Chapter 7104 Leap Forward

Chapter 7104 Leap Forward
Chen Lan didn't know any of this, but she at least knew that in Chen Xi's eyes, Sun Qian was a powerful figure who could be considered a worthy opponent, a strong person on par with Lu Su.

Chen Lan had known her husband very well over the past twenty years, so anyone who could be described in such a way by her husband must be at least a monster.

Chen Lan had experienced the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the reign of Emperor Ling, and she understood what the true nature of the times was. The current benevolence and harmony were only because her husband had turned the tide of the world. As for those who had eaten people and drunk blood in that era but survived to this era, Chen Lan had always had doubts about whether they were as benevolent as her husband.

This is why Chen Lan found it quite normal when she heard that Cao Cao had carried out another massacre in Kandahar, since that's how people were back then.

Similarly, would the daughters and daughters-in-law of such important figures as Sun Qian and Man Chong really be allowed to be bullied? Even Chen Xi taught Chen Yu at home not to cause trouble outside, and not to bully ordinary children. He said if you want to fight, fight people like Lü Shao, Zhang Bao, or Zhao Tong; those kids can take a beating. As for others bullying you and you're in the wrong, you can handle it yourself. If you can't, come to your father, and he'll deal with you according to the law. If you're in the right, you'd better tell your father, and I'll handle it for you!
Chen Xi always educates her children this way, and Chen Lan thought that Sun Qian and Man Chong wouldn't let their child suffer.

It should be understood that even Man Wei was only short of living expenses, not other things. Moreover, Sun Min was a daughter-in-law who had married into the family. Even if she did something outrageous, Man Chong would beat his son and let his son manage Sun Min. Man Wei himself would have to fulfill his responsibilities as an elder to smooth things over and protect her.

Since ancient times, under certain conditions of maintaining a respectable image, a father-in-law would neither allow his daughter-in-law to be humiliated nor would he personally discipline her.

In this situation, it would be strange if Chen Qian's shop went bankrupt so easily, and she even lost several years' worth of living expenses. It would be strange if no one had sabotaged things.

As Chen Xi's daughter, she was born with many protections, but under these multiple layers of protection, she was suppressed without any use. The only ones who could do this were Chen Qian's future father-in-law and her husband.

Even if Chen Qianzhen went too far, others would still have to ask about the situation before taking any action. It's not about favoritism or anything, but Chen Xi is right there, and no matter how selfless he is, he can't ignore some things! Chen Xi has a very rich humanity, and sometimes humanity can be quite interesting in these aspects.

So just ask Chen Xi directly.

Chen Xi's answer to Chen Lan was simple: Qian'er had no problem being self-reliant and earning her younger brother's living expenses, but since she was using someone else's authority, she had to consider their feelings. For example, she might say, "I just want to have some fun, but I won't do it again next time."

This statement made Chen Lan want to laugh, but she also felt it was a bit childish. In the end, she punched him a couple of times and didn't say much, only remembering to pass the message on to Chen Qian.

Chen Xi knew that Chen Lan would pass on the message to Chen Qian, but this lesson had to be taught. Even if Chen Qian continued to act this way in the future, at least in the future, Chen Qian would know that it is best for people to rely on themselves. Even if they have a very powerful backer, they still hope that their descendants can be self-reliant and strong. They themselves are just a last resort.

"As the head of the Cai family, you decide what we'll eat tonight," Chen Xi said, patting Cai Chen's head. "So, esteemed head of the Cai family, what should we eat tonight? If I remember correctly, there's still a marquisate that you need to inherit."

"Let's go out for dinner tonight!" Cai Chen said excitedly. For some reason, Cai Chen, who was clearly very smart, would immediately get into a fight as soon as his father and brother stirred things up.

"Where should we eat?" Chen Xi asked with a smile.

"Manxianglou!" Cai Chen shouted.

Chen Xi was silent for a moment after hearing this, then looked at Cai Chen with a twitching expression. "Chen, can I ask you something? Who told you about Manxianglou?"

