Dou Zhao was in mixed feelings.

If this woman who suddenly appeared was the stepmother, the mother would probably be greatly disappointed if she wanted to make use of her identity.

Her stepmother's surname was Wang, her maiden name was Yingxue, and she was the daughter of Wang Xingyi.

Wang Xingyi, courtesy name Yousheng, was a native of Nanwo Township, Lingshou County, Northern Zhili. He passed the imperial examination in the 36th year of Zhide and became a Jinshi in the Jichou Imperial Examination. He was initially appointed as the Director of the Ministry of Personnel and later promoted to the Deputy Director of the Ministry of War. During this period, the Mongolian Khan Altan Khan led his troops to invade the northern border several times. At that time, the general commander of Datong, Shi Duanlan, requested to open a horse market to make peace. Wang Xingyi wrote a letter "Please Close the Horse Market" and strongly said that Shi Duanlan "does ten things not to do and five things wrong". Chen Dong, the eunuch of the Ministry of Rites, protected Shi Duanlan, and Wang Xingyi impeached Chen Dong for "five treacherous and fifteen crimes". In the fourth year of Yongming, Wang Xingyi was beaten with a hundred sticks in the court and thrown into the death row. He was famous in the literati because he refused to write a letter of repentance and was tortured in prison. After Chen Dong died of illness, his teacher, Zeng Yifen, the Grand Academician and Minister of Personnel, and others made great efforts to rescue him. In the sixth year of Yongming, Wang Xingyi's sentence was changed to exile to Xining Wei.

In the following years, the Mongols continued to cause trouble on the border and the horse market was destroyed.

In the fourth year of Chengping, which was the third year after his stepmother got married, Wang Xingzu was appointed on the recommendation of Zeng Yifen.

He was first transferred to be the magistrate of Xintai County in Shandong Province, and later changed to be the director of the Ministry of Justice, the deputy director of the Ministry of Rites, and the military officer of the Ministry of War, a total of four promotions within half a year.

By this time, ten years had passed since his exile, and two dynasties had passed.

After that, Wang Xingyi rose rapidly in career. When Dou Zhao fell ill, he had been promoted to the positions of Grand Academician of Dongge and Minister of Rites, the highest position among officials in the country.

The Wang family was originally a small family in Nanwo, and their families had been farmers and scholars for generations. After Wang Xingyi got into trouble, Wang's wife Xu sold all her family property to save her husband. After Wang Xingyi was sentenced to exile, Wang Zhibing, the eldest son of the Wang family, went to Xiningwei to serve his sick and weak father. Wang's wife took Gao, the eldest daughter-in-law who had just married less than a month ago, the second son Wang Zhishao, and the daughter Yingxue to live. Because the family had no permanent property, Gao took the initiative to sell her dowry and received 300 taels of silver, of which 30 taels were used to buy four acres of good land to live on, and the rest were used to help Wang Xingyi and Wang Zhibing, who were far away in Xiningwei, with food and clothing expenses. Life was very difficult.

Some are as righteous as the Gao family, and some are as profit-driven as the Lei family, Wang Yingxue's husband's family.

In the eighth year of Yongming, seeing that Zeng Yifen was forced to retire and that there was no possibility for Wang Xingyi to be reinstated, the Lei family broke off the engagement with the fourteen-year-old Wang Yingxue.

Wang Yingxue gritted her teeth and simply sold the Lei family's betrothal gift, and had one of Gao's maids step forward to buy and sell cotton. This was the only way to support the bottomless pit of Xining Guard, and Wang Xingyi was able to live to be reinstated.

So when the third aunt told my mother that my father had sent someone to bring the woman to Zhending, and she and my eldest aunt discussed and decided to meet the woman in the farm where my eldest aunt came as a dowry, Dou Zhao burst into tears and grabbed my mother's skirt and refused to let go.

The mother suppressed her anger and coaxed her.

Third Aunt saw that she had an idea and said with a smile, "That's good. If anyone asks, just say that you brought Shougu to play at your eldest sister-in-law's farm."

Only then did my mother give up and absent-mindedly followed my third aunt to my eldest aunt's farm.

My aunt had been waiting at the second gate.

She took her mother's hand and looked her up and down, then nodded in approval, "I was worried that you wouldn't be able to handle it. Now it seems that I was too worried."

My mother was wearing a long-sleeved jacket with a bright red vase-shaped persimmon calyx pattern, which represented the principal wife's attire. Her jet-black hair was tied into a bun with a peony flower inlaid with pearls the size of lotus seeds pinned to the side of the bun. The emerald green jade bracelet was as bright and vivid as a pool of spring water between her snow-white wrist and the bright red cuffs, and she looked dignified and elegant yet graceful.

Third Aunt also praised: "Seventh brother's wife is always good at dressing up, and she looks especially beautiful today."

A bitter smile appeared on the corner of my mother's mouth and then quickly disappeared.

She bowed to her eldest aunt and third aunt and said, "I would like to ask my two sisters-in-law to help me with today's matter."

"Of course." The eldest aunt and the third aunt pushed my mother at the same time, looking at her with motherly eyes, "We won't let Uncle Seventh do whatever he wants."

The mother's expression calmed down slightly.

The eldest aunt smiled and hugged Dou Zhao: "Shou Gu, the camellia flowers behind my house are in bloom. Can you take the maid to help me cut a few branches to put in the vase?" But her eyes fell directly on Tuo Niang and Xiangcao who followed her.

Dou Zhao hugged his aunt's neck tightly: "I want mother, I want my aunt, I want my third aunt..." He cried so loudly that his aunt was frightened.

The mother quickly took Dou Zhao and said with a blushing face, "I don't know what's wrong with this child. He has been following me closely for the past few days. When I leave, he cries so hard that I can't even rest in peace..."

