Chapter 376 Searching
Song Mo frowned and said, "The Duke of Ying's Mansion still belongs to my father. It may not be a good thing to recruit people from the farm to strengthen Yizhitang."
Even those so-called loyal servants are always loyal to the title of Duke of England, not to a particular person.
When Song Yichun was the Duke of England, they were naturally loyal to Song Yichun; but when Song Mo was the Duke of England, they would be loyal to Song Mo, and what Song Mo needs now is someone who is absolutely loyal to him.
Dou Zhao understood Song Mo's concerns and said with a smile, "Everything has its pros and cons. You only thought that the Duke was the master of the Duke of Ying's Mansion, and they would only be loyal to the Duke, but you didn't think that you were the Duke of Ying's son and the legitimate heir of the Duke of Ying's Mansion. Since those people are loyal to the Duke of Ying, as long as you don't do anything to damage the interests and reputation of the Duke of Ying, they will not deal with you because of the personal grudge between you and the Duke. As long as they can remain neutral, you can use them. What's more, letting these people see what the Duke has done may be more beneficial to you! It's better than you continuing to use the people of the Duke of Ding's Mansion and letting those people of the Duke of Ying see the heir of the Duke of Ying getting close to others and ignoring them!"
Song Mo was shocked when he heard this.
He thought of the doubts that the old people in the British Duke's Mansion had expressed about his mother when she was alive.
Or maybe this is one of the reasons why Song Yichun was able to set up a trap to frame him so easily.
In the minds of many people in the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion, his mother and he were close to the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion.
So when my father was dealing with those old people, he remained silent.
It was as if something was passing through Song Mo's mind, making him unable to catch it.
He held the teacup and fell into deep thought.
Dou Zhao took out the needle and thread and started working on it.
It was not until he put down the teacup in his hand that she said, "Yantang, if you agree, how about letting me handle this matter?"
By coming forward, she not only expressed the goodwill of the future Duchess of England towards these servants, but also made it understandable that Song Mo had some regrets about his original actions. It could also soothe the panic of those servants after the purge, and she could attack or defend.
Song Mo immediately understood Dou Zhao's intention, but before he could object, Dou Zhao continued, "When it comes to being together as a couple, some women like to hide under the wings of their husbands, while others want to face the ups and downs of life side by side with their husbands. Most women prefer the former, but when their husbands are in trouble, some women will choose the latter. I think that no matter whether it is the former or the latter, as long as the couple feels good about it, it's fine. If they just stick to the formalities, it will make the couple alienated."
She blinked and looked at Song Mo with a playful look on her face.
Song Mo chuckled and said, "Just tell me you want to help me. What's the big deal? Back then, I was your defeated general!"
Dou Zhao smiled and said, "I am afraid of hurting your self-esteem, right?"
"Self-esteem?" Song Mo pretended to look around, "What is that? How come I have never seen it? I only know that if I hadn't been so shameless, you would never marry me no matter what!"
Now it was Dou Zhao's turn to laugh uncontrollably.
"Then what do you want?" She squinted at him coquettishly.
Song Mo's blood boiled at her gaze, but he pretended to think: "I have too many things I want to do, it's hard to choose at once. How about, I write it down this time, and next time I think of it, you can give it back to me?"
"How can you owe money for something like this?" Dou Zhaohe said scornfully, "If you miss this opportunity, you'll never get it again. Think about it!"
Song Mo whispered a few words into her ear with a playful smile.
Dou Zhao blushed and spat at him, saying, "Go to your dreams!" He turned and got off the kang, loudly asking the maid if dinner was ready.
Song Mo laughed and went to the banquet room with Dou Zhao.
The next day, he sent a servant named Liu Zhang under Du Ming to come and tell Dou Zhao to do something.
Dou Zhao asked him to serve Chen Qushui temporarily.
Chen Qushui was even more powerful and soon found out everything about the manager of the outer courtyard.
He came to see Dou Zhao with a serious look on his face, and said with a wry smile, "Madam's prediction was correct. Except for the farm owners and the chief treasury managers outside of Kyoto, the former chief stewards in Kyoto have all been replaced by apprentices or relatives of the former stewards. It is said that the powerful steward died of illness."
Dou Zhao also looked uneasy, and sighed, "It's the same here. Most of the new housemaids are outstanding ones who served in the outer courtyard before, or they are new to the mansion from outside. All the old maids are gone."
Chen Qushui said: "So where should we start now?"
They all understood that most of these people were probably no longer alive.
Dou Zhao handed him a list and said, "I copied this from the list of maids and wives who have served in the inner house over the years. Take a look and see if you can find any of them among the maids who married out of the mansion earlier. It is human nature to make friends. It is impossible for those maids who left the mansion to completely cut off all their previous relationships just because they left the mansion."
Chen Qushui left immediately.
Dou Zhao stood under the veranda with a somewhat irritated look on his face, watching the maids and old women pruning branches, turning the soil, and tidying up the flowers and trees in the yard.
As March approaches, the weather becomes warmer and the wind blowing on the face feels warm and makes people feel sleepy.
The servants were fine. After having known Dou Zhao for more than half a year, they felt that she was kind and had a good temper. They greeted her with a smile and did their work skillfully. However, a few maids who had just entered the mansion from the farm and had just learned the rules from Su Xin were all trembling with fear. While carrying water to water the flowers, they kept glancing at Dou Zhao out of the corner of their eyes.