"It's my brother! He said there are lots of interesting things inside!" Cai Chen exclaimed.

Chen Xi scratched Chen Yu twice with his eye dart. Chen Yu scratched the back of his head and looked at Chen Xi with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong? You told me this. I'm telling my brother. Is there a problem?"
"Chen, you're still too young. You can go when you're a bit older," Chen Xi said, patting Cai Chen's head. "And you too, you're a little... well, a bit older now. You can eat lots of bamboo shoots stir-fried with meat. Dad will treat you to two meals tonight!"

"No way!" Upon hearing this, Chen Yu grabbed his fruit platter and ran away. He didn't want to eat bamboo shoots stir-fried with pork. Most of the time, his father's bamboo shoot stir-fried with pork was like a massage, completely useless for the thick-skinned Chen Yu. But ever since Fan Jian once pretended to drown Chen Yu after he jumped into the pool and cried uncontrollably when he was pulled out, Chen Xi found out and took drastic measures. Only then did Chen Yu realize that his father had been teasing him all along.

This time, his father's eyes were filled with malice, and this was a truly terrifying event that could skin him alive, so he'd better run away as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, while Chen Xi was out shopping with several children, the four newly appointed Marquises of Guannei also received their formal invitations.

Huangfu Song was, after all, a Grand General, and it was his granddaughter who was marrying Huangfu Liangmiao, who was from the Kou family. With the Grand Princess still alive, the matter was handled by the Imperial Clan Court. So, after confirming that there was no life-or-death feud, Huangfu Song sent invitations to all the marquises.

This scope actually includes Guan Hai and Li Tiao as well, but after thinking it over, the two of them gave gifts to Huangfu Song's side, but did not go in person, which can also be regarded as their acceptance of this era.

The problem is that the four marquises who were just conferred titles a few days ago did not receive invitations beforehand, so invitations were specially sent to Zhang Yong, Sun Er, Wei Shuang, and Zhang Ping today.

When Sun Er returned from Lü Bu's house, his wife dragged him towards the bedroom. He thought his wife had gone crazy again and was about to unleash her beastly desires. However, Sun Er didn't refuse, treating it as a way to vent his resentment from being "trained" by Lü Bu. Before he could even take off his clothes, Zhang Yingying stopped him. Only after his wife explained did he realize that the gold and red item on the table, which looked very noble, was actually an invitation from Huangfu Song!

"No, the General sends me an invitation to his granddaughter's wedding? Do I deserve it?" Sun Er said with a puzzled look. He had originally planned to bring some dates from Jizhou and go to the Kou family's banquet to freeload, since he had been comrades-in-arms with Kou Feng.

As for invitations, Sun Er never even considered it. What kind of trash was he to need a general to personally send him an invitation? What a joke! That was Huangfu Song, the general!
“Husband, things are different now. You are now a Marquis within the Pass. The General’s invitations are sent to relatives and friends, but the rest are mainly sent to various marquises and Marquises within the Pass. That’s why we’re sending you one now.” Zhang Yingying was, after all, from the Zhang family of Qinghe, which was a respectable family and she had some knowledge. Moreover, after her husband became a Marquis within the Pass, people from Qinghe came to congratulate him with gifts.

Only the Zhang family of Qinghe has a strong foundation, and like the Zhang family of Henan, they are descendants of Zhang Liang. Okay, to put it bluntly, the Zhang family of Qinghe split off from the Zhang family of Henan, and they have great power. If it were a small, insignificant family, they wouldn't just come to congratulate them. This is a Marquis of Guannei, half a person with power.

"So, I have to give a gift?" Sun Er scratched his head and said with a headache, "I've never given a gift to such a wealthy family before. I can't just bring some dates like I thought. They sent a formal invitation, and those invitations aren't cheap."

As he spoke, Sun Er picked up the invitation, tossed it around, and looked at his wife with a strange expression. "Wait, this thing really feels like it has gold in it."

