Chapter 232 Visit

At dawn the next day, Gu Yu left the Duke of Ying's Mansion and told the driver, "Go to Jing'an Temple Hutong!" Then he jumped into the carriage.

The driver did not dare to delay and drove quickly all the way. In less than half an hour, he arrived at the entrance of Jing'an Temple Hutong.

Gu Yu jumped off the car and saw a tofu pudding vendor at the entrance of the alley. As it was early in the morning, there were only two or three men who looked like porters sitting in the car.

He sent the people around him to Jing'an Temple Hutong, found a clean bench to sit down, ordered a bowl of tofu pudding, and ate it slowly.

Soon, the tofu pudding stall became busy.

The stall owner took a break from his busy schedule to greet two women who were standing in front of the stall drinking tofu pudding: "Mrs. Liu, why are you and Mrs. Wang buying food together today? Do you have guests at home?"

"Yes!" said one of the women in a lilac bodice with a smile, "We are inviting all the lucky ones to our house today, so we need to prepare several tables for the feast."

According to etiquette, when a family marries off a daughter or daughter, they must invite all the people who helped, such as the hairdresser, to the house for a drink a few days in advance to express their gratitude.

The stall owner kept busy while chatting with the woman with a smile: "It was really lively when your fifth daughter got married! It is said that the wife of a Hanlin Academy scholar was invited to be the consort. I wonder which lady was invited to be the consort when your fourth daughter got married this time?"

"Of course she is also the wife of a Hanlin from the Hanlin Academy," the lady said with a smile, "but this time we invited the wife of Mr. Zhao - Mr. Zhao is from the same department as our master."

"Rich families are different," someone nearby said, "Marrying off two daughters in one month must cost at least 40,000 or 50,000 taels of silver, right?"

The two women smiled but said nothing.

Someone started to make a noise: "Sister Liu, please tell us something! I heard that Master Dou donated 1,000 taels of silver to Jing'an Temple for his daughter's wedding. Is that true?"

The woman laughed and said, "How should I know? I am just a servant at the stove. You should ask the steward in our house about these matters."

Someone else asked, "Why haven't I seen you guys in charge these days?"

The woman said, "I even said hello to the manager before I left..."

Gu Yu threw away a piece of silver, quietly left the tofu pudding stall, found a carriage parked at the side gate of Jing'an Temple, walked up and took off the driver's clothes: "Lend me some for a while." He didn't care that the driver was only wearing a thin undershirt and sitting on the carriage with an embarrassed look on his face. He went straight to the back door of Dou's mansion, and with the help of two personal bodyguards, he climbed into the backyard of the Dou family and quickly found the east chamber where Dou Zhao was resting.

Dou Zhao did not sleep almost the entire night, and closed her eyes only when it was slightly dawn. At this moment, she was just falling asleep. Not only the maids and old women in the guest room, but also the maids and old women in the entire upper room walked on tiptoe, not daring to make a sound.

Gu Yu took out his pocket watch and took a look at it.

The third quarter of the morning.

He hasn't gotten up yet at this hour, which shows that he is a lazy person!

Gu Yu snorted coldly, put the pocket watch back into his pocket, and continued to hide motionlessly behind the pomegranate tree behind the compartment.

The sun gradually rose, and there was movement in the east room.

Su Xin served Dou Zhao a bowl of bird's nest porridge, and tucked in the quilt for him with a smile, saying, "Do you want to sleep a little longer? There's still more than an hour before lunch!"

Dou Zhaoru was sitting on a bed of needles and felt like he couldn't fall asleep. He told Su Xin, "Go and get Chief Manager Gao. I have something to ask him."

Su Xin responded and left, inviting Gao Sheng over.

Dou Zhao asked him, "Father has always known that he is not good at managing household affairs, so he usually either entrusted these matters to my third uncle or to you. The Risheng Silver Shop is a little-known company, and no one has ever heard of it. Even if father wanted to secretly give me something, he could have used the excuse of making a golden statue for the Buddha in the Zen temple and removed the money from the account. Why did he think of investing in the Risheng Silver Shop? Why didn't you persuade him?"

