Chapter 343 Suspicion



Chapter 343 Suspicion

Dou Ming was in a daze and didn't know how he got back to Jining Marquis' Mansion.

When he entered the upper room, he saw Wei Tingyu standing in the middle of the hall with a face as cold as ice.

"Where have you been?" His voice was colder than his expression. "Why did you come back without telling me? I had to look for you everywhere! If I hadn't met Nanny Jin, I wouldn't have known you came back early..."

Dou Ming didn't want to say a word. He just walked past Wei Tingyu and entered the inner room.

Wei Tingyu was furious and chased after him: "I'm talking to you! What do you mean? How can you say my mother is sick?"

Dou Ming stretched out his hand, made a gesture to stop talking, and said lightly: "When we went out to the Duke of Jing's mansion, didn't mother-in-law say that she was not feeling well? Did I lie?"

Wei Tingyu was speechless.

On the birthday of the wife of Duke Jing, he wanted to give her something expensive as a birthday gift to save face for his sister. Unfortunately, the New Year was approaching and many people were giving gifts. The slightly better things in the antique and jewelry stores were 30% more expensive than usual, and he didn't like the inferior things. It happened that Dou Ming opened the warehouse that day and took out some dowry porcelain to decorate the room. He saw a pair of plum vases from Ru kiln, which looked good, so he proposed to give them to the wife of Duke Jing as a birthday gift, and said, "Just think of it as my purchase, you convert it into silver, and I'll ask the steward to send it over later."

Dou Ming immediately became angry and accused him of plotting to take her dowry.

He thought to himself: It’s not that I don’t want to give you the money, you just can’t bear to say it directly, is there any need to make such a fuss?

The two started arguing.

In order to calm the quarrel between the two, the mother pretended to be sick from indigestion, which calmed their anger.

Now speaking of this, Wei Tingyu is in a dilemma. Answering “no” is not right, and answering “yes” is not right either.

He swung the curtains and went out.

Dou Ming lay straight on the bed, tears streaming down his face.

My mother was afraid that her husband's family would covet her dowry, so she wanted to find a rich and powerful family. Unexpectedly, the rich and powerful family was even more filthy than the poor and small family - the poor and small family coveted her dowry, at least openly; the rich and powerful family coveted her dowry, but they had to put on a righteous face and bring out so many great principles...

Wei Tingzhen would probably come to question her about adding makeup tomorrow. What should she do?

And that bastard Gao Sheng actually scolded her in front of her father, as if she was going back to plot against the Dou family's assets. She had to find a way to make Gao Sheng suffer a big loss and let him know that the boss has the final say and he has nothing to do with it!

Thinking of this, I felt like I was being fried in a frying pan. I tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep.

But Wei Tingzhen came faster than she expected.

Before the lights were turned on in the mansion, Wei Tingzhen came back with a lot of things. Before she even stepped into the door, she hurriedly asked Wei Tingyu who came to greet her: "Is mother really fine? Don't hide it from me!"

"It's really nothing." Wei Tingyu couldn't tell his sister about the quarrel between him and Dou Ming, "You didn't have to come back specially." The wife of Duke Jing didn't like Wei Tingzhen. In addition to her dislike for her eldest son, there was another very important reason, which was that she couldn't stand Wei Tingzhen worshipping her mother like a bodhisattva. Wei Tingyu didn't know before, but after working in the Wucheng Military Department for these days, he got closer to the Duke Jing's Mansion and gradually figured out some things.

As he accompanied Wei Tingzhen to the west wing where Tian lived, he asked Wei Tingzhen, "Does your brother-in-law know that you are coming? Have the guests from the Duke of Jing's mansion left?"

"The guests haven't left yet, but your brother-in-law knows." Wei Tingzhen knew his brother's worries and said, "I took the opportunity to come out when your brother-in-law asked me to help change clothes and open the storeroom to get something - everyone said that the party sang well, and they wanted to sing two more pieces."

Wei Tingyu couldn't help but sigh, feeling guilty that as a son, he let his mother pretend to be sick for his own sake.

The brother and sister walked side by side into the living room of Tian's residence.

Tian was leaning on the big kang near the window, and her personal maid was reading Buddhist scriptures to her.

Seeing her son and daughter coming together, she was shocked and asked what had happened.

"Nothing, nothing." Wei Tingzhen said with a smile, "I just heard that you were sick, so I came to see you."

Tian couldn't help but glance at her son and answered her daughter perfunctorily.

Wei Tingzhen was relieved to see that her mother was indeed fine, and asked Wei Tingyu about Dou Zhao's makeup: "...did you know?"

Wei Tingyu had just heard some of the discussions at the banquet and nodded his head. However, it was the first time that Tian heard about it. She looked at her daughter and son in astonishment and anxiously asked what was going on.

Wei Tingzhen told the whole story and frowned as she finished, "They are both daughters, why do the Dou family treat Dou Ming and Dou Zhao so differently?" She asked Wei Tingyu, "Is there something we don't know about?"

Ever since the incident of the sisters changing marriages happened, she always felt that there was something wrong with Dou Ming's character.

Wei Tingyu was in an irritable mood and said, "What could it be? Sister, don't think too much."

Now Dou Ming is the daughter-in-law of the Wei family. If she speaks nonsense without any evidence, her brother will also lose face. Besides, her mother is sitting next to her. If something bad really happens, won't she worry about it?

