Chapter 951
: The Chen and Huang families’ marriage and the life and death agreement
Chapter 951 The Marriage and Life-or-Death Agreement Between the Chen and Huang Families
Old Qiong hurriedly said, "Master Chen, there's no need for such formalities. Please take us to see the high-yield mixed grain and potato seeds first!"
Master Chen looked at Qin Xiaomi and Jiang Dalang... Brother Long had said that if something big happened, he should go to them first, and only do it if they agreed.
Master Chen had been paying close attention to what Qin and Jiang were doing and knew that they were very capable, so he respected them and asked them questions first.
Qin Xiaomi said, "Master Chen, please lead the way."
"Alright, everyone, please follow me." Master Chen Nineteen smiled again, "Master Qin, Commander Jiang, I've watched Long'er grow up since he was a child. Now, Long'er is engaged to our Master Chen's fourth granddaughter. The Chen and Huang families are now officially related by marriage. You two can call me Uncle Nineteen, just like Long'er."
What the hell?
Young Master Huang, who is almost an old man and is still unruly and crazy, has actually gotten engaged in his hometown!
The woman he's betrothed to is the legitimate granddaughter of a high-ranking official. What merits does Huang Yanglong possess? What makes him worthy of being favored by such an old man?!
Grandpa Qin, Grandma Qin, Master Lu, and everyone who knew Huang Yanglong but didn't know about this matter were all shocked and looked at Master Chen Nineteen.
Facing the gazes of the crowd, Master Chen Nineteen calmly smiled and said, "It is indeed an engagement. The Duke of Yan acted as matchmaker when he was still in the capital. After consulting with Long Ge'er, the elders of both families arranged this marriage for him in their hometown."
If the promotion of high-yield coarse grains goes smoothly, the Chen and Huang families will even receive an imperial decree granting them marriage.
But since the imperial edict has not yet been issued, Master Chen Nineteen has not brought it up again.
"Congratulations!" Grandpa Qin congratulated the Chen and Huang families.
Uncle Qin couldn't help but ask, "The Chen family of Lingnan Prefecture? That's the family of the first Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) of Lingnan Prefecture. With such a family background, how could they bear to marry their eldest daughter to Young Master Huang?"
Grandpa Qin glared at Uncle Qin... Even if you're a gossip, you can't gossip to this extent. Besides, we're on Young Master Huang's side. If you talk like this, won't the Chen family think that we also dislike Young Master Huang's occasional erratic behavior? That would seriously damage Young Master Huang's reputation!
Master Chen laughed and said that Huang Yanglong had no reputation whatsoever in Lingnan Prefecture.
At his most infuriating moment, he was beaten up in the street several times by Chen family members.
The reason is that Huang Yanglong felt that the people in the Huang family business were all on Zheng Nandan's side, and Zheng Nandan had repeatedly urged him to get married and have children as soon as possible so that the Huang family could continue its new generation of bloodline.
Huang Yanglong hates being pressured to do things, so he refuses to get married. When pushed to the limit, he goes crazy and makes outrageous statements.
It is said that Huang Yanglong only marries daughters of noble families. In Lingnan Prefecture, only the eldest granddaughter of Lord Chen is worthy of him!
He would not marry anyone but the eldest granddaughter of Lord Chen, and he would not marry any other girl even if he married his godbrother.
Honestly, if it weren't for the emphasis on clan and offspring in Lingnan Prefecture, and if he weren't the only young master of the Huang family business, he would have been beaten to death long ago.
But because of these nonsense remarks, Huang Yanglong was often beaten by the Chen family members.
The person he addressed back then was actually Old Master Chen's eldest granddaughter. Over the years, Old Master Chen's first three legitimate granddaughters have all married, and the only one who is of suitable age and legitimate is Chen's fourth daughter.
In the end, the marriage fell to Miss Chen.
Grandpa Qin continued, "Young Master Huang is a fine young man. I treat him like my own grandson. He is capable of handling important matters, but he has a somewhat impulsive temper. I ask the Chen family and Miss Chen to be more lenient with him."
