Jingguo, the capital of Jinling, the original mansion.

"Third brother, is mother confused? How could she choose a low-status merchant girl as your wife?" Yuan Pingzhi, the former fourth son, strode into the study of Yuan Zhizhi, the former third son, and muttered angrily.

Yuan Zhizhi, who was dressed in a plain blue robe, was examining a thick file. Hearing Yuan Pingzhi's words, he raised his head in surprise and looked at his fourth brother, whose face was red with anger. He frowned and thought for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "Sit down and talk. How big of a thing is worth your yelling about?"

Yuan Pingzhi was handsome and loved beauty. He was always very particular about his words and manners. It was indeed rare for him to come in without warning and make such a loud noise as he did today.

Yuan Pingzhi couldn't help frowning when he looked at his third brother, who was dressed plainly and without even a single accessory. Thinking about the marriage his mother had secretly promised, he felt even more depressed.

Yuan Pingzhi sat opposite his third brother. The fifteen-year-old boy was as worried as a little old man. He sighed sadly and said, "It was only after I accidentally overheard my mother's private conversation in the yard that I realized that my mother was determined to get married to you. This is a good thing. You are almost in your prime, so you can't stay away from getting married, right? You have become an official in the court, and some favors and courtesy are indeed needed.I want a housewife to do it, but... Oh!I really don’t know what I think, why did I choose the lowest-ranking merchant’s daughter in the end!What kind of family are we?What is the status of the third brother?If you really choose a businesswoman as your legitimate wife, you will be embarrassed, so why don’t you go out to meet others?”

After the initial surprise, Yuan Zhizhi quickly regained his composure. He quietly listened to his fourth brother, who was heartlessly complaining for him, but his mind had suddenly changed thousands of times.

He is now more than nineteen years old and will soon turn twenty, which also means that he will reach the age of wearing a crown and officially becoming an adult. If he is not married yet, as the fourth brother said, it is really inconvenient to exchange many favors.

The hostess is not only in charge of the inner house, but more importantly, in the aspect of "lady's social interaction". There are many things that are inconvenient for men to talk about in person or inquire about, so they can use women's chat as a joke to test each other's attitude first, and then make an appropriate decision.

Yuan Zhizhi had also thought about what kind of wife he would marry. He only hoped that she would be gentle, virtuous, and well-educated. He did not particularly care about her origin, because he thought that no matter how bad he was, with his reputation as the third son of Yuanfu, he should marry a lady from the Tu ethnic group, even if she was from the declining Tu ethnic group.

He never expected that his mother would choose a woman from a business background for him.

Did his mother specially choose a business woman for him because he was particularly interested in doing business?

Among the four major categories of good people, namely, scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants, merchants are at the bottom of the stream and have a very low status. If we consider marriage according to the well-matched family, how can a merchant's daughter match the former son of the first noble family?Hara Zhizhi smiled playfully, but he didn't feel angry at all, and he didn't really think that businessmen were inferior to people. He just felt that his aunt was also a very interesting woman, and she often did things unexpectedly.

"Third brother?" Yuan Ping became anxious.

Yuan Zhizhi smiled and said: "Marriage matters depend on the orders of the parents. According to the matchmaker, my mother must have her reasons for choosing this marriage for me."

Yuan Pingzhi flattened his mouth, thinking about sleeping, and swallowed the words as they reached his mouth.

He grimaced and sighed heavily.

Looking at his childish face, Yuan Zhizhi laughed and said, "I'm curious, what kind of girl can attract my mother's attention?"

Speaking of this, Yuan Pingzhi finally regained some energy. He blinked his peach blossom eyes and said hurriedly: "It is said that she is a beauty!"

Hara laughed loudly and said, "Beauty is great! Who doesn't love beauty?"

Yuan Pingzhi immediately added: "Speaking of which, she is our distant cousin! She is the daughter of a distant aunt on my mother's side, surnamed Fei. The Fei family was a salt merchant, and later became an imperial merchant. Well, the imperial merchants are better than ordinary merchants. She is sixteen years old this year, what else... Well, it is said that she is very good at raising orchids."

Haraharu nodded and said thoughtfully: "A beautiful woman who is good at raising orchids. With such elegance, she must have a good temperament. She is both beautiful and classy. Such a beautiful woman deserves to be a good wife."

Yuan Pingzhi stared at him and asked: "Third brother, are you serious?"

