novelden Chapter 132: The Marriage of Su's Adopted Son
Chapter 132: The Marriage of Su's Adopted Son
Su's dining room.
Today is a rare day for Su's father and Awen to go home together for a day off, and it is a rare reunion dinner for the Su family.
After Awen passed the special team training by Su's father, he often went out to perform tasks and rarely went home. Su's mother and Su Weixi could only send some food and clothes to him from time to time.
It was a rare day for him to come home today, and the Su family was very happy, especially Ningning.
She knew that her sworn brother was now a very powerful soldier, so she admired him a little. At the dinner table, besides caring about whether Ah Wen had a good meal in the barracks, she also pestered him to tell her about things in the barracks.
Awen is very patient with this step-sister whom he has watched grow up. Except for the secrets that cannot be revealed, she answers all the questions.
Although An An didn't really like learning martial arts, he was very interested in the affairs of the military camp. He listened carefully and asked questions from time to time.
The next day, Su Ma's mahjong partners came to play mahjong at home and saw Awen playing with Ningning and Awen in the garden.
They all remembered that this should be the adopted son of the Su family who seldom showed up. At the same time, many ladies whose daughters or nieces had not yet been engaged began to have ideas.
Although he was just an adopted son, as far as they knew, the young man in front of them was also very promising. With his own abilities, he was already a ninth-rank lieutenant in the army. With the Su family's connections and support, he would have a bright future.
So, at today's card table, many ladies began to ask openly or secretly whether Awen had already found a marriage.
This time, Su Ma did not make excuses to change the subject as she did before when she mentioned Su Weixi's marriage.
First, Awen and Su Weixi are different. They were born and raised here and have no concept of being single.
Second, Awen is two years older than Su Weixi, and is now 20 years old. In the past few years, Su's mother also wanted to arrange a marriage for him, but he refused, saying that he would not get married before he was 20. In addition, he said that he wanted to find a girl he liked to marry.
Su Ma did not force him too much and followed his wishes. However, she also reminded him that if he found a girl he liked, he must tell his family so that they could arrange a marriage for him. She also told him that his family was not bound by family background and he could tell his family whoever he liked.
Now that there were ready-made resources, Su Ma quickly promoted her adopted son and also revealed Awen's situation.
"My son has been busy with military affairs. In addition, my family has moved twice in the past three years, so he has not yet arranged a marriage. If any of you sisters have a suitable girl, please help me introduce her to someone."
"Hey, I wonder what your family's requirements are for choosing a daughter-in-law? Otherwise, it would be difficult for us to introduce you one."
"My family doesn't care about that much. Family background doesn't matter. As long as the person has a good personality and my Ah Wen likes him, that's fine."
When the wife of Magistrate Ma heard this, she thought of her niece from her mother's side and began to have some ideas.
When the card game was over, I found an excuse to stay and chat with Su Ma for a while.
"Sister, come and try it. This is a new flavor of crepe cake developed at home."
Looking at Mrs. Ma, who was making excuses to stay and obviously had something to say but was hesitant to speak, Su Ma spoke to ease the atmosphere.
"I don't even need to taste the pastries made by my sister to know that they taste great." As he said this, he picked up the fork and took a small bite of the mille-feuille cake in front of him.
It was obviously her favorite thousand-layer cake, but because her mind was on other things, she swallowed it without tasting it carefully.
"Sister, I stayed here because I have something to tell you alone."
"Sister, it's okay to say it."
"It's like this, I have a niece from my mother's family..."
From Mrs. Ma's story, Su Ma learned a story about a poor girl living under feudal dogma.
Mrs. Ma's niece was the youngest daughter of her eldest brother, but also the eldest daughter of her mother's generation. Mrs. Ma's eldest brother was the eldest brother-in-law Xu Zhifu who was the prefect of Panyu City as mentioned by County Magistrate Ma.
The daughter of Prefect Xu was named Xu Wanying. She was engaged to a family of equal status in Panyu City, the Pan family, when she was fifteen. It was a good match for a talented man and a beautiful woman.
But they never expected that on the eve of their engagement banquet, Mr. Pan fell seriously ill and passed away while traveling for study. Originally, the two families had not exchanged gifts, and the marriage was not really completed. Xu Wanying could have waited a year or two to discuss marriage again. However, the Pan family spread the word in Panyu City that Xu Wanying was a husband-killer, and whoever married her would marry a disaster.
This made Xu Wanying's marriage difficult, and the Pan family did this because they wanted Xu Wanying to marry Mr. Pan's tablet and let her be a widow for the rest of her life for his son.
The Xu family loved their daughter, so they were unwilling to do so. As for the rumors spread by the Pan family, the Xu family could do nothing about it. Although the Pan family had a lower official rank than the Xu family, they had relatives serving as officials in Beijing, so the Xu family did not dare to offend them, so they could only not marry their daughter to the family.
But Xu Wanying's reputation was ruined. Who would dare to marry such a woman with a bad reputation? Even if some families didn't care about this, as long as the Pan family knew that someone wanted to discuss marriage with the Xu family, they would come to make a scene.
As a result, Xu Wanying's marriage has been delayed until now, and she is already eighteen years old.
As she got older, she was considered an old maid by outsiders, and she also had a reputation of being a jinx, so no one came to propose marriage to her.
Because of rumors about her being a bad luck for husbands, it is not easy for younger girls in the family to get married. This year, other family members have been mocking Xu Wanying from time to time, saying that Xu Wanying has hindered the marriages of her younger sisters.
Prefect Xu loved his daughter very much. The last time Madam Ma went back to her parents' home, it was Prefect Xu who asked her to bring Xu Wanying to Qiongzhou Island to live for a while to relax.
I plan to find a man from another place and marry him there after a while, and I will stay at Mrs. Ma's house to avoid the limelight for the time being.
As for why Mrs. Ma was not allowed to find a suitable family on Qiongzhou Island to marry Xu Wanying, it was because most people who left Qiongzhou Island disembarked in Panyu City, and the two places had close contacts. Many families were relatives by marriage, so they naturally knew about Xu Wanying.
Mrs. Ma brought up this matter today because she knew that in the Su family, girls would not get married until they were 18 years old, which meant that she didn't care that Xu Wanying was already 18 years old.
Second, the Su family said they don’t care about family background, so they may also not care about the groundless rumors that Xu Wanying is a husband-killer.
Of course, Mrs. Ma didn't want to deceive the Su family into marrying Xu Wanying just because the Su family came from outside, otherwise she wouldn't have said it in such detail.
So I mentioned it to Su Ma.
"Sister, I told you the truth. I didn't hide anything. It's because my niece is so pitiful that I wanted to ask. Whether it works or not, it won't affect the relationship between our two families."
"Look at what you said, sister. I'm not that kind of person. I understand your feelings for your niece, but I still have to discuss this matter with my master and ask my son's opinion. I'll write back to you when the time comes."
"Hey, okay, okay. No rush, no rush. I've kept you too long today, I'll go back first."
Afterwards, Su Ma sent Mrs. Ma away.
In the evening, after the Su family had dinner together, An An and Ning Ning were sent away, and Su Ma told the remaining three people what happened today.