Madam Yang’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected this turn of the conversation. Originally, she had wanted to wait until the wedding was over and then thicken her skin and cry to her new son-in-law that her older daughter was pitiful when he returned to visit with Ling Ling. She never would have thought that An Hei himself would offer his help and that even before the wedding. "Mister An … wants to help find a husband for Jin Jin?"
Xu Fu nodded. "Yes. Of course, my Lord knows that this is a matter only you can decide on. But he figured that his wedding with your younger daughter might be a good opportunity to find a suitor for your older daughter. It is just … since he is new here, it might be necessary to use your family’s name for that. As far as I know, my Lord has had one of his people investigate the eligible gentlemen and had a look through them. The plan would be to have you take a look at the list as well and decide on some of them that you deem appropriate. Then, we would invite them to the wedding where they would see your older daughter. We would make sure that they find out she is still unmarried but looking for a spouse currently. If one of them takes interest, the matter could be sorted out soon."
Madam Yang raised a hand to cover her mouth, unable to believe what she was hearing. This plan wasn’t bad. In any case, the wedding would be a big affair thanks to An Hei’s help. And even though their family had already lost its status, there were still many who had known her husband well. If they invited them, they wouldn’t dare not to come. Inviting a few unmarried men alongside those people wouldn’t seem strange at all. This might indeed be a good chance for Jin Jin.
Madam Yang took a deep breath and folded her hands in her lap, smiling faintly. "Miss Xu, thank you very much for coming to tell me. You can assure your Lord that I am not feeling slighted in any way. This is a very thoughtful gesture of him. I was indeed worried about Jin Jin’s marriage so doing it this way would be quite helpful. Thank you again."
Xu Fu nodded and then reached into her robe to pull out the list with the names. "This is a list of all the eligible bachelors. My Lord has marked the ones that he deems a good match. He said that you are completely free to choose anyone you want though. After all, you have lived here your whole life and are much more familiar with the men and their families. My Lord could only go by what he found out about them so far and there might have been some oversights. So while you can take his thoughts into consideration, he won’t mind if you decide otherwise.
"Please don’t hold back your true thoughts. This regards your daughter’s future happiness. Furthermore, in just a few weeks, you are going to be a family. Naturally, my Lord only wishes the best for his family. So you don’t have to fear offending him. My Lord is very tolerant."
Madam Yang heaved a sigh of relief and took the list. "Thank you very much. I will take a look and also talk it over with my daughter to make sure what her thoughts are. May I send our answer back tomorrow?"
Xu Fu inclined her head. You may even take more time if you need to. It will not be too late to send out invitations after a few more days."
"Very well. Then we will take our time. Something like this also shouldn’t be decided without enough deliberation." Even though they were poor now and had no chance of regaining their status with her husband already gone, she still wanted the best possible husband for her daughter. She knew she couldn’t expect too much but even with the few opportunities they still had, she would think twice before deciding on anything. Too much could go wrong if an ill-suited husband was chosen.
Xu Fu got up and bid farewell when she had gotten Madam Yang’s promise. She returned to An Hei’S estate and informed him about the conversation before she went back to her own tasks.
Meanwhile, Madam Yang finally opened the list to take a look at the names Yuan Hao had written down, as well as the annotations that An Hei had made. When she did, she felt faint.
These names … seeing them, she had to wonder just what An Hei thought their status was. The men listed were of good and distinguished families. Some nobles and some high-ranking military officer’s sons, not a single merchant or anyone of low status. This would have been a list of men that were appropriate for the daughter of a famous general to marry. But General Yang had already died. Jin Jin’s status wasn’t the same anymore. If they really tried to convince one of these men to marry her daughter, wouldn’t they be laughed at?
Madam Yang sighed and put the list down again. She felt that as a member of the imperial family, An Hei should be able to understand this. So why did he still provide this kind of list? Was there some deeper meaning that she didn’t understand? Or could it be that he figured his own name as Jin Jin’s future brother-in-law would be enough to make these men take an interest in her daughter?