Dou Zhao found that one of the maids was very smart. While the others just did whatever the maids told them to do, she, however, would pick up a broom and sweep up the cut branches and leaves when the maids told her to "bring the scissors".
She pointed at the little maid and asked Ganlu, who was serving beside her, "What's your name?"
Ganlu also noticed it and said with a smile, "Her name is Fuye. She was sent here by the farm in Tianjin. Her great-grandfather once worked in the Duke of Ying's mansion, and her grandfather once worked as a shopkeeper outside. Because there were few sons in the family, she was the only daughter in her generation. Her father was just a farmer in the farm, so he wanted his daughter to marry into a good family, so he asked the head of the Daxing farm to send her to the mansion."
Dou Zhao said: "What was her original name?"
Ganlu thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be called something like 'Mei Yi'."
"Is it Mei Yi?" Dou Zhao said, "It's not you who are beautiful, it's the beauty like Yi."
Ganlu's face was full of confusion.
Dou Zhao said, "Is she the only child her mother gave birth to, or did something happen to one of her brothers or sisters?"
Gan Lu said shyly: "I really don't know about this."
Dou Zhao smiled and said, "Then go and ask around."
Ganlu came out of the veranda.
Dou Zhao entered the inner room.
After a while, Ganlu came in and reported, "Madam, I have found out everything. It turns out that she has an uncle, a brother, and a cousin. The uncle fell into a pond and drowned because he was drunk. The brother died of illness when he was fifteen years old. The cousin had asthma since he was born and died when he was three years old."
Dou Zhao nodded and let Ganlu leave.
The next day, she asked several maids with the surname "Fu" to help Jin Gui and Yingui make the weaving knot.
Fuye and another little girl named Fufeng were the best at sewing, especially Fufeng, who was not only good at making the usual plum blossom lace, but also the very complicated bat lace and butterfly lace, which were all made very delicate and beautiful, which made Yingui, who was already thirteen years old but always thought she was good at sewing, very impressed.
Dou Zhao smiled and asked Fu Feng: "I see you have very skillful hands. Besides knitting, what other needlework skills do you have?"
Fu Feng was very excited, her face flushed as she said, "I can also button my hair. I can button many kinds of hair, such as double flying butterflies and crabapple flowers. They are not difficult for me."
"Oh!" Dou Zhao looked at her with a smile and asked, "Who did you learn this from?"
"I learned it from my grandmother." Fu Feng said proudly, "My grandmother used to work in the mansion. She knows everything and can even deliver babies. My grandmother has the final say in our family. This time I came to the mansion because of my grandmother's idea. She said that it was a blessing for me to have the opportunity to serve the lady. She told me to listen to the lady and work hard. I will have a good life in the future."
Dou Zhao smiled and nodded, his eyes swept across the faces of several little maids, and said slowly: "Your grandmother is right, if you work hard, the master will not treat you badly."
Jin Gui and Yingui smiled awkwardly, but Fu Ye, Fu Feng and a little maid named Fu Xue bowed to Dou Zhao and said respectfully, "We will not let Madam down." Jin Gui and Yingui saw this and then stood up in a panic, following Fu Ye and the others in saying things like "We will not let Madam down."
Dou Zhao smiled and said "OK", sat for a while, then left the banquet room and went to the study.
She asked Ganlu to invite Chen Qushui over and handed him a piece of paper with the names of Fufeng, Fuye and Fuxue written on it: "Please help me check the background of these three families."
Chen Qushui folded the paper into a small square and put it into his sleeve, and said with some excitement: "Madam, I found out that the powerful steward has a younger brother. Because he suffered from leg disease since childhood and could not walk well, he asked the old Duke to forgive him and let him go. He learned tailoring from others and opened a tailor shop in Wanping County. Before Madam Jiang passed away, the Duke of Ying's Mansion often took care of his shop and gave him some small jobs. But since Madam Jiang passed away, this tailor shop has never received any work from the Duke of Ying's Mansion again."
Dou Zhao was very surprised.
She thought that after Mrs. Jiang became the Duchess of England, she would employ people from the Jiang family... Unexpectedly, Mrs. Jiang also employed people from the Song family.
Dou Zhao whispered, "Did you manage to talk to that powerful tailor?"
"That's a good thing to say." Chen Qushui said, "The butler has only one son, who used to work in the office of the outer courtyard of the Duke of Ying's mansion. His daughter-in-law is a second-class maid in the lady's room. Among his two grandsons, the eldest grandson works in the Duke of Ying's study, and the second grandson is an apprentice in a snack shop in Kyoto. On the day when the Duke of Ying's mansion was in trouble, except for the second grandson who was an apprentice in the snack shop, his son, daughter-in-law, and other relatives were all present. The wife and the eldest grandson all contracted the disease and died. When I went to look for him, the tailor Li was inexplicably frightened and turned pale. I found out that the second grandson of the manager Li, after his grandfather, parents and brothers had accidents one after another, thought that his grandfather, parents and brothers had committed some crime, so he fled to the tailor Li overnight. The tailor Li arranged for him to go south to the sea with others..."