"After all, it's an invitation to a marquis. You either have to have someone write it or make it more expensive. It's a choice between two options, and obviously, the first one is too troublesome." Zhang Yingying knew these things, after all, she had seen it all. If she didn't really like watching men fight and liked beastly, muscular men, she wouldn't have married a centurion back then, given her background. But now, of course, Zhang Yingying is marrying above her station.

These days, there are only a handful of people who can write well enough to be worthy of gold. Wei Duan and Wei Dan, who are Zhong Yao's two friends, almost had a funeral in their family recently. Since there are traditional customs regarding weddings and funerals, Huangfu Song from the Wei family of Jingzhao had to put the matter aside. As for Zhong Yao, he was still in Ganges at the time.

The rest of those who supposedly write well generally do not reach the level of "the spirit and essence in calligraphy." Even Cai Yan, in terms of calligraphy models, did not reach the level of "the spirit arising naturally."

Huangfu Song was thinking that if he, someone of his rank, were to send out invitations for his granddaughter's wedding, he would need to ask a truly renowned person to write the invitations. But since all the truly renowned people were having funerals, he decided to forget about that and just make some classy invitations instead. At least they would look high-class. So, this gold and red invitation with tassels was created. Considering Huangfu Song's hard work and great contributions, Chen Xi didn't charge him any money.

After all, if this thing were to actually cost money, it would be quite expensive. The cardboard technology, along with the gold paint, wooden casing, tassels, and so on, would be quite pricey these days.

Although Chen Xi thought that in the industrialized era of later times, such a large-scale purchase would cost at most five cents, and even a penny more would be considered ripping people off, this was the third century after all. Such a simple gold-red hard gold-lacquered invitation was considered a very high-class item.

To be honest, the times were too backward.

However, it was precisely because of this backwardness that Chen Xi was able to use snake mulberry wood to make the wooden shell, and managed to make it feel heavy in the hand. In later generations, this thing would mainly be used to make beads, which are sold by weight.

This is why Sun Er felt the invitations had a certain weight after taking over, assuming it was made of gold. In reality, there was no gold inside, just gold lacquer at most. Chen Xi was too lazy to even use gold leaf, just gold lacquer.

"So, if you're looking for someone with good handwriting to write invitations, you don't need these obviously expensive ones, right?" Sun Er asked with a hint of unease.

"The problem is, how many people can truly catch the General's eye with their good handwriting?" Zhang Yingying said with a smile. "So using this is actually more economical, since favors are still very valuable, especially as your rank increases. Things that can be solved with money..."

It's better not to use personal connections.

Sun Er seemed to be thinking about what his wife was saying, as if she was giving him some pointers.

"With this invitation, we'll probably have to give some expensive gifts," Sun Er said with a hint of heartache. Although he had become a Marquis of Guannei, he hadn't forgotten the days when he ate earthen cakes in Bingzhou. So no matter how wealthy he became, he still had to be frugal.

“No need for that.” Zhang Yingying shook her head and explained, “Actually, like most weddings, it’s rare to give very expensive gifts. I remember when I attended my aunt’s wedding, many people just brought some pastries and eggs, but everyone was very happy. Weddings are not really about giving gifts, but about everyone sitting together to bless the newlyweds.”

"Then I'll take the bass from the tank in the inner room with me," Sun Er said after thinking for a moment. The fish in the tank was brought by Sun Er from Jizhou. His original idea was to raise it and eat it at the same time. Now that it's winter, Sun Er was afraid that the fish would freeze to death and not taste as good, so he moved the fish and the tank to the inner room.

Incidentally, ten were brought with them at the time, but the other nine were eaten by Sun Er for various reasons.

"That's fine too. Gifts that are too expensive aren't really good either; they might make us seem like we're trying to curry favor with the General." Zhang Yingying thought for a moment and decided that bringing the sea bass as a gift would be a good idea.

"I'll carry the water vat over with me then." Sun Er thought for a moment. Since it was a gift, it would be better if the vat was still alive when it was delivered, especially since it was a wedding banquet, where things should be a bit more particular.

