Empress Dowager Cao agreed to the Fan family to buy the island, and Fan Ning naturally agreed to the marriage, but the Cao family did not want to be in a hurry, but wanted to finish the six ceremonies of marrying a wife before they were willing to send their daughter to Quanzhou, which would take at least two or three months.

The Fan family is naturally in charge of etiquette planning by Fan Ning's second uncle Fan Tiege, and Fan Ning does not need to stay in the capital.

However, before Fanning left the capital, Cao Tong made a request, his daughter Cao Xiu wanted to see Fanning.

This is understandable, the two families are married, and it is normal for the newlyweds to meet, and Fan Ning also wanted to see the daughter of the Cao family, so he agreed.

The place where the two met was arranged in Fayun Temple in the south of the city.

In the early morning, in a beautiful building in the back house of the Cao family, the morning glow shot in from the window, dyeing the whole room purple.

This is a girl's room, simple and tidy, with nearly 100 books on the shelves, and on a desk by the window there are several recent "Hong Kong Economic Journal", and the front pages of several economic newspapers have the same series of articles, 'Interview with Xiao Fan Xianggong'.

At this time, a young girl came out of the back room, which was the perfect embodiment of a classical beauty, she had a pair of long black eyebrows with a bowed outline, her face was slightly oval, her cheeks were plump, her skin was fair and delicate, her eyes were not very large, but they were very attractive, her pupils were dark and shiny, like two black jewels, and her eyes were calm.

She wore a double-ringed bun, and her hair curled down her face, making her calm temperament a little playful.

She wears an emerald green half-sleeved gown with a pleated skirt underneath, which is a little old-fashioned, but it also perfectly supports her serene temperament.

This girl is Cao Xiu, the third daughter of Cao Tong, the daughter born to his wife, the little niece of the Empress Dowager Cao, and she also has a prominent position among the juniors of the Cao family.

But it can be seen that she is not very happy, just the day before yesterday, her father told her one thing, the queen mother is in charge, the family unanimously decided to give her to Fanning as the third wife, and at the same time the queen mother will canonize her as the county lady.

This decision shocked Cao Xiu, and at the same time felt ashamed, she actually went to be a wife for someone else, which was only slightly better than a concubine, and it was also her least favorite transaction marriage.

But soon she reluctantly accepted it, and there was only one reason for accepting it, that is, Fanning was still young, only twenty-seven years old, and he was not the old man she was most worried about.

Faced with the fact that it could not be changed, she only made one request, let her meet Fanning, this strange man who was very legendary in the capital and in the Great Song Dynasty.

The meeting was this morning, Cao Xiu was a little nervous in her heart, but she still stubbornly maintained her dignity and never put on makeup, so she swept her eyebrows and went to see Fanning.

Cao Xiu slowly walked to the table, picked up a newspaper and looked at it, "Little Fan Xianggong!" She shook her head and said to herself, "How old are you to dare to claim to be a prince?" ”

"Girl, the carriage is ready to go!" Her little maid urged outside the door.

"Isn't it too early to go?"

"It's not early, it's time to make an appointment, and there is less than half an hour left."

"Alright! I went to Fayun Temple to make a wish! ”

Cao Xiu picked up the white satin shawl on the chair and got up and went out, who accompanied Cao Xiu to Fayun Temple today, in addition to her personal maid, there was also her sister-in-law Pan.

In addition, there are four guards and a steward, the steward is responsible for taking care of the temple and contacting Fan Ning, he knows Fan Ning, and his brother Cao Shi also wanted to accompany her, but she refused.

The three girls got into a wide carriage, and the steward and the family rode on horseback, escorting the carriage to the Fayun Temple in the south of the city.......

In the carriage, the sister-in-law Pan Shi saw Cao Xiu's frowning, so she persuaded her softly: "The so-called reputation is only for outsiders, the status in the family is determined by the mother's family, the mother's family is strong, the status of the family is high, I heard that Fan Ning's second wife is Ouyang Xiu's eldest daughter, and she has given birth to two children, and there is no difference between the housewife and the housewife in the Fan Mansion, don't listen to the rumors of those neighbors." ”

Cao Xiu was silent, and Pan Shi smiled and persuaded: "You have to think about it in a good place, Fan Ning is only twenty-seven years old, he has already been named a county duke, and the official is the third rank of Jin Ziguanglu Doctor, most of the young officials of his age are still struggling in the ninth grade, and it is also your blessing to be able to marry a young and promising high-ranking official." ”

Cao Xiu sighed and said in a low voice: "I am just a marriage of interests with him, I am afraid that he will look down on me and snub me, and I will have a sad life in the future." ”

This is the true thought in Cao Xiu's heart, and this is what she is most worried about.

