Chapter 183: Going to Beijing
Song Mo turned sideways and looked at the wild peach tree on the other side of the river, remaining silent.
Not everyone can accept a wife who has a higher status than themselves.
Dou Zhao thought that Song Mo did not want to marry a princess. After thinking for a while, he smiled and said, "During the reign of Emperor Taizong, Yongcheng Bo Feng Jian was the consort of Princess Yongping. Not only was he trusted by the emperor and served as the Right Clan Member of the Clan Affairs Bureau, he also served as the General of Datong and the Governor of the Five Military Commandery. He quelled the Tuode Rebellion and was respected by the world. During the reign of Emperor Renzong, Guangen Bo Prince Dong Lin was the consort of Princess Huaishu, but because of his drunkenness and inappropriate words, he was deprived of the title of Crown Prince, demoted to a commoner, and died in a foreign land. Being a consort is not necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on how you act." He added, "Things in the world always have advantages and disadvantages. Because of different personal circumstances, the advantages and disadvantages are different. It depends on whether the advantages are greater or the disadvantages are greater."
Song Yichun is not even in her forties, and she still has at least another ten or twenty years to live. The word "filial piety" weighs on him, and Song Mo has to use twice or even three times the usual strength to suppress Song Yichun. Life like this is too difficult.
Dou Zhao thought that it would be better to marry the princess rather than sleep with one eye open. After all, it was difficult for children born in noble families to become prominent officials who could influence the country, so it would be better to find a way to live a more comfortable and free life.
Song Mo smiled slightly.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong, the imperial consorts could lead troops to fight and become powerful nobles; however, during the reign of Emperor Renzong, the imperial consorts could only indulge in pleasures, drunkenness and debauchery, and become idle nobles. This was certainly related to the stability of the imperial power and the emperor's unwillingness to see the noble families in power. It was also related to the fact that the children of the noble families were spoiled by nature, and were neither good at literature nor martial arts, and gradually became decadent and useless.
Dou Zhao was well-read in history books, so how could he not understand this principle?
She just wanted to comfort herself so that she wouldn't look so bad under her father's pressure.
Dou Zhao always seemed to treat himself like a child. Every time they met he would either coax her or persuade her.
This feeling is very strange.
He is the eldest grandson of the Duke of England. Ever since he can remember, all he has heard are words like responsibility, burden, bringing honor to the family, and not forgetting the aspirations of his ancestors. Whether it is his father, mother, or even his uncle, they all believe in his talents and believe that in his hands the Duke of England will be able to get rid of the stigma of a "powerful minister" and become a "pure minister", making the Duke of England a true century-old family that will no longer be affected by the greater influence of imperial power.
Dou Zhao always seemed to be a little worried about herself, but it would be wrong to say that this worry was due to lack of trust in his ability, for she had never questioned anything he decided; but it would also be wrong to say that this worry was due to trust, for she always maintained an inexplicable vigilance towards his affairs, as if he would fall into a quagmire and be unable to extricate himself at the next moment, and there was always a bit of scrutiny in her eyes when she looked at him.
But no matter the former or the latter, Song Mo found it very interesting. He even felt that he often took advantage of Dou Zhao's mentality unconsciously, or said something that he knew would make her worry, or did something that he knew would make her worry... like a naive child who wanted to attract other people's attention, but never got tired of it.
Sometimes he would wonder how he could become like this? He was no longer as stable as usual... He would attribute all this to the fact that their first meeting was too shocking, and to the fact that Dou Zhao was too calm, self-controlled, rational and confident, so that he didn't have to hide anything or pretend in front of her.
At this moment, Song Moru followed his heart as usual and joked, "How do you know about the princesses? Even Mr. Yan didn't find out anything. I told Mr. Yan that if you want to marry a princess, you must find one with a gentle personality - I want to take a concubine in the future."
Dou Zhao laughed loudly, and looked him up and down with a critical look, teasing: "With your temper, if you are determined to take a concubine, even if the princess is strong-willed, she may not be able to stop you, right? But you have to be careful. Princess Nanping's husband slept with prostitutes when he was young, and was paralyzed in bed in his later years. Princess Nanping killed all the concubines of the husband, and sent a personal nanny to ask him every hour every day whether he dared to take a concubine..."
Song Mo couldn't help laughing and asked, "How do you know so many royal anecdotes?"
Dou Zhao smiled and asked him, "Don't you usually study?"
Song Mo laughed again, his laughter was like the clear spring water surging in the woods, startling a group of birds chirping.
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After returning from the back mountain, Dou Zhao immediately went to Chen Qushui and told Chen Qushui about Ji Yong's plan to frame Wei Tingyu and let him stay overnight at Nanfeng Pavilion.
Chen Qushui was horrified: "How did Editor Ji know this? What else did Prince Song say?"
He thought he hadn't given away any clues.
"Nothing else was said." Dou Zhao was also quite troubled, but she was far away in Zhending, and Song Mo's words were also very concise. With Ji Yong's style of doing things, they could not find fault with Ji Yong through Song Mo's words. She had other worries, "Cousin Ji made such a fuss, and a small matter became a big one. Unfortunately, few people can convince him. And Prince Song came to me in person to inform me of the news. Most likely, it was to repay us for saving his life. He also asked me if I wanted to cancel the engagement. How could I dare to admit it!" Dou Zhao She smiled bitterly, "Most likely he was alerted by the incident in Qianfosi Hutong. If he helps like cousin Ji, that would be terrible - Kyoto is his place, with the right time, right place and right people. There is no way we can bypass him. If he intervenes, he won't just make a fuss like cousin Ji did!" She pondered, "The development of things has been beyond our expectations. If we let it continue to develop, we don't know what will happen. I'm thinking, should we go to Kyoto again..."
