Chapter 185: Undecided

Wang's mother and daughter actually defamed Dou Zhao's reputation in front of all the noble ladies at Daxiangguo Temple.

Song Mo had long suspected that Dou Zhao and Wang were not on good terms. Otherwise, no matter what the reason was, Dou Shiying would not have left his eldest daughter, who had lost her biological mother, alone in her hometown, while he himself lived in Kyoto with his step-wife and her daughter for a long time. However, he never imagined that the relationship between Dou Zhao and Wang was so bad that they disregarded the reputation of the Dou family.

What made him feel even more strange was Wei Tingzhen's attitude.

Dou Zhao was her future sister-in-law. In front of so many people, she not only did not defend Dou Zhao, but also hesitated for a moment when Wang wanted to drag her into the water. This was too unreasonable!

Thinking back to what happened in the Thousand Buddha Temple...

Song Mo sent people to investigate the marriage between the Dou and Wei families.

Only then did he realize that although Dou Zhao had been engaged to Wei Tingyu since childhood, the two families rarely interacted in their early years until He Wendao asked for Dou Zhao's hand in marriage for his son. Despite this, after the old Marquis of Jining died, the Wei family still proposed that Dou Zhao marry into the Wei Mansion within 100 days. The contempt and disdain they showed were obvious.

Or maybe the reason why the Dou family brought up the marriage between the Dou and Wei families was to politely reject the He family's proposal, and the reason why the Wei family agreed to the marriage was because they had an agreement with the Dou family in their early years and were forced to do so by the situation...

In this way, it all makes sense why Ji Yong disliked Wei Tingyu, why Wei Tingzhen allowed Dou Zhao to be humiliated, and why Zhang Yuan hurriedly brought Wei Tingyu to find him after knowing that he had settled the matter in Qianfosi Hutong...

The mother and daughter of the Wang family were vicious, and Wei Tingzhen was sinister, so much so that now people all over Kyoto were saying that the fourth daughter of the Dou family, who was about to marry into the Jining Marquis's mansion, had a perverse and violent personality, was intolerant, and had already fallen out with her stepmother before she even got married...

Song Mo couldn't help but feel a headache.

But Dou Zhao wanted wholeheartedly to marry into the Jining Marquis's mansion. Otherwise, what big a deal would it be if she could use a little trick to allow Dou Zhao to withdraw from the marriage without any harm?

The question is Dou Zhao, what is she thinking...

Thinking of this, he suddenly sat up straight, shouted "Chen He" loudly, and said, "Tell Mr. Yan that I have something to do and will be away for a few days!"

If he leaves Yizhitang for a long time, Song Mo will ask Yan Chaoqing to come up with an excuse to deal with Song Yichun.

Chen He left immediately.

Song Mo put on his shoes and asked Song Luo to help him change clothes.

He had just put on his clothes when Yan Chaoqing walked in hurriedly.

"Master," he bowed to Song Mo and said with a strange look, "The fourth young lady of the Dou family came to Beijing with the Dou family's madam a quarter of an hour ago and is now living in the mansion of the fifth master of the Dou family in Huaishu Hutong."

Song Mo was stunned.

Since we are going to the capital with our elders, we can't just leave like that. We must be prepared. Some of them are in Zhending, so they should have received the news long ago!

Yan Chaoqing lowered his head in shame and whispered, "Several ladies of the Dou family and even Aunt Cui have asked the fourth young lady to come to Beijing many times, but she always refused with various excuses. This time, the people of the Dou family also claimed that it was Mr. Dou who wanted to take the lady to the capital to enjoy life. We thought it was only the lady who came to Beijing and didn't pay much attention..."

The most important thing was that they didn't expect Song Mo to go to Zhending again just after returning from Zhending, so they didn't inquire carefully.

Song Mo thought for a moment and said, "From now on, if there is anything concerning the Fourth Miss, let Du Wei report directly to me!"

Yan Chaoqing's face flushed red for a moment.

Du Wei usually made two copies of any intelligence he collected. One for Yan Chaoqing and one for Song Mo. This was originally a rule set by Chiang Kai-shek in order to train Song Mo's ability to analyze intelligence. It became a custom and has not changed since Chiang Kai-shek passed away. Also, because Yan Chaoqing helped to check everything, Song Mo's main focus these days was on Song Yichun, so he did not look carefully at the things Du Wei handed over.

Yan Chaoqing stammered “yes” in response.

Song Mo explained, "The Fourth Miss saved our lives, but we can't say it openly, so we can only keep an eye on her and see if there's anything we can do to help her. You are in charge of your father's affairs, which are both complicated and messy. I'm thinking of letting Du Wei help you share some of the responsibilities."

The prince needs to explain to them whenever he does something.

Yan Chaoqing was shocked and looked at Song Mo in surprise. He called out "Prince", but stopped talking.

Song Mo and Dou Zhao are too close, which is not good at all. But if it is made clear... even if Miss Dou Si breaks off the engagement, what will happen? Will the Duke agree to let the Crown Prince marry the person he likes?

He sighed softly and replied "yes".

For the first time in his life, Song Mo was unwilling to think about Yan Chaoqing's momentary hesitation.

He asked Chen He to pass the message on.

Soon, Du Wei came over.

He still said the same things that Yan Chaoqing said, but Song Mo still asked carefully and clearly, as if only in this way could he feel more at ease.

※※※※※

However, in the flower hall of Huaishu Hutong, Dou Zhao, who was arranged to sit next to the lady, felt secretly strange.

