If this continues, my father's marriage to the fifth daughter of the Zhu family will definitely be delayed until two years later, and by then it will be too late to say anything.

Dou Zhao felt that he should do something to speed up the marriage between the two families.

But before she could make up her mind, the Spring Festival arrived.

According to custom, on the morning of New Year's Eve, the East and West Dou families went to the Dou family ancestral hall in Beilou Township to worship their ancestors, had a reunion dinner in the backyard of the ancestral hall at noon, and then went home to celebrate the New Year together and stay up all night.

My aunt was not eligible to worship the ancestors, but she still had to go to the family reunion dinner. Because Dou Ming was born prematurely, she was always weak and rarely went out. My grandfather was afraid that she would get sick, so he asked Wang Yingxue and Aunt Ding to stay at home to take care of her.

Dou Zhao was pulled out of his warm bed by Nanny Yu early in the morning. While she was dressing Dou Zhao, she told Yuzhan and Tuoniang, "There are many people here today, so don't lose sight of the Fourth Young Lady just because you want to see the excitement."

Nanny Yu has to prepare her own family reunion dinner in the evening and cannot accompany Dou Zhao to the North Building.

They both responded in agreement.

Dou Zhao couldn't help but look at Tuoniang twice more.

Today, Yuzhan and Tuoniang were both dressed up. Not only did they change into blue-green silk cotton robes with straight pleats, they also wore jujube-red velvet flowers on their temples, making them look particularly energetic.

Yuzhan has been with her mother since she was a child. Her mother loves dressing up. Influenced by her mother, she always goes out clean and well-dressed. It is normal for her to change into new clothes and dress up for the New Year. Tuoniang lost both her parents when she was young and was fostered in her uncle's house. She only cares about food and clothes to keep warm. This is the first time she has dressed up as carefully as today.

Tuoniang pulled the corner of her clothes uncomfortably and murmured, "It was Yuzhan who combed my hair. She said that today is New Year's Eve and everyone is wearing red and green, but I am the only one wearing plain clothes... The Seventh Master has already been engaged to the Fifth Miss of the Zhu Family. If others see it, they will think it is intentional and it will cause trouble for the Fourth Miss..."

That makes sense.

She wore mourning clothes to observe the mourning period, but the maids around her also wore mourning clothes, which made some people with ulterior motives think differently.

Dou Zhao nodded with a smile, saying that they were "very beautiful", then picked out two plain-looking pearl flowers from the dressing box, and gave one to Yu Zan and the other to Tuo Niang.

Both of them were a little surprised and hesitated whether to accept it.

Nanny Yu at the side said with a smile: "Since it was given by the Fourth Young Lady, just accept it. Wear it on your head, and when others ask about it, it is also the Fourth Young Lady's grace."

The two of them stopped refusing and smiled as they pinned pearl flowers on each other's hair. After serving Dou Zhao breakfast, they carried the tender-looking Dou Zhao to Heshou Hall.

Grandfather and father were sitting on the kang and talking.

Dou Zhao stepped forward and saluted.

Dou Shiying held Dou Zhao in his arms and sat her down on his lap, and asked her gently, "Are you cold?"

"Not cold!" Dou Zhao shook his head and asked Dou Duo, "Grandfather, Grandfather, they said that my father wants to marry the fifth daughter of the Zhu family. Is it true?"

Dou Shiying blushed and stopped Dou Zhao awkwardly: "Don't talk nonsense!"

"I'm not talking nonsense." Dou Zhaoming's eyes widened, staring at his father unhappily, "They said Miss Zhu is a good person and is not afraid that Aunt Wang will give birth to a bastard son."

"Ah!" Dou Shiying opened his mouth wide.

Dou Duo's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and then he took a sesame cake from the box in front of the kang and handed it to Dou Zhao, and asked her gently: "Who told you this?"

Dou Zhao tilted his head while chewing on a sesame cake and said, "There are many people, including my eldest aunt's maid, my third aunt's nanny, and... my ninth cousin's servant..."

Grandfather did not ask any further questions, but looked at my father meaningfully.

My father looked embarrassed.

Fortunately, a servant came in and reported, "Master Huan Jiu is here."

Grandfather laughed and said, "Let him in!"

The tall and thin Dou Huanchang walked in quickly.

He respectfully saluted his grandfather and father first, then greeted Dou Zhao with a smile.

Grandfather nodded and stood up: "Let's go!"

Dou Huanchang replied "yes", stepped forward to help his grandfather, and walked out of Heshou Hall slowly.

He came to invite his grandfather and father back to the North Building.

The father held Dou Zhao and followed slowly behind. When they had put some distance between them, the father gently pinched Dou Zhao's little face and said, "You little thing, are you here to collect a debt?" His behavior was not intimate, but his tone was helpless.

Dou Zhao laughed and asked his father, "What is the purpose of debt collection?"

My father couldn't help laughing.

The group walked out the door.

My third uncle and aunt went to the north building yesterday to prepare for the ancestor worship. Besides my eldest aunt and Dou Huanchang, they were also accompanied by the second lady, my sixth uncle's family, my second cousin's family, my third cousin's family, and my fifth cousin's family.

When they saw my grandfather, everyone except the second wife got out of the carriage and bowed to him. The alley, which seemed a little narrow because of the parked carriage, became crowded.

Grandfather held back the three-year-old son of my fifth cousin and stopped him from bowing to him: "It's freezing cold, and there's no one else around. You don't need to be so polite. If you have anything to say, talk about it when we get to the ancestral hall."

There were more than a dozen rooms beside the ancestral hall, with large braziers in the four corners, burning with smokeless silver-frost charcoal, and it was as warm as spring.