Wei Tingzhen endured and endured, finally swallowing the words that were on the tip of her tongue, and only told Wei Tingyu: "Whenever you have time, go to your father-in-law's house more often. It can be seen that your father-in-law really loves his daughter. He is better than us in terms of finger stitching."

Wei Tingyu didn't like what he heard and responded absentmindedly.

Wei Tingzhen could only sigh secretly, sat with his mother for a while, and then went to Dou Ming.

Nanny Zhou had received Dou Ming's instructions earlier, and she only said that Dou Ming was not feeling well and had to go to bed.

Wei Tingzhen didn't dare to stay at her parents' home for long and left with a sneer.

Wei Tingyu stood under the corridor for a long time, then turned and went to the study in the outer courtyard.

Nanny Zhou couldn't help but feel a little worried, and asked Dou Ming softly, "Should we send some food to the Marquis?"

"Don't worry about him." Dou Ming was worried about Dou Zhao's dowry. She discussed with Madam Zhou: "You say, should I go back to Liuyexiang Hutong tomorrow? With my grandmother to support me, I won't be afraid of being questioned."

Madam Zhou said, "I will send a letter to Liuyexiang Hutong early tomorrow morning."

Dou Ming nodded.

But he didn't know that this incident aroused Tian's suspicion.

She quietly sent her trusted nanny to Zhending. When the woman returned from Zhending, it was already the end of November and every household had begun preparing for the New Year.

The nanny whispered to Tian.

Tian's face turned pale instantly. She covered her chest and cried, "What misfortune our family has had to let such an immoral woman into our family." Then she fainted.

Wei Tingzhen left behind all the worries in Duke Jing's Mansion and rushed over. Tian had just woken up, and Wei Tingyu and Dou Ming were guarding her bedside.

Tian looked at Dou Ming, then turned away and said coldly, "Dou Ming, get out. I have something to tell the two siblings."

Dou Ming was uneasy, but seeing that Tian was determined and there were a group of maids and servants serving her in the room, she was afraid that Tian would say something disrespectful to her and embarrass her, so she knelt down, bowed, and retreated with the maids and servants.

Tian sat up immediately, took Wei Tingzhen's hand and said, "Do you know that before Wang entered the Dou family, there was Dou Ming. Wang was able to enter the Dou family for this reason. She also forced Dou Zhao's biological mother Zhao to death! So before Wang entered the family, Dou Zhao had already divided a part of the Xidou family's property. The rumor about Tianzhuang that is now making a lot of noise is actually the property that the Dou family gave to Dou Zhao."

Half of Xidou’s industry!

In other words, the rumors outside were true - Dou Zhao really had a dowry of two or three hundred thousand taels of silver!

Wei Tingzhen's heart was pounding.

She whispered, "If Pei Jin had married Dou Zhao, then the businesses under Dou Zhao's name would now belong to the Wei family!"

Tian nodded randomly, tears streaming down her face as she said, "Poor Gu Qiu, she was like my own sister, but I married the daughter of her enemy and raised her like my own daughter... If Gu Qiu knew about this in the afterlife, she would hate me to death! I have lived a clean life, treating others and myself with kindness, but now that I am old, I have encountered such a thing, which has ruined my reputation!"

Wei Tingzhen, however, felt so heartbroken that he was trembling.

She looked towards her brother.

Then I saw Wei Tingyu looking distraught.

I guess my brother must also feel bad about the money he missed out on, right?

It was all my fault. I underestimated the Dou family. If I had investigated carefully, I might have found out the truth. I had arranged the marriage quickly. Now Dou Zhao is my brother's wife...

But as soon as this thought flashed through his mind, Wei Tingzhen immediately excused himself.

Wang was a treacherous person, but even so, she was still able to marry Dou Ming. If there was anything wrong, Wang was most at fault. And as for Dou Ming, if she didn't agree, who could force her into the sedan chair?

Thinking of this, Wei Tingzhen could not help but resent Dou Ming. She comforted her mother: "The Wang family is a family of officials, who would have thought that they would raise such a daughter! If you want to blame someone, blame Wang for being so shameless that she actually rushed to be someone's concubine!"

"No!" Tian acted as if she hadn't heard Wei Tingzhen's words. She lifted the quilt and was about to get out of bed. "I have to ask a Taoist priest to perform a few rituals for Gu Qiu, and ask her to forgive me for being deceived..."

He had completely forgotten how he was indecisive about Dou Zhao's marriage.

"Don't be like this." Wei Tingzhen held her mother down. "It's freezing cold out here. If there's anything, just tell us." As she spoke, she looked towards Wei Tingyu, only to see her brother standing there absent-mindedly, as if possessed by a demon.

She hurriedly called out "Pei Jin" loudly.

"Oh!" Wei Tingyu came to his senses, turned around, and tiptoed out of Tian's inner room.

Dou Ming, who was waiting outside anxiously, came forward and asked, "How is Mom?"

Wei Tingyu stopped and looked at Dou Ming intently.

The face is still the same face, the figure is still the same figure, but why does it seem that I no longer have the same heart-throb feeling as before?

Does she like me as a person or is it because I was Dou Zhao's fiancé?

Wei Tingyu pushed Dou Ming away and walked out.


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