A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 131 One Million Dollars to Pay for the Door
"Your Majesty!"

Back in the backyard, the grandfather and grandson entered the room. Guo drove the maid out, closed the door, and turned around to scold Shi Niang.

Shi Niang knelt down with red eyes.

Mrs. Guo pointed at her granddaughter, feeling very disappointed. "Where did all the etiquette you learned go? Why did you get carried away?"

Shi Niang lowered her head and allowed herself to be scolded.

"Let me ask you, are you still a virgin?"

Shi Niang shook her head.

Guo felt dizzy.
"How come you don't know how to respect yourself? You are the daughter of a wealthy family, not a country girl."

"Grandma, although my granddaughter didn't fall in love with Wuyi at first sight, I saw him with my own eyes. Now that we are in love, I hope Grandma will support us."

"You've already become like this, what else can I do? For your sake, for the sake of the Du family's reputation, and for the sake of yours, Alang, and mine, I can only let you get married sooner, this month. That way, when the child is born, there won't be any flaws. Otherwise, you'll be ridiculed for the rest of your life."

Guo felt weak all over.

He has been strong all his life, but now he has committed such a shameful act.

"You should stay in the west wing for the next few days and reflect on your actions. Don't go out and embarrass yourself again."

Li Yi left the Du Mansion.
Then he went to the house of his senior brother Sun Fujia in Daningfang.

Anyway, today, Guo was willing to give in, so the matter was considered to have been resolved. Guo asked him to get married within this month, and even said that he could do it all at once, including the betrothal, the name, the betrothal gifts, and the betrothal gifts.

The sooner the better,

Li Yi was also happy to do this to avoid any further complications.

When Sun Fujia returned from court, he congratulated Li Yi upon seeing him. "I never thought you'd turn a disaster into a blessing. Because of the rebellion by the Qiang soldiers, you've achieved new merits, been promoted to a higher rank, and received rewards. You're truly overwhelmed."

Li Yi smiled and told him his intention, wanting to ask him to be the matchmaker.

"Oh, which young lady do you like?"

"Fanchuan Duqu, Du Shiniang of Fengxianghou Mansion,"

"Du Shiniang? But she's Du Keming's cousin, the daughter of Du Zhili?"

"Yes, Du Zhili's second daughter."

Sun Fujia looked at Li Yi as if he were a monster.

"You're not kidding me?"

"Brother, the matter has basically been settled. Madam Guo from the Fengxiang Marquis's Mansion has agreed to the marriage. Now we just need to hurry up and hold the ceremony. We plan to get married within this month."

Sun Fujia was even more shocked.

"Du Shiniang of the Du family, Du Zhili's second daughter, isn't she someone else?"

"It's Du Shiniang, whom you have seen in the Thatched Cottage, Senior Brother."

Sun Fujia nodded, but still couldn't believe it. "What's going on here?"

It's not that Sun Fujia is weird, but that this is too unreasonable.
Although Junior Brother is lucky, his background is still there. He is only a nominal viscount with some miscellaneous official positions, not even a real official position.

Generally speaking, the marriages of the daughters of the aristocratic families all focus on matching the families' social status. Of course, some of them marry men from poor families, but they are all very talented and promising young people. The aristocratic families will marry off daughters from side branches or concubines to cultivate some strength for the family.

"I remember that Du Zhili seemed to have married his mother's niece. He and his wife had two sons and two daughters. The eldest son also married a woman from the Guo family of Taiyuan, the daughter of his uncle. The second son married a woman from the Wei family of Jingzhao, the daughter of Wei Yijie, the current Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and Duke of Xiangcheng County.

The eldest daughter married Zheng Shiji, a member of the Xingyang Zheng family, one of the five surnames and seven clans."

Sun Fujia was quite familiar with these clans. "The Zheng family of Xingyang has two branches, and Zheng Shiji is the sixth of the seven branches of the Northern Ancestor."

Wei Yijie is also the Yungong branch of the nine branches of the Jingzhao Wei family.

Even the Guo family of Taiyuan is a famous family in Hedong, second only to the Wang family of Taiyuan, and the Xue and Liu families of Hedong.

From this we can see that the marriages of Du Yan's family were all with famous and prestigious families from generation to generation, and there has never been any marriage with a second-rate family.

Li Yi's identity does not in any way conform to the traditional marriage choice of the Du Yan family.

Not to mention, the wedding had to be completed within a month. Normally, the three books and six ceremonies would not be completed in a short time. Usually, the engagement would come first and the wedding would be completed two years later.

Too hasty.

"Tell me, brother, what's going on?"

Sun Fujia was even worried that Li Yi was being used by someone. "Brother, I'm making a bold guess. Don't blame me if I'm wrong. Could it be that the young lady is pregnant and is looking for you now?"

This guess is quite reasonable.
For some reason, the daughter of a wealthy family becomes pregnant before marriage, but the husband may be a married man, or a young talent may suddenly die, so the mother finds someone to take over the pregnancy. This kind of thing does happen.

