Under Chen Ke's questioning, Xiao Liang Ge hesitantly revealed the truth:

  It all started seven years ago, Chen Xiliang passed the provincial examination and became a "provincial scholar" also known as a tribute scholar. Since the Zhang Yuan incident, the imperial examination in the Song Dynasty no longer eliminated scholars, but only ranked them. So he was already a prospective jinshi...

  On the day of the release of the list, one of the most classic "catching a son-in-law under the list" in Song Dynasty was re-enacted.

  In Bianjing City, as long as a family had an unmarried daughter, whether they were high-ranking officials, wealthy merchants or nobles, the whole family would take action and compete to seize the top scholar as their son-in-law... Even rich families from Luoyang and Nanjing joined in the scramble. The intense scene of you competing with me was just like a rugby match in later generations.

  In the past few decades, it has been basically four years for one list, with a maximum of 400 jinshi (successful candidates) per list. Moreover, considering that the average age of those who passed the exam is 32 years old, it is absolutely impossible for more than half of them to be unmarried. On the other hand, in Bianjing and even across the country, wealthy families have been preparing their daughters for four years, and it's easy to imagine how scarce they are compared to the number of wolves (candidates). At this time, the eight characters of the new jinshi's birthdate, family background, physical appearance, etc. are no longer important, and even whether they are married or not can be ignored... Just hurry back home and ask slowly later.

  Chen Xiliang, a diamond bachelor with good achievements, decent looks, no spouse, and not too old, is naturally in high demand. However, he has been rejecting all the suitors... Under people's inquiry, he finally revealed the reason: 'I'm choosing a son-in-law based on this imperial scholar identity, marrying into an official family, what kind of identity is that? Moreover, I have four sons, how can I bear to let someone else's precious daughter become their stepmother?'

  To put it bluntly, I don't like your behavior!

  But there are unorthodox ones, and the level is high, making one speechless. One of them is Cao Guoying, the current emperor's uncle-in-law and brother of Empress Cao... Yes, that one from the Eight Immortals... came to propose a marriage between him and the empress's sister, Madame Cao of Chu State.

  When it comes to Cao's family, she is also a miserable person. Soon after her marriage, her husband died in the northwest battlefield, and then she lived alone for eight years without remarrying. Not to mention Empress Cao and Prince Cao, even her father-in-law was very anxious. In the Song Dynasty, there was no saying of guarding one's chastity. If a woman lost her husband and had no children, living in her mother-in-law's house would be a huge pressure on the mother-in-law's family.

  One, would be suspected of being greedy for the daughter-in-law's dowry; another, the old man and young uncle also have the danger of being gossiped about. The literary master Ouyang Xiu was slandered as a "flayer" because his daughter-in-law remained a widow for a year without remarrying, which made him feel ashamed and hurriedly married off his daughter-in-law, but still left a permanent stain.

  It can be imagined that Cao's father-in-law, the old master of the Xiao family, is under a lot of pressure... In the previous imperial examination, he wanted to choose a suitable husband for his daughter-in-law, and everyone thought he was a talented and handsome son-in-law, but unfortunately, he didn't pass Cao's test.

  In these four years, he carefully considered and finally understood that his daughter-in-law did not like those men who, once successful, became arrogant and ambitious. So for this matter, he chose with extra caution. After hearing about Chen Xiliang's story, he suddenly felt that no one else was more suitable than him.

  But he was worried that the other party was pretending to be willing to let go, waiting for a good price to sell, so he expressed his concerns to Cao Guojun. Cao Guojun said it's okay, I'm roughly familiar with reading people, wait for me to take a look and then say. As a result, after meeting, they didn't exchange a few words before directly upgrading to proposing marriage...

  Chen Xiliang naturally wouldn't agree. Mr. Liu had that concern, and so did he...

  Cao Guo's uncle smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if you don't agree. Let's just be friends. I'll invite you to my home for a drink. Can't even that be done? Don't worry about anything else, I've also invited others, not just you alone."

  Xiao Liang couldn't refuse anymore, so he went that day.

  As a result, he was still too honest. On that day, except for him and Cao Guojun's couple, there was only one female guest... Apparently, the woman was also deceived to come, Cao Guojun and his wife, each entertained one of them, fearing that these two would run away. Almost forcing them, they finished a meal of blind date dinner.

  There is a saying that a thousand miles of fate are tied to one thread. After finishing this meal, Xiao Liang Ge wavered. Cao Shi also had a subtle affection for this cold and awkward scholar. However, the two had various concerns, and until Chen Xi Liang was sent out of the capital, there were no developments.

  In the following years, the two maintained a long-distance relationship. If everything had gone smoothly, this introverted couple might have continued their ambiguous relationship indefinitely.

  However, the war in the southwest nearly cost Chen Xiliang his life and greatly stimulated them. "Updated quickly, no ads, 81 Chinese."

  Under the huge psychological fluctuation, emotions burst like a flood, and finally, in the crowd welcoming the triumphant army, Cao's figure appeared!

