Song Mo, courtesy name Yantang, was the eldest son of Duke of Yingguo Song Yichun. His mother, Jiang, was the younger sister of Duke Dingguo Jiang Meisun. He was born into a very prominent family. At the age of five, he was asked to be crowned as the crown prince. At the age of fourteen, he was impeached by the historian for having a concubine who was pregnant during his mother's mourning period. Duke of Ying drove him out of the house and his whereabouts are unknown.
In the 20th year of Chengping, Emperor Muzong fell ill. The fifth prince, Prince Liao, who was enfeoffed in Liaodong, returned to Kyoto to visit him at the suggestion of his biological mother, Empress Wan. He launched a palace coup, shot and killed the crown prince born to Empress Shen, imprisoned the emperor, and succeeded to the throne secretly.
Song Mo, who had long been a person that everyone only remembered when chatting after dinner, reappeared in front of everyone as the new emperor's confidant.
He broke into the Duke of Ying's mansion alone, holding a sword, and cut off his brother Song Han's limbs in front of his father, letting his father watch Song Han bleed to death, wailing, and then chopped off his father's head. His bloody methods and brutal actions shocked Kyoto. So much so that after so many years, his name can still make children in Kyoto stop crying.
The officials wrote to the emperor one after another, asking him to arrest the murderer and set things right.
After the emperor gave Song Mo a slight punishment, he locked him up in the West Garden of the palace.
Six months later, Song Mo joined the Jinyiwei and became a small flag officer of Beizhen Fusi, a seventh-rank officer.
A year later, Song Mo was promoted to commander of the Jinyiwei, the third rank.
People in Kyoto were privately saying that the emperor favored Song Mo because he had made great contributions by shooting and killing the crown prince during the palace coup.
As if to verify this statement, during the twelve years of the emperor's reign, no matter whether Song Mo was embezzling money, framing loyal officials, secretly controlling censors, currying favor with others, bullying the weak, being arrogant and domineering, or being lustful, he always enjoyed the emperor's favor. Many censors who impeached him were even reprimanded, demoted, or beaten to death by the emperor.
Encountering such a person and seeing such a thing, Dou Zhao couldn't help but feel short of breath. However, if he allowed Wei Tingyu to continue like this, it would undoubtedly be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, which would harm the entire family and might even implicate relatives.
She murmured, "The Zhou family has fallen, and there is still the Cao family. How can it be your turn and Mr. Wang Si to step forward? Don't get yourself into trouble! In my opinion, it is better to be cautious..."
Before she could finish, Wei Tingyu snorted coldly and said, "I don't have as many calculations as you do. I only know that a gentleman should do what he should do and not do what he shouldn't do. I will take care of this matter!"
It was as if she had a heart of stone and, for the sake of her own safety, was indifferent to the plight of the Zhou mother and daughter.
Wei Tingyu's attitude deeply hurt Dou Zhao.
She sneered, "Song Mo is not married, and has no children. His house in Chashihai is full of beautiful women, comparable to the emperor's inner palace. Most of them were sent by officials who wanted to curry favor with him or ask for favors from him. I have heard that a woman hanged herself in his house and was carried out through the back door, a woman who wanted to shave her head and declare her loyalty was sent to a nunnery by him, a woman who was favored by colleagues or subordinates was given away by him as a wife or concubine, and a woman who could not stand his tyranny and eloped, but I have never heard of a woman being caught by him with great effort. Do you want to find out more before you speak?"
Wei Tingyu was struck by lightning. He sat there with a dull look in his eyes, not moving for a long time.
Dou Zhao ignored him and turned over and lay down.
The candles crackled a few times, and she heard Wei Tingyu whisper behind her: "I, didn't I promise Dahe? I can't go back on my word, right? Besides, Dahe also invited Yong Enbo and others, not just me. We all agreed to go to the palace together tomorrow to report Song Mo's case to the emperor. If I'm the only one who doesn't go..."
