Chapter 440: Getting Married After Achieving Success
Mr. Lu is very supportive of Gu Jingzhe as his future grandson-in-law.
If both parties are willing to get married, then it will be easy.
In order to show respect to the Lu family, Tong Huaqiong decided to bring Gu Jingzhe to formally discuss the marriage.
It was a good opportunity to send Gu Jingzhe to Wanliu Academy in the city.
However, Mr. Lu must be like other patriarchs of this era. He hopes that his younger generations will get married as soon as possible.
Tong Huaqiong also has to find a way to convince Mr. Gu to let Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao wait a few years before getting married, and she must not let Mr. Lu think that the Gu family is deliberately keeping the Lu family hanging.
It would not be a good idea to directly tell Mr. Lu that you are worried about Lu Zhaozhao giving birth prematurely or having a difficult delivery. People of this generation generally lack awareness of the physical harm caused by premature birth.
If someone asks you which woman doesn’t have children, how will she respond?
This is a discussion, not a debate.
Don't be tough in your attitude.
"Master Liu."
Tong Huaqiong looked at County Magistrate Liu. She was wondering whether she should mention to the matchmaker Lord Liu that Gu Jingzhe and Lu Zhaozhao should wait until they are "adults" before getting married. With the help of him, the county magistrate and matchmaker, to persuade Mr. Lu, this matter would be easier.
County Magistrate Liu said, "Aunt Tong, if you have anything to say, please feel free to ask."
Tong Huaqiong said, "Lord Liu, I am very happy that the Lu family is willing to marry my Jingzhe. I wish Zhaozhe could marry tomorrow. But you also know my Jingzhe's situation. He is just a scholar and has no official title. I want to wait until Jingzhe passes the imperial examination before getting married. What do you think?"
Of course, we can't talk to County Magistrate Liu about having children. As I said before, not to mention ancient men, even modern men may not be able to have a personal experience of this.
County Magistrate Liu stroked his beard and pondered for a while.
What Aunt Tong said makes a lot of sense.
I remember that when he passed the imperial examination, many men came to propose marriage to him, but my mother, Han, rejected them all because she felt that she did not have enough academic achievements and wanted to avoid bringing hardship to the girls.
His mother and Aunt Tong hit it off right away; they both had the same thoughts about their son.
County Magistrate Liu's respect for Tong Huaqiong deepened.
"That's easy to say. Let's settle the marriage first. It won't be too late to get married in a few years. Zhaoyang got married just before he went to Beijing for the exam. With him ahead of him, I believe the Lu family will be willing for my cousin to wait for Jingzhe."
Tong Huaqiong disagreed with County Magistrate Liu's logic. How could Lu Zhaoyang be the same? Lu Zhaoyang didn't propose marriage before because he was sick. After he recovered from the illness, Mr. Lu was eager to propose marriage to him everywhere.
After getting engaged to Huang Jingshan, they got married within two months.
Magistrate Liu guessed Tong Huaqiong's thoughts and said, "Aunt Tong, I know what you mean. You are worried that Mr. Lu will think that your family is looking for a better marriage. Don't worry, I will persuade Mr. Lu. If it doesn't work, I will ask Prefect Yao to talk to him."
Tong Huaqiong thought, forget it, the person Mr. Lu dislikes the most is Prefect Yao.
Tong Huaqiong said, "Master Liu, you understand my thoughts. Magistrate Yao is so busy, so don't bother him. It's better to write a letter to Zhaoyang and ask Zhaoyang to tell Mr. Lu that he wants to keep his sister for a few more years."
County Magistrate Liu agreed with a smile, and Lu Zhaoyang must be willing to keep Lu Zhaozhao for a few more years.
However, thinking of Lu Zhaoyang's upcoming palace examination and Gu Jingzhe's future prospects, County Magistrate Liu suddenly disagreed with Tong Huaqiong's decision to let Gu Jingzhe get married after he gained fame.
Before Lu Zhaoyang achieved fame, no matter how rich the Lu family was, they were still merchants.
If Lu Zhaoyang gets the top spot in the imperial examination, wouldn't Lu Zhaozhao, as the sister of the top scholar, become more powerful? What if the royal family or the noble families in the capital knew that he had a younger sister who was still unmarried and came to propose marriage?
