On the morning of the third day after Li Yanqing left the capital, Li Daqi came to Cao's house by ox cart, and the day before he had sent someone to send a post, Caofu also sent someone to welcome his visit, and the two sides had reached a tacit understanding on the visit, so when Li Daqi arrived at Cao's house on time, there were already several people waiting in front of Cao's gate.

Li Daqi specially changed into new clothes today, wearing a wingless black cage hat, wearing a light blue lake silk shirt, and a lambskin sleeveless coat, looking particularly bright and spirited, behind him, two porters carried the ceremony, although Li Daqi was not the first time to visit this kind of powerful family, but today he still seemed a little nervous.

As soon as Li Daqi came out of the ox cart, Cao Ping, the old master who was waiting at the gate, greeted him with a smile, "Li Yuanwai, a rare guest!" ”

Li Daqi obviously didn't expect that it would be the head of the family, Cao Ping, who would greet him at the gate in person, he was both moved and a little flattered, and hurriedly clasped his fists and saluted, "I'm really sorry, I made the old master wait for a long time." ”

"Where! Where! Li Yuanwai was very punctual, and I had just come out. ”

"I'm so embarrassed!"

Li Daqi pointed to the salute next to him and said with a smile: "The first time I came to the door, I specially prepared a little light gift, please smile at the old master!" ”

"It's actually Bao Yan Zhai's red treasure box!"

Baoyan Zhai's rouge treasure box is divided into two kinds, the blue treasure box and the red treasure box, the blue treasure box is used by the general public, twenty yuan a box, and the red treasure box is generally only for the court and the powerful, which are all Baoyan Zhai's top fat powder, the price is fifty yuan.

Li Daqi said with a smile: "This is a hundred red treasure boxes, especially for the ladies of your mansion!" ”

"This.... It's too expensive, and we deserve it! ”

"It's just a little thought, it has nothing to do with the price!"

Cao Ping smiled, "Okay! I'll take it, I'll introduce it to Li Yuanwai, these are a few of my dogs. ”

Cao Ping introduced his sons to Li Daqi one by one, although he was only his son, but all of them were high-ranking officials in the imperial court, especially the youngest son Cao Sheng, who was about to marry Emperor Rongde and become the concubine of the dynasty.

Of course, Li Daqi made a generous move and took out a door-to-door gift worth 5,000 yuan, which also impressed the Cao family, which is also a concrete embodiment of the Song people's heavy profits, in fact, as it is today, rich people who don't like it, their wives and daughters are all put on the dresser like a treasure like a treasure, everyone is happy, and Li Daqi is invited into Cao's mansion.

Li Daqi walked into the Guike Hall of the Colorful Building, today is Li Daqi's first door, not officially courting the Cao family, generally by the matchmaker to ask for marriage, but if the conversation is good today, this marriage can almost be decided, in fact, the matchmaker is just a ceremony, and the real marriage is decided by the parents of both parties.

Cao Ping and Li Daqi sat down separately, not all sons were accompanied, but the eldest son Cao Yan and the third son Cao Xuan were accompanied, Cao Yan was also more than fifty years old, the official was appointed as the envoy of Qingxu Jiedu, the general, the founding county prince, Cao Ping is old, his brothers are deceased, once he dies, his eldest son Cao Yan will inherit the position of the head of the Cao family.

As for the third son Cao Xuan, because he is Cao Yun's father, so he must be, Cao Xuan was named the Huizhou regiment training envoy by the imperial court, and he is also a fictitious official, he doesn't say much, he is a little wooden, of course, there is a father, and there is no room for him to speak.

The maid served tea, and Cao Ping smiled and said, "Li Yuanwai is also a scholar!" ”

"In my early years, I was also admitted to the Liberation Exam, but I couldn't get a future, so I had to engage in business."

