Chapter 164: Adultery

Ji Yong certainly didn't know that his uncle and father were so worried about him. Since he had decided to enter the official career, he naturally had to put aside all his previous fatigue. After reporting to the Ministry of Personnel, he immediately went to visit his teacher - the chief judge of this joint examination, Yang Sen, the Minister of Rites.

Yang Sen was from Songjiang and was a good friend of Ji Yong's uncle Ji Song. When Ji Yong was at home, struggling with whether to enter the government, Ji Song had come to Yang Sen's house to explain that Ji Yong had caught a cold and was bedridden. He would come to visit his teacher as soon as he could get up. Although Yang Sen had been an official in Beijing in his early years, Ji Yong was a genius in Jiangnan. He had heard about Ji Yong more or less and knew that he was often "sick" every other day, so he did not take it seriously. For the sake of the Ji and Yang families, he even sent someone to send some medicinal herbs to visit him. Therefore, the first thing he said when he saw Ji Yong was to ask if he had recovered from his illness.

Once Ji Yong sets her mind to doing something, she will do it to the best of her ability.

He thanked Yang Sen with tears in his eyes and talked about farming, which Yang Sen was most interested in. Yang Sen suddenly felt that this student was not only knowledgeable and talented, but also eloquent. Although he was a little immature, he still had the vigor of a young man, which made him like him very much. When Ji Yong said goodbye, he sent Ji Yong to the door of the study room for the first time and told Ji Yong: "Come and sit with me when you have nothing to do."

Ji Yong bowed repeatedly to express his gratitude before getting on the carriage.

Afterwards, he entertained his classmates one by one.

But within a few days, he became familiar with this year's new Jinshi. When he went to take office in the Hanlin Academy, people patted him on the shoulders and called him "virtuous nephew" all the way as he walked in front of the president of the academy, which made Cai Guyuan, the top scholar who took office with him, look very unhappy.

Ji Yong pretended not to see anything and lowered his head in front of those old Hanlin scholars. He soon earned the reputation of being "modest and prudent", which made Ji Song and Ji Qi dumbfounded. Ji Qi even wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "What's wrong with Jianming? He's like a different person!"

Ji Song thought of Dou Zhao.

He called his children to ask, "Did Jianming write back to the fourth young lady of the Dou family?"

"Yes." The son whispered, "Young Master said that what Miss Dou said makes sense. She said that no matter whether the emperor chose him as the third place because of his youth or because he writes well, it is because he has the capital and ability. He really shouldn't be obsessed with what kind of flower he is!"

Ji Song could not help but nod secretly and told him: "You should pay more attention to the matter between Jianming and the fourth young lady of the Dou family in the future."

Just let him be the informant!

The son grumbled in his heart, but dared not show the slightest displeasure on his face, and kept saying "yes".

At this moment, the letter from Old Lady Ji arrived.

Ji Song showed the letter to Ji Qi and said with a wry smile, "Let's not be surprised. Although Jianming likes new things, he never gives up halfway as long as he promised. Now that he has entered the officialdom this time, he will not abandon it and run around. He and the fourth daughter of the Dou family are in Kyoto and Zhending respectively. After a long time, they will fade away. Just let people pay attention to it quietly. As for Jianming's marriage, he has his own ideas. Let's not make decisions on our own."

Ji Qi had already read the letter hastily. Upon hearing this, he sighed and said, "That's all there is to it!" His tone was quite dejected.

Ji Song thought that Ji Yong had become a different person these days, and he always felt uneasy. He discussed with Ji Qi, wrote a letter to Old Master Ji, and asked people to keep an eye on Ji Yong's whereabouts. When he learned that Dou Qijun came to resign from Ji Yong and Ji Yong could not fulfill his promise to return to Zhending with Dou Qijun because he joined the Hanlin Academy, Ji Song still breathed a sigh of relief and said with Ji Qi: "The old ones are still the wisest. No wonder only grandfather can control his views!"

Ji Yi nodded continuously.

Ji Yong wrote to Dou Zhao to complain: "...I wanted to go and play with you, but in the end I couldn't. I don't know when this will end!"

Dou Zhao laughed so hard that he wrote back: "I heard that the higher the official, the harder it is to retire. You might as well find some fun, or you will be bored to death."