"If that's the case, you should think it over carefully. I advise you not to try to get close to a famous family. Don't take on such a thing." Sun Fujia advised seriously.

"Thank you for your kindness, Senior Brother. Actually, there is some inside story about this matter. I will not hide it from you, Senior Brother. This is what happened."

After a long time,

Sun Fujia was stunned.
"You, you are so bold,"

But after a few words of criticism, Sun Fujia could only sigh and say: "Since things have come to this, let's make a quick decision to avoid any more trouble.
But I still want to say a few words, what you are doing is not in accordance with the rules. Even if Guo agrees now, the rift has already been created. Even if you marry Du Yan's daughter,
But not only will this not be a good marriage in the future, you won't get any help from the Du family, and you might even make them consider you an enemy. Have you considered this carefully?"

"Especially your future father-in-law. Do you know what kind of person he is? I tell you, he's no ordinary man. He's intelligent, eloquent, and talented, and he's well-known even at a young age. Do you know the term "Zhongnan shortcut"? That was coined by your father-in-law."

In order to bring honor to his ancestors, Du Yan was thinking about how to be promoted as soon as possible. Later, he heard that Su Wei was worried that his father-in-law Yuwen Hu would fall into trouble after his downfall during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, so he resigned from his official position and lived in seclusion in an ancient temple in Zhongnan Mountain, where he entertained himself with reading and writing poetry, and repeatedly refused the court's call.
As a result, Emperor Wen of Sui admired his reputation as a hermit and summoned him to the court to serve in an important position.

So Du Yan and his good friend Wei Fusi came to the conclusion that the current emperor liked to use the term hermit, so they followed suit and went to live in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain. They also sent people to spread the word that they were in seclusion. In fact, they wanted to gain fame and take the shortcut of Zhongnan Mountain.

As a result, when the news reached Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui saw through their tricks at a glance. Not only was he not summoned to an official position, but he was exiled to Jiangbiao. He was pardoned and returned to his hometown many years later.

However, Du Yan did not become depressed despite this severe blow. He and his good friend Wei Fusi were still valued soon after. By the end of Daye, one of them was the Secretary of the Central Secretariat and the other was the Assistant Censor.

Du Yan was in Luoyang, and among the seven nobles of Luoyang, he was able to rely on Wang Shichong, which shows that he had a sharp vision.

"Your future father-in-law is both talented and tactful. He is both capable and ruthless."

In a word, if you marry his daughter like this, Du Yan will definitely mess with you.

"I know all this," Li Yi said frankly.

"Still planning to marry?"

"Ah."

"Okay, then I'll be your matchmaker. Since the Du family's old lady has agreed to this, now we have to go through the ceremony. According to custom, when accepting the betrothal gift, one must prepare 32 kinds of auspicious gifts for the woman's family, and also bring a pair of wild geese.
In addition to silk, jewelry, food, etc., dry lacquer is also given as a gift to represent the closeness of the couple. Nine-seed cattail and red reed are given as a gift to represent flexibility. Jiahe represents abundant blessings.

Giving sheep represents auspiciousness, giving sake represents blessings, giving white wine represents joy, etc. Li Yi knows nothing about these things.
"It should be in time to start shopping now, right? If you need anything, please write me a list and I'll go get it right away."

Thirty-two gifts,

Depending on the family's strength and status, the number of each gift is different, ranging from eight to sixteen or even one hundred and eight.

"How about getting all 32 items and eight portions of each?" Sun Fujia asked.

Eight portions would cost quite a bit of money, such as eight sheep, eight jars of wine, eight pieces of silk, eight pieces of gold, etc.

"Oh, and you also need to prepare a gold hairpin. Once the woman agrees, insert the prepared hairpin into her hair. This is called inserting a hairpin."

Li Yi nodded one by one. Anything that can be solved with money is not a problem.

"Albizia albizzia, Jiahe, donkey hide gelatin, cattail, red reed, double stone, cotton wool, longevity thread, and dry lacquer, these nine are must-haves.

The rest depended on one's status and financial resources, including horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, silk and brocade, rice, flour, millet, beans, gold and silver jewelry, and even oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, fruit and cakes.

But in every one of the six rituals, there must be at least a pair of wild geese.

"Please help me pick an auspicious day so I can go to your house and ask for your name."

"Okay, who do you want to write the marriage agreement?"

"I won't bother two masters with one thing. Please also help me write it."

Sun Fujia agreed readily and discussed the 32 kinds of gifts for the bride price with Li Yi.

Sun Fujia helped Li Yi pick an auspicious day, three days later, September 18th, a good day.

Li Yi also went home immediately and began to prepare the 32 gifts and a pair of wild geese. These things were not betrothal gifts, but just gifts for proposing marriage.

Fortunately, although there are many things, they can be bought in both the East and West Markets of Chang'an.