  Later, the considerate official kept Chen Xiliang in the capital, preparing to arrange a marriage at an appropriate time. However, unfortunately, Empress Cao's mother suddenly passed away, and this matter was delayed for another two years. Until last year's mourning period ended, Empress Cao and her brother Cao Guo began hastily arranging the marriage... As a result, in the first month, the Emperor suddenly fell ill and rushed out of the palace gate, shouting at the officials: "The Empress is conspiring with Zhang Maothen!"

  Although the official statement later was that the emperor's words were nonsense when he was ill, but the affairs of the palace are mysterious and profound. To outsiders, it is naturally true or false, confusing and obscure. Many people say that if they were just nonsense, why did Zhang Mao commit suicide? It can be seen that there is no smoke without fire...

  In short, Empress Cao spent her days weeping and the pressure on the Cao family was immense. This good marriage that had been delayed for so long could only be put off once again.

  "For years, my father's life has been taken care of by you, Aunt Cao." Looking back on the past seven years, Chen Xiliang sighed: "No matter what happens to the Cao family, I must marry her!"

  Chen Ke and others applauded warmly after listening, celebrating that another romantic saint was born in the Chen family.

  "I'm telling you this," Chen Xiliang said with great embarrassment: "It's so that you will have less resistance towards her."

  The Chen brothers shook their heads in unison: "Absolutely no objection, as long as you like..."

  "Stinky little boy", Chen Xiliang felt a sour nose, he endured for his four sons, not to be bullied by their stepmother, more than ten years without remarrying, now even the youngest Liu Lang, is already a big boy of fifteen or sixteen. The children's understanding and support are the best reward.

  After finishing the gossip, he suddenly thought of it: "Why haven't I seen Old Quan, didn't Sanlang write a letter saying you both arrived in Beijing together?"

  "Ahem..." Chen Ke coughed and chuckled, "Let's take a look at our accommodations first."

  "All right." Chen Xiliang then took them on a tour of their new residence in Beijing.

  As the only metropolis in the world, Bianjing people enjoyed the convenience brought by the metropolis more than a thousand years ago, and also suffered from the pain of metropolitan disease more than a thousand years ago. This place is too crowded. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the design capacity of Bianjing City was 300,000 people, but now, with fixed and mobile populations combined, the population has reached 15 million, which is five times the design capacity, and its land value can be imagined.

  Buying a house in Bianjing is something that shouldn't even be thought about, even for officials, who mainly rely on renting. Of course, it's not that they can't afford to buy, but rather their official positions change too frequently, and no one knows how many years they'll be able to serve as an official in the capital or when they'll be able to return.

  The rent is naturally high, ordinary people and low-ranking officials can't afford to rent private houses, but there's no phenomenon of sleeping on the streets. This is because Bianliang has affordable housing, as long as you go to a department called "Shop House Affairs", pay a certain amount of rent according to the size of the house, the rent is different, averaging 170 wen per month, only one-tenth of the price of commercial houses.

  You can rent a small house with all the necessary facilities.

  Chen Xiliang had always rented a public house before, but this time the whole family moved to Bianjing and was about to get married, so he finally made up his mind to let Cao Shi help rent a larger residence. Cao Shi also regarded this place as her own home, so she was very careful and had someone search for a long time before finding this four-sided courtyard with two courtyards and a backyard that was both bustling and quiet.

  Chen Xiliang said, Cao's meaning is to let them all move into the back house, but how could Chen Ke and others be so disobedient? Insisting on living in the front yard would be enough... This residence, of course, cannot be compared with the old residence of Qing Shen, but the number of rooms is not less. The front yard has three main rooms, two wing rooms, three left and right side houses, and three inverted seat houses. It's more than enough to accommodate them.

  Chen Ke, although he had brought several tens of thousands of taels into the capital, did not enjoy any blessings that he could not have enjoyed, nor did he suffer any misfortunes that he could not have suffered. He felt that his living quarters were a bit cramped, but what was wrong with that? It was still lively and bustling.

  After dinner, Chen Xiliang hinted to Chen Ke to follow him to the backyard for a walk. After a moment of silence, Chen Xiliang said: "You're angry with me, aren't you, Aunt Su?"

  "What if not?" Chen Ke shrugged; "If I hadn't returned to Sichuan, do you believe that the second stele would have been erected again?"

  "Alas..." Chen Xiliang let out a long sigh and said: "Who could have predicted this?"

  "Is the Liu family the former husband's family of Mrs. Cao?" Chen Ke asked.

  "Hmm, that girl is actually her ex-husband's niece," Chen Xiliang sighed and said: "At the time, I thought it was a good thing, but who knew it would turn out like this."

  "That's strange, since we're all family now, why can't we discuss it?" Chen Ke frowned and said.

  It was only later that I found out the people of the Liu family had a rather "overbearing" personality. As for this matter, it's really hard to say which side Chen Xiliang was on. He smiled wryly and said: "But the problem has already been solved, thanks to you being able to invite Ouyang Gong, they couldn't help but give face."

  "That's good." Chen Xiao let out a sigh and said: "Why didn't you say so earlier..."

  "However, first, you have to come and apologize. Second, one of your brothers must take responsibility for this marriage."

  "Awesome, really domineering", Chen Ke rolled his eyes and said.

  Yu Qiuyu and Jin Yong... as well as some modern writers, why did they dream of going back to the Song Dynasty? This is the reason.