Chapter 341 Conflict

When something is on my mind, I can't help but be distracted when I speak or do things.

The auspicious time for birthday worship was approaching. The grandsons, granddaughters, and grandsons-in-law of Lady Jingguo appeared in the flower hall, surrounded by their maids and old women. One kowtowed to the grandmother, and the other kowtowed to the aunt. After a round of laughter and noise, Wei Tingzhen appeared in the flower hall and invited the female relatives to move to the waterside pavilion in front to take their seats. He said, "There is a stage next to the waterside pavilion. Ladies and young ladies can drink and listen to the opera later."

Everyone stood up and walked towards the water pavilion with smiles on their faces.

The wife of the Marquis of Changxing was very alert and helped Princess Ningde to walk in front. She turned her head and said to Madam Lu: "Your lilac-colored gourd-patterned jacket is really beautiful. This is the first time I have seen it. It should be the new pattern of the Jiangnan textile tribute this year, right?"

Old Madam Lu laughed and said, "You kid, you are so sweet. I am not your mother-in-law. I have nothing to give you as a reward!"

The wife of the Marquis of Changxing smiled and said, "Look at what you said. You are happy in your heart, which is better than rewarding me with anything."

Madam Lu smiled and said to Princess Ningde: "Look, you still say you are not complimenting me!"

Princess Ningde couldn't help laughing and also joked with the wife of Marquis Changxing: "Don't worry, next time I meet your mother-in-law, I will definitely praise you."

Everyone laughed.

Dou Zhao, who was being held by Madam Lu like a child, also laughed.

The wife of the Marquis of Changxing said to Dou Zhao, "This is the first time that the wife of the Duke of Ying's son has come out to visit us. I am used to making a fuss, so don't take it to heart. You can sit with us later so that you can serve the Princess and Old Madam Lu, and they won't think that I am being polite to them."

Treat her very kindly.

The Changxing Marquisate had been married to the royal family for generations, and had always considered itself the first in the noble circle. In her previous life, they had never even glanced at her. In this life, she became the wife of the Crown Prince of the Duke of Ying, and was supported by Princess Ningde. This made the wife of the Changxing Marquisate look at her differently, and when they met for the first time, she included her in the category of being able to talk to her and sit at the same table with her.

Dou Zhao just smiled and nodded, looking very low-key and reserved.

But she is the wife of the Crown Prince of the Duke of England. Her status is there. No matter how low-key and reserved she is, there will always be people who come up to her and talk to her.

"Is the Duke in good health now?" The one who came forward to talk to her was the wife of the Prince of Dongping. "Last time there was a party at home, Madam had to take care of the sick, so she didn't go. I felt so sorry for a long time."

Dou Zhao glanced at the wife of the Duke of Dongping, who was following the Duke's son's wife with her two daughters, and said with a smile, "The Duke is well again. I heard that several people from the Kyoto opera house attended the party that day and sang very well. I will definitely go to the party when I return to your mansion to hold another one."

Because the wife of the Duke of Dongping was the second wife, most of the social activities she went out for were handled by the wife of the Duke of Dongping's eldest son, and she did not go out when she had free time.

In Dou Zhao's memory, she had a very good personal relationship with Lady Xia, the eldest aunt of Duke Jingguo's Mansion. Perhaps it was because of this reason that she brought her two daughters to celebrate the birthday of Lady Jingguo's Mansion!

Dou Zhao socialized with everyone with a smile, generously and appropriately.

Mrs. Zhang San was very proud of it, and she joked and helped out, wanting to make Dou Zhao's first appearance brilliant and leave a gentle and honest impression on everyone.

Dou Zhao never spoke to Wei Tingzhen, nor did he pay any attention to Dou Ming.

Mrs. Zhang Er looked at him with her eyes rolling.

Wei Tingzhen was furious and glared at Dou Ming fiercely.

Dou Ming was still thinking about putting on makeup, so she lowered her head and walked silently behind the crowd.

Wei Tingzhen became even angrier. She exchanged a few pleasantries with Mrs. Guo with a smile, then quietly walked up to Dou Ming and said angrily, "Are you dumb? There are so many people here, and you don't even know how to greet them! Don't you always say at home that you were raised by Old Madam Wang? What? Is this how the Wang family taught you etiquette?"

Dou Ming turned pale at the sarcastic tone. He looked up and was about to retort, but he saw the women surrounding Dou Zhao and talking to him, making him look as noble and radiant as a pearl.

A breath of foul air blocked her chest.

Dou Zhao had already married into the Duke of Ying's Mansion, which was known as the most noble family in Kyoto. Why did her father publicize her dowry in such a grand manner?

Both are married daughters of the Dou family. The Mansion of Marquis Jining is far inferior to the Mansion of the Duke of Ying. Why can't her father understand her difficulties?

Thinking of the quarrel she had with Wei Tingyu over the birthday gift for Lady Jingguo before she came, she couldn't help but feel a tightness in her chest and a pain in her heart as if she had been stabbed. She just wanted to escape from this dull banquet as soon as possible and ask her father why he treated her like this. How could she still have the mood to care about Wei Tingzhen?

Wei Tingzhen was ignored by her sister-in-law. She was furious. She grabbed Dou Ming's arm and yelled, "I'm talking to you! You don't have any upbringing, do you?"

Wei Tingzhen usually didn't get so angry, thinking about how her mother-in-law would complain about her family's incompetence in order to make things difficult for her, and as a result, her family always did things that held her back. For an occasion like today, the families of her two sisters-in-law arrived early, and even two elders from her third sister-in-law Feng's family came. Her sister-in-law, on the other hand, arrived just in time, and she also owed Feng a favor for nothing. She was in a terrible mood, and her words and actions were more irritable than usual.