Ji Yong quickly wrote back to her: "There are many people in the Hanlin Academy who just sit there doing nothing, but there are also some people with real talent and knowledge. I am learning to make a violin from Du Jianian recently, and I will give you one when the time comes."

Duganian's name was Lun. He was good at playing the zither and was also a famous zither maker of the time. Because he was born in the Hanlin Academy, the zithers he made were worth a fortune.

Dou Zhao said: "Why don't you help me get a piano made by Du Jianian himself!"

Ji Yong was furious: "I will make you regret your outrageous words today."

But within a few days, Ji Yong sent her a zither made by Zhang Dujianian from Kyoto, and wrote the name "Sanglin" on the end of the zither.

Dou Zhao loved the instrument so much that he specially invited a great scholar from Jiangnan to teach him how to play the zither at home.

Ji Yong found her some ancient qin scores.

The two exchanged letters, and soon it was autumn.

Xu Qing, who was recuperating at the farm, asked for an audience: "The prince was afraid of attracting attention if he went to the farm again, so he stayed at the Gaosheng Inn at the entrance of the East City. He wanted to come and visit the young lady. I wonder when the young lady is free?"

Dou Zhao was shocked and asked in a choked voice: "What happened?"

It has been more than half a year since Song Mo was flattered by the Duke of England. Logically, Song Mo should be fighting happily with Song Yichun, so why did he suddenly come to her?

Xu Qing was frightened by the terrified look in Dou Zhao's eyes.

He hurriedly said, "Nothing happened! The Crown Prince has now firmly controlled the situation. I came here specially to thank you. The reason I didn't come before was because I was afraid that the Duke would find out that you were related to that incident and implicate you..."

Dou Zhao heaved a sigh of relief and said, "It's good that your prince is safe. You don't need to say thank you to him. We just happened to meet here. It's not convenient for me, a woman from the inner house, to meet outsiders casually. I appreciate his kindness." He added, "Everyone who comes is a guest. I will tell Duan Gongyi and Chen Xiaofeng to entertain the prince on my behalf!"

Xu Qingmei widened his eyes and looked at Dou Zhao in disbelief.

The prince came to thank her, but was turned away!

He was dumbfounded.

Dou Zhao brought the tea.

Xu Qing had no choice but to follow Su Xin out of the hall in a daze.

Su Xin asked Dou Zhao worriedly, "Is it okay not to go see the prince?"

She was also impressed by Song Mo.

"It took a lot of effort to get this out of the Song family's affairs," Dou Zhao said, "The right thing to do is to respect and keep a distance from them."

Su Xin nodded.

A servant came in and reported, "There's a man called Chen He, who says he's a clerk at the Tongde Bank in Kyoto. He was asked by Manager Fan to bring something to the Fourth Young Lady. I told him to give it to me, but he said Manager Fan had told him to give it to you personally."

The clerk of Tongde Silver House is obviously Song Mo's personal attendant.

It seems that he will not be willing to not see me.

Dou Zhao was afraid that Song Mo would send someone else to ask for an audience, so he frowned slightly and said, "Let that guy in!"

The servant responded and left.

Chen He followed the servant in with his head lowered.

He kowtowed respectfully to Dou Zhao, took out a palm-sized carved red lacquer box from his arms and presented it to Dou Zhao.

"The fourth young lady is coming of age. The prince should have come to congratulate her, but because there are villains around him, he was afraid that the young lady would be implicated, so he kept it to himself. Until now, when everything is going well in Kyoto, the prince came in person to congratulate the fourth young lady." He said respectfully, "I heard from Xu Qing that the fourth young lady is not convenient to meet guests. The prince didn't want to disturb her, so he ordered me to send the coming-of-age gift that I had prepared long ago." As he spoke, he kowtowed to Dou Zhao three times in a row, "I wish the fourth young lady a long and beautiful life!" He added, "This box contains Buddhist beads made of sandalwood. It was originally my lady's favorite thing. The prince kept it as a remembrance. He asked the virtuous monk who once passed away in Daxiangguo Temple to bless it, and specially gave it to the young lady. I wish the young lady everything goes well and she will be safe and peaceful!"

Dou Zhao was shocked.

Song Mo actually gave her his mother's favorite sandalwood Buddhist beads as a coming-of-age gift.

