There is a mansion covering an area of more than 30 acres in Luoyang Zhengpingfang, here is the family house of Boling Cui in the capital, which is also the reason why Luoyang is worth a thousand gold, almost every county in the world will buy land to build a house in the capital, this is the cultural tradition since ancient times, the proximity to the center of power, so that they can get more resources, the concept of father and son, descendants from generation to generation.

As one of the five surnames and seven hopes in the world, the Boling Cui family will naturally not be willing to be left behind, they spent a lot of money near Tianjie in Luoyang, and built this mansion covering an area of 30 acres, in addition to the children of the Cui family who studied in Beijing can live here, this mansion has also become the temporary official residence of Cui Zhao, the head of the Cui family, in the capital.

Although Cui Zhao is the head of the Cui family, he does not have much power in the family, and is even just a famous and no real power.

Due to the Cui family's inheritance for hundreds of years and the emergence of many talents, the Cui family's seven major concubines are very strong, but the Cui family's real power structure is the clan elder association composed of representatives recommended by the seven major concubines, composed of seven respected elders, who decide all the major affairs of the family.

Although the head of the family is only a representative of the family, his status is still very high, and the Boling Cui clan changes the head of the family every ten years, but the head of the family is not necessarily held by each house in turn, but the result of the compromise of the clan elders.

For example, the previous head of the family was Cui Zhao's father Cui Zhenglian, as the largest concubine of the Boling Cui family, Cui Zhao certainly hoped that the next head of the family would be his son Cui Wenxiang.

Cui Zhao has been the head of the family for five years, and a new head of the family will appear in another five years, but the heir to the head of the family must be designated four years in advance, and then the family will use all its resources to cultivate it.

Therefore, as far as Cui Zhao's wish is concerned, he actually only has one year left, and he must win the support of most of the clan elders by next spring, so that his son Cui Wenxiang will become the new heir of the head of the family.

To become the heir of the head of the family, some special conditions must be met, such as being an official in the court, which Cui Zhao has already done. His son has been admitted to the imperial examination, and he will use his network resources to let his son serve as a county magistrate in Boling County.

Secondly, Cui Wenxiang must be recommended and recognized by the famous Confucian sages in the same county in terms of morality, which is not a big problem at all, Cui Zhao is sure to let several famous Confucian scholars in the same county support his son.

There is another one, that is, Cui Wenxiang's wife must be the daughter of a famous family in Hebei, which is the problem that Cui Zhao is currently considering.

Cui Wenxiang is 25 years old. Before marrying a wife, several sons of the same generation who competed with him for the position of head of the family have all started families, including the Bohai Gao family, the Zhaojun Li family, the Taiyuan Wang family, etc., and the conditions of several sisters-in-law are very good, and they are all officials in various parts of Hebei.

Cui Shirong, the sister-in-law of the biggest contender Songshoutang, is currently serving as the magistrate of Zhao County, and was admitted to the imperial examination five years ago, at the age of 33, and his wife is the daughter of the Taiyuan Wang family, and has given birth to two sons. His character and talent are all good, and at present, Cui Shirong has been unanimously recognized by the clan elders' association.

Cui Zhao knew in his heart that if his son Cui Wenxiang wanted to defeat Cui Shirong, he could only make a fuss about marriage, and if he could marry Lu Zhuo's daughter, with the support of the Lu family, the traditional ally of the Cui family, Cui Wenxiang would surpass Cui Shirong at least in marriage.

But Lu Zhuo refused to let go of this mouth, which made Cui Zhao really annoyed. But fortunately, Lu Zhuo's wife is his sister. He could use his sister to facilitate the marriage.

In the study, Cui Zhaozheng was pacing back and forth, he was waiting for news from his sister, not long ago he wrote a personal letter to Lu Zhuo, he made a major concession in the relationship between Cui and Lu's two families, he promised Lu Zhuo. As long as the two families marry, he promised to persuade the clan elders to improve the status of the Lu family, make the Cui and Lu families completely equal, and end the tacit understanding between Cui and Lu for a hundred years.

In terms of time, Lu Zhuo should have news back. Why hasn't there been any movement on my sister's side? Cui Zhao felt very anxious.

At this time, the butler's voice came from outside the door, "Master, Mrs. Lu is here!" ”

Cui Zhao was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Please invite her to the inner hall." ”

The housekeeper walked quickly, and Cui Zhao said to a maid again: "Go and tell the second son quickly and let him go to the inner hall." ”

Not long after, Cui Zhao's sister Cui walked into the inner hall accompanied by his sister-in-law Wang, in fact, this is also where Lu Zhuo is dissatisfied with the Cui family, Cui and Lu have been married for generations, as the head of the family, Lu Zhuo married the daughter of the Cui family, but Cui Zhao himself married the Taiyuan Wang family, and his brother Cui Jin married the daughter of the Lu family, invisibly, the Lu family is one level lower than the Cui family.

Therefore, Cui Zhao wanted to marry Lu Qing for his son Cui Wenxiang on the pretext of making up for the relationship between Cui Lu's two families, but Lu Zhuo saw through his hypocrisy and refused to agree.

At this time, Cui Zhao also rushed to the inner hall to greet his sister Cui, and the family sat down, and after a while, Cui Wenxiang also hurried over and kowtowed to his parents and aunt.

