Chapter 439 The Pain of Childbirth
Gu Jingzhe immediately swore that he would never let Lu Zhaozhao down.
Tong Huaqiong believed it for the time being.
What can I do if I don't believe it? It seems like there's no way these two can stop each other.
Seeing Gu Jingzhe's confident look, she guessed that Gu Jingzhe had already confided in Lu Zhaozhao when he went to the provincial capital to take the exam.
If she objects, she would be the evil person who is trying to break up the couple.
Fortunately, in this life, many things have changed.
She is not Tong Da Jiao who favors her son.
Not only did Lu Zhaoyang not die, he also went to Beijing and entered the public eye as a unicorn.
Whether in terms of interests or courage, Gu Jingzhe dared not let Lu Zhaozhao down easily.
Thinking of Lu Zhaoyang, the results of the imperial examination will probably come out soon.
I wonder if this talented student from Wanliu Academy can get the top spot on the list.
Tong Huaqiong suddenly thought that although Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao were engaged, it was still a question of when they would get married.
In this era, people like Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao are at the golden age for marriage, and they usually get married within half a year after being engaged.
Most of the men in the village get engaged at the age of fifteen or sixteen and get married at the age of seventeen.
People like Gu Dashu who get married at the age of nineteen are considered older youth.
However, Tong Huaqiong didn't want Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao to get married so early. She still had the same concern. She was afraid that Lu Zhaozhao would suffer damage to her body if she had a baby too early.
Even worse, there may be two deaths.
This is not a curse, but Tong Huaqiong had heard of many young girls who had died of childbirth complications in various villages before she came into this world.
Oh my God, Lu Zhaozhao is only fifteen years old. In her previous life, she was only seventeen when she miscarried her first child.
Still a minor.
terrible!
It would be fine if Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao could get married at the same age as Lu Zhaoyang and Huang Jingshan.
Tong Huaqiong said to Gu Jingzhe, "Jingzhe, after you and Lu Zhaozhao get engaged, when do you plan to get married?"
Generally, the wedding date will be set soon after the engagement.
His mother definitely doesn't want him to get married so early when she asks him this.
Could it be that she was afraid of delaying his indulgence in the land of pleasure?
Gu Jingzhe said, "Mom, don't worry, I will study hard after I get married."
Tong Huaqiong frowned and said, "Jingzhe, I don't want you to get married too early. I have my reasons. Do you know how difficult it is for a woman to give birth? It's like going through the gates of hell."
Although Tong Huaqiong was a painless mother in this world, even if she had never eaten pork, hadn't she seen a pig run?
Not to mention the distant past, just the screams of Tong Pandidi when she gave birth were so scary, not to mention the news that came from time to time about someone in some village dying during childbirth.
"Do you know how your eldest brother's mother died?" Tong Huaqiong asked.
Gu Jingzhe was stunned and shook his head.
Tong Huaqiong said: "She didn't survive the difficult birth...and died along with your eldest brother's sister."
It was the first time that Gu Jingzhe heard the reason why Gu Dahan's mother died, and he couldn't help but look solemn.
Gu Dahan's mother got married early. It is said that she married Old Man Gu when she was fourteen. She gave birth to Gu Baishuang when she was fifteen, and Gu Dahan a year later. A year later, she became pregnant with her third child but did not give birth to the children.
Tong Huaqiong shuddered when she thought of this poor woman. She had been married to the Gu family for less than five years and had given birth continuously. She had three children in four years. Even a body of steel could not endure it.
In this era, people pursue having many children and good fortune, and since there are no reasonable contraceptive methods, they can only get pregnant and have children again and again.
It is the women who suffer.
Tong Huaqiong said: "Once a woman gets married, she has to give birth to a child, and giving birth means going through the gates of hell. Have you ever observed what kind of women have difficult childbirths?"
Gu Jingzhe shook his head. He indeed had not paid attention to it.
In his opinion, it is not normal for men and women to get married and have children. He has never thought about the harm that childbirth may bring to women.
Tong Huaqiong said, "They are all women who got married at a young age. If you ask about women who had difficult births in any village, most of them got married at a young age. For example, your eldest brother's mother gave birth to your eldest sister at the age of fifteen, and your eldest brother at the age of sixteen. How could her body withstand it? I went to the capital and heard from a doctor that women under the age of eighteen are more likely to have difficult births, mainly because they are not fully developed and are not old enough to give birth."