Dou Zhao said nonchalantly: "Am I not sick?"
"Yes! Yes!" Wei Tingyu said happily, "I have to take care of you at home!"
Dou Zhao laughed and was about to give Wei Tingyu some more advice, lest he be persuaded by the Yongen Marquis and his men and change his mind again, when Cui Leng hurried in: "My Lord, Madam. Marquis Ting'an is here!"
"Ah!" Wei Tingyu looked at Dou Zhao uneasily.
Wang Qinghuai, Marquis of Yan'an, is Wang Qinghai's elder brother.
"It's not good to avoid him." Dou Zhao pondered, "He came to visit you in the middle of the night, which shows that he has something important. You just need to insist on taking care of me. Don't agree to anything else."
"Okay!" Wei Tingyu got the idea, became excited, and went to the outer courtyard.
Dou Zhao hurriedly ordered Cui Leng, "Go and see what the Marquis of Yan'an wants to see you about?"
Cui Leng nodded and left.
When the fourth watch drum sounded, Wei Tingyu happily entered the inner room.
"Madam!" He raised his eyebrows and said, "What do you think Marquis Ting'an wants to see me for?"
Dou Zhao had already received the news, but he still cooperated with him and asked with a smile: "What are you doing?"
"Marquis Yan'an forbade Dahe to interfere in the Zhou family's affairs and banned Dahe from leaving the house. He was also afraid that we would come to the palace tomorrow as planned, so he brought gifts and went to each household to personally express his gratitude! We were the first family he visited. Marquis Yan'an also said the same thing as my wife!"
Dou Zhao smiled and said, "That's good. Lord Hou can rest assured now."
"No wonder people say that having a virtuous wife is like having a treasure." Wei Tingyu complimented Dou Zhao, "Fortunately, I have a wife, otherwise I would be a joke." Then he muttered that he wanted to squeeze Dou Zhao to the inside of the bed to sleep, and shouted arrogantly: "I want to sleep on the bed, I don't want to sleep on the wooden couch."
This is considered as an apology.
Dou Zhao smiled and gave up the outside of the bed.
After a while, Wei Tingyu let out a small cry.
Dou Zhao had trouble sleeping these days and was unable to fall asleep because of the noise. After thinking for a while, he pushed Wei Tingyu.
"What's wrong?" Wei Tingyu opened his eyes dazedly and closed them again.
"My Lord, I have something to tell you."
"Oh!" Wei Tingyu responded, and after a while he lazily got up, leaned against the head of the bed, and yawned, "What do you want to say?"
Dou Zhao ordered Cui Leng to bring Wei Yanyu's mink coat and put it on him. Then he said slowly, "I want to arrange Wei'er's marriage."
Wei Yanyu was stunned.
Wei Ge'er is their eldest son, who is fourteen years old this year. Not only is he handsome, but he is also very intelligent and mature, which makes him very popular with his sister Wei Tingzhen. Two years ago, she began to hint to him that she wanted to marry her eldest daughter Caiping to Wei Ge'er.
One was the heir of the Marquis of Jining, and the other was the eldest granddaughter of the Duke of Jing. They were well matched and cousins, so he thought there was no better match. But every time his sister, mother, or he mentioned it, Dou Zhao would just smile and brush it off, and the matter was left there in an ambiguous manner.
Now that Dou Zhao mentioned her eldest son's marriage, Wei Yanyu's sleepiness faded away, and she teased, "Sister came to you and said something, but you ignored her. Now you take the initiative, be careful or I'll make trouble for you."
Dou Zhao smiled, and waited for Wei Tingyu's excitement to pass before he said, "I want to marry the eldest granddaughter of Xuanning Marquis Guo Haiqing to Wei'er."
Wei Yanyu's smile froze on his face, his mouth twitched, and he looked like he didn't know what to say.
How could Dou Zhao not understand what her mother-in-law and husband were thinking?
But she also has her own considerations.
