The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 256: Earnest Talk

Chen Cui was not in a hurry to find a husband for Suisui, but many people came to her door and wanted to propose marriage for Suisui.

Although Suisui was not keen on socializing and was not well-known among the ladies in the capital, she had three ambitious brothers.

Her eldest brother is less than 30 years old now, and he already holds a fifth-rank official position. The second brother is a sixth-rank official, and the third brother is slightly lower, only a seventh-rank official. But he also has another identity, he is a princess. With a princess as his wife, does official position still matter?

Ever since Changfu became a duke, the Liu family has indirectly become relatives to many royal relatives. The Liu family's status has been raised to a higher level, which has led to an increase in the marriage market.

Originally, those who came to propose marriage were only children of officials below the fifth rank. Some of them were scholars with official titles, while some did not even have any official titles. They were just commoners, but they came to propose marriage just because their fathers or brothers were officials.

Nowadays, there are more people who come to propose marriage than just these people. Some children of third- and fourth-rank officials also come to inquire about marriage. There are even some who have won the title of juren at a very young age. All of them are interested in Suisui.

In other words, he is interested in Sui Sui's family background.

In fact, Chen Cui is now in a dilemma. She doesn't want her daughter to get married too early, at least until she is 18 years old.

But the social situation today is different from that of modern times. Most people marry early in order to have children as soon as possible. If a man marries later, it can be said that it is for his future, but if a woman marries late, she will be gossiped about.

Generally, girls from official families would get engaged around the age of 15 and get married at the age of 16 or 17. Qin Ruozhi was unsure about the marriage at the beginning, so she was gossiped about a lot and people suspected that she had some kind of problem.

At that time, she was already the daughter of a third-rank official. She was still criticized for being engaged late, let alone Suisui, the sister of a fifth-rank official. She would be criticized even more!

Although it is normal for a family to have hundreds of families looking for a daughter, if so many people come to inquire about the marriage and no one is interested in her, people will talk about her.

Chen Cui would not have cared about these things, but she had to consider her daughter's reputation, so she had a serious talk with Sui Sui and asked her what she thought about her marriage.

Before, Suisui was still young, and no matter who came to her house, she would refuse them on the grounds that her child was still young. But now Suisui has come of age, and will be sixteen after the Chinese New Year, so this excuse can no longer be used.

Now, it depends on Suisui’s own wishes, what kind of person she wants to find and what kind of family she wants to marry into.

Sui Sui was silent for a long time.

Although she usually appears to be naive and lively, she is not really ignorant of the ways of the world. She knows a lot of things clearly.

If it were up to her own thoughts, she wouldn't even want to get married. She wanted to be a lady at home all her life, loved by her mother, cared for by her sister-in-law, spoiled by her brother, and live a free life.

But she also knew that these were all delusions. What girl would stay unmarried for her whole life? Even if her brothers were willing and her sisters-in-law agreed, would her nephew be willing in the future? What would she do after her mother and brothers were gone?

Therefore, she must get married.

My mother had rejected all those who came to ask about marriage before, but now she really couldn't refuse anymore. When the time came to make a choice, she had to ask me.

It was an extremely open-minded move for her mother to ask her opinion and let her participate in the discussion.

Chen Cui waited for a long time before Sui Sui finally spoke: "Mom, I want to marry into a military family, not a civil servant family."

This was the result of her long-term thinking. She had also met many ladies from civil servants' families. They all followed the rules, obeyed the rules when speaking and followed etiquette when keeping silent. It was extremely rare to find someone like her sister-in-law who was so unconventional.

From those ladies, one can see the requirements their families have for girls. If this is the case for their daughters, then the requirements for daughters-in-law will be even stricter. Sui Sui feels that she can never do what they want her to do!

In that case, it would be better to go to the homes of military generals where the rules will be much more relaxed.

For example, in my second sister-in-law's family, she doesn't control her daughters-in-law. At least the women can go out freely, and occasionally even fight with men in their own yard. Although this man is limited to her own husband, it is much better than those civil servants' families where even how the women laugh is regulated.

After hearing what her daughter said, Chen Cui felt that it was both unexpected and reasonable.

However, she couldn't help feeling a little regretful, wondering if she had been too lenient with the child, letting her grow up in a relaxed environment, making her feel that the rules of those official families were too strict for her, so that she could not bear to be the daughter-in-law of such a family!

Chen Cui's eyes turned red, and she hugged Sui Sui's body: "It's all mother's fault, it's all mother's fault!"

She originally thought that by urging her son to become an official and working hard to earn money, she could save more dowry for her daughter, so that she would have the support of her brother from her natal family and a large dowry to provide more security for her future.

However, now that all these conditions are met, my daughter's marriage is still restricted and she has to face some choices.

Suisui also hugged her mother's waist emotionally, and the tears in her eyes dripped onto Chen Cui's shoulders.

"Mom is right. From childhood to adulthood, mom has never let me suffer any hardship or fatigue. Thanks to mom's love and my brothers' protection, I am who I am today."

Although she had no memories of her childhood, she had often heard from her brothers about what life was like at home in the past.

Especially after her father passed away, the family was almost facing despair. If her mother had not worked hard to make money and her brothers had not studied hard, she would probably have been like those girls in the village, working all day, getting married and having children early, and working hard all her life.

If it weren't for her mother's support, who hired a teacher to teach her, she would never have the opportunity to learn those skills and enjoy her leisurely time now!

Sui Sui knew very well that the good life she had in the past and now was earned for her by her mother and brothers. Although she had been without a father since childhood, she lived a happier life than most girls in the world!

It's just getting married, something every girl has to face, and it's not as scary as imagined.

Her family did not ask her to arrange a marriage to help her brothers' future, nor did they ignore her wishes and arrange a marriage for her that would benefit the family. Instead, they seriously asked for her opinion and acted according to her wishes. This is what many girls would wish for.

She is very content.

Sui Sui buried her head in Chen Cui's neck, sniffed and said, "Mom, I have lived longer than most girls in this world. I feel very happy and content. Don't be sad about this!"