Last time, Li Ping followed Zhuang Feng back to her hometown, but her son Zhuang Fang stayed behind. She missed Zhuang Fang, so she came with Zhuang Wu this time.
The couple plans to live there until the Grand Canal opens to navigation next year, and then take the waterway directly to Weiqing County to join Zhuang Fengshou.
Butcher Zheng and his wife missed Zheng Qianqian and his grandson and daughter, so they came with them this time.
The business at home is left to Zheng Qi and Zheng Guang for the time being. There is endless money to be made, and sons and grandsons are more important.
Li Liang and Li Ershan have been wandering around for more than half a year. They have seen countless new things and have countless things to say.
Li Ershan was afraid that he would forget to tell Fan Yuanyuan what he saw along the way in detail when he came back. He had not liked reading and literacy since he was a child, but he had developed the habit of writing notes every day.
This love note was temporarily confiscated by Li Liang. He has not seen his grandchildren, nephews, and grandnephews for more than half a year. He wants to use this note to attract the children at home to hang around him every day!
Li Qiao strongly supports Li Liang's slightly childish behavior. He really should let the children at home know how vast the world is outside.
However, Li Liang shouldn't just take care of his grandchildren's children, he also has to consider Li Xiaolan's daughter.
Li Xiaolan is now focused on Jiang Mao, but he has had a headache for a long time.
Taking advantage of getting off work early that day, Li Qiao and Li Liang talked about Li Xiaolan's falling in love with Jiang Mao from the first sight to getting deeper and deeper. Li Liang was shocked after hearing this.
How could he, a little girl who was quiet and always had a presence, be so determined?
It actually gave Xiao Qiao a headache and was helpless, which was beyond his expectation!
"Xiaoqiao, don't have a headache. There's nothing to worry about. Just follow her."
"Huh?" When Li Qiao heard this, his eyebrows knitted together instantly, his eyes widened a little, and he emphasized: "Brother, Jiang Mao is not a good match."
"To say that the Jiang family boy is not a good match means that he doesn't have time to spend more time with Xiaolan. But as a man, if you want to make a name for yourself, how can you stay at home all day long?"
"Besides, Xiaolan doesn't care about this, so what's the point of us stopping her? She has suffered herself, and she will look back on her own."
"She wants to eat white and tender cream cakes right now, but you have to stuff her with steamed buns. Can she be willing? If she doesn't want to, you'll also have a headache. There's no need."
Li Liang raised his hand and patted Li Qiao on the shoulder: "Just follow her. It doesn't matter what happens to her after she gets married. Our family will always leave a yard for her."
Li Qiao: "..."
Good guy, this big brother is really free and easy.
It seems that he has gone too far.
Taking a slow breath, he asked: "Brother, do you really think so?"
"Of course it's true. Even if she comes back from divorce in the future, we can still give her a bite to eat. What are we afraid of? It's her choice anyway. She can be happy now."
Li Liang said and patted Li Qiao's shoulder again: "That's it. Don't have a headache. I'll let her mother talk to her."
Li Qiao: "..."
This matter is really settled.
Li Liang asked Wang Guihua to tell Li Xiaolan that her family agreed with her marriage to Jiang Mao. Li Xiaolan was very happy after hearing this, her face flushed and her eyes bright.
But soon she became uneasy and agreed, but what about Jiang Mao?
I have to ask Jiang Mao for his opinion.
Jiang Mao is in the household department every day now, and it is easy for Li Qiao to want to see him. After lunch that day, Li Qiao called Jiang Mao to his small office.
Jiang Maoying agreed to this marriage.
But there are some ugly things that he must say first.
Jiang Mao wants to use him to climb up the ranks, but his personality is not to interfere with officials' promotions, so Jiang Mao shouldn't expect to use him to get promoted.
If you want to be promoted, you have to show your true ability and attitude to satisfy Sheng Hong.
In addition, if Li Xiaolan's life is not going well in the future, or if Jiang Mao's beauty fades in the future, then Li Xiaolan has the right to divorce.
