Chapter 316 Arrival

Dou Zhao went out to greet him happily.

Except for two or three guards she liked who did not want to leave their hometown and stayed in Zhending to continue working as guards in Xidou, Duan Gongyi, Chen Xiaofeng and others followed her. Not only that, she also brought seven or eight tall and strong guys from Zhending. Their every move was vigorous and powerful, and it was obvious that they were martial artists.

Duan Gongyi smiled and explained, "These young people were introduced by relatives and friends. They look good, so I brought them here for you to take a look."

Next, Dou Zhao and Dong Dou will take stock of Xi Dou's half of the industry that has long been under their name. There are many places to hire people.

"Since Master Duan has chosen them, accept them all!" She told Su Xin with a smile, "Today we are hosting a welcome party for Mr. Chen and Master Duan. We have sent someone to invite the shopkeepers Fan, Cui, and Tian from the calligraphy and painting shop. It's a good opportunity for us to get together."

Su Xin left immediately.

Dou Zhao asked about his grandmother: "...Last time she wrote, she said that the eggplants and melons grew well this year, and we couldn't finish them at home, so we gave a lot to our neighbors. Is she in good health?"

"I'm still strong!" Chen Qushui smiled and took out a letter from his pocket, "Aunt Cui asked me to bring it to you."

Dou Zhao took the letter, looked at the eaves of the hanging flower gate, suppressed the urgency to read the letter, and said with a smile: "You just arrived, this is not the time to talk about these things. Your resting place has been arranged. We will discuss it in detail after you settle down."

Chen Qushui smiled and said "yes".

Dou Zhao shouted Wuyi.

Wuyi was staring at Chen Qushui with his eyes wide open, as if he had seen a ghost.

Chen Qushui couldn't help but smile slightly and nodded towards Wuyi.

If Wuyi hadn't been well trained by Chen He in recent years, he would have jumped up long ago.

He muttered, "Mr. Chen, please follow me!" and led Chen Qushui, Duan Gongyi and others to the western group of rooms which had already been cleaned.

Duan Gongyi looked at the newly painted small courtyard and the chamber, and could not help but say to Mr. Chen, "After all, this is the Duke of England's mansion. Look at this house. Although it is simple and generous, it also looks grand."

Chen Qushui smiled but said nothing.

This was something Dou Zhao and Song Mo had discussed long ago.

People like Chen Qushui and Duan Gongyi were each given a three-room house with a back house and a small courtyard; those who did not get married or those who came later were each given a private room.

Entering the house, all the usual furniture was in place.

Duan Gongyi, Chen Xiaodong and others could not help but click their tongues in amazement.

Chen Qushui touched the window frame covered with Korean paper and nodded barely noticeably.

It seems that the prince is very respectful to his wife. Not only did he give up the western courtyard to her, he also had people spend a lot of time and effort to decorate it.

They should be able to integrate into Yizhitang soon!

Chen Qushui divided the house into parts.

Someone asked, "Mr. Chen, can you bring your wife and children to live here?"

"I need to discuss this with my wife first." Chen Qushui said with a smile, and told the group of rough old men who were looking around curiously, "Hurry up and wash up, you will have to sit down later."

Everyone went back to their rooms laughing.

Chen Qushui turned around and saw Wuyi.

He was staring at Chen Qushui without blinking!

After all, he had served me for more than half a year.

Chen Qushui thought about it and walked towards Wuyi.

Wuyi shuddered and came to his senses, and said quickly: "Mr. Chen, the madam said that the maids and servants can be arranged after you move in. If you have anything now, you can tell Xiaojiu, and he will stay by your side and serve you in the future." After saying that, he pushed out a servant who was about fifteen or sixteen years old and had delicate features, and ran away.

Brother Chen once said: There are some things that you have to pretend not to know even if you know them; there are some things that you have to pretend to know even if you don’t know them.

He had to pretend he didn't know about this.

Wuyi thought about it and ran faster.

At noon, Song Mo personally hosted a welcome party for the people coming from Zhending, and Mr. Yan, Xia Lian and others also attended.

This not only surprised Mr. Chen and others, but also made them feel grateful.

Tian Fugui, who was brought in temporarily, was so excited that he trembled and his hands shook. The wine in the wine cup almost spilled out, and he murmured: "It's worth it, it's worth it! It's worth my life to be able to drink the wine of the British prince!"

Cui Shisan could not help but glare at him fiercely and whispered, "Sit up straight and don't embarrass your wife."

"I know, I know." Tian Fugui murmured in response, but his limbs felt weak and his hands were still shaking.

After a few rounds of drinks, the banquet was over, and he and Cui Shisan were called to the study with Mr. Chen and Guard Duan to have tea.

He was in a daze and had no idea how he got into the study. He only knew that the study was very large and had many books. He sat on a carved chair made of chicken-wing wood, which cost sixteen taels of silver. He drank this spring's West Lake Longjing tea, which cost five taels of silver per packet. The little maid who served him tea was only twelve or thirteen years old, but she was tall, dignified and pretty. She wore small red gold earrings on her earlobes or a silver hairpin that had just been brought back from Jiangnan, making her look both respectable and noble.

How could a little maid be qualified to wear gold and silver? I guess these were all rewards from the mansion.

It would be great if my nephews and nieces could work in the British palace, that would be a blessing.

He was just thinking about it when he suddenly heard Song Mo ask him, "When did you follow the wife?"

Is the prince talking to him?