The eldest aunt sighed and stroked Dou Zhao's hair: "The older generation often said that mother and daughter are connected by heart. This child is smart. She knows that you are suffering and she is afraid!"

These words brought tears to the mother's eyes, and she held Dou Zhao's hands tighter.

"Just let her follow you!" Third Aunt said with emotion, "She is still young anyway."

The mother said "hmm".

The group turned around the hall and went to the flower room in the backyard.

The snow is falling heavily, and the plum blossoms on the branches are in full bloom.

A graceful woman wearing a rose-red blouse stood upright by the window, her beauty contrasting with the winter plum blossoms outside the window.

Dou Zhao felt nervous.

It's stepmother!

She will never forget this figure!

When her grandfather and grandmother passed away one after another, and her third uncle sent her to Kyoto to reunite with her father, she stood by the window like this, looking at her sharply; on the night when the Jining Marquis Mansion officially offered employment to the Dou family, she did this Standing by the window, staring at himself with a face as deep as water; before he sent her to the maid After letting Wei Tingyu take over the house and then give away the maid, when she returned to her parents' home for New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival, she stood by the window like this, clasping her hands and looking at herself silently; when she wanted to marry Zeng Yifen's granddaughter for her brother Dou Xiao, she was When she refused, she called herself back to her parents' home, where she once stood by the window with a ferocious face...

Dou Zhao stared at the figure intently.

From being extremely terrified to bursting with laughter, she felt like she was walking barefoot through purgatory.

Who has ever sympathized with his own pain and sorrow?

Mother's pace slowed down.

The sound of the rain falls like poplar flowers.

The figure turned around.

A smooth forehead, a high nose bridge, clear eyes, and a graceful and elegant appearance like mountains and rivers.

My mother jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped on: "Why is it you? Wang Yingxue, why is it you!"

She was staggering and about to fall, holding onto Dou Zhao's arms and falling weakly. Dou Zhao hugged his mother's waist and only then did he not fall down.

The eldest aunt and the third aunt looked at each other, and the third aunt quickly took Dou Zhao in her arms.

Wang Yingxue walked out calmly.

She stood on the porch, bent her knees and saluted her mother, calling her "sister" softly.

"I am the only daughter of our Zhao family. I don't know when I got a younger sister." The mother sneered. Although she tried her best to remain calm and elegant, she could not hide the rage between her brows. "You have recognized the wrong person!"

Wang Yingxue lowered her eyelids and knelt on the cold bluestone bricks under the veranda. Her expression was respectful and humble, just like the respect she showed in front of the elders of the Dou family: "Sister, our two families live next to each other. I have no sisters, and you have only one brother. We grew up together like siblings. You know my temper best. Although my family is in a bad situation, I am not shameless. The Gao family knew that my family was in trouble, but they still married their daughter to us. My sister-in-law and my brother got married less than a month ago, but she took the initiative to ask my brother to serve my father in Xining. Now my nephew Nan'er is seriously ill, and even if we sell the four acres of good farmland that our family relies on for a living, we can't raise enough money for his medical treatment. I originally thought that as long as someone is willing, I would accept being a slave, but I never thought that the person I met is my brother-in-law." She said, and kowtowed to her mother three times, "The big mistake has been made, I have nothing to say. I can only ask the young master, if my sister agrees to let me marry, I will definitely forget the past and serve my sister with all my heart. Sister..." Her eyes flickered, "It's just fate," she kowtowed again, "I will definitely serve my sister well in the future!"

"Ha!" Mother sneered, looked at Wang Yingxue with sharp eyes, raised her eyebrows and asked, "What if I don't agree?"

Wang Yingxue was slightly stunned, then she smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "Then I'll ask my sister to give me a piece of white silk."

The mother said nothing, took off the big red sweat towel from her waist and threw it on the ground, then asked Wang Yingxue with a smile: "Is it long enough?"

Wang Yingxue looked at her mother steadily, slowly stood up, walked to her mother with a smile on her face, bent her knees to pick up the red sweat towel, said lightly "Thank you, sister", turned and walked towards the flower hall.

The heavy snow fell into her jet-black hair and quickly disappeared.

This is the manor that my aunt brought as a dowry. If a murder were to occur here, her reputation would be ruined.

The eldest aunt was frightened and asked hurriedly, "Sister-in-law, who is this girl? How did she know you?"

Mother looked at the door of the flower hall that slammed shut, and murmured in despair, "She is Wang Yousheng's daughter, and lives in Nanwo... She was a classmate of my father, and our families visited from time to time... She is two years younger than me... When I got married, she gave me two handkerchiefs embroidered with lotus flowers... I didn't expect... I didn't expect it even in my dreams... No wonder Wanyuan refused to tell me who it was... They set a trap and fooled me..."

The eldest and third aunts were shocked: "Wang Yousheng, is he the Wang Yixing who was exiled because he offended Chen Dong?"

The mother nodded gently and shed two lines of tears.

"How can Seventh Uncle be so confused? Her father was a Jinshi in his youth, and he was from the same class as your Fifth Uncle." The eldest aunt was so anxious that she turned around and around, "No, I have to go tell my youngest uncle..." She then instructed the third aunt, "Hurry up and hold Miss Wang, I'll go call someone!"

Because it was not a glorious thing for a young man to take a concubine, the maids serving inside and outside the flower hall had long been dismissed by my aunt.

My third aunt also realized the seriousness of the situation.

The Dou family was not afraid of offending the powerful, but they were afraid of being accused of forcing their poor daughter to death.

She responded without saying a word, and ran towards the flower hall, picking up her skirt.

Mother stood quietly on the bluestone bridge, letting the snowflakes fall on her body and turn her into a snowman.

The only one who accompanied her was little Dou Zhao.