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

Chapter 887 Touched
Ma had already discussed Hai Baozhu's marriage with her husband Hai Xiya, and the couple reached a consensus.

Hai Baozhu's biological father died early, and her family fell into decline. Putting aside the fact that her stepfather's family was a criminal, it was not easy for her to marry into a family of her stature. Even with the official positions of Hai Xiya's father, son, grandfather and grandson, the two families were separated by a family and had not communicated for many years. People who knew the inside story would also take this into consideration and not consider Hai Baozhu as a good candidate for marriage with Hai Xiya's family.

If Hai Baozhu could pass the imperial examination soon, it would help improve her status, but she really couldn't hope to marry into a wealthy family. Even if it was a decent scholarly family, it would be difficult for her to marry the eldest son. Such families were very particular about the selection of the eldest daughter-in-law and the clan wife.

Hai Xiya had a good relationship with the old people of Wumen. As these old people who were once exiled returned to the court, if he wanted to marry their children and grandchildren, they would generally not refuse. But he had no intention of repaying his kindness, so he would not cheat them in the marriage of his niece's granddaughter. He would neither hide the true life experience of Hai Baozhu from the other party, nor would he choose the elite children who were trained by others to be the son-in-law of his niece's granddaughter.

Hai Xiya planned to pick a kind-hearted, low-ranking official, numerous descendants, and a wealthy family from the old Wumen students she knew in the past, and then pick a gentle and generous young man from the other party's children and grandchildren. He must not be the eldest son, nor the one with the brightest future, but he must not be mediocre and incompetent. It would be best if even his parents and siblings were kind and friendly. If Hai Baozhu married such a husband, the couple would live in harmony, support each other, and neither of them would look down on the other, and they would be able to live a good life. Hai Baozhu was not the eldest daughter-in-law, so she did not have to be the head of the family. She only needed to obey the orders of her kind mother-in-law and eldest sister-in-law. With the pillars supporting her, she only needed to take care of her husband and children and not worry about anything. As for money and future, both families had confidence and would not let the young couple suffer.

This kind of life is not rich, but it is stable. For Hai Baozhu, who has experienced family changes and suffered a lot of shock since childhood, it should be a good arrangement.

With this in mind, Hai Xiya had already listed his requirements when he corresponded with his grandson and adopted son. Now Hai Jiao and Hai Chang'an had secretly investigated and found several good candidates, waiting for Hai Xiya and the Ma couple to come to Beijing to see them in person.

Now, when Fang asked Hai Baozhu about her marriage in person, Ma told her directly and also pointed out the family backgrounds of several candidates. They were all from the seventh or eighth rank, their official positions were not high, and their elders had little potential for promotion. Most of the daughters-in-law who married into the family were the granddaughters or great-granddaughters of minor officials, or the daughters of juren or scholars, so there was no problem of a match being too great.

Of course, if there are children from such a family who are good at studying, they will have a great chance of becoming rich in the future. However, the candidates chosen by Hai Jiao and Hai Chang'an are not the best children in their respective families, so their future prospects are limited. At best, they can become juren. If they are lucky, they may be appointed as an official, but they may not be promoted to a higher position.

Such a choice was beyond Fang's expectation. If the Hai family had not been in trouble, it would still be the largest family in Jianghaitun, and the best marriage that the eldest daughter of the family could get would be just like this. I didn't expect that now that the family was in decline, Hai Baozhu could still rely on her second uncle to marry into such a good family. Fang was deeply moved, holding her second aunt Ma's hand, choking with sobs and unable to speak.

Ma comforted her, "What's there to cry about? After all, Baozhu is our master's niece, and our two families are very close by blood. If your father-in-law hadn't been so narrow-minded, our two families wouldn't have gotten to this point. Since your father-in-law and mother-in-law are dead and can't take care of you, we should put aside the past grudges and get along well. If you live a good life, I won't make a fuss. But you are in trouble, and we can't just sit there and watch. You can't write two words "Hai" with one stroke. No matter what, we are a family! We are not those ungrateful people in the clan who don't care about blood ties at all!" Fang nodded with tears in her eyes. She naturally knew that the rift between the first and second houses was her father-in-law's fault. In the past, when her great-grandmother, or her great-grandmother, Mrs. Xie, was still alive, she was actually very good to their first house and acted fairly, otherwise the clan wouldn't talk about Mrs. Xie and praise her. Even when my mother-in-law was at her best, she could not compare to the reputation of Mrs. Xie. In the past few decades, because my great-uncle was away from home, Mrs. Xie's tomb was not only taken care of by Xie Zhong, but many female members of the Hai family would go to burn incense and sweep the tomb during festivals, not daring to break the incense. Even though my father-in-law was quite dissatisfied with this when he was alive, he could not stop the female members of the family from going to worship every year.

The second wife sent someone back to her hometown to visit the graves and contacted her, which really surprised her. For so many years, she had been struggling in the Jiang family, always doubting that she would never be able to wait for the day when the illegitimate son Hai Baozhu passed the imperial examination and came to save her and her daughter. But when she saw the second wife coming, she knew that she and her daughter were finally saved!

Fang lowered her head and wiped away her tears, then said to Ma in a serious tone, "Second aunt, I know you have good intentions, and hope to find a good marriage for Baozhu so that she can have someone to rely on for the rest of her life. I also hope that she can marry into a good family, so that I won't have to worry about her anymore in the future. But... you have good intentions, but I can't let you and second uncle down. You can see that Baozhu is not in good health now. The doctor said that she suffered a lot when she was in the Jiang family, and was frightened. Her physical foundation is poor, and now she needs to rest for a few years before she can be compared with ordinary women with healthy bodies. In her situation, even if she marries into a good family, I'm afraid she won't be able to have children. The son-in-law you and second uncle chose for Baozhu is naturally a good man. How can we... let such a good man be implicated?"

Ma was stunned: "What does this mean?"

Fang hesitated for a moment before saying, "How about...let's put the issue of seeing the girl aside for now? Although if the other party is a kind person, they may not mind Baozhu's physical condition and be willing to provide her with medical treatment and medicine, but our Hai family is also a respectable family and we can't be so shameless..."

Ma was startled and turned to look at Haitang. Haitang blinked and whispered, "Cousin, how many years will it take for Sister Baozhu to recover from this illness? If it takes one or two years, then she can meet someone first and then get engaged. There are still many things to do during this period. By the time she gets married, it will probably be one or two years later. It's still in time."

Ma also said, "Yes, it is normal for a marriage to take two to three years from dating to marriage. But it is not easy to find a good candidate. If you don't decide early, you may miss it! Baozhu is only a few months older than our Tangtang. If you wait two years before dating, she will be an old maid and may not be able to marry a good first-time man. Maybe she will only be able to choose a widower. That's too bad!"

Fang was immediately troubled again: "This... can't be necessary, right? Nowadays, some young children have delayed their marriage because of mourning... In two years, maybe Baozhu will pass the imperial examination and be able to help his sister..."

Since Hai Baozhu was mentioned, Ma wanted to ask: "What's going on with Baozhu and his aunt? They are going back to the Hai family. If they still have close contact with you and even support his sister to get married, how can you and Baozhu break away from the Hai family? How can you live a peaceful life then? Do they really want to be filial to you, or do they have other ideas?!"