Chapter 239: Dowry

Seeing her daughter's disapproval, Wang Yingxue lectured her: "Why don't you use your brain to think about it? What kind of ceremony did the British government use to marry Dou Zhao, and how would they treat Dou Zhao when they entered the house? This daughter was not allowed to live in her husband's family. Being valued by her husband's family will have a completely different status in her natal family. Only a daughter who is valued by her husband's family can help her natal family at critical times; a daughter who is not valued by her husband's family can only help her natal family, but not her natal family.

Marriage is meant to bring two families together. If you can't maintain the relationship between the two families, what else can your family do to help you?

Your sister-in-law is so powerful. Not even a month after you entered the house, she encouraged your mother-in-law to let you host the dowry. And there is not much money on the account. She is clearly trying to defraud you of your dowry. Without the help of your mother's family, can you fight against your eldest sister-in-law? Are you ready to just admit defeat and let your sister-in-law have whatever she wants? "

Dou Ming couldn't help but ask: "Then what do you think we should do?"

She came to her mother just for this matter, hoping that her mother could give her some advice.

"I'm under house arrest now, aren't I?" Wang Yingxue sneered, "Go find your fifth aunt, pretend to know nothing in front of all the relatives, and ask her what to do?"

"But what if she lets me take over the hosting of Zhongfen?" Dou Ming was very surprised. "They only want fame, why would they care about whether I live a good life?"

Wang Yingxue's biggest hope now is to bring her daughter back to her side, as she has been brainwashed by the Dou family for a long time and is becoming increasingly estranged from her.

Otherwise, she will never have a chance to succeed!

"You are stupid!" Wang Yingxue said, "Just do as your fifth aunt says! But you must remember that you must often go to Huaishu Hutong to ask your fifth aunt for advice on how to run a household. When you go, wear the same clothes over and over again, and be timid when sending servants away..."

Dou Ming was a smart man and understood it as soon as he heard it.

She couldn't help but think deeply.

A hint of relief flashed across Wang Yingxue's eyes.

After a while, the little maid came back to reply.

Her parrot-like words made Wang Yingxue and Dou Ming's faces change drastically.

"What did you say?" Wang Yingxue stood up even more in a state of disbelief. "Lord Marquis wants to call Fourth Aunt his brother?"

The little maid was a little dull, otherwise, she would not have been sent by the manager to serve Wang Yingxue.

She nodded and said seriously, "That's what the Lord Shen said. He also said that the Marquis was unlucky to have met the Fourth Aunt. Otherwise, he could have suppressed the Fourth Aunt and talked about his own affairs. The old man laughed when he heard it. Several of the old man's colleagues also laughed..."

Wang Yingxue's heart suddenly felt like it was splashed with oil.

"Idiot!" She glared at the little maid fiercely, "Who asked you to explain it in such detail?"

The little maid lowered her head in grievance.

Didn't you say that I should tell you everything in detail, everything I saw and heard?

Dou Ming also became a little restless.

She asked the little maid, "When Master Shen said this, what did the Marquis say?"

The little maid whispered, "The Marquis didn't say anything."

In other words, Wei Tingyu also admitted it.

Both mother and daughter remained silent, looking unhappy.

Seeing this, Madam Hu wanted to smooth things over, so she said with a smile, "You little maid, you are talking nonsense! When the fourth aunt came to pick up the bride, except for her brother and cousin, the others were either princes or deputy generals. It's not like he was selling cabbages and picking one up at random, where did so many princes and deputy generals come from? Did you hear wrongly?"

Who knew that the little maid didn't understand what Madam Hu said, and hurriedly said: "It wasn't me who said that, it was the Marquis who said that when he introduced them to the old master. And they were either wearing flying fish clothes or python clothes, so majestic! Everyone was peeking at them along the way! Sister Xiaohong also said that if anyone dared to wear these clothes, they would be beheaded. It seems that it's all true!"