Why didn’t I see Wang Yingxue?

Is Wang Yingxue sick? Or is something wrong?

After lunch, Dou Zhao held Ji's arm tightly.

The Fifth Wife joked, "This is really like a young lady meeting her mother, crying three times for no reason."

Although she had raised Dou Zhao, he was not her biological son after all. Dou Zhao was unwilling to follow Ji to Kyoto. Ji felt a little disappointed. Now she met Dou Zhao again after a long time. Dou Zhao was such a rational child, but he acted coquettishly in front of her without any scruples. How could Ji not feel distressed? !

She put her arm around Dou Zhao's shoulders and said with a smile, "This is my biological child."

Dou Zhao also laughed and said, "I want to sleep with Sixth Aunt tonight."

Ren Ge'er, the eldest son of my tenth cousin Dou Jichang, who had just begun to speak, parroted: "I want to sleep with my sixth aunt tonight."

Everyone burst into laughter.

The second lady hurriedly held her great-grandson in her arms and said with a doting smile, "Okay, okay, okay! Let you go with your fourth aunt to rest at your sixth great-aunt's place tonight."

Ren Ge'er burst into tears after hearing this and went looking for his wet nurse: "I don't want to go with Fourth Aunt, I don't want to go with Fourth Aunt..."

"Fourth Aunt" was said as "Four Dudu", which made everyone laugh again.

Dou Ming, however, kept a stern face.

Han, who was standing beside her, could not help but persuade her: "Everyone is having a good time. Even if you are doing it for the sake of the Second Lady, you can't act like this."

Perhaps it was because Dou Shiying had a very good relationship with the Sixth Branch. After the Sixth Branch came to Kyoto, especially after Han married in, Dou Ming treated Han particularly warmly. Han had just married into the Dou family, and she was happy to have a sister-in-law to entertain her, but she also felt a bit grateful. As the two of them came and went, they became closer and closer, and their relationship became better and better.

"I can't help it." Dou Ming muttered, forcing a slight smile on his face.

Han shook his head secretly.

Dou Ming often talked about Dou Zhao unconsciously to her, and every word he said was somewhat sarcastic, but in her opinion, Dou Ming was more jealous of Dou Zhao than dissatisfied with him. In addition, after hearing many secrets of the past, she felt even more sorry for Dou Ming, and thus had an unusual sympathy and tolerance for him.

At night, Dou Zhao rested in Ji's room.

The two of them leaned against the head of the bed and talked in private, and the topic gradually turned to Wang Yingxue.

Ji hesitated for a moment, thinking that even if she didn't tell Dou Zhao, Dou Zhao would know it sooner or later, so she told Dou Zhao what happened in Daxiangguo Temple: "... Your father was furious and wrote a letter to question Wang Xunfu. Your fifth uncle was also very angry and scolded your fifth aunt, blaming her for not being able to stop the old lady of the Wang family and Wang Yingxue in time." At this point, she smiled bitterly, "Your fifth aunt was full of grievances and had no place to tell them. She cried secretly for several times. Your father knew about it and even came to apologize. This time when the lady came, your father didn't bring Wang Yingxue with him, saying that he was sick. Your fifth aunt didn't ask, so I didn't ask more. I don't know what's going on."

Dou Zhao sneered in his heart after hearing this and asked, "When Madam Seven said I was not, what did the wife of the Prince of Jingguo say?"

Ji thought Dou Zhao was afraid that the Wei family would believe her, so she said hurriedly, "Don't worry, the wife of the Duke of Jing didn't say anything. Although she was a little worried, your fifth aunt went to visit the wife of the Duke of Jing in person afterwards. According to your fifth aunt, the wife of the Duke of Jing said that she was just too surprised at the time and didn't react for a while. When she wanted to find Wang Yingxue to argue, Wang Yingxue and her daughter had already left. Not only did she not believe Wang Yingxue and her daughter's nonsense, she also took the initiative to ask about your marriage. From the tone, she will send someone to discuss the wedding date in the next few days."

Dou Zhao responded vaguely.

Based on her understanding of Wang Yingxue and Wei Tingzhen, she was puzzled as to why Wang Yingxue, who liked to pretend to be a loving mother, would attack her so impatiently, and she was also puzzled as to why Wei Tingzhen, who always protected her, would allow Wang Yingxue to talk nonsense there.

What happened between the two?

Ji was not in a position to say more about these matters. She comforted Dou Zhao with a few words, asked about Aunt Cui who stayed in Zhending, and changed the subject.

Dou Zhaoze found an opportunity to tell Su Xin about this and told her, "Go and tell Mr. Chen about this immediately and tell him that I will try to find out what happened between the Seventh Madam and Wei Tingzhen. Also, ask him to pay attention to the dynamics of the Duke of Jing's Mansion. It would be best if he could ask Nanny Jin or Nanny Lu about the situation at the Daxiangguo Temple at that time."

As long as she gets hold of something that Wang Yingxue or Wei Tingzhen might hold, she can rearrange her plans.

I hope Wang Yingxue and Wei Tingzhen can help her a lot!

Dou Zhao suddenly felt refreshed.

Things need to be flexible and adaptable. It seems that she made the right decision to come to Kyoto!

※※※※※

Ji Yong's days were somewhat sad.

He had planned the Qianfo Temple incident well, but Song Mo messed it up. He wanted to spread the story of "Wei Tingyu staying overnight at Qianfo Temple, and Prince Song caught him cheating in the middle of the night", but He Yu not only stopped him, but also kept asking him, "What on earth are you trying to do?"