disobey Zhang Cheng's order, but begged Zhang Cheng to elect them as soon as possible to replace him.

However, the big monkey in his team was left behind by Zhang Cheng!
(End of this chapter)