Wang Yingxue and Dou Ming's faces were so gloomy that rain could drip from them.

Madam Hu couldn't hold it in any longer and yelled at the little maid: "If you don't speak, no one will think you are dumb!"

The little maid was so frightened that she didn't know what to do with her hands and feet.

Dou Mingdun felt bored and waved to the little maid: "You can leave now!"

The little maid ran away quickly as if she had been pardoned.

Wang Yingxue also recovered from the shock and asked Dou Ming: "How can the status of the prince be more prominent than that of the marquis?"

Dou Ming couldn't help but ask, "Since you married me to the Jining Marquis's mansion, didn't you find out what was going on?"

Wang Yingxue felt a little uncomfortable and said, "I didn't expect your sister to marry a prince. With her conditions, at most she could marry a scholar from a poor family. Maybe your father would get excited and keep her at home to find a son-in-law..."

Dou Ming couldn't help but feel angry.

I had no choice but to tell Wang Yingxue about the relationship between the noble families.

Wang Yingxue was a little dumbfounded: "In other words, they live entirely by the grace of the emperor?"

Dou Ming nodded and said, "So everyone is participating in the Autumn Encounter, hoping to become famous and win the emperor's favor, so that they can rise to prominence in the future!"

Wang Yingxue immediately perked up and said, "This is just like a scholar taking the imperial examination. Since there is a way to get a good family background, there is nothing to be afraid of! The Marquis is very good at archery and horse riding. At most, we can ask your fifth uncle to find a way to help the Marquis show his face in front of the emperor and get a good family background." At this point, she once again reminded her daughter, "You should go to Huaishu Hutong more often. Especially your tenth cousin Cai, her family is so greedy, it can be seen that she is not a good person either, you might as well start with her."

Dou Ming nodded and said, "That's what I thought too!"

At this time, her tenth cousin Dou Jichang was drinking in the flower hall with those people from the Song family who came to urge their makeup.

He was handsome, elegant, and humorous, and he easily won the favor of Wang Qinghuai and others.

Ma Youming smiled and said to Zhang Xuming beside him: "Everyone in the Dou family has a good appearance, and the fourth daughter of the Dou family must be good-looking too! Yantang is a lucky one."

Zhang Xuming laughed and said nothing.

Gu Yu, who had been listening with his ears perked up, was secretly thinking something.

What's the use of being beautiful?

The fourth young lady of the Dou family is so amazing!

He even dares to lend money at usury!

Who knows how this will harm Brother Tianci in the future?

On the other hand, Lu Zhan, who was standing by, smiled and said, "The fourth young lady of the Dou family must be good-looking. When Mr. Dou was selecting officials at the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Personnel commented that he was 'handsome'!"

Just as he finished speaking, Shen Qing, who was sitting opposite him, exclaimed: "The Dou family actually sold things like lotus bird's nest, minced chicken and shark's fin, and braised bear's paw..."

The faces of the few people from the Song family who came to urge makeup were as pale as the bottom of a pot.

Dou Jichang and others, however, smiled brightly.

Dong Qi felt even more like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Thinking that I have never been so embarrassed in my life, it's just a few delicacies, is there any need to make such a fuss?

He wanted to slap Shen Qing, the nouveau riche, in the face, and couldn't help but glare at Shen Qing fiercely.

As soon as Shen Qing finished speaking, he knew that he had said something wrong. When he saw everyone's expressions, he shrank back and whispered, "It's not that I haven't eaten it before, but I didn't expect the Dou family to spend so much money to marry off their daughter..."

The more you explain, the worse it gets!

Wang Qinghuai smiled and said to Dou Jichang: "In recent years, few people can make this authentic 'swallow's nest banquet'!"

Dou Jichang smiled gracefully and said, "We hired a chef from Zuixianlou, and we don't know if he does a good job. Let's taste it and see if it's any different from usual. If he doesn't do a good job, we'll have a good excuse to deduct their wages!"