She thought Song Mo came here simply to thank her.

The box was sizzling in Dou Zhao's hands, as hot as fire.

She suddenly felt a little regretful for refusing to meet Song Mo.

Otherwise, Song Mo would not have let Chen He send a gift to him on his behalf.

She could then politely decline the gift.

Now in front of Chen He, even though she was nervous, she had to signal Su Xin to accept the gift and let Chen He thank Song Mo on her behalf.

Chen He did not retreat, but his eyes turned red, and he choked up and said, "Fourth Miss, you may not know that the prince has not been able to take good care of his injuries in order to deal with the Duke. His injuries have been recurring. Doctor Yu said that if the prince continues to suffer like this, even the Great Luo Immortal can't cure the prince's injuries. Now that the big thing has finally been settled, the prince has used the excuse of using rootless water to boil medicine and has moved to live in the farm of Yu Ci in Daxing. Everyone originally thought that whether it was in Yizhitang or in Yu Ci's farm, as long as the prince could calm down, "I just hope you can get well soon... Who knew that the prince was planning to go to your house in person to thank you... You didn't even see him, how disappointed the prince must be..." Then he kowtowed to Dou Zhao, "Fourth Miss, I beg you. Please go see the prince! The prince still remembers your life-saving grace! And there are some things he has been holding in his heart, and he has no one to discuss with, so he hopes to meet Fourth Miss and ask about that matter... Please help me!"

Dou Zhao remained silent.

No one expected that Song Yichun would suddenly attack Song Mo. No wonder Song Mo has been confused until today.

This matter will probably be a thorn in Song Mo's heart that is hopeless and cannot be removed!

I am just an outsider, but I can see something strange. Song Mo will definitely come to me to get to the bottom of it, hoping to find out from me some reasons why his father is attacking him.

If I avoid him, I'm afraid Song Mo will think of me when he thinks of this matter!

Dou Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Tell your eldest master to meet at the farm tomorrow!" She glanced at Chen He and said indifferently, "But this is just the first time. It won't happen again."

"Fourth Miss!" Chen He was surprised and happy, and said hurriedly, "I will never dare to act on my own again..." and kowtowed to Dou Zhao several times.

Dou Zhao asked Su Xin to send Chen He away and go to her grandmother.

Grandmother knew that Dou Zhao was going to the farm to see Mr. Chen, so she asked her with a smile, "How is your pen and ink shop business?"

"It's just enough to cover the expenses." Dou Zhao said with a smile, "I went to the farm this time to discuss with Mr. Chen to see if there is any good way to make the shop profitable."

Grandmother nodded and asked about Tian Fugui, who had presented Dou Zhao with a golden chicken at his coming-of-age ceremony: "Thirteen took him away. Did he cause you any trouble?"

The old man felt that since it was Cui Shisan who wanted to go, if something went wrong, the responsibility would be entirely on Cui Shisan.

Dou Zhao couldn't help but smile.

This Tian Fugui is really a man who is good at doing business. He got the hang of it within a few days after arriving in Kyoto. Since he is more humble than Cui Shisan, he does a better job than Cui Shisan.

"Don't worry! How could Cui Shisan's recommendation be wrong?!"

"That's good!" The grandmother was very happy to hear that, and personally sent Dou Zhao out the next day.

On a clear autumn day, there is not a single cloud in the sky, and the stillness is refreshing.

Dou Zhao couldn't help but take a deep breath.

The carriage was stopped at the corner entering the village.

"Fourth Miss," the one who cupped his fists to her was Chen He whom she had met last time, "The Crown Prince is waiting for you by the river in the back mountain."

That was where she and her father used to fish.

There is a small path at the foot of the mountain leading to the back of the mountain, but it is not suitable for horse-drawn carriages.

The road was very short and it was just around the corner of the hill. Dou Zhao got off the carriage with the help of Su Xin. There was a sedan parked beside the path.

Chen He walked forward and lifted the curtain.

Dou Zhao got on the sedan chair.

The sedan chair swayed onto the path.

The usually deserted forest now had a faint sharp edge every few steps, subtly blocking the path leading to the back mountain.

Dou Zhao walked on the path that he was familiar with every day, but it felt like he was walking on the edge of a cliff.