"My man?" Chen Ergou asked in confusion.

  Cao Jing nodded slightly.

  "Are you really going to be my daughter-in-law?" Chen Ergou stared at this astonishingly outspoken woman from a noble family.

  "Scared? Not daring to marry?" Cao Jingjian smiled and blinked her eyes.

  "I'm not afraid."

  "Chen Ergou said in a low voice, 'If you dare to marry, I will dare to take you.'"

  "What's going to happen to Xiaoxiao in Hangzhou? I definitely can't be like Empress Wu Zetian, having multiple men. In my heart, there can only be one man, and for that man, there can only be me. Any more than that would be too promiscuous." Cao Jing threw out a difficult question that would give any man a headache.

  "I owe her ten years, but even if I repay twenty or thirty years' worth, she won't want it. So I'll just have to repay her children instead." Chen Ergou's cigarette had burned out, so he lit another one and said: "A man like me, as unreliable as a floating weed, can only bring harm to a woman like you. But since you asked, I'll give you an honest answer. If I hadn't stabbed Zhao Kunpeng and gotten kicked out by the Fang family, even if I had ulterior motives towards you, I would have just lived a peaceful life with Mu Xiaoyao. Zhang Ailing said something about white roses and red roses...I don't quite understand it, but it's roughly that feeling."

  "You dare to marry me? I'm a bit uncomfortable after hearing your explanation, I'm a woman with spiritual cleanliness, and I won't tolerate you having red roses." Cao Qiu said softly.

  "I won't lie, at least. I may not be much better than Wang Jiefang in your eyes, but if I really have a home, I will definitely not wrong my wife." Chen Ergou wiped his face and said.

  "Let's see, how much of your desire to marry me is purely out of a desire for conquest, how much is due to my family background, how much is because I'm not too ugly, and what's left is genuinely liking my inner self." Cao Qiangjie threw out another tricky question, seemingly determined to give Chen Ergou an opportunity to shock the world.

  Chen Ergou thought for a moment, finishing an entire cigarette before speaking: "One part of it is the desire to conquer, because as soon as I entered the city, I vowed to marry a city girl and bring her back to Zhangjiashan. Originally, there was also a part of me that coveted your family background, but now there isn't, nor will there be in the future. After meeting Wei Duan Gong in Nanjing, I understood a truth: one must walk their own path, and even if it's hard, it's not a big deal. Three parts are because I like your appearance; when I first saw you in Zhangjiashan, I treated you like a goddess, as someone who is quite vain and likes to show off. When finding a wife, one must find an attractive one. The rest... is all because you're Cao Jingzhuo. My words are rough, and there's much more I want to say but can't express clearly - this isn't my strong suit - but they're all genuine and true."

  "Just pass."

  "But it's not enough to move me to tears, so I've decided to observe for a while longer."

  Chen Ergou flicked away his cigarette butt and lightly hugged her without warning, saying nothing.

  The tighter you hold, the more it slips away.

  This is an unapproachable woman, and he is just a man who has never seen his biological father, whose mother died early, bowing his head in big cities like Shanghai and Nanjing, trying to use the simple and shallow philosophy of Zhangjiacun to gain a foothold in his career. He was beaten by others, framed by others, used as a pawn by others, and treated as a dog slave by others. All the grievances, all the calculations, all the ups and downs, he couldn't find anyone to talk to, and the word "lonely" is very profound and deep. Chen Er Gou never said it out loud, but he was indeed walking alone and proudly, stumbling, falling, getting hurt, and feeling pain, but still forcing a smile on his face for his opponents and friends to see. It's not his city, but because he knows that maybe there is an unapproachable mother watching him from afar, his thin self-esteem and strong sense of inferiority support him all the way through his tough journey.

  Cao Jing did not struggle free.

  Her cheeks are as red as a peach blossom tree, quietly flowing with charm.

  She had never loved anyone before, but she believed that she had found a man who was worthy of her love in the future. Perhaps to the whole world he seemed ordinary, but in her eyes, only this Chen family man was worth her infatuation, worth her concern and longing. Maybe she couldn't see the day when he would rise to greatness, but she deeply believed in his potential.

  Cao Jing gently placed her pillow on Chen Ergou's shoulder.

  What's on my mind is a Peking Opera tune.

  Riding a white horse among thousands of people, holding yellow on the left and blue on the right. With one heart, thinking only of Cao Zhi's odes.