Wang Qinghuai, Ma Youming and others laughed and let the matter pass.

But after all, they were angered by Shen Qing, so they restrained themselves a little while waiting for their makeup.

※※※※※

At 5 p.m., Dou Zhao's dowry left the Dou family's gate.

The first thing he lifted was a foot-tall sandalwood statue of the Three Gods of Longevity, Fortune and Happiness, followed by all kinds of gold, silver, tin wares, silks and satins, from large camphorwood carved boxes to small combs made of poplar, Xiangfei bamboo and Shu bamboo for combing hair. For people like Wang Qinghuai who came from wealthy families, this was not surprising.

The odd thing was that among them there were two boxes full of banknotes, each of which was held down by a pair of red-gold Ganoderma lucidum Ruyi, each more than a foot long. The sight of them was so stunning that one's eyes would glare at the sight.

"Damn it!" Ma Youming couldn't help but say, "Fortunately, the fourth daughter of the Dou family is marrying into the Duke of Ying's mansion. If she had married someone else, I'm afraid that as soon as the dowry entered the house, a thief would sneak in!" As he said this, he couldn't help but sigh to Wang Qinghuai, "The Dou family is really brave!"

Even the calm Wang Qinghuai couldn't help but change color.

Although he dealt with money every day, he was still shocked to see someone take out a bunch of banknotes in one breath... and appear naked in the dowry team.

"There are at least 40,000 taels of silver notes!" He couldn't help but take a look and said, "They are all ten-tael notes from Tongde Silver House! The Dou family must be one of the most important customers of Tongde Silver House, otherwise Tongde Silver House would not have printed so many ten-tael notes just for the Dou family. It would have taken at least several months to print them."

Wang Qinghuai deals with money every day and is quite sensitive to these things.

Tongde Silver House is the largest silver house in northern Zhili. It is one of the few time-honored brands left over from the previous dynasty. It is honest and trustworthy and has strong financial strength.

It can make Tongde Bank bow down...

Shen Qing couldn't help but shudder when he heard this, and said, "No, no way? So much money? How, how can I spend it all?" Then he thought wildly, "You say, if I borrow some money from Song Da, he won't refuse me, right?"

No one paid any attention to him.

Gu Yu had a gloomy face.

The Dou family spent so much money to marry off their daughter, there must be something wrong with this daughter!

Dong Qi's mind was blank.

He only knew that Song Mo had found a very powerful wife's family, and the gap between him and Song Mo became even greater.

Zhang Xuming thought that Song Mo had invited his wife to be the best man, and it seemed that he would have to tell his wife about some things.

Only Lu Zhan was smiling.

It seems that my uncle has put a lot of effort into Yantang's marriage.

He went back and told his grandfather about it. His grandfather must have been very happy!

Song Han's face was expressionless and it was unclear what he was thinking.

※※※※※

Dou Shishu left the yamen and was about to go to an appointment. As he was about to get on the sedan chair, he remembered that today was the day Dou Zhao was going to send her makeup, so he told his attendants, "Please postpone the dinner for me. I want to go to Jing'an Temple Hutong to take a look."

It seems that the master still feels a little guilty towards the fourth young lady!

The attendant nodded in agreement and ordered the carriage driver to take Dou Shishu to Jing'an Temple Hutong.

But when the sedan chair reached Jing'an Temple, it could no longer enter.

The attendant explained with sweat on his forehead: "I met the fourth young lady doing her makeup!"

Dou Shishu hummed, lifted the curtain and looked, and heard the people around him buzzing and talking: "A whole pile of banknotes! It's held down by four red-gold ruyi, which are more than a foot long and heavy, and can blind your eyes... The banknotes are all the same, if not 100,000 taels, at least 50,000 taels... I've lived so long, and this is the first time I've seen a daughter married off like this! The Dou family is indeed the richest family in the dynasty!"

It just exaggerates the matter several times.