Chapter 44: The Sheng Family Has a Grown Daughter

  Ye Zhikui barely escaped from Xianliang Temple, and Old Sheng was overly enthusiastic. He looked at Ye Zhikui with increasing fondness, as if he couldn't wait to finalize the engagement. Ye Zhikui could only repeatedly mention Ye Zhi Chao to escape, but he knew he wouldn't be able to avoid it for long. With Li Hongzhang acting as matchmaker, Ye Zhi Chao would not refuse. Ye Zhikui could only think positively: at least they hadn't confirmed which of Old Sheng's daughters he would marry. If none of them suited his taste when the time came, he wouldn't mind pointing to Old Sheng's daughter who was less than a month old and saying "I'll take her!"

  After returning to the Ye Mansion, Ye Zhi Kui immediately convened a meeting with his trusted advisors, including Jian Ren Shi Wu, Bao Bu Tong, and Tu Fu, to discuss all that had transpired that day. Ye Zhi Kui first recounted in detail his visit to the palace to pay respects to Empress Dowager Cixi and then his trip to Xian Liang Temple to meet with Li Hong Zhang. After finishing, he waited for everyone's analysis.

  Having been through many years of officialdom, he was very familiar with the twists and turns inside. He said: "Ye Shao, it seems that Old Lady Buddha will likely hand over the new army to you for training."

  Ye Zhiyuan nodded in agreement. From Cixi's words today, it is not difficult to see that she intends for him to train new troops. The reason the imperial court wants to supervise the training of new troops is because during the First Sino-Japanese War, many generals of the Huai Army performed poorly and disobeyed orders. By the end of the war in Korea, only a few units were able to enter Korea according to the original plan.

  Whether the Huai Army has begun to decline or those generals have preserved their strength, the court can no longer tolerate the local militia forces being so powerful, so it urgently needs to train a new army directly controlled by the central government to counterbalance the local forces.

  Ye Zhīkuí continued: "As for training new troops, we already have some experience in Korea. However, I still hope you can reorganize those materials to make them clear and concise, easy to understand. Additionally, we need to hire more Western military officers. This part will be handled by me, and I will contact my German classmates to ask them to pay attention to some talents. If we don't train, then so be it. But if we do train, we must train a crack troop that not only becomes the elite of the Qing dynasty but also can compete with Western troops."

  Several people who heard Ye Zhiyuan's words were filled with enthusiasm and responded, "Since Young Master Ye has such great ambitions, we can only do our best to support him."

  Wen Bai Shan wanted to speak but hesitated, finally saying: "Ye Shao, I think you should marry into the Shen family. Not only will this make Lord Zhong put his mind at ease, but the Shen family is also a prominent and wealthy clan, making them a suitable match!"

  The butcher's face twitched slightly at the words, but he didn't make a sound. Ye Zhikui said, "I'll discuss this matter with Uncle again."

  Then I asked Zhen Ren: "How are the goods we brought from Korea being used?"

  Jian Ren smiled wryly and said, "As for Ye Shao's words, these days the little people have been lavishly sending gifts, and they've already used up ten of them. All of this has been accounted for, but I really couldn't have imagined that the officials of the Qing dynasty would be so greedy, each with a huge appetite, especially those members of the royal family - every single one of them is like a blood-sucking leech. If I hadn't been meticulous in my calculations, I'm afraid they would have already spent it all."

  Ye Zhi thought for a moment and said: "In that case, let's stop sending gifts. The person in the palace has already started to notice me. Now is not the time to send gifts, but rather to focus on financial matters. Fortunately, I don't have to worry too much about this aspect. According to the news from Ping Cheng, the Korean pharmaceutical factory has begun selling heroin to Japan and the United States, and it's doing quite well. It can be said that our finances are flourishing. And I've already renamed the Korean bank as the Asian Bank, preparing to open dozens of branches in Jiangsu (Ye Zhi will soon take office as the governor of Jiangsu) and other places. So, Tu brother, you need to dig up some financial talent from money houses or foreign banks. This time, I don't want to ask for help from Minister Zhong again!"

  The butcher quickly took note of it, and the several people discussed some other important matters. Ye Zhi Kui felt that there were too few business talents under his command, so he asked the butcher to pay more attention to such talents, until late at night when everyone had to disperse and rest.

  The Sheng family had a mansion in the capital, and because of Cixi's 60th birthday, many young ladies and gentlemen from the Sheng family rushed to Beijing from Suzhou to join in the celebration.

  Through the grand and magnificent hall, a burst of cheerful chirping came from the west wing, where the three unmarried young ladies of the Sheng family were chatting and laughing. One was slightly older, in her early twenties, and was the third Miss Sheng, who looked elegant and refined, with a slender neck and snowy skin, a beautiful face, and a tall figure. Another was in her late teens, and was the fourth Miss Sheng, whose face had a light dusting of powder, looking radiant and lovely, lively and lovable, talking non-stop. The last one was still young, not yet fully grown, and looked petite and mischievous, and was the fifth Miss Sheng. The three sisters were discussing some recent interesting gossip from the capital.