  Change into simple clothes and return to the Central Plains, break through the vast wilderness, shoot down the heavenly wolf. Put aside Western coolness, don't bother with it.

  It's Cao Jingzhi, not Wang Baochuan.

  She gently wrapped her arms around Chen Ergou's waist and whispered, "Ergou, being your wife is not shameful. Someday everyone will know that it's the greatest wisdom of a Cao family woman."

  ————————————

  Cao Jing, 26 years old, ancestral home in Henan Wu Gang, born at the foot of the imperial city, has a grandfather with great talent and broad vision who militarized the management of the family, and a maternal grandfather with a reputation that fills the sky.

  Mother is a powerful woman who resigned from China Shenhua Energy Company Limited last year and soon transferred to Huacheng Investment. She is a proud mother who never condescends to men. Her life has been a struggle, fighting with her parents, in-laws, husband, and romantic rivals. Her 45-year story can be written into a legend.

  So Cao Jingyu told a benevolent lie to Chen Ergou at Zhangjiashan, and she believed that the rugged man who had experienced many things on his way from Shanghai to Nanjing also understood.

  Two uncles, two elder brothers, one uncle, seven great aunts and eight great aunts, nearly 20 people are directly or indirectly related to the hanger, while the remaining members are low-key businessmen under protection.

  At first glance, the two families seem to be in a strong alliance after their marriage, but Cao Jingyu knows that the only person who can lead the two families to even greater heights is her mother, who feels humiliated by marrying into the Cao family, and the greatest wealth she brought to the Cao family, Cao Ye Hu.

  Cao Jingyue's godfathers and godmothers were not many, only four or five. In the eyes of outsiders, each one was more capable than her biological father. At the age of 4, she had already accompanied her grandfather on a military plane, so much so that she didn't know until she graduated from elementary school that planes weren't just for two or three people to sit in.

  At the age of 5, I learned dining etiquette and attended a banquet at the Great Hall of the People. Looking back, it seems like an eternal golden splendor, with red carpets stretching endlessly. The kindly old men of my grandfather's generation sat on sofas, while children about my age rolled around on the floor, occasionally being carried out by their elders amidst laughter after wetting their pants. Shark fin was always served in a yellow soup.

  At the age of 13, Cao Jing had already witnessed a real military exercise. Unlike other children of wealthy families who chose to study abroad, she did not follow suit because her grandfather believed that traditional Chinese family education was the most reliable and feared that the outside world would corrupt his precious granddaughter into becoming a xenophile. In fact, Cao Jing had never disappointed her family, from kindergarten to Jingshan School and then to university, she always came first, won the highest scholarships, and was gentle yet full of spirit. She formed a stark contrast with her brother who had been rebellious since childhood. The best things in the Cao family were always given to Cao Jing to try out, taste, and play with first, but this proud daughter of heaven seemed to have an innate charm and leadership authority that would undoubtedly be seen by her elders as combining the best traditions of both the Luo and Cao families. In the Cao family, perhaps some people did not like Cao Ye's increasingly sharp edges as he grew older, but no one disliked Cao Jing's ability to grasp people's hearts with precision and handle matters with elegance. Such a young woman who had received boundless love and pampering, if she were to have a romance and marriage that could consolidate the family's foundation, would already be living a perfect life.

  Dolly kiss.

  On the day Cao Jingyue was born, her grandfather had already decided on her lifelong matters. Her future husband in her impression was just a southern little kid who liked to follow her around with a runny nose when she was young. When playing house, if he couldn't play the role of her husband, he would cry loudly. Every time Cao Ye Hou got into trouble and was whipped by his grandfather's belt, he would find ways to bully him, either by forcing him to hug a tree trunk or pulling down his pants in public and running away. At this time, Cao Jingyue often stood up for the little boy with a nose full of snot and tears, and thought that the little snot-nosed kid would make a good younger brother.