Madam Yang’s eyes lit up for a moment only to dim the next. It might be true but what about the future? An Hei would likely take Ling Ling back to Do Tian, the capital of the empire. The estate he had brought here was just for the ceremony and maybe some time before it was convenient to return. After that, would he really have the time to care about Ling Ling’s sister and her marriage? So even if the wedding happened in that time, maybe Jin Jin wouldn’t be treated well any longer after the influential brother-in-law had left. How could she do that to her daughter?
Madam Yang sighed. She really didn’t think that this was a good idea but since An Hei had already provided the list, it would be wrong not to accept a single one of the suggestions. She might be free to choose the ones she liked but rejecting his good intentions would be slighting him and make trouble for Ling Ling.
Thinking for a moment, Madam Yang called Jin Jin over and told her not only about the conversation she had just had with Xu Fu but also about her own doubts regarding the list. Then, the two of them started to look through it together, focusing on the men whose status wasn’t quite as high even though Jin Jin would have loved to have the option to not ignore them. But she also understood the kind of situation she was in. This was more than good enough. Much better than to just rely on the matchmaker.
After looking through the list for some time, Madam Yang’s brows raised when she spotted a somewhat familiar name. "Wu Shi Yu?"
Jin Jin looked up in confusion. She felt like she had heard that name before but she couldn’t quite place it. "Who is that, mother?" She had also spotted the name on the list but she felt that if she didn’t know the man’s identity, he shouldn’t be that high-ranking.
Madam Yang’s expression seemed a little troubled. "Well, how to say this … he is with the army and I think his chances of gaining a high status in the future are quite good. Naturally, it isn’t a given since one never knows what will happen in war but if he is careful, he might become a general in the future just like your father."
Jin Jin nodded. That didn’t sound bad. It also meant that this man might be a possibility. Somebody who already had a high status might disdain her but somebody who still needed some time before that might be more willing to give it a try. "Is he a good person?"
Madam Yang nodded slowly. "Yes, there is nothing wrong with him. I think he would be a very good choice." To say the full truth, there was yet another reason why Madam Yang thought that this man might be the most suitable for her daughter but she didn’t dare bring it up. These were some things that still needed more deliberation. "Well, let’s write that name down and choose a few more. Miss Xu will return tomorrow to get our answer. We have to decide until then."
Jin Jin once again inclined her head and the two of them continued to look through the list. In the end, they didn’t choose many men. If they did, it would be too obvious and that was something they definitely didn’t want. They still noted down half a dozen names to make sure that there would be some options at least. Since two of these men were related to the military and the late General Yang, they also had an excuse as to why they invited them, covering up their intentions.
That night, Jin Jin went to bed with her heart hammering with excitement. She knew she wouldn’t have as much luck as her sister. That much was already a given. But she still longed to find a good husband. Now, thanks to An Hei’s help, that seemed to be possible after all. It was more than she had previously dared to hope for. Now, she could hardly wait for the day of her sister’s wedding ceremony. Maybe then, she would also find somebody to spend the rest of her life with. That would be for the best.
The next day, Xu Fu arrived early at the house of the Yangs to get the list of men that Madam Yang and her daughter had chosen. She stayed to chat with her for a moment before she left again, bringing it back to her king.
An Hei looked the list over, not too surprised at the result. Most of the men that Madam Yang had chosen were the same ones that he had also picked out. She had left out a few others that he had also deemed an option and chosen one extra but that also wasn’t strange. Now that everything was confirmed, An Hei sent Yuan Hao and Nong Bai out to invite these gentlemen, as well as take care of the other guests that they had already decided on beforehand.
Soon enough, everything had been dealt with. The people that had to know about the wedding were aware, the things they needed for the ceremony were prepared as well. They only needed to wait for the auspicious day to arrive. And soon enough that day had come.