“Then let’s take that big vat with us.” Zhang Yingying thought for a moment. “It would be more suitable if we had both, but we only have one left. Let’s leave it at that. It won’t take any more effort. I’ll go with you and bring the children with us.”

"Ah, bring the child along too?" Sun Er scratched his head. On the one hand, he felt that with his wife there, someone could give him some pointers. On the other hand, he felt that it was not a good idea to bring the whole family to the Huangfu family's banquet, only to be given a fish as a gift.

"It's alright. The Huangfu family is large and powerful; they won't be ruined. Besides, there's the Kou family of Shangxiang Marquis, who is a founding marquis. Our talents are nothing compared to theirs." Zhang Yingying spoke casually, greatly easing her husband's worries.

Seeing Sun Er nod, Zhang Yingying felt relieved. The reason she said that before was to avoid her husband suspecting her intention to go with him. Although Zhang Yingying was a bit wild, she still cared a lot about her husband's reputation. Therefore, she was worried that her husband would embarrass himself at the banquet, so going with him would avoid a lot of trouble.

He's a Marquis of Guannei after all; he can't just stay away from these kinds of activities forever.

"Oh, right, there's one more thing I need your advice on." After confirming the follow-up arrangements, Sun Er looked at his wife with a thoughtful expression and said.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Yingying asked curiously. "What else could be causing you such distress? You're already a Marquis of Guannei now. As long as you don't cause trouble, there shouldn't be any problems. Moreover, you have the merit of killing the Xiongnu, which is among the highest-ranking military achievements in the Han Dynasty."

Military merits are not really suitable for being ranked, but since this is the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty really does rank military merits. But no matter how you rank them, the Xiongnu kings definitely have the highest level of military merits.

“It’s not that I’m in a difficult position, but I met Strategist Chen today. Yes, the strategist I’ve followed for many years. He’s very capable and can help us solve problems many times. However, it seems that he later followed Cao Cao.” Sun Er said with some doubt. He didn’t really know much about Chen Gong’s situation, but after all, he had followed Chen Gong and had a high opinion of Chen Gong’s intelligence.

"Following Lao Cao?" Zhang Yingying was stunned for a moment. She didn't know much about political lineages, but as a woman from a prominent family, she knew that following Lao Cao was definitely not a good thing. At this stage, Lao Cao had been almost defeated. Under such circumstances, according to her normal understanding, this strategist was probably also doomed.

"What's wrong?" Sun Er asked, looking at Zhang Yingying's worried expression with a puzzled look.

"Wasn't Lao Cao defeated? He's being hunted down by the people of Xuzhou. Won't your strategist be affected?" Zhang Yingying asked with a hint of ambiguity.

“That’s true, but I think the strategist seems to be fine. He even greeted me when he came to see Marquis Wen.” Sun Er thought for a moment and said, “But the strategist is really amazing. I think even if I follow Cao Cao, I should be fine.”

"Okay, so what you're talking about is related to him?" Zhang Yingying nodded slightly, feeling that her husband's words were credible, and asked with some curiosity.

"Yes, he asked me if I wanted to become a marquis," Sun Er asked with a hint of skepticism.

Zhang Yingying's heart skipped a beat. A strong sense of premonition made her unable to help but ask before Sun Er could finish speaking, "What did my husband answer?"

This is a marquisate! That's a real human rights card, proof of hereditary succession, the foundation for a family to firmly establish itself and continue in the political landscape of the Han Dynasty. The dignified Zhang family of Qinghe only has one marquis. If Sun Er can become a marquis, then Zhang Yingying is truly a discerning person, and there will definitely be a Sun family that can continue to exist in the future!

“I told you that I got my title of Marquis of Guannei by luck, and I really don’t dare to dream of becoming a Marquis,” Sun Er replied truthfully, unaware of his wife’s barely suppressed excitement.

"I see." Zhang Yingying calmed down.

The rain in Xi'an just keeps falling; I refuse to believe that snow can fall like this even in winter.