Cui Shi smiled: "Look at this kid is in a hurry, don't worry!" There is good news. ”

Cui Wenxiang was overjoyed, and hurriedly kowtowed to his aunt again, got up and stood behind his father.

Cui Zhao picked up the tea bowl and asked with a smile: "Is it a letter from Han Tao?" ”

Han Tao is Lu Zhuo's expression, Cui Shi nodded, "I just received a letter from him in the afternoon, he said that he could promise the marriage of Cui and Lu's two families, but the condition was that the elder brother must fulfill his promise and must raise the position of the Lu family to another one." ”

The expression of Cui Zhao's wife Wang next to her was a little unnatural, of course she understood what it meant to raise the position of the Lu family one more place, that is, to surpass the status of the Wang family in the Boling Cui family, even if it was not surpassed, but at least it had to be on an equal footing with the Wang family.

Although she was a little uncomfortable in her heart, she knew that this was a matter of whether her son could get the position of the successor of the Cui family, of course, Wen Xiang could also marry the daughter of the Wang family as his wife, and his status was not bad, but there was no suitable candidate among the daughters of the Wang family for the time being, so she could only consider the Lu family.

Cui Zhao was really relieved in his heart, his concession was not in vain, and he finally got Lu Zhuo's response.

At this time, Cui Wenxiang next to him cautiously asked, "Auntie, I wonder when my uncle will come back?" ”

I don't know why, Cui Wenxiang has an inexplicable anxiety in his heart, maybe it is because his cousin likes Zhang Xuan, Zhang Xuan's existence has given him great pressure, he wants to settle the marriage first, so as not to have too many dreams at night.

Of course, Cui Zhao also understands his son's thoughts, he heard his son talk about what happened to the Zenlin Temple, Cui Zhao, as a waiter in the Ministry of Works, of course he also knows what will happen to the heroes recently, Zhang Xuan is in the limelight, and even the saint values him very much.

Despite this, Cui Zhao is not worried, the marriage between the families is a centuries-old inheritance, and no one can interfere, even if the saint can't do it, a small military general is nothing.

However, he didn't want his son to be anxious, so he also asked with a smile: "That's a question, when will Hantao come back?" ”

Cui Shi understood what her brother meant, of course she also wanted to settle this marriage as soon as possible, raw rice was made into cooked rice, no matter how stubborn her daughter was, it was useless, she could only accept her parents' arrangement.

Cui Shi smiled slightly: "Although Han Tao will not come back until twenty days later, since he has promised, some of the steps in the six rites can be done first, as long as he can catch up when he finally goes out to get married, I can call the shots of other things." ”

"Alright! We will settle this matter, first find a good matchmaker, and then the matchmaker will come to the door to ask for marriage. ”

Cui Zhao said to his wife again: "This matter will trouble the good wife." ”

Wang nodded, and Cui Wenxiang couldn't help but ask, "Auntie, do you want to tell Qingmei about this?" ”

Cui Shi said lightly: "She doesn't need to know so much, she just needs to get married then." ”

Cui Wenxiang's heart fell, as long as Qingmei didn't know, he would be able to win the beauty, Cui Wenxiang's heart was so happy that his heart would explode, if it weren't for his parents here, he would have to look up to the sky and shout a few times.

．．．．．．

Cui's said goodbye and left, Cui Wenxiang gave his parents a salute and was about to go back to his room, but Cui Zhao stopped him, "Wenxiang, follow me to the study!" ”

"Yes! The child understands. ”

Cui Wenxiang followed his father to the study, Cui Zhao sat down and asked, "I found out that you are not at home in the past two days, where have you been?" ”

Cui Wenxiang hurriedly said: "The child has been with Qingyuan and Qingming these days. ”

Cui Zhao nodded, "It's a good thing to make more friends and make a wide range of contacts, but I want to remind you that there may be interviews in the ministry in the past two days, so you'd better wait at home, so as not to miss a big event." ”

Cui Wenxiang was taken aback, "Father, has the ministry started the interview?" ”

"It has begun, although this is just a form of walking, but without this form, the Ministry of Officials will not be able to appoint you, and my father will tell you that you will be appointed as the county magistrate of Tang County, which is the highest official position among the scholars of the imperial examination today, and it has been decided."

Cui Wenxiang was overjoyed, and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, "Son, thank you for your father's kindness!" ”

Cui Zhao was very satisfied with his son's attitude, and smiled, "Get up!" ”

Cui Wenxiang stood up and lowered his hands, Cui Zhao groaned and asked, "As a father, I feel that you seem to have little confidence in this marriage, why?" ”

"The father should know, the child told the father."

"Jang Hyun?"

Cui Wenxiang nodded, "He puts a lot of pressure on the child." ”

Cui Zhao couldn't help but sneer, "A martial artist will actually put pressure on you, Wen Xiang, you are a little disappointed in your father!" ”

Cui Wenxiang didn't dare to say anything, bowed his head and said slowly: "You have to remember that this world is still the world of the family, and the marriage between the families will never be interfered with by external forces, even if he has the support of the Son of Heaven, it is useless, as long as the Cui Lu family is decided, it will be ironclad, and no one can change it, do you understand?" ”

Cui Wenxiang nodded silently, "The child understands!" (To be continued......)