Gao Sheng lowered his eyebrows and smiled amiably, "The shopkeeper Zhang of Risheng Silver Shop came to you again and again. You said that he was a capable man and came to our house through Lord Yan, so you had to give him some money to get rid of him. It just so happened that the young lady's matter came up, so you invested a large sum of money. However, the shopkeeper Zhang also patted your chest and said that he would make Risheng Silver Shop a success in three to five years at most. Although he dared not ask you to take back all the capital, he would never let you lose the capital."

Dou Zhao could tell Gao Sheng's tone of approval. He thought that this man, who came from a humble background, actually dared to gamble his entire fortune and life on King Liao, and that he was obviously a powerful figure. It would be no problem for him to make his father and Gao Sheng submit to him.

She said to Gao Sheng, "The other two shareholders of Risheng Bank are your colleagues. Your father took out 50,000 taels of silver in one breath. If it gets out, it will attract attention. I'm afraid someone will come to your door and ask you to invest in the business. It would be difficult to refuse Mr. Guo today, and it would be difficult to refuse Mr. Zhao tomorrow, otherwise you would offend people. Although there are 50,000 taels of silver in the family, I don't think it's possible that your father really moved 50,000 taels of silver to that shopkeeper Zhang in one breath. Most likely, it was guaranteed by some bank and the money was in the form of banknotes." At this point, she glanced at Gao Sheng.

Gao Sheng said hurriedly, "Miss, you are wise. It was Tongde Bank, which often deals with our family, that provided the guarantee, and it was agreed that the money would be deposited within 15 days. Originally, the old man wanted to wait until the matter of Risheng Bank was settled before telling the young lady, but he didn't expect that he told the young lady as soon as he got the contract for the shares..."

Dou Zhao's forehead was covered with sweat.

If her father hadn't drunk a little too much today, and if she hadn't yelled that out of character, her father would probably still be secretly proud of himself, and wouldn't tell her until the money was deposited into the account of Risheng Silver House, right?

She said, "Then tell the people at Tongde Silver Shop not to transfer this money to Risheng Silver Shop for the time being. Then explain to Zhang the shopkeeper that there are two happy events in the family and the aunts in the family are from prominent families. We can't save a penny on the occasion. We don't have enough money now. We have to wait until the end of the year to find out whether there will be money for him next spring. Explain it clearly to him that the Dou family only gives two thousand taels of silver to marry off their daughters. The dowries of Dou Ming and me are all from my father's private money. Although the Dou family has money, it is in the public treasury. If my father wants to use the money in his own name, he has to go through my third uncle."

If Zhang Zhiqi had found his father by chance, and met a man like his father who took out 50,000 taels of silver in one breath without taking it seriously, he would have repeatedly sent people to persuade his father to continue investing money in him; if he acted deliberately, his purpose must have been to make friends with the ministers for the King of Liao, and since his father had no money to give him, he could take the opportunity to attract a few more shareholders.

By then I will be able to judge Zhang Zhiqi's intentions.

Gao Sheng had no doubts.

Many masters and young masters do not care about the general affairs and have no idea how much money is available at home. It is very common for them to owe a large amount of money outside the house without being able to pay it out. He just felt that Dou Zhao was betraying Dou Shiying's good intentions, so he hesitated.

Dou Zhao was afraid that Dou Shiying would insist on investing money in Risheng Silver House out of consideration for his personal feelings, so he said, "Don't tell my father about this for now. I want to see what's going on with Risheng Silver House first. If the people at Risheng Silver House think that you are making things difficult for them and you, don't say anything and bring them to me. I will handle it myself." Then he thought that Gao Sheng was the most loyal to his father. If his father had spoken, he would definitely follow his father's will, so he added, "At the end of the year, when officials from various provinces went to Kyoto to report on their work, Cui Shisan hooked up with a big client and agreed to lend him 30,000 taels of silver this year, which would be repaid in March with a very high interest rate. Lend me that money first."