Jiang Mao sat across from Li Qiao's desk and listened obediently to the two conditions mentioned by Li Qiao. He did not show any joy or anger. He lowered his eyes and considered the two conditions seriously.
After a full quarter of an hour, he raised his head and looked at Li Qiao: "Sir, the student agrees to this marriage."
"You don't regret it?" Li Qiao asked calmly.
"I won't regret it." Jiang Mao answered firmly, looking at Li Qiao with clear eyes.
"Okay, then you can put your fingerprints on this agreement." Li Qiao took out the contract that he had prepared long ago.
A verbal agreement is nothing. After all, Jiang Mao is not an ordinary citizen like Song Shitou who can be manipulated by him.
Jiang Mao was also an official of the imperial court.
In order for these two conditions to be legally binding, Jiang Mao must first sign the prenuptial agreement.
Jiang Mao was a little surprised, but after reading the contract, he signed his name and fingerprinted it without hesitation.
There are no obvious benefits to marrying Mr. Li, but the secret benefits are huge.
Moreover, he didn't plan to take a concubine. Li Xiaolan probably wouldn't fall in love with him just because his sex was bad. Once he got married, it would last a lifetime. He had nothing to fear, so he just signed.
Chapter 234 Jiang Mao didn’t look down on Li Xiaolan and the barbarians invaded the border
Jiang Mao pressed his fingerprints on the contract, and the marriage was considered a success.
Li Qiao wrote a letter to Magistrate Jiang, informing Magistrate Jiang of the matter, and suggested that Li Xiaolan and Jiang Mao get married as soon as possible.
Of course, it's not that he doesn't want to raise Li Xiaolan, it's that Li Xiaolan himself is too eager for this marriage. Ever since he found out that Jiang Mao agreed, he has been in a state of ecstasy.
No matter what he is doing, he can burst out laughing. He also walks like Li Yuan before, jumping twice while walking.
Of course, it's not all happiness, because she and Jiang Mao are not in love, it's just Jiang Mao who wants to marry a daughter of the Li family, and her surname happens to be Li.
Therefore, occasionally she would frown, bite her lip, and feel lost.
With Li Xiaolan in this state, Li Qiao just wanted her to get married to Jiang Mao as soon as possible. She didn't have to fantasize about it at home and experience it for herself. No matter whether it was sweet or bitter, as Li Liang said, it was her own choice anyway.
When she really can't stand it anymore, she will look back.
However, even if he prepared for the worst, Li Qiao still remembers the scene of seven-year-old Li Xiaolan carrying a small basket on her back to deliver fish soup to him the day after she traveled back in time.
The little girl back then was well-behaved, shy and diligent, but her presence in the Li family had not been high for many years. Now the little girl has transformed into a tall and graceful girl.
As a brother-in-law, how could he really watch her return to the Li family crying after so many years.
Therefore, as long as he was in the household department, he would call Jiang Mao to him every day and tell him about the current situation of Dasheng's cultivated land and grain production.
He also reminded Jiang Mao, as Sheng Hong’s grain inspector, what direction he should work hard in order to please Sheng Hong.
Everyone says that the Phoenix Man should always be suppressed and not promoted, lest the Phoenix Man become more powerful and turn his back on others.
But Jiang Mao is not considered a phoenix man. He is a prodigy, and his grandfather is a prefect. With Jiang’s ability and character as prefect, promotion is only a matter of time.
Jiang Mao's worth will rise sooner or later.
Besides, with the friendship between the two families, how could he really suppress Jiang Mao.
He was mentioning Jiang Mao now just to make Jiang Mao be gentler and more considerate to Li Xiaolan in the future. Even if the two people divorced in the future, Li Xiaolan would at least be really happy.
In addition, he also asked Jiang Mao to come to Li Mansion to cultivate feelings with Li Xiaolan.
Emotions are born out of love. If the relationship is strong before marriage, then the two of them will get along more happily after marriage.
However, the nature of Jiang Mao's job meant that Li Xiaolan was destined to endure hardship.