"I have no objection to you and Lu Zhaozhao getting engaged, nor do I object to you two getting married. Think about how old Lu Zhaozhao is. She is only fifteen years old, not even old enough to have a baby. If she has a difficult birth, you will regret it for the rest of your life."
"You must have been thinking that I'm worried that you'll get married too early and indulge in the pleasures of life, which will delay your studies. I don't have the time to care about you. Whether you study well or not is your business. I'm just worried that Lu Zhaozhao will have a difficult childbirth if she gets married to you at her age. You think that I said Taohua is still young because no one wants to marry her. No, I wish I could keep Taohua until she's in her twenties. I don't want her to have a baby so early. Similarly, Lu Zhaozhao is also a daughter raised by the Lu family. How can I bear to let her suffer the pain of childbirth too early?"
Gu Jingzhe listened with a stern expression, and his thoughts on marrying Lu Zhaozhao immediately began to waver.
Tong Huaqiong concluded, "So, you and Lu Zhaozhao should get engaged first, and then you can get married in a few years. Anyway, you are only a scholar now, and you have no official title. If you get married right away, will you spend my money on food and clothing in the city, or will you let Lu Zhaozhao subsidize you? In a few years, when you pass the imperial examination and go to the capital to take the imperial examination, Lu Zhaozhao will be past the age of difficult childbirth, and you can get married in a grand ceremony."
Besides what his mother said about Lu Zhaozhao being young and prone to having a difficult childbirth, there was a second point he had not considered: who would pay for the living expenses of the couple now?
Gu Jingzhe is a person with a very strong self-esteem. He is absolutely unwilling to use the Lu family's money to support his family, and his own mother is not willing to support him either.
These two points were enough to make Gu Jingzhe put his marriage plans on hold.
Gu Jingzhe said, "Mom, you are right. Since I want to spend my whole life with Zhao Zhao, waiting for a few years is nothing. When I pass the imperial examination, I will marry Zhao Zhao in a grand ceremony."
The matter was settled like that.
More than ten days later, County Magistrate Liu came to Qinghe Bay again to tell Tong Huaqiong that the Lu family agreed to the marriage between the two families.
At the same time, he brought good news to Lu Zhaoyang, that is, Lu Zhaoyang took the first place in the imperial examination.
In this era, the imperial examination and the palace examination took about two months, which means that more than twenty days had passed since Lu Zhaoyang's imperial examination results were transmitted to Ningcheng, and the palace examination would be held in more than a month.
The whole Gu family was very happy that Lu Zhaoyang won the first place in the imperial examination. First of all, Lu Zhaoyang left a good impression on everyone. From a utilitarian point of view, as Gu Jingzhe's future brother-in-law, he would be a helper in Gu Jingzhe's official career.
The Huang family had already held a grand banquet after hearing the news, and the Huang family's invitation and County Magistrate Liu came to Tong Huaqiong's house together.
"Third brother, Brother Zhaoyang took the first place in the joint examination. Can he get the top prize in the palace examination?" Gu Taohua asked.
Gu Jingzhe said, "That's right. Master Su said that the one who gets the first place in the imperial examination will be designated as the top scholar by His Majesty in the palace examination."
Chen Sufen smiled and said, "So Zhaoyang is the top scholar."
Tong Huaqiong smiled.
Gu Jingzhe was right. Anyone who got first place in the imperial examination would be designated as the top scorer after just going through the formalities of the palace examination, as long as he did not cause any trouble.
But now Xiaolong's grandfather, the old emperor, is old and his eyesight is blurry and he often doesn't play by the rules.
Gu Jingzhe had won the first place in the imperial examination. The Gu family was about to celebrate in advance for having a top scholar in the family, but the emperor chose him as the third place.
It's nothing else, it's just that the old emperor saw that Gu Jingzhe was too handsome, and said that the previous Tanhua were not good-looking enough, and that Gu Jingzhe's appearance was suitable to be a Tanhua. It would be so cool to wear flowers in his hair and ride a horse in a parade.
So Gu Jingzhe went from being the top scholar to the third place in the imperial examination.
Although Gu Tanhua's fame overshadowed the first and second place winners, he still felt regretful.
Lu Zhaoyang is not bad looking. Who knows if the old emperor will suddenly get a brainwave and appoint him as the third place in the imperial examination or some other rank after seeing Lu Zhaoyang's appearance.