Do You Know?: I, the Little Cabinet Elder, Regent of the World.

Chapter 32 Sheng Hualan's Dowry!

Sheng Mansion, Mu Cang Zhai.

The sky was dark and the candlelight flickered.

"Grandmother, did you call me?" Sheng Hualan walked in and asked softly.

"Come here." Old Mrs. Sheng beckoned, her noble demeanor revealing a touch of gentle kindness.

“Grandmother.” Sheng Hualan stepped forward and sat down gracefully.

Grandma Sheng held her granddaughter's hand and asked gently, "How is the embroidery of the shoes?"

In theory, a woman is expected to embroider her own wedding dress, shoes, quilt, pillow, and more than a dozen other daily necessities before she gets married.

Especially for intimate items like the bellyband, it's essential to embroider it yourself.

However, the young ladies of wealthy families actually only embroidered very private items like embroidered shoes and bibs by hand; the rest were handled by several personal maids.

"I've finished embroidering several pairs," Sheng Hualan replied softly.

Grandma Sheng nodded and led her granddaughter to the bedside.

Because the curtains covered the edge of the bed, Sheng Hualan walked to the bedside and discovered that there were several small boxes on the bed.

Some of the small boxes were about the size of a bowl, some were about a foot in size, and the largest box was about the size of a pillow.

Without exception, these boxes were all made of precious wood.

If the box itself is valuable, what about the contents inside?

“Grandmother, this…” Sheng Hualan vaguely guessed what was going on.

Grandma Sheng smiled kindly and waved her hand: "Take off your shoes and get into bed."

The two got into bed and sat with their knees bent.

Grandma Sheng picked up a sandalwood box with gold trim.

Upon opening the box, one sees a gilded shrimp-whisker bracelet in the center, with the four characters "Peace and Happiness" engraved on its inner wall.

This bracelet was clearly part of Old Madam Sheng's dowry, an old item, yet it looked brand new, as if it hadn't been worn much.

Grandma Sheng put the hair on her granddaughter by candlelight.

"This bracelet was a special gift from Emperor Zhenzong to reward your great-grandfather. I wore it when I married into the Sheng family from the Yongyi Marquis's residence."

As she spoke, Old Mrs. Sheng paused for a moment, as if recalling some past events.

"Now that you are going to marry into the Jiang family, you should take this bracelet with you."

"Grandmother, this is too precious." Sheng Hualan was shocked. She had already guessed that her grandmother was going to give her some dowry, but this was really too precious.

This item, even if it were part of my grandmother's dowry, would probably be something kept at the bottom of her trunk.

As she spoke, the girl was about to take off the bracelet.

Before she could finish speaking, Old Madam Sheng shook her head, steadying her granddaughter's hand as she was about to pull away: "Silly girl, Jiang Lang of Huaizuo is no ordinary person."

"I know that Jiang Dalang has his eye on you. He has sent many people to deliver gold and silver jewelry these days." Old Madam Sheng held her granddaughter's hand. "Even Changbai said that he is a rare gentleman. The eighteen-year-old top scholar usually only has a page who has followed him since childhood, and there are no maids or servants to warm his bed in his house."

Sheng Hualan nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

The more she learned about Jiang Zhao, the more she realized how rare such a person was.

To put it bluntly, even if Jiang Zhao had no talent whatsoever, his personality alone would make him a suitable person to entrust one's life to.

"But..." Old Madam Sheng's usually calm gaze suddenly sharpened as she stared intently at her granddaughter: "Can you guarantee that Jiang Dalang will never change his heart?"

"This..." Sheng Hualan's eyes darkened, and she shook her head slightly.

There are countless examples in the world of noblewomen marrying into wealthy families only to have their husbands' hearts stray.

Even grandmothers are one example.

What's more, she's trying to climb the social ladder.

Since it is a marriage of convenience, everything depends on the husband's conscience.

"Women!" Old Madam Sheng sighed, and advised, "All a woman can do is to be herself and live a good life."

"Having some money, a close maid, and the power to manage the household."