Master Chen was both surprised and delighted that the elders of the Qin family would speak up for Long Ge'er like this, which showed that the Qin, Jiang, Xu, and Qiao families had a good relationship with Long Ge'er.
As long as you have a good relationship, that's fine.
After all, only with a good relationship can you weather the storms together.
"Thank you for your kindness to Long Ge'er, Elder Qin. Rest assured, the Chen family and my fourth niece have high hopes for Long Ge'er and will support him in his endeavors." Chen Shijiu smiled and added, "Long Ge'er and my fourth niece are destined to be together. They will surely live a happy and harmonious life together."
I don't know about the other Chen girls, but my fourth niece was born to be Huang Yanglong's nemesis. No, my fourth niece's temper is the nemesis of all hot-tempered and impulsive people. Let's put it this way: even if Huang Yanglong hanged himself in front of her, my fourth niece could let him hang himself and then save him.
Once Huang Yanglong has recovered, if he tries to hang himself again, she won't stop him. She'll wait until he finishes hanging before she tries to save him.
However, it was not appropriate to say these things to Qin Jiang and her family, after all, she was a daughter of the Chen family in Lingnan, a proper official's daughter and a lady of a prestigious family.
"We've arrived. Twenty carts of high-yield miscellaneous grains and potato seeds are inside." Master Chen Nineteen led everyone to the entrance of a large tent.
Old Qiong was the first to lift the curtain and rush in.
Inside the main camp, rows of animal-free wooden carts were displayed, with large boxes stacked inside the carts.
"The potato seeds are inside the box, there's a hidden compartment," Chen Shijiu reminded him.
"Commander Zhong, Commander Jiang, Commander Tang, please help me move the boxes down." Old Master Qiong didn't let the students be the first to touch the potato seeds, but instead called on the Wei army's side.
As for the students who want to touch the sweet potato seeds, they must: "Zilin, write a life-or-death agreement. If the sweet potato seeds are damaged in any way, making them unplantable, all the students who participated in the trial planting will share the consequences. The consequence is that they will be barred from taking the imperial examinations and entering officialdom for ten years!"
This?
“Sir, isn’t this punishment too harsh?” Yang Zeru said.
How many decades are there in life?
If they waste ten years because of this, wouldn't their official careers be several ranks lower than their peers?
"Could it be that the high-yield coarse grain and potato seeds that can save the common people are not important?" Old Qiong asked rhetorically, and then solemnly said, "My students, being an official is not about composing poems and couplets, but about making real contributions to the world. And every contribution in this world comes with a price. For example, the Qin family made military achievements, but first paid the price of having their village massacred by bandits, spies and assassins. Only after paying that price did the Qin family become what it is today."
"So if you want to participate in the trial planting, you must bear the cost. If you are unwilling to bear the cost, I will not force you. I will continue to arrange other tasks for you to help you travel and gain experience."
But what other job could achieve greater success than cultivating high-yield miscellaneous grains?!
Even fighting on the battlefield couldn't earn him a greater achievement than planting high-yield miscellaneous grains.
After all, once the high-yield coarse grain trial is successful, every single one of them who participated in the trial will be recorded in the history books of the Great Wei Dynasty and their names will be remembered in history!
"Sir, Grandmaster, Master Qin, I, Kang Rong, am willing to sign a life-or-death pledge, and I am willing to dedicate myself to the cause of cultivating high-yield grains for the benefit of all people, even unto death!"
Everyone: "..."
You don't need to be so obsequious.
Students from acquaintances like Xue Mingyi, Li Zhiyuan, and Kang Lang immediately declared, "Sir, we are willing to sign a waiver of life and death!"
"Sir, we are also willing to sign!" The other students hurriedly expressed their opinions, afraid that if they spoke too late, they would be kicked out of this historic trial planting project.
After all, if things go wrong and he fails, it will only delay his entry into officialdom for ten years, not his beheading, so it's worth the gamble.
Ying Zilin had already written the death certificate. After reading it aloud to everyone, he took the lead in writing his name, pressing his fingerprint, and passing the death certificate to Kang Rong. This continued until all the students had signed and pressed their fingerprints.
After the signing was completed, Zhong Baihu let the students come over and let them handle taro and sweet potato.