"Otherwise, what kind of wife do you want third brother to marry? My mother took the trouble to choose for me, so she must be good." Hara said.

Yuan Pingzhi stared again, and felt a sigh of relief in his chest, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

If his mother chose a business girl as his wife for the fourth brother, he might think that his mother simply believed that the girl had good character and could be a match for him. However, if his mother chose a business girl as his wife for his third brother, the implications were much more complicated.

Wouldn't the third brother complain about his mother?

Yuan Zhizhi was touched by his brother's love for him. He walked over and patted him on the shoulder and said, "I understand your concern for me, and I will not take my life's major events as a trivial matter, but what I just said is indeed from the bottom of my heart. If Miss Fei is as good as you said and is indeed a good match, what else can I ask for? Is family background really important? My character is more important, right?"

Yuan Pingzhi sighed again.

The third brother's words are so exciting that he doesn't believe anything he says. This is the truth of the third brother. Who is willing to lower his status to marry a business woman?

No, he wants to personally investigate Miss Fei to see how good she is and how good she can be for his mother!

Chapter 1(1)

Jingguo, Kuaiji County, Yuyao County.

In the spring of March, everything turns green, with tender buds and new pistils, which is particularly attractive.

There are many tourists in Feishi Lan Garden, including scholars, students, dignitaries, wealthy businessmen and famous gentry. Everyone is well-dressed and talking and laughing.

Lanyuan covers an area of ​​100 acres. It is a typical Jiangnan garden. Every step is clever, and every ten steps is surprising. There is a garden in the garden, with hanging flower gates, wall-mounted gates, screen gates and moon-hole gates. The doors are different, and the various carved windows are also in different shapes, without any repetition.

A hand-held verandah connects each garden, allowing visitors who don't like the sun and rain to view the various famous flowers planted in the garden from a distance.

In addition to the evergreen plants embellished in the orchid garden, the protagonists are naturally various varieties of orchids, including spring orchids, smoked orchids, Jian orchids, cold orchids, and a small amount of black orchids.

The common varieties of these orchids are planted under the orchid terrace, in every corner where the scenery changes as you move around: some of the better ones are planted in earthenware pots or southern mud pots; the better ones are planted in purple sand pots, and separate shelves are built for them to provide ventilation and sunshade.

Today is the flowering season of spring orchids, and orchids are blooming everywhere in the Orchid Garden. Visitors can already feel the fragrance before they step into the garden. When they smell it carefully, it seems to be gone. After leaving the garden and going home in the evening, family members will know that they have been dyed with the fragrance, which lasts for a long time and is refreshing.

Confucius praised orchid fragrance as "the fragrance of kings", and it truly lives up to its name.

Fei's Orchid Garden, the west flower hall in the main courtyard.

On the pear wood table near the window sill, a pot of plain butterfly orchid is blooming quietly, with green outer petals and pure white curled tongue. The flower is beautiful, elegant and pleasing to the eye.

Several young girls sitting on the embroidery pier on one side are as delicate as flowers. They are admiring the flowers and looking at the tall and elegant girl standing at the table to explain.The girl wears a goose yellow brocade thin jacket, half-arms of moon-white gauze, and a moon-white brocade horse-faced skirt. A cluster of spring orchids is embroidered on the skirt corner, which is exactly the pattern of the plain butterfly orchid on the table.

"Generally, the petals of orchids are often decorated with different colors, such as white petals with a purple-red halo, and the queen of spring orchids, 'Green Cloud', is no exception. Those with no vermilion dots in the petals or the whole flower is of the same color are called 'plain orchids.' Orchids have always been valued for their plain heart. If the petals of a plain orchid have petals such as lotus petals, plum petals, narcissus petals, butterfly petals, etc., and the floral fragrance is faint or refreshing, it can be called a treasure among orchids."

"Minglan, your pot of butterfly-petal orchid is good, but we heard that you have cultivated a rarer pot of lotus-petal orchid this year. The flowers are even rarer and pure white. Why don't you let us have a look?" The girl in a red gauze dress asked softly.

"Yes, the lotus petals are the most precious among the orchid petals, the pure white is the best in the orchid, and the leaf-shaped grass is the finest. It is said that the 'plain heart like snow' you cultivated combines the three, and is the best that has ever been produced. Why don't you let us enjoy your blessings quickly!" The girl in bright red brocade has a charming face, and her eyebrows are a bit bossy.