Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 411: Wen Yanjing's Mental Journey
Wen Yanjing was thinking about things all the way and walked nearly ten miles without feeling anything, and came to the main road near the city.

The main road was busy with traffic and many pedestrians, and the noisy sound brought Wen Yanjing back to his senses.

Looking at the Bianjing City which was already within sight, Wen Yanjing stomped his sore feet and continued walking forward.

After walking for about another incense stick of time, Wen Yanjing followed the crowd into the city.

At this time he was tired and thirsty, so he simply found a tea stall and asked for a pot of tea.

"Have you heard that this morning the emperor promoted Minister Hai to be the deputy envoy of the Privy Council."

"Which Minister Hai?"

"It's the Hai family, the family with five Hanlin scholars. He was promoted to the Minister of Rites last year."

"He was promoted to Minister of Rites just last year. How long has it been since he was promoted to Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council?"

"Haha, the Hai family has five Hanlin scholars. Minister Hai was a Hanlin scholar before. He is always by the emperor's side and is deeply trusted by the emperor. How can he not be promoted quickly?"

Bianjing was the capital, and ordinary people also liked to talk about the affairs of the court.

Of course, the news they received was delayed and it was difficult to tell whether it was true or false, but that did not hinder their interest in talking about it.

While Wen Yanjing was waiting for the waiter to serve tea, he heard a conversation between two people at the table next to him and immediately listened attentively.

After listening to this, Wen Yanjing felt a little envious and very jealous of Sheng Changbai.

It’s true that people with the same fate have different fates.

Sheng Changbai is younger than him. His grandfather was a scholar who won the third place in the imperial examination, and his grandmother was the legitimate daughter of a marquis.

Not only did he have a good family background, but after he passed the imperial examination, he immediately married the daughter of the Hai family.

Now my future father-in-law has been promoted to Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council.

Those common people were just lamenting that Hai Wenren was promoted so quickly, but Wen Yanjing knew clearly what this promotion meant.

The Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council was only slightly lower than the Prime Minister. However, whether it was the common people or officials in the court, as long as their official position was lower than that of the Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council, they would call him "Prime Minister".

Although Hai Wenren was previously called Hai Xianggong, there is a difference between Xianggong and Xianggong.

It is just like when a man gets married, his wife can call her husband "husband", or she can call him "sir" or "husband".

Civil officials with high reputation would also be addressed as "Xiang Gong". This "Xiang Gong" was just a respectful title and did not mean that the other party was the prime minister.

However, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council was called Xiang Gong, which is the title for the prime minister.

However, this does not mean that the deputy envoy of the Privy Council is the prime minister.

However, there was a very interesting phenomenon in the Song Dynasty. Except for a few people, most of the people who served as prime ministers had served as deputy envoys of the Privy Council before.

Of course, this refers to civil officials. There are also military generals who serve as deputy envoys of the Privy Council, but they are not qualified to become prime ministers.

And Hai Wenren is a civil official, which means that the next time he is promoted, he will most likely become a husband.

Although the power of the prime minister in the Song Dynasty was dispersed, several positions were called prime ministers, and there were several prime ministers in the court, but their power was not as great as in other dynasties.

But being able to become a prime minister is already the highest position among officials.

During his tenure, he promoted some people and accepted some students. Even if his descendants did not live up to his expectations, the legacy he left behind could ensure wealth and prosperity for several generations.

Sheng Changbai married Hai Wenren's daughter, and with Hai Wenren's support, his future is limitless.

What about himself?

It’s so difficult to marry a girl from the Sheng family.

"No, I must give it a try!" Wen Yanjing clenched his fists and made up his mind to try to propose marriage to the Sheng family.

He was reluctant to go to the Sheng family to propose marriage before because he was worried that Sheng Hong would think he was a toad wanting to eat swan meat and would have a bad impression of him.

The most important thing is that the effort is not proportional to the reward. After all, even if he doesn't marry the girl from the Sheng family, as long as he can pass the imperial examination in the future, there will be many people who want to marry their girls to him.