She knew that Gaosheng would tell their father about this, and her father had always been kind to her and her sisters. Not only would he not blame them unfairly after knowing the incident, he might even ask her if she didn't have enough money and ask Gaosheng to give her some.

Promotion is not without reason.

The fourth young lady actually lent money at usury!

And each time it is released, it is tens of thousands of taels!

This, this is too bold!

No wonder Mr. Chen and his colleagues all lived in the calligraphy and painting shop on Gulouxia Street.

Dou Zhao repeatedly reminded Gao Sheng: "If anyone from Risheng Bank comes to ask you for help, you must tell me."

Gao Sheng gave repeated assurances before he retreated.

Gu Yu, who was eavesdropping on the conversation by leaning against the window frame, was so angry that his lungs were about to explode.

This woman not only interfered in the family affairs behind my father's back, but also lent money at high interest. She is so bold and greedy for money!

How could Tianci marry such a woman?

No, he has to tell Brother Tianci about this!

No wonder Uncle Song was so anxious to arrange this marriage for Brother Tianci.

I originally thought that if this woman was good-looking and had a dull personality, it would be fine. After she gave birth to a son, I would just help take care of him. But now it seems that she is a troublemaker!

Thirty thousand taels of silver, from the way she spoke, it sounded as if it were thirty taels of silver. She looked like she had no idea of ​​the cost of daily necessities. How could she be the person who could be in charge of the family and manage the reward?

Gu Yu didn't even look at what Dou Zhao looked like. He turned around and left the Senate and rushed to the Duke of Ying's Mansion.

Song Mo was summoned into the palace.

He was so anxious that he wanted to go to the palace to find Song Mo.

Chen He pulled Gu Yu aside and whispered, "It was Eunuch Lu who came to announce the prince in person."

Could it be that the emperor’s illness has recurred?

Gu Yu was afraid that when he entered the palace he would run into Princess Jingyi, who would hold him and cry endlessly, which would provoke his aunt to scold him as well.

He thought about it and went to the Yan'an Marquis Mansion.

Wang Qinghuai was holding the wedding invitation sent by the Song family and talking to his father: "Didn't they say that Song Mo was marrying the princess? Why did they suddenly marry the Dou family of Beilou? And the wedding date was set so urgently? The invitation was only sent at this time..."

Hearing that Gu Yu was coming, Wang Qinghuai hurriedly welcomed Gu Yu in.

Marquis Yan'an has returned to the house.

Gu Yu saw the wedding invitation on the table and asked, "You also know about this?"

Wang Qinghuai nodded, poured a cup of tea for Gu Yu himself, and said with a smile: "From your tone, you only found out about the wedding after receiving the invitation." Then he complained, "Yan Tang is really something. He didn't tell us about the wedding earlier. I want to prepare a big gift for him, but it's too late. I'm afraid I can only give him more gift money."

Gu Yu sneered: "Don't give me the gift money for now, I'll ask Brother Tianci first."

Wang Qinghuai asked calmly, "Why, Yantang doesn't know yet?"

How could Brother Tianci not know?

It's just that I don't know what kind of person the fourth young lady of the Dou family is.

"I went to look for Brother Tianci. He was summoned to the palace." Gu Yu said vaguely, "I haven't met him yet."

Wang Qinghuai smiled and nodded.

But I understand in my heart.

This marriage was probably the idea of ​​the Duke of England, and Song Mo had no idea about it at all.

I didn't expect the rift between father and son to be so big.

Fortunately, I didn’t marry my sister to the Song family, otherwise even her bones would have been eaten!

He smiled and said, "My sister is getting married on the fourth day of September. You and Yantang should come and have a drink at the wedding!"