Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 446 Eight Hundred Miles Expedited

"Your Majesty, the Princess of Anyang is of noble status. How can I be so worthy as to be worthy of such a minister..."

"Li Qing!"

Zhao Zongquan said calmly, "You just said you were willing to share my worries. I'm having a headache because of the matter of Princess Anyang. The Queen Mother has been urging me a lot on this matter. I've already reported it to her and she agreed. So, you were lying to me when you said you were willing to share my worries?"

"I dare not!" Li An said quickly.

Hearing that the Queen Mother also agreed, Li An was even less willing to agree.

Now the Queen Mother and the Emperor are in their honeymoon period. There are no conflicts between them and the mother is naturally loving and the son is filial.

But when Zhao Zongquan later discovered that it was easier to invite gods than to send them away, conflicts were bound to break out between the two.

But Zhao Zongquan now looked like he had to agree whether he agreed or not, so how could he refuse?

"It's settled now. Now that the national mourning has just ended, it is not appropriate to grant you a marriage for the time being. I will grant you a marriage after some time." Zhao Zongquan said.

"I obey your order!" Li An bowed.

……

When they returned to the Hanlin Academy, Fan Cunjin and others asked about the emperor's summons to see him.

Li An said a few perfunctorily and sat absent-mindedly in his seat, thinking about how to tell Minglan about this.

Many people are influenced by the saying of three wives and four concubines and think that polygamy was a practice in ancient times, but in fact, monogamy was a practice in ancient times.

The so-called co-wife was originally a name for women married by merchants outside.

Some businessmen often have to travel far away for business and even live in other places, so they will bring a concubine with them.

When the wife is not around, the concubine has to take on the work of the wife, and is called a secondary wife.

She is not recognized by law and is actually still a concubine.

However, due to some special reasons, the term "second wife" gradually changed from a name to a real existence.

For example, some families have only one son who is already married, but for some reason they need to arrange a marriage, and there is no suitable candidate in the family, so they can only marry the son back as a concubine.

The status of a concubine is only slightly lower than that of the principal wife. Although she cannot be buried together with her husband in the family tree like the principal wife, a concubine still needs to go through the three books, six ceremonies and be carried in a sedan chair when she enters the house, and the children she gives birth to are also legitimate.

Minglan could accept Li An taking a concubine, but she certainly couldn't accept him marrying a concubine.

Although this matter was decided by the government and cannot be changed, Minglan will inevitably feel resentful about it.

……

"The official is back."

When Minglan saw Li An coming back, she quickly got up and helped Li An change out of his official uniform.

"Is there something on my mind, sir?" Minglan asked with some confusion when she saw that Li An had not spoken since he came back.

"Danju and Xiaotao, you go down first." Li An said.

"Yes." After the two of them bowed, they led a few maids out.

"Minglan..."

Ang Lee opened his mouth. He thought for a long time but couldn't think of any solution, so he decided to tell everything, but for a moment he didn't know how to say it.

"Sir, has something happened?" Minglan asked.

Li An took a deep breath and told him how the emperor had summoned him and asked him to marry the Princess of Anyang County.

After hearing this, Minglan's hands, which were tidying up Li An's clothes, slipped down weakly.

"Minglan, I was forced to do this. Don't worry, even if she comes in, she can't pass you." Li An looked at Minglan's gloomy expression and felt very distressed. He hugged her tightly in his arms.

"My lord, I'm fine." Minglan forced a smile and said, "I was originally planning to take a concubine for you, but now it seems that's not necessary."

How can a concubine and a common wife be the same? If Li An only took a concubine, she would not be unhappy at all.

She believed that Li An liked her and with her own skills, the concubine could not cause any trouble.

But the concubine Li An married was a county lady. Even though she was originally just a palace maid, her status was there and all her tricks were useless.

Even if Li An didn't like her, what could he do? Could he just ignore her?

Li An didn't know how to comfort her, so he could only hold her like this.

After a long while, Minglan pushed Li An away and said with a smile, "Sir, it's getting late, let's have dinner."

Although Minglan's smile was still the same as before, Li An did not feel the healing warmth from it. Instead, he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Li An held Minglan, bent down and kissed her, then reached out and picked up Minglan and walked towards the bed.

……

"When the emperor rewarded me with a marquisate before, I felt something was wrong. Now it seems that the emperor had this plan a long time ago." Li An said.

Minglan's face flushed, she lazily lay on Li An's chest, and said, "If that's the case, why did you agree?"

Li An said bitterly: "The official didn't give me a chance to refuse. When she comes in, I will have a good talk with her. It would be best if she behaves well. If she wants to do something wrong, I won't indulge her. Don't worry, you are the only wife in my heart."