But Dou Ming was preoccupied and didn't bother to pay attention to her.

She shook off Wei Tingzhen, straightened her back and quickly caught up with the women in front.

Wei Tingzhen's face was as gloomy as if it was going to rain.

She hurried after him and grabbed Dou Ming's arm again.

Mrs. Wang, who was talking to Mrs. Zhang II, saw them and teased them, "You two are so affectionate, what are you whispering about?"

Everyone's eyes couldn't help but look over here.

Mrs. Zhang's eyes lit up, she smiled and said loudly, "Sister-in-law, is there anything you can't say in front of us? Don't worry, although we are jealous of the dowries of the two ladies in the Dou family, we won't spread it around, lest we attract thieves."

Everyone laughed. Although most of them were envious and jealous, they all had happy expressions on their faces.

Wei Tingzhen didn't know why Mrs. Zhang said such a thing in such a situation, and responded with a vague smile.

Mrs. Zhang was unwilling to let Wei Tingzhen off the hook, and said, "Maybe you don't know yet, sister-in-law? The Dou family has given the wife of the Duke of Ying a make-up, and it is said that it costs more than 100,000 or 200,000 taels of silver! There is an order of seniority, so I guess the next time they should give the wife of the Marquis of Jining a make-up, right? When our eldest son marries a wife and our eldest daughter gets married, it will be a great honor to have such a wealthy uncle and aunt!"

Ten or two hundred thousand taels of silver?

Wei Tingzhen's face changed drastically.

Looking at Princess Ningde, Old Lady Lu, and Dou Zhao, although they were somewhat unhappy, they did not stop Madam Zhang from talking nonsense.

She felt a chill in her heart.

Princess Ningde frowned and glanced at the wife of Marquis Changxing.

Mrs. Zhang Er was the daughter of Marquis Shi of Changxing.

The wife of Marquis Changxing smiled awkwardly at Princess Ningde, called Madam Zhang Er by her courtesy name, and said, "You are the only one who talks too much. If the thieves are really attracted here, it's because of you who is making noises."

The reason why Second Madam Zhang dared to confront Wei Tingzhen in Duke Jing's Mansion was because she relied on her natal family, the Changxing Marquis Mansion. Since the wife of Changxing Marquis was unhappy, how could she say anything more? She hurriedly said with a smile, "Am I not jealous that my eldest sister-in-law has such a good sister-in-law?" She made fun of herself until everyone laughed, went into the flower hall, and put the matter behind them. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Wei Tingzhen took the time to ask Dou Ming: "What exactly is going on?"

Dou Ming only thought about how stingy Wei Tingzhen was in front of her, but didn't think about how Wei Tingzhen compensated Wei Tingyu and Tian. Hearing this, she couldn't help but said with a cold face: "Aunt has always been sharp-eyed and sharp-eared. Nothing in our Jining Marquis's Mansion escapes your eyes, let alone the Jingguo Mansion!" Then she walked away and entered the flower hall.

After sending the guests away, Wei Tingzhen and others, as daughters-in-law, had to hurry over to pay birthday greetings to the wife of Duke Jingguo.

Wei Tingzhen did not dare to delay. He whispered a few words to his personal maid, then went to the flower hall with the second and third wives with a smile.

After she paid her respects to the emperor and came to the waterside pavilion with Lady Jing, she did not see Dou Zhao.

She was a little dazed.

Princess Ningde explained, "Something seemed to happen in Yantang, so they sent someone to call her over, saying that she would come to pay the Duke's wife a gift another day."

Song Mo made a very good impression on Lady Jingguo. She felt that although he was of noble birth and not very sociable, he was very capable, polite, and had a good sense of the big picture. Since he said he had something to do, it must be something very important. Thinking of what had happened in the Duke of Ying's mansion in the past few years, she didn't think much about it and smiled, "I originally wanted to invite everyone to have some fun on my birthday. If I delayed something important, it would be my fault. If they have something to do, just go ahead and take care of it. That'll make me happy."

Everyone laughed.

Dou Zhaoyi and Song Mo took a carriage to the Duke of Ying's Mansion.

"You should call me in two quarters of an hour." She leaned on Song Mo's shoulder and said with a smile, "Since we are going to celebrate someone's birthday, we should at least offer a glass of water to the birthday person, right?"

"I was afraid that you would feel uncomfortable after drinking, so I called you away before Lady Jingguo went to the waterside pavilion." Song Mo said unhappily, "Who is the one who only knows how to torment me when he is not feeling well?"

Dou Zhao was slightly embarrassed.

She didn't know how she became like this. When she felt uncomfortable and saw Song Mo sitting there calmly reading or writing, she always wanted to tease him. Sometimes she asked him to pour her a cup of tea, sometimes she asked for something to eat. Seeing Song Mo circling around her, all the chest tightness and shortness of breath would disappear.

"Hasn't the banquet started in the front yard yet?" She had to change the subject and asked with a smile, "You don't smell of alcohol at all."

"Don't you hate the smell of alcohol?" Song Mo asked, "And you're asking me why I don't smell of alcohol!"

Dou Zhao smiled awkwardly and said, "I'll make you some gourd cakes when we get back later!"

Song Mo said unhappily: "Can you smell the fumes?"

Dou Zhaoyu was stunned.

Song Mo snorted and didn't speak to Dou Zhao again along the way.

Seeing that they were almost home, Dou Zhao couldn't help but get anxious and said angrily, "What do you want from me? How can someone be so stingy!"

Song Mo got off the carriage with a sullen look on his face.

Dou Zhao had no choice but to follow him into Yizhi Hall.