Do you know that my grandfather was entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple?

Chapter 77 Taking Office

Wang You originally hoped to obtain an official position through the prodigy examination, thereby increasing his influence. He didn't expect to be able to make his own decisions regarding marriage, but at least his parents would consider his opinion.

But he suddenly realized that although he had obtained an official position, his ideas were still too naive.

After all, they are still young, and no matter how well they perform, they are still children in their parents' eyes.

Normally, parents might consider their own opinions, but if the woman's family is powerful, will the parents still consider them?

Originally, I wanted to free myself from the shackles, but unexpectedly, they became even heavier shackles instead.

Wang You also knew that, given the ancient social norms, the idea of ​​free love was simply unrealistic.

Moreover, in ancient times, girls would be betrothed and married after the age of fifteen, and the normal age for marriage was no more than sixteen.

Those who are a little later won't be older than seventeen; any later and there will probably be rumors circulating.

Even if he had that opportunity, he had no interest in dating a young girl.

For him, finding someone whose thoughts aren't too complicated would be enough.

Of course, being good-looking is a must.

In fact, Rulan's personality is very suitable.

Although her abilities are average, she is simple-minded and a bit spoiled, but not unreasonable.

Unfortunately, the two are cousins. Although the proportion of children with problems born from consanguineous marriages is slightly higher than that of children born from non-consanguineous marriages.

Overall, it's not too outrageous.

But Wang You dared not gamble. He couldn't bear the thought of having a child who was mentally challenged or born with birth defects.

Therefore, Rulan is definitely not someone I can marry.

In this way, he knew that there were only a few women his age.

Zhang Guifen, Hai Chaoyun, Yu Yanran, Minglan, and Xiao Shenshi.

Hai Chaoyun is his future cousin-in-law, so he definitely can't have designs on her. Besides, she's a little older than the others, so they're about the same age as him right now.

You can't just get married when you're fifteen or sixteen, can you?

Wang You didn't like Zhang Guifen's personality. In his opinion, Zhang Guifen, Old Madam Sheng, and Madam Wu were all the same kind of people.

He has the ability and the means to make a better life, but because he is too arrogant, he makes a mess of things.

Although the specific problems lie with the man, misunderstandings are inevitable in married life.

Given their personalities, unless they marry someone with an exceptionally gentle temperament, even the slightest conflict between them could lead to a prolonged cold war.

They would never back down on their own initiative, and even if a man apologized, they would still put on a sour face. How many men could accept that?

Yu Yanran is too soft-hearted. If she is content with a modest life and lives a quiet life behind closed doors, that would be fine.

But he had already entered officialdom, and she would be unable to handle the infighting among the wives of officials.

In this respect, Rulan is better than her. Although Rulan is not very scheming, if she is angered, she can still retort.

Despite her average combat prowess, she is actually quite formidable among the wives of officials.

After thinking it over, only Minglan and Madam Shen remained.

Although Minglan is very cunning and resourceful, everything she does is for survival.

As long as the couple is harmonious, I'm not worried about him using it.

With her shrewdness and resourcefulness, managing the household and dealing with interactions among the women was no problem for her.

Putting aside the advantages that come with her position, there's nothing wrong with being a good wife.

Needless to say, Madam Shen's personality and temperament are actually very similar to Rulan's.

Moreover, she is the future empress's sister. Marrying her would not only prevent him from holding a sinecure like a princess, but would also make him a top-tier maternal relative.

Zhao Ceying is her nephew, so it can be said that her wealth and honor for the next few decades are guaranteed.

If he really had a choice, Wang You would naturally prefer Xiao Shenshi.

The difficulty in marrying Xiao Shenshi was that before Zhao Zongquan entered the capital to quell the rebellion, the Shen family was not of high social standing, and it was not easy to make reasonable contact with them.

Once Zhao Zongquan enters the capital, the Shen family will be beyond the reach of the Wang family.

Of course, there are so many wealthy families in Bianjing, it's not necessary to have these people.

It's hard to know what kind of people and character those daughters of wealthy families are.

It's too one-sided to learn from outsiders, and it's also difficult to have private contact with them.

If problems are discovered after marriage, getting a divorce won't be so easy.

Wang Youming clearly understands the future, so naturally he is unwilling to gamble on the unknown.

Lost in thought until late at night, I unknowingly fell asleep.

When Wang You woke up the next day, he chuckled to himself, realizing he had really been worrying unnecessarily.

He will have to stay in Bianjing for the time being, and at his age, it's not the time to think about these things.

Even if his parents want to arrange a marriage for him, they have no choice but to accept it if they can't stop it.

What good is choosing a goal?

We can't exactly have our parents propose marriage now.

After washing up with the help of his maid, Wang You went to the courtyard to practice martial arts.

After accepting the stone, he had it teach him martial arts.

I didn't learn martial arts for self-defense or anything like that; I just wanted to improve my health.

After all, with the limited medical conditions in ancient times, even a minor illness could be fatal.

Being physically strong and having a stronger immune system is never a bad thing.

When Shi Tou learned of his purpose in learning martial arts, he didn't teach him anything else, but only a simple set of boxing techniques.

Wang You would get up every morning and do it twice. After nearly a year, he could clearly feel that his body had become much stronger.

After finishing his boxing practice and changing his clothes, Wang You went to the backyard to pay his respects to his mother.

After Wang You finished paying his respects, Madam Feng said, "When you go to Jingxin Hall later, you mustn't upset your grandmother again."

"understood."

Wang You nodded and asked, "Is my sister still not up?"

"That girl couldn't sleep in the new place. She was making a fuss until midnight last night. Let her get some more sleep," said Madam Feng.

……

The mother and son arrived at Jingxin Hall to pay their respects to Old Mrs. Wang.

Although the old lady didn't look well, she didn't mention yesterday's events, nor did she invite the two to stay for a meal.

"There should be quite a few officials' wives visiting these next couple of days. After we have dinner, we should go back and tidy up properly," said Madam Feng.

Although the Wang family has declined, Old Mrs. Wang is still alive.

When Old Mrs. Wang came to the capital, every family that had ever had dealings with the Wang family would come to visit her.

Over the next few days, Wang You became a smiling ambassador.

Officials' relatives came to visit the old lady in an endless stream, and when these relatives chatted about their families, they inevitably talked about the younger generation.

Whenever the conversation turns to the younger generation, they always praise Wang You highly.

Wang You could only stand behind his mother with a smile.

Over the course of a few days, Wang You also got to know some of the sons and daughters of officials and noble families in Bianjing.

However, these people were all older than him. Generally, the boys who could be taken by their mothers when they went out were around sixteen or seventeen years old, and the girls were around fourteen or fifteen years old.

At this age, they are old enough to be married. Taking them out serves two purposes: to teach them how to socialize and to show them to outsiders.

Because of the age difference, Wang You had no interest in those girls.

As for those young masters, they received constant praise because of Wang You, and their mothers even told them to learn from Wang You.

Therefore, his impression of Wang You was also lukewarm.

I spent a few days as a smiling ambassador, but I didn't make a single friend, and my face was almost frozen from smiling.

Fortunately, those days were finally over, because it was time for him to report to the Hanlin Academy.