"But Ling Lang is not ordinary! I heard Yu Xianggong, the chief examiner that year, say that if Cai Xiangguo hadn't been a hindrance at that time, the champion of that year would have been Yanqing, which is a pity. ”

"This ..... I think there is room for a little better, the moon will be full and the water will overflow, and it is impossible to take all of them. ”

"That makes sense! Our Cao family is also from Zhending Mansion on Hebei West Road, does Li Yuan have any relatives in Zhending Mansion? ”

"There is no Zhending Mansion, but there are some distant relatives in the capital, speaking of which, our ancestors are also descendants of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but these are a hundred years ago, and they have nothing to do with now."

They seem to be talking casually, but in fact, they all have useful intentions, mainly to find out the truth, one is to avoid the enemy, and the other is to avoid the same surname, in case Li Yanqing's grandfather's surname is Cao and not Li, it will be troublesome.

At that time, the Li clan of the Southern Tang Dynasty was wiped out by Cao Bin with a large army, so Li Daqi wanted to make this matter clear implicitly, and Cao Ping immediately understood, it turned out that Li Yanqing was a descendant of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

But this problem is not big, Li Yu is also a Song Chen, and his brothers have also become generals of the Song Dynasty, and more importantly, it has been too long and has little impact on future generations, and Cao Ping doesn't care.

Cao Ping and Li Daqi exchanged a few words, and then gradually turned to the topic, Cao Ping smiled: "With Yanqing's talent and career, I should have a good wife, but I don't know why I haven't married a wife yet?" ”

Li Daqi sighed, "I don't have a brother myself, I only have this one son, to be honest, I'm also anxious!" Especially when he went to fight in Western Xia, I couldn't sleep well every night, so he had to make his own decision, and I couldn't interfere, so I could only follow him. ”

"I see, pity the hearts of parents all over the world, I fully understand, in fact, Yanqing and my granddaughter Yunniang are more in love, and they are also a good match, so I have been looking forward to Li Yuanwai coming to the door."

"That's what I'm here for today!"

The two sides reached a tacit understanding between their words, Cao Ping was overjoyed, and hurriedly said to Cao Xuan: "Let Yun Niang come to salute!" ”

Cao Ping has been in the world for a long time, he knows that Li Daqi can see his granddaughter or not, if he does, the effect will be better, maybe he can settle this marriage today.

After a while, Cao Yun followed her father into the guest hall, and she also knew that the guest who came to the door was Li Yanqing's father, which was related to her life's event, so she also specially dressed up today.

Walking forward, Cao Yunying gave a blessing, "Yun Niang asks Uncle Shi for peace!" ”

In fact, as soon as Cao Yun entered the door, Li Daqi took a fancy to her, worthy of being a beautiful girl, with a dignified temperament, and when she got closer, she saw that she was beautiful and beautiful, and her body was even, not as weak and thin as the teacher, he liked it even more in his heart, and his son really had good eyesight.

He smiled slightly, took out a flat brocade box from his arms, and handed it to Cao Yun, "This is a pair of jade bracelets left by Yanqing's mother, I will give it to you if I have a fate today!" ”

Cao Ping was overjoyed, and actually the jade bracelet left by Yanqing's mother, this is Li Daqi's recognition of this family business, he hurriedly said: "Yun'er, don't thank the elders for the gift!" ”

Cao Hanshy took the brocade box and saluted again, "Uncle Xie Shi gave a gift, Yun Niang retired!" ”

Cao Yun turned around and left, and Cao Ping smiled and said, "I also want to give Yanqing a return gift!" ”

"Didn't the old master already give him a sword last time?"

Cao Ping shook his head and smiled: "That sword is the lottery won by Yanqing, but it is not a token, I have prepared the token, please transfer it to Yanqing on my behalf." ”

Cao Ping beckoned, Cao Xuan hurriedly stepped forward and handed over a slightly larger brocade box, Cao Ping opened the box, and inside was a jade pei.

Cao Ping smiled: "We are also of the same mind, Li Yuanwai gave Yun Niang a jade bracelet, this is the jade pei given to Yanqing by Yun Niang's parents, and it is also worn by Yun Niang when she was a child, which is considered a token." ”

"Thank you, old master, I accepted it for Yanqing."

