After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 688 Candidate List

Haitang didn't care after giving Wu Qiong bad advice, but seeing how energetic Wu Qiong looked, she must have taken her advice into consideration. Even Zhou Xuejun said that this reason was valid, so Wu Qiong might really have to talk to her cousin.

Within two days, word spread in the Zhenguo Mansion that Wu Ke had finally relented and was willing to meet her before the next provincial examination. The Zhenguo Lady and Zhou Liu's Lady immediately got busy with this matter. Even Xie Wenzai, Cao Gengyun, and Lu Bainian received inquiries, asking them if they knew any scholarly and aristocratic families with unmarried daughters of marriageable age who could be introduced to Wu Ke.

Xie Wenzai, Cao, and Lu were all Wu Ke's teachers. If they knew of any suitable girl with a suitable family background, they would have told him long ago. Why would they wait until today? At the moment, they couldn't think of any girl in Chang'an who was suitable for Wu Ke, and they couldn't help but worry about him.

Among the familiar families, Zhuang Shitong's granddaughter Zhuang Minyi is of the right age and has both good character and appearance. However, the Zhuang family and the Hai family have reached a tacit understanding in recent years. Zhuang Minyi is likely to be promised to Haijiao. However, Haijiao has not yet achieved fame and wants to get a formal official appointment before marrying a bride in a grand manner. Zhuang Shitong and his son have no intention of looking for Zhuang Minyi elsewhere, and Haijiao has already confessed this to his grandparents. There is no possibility of changes in this marriage, and Xie Wenzai certainly will not interfere and break up the couple.

Next is the crabapple of the Hai family.

Haitang thought that this matter had nothing to do with her, and she only needed to give some advice to her friend Wu Qiong, but she never expected that the matter would involve herself. However, things were so complicated, Wu Qiong did not say anything, but Zhou Xuejun wrote to her privately, saying that when her grandmother and aunt were selecting candidates for Wu Ke's future wife, they included Haitang on the list, and her ranking was quite high.

The Zhenguogong Mansion did not have a granddaughter of the right age to marry Wu Ke, and had no intention of continuing the marriage. The Zhou clan did have several girls of good age and appearance, but the daughters of generals were not as knowledgeable as the daughters of scholarly families. Even if they were married, they were afraid that the couple would not get along well after marriage and become resentful. Moreover, everyone had seen Wu Ke's temperament in recent years. It cannot be said that he was bad, but it could be said that he might be a little far from the style of the young men that the military families in Chang'an admired. With the example of Wu Zhou, the wife of Duke Wu Wen'an, the Zhou clan was not obsessed with the Wu family's marriage. If it could be successful, it would naturally be a good thing. If it could not be successful, there was nothing to be disappointed about.

The daughters of the Zhou family did not get involved, and the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo and her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were much calmer and more objective when choosing candidates.

They felt that with Wu Ke's conditions, he could not count on the high-ranking families in the capital, but he could consider the scholarly and official families in Chang'an. His wife would be the Wu family's patriarchal wife in the future. It would be best if she was the eldest daughter, or at least a well-educated daughter. She should be well-read, talented and beautiful, know how to manage household affairs, be good at socializing, have a generous temperament, and have the best etiquette and upbringing. In comparison, family background is not the most important thing. As long as they are a family of scholars with a clean family tradition, there is no problem. Of course, if their fathers and grandfathers have official positions and can help Wu Ke in his official career, it would be even better.

Although Wu Ke is now eager to marry and no longer insists on marrying a daughter of a prominent family, he cannot be too accommodating to his wife's family. They must be able to help him at least. Even if he doesn't care about these things, the Zhenguo Mansion cannot let him suffer.

The wife of the Duke of Zhenguo and her mother-in-law picked several people.