Grandma Sheng said, "Even if your husband doesn't love you, or even favors his concubine, you can still get by." Sheng Hualan nodded slightly; she understood this principle as well.

She learned from both her grandmother and mother, two negative examples.

The difference lies in the fact that my grandmother was open-minded in the second half of her life, had money, and lived a leisurely life.

The mother constantly contradicted the father, which annoyed him, and he frequently relinquished his control over the household.

"Let's keep this bracelet as a treasure!"

Sheng Hualan did not refuse and put the bracelet away.

Grandma Sheng then picked up another box from the side. That box was the largest one, about the size of a pillow.

Upon opening it, one finds stacks of deeds, each a foot high, some for farmland, others for shops, and still others for important properties. The deeds are several feet long and require repeated folding to fit into the box.

Grandma Sheng pulled out dozens of contracts from top to bottom, and the contents of the box were reduced by a third.

There was nothing that could be done; Sheng Hualan was marrying up.

Her husband's family was a prominent clan in a prosperous area, her husband was a renowned scholar from the Huai River region, a top scholar in the imperial examinations, and her teacher was a high-ranking official of the second rank.

Given her background, if Jiang Zhao hadn't been engaged before becoming the top scholar in the imperial examination, Sheng Hualan would never have been able to get married.

Even in Yangzhou itself, many daughters of officials and noble families openly said that Sheng Hualan had struck it lucky.

This clearly demonstrates the vast difference between the two sides.

To give his beloved granddaughter a grand entrance, Old Madam Sheng discussed the wedding arrangements with Sheng Hong and ultimately decided on a grand wedding procession!
This is the dowry that a woman should receive when she marries into a wealthy family!

Of course, even a grand wedding procession of ten miles in red can have its differences.

Some families, when marrying off their daughters, claim to have a grand dowry procession, but in reality, it's all just cheap stuff to prolong the dowry delivery time.

The eldest branch of the Sheng family, who were in business, contributed a great deal to Sheng Hualan's marriage.

The authentic ten-mile-long red bridal procession is exactly as it was!
Of course, the grand dowry was one aspect, and these farm properties and shops were another.

In fact, a land deed might be worth more than a dowry of a whole mile.

"After the wedding, you and your husband will be going to the capital. These are all paddy fields in Bianjing; if I remember correctly, they total three hundred mu."

Grandma Sheng handed over more than a dozen deeds for paddy fields.

"These are estates in Bianjing (Kaifeng), and each estate is about thirty or forty mu in size."

Grandma Sheng then handed over three more land deeds.

These three land deeds each had several stamps on them, and each deed, when unfolded, was several feet long, covered with dense writing.

"These are shops in Bianjing." Old Madam Sheng handed over a few more deeds.

As the only daughter of the Marquis of Yongyi, Old Madam Sheng inherited 90% of the late Marquis of Yongyi's assets, making her exceptionally wealthy.

"There are a few boxes of gold and silver jewelry over there. We'll have someone move them to your place later." Old Mrs. Sheng lifted the curtain and pointed to a corner.

Several large boxes, three or four feet long, were placed in that corner.

"Grandmother." Sheng Hualan really didn't know what to say.

"If in the future, if the son-in-law has any intention of taking concubines or keeping prostitutes..."

After discussing the dowry, Old Madam Sheng then talked to her granddaughter about taking a concubine.

“If the woman is from a respectable family, it is fine to take her as a concubine; but if she is a prostitute, the attitude must be appropriately firm. Women of the Sheng family must never call prostitutes sisters.”

The candlelight in Mucangzhai burned brightly for a long time.
Jiang Mansion.

The candlelight flickered, but Jiang Zhao did not rest.

In recent days, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Zeng Gong, Zhang Heng and others have been sending some things over and over again.

Poems or gifts, and so on.

To avoid being impolite, Jiang Zhao had to reply to each letter.

In addition, many scholars and officials from Huaizuo had a lot of exchanges with him and sent him gifts, which he had to express his gratitude in return.

Writing dozens of letters in a row, each one sincere and heartfelt, without the slightest hint of perfunctoriness, is no easy task.

(End of this chapter)