Three days later,
Li Yi picked up Sun Fujia, brought a pair of wild geese, followed by servants, and came to Du Ruhui's house with a cart carrying 32 gifts, eight of each.

Guo didn't even look at these gifts.
He took out Du Shiniang's birth date and asked them to match their birth dates on the spot. Of course, there was no such thing as an incompatible match.

Thus, three of the six ceremonies, namely, accepting the betrothal gift, asking for the name, and accepting the good news, were completed directly.

Guo looked at Li Yi and asked for a betrothal gift.

"My Jingzhao Du family is one of the six surnames in Guanzhong. We have a long-standing reputation. If a family is not ready for marriage, we must pay money to match our family's reputation."

Accompany the door money,
Sun Fujia had not expected this to happen.
Li Yi remained polite and asked, "How much is the gift for the bride?"

"I know you come from a poor Taoist family and don't have much money, so the maidservant's allowance is only one million yuan. This is for the sake of keeping the maidservant, so it's essential."

One million coins is one thousand strings of cash.

Now, a three-acre house in the west of Chang'an can buy ten houses, or a ten-acre exquisite house with a garden in the east.

Li Yi agreed immediately, "Okay,"

"You can give whatever you like as a betrothal gift, but the one million yuan as a dowry must not be less."

A dowry is not a betrothal gift. It's a gift given when two families have very different status. If the family with the lower status is married, the one with the higher status should be given. It doesn't necessarily have to be given by the man to the woman. If the woman marries a man with a higher status, a dowry is also given. However, this situation generally only occurs in the most aristocratic families; ordinary marriages don't involve this kind of dowry.

Even in the top-tier families, those who receive dowry are mostly from side branches and illegitimate children. The real and authentic legitimate descendants will never marry someone who is not of the same social status as them.

Seeing that Li Yi responded readily, Sun Fujia did not argue any further.
In the end, the two sides agreed that the dowry would be one million and the betrothal gift would also be worth one million. Li Yi would have to pay two million for the marriage.

When it came to the dowry, Guo's answer made Sun Fujia almost unable to hold back his anger.
Guo said there was no dowry.

Li Yi held onto his senior brother and said calmly, "Since time is short and the Du family doesn't have time to prepare the dowry, that's fine.

Tomorrow is still an auspicious day, so tomorrow we will bring the betrothal gifts, dowry, and wild geese to pay the bride price and present the marriage certificate."

Guo looked at Li Yi and said, "Come and propose tomorrow? Can you afford two million?"

"Since I dare to say it, I will definitely do it."

"Okay, then I'll be waiting here for you tomorrow. After I send you the marriage certificate, you can pick a suitable date for the wedding. We'll hold the wedding this month."

Li Yi asked Guo to let Shi Niang come out to meet him, and wanted to put a gold hairpin in Shi Niang.

Guo reluctantly called out Shi Niang.

Shi Niang was very excited to see Li Yi. Although it had only been three days, she felt like a long time had passed.

Li Yi took out a pair of gold hairpins and inserted them into her bun.

"Tomorrow, I will come to present the marriage certificate and ask you to set an auspicious date for the wedding."

Shi Niang nodded like a chick pecking at rice, "Okay, I'll wait for you."

After the betrothal gift is given and the marriage certificate is delivered, the marriage is settled.

Guo ordered the guests to be sent away, and Shi Niang said goodbye reluctantly.

Li Yi walked out of Du's house.
Sun Fujia was very dissatisfied. "On such an important and festive day, the Du family didn't even have any relatives or friends to witness it."

"One million in wealth, they really dare to say it out loud, and they want another million in betrothal gifts, are they really selling their daughter?"

Li Yi didn't care. "As long as this matter is settled, two million yuan won't matter."

"But the Du family actually refused to provide any dowry at all. How could this be possible?"

Even for ordinary people, if the man gives a betrothal gift, the woman will also give a dowry. Although the dowry belongs to the woman's personal property, it will be given when it is due, and generally the betrothal gift will not be less.

But now Guo asked for two million and refused to give any dowry.

"Brother, the Du family is not short of money, nor do they really covet this little bit of money. The Guo family is just deliberately setting obstacles for me.

But it’s just two million, it’s not a problem for me.

I don’t care whether you give me a dowry or not.”

Sun Fujia looked at Li Yi and said, "Last time you bought three mansions and a hundred acres of land in the second block in the south of the city. That must have cost you nearly two million. Can you still come up with that much money now?"

Li Yi laughed,
"I currently have 180 taels of gold, 1,500 pieces of silk, and about 200,000 copper coins. Adding them together, it's equivalent to about 2.2 million coins, which is just right."

Sun Fujia marveled at Li Yi's wealth.

"You are really a hidden talent, I told you that if you don't have enough, you can get some from your senior brother first. But, this will also drain you out."

"Shi Niang is worth it."

(End of this chapter)