On the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month, Zhao Chongyang and Liu Yubo came to Liujia Village with three blacksmiths and their families. Zhao Chongyang asked the second uncle to settle the accounts clearly, take the Liu family's money first, and they could give the money to the Liu family, and many people were waiting for the money to be used for the New Year. Because the ironware workshop and workshop of the Liu family are different from the Zhao family, Liu Yuhua and their house are the descendants of the long house, although the generations are the patriarchs and are in charge of the major affairs of the clan, but the workshop is owned by the whole clan, and their room only accounts for half of all the plates, and the other rooms account for half. Therefore, half of the profits must be distributed to everyone every year.

And Zhao Chongyang's family property was passed down by their ancestors alone, and all the properties belonged to his family. It's just that his family is the richest, so the public welfare undertakings in the clan and the village are all done at his family's expense, never pretending to others, and never sharing them with others. Therefore, the head of their house has become the patriarch and the village chief for generations.

While the whole Liu family was happily enjoying the surprise that Zhao Chongyang brought to them, Zhao Chongyang was thinking about how to improve the gunpowder. And it is ready to officially put the flintlock pistol on the research and development agenda.

Zhao Chongyang knew that among the one hundred and eight generals in Liangshan, there was a thunderous Lei Lingzhen, and his father Lin Zhuangfei was the master of a firecracker workshop in Bian Jing. On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, Zhao Chongyang asked his father to send someone to Beijing to contact, and ten days ago, he invited the Ling family to Zhaojiazhuang with a high salary.

But Zhao Chongyang has not found time to discuss with the Ling family father and son how to arrange their work. The family temporarily played around in Zhaojiazhuang. Ling Zhen's father's name is Lin Zhuangfei, thirty-eight years old, about 1.7 meters tall. Ling Zhen's eldest brother, Lin Huan, is twenty-two years old, married, and has a daughter who is more than three years old. Ling Zhen is fifteen years old, plus Lin Zhen's mother and sister-in-law, the whole family has a total of six.

Zhao Chongyang asked his father to build an independent small courtyard for Ling Zhen's family in the Zhao family compound, so that their family could live in the small courtyard. Their family is all people who rely on their crafts to eat, and they are not very wealthy, and in the capital, where every inch of land is expensive, the whole family only has two or three narrow huts to live in. When I arrived here, I suddenly lived in such a beautiful courtyard, with two floors and one bottom of the main building, and an independent kitchen and men's and women's toilets, which was spacious and comfortable.

Zhao Chongyang gave the father and son a monthly sum of 100 yuan a month, which was 30 times more than the 70 yuan of the father and son that the Zhao family's family said when they went to invite them, and it was exactly ten times the monthly money of the three of them in the capital.

As for the workshop for the research and development of gunpowder and firearms, he planned to build it by the river. It was built on the wharf of his own house by the river, three or four hundred meters away from the newly built paper mill, and built an independent earthen wall yard to use it first, and then used water conservancy to build a slightly larger workshop after the cement was successfully fired. In this way, Zhao Chongyang's firearms research and development slowly began to take off......

On the afternoon of the 26th day of the lunar month, as soon as Zhao Chongyang finished arranging the work of the Ling family's father and son, Wang Zhennan took his youngest son Wang Daping, who was more than 16 years old, to Zhaojiazhuang and asked Zhao Wuji and his wife to be the matchmaker to introduce Zhao Chongyang's cousin Liu Qiaoyun to Wang Daping.

Wang Daping Yunwen Yunwu, like Zhao Chongyang, is already a showman, and his studies are also good. Prepare to take the government examination next year and gain fame in the examination.

Wang Daping is less than 17 years old, with 1.73 meters, at this age, he belongs to the upper middle class. Because he has practiced martial arts since childhood, although his homework is good (the county has entered the top ten), he does not have the sour and rotten atmosphere of ordinary literati.

Liu Qiaoyun's appearance is good, or when Zhao Chongyang's master and apprentice went to Nanjing last time, Wang Daping listened to what Zhao Chongyang said. In fact, Liu Qiaoyun is not only beautiful, but also smart and capable, and now she is also helping the family manage the accounts.

Regarding the request of the Wang family's father and son, Zhao Zhuang and his wife naturally agreed and were happy to facilitate the matter. After all, now everyone is a partner and knows each other, and the second son of the Wang family is really good. Of course, all this still requires Liu Yuhua and Liu Qiaoyun to nod.

So, Zhao Chongyang suggested that his parents let the coachman at home use a carriage to pick up his uncle and cousin first (due to the needs of transportation, Zhao Chongyang did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy 20 horses to transport goods), get to know each other first, and the two sides thought that they could, and they would go to Liu's house tomorrow to hire and officially propose.

At around five o'clock in the afternoon, the father and daughter of the Liu family arrived. Wang Daping saw Liu Qiaoyun, who was even more beautiful than he imagined in his heart, and he liked it more and more.

The father and daughter of the Liu family have already read the note written by Zhao Chongyang, and when Zhao Wuji, Liu Yuzhen and his wife introduced them to both parties, the father and daughter of the Liu family looked at Wang Daping again, and felt that this young man was gentle and elegant, dignified in appearance, and indeed a good person, which met the criteria for the Liu family to choose a son-in-law. After the two sides met, Liu Yuzhen called her niece in for questioning and took a look at Liu Qiaoyun's first impression.

Outside, Liu's father expressed his attitude, thinking that Wang Daping was a good young man, as long as his daughter had no opinion, he would agree.