What should Gu Jingzhe do if he passes the imperial examination and has a new marriage partner three years later?
Just as County Magistrate Liu understood Tong Huaqiong's thoughts, Tong Huaqiong also understood County Magistrate Liu's thoughts.
Tong Huaqiong said, "Lord Liu, you don't have to worry that after Zhaoyang becomes a popular figure in the capital, someone will set his sights on Lu Zhaozhao, and you don't have to worry that Jingzhe will break up the engagement in the future. Think about it, Zhaoyang and Zhaozhao have a deep brother-sister relationship, and he will definitely not use Zhaozhao's marriage as a ladder to success. Besides, the capital is full of complicated waters, and if the royal family and the aristocratic families all come to ask Zhaoyang to marry Zhaozhao, who will Zhaoyang agree to and who will he not offend? And Zhaozhao and Jingzhe's engagement can make Zhaoyang worry about this. Jingzhe will not break up the engagement even if he passes the imperial examination three years later. Not to mention that he is in love with Zhaozhao, Zhaoyang will have a firm foothold in the capital three years later. Is Jingzhe crazy enough to offend a popular brother-in-law? Lord Liu, think about it, isn't this the truth?"
Lord Liu thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case.
Therefore, he promised Tong Huaqiong that he would try his best to persuade Mr. Lu to keep Lu Zhaozhao for a few more years.
That's how it's settled.
Tong Huaqiong has another matter to trouble County Magistrate Liu.
That is to ask County Magistrate Liu whether there is a good cotton spinning wheel in Pingchuan County or which skilled craftsman can build a cotton spinning wheel.
Since deciding to start the cotton textile industry, Tong Huaqiong brought spinning wheels from various villages to his home for inspection.
She found that all the spinning wheels did not meet her requirements.
Since ordinary people at that time mostly ate linen, and the Ningcheng area did not raise silkworms like the Jiangnan area, the spinning wheels in the entire Yanguan Town were built for weaving linen.
Such a spinning wheel would certainly not be suitable for producing cotton cloth.
The process from cotton to cotton cloth is different from that from ramie to linen cloth.
Cotton requires a series of complicated processes such as cotton pulling, fluffing, and rubbing. It is true that there were quilts in this era, but many cotton products only had the husks removed without the process of pulling, so the quilts were not very warm.
Otherwise, why do wealthy families all use silk quilts?
"The spinning wheels are the same in every village and town. There is nothing special about them."
County Magistrate Liu, who always put agriculture and sericulture first and was knowledgeable, thought for a while and shook his head at Tong Huaqiong.
A look of disappointment appeared in Tong Huaqiong's eyes. Did she have to rely on manual development?
She is not good at handicrafts.
She knew the principles of the spinning wheel, but just as people in later generations said that one could understand many principles but could not live a good life, she knew many principles of advanced productivity but could not create tools to promote productivity.
Gu Daqiao, the son of Gu's cousin who had to delay his studies due to his lameness, is a good tool maker. He has been working at Tong Huaqiong's house and has been trying to figure out the tool with a loom for two months but still hasn't figured it out.
County Magistrate Liu pondered for a while, and suddenly thought of the fellow candidate from Jiangnan whom he had met during the Shengjing Imperial Examination, so he said, "But I can ask my former classmate for Aunt Tong. Last year, my classmate went to Huating County in Jiangnan to take charge of the government. I heard that the people in Huating County wore cotton clothes. After he arrived, he sent someone to bring me a piece of cotton cloth, which was soft and light."
Tong Huaqiong said, "That's great."
Where is Huating County in Jiangnan?
Tong Huaqiong searched in his mind and realized that this must be Songjiang in later generations.
When she was in college, she went to Songjiang University Town to visit her classmates, and there was a station called Huating Station.
It just so happens that Huang Dao Po, the great figure who improved the cotton loom, was from Songjiang.
Could it be that in a parallel universe, those brilliant stars that once created history will still let their starlight penetrate the times and shine in the long river of history, and that Fukuzawa's dynasty was not recorded in history books in later generations?