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

Chapter 998 Complaint

Ma felt like she was listening to a fairy tale. How could there be such a greedy young man in the world? !
When the Zeng brothers and sisters were in Chang'an, it was difficult for them to find a marriage with an official family. Now, they are lucky to be able to find a daughter of a high-ranking official. How dare they despise her?! Are they crazy?!
Madam Zhou could guess what the Zeng brothers and sisters were thinking: "Marquis Yingchuan is now a meritorious official who has served the emperor for many years, a veteran of two dynasties, and the young emperor respects him. There are many people in the capital who want to marry him, but his two sons are already married, and the remaining daughter is weak and sickly, so he and his wife have no intention of choosing a match for her for the time being. Those families who are not picky and are anxious to become relatives with him can only make do with the nephews and nieces of the second wife. However, the brothers and sisters of the second wife have a flawed origin after all, and the more respectable families are unwilling to use their beloved legitimate children for marriage. The candidates finally put forward are either the legitimate daughter of the first wife who was excluded by the stepmother, or the illegitimate children.

"But even so, this is a very good marriage for the Zeng family. If it was when they just returned to Beijing, they would be so happy that they would be dizzy. Now they still have the nerve to find fault, but they are relying on the fact that Yingchuan Marquis is now in power. They are arrogant and think they are qualified to be picky. They really don't know what they are talking about! If they want to rely on Yingchuan Marquis to climb up the dragon and phoenix, they must have the support of Yingchuan Marquis! Yingchuan Marquis and his wife hate their own mother so much that they kicked them out of the house. If it weren't for the fact that Yingchuan Marquis's son is living a safe and smooth life now, I'm afraid they wouldn't even be able to enter the gate of Yingchuan Marquis's mansion! They relied on their family's face to barely enter the door that day, and they still haven't gotten a good look from Yingchuan Marquis's wife. How dare they tremble!"

Madam Zhou looked down on the Zeng brothers and sisters. Ma sighed when she heard them: "These two children are so confused! Now both your Zhou family and the Yingchuan Marquisate are in their prime. Why don't they take advantage of this time to find a good marriage for themselves?! If they miss this good opportunity, I'm afraid they will never find a better family in the future!"

Zeng Chunlin was fine. As a legitimate daughter of a side branch, she didn't want to marry a bastard, even if the other party had a bright future. That was her choice. But Zeng Boqing missed the legitimate daughter of the first wife, and he might never find a girl with better conditions in the future. What does a meager dowry matter? What if he doesn't get help from his wife's family? Zeng Boqing is the descendant of the marriage between the Zeng family of Yingchuan Marquis's mansion and the third branch of the Zhou family. Both his paternal and maternal families are meritorious officials who have served the emperor and are in great demand. Does he still have to worry about being short of money? Are they also afraid of not getting help in his official career? If the girl's family didn't want to get help from the Yingchuan Marquis and the Zhou family, would they look down on him, the son of a sinner? ! The wife of the Yingchuan Marquis's son and Zhou Shigong, their uncle, were willing to help them, which was already expressing a friendly attitude.

Confused!
Ma sighed again and again, and Madam Zhou Ma listened and said, "Yumei, if the Zeng family's brother and sister could be as smart as you sisters, they wouldn't have ended up like this. Don't feel sorry for them, stupid people don't deserve it!"

Ma sighed again and said no more. The Zeng brothers and sisters were not without relatives and elders. The Zeng family had no intention of teaching them, and Zhou Shigong did not interrupt. Why should she, an outsider, meddle in other people's business?
She also advised Madam Zhou, "Although the Zeng brothers and sisters have made many jokes, you should just say a few words to them in private, and don't always bring it up in front of your brother-in-law. Your brother-in-law had high hopes for the Zeng brothers and sisters, and now he is disappointed again and again, and he feels bad. If you nag him a few more times, I'm afraid he will be angry!"