  But then Third Miss Sheng Huiyi's maid rushed in, looking frightened and flustered, saying: "Miss! Something's wrong with Third Miss! I just heard Fifth Master say that Master is going to marry you off to a general named Ye Zhi Kui!"

  The three young ladies stopped talking in a hurry and listened carefully as the maid explained the reason.

  Sheng Xuanhuai had six wives, and there were countless other "girlfriends" who did not enter his household. Of course, the several daughters who came to Beijing with him were all born to the six wives, and they were extremely spoiled. The third and fourth misses were born to Mrs. Diao, but unfortunately, Mrs. Diao had passed away many years ago.

  The current mistress of the Sheng Mansion is the stepmother, Madame Zhuang. She comes from a family of scholars and is also the biological mother of the fifth miss. When she heard that they were going to form an alliance with the Ye family, she found out about Ye Zhikui's situation. Originally, she had considered her own biological daughter, but unfortunately, her biological daughter was still young and couldn't be married off yet. So, she thought of the gentle and elegant third miss, Sheng Huiyi. Although Sheng Huiyi is not her biological daughter, they have a good relationship on a daily basis, and Sheng Huiyi's knowledge and understanding are very much loved by Sheng Xuanhuai.

  Miss San Huai-yi, due to her mother's early passing, was very independent from a young age. She had a calm demeanor, was polite and courteous in her interactions with others, and was well-versed in books and reason, earning the affection of her elders.

  The maid hastily finished speaking, but saw that the fourth young lady had an expression of neither surprise nor delight, and couldn't help but be taken aback. What's wrong with our young lady?

  Miss Wu, still a little girl, said vaguely: "Third sister, are generals who fight wars very fierce? If he becomes my brother-in-law, I can also go to war."

  It is said that these young ladies who grew up in the boudoir should not know about outside news, but because Sheng Xuanhuai was relatively open-minded, the young ladies were very eager to learn about the outside world of flowers and they heard a lot of gossip from various channels through maids and servants.

  Fourth Miss Sheng Xi Hui and Sheng Hui Yi were born of the same mother, already sensible, said: "Third sister, that Ye Zhi Kui seems to be the one who gave Old Madame a Western toy called 'movie' at her birthday banquet the other day. I heard Father say it's very interesting, inside is just like real people. Only didn't ask Father what he looks like? Why not let little sister help you find out?"

  "Fourth sister, don't get involved in unrelated matters," Sheng Huiyi shook her head and replied. "Father hasn't mentioned this to me yet, so the truth of the matter is still unknown. Besides, as women from a noble family like ours, we don't have the right to choose our own husbands. Even if you find out more about it, it won't make a difference, it'll just add to your worries. Alright, all of you go back to your rooms now, I'm going to rest."

  After the two sisters left, Sheng Huiyi couldn't help but think of Ye Zhi Kui, in fact she understood Ye Zhi Kui better than her two sisters.

  Sheng Hui-yi lost her mother at a young age, and her father was often away from home. As a child, she liked to cling to her fifth uncle Sheng Xing-huai the most, and loved listening to his stories about the outside world. This time, after Sheng Xing-huai returned from Korea, Sheng Hui-yi again clung to him, asking him to tell her some interesting anecdotes that happened while he was in Korea.

  During the conversation, Sheng Xinghuai mentioned Ye Zhikui the most. From his uncle's words, it was not difficult to hear that he admired and envied Ye Zhikui, who was a good general with both bravery and strategy. Unfortunately, he also heard from his uncle that Ye Zhikui had some unclear relationship with the Korean princess, and there was a woman named Xiaoling who was very close to him. A few days ago, it was said that Ye Zhikui flirted with a virtuous woman at the city gate.

  I ask you, which woman in the world does not hope that her husband loves only herself and marries only her? Of course, this was obviously impossible in those days, but at least she should be the one he loves the most. Ye Zhi Kui has a red beauty who knows him, and Sheng Hui Yi can accept it.

  What Sheng Huiyi couldn't accept was hearing that Ye Zhikui was flirting with a respectable woman at the city gate, and she had already looked down on him as a playboy. For such a person, no matter how talented he was, Sheng Huiyi was extremely disdainful of him. Unfortunately, what could be done? This was the fate of being a young lady from a big family. Was it just going to be like this?

  Ye Zhiwei had no idea that he was already being remembered by a certain woman, and he was now in a headache! Not long after Ye Zhichao returned to the mansion, he received news of Li Hongzhang's matchmaking, without giving Ye Zhiwei any right to speak, and immediately agreed. Now Ye Zhiwei is very headachy about how to tell this matter to Xiaoling.

  ………

  Sorry, brothers, something came up and the update is late, please forgive me!

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