The grain inspector is a special official position created by Shenghong. This year, the grain inspector will supervise the grain planting situation in Shengjing and Jibei Province. What if Shenghong asks these grain inspectors to go to other provinces next year? It’s a big headache just thinking about it.
But Li Qiao had nothing to do about it, and Sheng Hong had his own arrangements.
Entering the twelfth lunar month, there was another heavy snowfall. This time the snowfall made the weather suddenly extremely cold. The scene last winter where people were too lazy to go out on the streets because the weather was too cold appeared again.
The cold wind is like a knife, and drops of water turn into ice. Before the end of the Laba Festival, the officials were given a holiday. They didn't want all officials to rush to the Yamen in the middle of the night and suffer in this weather.
But Li Qiao has no holidays.
As a popular person in front of Sheng Hong, he has to help Sheng Hong handle various complicated government affairs.
But luckily it was a holiday, so he didn't have to go out in the middle of the night as usual. He could just get to the palace before dawn.
In this kind of weather, Li Dashan, Li Ershan and Li Shu no longer go to the shop every day. Business is bleak anyway, so instead of freezing on the road, it is better to stay in the greenhouse during the winter.
Although Tao Zhu is in charge of the Shantang, he sent out the cotton he purchased early this year, so now there is no big deal in the Shantang and he doesn't have to go out.
Therefore, Li Qiao, as the head of the family, had to go out every day, while the rest of the family stayed at home, eating, drinking, entertaining their children, and preparing for the New Year.
The daily routine of the Li family now is that Li Xiaorui, Li Changfeng, Li Yunfan, Li Erbaoju, and brother study in the morning. If the adults have nothing else to do, they stay in the multifunctional leisure room in the front yard to save some dry firewood and coal.
In the afternoon, the physical education classes of several children were cancelled. The weather was too cold, so they were sweating all over while playing in the yard wearing round clothes, which made it easy for them to catch a cold.
They couldn't play in the yard, so the children sat on the kang and listened to Li Liang tell them about what they had experienced on the way south.
Of course, this must be combined with Li Ershan's diary, but Li Liang was illiterate, so he dictated it, and Zheng Qianqian or Li Dashan took the notes and read them to supplement him.
His journey was really exciting. He had been staying in the north before. This time he went south and saw the majestic Yangtze River. He also saw rice fields that were different from dry land. He also saw continuous hills and mountains, and tasted Some fresh fruits and specialties.
Of course, there are also the customs and customs along the way.
When Zheng Qianqian came to Shengjing with Li Qiao before, she felt that the terrain and crops along the way were similar to those in Heping City, so she felt as if she had never left home.
But the terrain and crops in Beihu Province are different from those in the north.
After growing wheat for half his life, he wanted to grow rice and raise fish in the rice fields. That would be really fun.
Unfortunately, there are no paddy fields in Shengjing.
After Li Liang's regrets were known to Li Qiao, Li Qiao couldn't help but smile. What's so difficult about this? There are no ready-made paddy fields. He can transform a few acres into them so that his restless elder brother can enjoy the addiction of growing rice.
But Li Liang refused after hearing this.
As for the land price in Shengjing, he was reluctant to mess around.
However, he was very moved by Li Qiao's proposal. Farmland in Shengjing was expensive, but Weiqing County was cheap. In the future, he would like to transform several acres of paddy fields in Weiqing County!
After Jiang Mao's vacation, he would visit Li's house every day. Li Liang would chat with Jiang Mao. Jiang Mao was familiar with all kinds of farming matters, and he and Jiang Mao got along well.
In his opinion, Jiang Mao is a good son-in-law. He knows how to grow crops and does not have the delicate problems of a scholar. What a good son-in-law.
Wang Guihua was not satisfied with Jiang Mao at first, but now that the marriage has been decided, she can only try her best to be nice to Jiang Mao so that Jiang Mao can treat Li Xiaolan well in the future.
The goodwill and enthusiasm of the Li family made Jiang Mao enjoy it and feel helpless at the same time. The Li family regarded him as a scourge, fearing that he would not treat Li Xiaolan well.
