A wife for her eldest brother
"Last year, my elder brother arranged a marriage for her, which was quite good, but she wanted to turn it down. Since she can't find a suitable match this year, there's nothing we can do about it," Zhao Ruxi said. "You and Grandmother should leave the capital with me as soon as possible, and don't worry about this matter."
Zhao Rurui felt no sympathy for Zhao Ruxi Rurui. Greedy, lacking self-awareness, and ungrateful, helping such a person was futile.
Speaking of Zhao Rurui, Zhao Ruxi thought of Zhao Ruyu. She wondered how Zhao Ruyu's marriage was going.
Zhao Ruxi has no more system messages and nowhere to inquire.
She achieved the top score in the exam, and the system rewarded her with 10,000 points. In addition, she earns points every time she writes, so she now has quite a few points in her account.
Now she misses their system terribly, wondering how its upgrade is going, when it will return, and what it will be like without obstacles.
"I don't want to get involved with Rurui. What I'm most worried about is your eldest brother's marriage." Lady Zhu sighed.
Zhao Jingli was the child she had raised as her own son. Now he was almost sixteen, and Lady Zhu was very worried about his marriage.
Zhao Jingli was originally the heir of the Earl of Suiping's Residence's Mansion, so he had no trouble finding a wife.
Even though the title of the Earl of Suiping's Residence is getting lower and lower and the family has no power, they are still a noble family. A daughter of a noble family would not lose her status if she married into the family. In addition, the family has a small number of people, and Lady Zhu is a very kind and reasonable mother-in-law. Zhao Jingli himself is also quite ambitious, upright, and has no concubines. Families who truly love their daughters would be very willing to marry their daughters to him.
But now that he's the eldest son of the second wife, he's in a difficult position when it comes to marriage. Noble ladies from prestigious families won't marry him, otherwise his status would plummet to that of a commoner, and he wouldn't even be eligible to attend the banquets his girlfriends used to attend—nobody could bear that kind of humiliation.
He could marry a girl from an ordinary commoner's family, but Lady Zhu was not willing.
There are suitable candidates among the minor officials' families in the capital. However, the second branch of the Zhao Family is not wealthy, yet has four daughters urgently needing marriage. After they are married off, the family will likely have very little property left, and Zhao Jingli won't even be able to afford much in betrothal gifts. How can you marry a daughter of an official's family without a substantial betrothal gift?
Besides the betrothal gifts, Zhao Yuanliang's influence must also be considered.
Zhao Yuanliang is only in his early thirties this year. He doesn't worry much and never frets about making a living. He's young and looks like he's in his twenties. Given his situation, he might even remarry and have children in the future. Even if he doesn't remarry, it won't stop him from taking concubines and having children.
Sure enough, Concubine Wang gave birth to a son for him, and the little guy can already walk now; as long as Concubine Wang doesn't incur Zhao Yuanliang's dislike, it's only a matter of time before she gets pregnant again.
Marrying into such a family means you won't enjoy wealth and luxury, but you'll face plenty of visible troubles.
Therefore, daughters from better-off official families were really unwilling to marry Zhao Jingli. As for those from less privileged backgrounds, not only Lady Zhu, but even Zhao Jingli himself was unwilling.
Therefore, Zhao Jingli's marriage became a major problem.
"What do you think of Xu Xue as a match for your elder brother?" Lady Zhu asked.
Zhao Ruxi stared wide-eyed in surprise. "Xiaoxue?"
Lady Zhu nodded. "Xu Family is not well-off, Xiaoxue is a good girl. If your elder brother can marry her, I won't have to worry about him in the future."
At first, she didn't dare to show her concern for Zhao Jingli in front of her daughter. Later, she found that Zhao Ruxi was really magnanimous and never cared about these things. On the contrary, she was very understanding of her. So Lady Zhu also let go and mentioned Zhao Jingli whenever she wanted, no longer avoiding the topic.
"Xiaoxue won't do," Zhao Ruxi immediately shook her head.
Lady Zhu frowned. "Why not? Does the Xu Family look down on your elder brother?"
A child raised by oneself is always seen as good; Lady Zhu naturally has a filter on her perspective.
Even before Zhao Jingli entered the Ministry of Revenue Ministry of Revenue, his appearance, upbringing, talent, and background were all far superior to Xu Xue's. She didn't look down on the Xu Family, so why would the Xu Family look down on Zhao Jingli?
Zhao Ruxi shook her head. "No. I just feel that Xiaoxue's personality is not suitable for marrying into the second branch of the family. She can't handle people like Concubine Wang, nor can she deal with Zhao Rurui and Zhao Ruyu. The eldest daughter-in-law of the second branch should be a shrewd and capable woman, not someone like Xiaoxue. If my elder brother marries Xiaoxue, he won't have an easy time; on the contrary, he'll be even more mentally exhausted."
Even though Xu Xue is now famous for writing storybooks, she is still an innocent young girl with a touch of romance. Her parents love her and her brother treats her very well. In this family environment, even though she tries her best to observe life and understand the joys and sorrows of life in order to write storybooks, she cannot change her personality.
It would be cruel to let a naive and innocent girl marry into the second wife's family as the eldest daughter-in-law and sister-in-law.
Lady Zhu sighed, "Actually, I know that too. But where are we going to find someone who is both shrewd and capable, kind-hearted, and with few family burdens?"
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Ruxi recalled the image of a person's voice and smile.
He Yuqi is a woman of strong character and opinion. She dares to defy her father and brothers for her own pursuits. Zhao Ruxi has been busy with the imperial examinations for the past year and has rarely seen He Yuqi. However, she often hears Madam Cui mention that He Yuqi has become her right-hand woman in the newspaper shop, which shows that she is a shrewd and capable girl.
Although Zhao Ruxi didn't spend much time with He Yuqi, she had a very good impression of her; coupled with Madam Cui's praise, it's clear that He Yuqi was also a person of good character and virtue.
Her father was a scholar who passed the imperial examinations, and her brother also passed the county-level examinations, so they came from a scholarly family. In terms of social standing, the two were quite well-matched.
Zhao Jingli is currently a minor official in the Ministry of Revenue. Influenced by Lady Zhu, he is not old-fashioned and has never felt that Zhao Ruxi's participation in the imperial examinations and her official career was inappropriate. On the contrary, he greatly admires her. Therefore, he probably wouldn't object to He Yuqi going out to work.
Zhao Yuanliang did not manage affairs, and Zhao Jingli made all the decisions regarding the second wife's affairs.
This is the most precious thing for He Yuqi. After marriage, most families and husbands would not allow her to show her face in public.
"Then I'll ask Madam Cui if she has any suitable candidates. As you know, the staff at the Qiming Ten-Day Gazette newspaper office are all women. Those who can work there are all talented, intelligent, and capable, which does meet your requirements."
As she spoke, Zhao Ruxi glanced at Lady Zhu.
She said this to test Lady Zhu.
Women who marry Zhao Jingli may not have a mother-in-law on the surface, but in reality, they have a mother-in-law named Lady Zhu. If they don't do well or are lacking in any way, Lady Zhu will not be polite and will definitely step in to discipline them.
If Lady Zhu has completely different standards for her daughter and her "daughter-in-law," then Zhao Ruxi can give up completely and doesn't need to inquire whether He Yuqi is engaged, married, or willing to marry Zhao Jingli.