After Liu Qiaoyun went in with her aunt, Liu Yuzhen asked her niece: "Yun'er, what do you think of the second son of the Wang family?" If you don't have an opinion, you will decide your life's events. ”

After all, Liu Qiaoyun is a big girl who has never seen the world, although she is willing, she is embarrassed to express her position directly, and only said with some embarrassment: "It's all up to my aunt and parents." ”

When Liu Yuzhen heard her say this, she knew that she was willing. came out and said to everyone: "Yun'er has a good impression of the second son, and I don't have any opinions." In this way, the two sides basically decided on the marriage of Wang Daping and Liu Qiaoyun. Everyone had a moment of idleness together, and after the servant had prepared the dinner, the guests and hosts had dinner together.

After dinner, the coachman prepared the car and sent Liu Yuhua's father and daughter back to Liujia Village. Liu Qiaoyun followed her father into the carriage, Liu Yuzhen looked at her niece Guose Tianxiang, and couldn't help but take Liu Qiaoyun's hand and said: "Our family Yun'er is getting more and more beautiful, and my aunt is really reluctant to let you marry someone else." It's a pity that our family Chongyang is too small, otherwise it would be good to leave you to Chongyang as a daughter-in-law. ”

Qiaoyun is a little embarrassed to say it. Liu Yuhua said with a smile: "Sister, don't feel distressed there, you also have a niece who is more well-behaved and intelligent than Qiaoyun, and she is the same age as your nephew, why don't you book it early, so as not to regret it in the future." ”

"You're talking about Qiao Ling's girl, right? Okay, Ling'er is really good, and she is a good match for my family's Chongyang. If you want to say that there are so many nieces in our Liu family, it is true that only my two nieces are the most cute. Liu Yuzhen said proudly.

Zhao Chongyang said with a smile on the side: "Oh, Mom, my uncle and cousin have to rush back, don't hold Sister Yun's hand."

Zhao Chongyang knows that the Ling girl that the adults are talking about is the granddaughter of the second grandfather, Liu Yubo's daughter Liu Qiaoling, who is now more than 9 years old, half a year older than Chongyang, Zhao Chongyang called her Sister Ling. Although she looks small now, it can still be seen that she is indeed a beautiful embryo. In particular, the big black jewel-like eyes, flickering, made her whole person full of aura, like a goddess of wisdom.

From Zhao Chongyang's heart, he likes this Ling sister for him. But as a traverser, he felt that his blood relationship with Sister Ling was still a little close. Although his mother and second uncle are not siblings, they are cousins. Later marriage laws stipulated that the children of siblings (brothers) were not allowed to marry, and there were no clear provisions on whether the children of cousins could get married. Does that mean that the marriage of blood relatives after three generations has little impact on future generations?

When Zhao Chongyang and Zhao Benchuan were still struggling outside, whether to raise the issue of whether to raise the issue to their parents that close relatives could not get married, his mother had already told Zhao Wuji about his brother's suggestion in the back room.

Zhao Wuji said: "If you want to say that Qiao Ling is indeed worthy of our family Chongyang." It's just decided now, and both of them are not too small. It's better to mention it to his second grandfather now, if they don't have an opinion, they will say that they will not hire for the time being, so as not to embarrass the two children when they meet. After the big exam, we will face up to the recruitment. In addition, our Chongyang family is no better than other children, if that incident is true, there must be a lot of women around him in this life. And his assertiveness is too strong, or call him here and listen to what he has to say?. ”

After Zhao Chongyang was called into the house by his mother, Zhao Wuji and Zhao Zhuang asked him: "Chongyang, just now, you heard what your mother and your uncle said, now we will ask you, do you like your sister Ling?" ”

Zhao Chongyang didn't want to say anything against his will, so he nodded and said, "I like it." ”

"Then do you think the family affairs will be decided for you now, or will it be decided in a few years?"

Zhao Chongyang said: "Let's talk about it in a few years." We are both young now, so we have decided on the names of the two, and it feels very awkward to meet each other. ”

The next day, Zhao Chongyang's family accompanied Mr. Wang Zhennan to Liu's house to propose, recruit, and give dowry. With everyone there, Liu Yuhua called the second uncle and brother aside and said: "Sister wants to ask you to give Ling'er to Chongyang, but the two children are still young, so I want to make this orally set in advance, and then hire them in a few years, I don't know what your opinion is?" ”

With the old man here, it is naturally not Liu Yubo's turn to be the master of the father, and after hearing this, he can only turn his inquiring eyes to his father. Liu Erye thought for a few seconds and said: "Chongyang was grown up by everyone, not only is he smart, but he is also good at school. It is only a matter of time before you take the examination to raise people and enter the scholars, and it is a matter of time before you shine in the court. It's just that a person with a great future like him is destined to be the object of attraction and marriage of those families, giant families, and wealthy families, and is destined to have three wives and four concubines, and now the two of them are set, in case there is a better couple, a higher door to propose, won't it delay the future of my grandson? ”

Liu Yuhua said: "The second uncle is still thoughtful, when I go to find my sister, you give her a detailed discussion, and I will accompany the guests." ”

After a while, Liu Yuzhen came to the second uncle, and the second master Liu said what he had just said to his nephew and his niece again.

Liu Yuzhen said: "Second uncle don't worry, since our two families have already made a verbal agreement first, then those who want to marry my Zhao family in the future can only be ordinary wives, and ordinary people can only be concubines." Unless the emperor marries the princess or the county lord to Chongyang, then the worst thing is to keep the position of our Ling'er's wife. What's more, I also asked Chongyang, he also likes Ling's son. ”

Second Master Sun said: "When I heard you say this, I was relieved." Do you think it's going to be made official now, or is it going to be made orally first? ”

"Chongyang said, now officially propose, the two of them are too young, but they can't be erased when they meet each other, it is better to make a verbal decision first, and wait until Ling'er is fifteen years old or after he is named on the gold list, and then officially pay the bride price." In this way, the parents of both sides verbally decided on the relationship between the golden boy and the girl. ＇