  Cao Qiangying is not Cao Ye Hu, she won't blatantly defy the family's wishes with open eyes. She seems to be unable to make a bold move like her brother: dropping out of college early, getting the daughter of a wealthy family pregnant at 18 and causing a stir in the city, sneaking into the army instead of following his parents' wishes to become an elite. And Cao Qiangying is not her mother, she won't stubbornly think that arranged marriage must be unhappy. Although she has some regrets in her heart, she doesn't think she should resist this arranged marriage by eloping with a random man or going on a hunger strike. In recent years, she also learned from various sources that the little boy who was unusually weak in the north is not only no longer sniffling but has become a powerful figure like his stepfather. However, every time she thinks about this, Cao Qiangying feels even more lost, because the innocent and pure childhood years are gone forever for everyone. She has seen too many ups and downs of clever people in her family and surroundings, but the little boy who followed her, helped her fly a kite, had a missing front tooth, and could laugh away his tears after eating a sugar cane is still etched in her memory. Cao Qiangying even thinks that if the boy nicknamed Little Li Zi had grown up innocently and purely to 26 years old, she might have chosen to marry him with inevitable regret, instead of resisting now.

  Are you an all-around excellent student? Are you a golden student at world-class universities like Harvard and Cambridge? Or are you an outstanding student in the youth class of the University of Science and Technology of China, or a celebrity at Tsinghua or Peking University?

  Cao Jing didn't care about whether a man had these halos or not, because she could do it herself. Those scholar-type young men who made ordinary girls' eyes shine with admiration didn't have much attraction to her.

  Family fortunes rarely last for three generations.

  Cao Jingjian was not arrogant or self-deprecating, she always believed that her life had an unavoidable brilliance. She didn't have a boyfriend and liked to be a clear-headed bystander, often getting lost in the corner of the library. She did what her family elders wanted her to do, putting in 80% effort to achieve 100% results, leaving 20% room for herself so as not to be exhausted like her mother. Cao Jingjian lived a comfortable and uncompetitive life within the ivory tower.

  Then fate played a black humor on her that was neither big nor small in its own eyes, which could not be considered a great surprise or a great sorrow.

  After graduation, she began to travel and have fun, and that's when she saw Chen Ergou from Zhangjiashan. She saw a small figure struggling under the pressure of life. Before this, she had seen many people experience misfortunes, family collapses, wives leaving, children scattering, imprisonment, kidnapping, and extortion. All sorts of people were being eliminated in this crucible, but to Cao Jingjian, those misfortunes seemed to be largely self-inflicted, with clear cause and effect. However, there was one young man named Ergou who was different. When she saw him squatting on the ground like an old man, smoking a dry pipe and singing a Beijing opera aria, she followed him to a small mound, where she saw a man who should have been wealthy kneeling down, burying his head in the earth, crying silently. Cao Jingjian didn't understand why this man couldn't cry out loud at such a moment, but instead was suppressing his tears, looking like he was suffocating. She felt stifled just watching him, and her eyes turned red.

  It's hard to say whether he is excellent or not, but there are too many outstanding women of the same age as Cao Jingjian who excel in various fields. Those men have a smile on their face, high wrists, smooth handling of affairs, and elegant speech. Even if they wear the most ordinary clothes, they can still stand out from the crowd due to their good upbringing. However, in Cao Jingjian's eyes, they seem to lack a bit of that special something. Moreover, that man has an older brother who stands out from the crowd, so Cao Jingjian began to care about his life and, after some hesitation, gave him her phone number.

  In Shanghai, climbing up the Oriental Pearl Tower, she saw a man who was afraid of heights but stubborn. However, she still couldn't bring herself to like him, just a little good feeling, and an idea to take him higher. But she eventually gave up on this thought because she knew she could only be considered an outsider, perhaps giving him a share of glory would make him laugh and accept it, but he might not be able to repay her for the rest of his life, and he would only drift further away from her. Deep down, she didn't want him to see her as an omnipotent benefactor, she didn't want to let Chen Fu Sheng, the old man who had high hopes for her, be ruined by her own hands.

  Then she ran all over China's southeast, northwest, and finally couldn't help but want to take one last look at him in Nanjing.

  She got "Jian Jie", and it was no longer as simple and neat as she had initially imagined.

  Finally returned to Beijing, against marriage.

  With an argument that no one can refute.

  Arriving in Nanjing, arriving at the entrance of Zhongshan Golf Villa, she even felt a little lucky that Chen Er Gou had fallen so heavily, because later when the two reminisced, she could pat her chest and say with confidence that she followed him when he was most down on his luck, sharing hardships together, rather than sharing wealth and glory.

  ________

  ________

  Those who want Cao Qiang to become the second wife of Er Gou, vote now! Haha, with a difference of 122 votes from the second place. If it explodes to the second place today, I'll come up with another 6,000-word chapter tonight.

  (If you want to know what happens next, please log in, more chapters available, support the author, support the official version!)