The six rites of the wedding are just a procedure, but before the six ceremonies, the blind date link must reach the family matter, especially the large families, basically set the family affairs first, and then go through the six rites procedure, otherwise the matchmaker will refuse after the door, which will make the two families turn their faces.

After exchanging tokens, even if the two families officially agreed to marry, the atmosphere suddenly became lively, Cao Ping and Li Daqi agreed on the time again, and the two sides agreed to wait for the New Year to invite the seed master to be a matchmaker, and Li Daqi said goodbye.

Cao Ping kept sending Li Daqi out of the house, and said with a smile: "We are already in-laws, during the New Year, I want to invite Li Yuanwai to come as a guest, I don't know if Li Yuanwai has time." ”

"I'll come! Farewell. ”

Li Daqi saluted, got on the ox cart and left, Cao Ping watched the ox cart go away, and then said to Cao Xuan with a smile: "Yun Niang will get married in a few months, you can prepare now." ”

"The child obeys!"

Cao Ping also had to write a letter urging the seed master to come back as soon as possible to be a matchmaker, and he couldn't wait.

.........

In the room, Cao Yun sat at the table and looked at the jade bracelet in front of him, perhaps because of the long time, the jade bracelet was a little yellowed, one jade bracelet was engraved with the words 'prolonged and festive', and the other jade bracelet was a pair of dragons and phoenixes, the jade bracelet was very ordinary, ordinary people have it, and it was worth more than a dozen yuan, but Cao Yun knew in her heart that this was left by Yanqing's mother to her future daughter-in-law, and she felt a burst of sweetness in her heart, this is her marriage token!

Cao Yun held her cheeks again, looking at a small screen on the table, the brocade on the screen has a poem embroidered by her own hand, "The east wind blooms thousands of trees at night, and it blows down, the stars are like rain, and the BMW carved car is full of fragrance." The sound of the phoenix flute moves, the light of the jade pot turns, and the fish and dragon dance all night; The moth snow willow is golden, and the smile is full of dark fragrance. The crowd looked for him thousands of times, and suddenly looked back, but the man was there, and the lights were dim. ”

"Big Scholar!"

There was a sudden rush shout outside, Cao Yun hurriedly put away the jade bracelet, only to see her sister Cao Jiaojiao panting and running in, her face was flushed, and her eyes flashed with excitement.

"What are you doing in such a hurry?"

"I.... I'm going to marry Brother Li!"

Cao Yun was stunned, "What did you say?" ”

Cao Jiaojiao hurriedly waved her hand, "I said it wrong, it's you going to marry Brother Li, it's all about it outside!" ”

"You damn girl, don't talk nonsense about this kind of thing." Cao Yun blushed and poked lightly on her forehead.

Cao Jiaojiao smiled and took Cao Yun's hand, "Big scholar, congratulations!" ”

"What are you thinking about all day?"

Cao Jiaojiao looked at the room with her hands behind her back and said, "I'm thinking, when the big scholar gets married, this embroidery building will belong to me, and these books will also belong to me!" ”

"Nonsense!"

Cao Yun was angry and funny, and gently pinched her sister's ear, "Don't dream, I won't give you these books, and besides, you don't like books." ”

"Hee-hee! Just kidding you, I don't want these books! I have a cat on the first floor, and I put cat food on the second floor, and when you go back to your parents' house, you can only live with my cat. ”

Cao Yun didn't bother to pay attention to her, and at this time, a maid said at the door: "Yun Niang, someone outside the door sent you a letter." ”

Cao Yun hurriedly got up and walked out, "Who is it?" ”

"The housekeeper said it was a little lady."

Cao Yun was stunned, took the letter and opened it to look at it, her face changed slightly, she thought about it and said to the maid: "You tell the housekeeper, I am going to Shilinyuan Bookstore in the afternoon, and ask him to arrange an ox cart." ”

"Big scholar, I'm going with you too!" Cao Jiaojiao took her sister's hand, pouted and said, "I'm going to buy books!" ”