Pan Shi was silent for a moment, and said slowly: "To put it mildly, which of our marriages is not a marriage of interests?" There are very few marriages that fall in love with each other and stay together for life, even if it is a marriage of the people at the bottom, it is just an exchange of property, how many of them meet before marriage and are happy with each other? After a long time after marriage, when you have a child, you naturally have feelings. ”

Cao Xiu was right to think about it, the knot in her heart was slightly untied, and her heart was no longer as melancholy as before, she nodded and smiled: "I understand, thank you sister-in-law for your enlightenment." ”

The carriage slowly stopped in front of the gate of Fayun Temple, the female guests put on gauze hats, followed the monk to the gate, walked to the front of the main hall, and the steward whispered: "Fan Guanren is in the main hall!" ”

Pan Shi stopped and smiled at Cao Xiu: "You just take the maid with you, I'll wait outside, you give me the hat." ”

Cao Xiu hesitated for a long time, or took off the hat and handed it to his sister-in-law, and walked into the main hall, only to see a tall young man standing in front of the Buddha, the young man was Fan Ning, and he saw a graceful girl walking in from the corner of his eye, so he turned sideways slightly, waved his hand and made a gesture of please.

Cao Xiu felt shy for a while, but she still stepped forward and knelt down on the futon, and secretly prayed in her heart, "May the Buddha bless the little woman with a happy marriage and a harmonious husband and wife, and the little woman will definitely come to reshape the golden body of the Buddha again one day!" ”

Fan Ning also knelt down on the futon, clasped his hands together, and kowtowed three times, at this time, the two turned their heads together, just looking at each other, Fan Ning's eyes suddenly lit up, the girl in front of him was so elegant and refined, without makeup, but there was a national color and natural fragrance.

Cao Xiu's face was flushed with shame, she got up and walked outside, her heart was also pounding, and there was a trace of joy in her heart, is this majestic and heroic Lang Jun her husband?

At this time, Cao Xiu really regretted a little in her heart, she should have put on makeup, left the most beautiful side to the other party, and should not run to the sky like this.

When she reached the door, she stopped again, turned around and gave Fan Ning Yingying a blessing salute, and then left in shame.

Fan Ning walked to the door and watched Cao Xiu and her family leave with a smile, although he was disgusted with the nature of this marriage, but this girl was very good, dignified and beautiful, exactly the type he liked, and it could be regarded as unintentional willow insertion.

At this time, Cao Xiu walked to the gate of the temple, and turned back to Fan Ning Yingying, Fan Ning smiled and waved to her, Cao Xiuqiao left the temple with a slightly red face,

After getting into the carriage, Pan smiled and said, "I didn't lie to you!" There are so many little ladies who want to marry him that there are mountains of them, and you get them. ”

"Don't talk nonsense, it's not a wife." Cao Xiujiao said angrily.

"Three wives are also wives, there are only three people in total!"

Cao Xiu lowered his head and was silent, and Pan also knew that he was joking too much, so he smiled and stopped talking.

Cao Xiu looked out the window, and didn't know when her day would come?

.........

Two days later, Fanning left the capital and returned to Quanzhou, and at the same time, the Zhizheng Tang took out the first version of the draft of private overseas land purchase, with hundreds of various regulations, mainly divided into three parts: land purchase, land purchase and island purchase, land purchase is the purchase of land in the state capital established by the Great Song Dynasty, and at present, the Great Song Dynasty has only released the two state capitals of Ryukyu and Luzon.

The purchase of land refers to the purchase of land within the three continents, and the purchaser enjoys all the resources on the land and does not need to pay taxes to the imperial court, but the purchaser must abide by the laws of the Great Song Dynasty.

The conditions for purchasing the island are more stringent, first of all, you must be qualified, according to the area of the island, you must have at least the title of earl or above, or the rank of protector or above, and at the same time make significant contributions to the Great Song Dynasty.

The second is the restriction after the purchase of the island, allowing autonomy, not subject to the laws of the imperial court and the Great Song Dynasty, but must be loyal to the Great Song Dynasty Emperor, and no trespassing is allowed.

After the first version of the draft land purchase was proposed, it caused a fierce debate within the imperial court and in the newspapers, and the content of the debate mainly focused on three aspects, the status of the mainland, the status of the Song people living on the island, and the canonization of overseas kings.

Three days later, the second draft of land purchase was promulgated, mainly revising the following four articles, the first is to determine that the mainland is the overseas territory of the Great Song Dynasty, which is under the jurisdiction of the garrison of the overseas economic strategy.

Second, the island was nominally the territory of the Great Song Dynasty and was directly governed by the Son of Heaven, but the owner of the island had the right of autonomy.

Third, the people of the island were protected by the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, which allowed the owners of the island to hire the people of the Great Song Dynasty as laborers in a contractual manner, but they were not allowed to abuse, enslave, kill or arbitrarily bully, and the people had the right to leave the island at any time.

Fourth, the owner of the island can stay and develop the island, and can transport materials to the Great Song Dynasty, and after ten years, his title can be upgraded to one level, and his descendants can inherit the title.

The fourth article is that after ten years, the king can be crowned as a foreign king as appropriate, and the prince can inherit it.

The second version of the draft land purchase was finally approved by the Empress Dowager Cao and the Zhizheng Hall, and promulgated to the world, and it was announced that the Overseas Economic and Strategic Government would organize the first batch of overseas expeditions in early February next year, with a quota of 300, and each quota could bring up to five retinues.

Although it is stipulated that applicants must have more than 10,000 family properties, the applicants are still very enthusiastic, and in just two days, the first batch of inspection places will be full.