Tian Fugui opened his mouth wide, and when he saw Song Mo smiling at him, he was sure that the sound he had just heard was not an illusion.

He swallowed his saliva quickly and said hastily, "It was the day of my lady's coming-of-age ceremony. Everyone came to congratulate my lady, and I thought I had to do something different - don't the officials have to offer auspicious signs on the emperor's birthday? I wanted to get an auspicious sign for my lady, too. Later, after asking around, I heard that someone in Baoding Prefecture raised a pair of pheasants, so I rushed to Baoding Prefecture overnight..." He was in a panic, his mind was blank, and he told her everything, how he had coaxed and deceived his way into buying the pair of pheasants, and how he had hidden behind the rockery next to the Dou Mansion's flower hall waiting for Dou Zhao to pass by...

Cui Shisan wished he could eat Tian Fugui alive.

Song Mo and others burst into laughter.

Tian Fugui then realized that he had said something wrong.

He looked at Song Mo in panic, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"Not bad, not bad." Song Mo said with a gentle smile, "I will serve Madam attentively in this way in the future."

"Thank you, Prince!" Tian Fugui came to his senses and wanted to stand up and salute, but his legs were so weak that he couldn't stand up after trying twice. Just as he was getting anxious, Song Mo's eyes fell on Cui Shisan: "Are you from the Cui family?"

Cui Shisan stood up, bowed respectfully, and answered "yes".

Be polite and courteous, neither humble nor overbearing.

Song Mo nodded secretly and said with a smile: "Since you are a member of the Cui family, you and Madam are also close relatives. In the future, when you have nothing to do, come to the mansion often and talk to Madam."

Cui Shisan had been dealing with high-ranking officials in Kyoto in recent years and was no longer the Wuxia Amon of the past. He only regarded these as polite words and responded "yes" with a smile.

Song Mo didn't say much, thinking that with the addition of Mr. Chen and others, Dou Zhao would have his own guards and protection, and things like the fire in the Duke of Ying's mansion would never happen again. He immediately felt in a good mood and chatted with Chen Qushui and others with a smile, revealing the meaning of "from now on, we are all a family, unity is beneficial, separation is harmful, we must live in harmony". Yan Chaoqing followed Song Mo's words and talked about the help that the Dou family had given to the prince, with a look of gratitude, as if you are all my benefactors.

Chen Qushui knew that Song Mo was trying to reassure them, so after being humble for a while, he said, "They have all received grace from Dou Zhao, so they will follow Dou Zhao wherever he goes and will naturally follow his lead."

After hearing this, Liao Bifeng was greatly impressed by Dou Zhao.

Madam is extremely powerful, as she can order these people around and make them say such words in front of the prince!

He whispered to Yan Chaoqing: "After we leave, shall we treat Mr. Chen to a couple of drinks?"

Yan Chaoqing also felt that this was necessary and nodded with a smile.

Song Mo stood up and said to Chen Qushui and the others with a smile, "You have all worked hard along the way. Take a good rest these few days. I'm sure Madam has a lot to ask you. I won't delay your rest."

Everyone stood up to see Song Mo off.

Song Mo went straight back to the main room and asked Dou Zhao, who was sitting on the kang by the window doing needlework, "Did I perform well today?"

Dou Zhao couldn't help but laugh, put down his needlework, and said, "Why are you becoming more and more like a child?"

"I'm younger than you!" Song Mo said disapprovingly, pulling her needlework to see, "What are you doing?"

"I'll make you a winter coat," Dou Zhao smiled, "the Spring Festival is coming soon."

Song Mo stared at Dou Zhaoxiao and sat with him for a while. He said reluctantly, "I'm going to visit Gu Yu later. You can also talk to Mr. Chen."

Dou Zhao actually has something to discuss with Mr. Chen.

She replied "OK" with a smile and sent Song Mo out.

※※※※※

At this time, in a remote three-story courtyard in the southeast corner of the Tan Family Manor in Lingshou County, the heroic Tan Juren stood respectfully in front of the white-haired and bearded old lady Tan, and whispered: "The news came from Cangzhou, it can't be wrong. Not only Cangzhou is in chaos, but also Kyoto, Taiyuan, Datong, Tianjin and other places are in chaos. Some brothers quarreled for their future, and some fought for money. Friends turned against each other, fathers and sons killed each other. The prince of the Duke of Yingguo was very cunning, and a few thousand taels of silver caused a lot of turmoil in the martial arts world. Fortunately, we took the child in without saying a word, otherwise, we don’t know what kind of scene is waiting for us!" As he said this, he looked worried, "At that time, he asked us to deal with the fourth lady of the Dou family, but we refused. I don’t know if he still remembers it?"

Mr. Tan didn't say anything. He carefully twirled his chest-length beard and said after a while, "How is Duan Gongyi doing at Dou's house now?"

"He should be doing well." Tan Juren said, "Miss Dou asked him to go to Kyoto with her. It is said that he will not be back for a while. He asked someone to help look after the house, and he is planning to take his old mother to Kyoto in a few days."

Old Lady Tan laughed when she heard this and said, "It seems we haven't sent any gifts to the fourth daughter of the Dou family for her wedding yet, right?"

Tan Juren's eyes lit up.

Song Mo is vicious, and they live in seclusion here. They are afraid of being implicated by Song Mo if they are close to him, and afraid of being hated by Song Mo if they are far away. Miss Dou Si is upright and upright, and she is a person worth making friends with.

"I'll do it right away!" His voice became louder.