svetikya Chapter 50 An Encounter
Chapter 50 An Encounter
When Wang You visited Hai Wenqing, Hai Wenqing also mentioned this matter.
Seeing that Wang You really didn't care, he was even more satisfied with this future student.
If Wang You's ideas could be perfected by later generations, he might very well be revered as a sage.
As for living saints, that's impossible.
Even Confucius was only revered as a saint after Confucianism became the sole state ideology.
Of course, Hai Wenqing wanted to take Wang You as his student simply because he valued talent, not because he thought Wang You would be revered as a saint by future generations.
After Wang You expressed his willingness to become his apprentice, he also tried his best to make plans for Wang You.
Even if everything goes according to his plan, there is only a slight possibility.
After visiting all the people he needed to visit, Wang You took the gifts he had prepared for his family and left Bianjing by boat.
He wasn't going to take his brother and sister-in-law Shi's boat back. He didn't even know when they would be returning, so he couldn't keep them waiting in Bianjing.
The ship sailed away from the dock and entered the canal, and Wang Youcai came out of the cabin.
The canals near Bianjing were much wider than those near Yangzhou, and various boats traveled back and forth in an endless stream.
Suddenly, Wang You saw a ship decorated with red ribbons and colorful decorations, with a flag bearing the character "Yuan" on it.
"Could this be the ship the Yuan family is sending to Yangzhou to propose marriage?"
Wang You frowned slightly at the thought of this possibility.
Strictly speaking, Hua Lan's marriage into the Yuan family was not considered a marriage of convenience.
After all, Hualan was the granddaughter of Grand Tutor Wang, and Grandma Wang was still alive and had an imperial decree.
Moreover, in today's court, civil officials are valued more than military officials. How can the second son of the Earl of Zhongqin's family, who was once stripped of his title and then reinstated, be considered to be climbing the social ladder?
Not only did the Yuan family feel that the Sheng family was marrying above their station, but the Sheng family itself also thought so.
Sheng Hong was certainly not stupid, and there were reasons why he thought this way.
First of all, the Sheng family was not of high social standing. Although Sheng Hong's father was a third-rank scholar and married the daughter of a marquis.
Ke Shenghong's father died young, and his official position was not high at the time of his death.
As for Old Madam Sheng marrying into the Sheng family, it was entirely because she was so favored that she insisted on marrying into the family.
Marquis Yongyi couldn't refuse his daughter, and since a third-ranking scholar was barely a suitable match for her, he finally agreed.
This barely qualifies him, not because of his status as a third-ranked scholar, but because of his future prospects.
Just like some official families are willing to marry their daughters to scholars who have passed the imperial examinations.
They valued the other person's future prospects, not the status of being a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations).
This is somewhat similar to venture capital in later generations.
The early death of Old Master Sheng was due to what could be described as an investment failure.
With the passing of Grand Tutor Wang, the Wang family also declined.
The fact that Hua Lan was the granddaughter of Grand Tutor Wang did not significantly enhance her social standing.
But Wu Xun was different; his family had a hereditary title that could not be changed, so even if they fell into decline, there was still a limit to their status.
A family member could be granted an official position through hereditary privilege, thus ensuring that the family remained in the upper class.
However, if any of the Sheng family's descendants are not ambitious and fail to pass the imperial examinations in the future...
Even if Sheng Hong's rank was high enough to grant his son a hereditary title before he retired, given the Sheng family's resources in officialdom, his future prospects were still limited.
A family's standing is not determined by the glory of its ancestors, but by its present and future prospects.
In the end, Sheng Hong was just a sixth-rank official, his children were still young, and his future prospects seemed very limited.
This is why everyone thinks the Sheng family is marrying above their station.
What others think is unimportant, but the actions of the Yuan family are not only shameful for the Sheng family, but will also implicate the Wang family.
When Hua Lan got married, Sheng Hong said that if Hua Lan was wronged, he would be the first to not let the Yuan family off the hook.
Later, Hua Lan suffered a lot of grievances in the Yuan family. What did Sheng Hong do?
It's not that he's all bark and no bite; it's just that the Yuan family's scheming is too deep.
A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl.
Many people believe that because of this statement, women in ancient times had no further connection with their maternal family after marriage.
In reality, it is also shameful for a woman's family to ignore or not care about the mistreatment she suffers in her husband's family.
Even when a daughter has done nothing wrong, if her husband's family deliberately makes things difficult for her, and her family goes to her parents' house to protest, the government will not intervene.
Given Sheng Hong's prideful nature, how could he possibly ignore it?
Moreover, as long as one party is in the right, and the social status of the two families is not too different, if the woman's family makes a scene at the man's house, the man can only smile and apologize.
The reason Sheng Hong didn't dare to cause trouble at their door wasn't just because he was afraid of making a scene and becoming a laughing stock.
The most crucial moment came on the day of the betrothal ceremony, when the Sheng family almost lost out on the betrothal gifts.
This puts the Sheng family at a disadvantage when facing the Yuan family.
Regardless of whether this was a deliberate scheme by the Yuan family or whether Gu Tingye was acting on someone's orders.
However, it is an indisputable fact that the Sheng family used the betrothal gifts to gamble.
Although Sheng Hong said it was just kids playing around, the guests who came weren't stupid; they knew the gist of the matter.
However, Yangzhou was far from Bianjing, and no one wanted to offend Sheng Hong over such a small matter, so the news didn't spread.
Once the Sheng family and the Yuan family break off relations, the Yuan family will expose this matter and say that the reason they treated Hua Lan badly was because the Sheng family had done something that made the Yuan family lose face.
As for the claim that the person was instigated by the Yuan family, not only would the Yuan family lose face, but Gu Tingye is not someone that a declining earldom like the Yuan family could control.
Perhaps this was precisely the purpose behind the Yuan family's actions.
It's also possible that they're testing Sheng Hong's bottom line.
Minglan once said something that Wang You thought made a lot of sense.
In this world, everything comes down to who is willing to go all out.
If Sheng Hong had dared to overturn the table and say he wouldn't agree to the marriage when Yuan Wenchun revealed Gu Tingye's identity and claimed he couldn't control it, Hua Lan's life in her husband's family wouldn't have been so difficult.
But now that he's here, he'll definitely get involved in this kind of thing.
Putting aside his positive impression of Hua Lan, the relationship between the two families alone wouldn't allow the Yuan family to succeed.
It's worth noting that in the original drama, the Wang family only entered the capital after Zhao Zongquan ascended the throne.
Now that it's so early, Hualan has entered the capital so soon after her marriage. Who knows if anyone will use this to mock the Wang family?
Both morally and logically, Wang You could not ignore it.
Just as Wang You was pondering how to deal with this matter.
A boy of fourteen or fifteen years old emerged from the cabin of the hired ship.
Because of the distance, Wang You could only roughly tell his age; he couldn't make out his appearance very clearly.
After a while, a young man in his twenties came out and approached the boy, saying something to him.
After watching for a while, Wang You returned to his cabin and called Xiao Man over to give her a few instructions.
…………
"Zhonghuai, there's something I'd like to ask you for help with."
On the boat, Yuan Wenchun chatted with Gu Tingye for a while, revealing an embarrassed expression.
"Brother, just tell me what you need. As long as it's within my power, I won't refuse," Gu Tingye said.
"You also know that our Yuan family was framed and stripped of our titles."
The current emperor is wise and sagacious; he not only cleared the Yuan family's name but also restored their titles.
Because of this incident, the noble families in Bianjing ridiculed the Yuan family quite a bit, to the point that my younger brother, nearing twenty, still hadn't found a suitable marriage match.