The eldest daughter of Xin Zhifu, born to the first wife, was well-educated. Her etiquette and rules were taught by her stepmother, a palace maid from the Qianqing Palace. She was gentle and generous. Her disadvantage was that she looked ordinary, only pretty. Her advantage was that her family had a stronger foundation in the capital, which might be helpful to Wu Ke. However, she was currently negotiating a marriage with another family, but after more than a year, there was still no result. There was a 60-70% chance that it would fail, but it was not necessarily Wu Ke's turn.

The eldest granddaughter of a local scholar in Chang'an, she is both talented and beautiful, but she is aloof and not good at socializing. Her advantage is her outstanding talent. She is a famous talented woman in Chang'an after the sisters Tang Hui and Tang Ruo, and she may be more similar to Wu Ke in temperament. The eldest daughter of the third room of a local scholarly family in Chang'an, she is a little older, and her wedding was delayed because her previous fiancé died of illness. There is no problem with her upbringing, but it is said that her poetry and knowledge are very ordinary. She is good at taking care of housework. Some people have privately discussed that she is suspected of "unlucky husband".

After these three candidates, there are two others, all of whom have similar conditions. They come from scholarly families, but their family backgrounds are not prominent. They sound decent and worthy of the descendants of Wu Wen'an, but they are not very helpful to Wu Ke's future. The girl herself is okay, a decent scholarly lady, with no outstanding advantages, but no flaws either.

Haitang's name was listed at the back half of the list. She was the granddaughter of a sixth-rank official in Beijing, so her family background was not bad. Moreover, her grandfather would soon be promoted to the fifth-rank official. She was much better than those girls whose fathers and grandfathers did not hold official positions. Haitang grew up in the mansion of the Duke of Zhenguo, and they knew her background very well. Although she did not have a prominent reputation outside, the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo and her mother-in-law knew that Haitang had impeccable etiquette and rules, and was both civil and military, well-read in poetry and books. In terms of knowledge, she might be ranked in the top three among the girls on the list. The downside was that her family was from a military household, not a scholarly family. However, this was made up by Xie Wenzai, her cousin and Wu Ke's teacher, so it was not a shortcoming.

But the Hai family can't help Wu Ke's future. Even if there is Tao Ge Lao behind the Hai family, Wu Ke can still climb up without relying on the Hai family's relationship.

These candidates made the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo and her mother-in-law undecided. They asked Wu Ke and Wu Qiong for their opinions. Wu Ke did not express his opinion, but only asked the elders to make the decision for him. However, Wu Qiong wanted Haitang to be her sister-in-law.

Because she was familiar with Haitang and understood her personality, she felt that with Haitang's intelligence, if she could marry her cousin, she wouldn't have to worry about her cousin not being able to support the Wu family even after she got married.

Wu Qiong didn't dare to tell Haitang this, but Zhou Xuejun privately informed Haitang. After Haitang learned the news, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She gave Wu Qiong the idea of ​​letting Wu Ke get married quickly in order to fulfill her friend's wish, but she didn't intend to sacrifice herself!

Although there was nothing wrong with Wu Ke, she was not attracted to him. She and Wu Ke had met each other quite often in the past few years, but she had no interest in men with this kind of personality and could not imagine how she could live with him.

What's more, the Wu family's complicated family background and relationship with the royal family were troublesome enough. Why did she give up her simple and comfortable life and get involved in that muddy water?

Wu Ke's family is left with only two siblings, but they are burdened with the responsibility of developing the family back to the height of more than ten or twenty years ago. It is unknown how many generations of efforts will be needed to realize this dream. She can't help him with what he needs in the future. Even if they become a couple by chance, what will Wu Ke do if he finds out that she can't help him in his career and regrets it? He is burdened with the responsibility of revitalizing the Wu family, so what does a love affair mean? As long as it doesn't tarnish the family's reputation, he is willing to do anything. Why should she bother herself with trouble?
With the same family background of relatives and scholars, if she wanted to marry, she would rather choose Jin Jiashu than Wu Ke. At least Jin Jiashu's family background is ordinary, but his future is bright, and he has no rigid requirements for the development of the family, while Wu Ke's future will only be a long road, and it is unknown when it will end.

(End of this chapter)