Madam Zhou Ma said angrily, "Do I need you to remind me? I'm not a fool! My mother's family has two ungrateful people, and I don't look good either. Why do you make fun of the master for no reason? Now that he pretends not to know about Ma Lusheng's affairs, I naturally won't deliberately hurt his feelings. Otherwise, if he makes a fuss and loses face, how can I feel proud?!"

The couple actually share the same suffering, but they have a tacit understanding and pretend to be deaf and dumb to save each other's face.

Speaking of Ma Lusheng, Zhou Ma's heart was filled with bitterness: "What was that kid thinking? When we first arrived in Beijing, we didn't know anyone. It was hard enough to get used to the climate and food in Beijing and to deal with the interpersonal relationships. My husband and I didn't have any connections to help him with relationships, and his resume was not impressive, let alone any great skills. It was already very good for him to find a post as a postmaster. He and his wife were very grateful when they left, so why did they complain later? They said that our Zhou family was prominent, but they only let a relative be a small postmaster, which was too ruthless. How can we compare now with the past?! Before the incident in the palace, I didn't know that the Zhou family would be so prosperous today! If I had known this, why would I have found him a job? Let him stay at home to help with housework for a year, gain experience, and then look for a future after the beginning of next spring, wouldn't it be easy?!"

Her brother and sister-in-law were thousands of miles away and didn't know what was going on in Beijing. They just listened to a few complaints from their nephew and niece-in-law and wrote to blame her. Ma Lusheng followed them all the way to Beijing. He knew what their situation was like when they first came last year, so why did he start complaining? He even refused to come to her house. He knew that they would go to the palace to mourn and follow the emperor to the imperial mausoleum, and there would be no one at home to take care of the two half-grown children, Liangying and Liangxiong, but they didn't even come back to help. It was really a waste of her care for her nephews over the years!
The more Zhou Ma talked, the angrier she became. She sneered, "I heard that when a large group of people went to bury the late emperor, some people couldn't find a place to stay near the imperial mausoleum, so they had to go to towns and villages farther away to rest. Many of them went to Malusheng's post station. He didn't come back, but his wife sent a message back, saying that she was busy and couldn't get away, and that there were many nobles waiting for them to serve... She felt that she had climbed up the high branch and looked down on this old tree of our family. But if that was really a noble person of a great status, how could he go to such a faraway post station to rest?! Even my brother-in-law, a fifth-rank official, could find a place to stay near the imperial mausoleum. Could it be that Malusheng's nobles were not even fifth-rank officials?! Moreover, even if there really was a noble, after hearing about his origins and knowing that he was a relative of our Zhou family, they would not promote him. He burned the wrong incense and worshipped the wrong Buddha, and he still had the nerve to show off in front of me?!"

If the Zhou family wants to promote a relative, is it the turn of outsiders to interfere? If the Zhou family does not promote, it is either because the relationship is not that high, or because the relative is not decent. No matter which one it is, outsiders should not interfere. Even if you want to please the Zhou family, you have to know how to do it. Ma Lusheng didn't know anything and thought he had climbed up the ladder, but he didn't know that he was making a fool of himself.

It didn't matter that he made a fool of himself, but it caused Zhou Ma to lose face in front of outsiders, family members and relatives. She felt sick when she thought about it, and she couldn't breathe evenly. She could only complain to her sister.

Ma was upset about her elder sister's words "fifth rank", so she said indifferently: "If you are unhappy, just ignore him. In my opinion, he can only make a limited amount of jokes working in that remote post station. He can take this opportunity to see the world and experience the ways of the world. When he learns how to behave and knows who he can truly rely on, and is willing to apologize to you, elder sister, he will be considered to have made progress. The couple came all the way from Chang'an to Beijing, as long as they have made progress, know how to read people's eyes, and know how to work hard, it will not be in vain. Even if they return to Chang'an in the future, they will not have to worry about making a living. Sister, do you think this is true? "