Hearing that Dou Zhao was going to Kyoto, Chen Qushui immediately objected: "No, if the matter is exposed, the elders of the Dou family and the people of the Wei family will blame the young lady." Then he said shamelessly, "It's all my fault for not handling the matter well!"
"Mr. Chen, please don't say that!" Dou Zhao sighed, "Cousin Ji and Prince Song are like a storm that occurs only once in a century. How many people can withstand it? If the marriage with the Wei family was not related to the rest of my life, I would definitely stay away from them and just get married." But every time she thought of the tears she shed secretly in the first few years after she married Wei Tingyu, and the grievances she had no one to tell, she felt a chill all over her body.
She would never marry Wei Tingyu again!
Dou Zhao thanked God more than once for allowing her to return to the time before her mother died so that she could see and remember her mother's face, instead of returning to the days after she married Wei Tingyu - if that were the case, she would probably be trying her best to find a way to divorce Wei Tingyu now?
She persuaded Chen Qushui: "Look, if we act this way, won't Wei Tingzhen jump out? Hong Gu can only be used once. If you want to break off the engagement with the Wei family smoothly, I'm afraid you still have to start from the inner house. It will be inconvenient for you to go alone."
Chen Qushui was silent.
He felt that Dou Zhao's words made sense. Thinking that even if things got worse, there was still Song Mo, he could not help but nodded.
If things come to that point, I will have to apologize to Wei Tingyu!
Dou Zhao went to say goodbye to his grandmother: "Sixth aunt asked Mr. Chen to bring a letter to me, telling me to go to Kyoto no matter what. She said that the eldest aunt of the Marquis of Jining Mansion, the one who married into the Duke of Jingguo Mansion and became the wife of the Crown Prince, mentioned me to Fifth Aunt more than once, asking why I was still in Zhending. Sixth aunt wanted me to go to the capital ahead of time."
This had always been my grandmother's wish, so naturally she agreed.
Dou Zhao wrote a letter to her sixth aunt, saying that her grandmother was urging her to go to Beijing.
When Sixth Aunt heard the news, she immediately wrote back and asked about the date she would go to the capital.
Dou Zhao went to see the second lady again with the letter from his sixth aunt.
After all, the Second Lady and Dou Zhao had lived together for more than ten years. It would be too absolute to say that there was no affection between them. It was just that sometimes feelings could not compete with reason and interests. Without the calculation of interests, the feelings became warm.
"This is why women don't like their daughters to marry far away!" She held Dou Zhao's hand and said to the second wife sitting beside her, "Now that Shougu is gone, I'm afraid I won't be able to see her again in this lifetime."
The second wife repeatedly comforted the second wife: "In two years, Shou Gu will definitely bring aunt to celebrate your birthday. Don't you think so?"
Dou Zhao's heart moved when he heard this.
Song Mo could see the flaws, and so could the others. Since the previous plan had not worked, they could only change their strategy and find another way out. If they could stir up trouble, they would definitely have more opportunities than now...
She also persuaded the Second Lady: "Why don't you come with me to Kyoto! I heard that during the reign of Emperor Renzong, the Empress Dowager issued an imperial decree to allow the mother of Liang Qing, the chief minister of the inner court, to come to the capital to meet the emperor. Liang Qing is from Nanchang Prefecture, which is a thousand miles away from Kyoto. Zhending is only four or five days away from Kyoto. Why don't you come with me to visit your fifth uncle? You haven't seen your fifth uncle for a few years, right? Your fifth uncle is now a senior scholar of the inner court and is busy with official duties. Even if I want to show my filial piety to you, I'm afraid I can't leave..."
The Second Lady was moved by what she heard.
"That's right, that's right!" The second wife said jokingly, "You can even watch Shougu get married with your own eyes."
The Second Lady couldn't help but nodded.
Dou Zhao hurriedly smiled and said, "It's settled then! I'll go write a letter to my sixth aunt and father right now."
Traveling by boat or horse is very dangerous, and some people have never left their homes in their entire lives. The elderly Second Lady's visit to Kyoto was a big deal.
The three Dou brothers in Kyoto got the news and decided to let Dou Zhao live with the second wife in Dou Shishu's house. The sixth wife would also temporarily move to Huaishu Hutong, and the Zhongfeng in Maoer Hutong would be managed by the daughter-in-law Han who had just moved in.
Dou Shiheng nodded repeatedly and personally sent Ji to Huaishu Hutong.
The Fifth Lady had never lived properly with the Second Lady since she got married, and she was worried. Ji's arrival made her overjoyed and she said a lot of polite words. She let the main room go, and took Ji with her to assign people to clean the yard, decorate the rooms, order menus, arrange for maids, daughters-in-law, and mothers-in-law to serve, and contact Zhending for the list of people who needed to accompany them. She was very busy. Her two daughters-in-law Guo and Cai also helped, and Han came to visit from time to time. In a few days, everything was arranged properly.
On August 4, the Gengshen year, Dou Zhao and the Second Lady returned to Kyoto, which in reality they had not seen for fourteen years, but in the eyes of others it was a place they had never been to.