"My lord, I believe you, but I'm still a little afraid. Since Princess Anyang was arranged by the emperor, she has the emperor and the queen behind her. If things really get out of hand, the emperor and the queen will definitely intervene." Minglan said.

"It's difficult for an honest official to settle family affairs. If the government really intervenes, the worst that can happen is that I resign." Li An said.

He couldn't refuse the emperor's marriage proposal. After all, this kind of thing was a good thing in the eyes of all men. If he refused, he would be offending the emperor.

However, if the emperor still supports Princess Anyang after she enters the palace, Li An will not be able to tolerate it.

"Sir, please don't say such angry words. Don't worry, I will get along well with her after she comes home." Minglan said.

"My lady, you don't have to put yourself in a difficult position. Just get along with each other normally. The emperor does this just to make me loyal through marriage. It's impossible for him to really care about a palace maid." Ryan said.

If Zhao Zongquan really cared, he would never have let Princess Anyang become his co-wife.

It can be seen that the Princess of Anyang is just a pawn in his eyes.

"Well, let's get up and eat. I'm hungry." Minglan said.

"Yeah." Li An nodded.

……

The next morning, the couple had breakfast, took their gifts and drove to Sheng's house.

Today is the first time that Li An and Minglan officially return home. Several married daughters and sons-in-law of the Sheng family are here, and it is very lively.

After the greetings, the women went to the backyard to talk while the men talked in the main hall.

Sheng Hong sat in the main seat, looking at his sons-in-law and smiling happily.

The eldest son-in-law, Yuan Wenshao, was previously only a battalion commander of the West City Military Department. When Prince Yan rebelled, many people from the Five Cities Military Department were involved, leaving many positions vacant.

Yuan Wenshao was lucky enough to become the deputy commander of the Dongcheng Bingmasi, a fifth-rank official.

The fourth son-in-law, Liang Han, also became the deputy commander of the seventh rank by virtue of his title.

Although his official position was not high, he had an earl's mansion behind him.

The sixth son-in-law was a sixth-rank Hanlin editor, and he also had the merit of delivering the blood edict. The eldest son, Sheng Changbai, was still a scholar, but his father-in-law was in a high position and had great power, and it was said that Hai Wenren would soon become a prime minister.

With the help of the Yue family, my future will definitely be good.

He himself will be promoted soon, but the position has not been decided yet.

If there are any who are dissatisfied, it would be the fifth son-in-law Wen Yanjing and his son Sheng Changfeng, both of whom are still penniless.

"Shigao, you haven't fallen behind in your studies recently, have you? This Enke exam is a good opportunity, you must seize it." Sheng Hong said.

Entering the officialdom through the imperial examination was also known as becoming the emperor's disciples. When a new emperor ascended the throne, he would hold special examinations, both to win people's hearts and to recruit talents.

As the first imperial examination after the new monarch ascended the throne, almost all of them would be granted official positions.

"My dear father-in-law, I have been studying very hard recently and I dare not slack off." Wen Yanjing said seriously.

"Yes." Sheng Hong nodded slightly and said, "If you have any questions, you can ask me, or you can ask Zecheng and Ziqian."

"I understand, son-in-law." Wen Yanjing said.

Sheng Hong looked at Li An and the others and said, "You are all relatives now, so you should help each other in the future. You can discuss anything together."

Li An thought to himself, this is the effect of marriage alliances in ancient times.

Power is formed through constant marriages. Apart from clan blood relations, there is no more direct and powerful bond than in-laws.

Ancient etiquette was based on clans, and emphasized promoting the virtuous regardless of relatives, because a mistake made by one person would implicate the entire clan.

Even though the laws of the Song Dynasty were relatively lenient and the killing of nine generations of a family was rare, if someone among the family relatives caused trouble, the relatives would be implicated to some extent.

"Yes, I will keep my father-in-law's teachings in mind." Li An and others responded in unison.

Sheng Hong stroked his beard and talked to a few people about how to be an official.

……

In the inner hall of the backyard, Madam Wang and Silan gathered together. She pulled Hualan aside to ask about the situation, while Rulan pulled Minglan aside and whispered in her ear.

Molan sat aside, like an outsider.

"Fifth sister, how are you getting along with fifth brother-in-law?" Minglan asked in a low voice.

"My husband treats me very well, but my mother-in-law doesn't like me no matter what I do." Rulan said with envy, "You are more comfortable. Once you get married, your parents-in-law will return to their hometown."

Minglan comforted him, "Isn't this the opening of the special examination? If Fifth Brother-in-law passes the examination, he will definitely be sent out to serve as an official. Then you can follow Fifth Brother-in-law to take up the post."