Even though their family background is not as good as the Sheng family, the gap is not too big.

Knowing that the chances were slim, there was naturally no need for him to take such a big risk to propose marriage to the Sheng family.

But now it’s different. Hai Wenren was promoted to Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council and there is a great possibility that he will become Prime Minister in the future.

If he could marry Sheng Changbai's sister, he and the Hai family would be half-relatives.

Even if the Hai family doesn't help him, Sheng Changbai will at least help his brother-in-law, right?
Even if Sheng Hong is unhappy, it's worth a try.

Having made up his mind, Wen Yan waited for the waiter to bring the tea. He drank two cups, paid for the tea, and left the teahouse.

He came to the roadside, hailed an ox cart, asked the driver, and asked the driver to take him to the house of a famous matchmaker in Bian Jing.

He had previously told Rulan that he would ask someone to go to the Sheng family to propose marriage, but it was just an excuse.

Except for Gu Tingye and Qi Heng, whom he met when studying at the Sheng family, his friends in Bian Jing were all poor scholars.

We can't ask these people to propose marriage to the Sheng family, right?
In fact, Wen Yanjing had thought about asking Li An for help and asking Liu Xuewen to help him propose marriage.

After hesitating for a while, I gave up.

If the Sheng family does not agree, Liu Xuewen will be embarrassed and that would offend Liu Xuewen.

And since Li An knew about his relationship with Rulan, he would definitely not agree.

Wen Yanjing thought about it and decided to just hire a matchmaker.

The matchmaker he chose was named Chen, and was quite famous in Bian Jing.

In ancient times, people paid attention to the parents' orders and the matchmaker's words when getting married. Even when the sons of princes and nobles got married, a matchmaker was indispensable.

Wen Yanjing couldn't even afford to invite the most famous ones in Bianliang.

When Matchmaker Chen saw Wen Yanjing coming to her house, she was happy at first, but when she saw Wen Yanjing's clothes, her smile disappeared and there was some disgust in her eyes.

As a well-known matchmaker in Bian Jing, she usually acted as a matchmaker for minor officials and wealthy families, who gave a lot.

It was obvious at first glance that Wen Yanjing didn't have much money, so she was naturally disappointed.

However, since the visitor was a guest, she couldn't just chase him away. Instead, she asked Wen Yanjing which family he wanted her to be a matchmaker for.

He was ready to wait for Wen Yanjing to finish speaking, and then he told her his charging standards, which scared the guy off.

Wen Yanjing was a sensitive person, so he naturally noticed the matchmaker's initial disdain.

The hands in the sleeves were clenched tightly, and the nails dug into the flesh.

The matchmaker's attitude further strengthened his determination to succeed in life.

Hearing the matchmaker's question, Wen Yanjing told the matchmaker about the situation of the Sheng family and told her that she would not be shortchanged a penny.

When Matchmaker Chen heard about the situation of the Sheng family, she was happy. Although Wen Yanjing was poor, the Sheng family, as an official family, was very rich.

When a wealthy family marries off their daughter, the dowry is extremely large, and she is not worried that Wen Yanjing cannot afford it.

"Hey, sir, please take a seat."

Matchmaker Chen warmly invited Wen Yanjing to sit down, poured him tea, and said with a smile, "I wonder if the Sheng family has agreed?"

Wen Yanjing frowned and said, "Isn't this what you, a matchmaker, should do?"

"My dear, do you think that when an official's daughter marries off, it's just like for an ordinary family, where a matchmaker comes to propose marriage and it's done?"

When matchmaker Chen heard what Wen Yanjing said, her face darkened and she said, "If you want to marry the daughter of your husband's family, just invite a matchmaker. Wouldn't the door be trampled? This wealthy family cares about their reputation the most. If their marriage proposal is rejected, how hurtful it will be? They always try to test the waters first. If the other party is interested, they will also hint at it, and then they will invite a matchmaker to propose marriage. But no one invites a matchmaker to the door just because they like someone."

(End of this chapter)