After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 750 Joy
Zhou Yajun's marriage was finally settled, and it was to the Feng family.

Although the Feng family had some shortcomings and their financial situation was certainly not as wealthy as the third branch of the Zhou family, after Zhou Shigong and Zhou Ma met the Feng family, they were both very satisfied with the marriage. Zhou Jinlin and his wife also agreed, so the marriage was settled.

The date for the formal engagement ceremony is scheduled for the beginning of next spring, and the wedding is expected to be in the second half of the year. The Hai family doesn't know if they can make it, but after hearing the good news, Ma immediately took her grandchildren to congratulate. Hu didn't go with them, she went to visit an elder on her natal family. The elder had been ill since the beginning of winter, and the family was very worried. Hu had been taken care of by the elder when she was a child, so she naturally went to comfort him after hearing the news.

Zhou Yijun has met her fiancé Feng Du and is quite satisfied with him. When she met Haitang, she also told the truth with a shy look on her face: "He is a decent man with a good temper. He has no prejudice against military families. I think I should be able to get along with him. As for the imperial examination results, he is still young, so he can study hard for a few more years before taking the exam. How many young people in the world can pass the imperial examination? His talent is already quite good in Chang'an."

Didn't Jin Shan, a "talented scholar" with a little reputation, also fail the provincial examination this year? Wu Ke and Jin Jiashu, who had to learn from famous teachers, were no exception. No matter how good Feng Du was, he was better than Zeng Boqing. At least the scholars that his grandfather Zhou Shigong was close to all agreed that Feng Du's articles were quite spiritual, while Zeng Boqing's articles were far from being good enough. He didn't even pass the examination to become a scholar!
Haitang had mixed feelings: "Are you using Zeng Boqing's level to measure your fiancé's ability?" The second son of the Zeng family, his mind is not on studying at all, right? It's just that his uncle Zhou Shigong has been urging him to study, so he pretends to study. In fact, he is thinking about how to return to the Yingchuan Marquis's Mansion in the capital. Using such a person's level of talent to measure your fiancé is a bit too low.

Zhou Yijun had no idea what to do about it: "Who should I use to measure myself? It can't be my grandfather, right? He was a government official after all. Even if he is not as glorious as a Jinshi, his knowledge is better than that of a scholar. It's too much to compare Feng Du with him. But my grandfather admires Feng Juren's knowledge very much. He said that Feng Du will definitely pass the exam in the future. There is no reason for me not to believe him."

Among the three branches of the Zhou family, Zhou Shigong was the only real scholar. Almost all the others wanted to be military generals. The remaining one, Zhou Jinpu, had the title of scholar, but he passed the exam with only the last place after studying for more than 20 years. In addition, he behaved too much like a playboy, so most people did not regard him as a serious scholar. Although Zhou Yijun had also studied and practiced martial arts since she was a child, she knew nothing about eight-part essays. If she wanted to know the level of talent of her fiancé, she had no choice but to trust the judgment of her grandfather Zhou Shigong.

Haitang whispered to her, "If you can get Feng Du's recent article, show it to me and I'll ask Uncle Xie for you. He'll know if it's good or not. If it's really talented, maybe my uncle can give him some pointers."

Zhou Yijun's eyes lit up when she heard this and she nodded secretly.

The two cousins ​​were chatting about private topics in the corner, while in the main hall, Mrs. Zhou Ma and the two Ma sisters were also talking about the recent troubles in her natal family.

Madam Zhou told her sister: "My eldest brother asked me personally, and I was too soft-hearted to refuse. I have already agreed and will bring Ma Lusheng to Beijing."

Ma was shocked and said hurriedly: "Sister! How can you say that?! Although Ma Lusheng doesn't have any bad habits and is honest and obedient, he has no ideas and only listens to his mother in everything. How can he help you?! If you bring him along, won't he be a hindrance to you?!" Zhou Ma sighed: "Don't you understand this? I watched the child grow up. I have been with him for more than ten years longer than you. How can I not know his temper?! But my eldest brother asked for it himself. I saw that he was disabled and had to come home to beg humbly. If I refused, It would seem too inhumane. Decades of brotherly love would be ruined in one day! So I agreed to my eldest brother, but I also told him clearly that I would go to Beijing with the master, most likely as a hostage, and I couldn’t say anything. Even if I brought Ma Lusheng with me, he couldn’t expect me to help my nephew get an official position. If he can get a job with his own ability when he goes to Beijing, it will be his good fortune; if he doesn’t have that ability, he will just run errands for me honestly. If he messes up and causes trouble for me, I will send him back, and he can’t blame us for not being considerate of relatives!"

Zhou Ma thought that although Ma Lusheng followed his mother's orders blindly, he was honest and could still do the job if he was asked to run errands. As long as his mother didn't interfere, she would just take her nephew to Beijing to see the world for a few years. If Ma Lusheng could make some progress in this process, he might be able to find a job more smoothly when he returned to Chang'an in the future.

When Ma heard what was going on, she felt a little relieved: "Only let Ma Lusheng go with you? Don't let him take his mother, his wife, or any other messy people? That's fine. As long as no one encourages him to do stupid things, it should be fine for him to do some errands and pass on messages."

When he first became the postmaster, he actually did a decent job. He couldn't be called an excellent one, but he didn't make any big mistakes. It was just that his mother thought this job had no future, and she couldn't bear to see her son stay away from home, so she urged him to resign. If it weren't for the fuss of Ma's uncle, Ma Lusheng would have continued to work at the post station. After ten or eight years, he might have been promoted to a higher level, and wouldn't have ended up in the current predicament of being neither up nor down. Therefore, as long as Ma's uncle didn't interfere, with Ma Lusheng's own talents, he would be fully capable of doing some work as a manager or an attendant.

Ma said no more, "As long as Ma Lusheng works honestly, it's okay to take him with you. It will prevent my elder brother from treating us sisters as enemies and being unwilling to interact with us after listening to my sister-in-law's words." She asked Zhou Ma again, "Don't you take your own grandson with you? Jinlin has a job to do, so it's okay; Zhou Jinpu is a troublemaker, so don't take him with you! But Liangying and Liangxiong are both very smart. It would be good for them to go out with you to see the world while they are still young!"

Madam Zhou Ma said, "I have discussed this with Jin Lin and his wife. Liangying is studying at the Wei Academy and will soon graduate. It will not be good for his future if he interrupts his studies now, so I will let Liangxiong go out with me. As for Liangying, we will talk about it after he leaves the Wei Academy. If there is no good position in the army for a while, it will not be too late for him to come to Beijing and reunite with you and your wife."

Although she had to bring her annoying nephew, her grandson would also go with her. Madam Zhou felt much better and no longer rejected the trip to the capital. She also whispered to her sister a piece of good news: "The master has discussed with the Feng family that when Yijun gets married next year, they will let the couple go to the capital to study and live with them for a year or so. They will also ask their grandson-in-law to learn from the famous teachers in the capital. Anyway, the provincial examination is still a long way off. They can live in the capital for a year and then return to Chang'an to participate in the provincial examination. There is more than enough time!"

In this way, life in the capital city is not so terrible. Even if she doesn't socialize with strangers, so what? With her grandson, granddaughter and grandson-in-law by her side, life is still lively. She is too lazy to socialize with any noble ladies!
Seeing her eldest sister so happy, Ma was also happy for her, but soon she remembered something: "What about the Zeng brothers and sisters? They want to go back to Beijing. What did my brother-in-law say? Should we take them with us?"

(End of this chapter)