The father-in-law died suddenly of a sudden illness. At that time, Wei Tingyu was not yet 20 years old and had no experience in managing household affairs. His mother-in-law was gentle and could not help at all with the affairs of the outer courtyard. It was only with the guidance of Wei Tingzhen that he got through the initial panic. Because of this, both Wei Tingyu and his mother-in-law liked to ask Wei Tingzhen about everything and let her help them make decisions. Over time, Wei Tingzhen's reputation in the Wei family grew. As long as she asked, Wei Tingyu and his mother-in-law would agree to everything, big or small. In the Wei family, Wei Tingzhen's words were more effective than those of Wei Tingyu and his mother-in-law.
Dou Zhao's biological mother died early, and she always felt like a dependent when she was a girl. What she longed for most was to have her own home. How could she allow Wei Tingzhen to interfere in her life?
When she first married into the family, she knew nothing and suffered a lot, she shed many tears secretly. It was not until she gave birth to two sons and a daughter, took charge of the family's internal affairs and then took over the general affairs of the family, the Wei family became more prosperous year by year, and Wei Tingzhen calmed down a little.
If he became a relative of Wei Tingzhen, she would be both his son's mother-in-law and his aunt. With her strong character, would his son have to be controlled by her for the rest of his life? If there was a rift between the couple, wouldn't there be no one to uphold justice?
She would never consent to this marriage.
But she also knew that without a good reason, her mother-in-law and Wei Tingyu would not approve of her choosing another daughter-in-law for their son.
She has been thinking about this.
It happened that she went to the Duke of Jing's mansion to appreciate chrysanthemums on the Double Ninth Festival. The eldest aunt of the Duke of Jing's mansion joked with her: "...Sister-in-law loves her younger brother so much that she insisted on marrying Caiping to your family. If it were up to my father, Caiping would have married to the Marquis of Jingjiang's mansion!"
Only then did she know that Duke Xiaojing had such a plan.
Dou Zhao suddenly had an idea and thought of a reason to convince her husband and mother-in-law, but she never had the chance to sit down and discuss it in detail with her husband.
It's late at night and everyone is asleep. It's a good time to talk.
Seeing her husband dumbfounded, she smiled slightly, told Wei Tingyu what the eldest aunt of the Duke of Jing's Mansion had said, and said, "The eldest aunt of the Duke of Jing's Mansion would not tell me this for no reason. I'm afraid that my aunt and my aunt have disagreements on Caiping's marriage. My aunt has helped us a lot over the years. Although she is the wife of the Duke of Jing's son, the Duke of Jing is the head of the Duke of Jing's Mansion now. If my aunt is disliked by the Duke of Jing because of our Wei Ge'er and Caiping's marriage, then we will be to blame!"
Filial piety comes first in everything.
If a daughter-in-law is disliked by her father-in-law, how can she live happily? She may even be divorced.
Wei Tingyu's face turned pale and he blamed her: "If you had agreed to this marriage earlier, things wouldn't have turned out like this today! What should we do now?"
She gave Wei Tingyu some advice: "How about you, Lord Hou, discuss this with Mother-in-law? See how to handle this matter?"
"Yes!" Wei Tingyu's eyes lit up, "Why didn't I think of that!" He didn't care that it was still dark, and called Cui Leng to help him get dressed, "I'll go find my mother now."
My mother-in-law is old and sleeps less, so she should have woken up early at this time.
Dou Zhao did not stop him. She asked a little maid to help Wei Tingyu hold the lantern and sent him to his mother-in-law.
If her estimation was correct, once her mother-in-law got the news, she would immediately come to her with Wei Tingyu to find a solution.
She took a nap and was woken up by Cui Leng.
Mother-in-law and Wei Tingyu have arrived.
Before she could say anything, her mother-in-law asked anxiously, "Are you telling the truth?" Then she asked in confusion, "Why has Tingzhen never mentioned this to me?"