"I'm afraid my mother-in-law will want to keep me here when the time comes." Rulan sighed.

"You two haven't even got any children yet, how could a mother-in-law do such a thing?" Minglan asked in surprise.

"Most people can't do it, but my mother-in-law can definitely do it." Rulan curled her lips.

After hearing this, Minglan didn't know how to comfort Rulan. After all, this marriage was her own choice and she couldn't blame anyone else.

"I heard that your sixth brother-in-law received a house as a reward from the government. It turned out to be a marquis' mansion. Have you seen it?" Rulan asked.

"Not yet. I wanted to go and see it yesterday, but something delayed me." Minglan shook her head.

"When you move there, I will come to visit you and you can take me around," Rulan said.

"Yeah." Minglan nodded.

Rulan asked suspiciously, "Why do I feel like you seem unhappy when I mention the house?"

"No, how could that be?" Minglan smiled and shook her head.

She was originally very happy, but when she thought that the house was probably a reward from the government because it wanted Li An to marry Princess Anyang as his second wife, she couldn't be happy anymore.

But she couldn't tell Rulan about this.

……

In the evening, Li An and Minglan had dinner at the Sheng family and left the Sheng family by car.

"Sir, I heard from my elder sister that her mother-in-law went to the palace to pay homage to the Queen yesterday, and that little Zou was always by the Queen's side. I heard that Uncle Shen wanted to take her as a concubine, and the Emperor even gave her an imperial decree." Minglan said.

"After all, Zou saved the Queen, so naturally we have to give the Zou family some respect." Li An said.

"But I think it's inappropriate to do this. Little Zou has been given an imperial decree before she even enters the palace. Once she enters the palace, she will be a concubine. Uncle Shen wants to marry the daughter of the Duke of Ying. How can the Duke of Ying's family save their reputation?

And, sir, have you ever thought about this? Even if the Emperor and the Empress want to give respect to the Zou family, they can also grant a marriage for little Zou to marry into a wealthy family. There is no need for her to be a concubine.

Although the Zou family is of low status, given the merit of Zou risking her life to save the Queen, there must be many men in the earl's and marquis' mansions who would be willing to marry Zou.

But they want her to be Uncle Shen's concubine, there must be something wrong with this," Minglan said.

"What's the problem?" Li An asked with a smile.

"Uncle Shen was very reluctant. In order to prevent him from throwing tantrums and causing greater embarrassment, the emperor agreed to let Uncle Shen take Xiao Zou as his concubine." Minglan said.

"These are not something we can control." Li An shook his head.

"I know, I'm just worried about Miss Zhang San. I've met her a few times and talked to her a few times. I can see that Miss Zhang San is a proud person. The Zou family would rather let little Zou be a concubine than marry Uncle Shen, which shows that they are short-sighted. If little Zou comes into the family, I don't know what kind of trouble will happen." Minglan said.

There was nothing wrong with the Zou family initially wanting Xiao Zou to be Shen Congxing's second wife.

After all, if Zou could not protect Queen Shen, the emperor would definitely appoint another queen. It is hard to say whether it would be Queen Shen’s son or the later emperor who would succeed to the throne.

It can be said that Zou used her own life to preserve the wealth of the Shen family.

If Shen Congxing married someone else, the Zou family would suffer a great loss.

But now the emperor obviously wants to use Shen Congxing as a marriage partner and find a smart family. It’s time to give up.

In this way, the emperor will be grateful to the Zou family for knowing when to advance and when to retreat. Empress Shen and Shen Congxing will also feel deeply guilty towards the Zou family and will definitely take good care of them.

By then, the Zou family will naturally not be short of wealth.

However, the Zou family just kept their eyes on Shen Congxing and were unwilling to let go, which inevitably made the officials unhappy.

Although she had never met Xiao Zou, if Xiao Zou was as smart as Ms. Zou, she should have thought of these things.

From this we can see that Xiao Zou is also short-sighted.

It would be strange if she could be a concubine after she entered the house.

Minglan had met Zhang Guifen several times and had a good impression of her, so she was naturally worried about her.

"Okay, we can't change these things, so let's not think about them." Li An said.

"Yeah." Minglan nodded.

The Li family was not far from the Sheng family. The couple chatted along the way and soon arrived home.

"My lord, on the way back just now, I heard someone say that an urgent report from the north had been delivered to kilometers from 800 miles away. Now the people are discussing whether the Liao Kingdom has invaded the border." Desheng said.

Li An was startled when he heard this and said, "Go and ask around to find out what's going on."

"Yes." Desheng responded and hurried away.

(End of this chapter)