"My uncle is really caring!" The second cousin laughed.

The second lady stuck her head out of the carriage and said, "Shougu, come to my great-aunt!"

Dou Zhao didn't like this cold great-aunt and tightened his grip on his father's sleeve.

The father hesitated for a moment, then walked over with Dou Zhao in his arms, smiling: "She is very naughty. You are old, and you can't stand her torment. I think you should let her stay with me."

The Second Lady was slightly stunned. She looked at Dou Zhao who was quietly nestling in Dou Shiying's arms, smiled and nodded, saying, "That's good! She has lost her mother. It would be great if you could be closer to her!" As she spoke, she let down the car curtain.

My father was a little surprised.

The third cousin called out to his father, "Seventh Uncle, do you have any room? Please bring two maids over for me."

The third cousin had the most children, three sons and one daughter, but the things in the public house were distributed according to the households, so he was always the most nervous one.

"Yes, yes, yes." The father carried Dou Zhao and walked over. "If it's crowded, you can let Zhige'er go with us!"

Zhige'er is the eldest son of his third cousin, eleven years old this year, his academic name is Dou Qijun, this guy later became a historian, and became famous in the scholar community for his report on the downfall of Shi Duanlan, the Marquis of Changxing. After his fifth cousin Dou Shishu entered the imperial court, he went to Baoding Prefecture to avoid suspicion and became the prefect.

At this time, he was just a young boy with long legs and a voice like a duck.

Knowing that he didn't have to squeeze into the same carriage with his mother and sister, he immediately jumped off his own carriage and ran over with a smile on his face.

"Seventh uncle!" Dou Qijun bowed to his father, then reached out to touch Dou Zhao's head, "Fourth aunt!"

Dou Zhao has an adult soul in her body. She could barely tolerate her grandfather and father touching her head, but when her eleven-year-old nephew Dou Qijun touched her head... she turned her head away to avoid Dou Qijun's hand.

"Huh?" Dou Qijun was confused for a moment.

Dou Shiying was already carrying Dou Zhao towards his carriage. As he walked, he asked Dou Qijun, "I heard that you quoted classics in the clan school a few days ago, and even Master Du was impressed by your performance?"

Dou Qijun laughed dryly, forgetting Dou Zhao's strange behavior, and followed Dou Shiying into the carriage. He sat next to Dou Shiying and said jokingly, "Isn't your seventh uncle studying at home? How come you know all the jokes that the younger generation do in school?"

The implication is that Dou Shiying is not focused enough.

As expected, he is very good at talking.

Dou Zhao looked at Dou Qijun with interest.

"You only know how to talk big every time. Be careful what you say." The father laughed, "No wonder your father has to go to Master Du to pay compensation and apologize every few days!"

Mr. Du was the teacher of Dou's family school.

Dou Qijun chuckled, nudged his father with his shoulder and said, "Seventh Uncle, can I discuss something with you?" He looked a bit ruffian.

My father raised his eyebrows.

Dou Qijun smiled and said, "My classmates and I have made an appointment to go to Zhending Prefecture to see the lanterns during the Lantern Festival. How about you give me some money for the trip?"

My father smiled and said, "Does your father know?"

"I know, I know." Dou Qijun was very happy when he heard it. "He agreed. But he only gave me three taels of silver, which is not enough to buy a good lantern! Seventh uncle, we know that you are very generous. Lend me twenty taels of silver. When you go to Fufangzhai to buy antiques next time, I will help you!"

"I have a servant, why do I need you to help me? Besides, you may not be as good as the servant!"

"Well, then I will copy the sutras for you." Dou Qijun did not blush at all. He rolled his eyes and said immediately, "I know you want to copy a thousand volumes of the Lotus Sutra for your late great-aunt, and burn them for her when she passes away..."

Dou Zhao looked at his father in surprise.

Her father did not notice her and said with a smile: "Copying scriptures requires sincerity. What does it mean for you to copy for me? Okay, okay, I don't have twenty taels of silver, but I can consider ten taels of silver..."

"Seventh Uncle, ten taels of silver is too little!" Dou Qijun gritted his teeth, "If I tell anyone about it, it will only tarnish my Seventh Uncle's reputation!"

"I didn't know I had the reputation of 'a spendthrift boy'?" The father was unmoved. "You are so young, you eat and use what your family has to offer, what do you need so much silver for? It's just ten taels, do you want it or not?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Dou Qijun was afraid that if he continued talking, even the ten taels of silver would be gone.

My father smiled and said, "But I will tell my third and sixth brothers about this, so that you don't take ten taels of silver from me and then go to other places to beg for money!"

"Seventh uncle, great-grandfather!" Dou Qijun wailed and fell on the big pillow.

Dou Shiying laughed out loud, and felt that the depression that had been weighing on his heart for the past few days suddenly disappeared a lot.

Dou Zhao looked at his father laughing and felt mixed emotions.

In her previous life, she had resentment towards her father.

Therefore, I never looked my father in the eye.

She always felt that he didn't care about anything except studying his "Book of Changes"... He allowed Dou Ming to be arrogant and domineering and Dou Xiao to cause trouble, and left her to fend for herself!

I didn't expect that he had this side!

The sound of the carriage wheels rolling and Dou Qijun's jokes made them arrive at the North Building soon.

There were seven or eight horse-drawn carriages parked sparsely in front of the Dou Family Ancestral Hall. The stewards and servants were busy going in and out. Hearing the noise, some ran to report to the third uncle, while others gathered around to help stabilize the carriages or place the footstools. For a while, the front of the Dou Family Ancestral Hall was bustling with people.