Chapter 377: Searching for Roots
All the servants in the Duke of England's mansion had signed an indenture. If they ran away, they would become illegal residents. Once caught, even if they were beaten to death, the punishment would be a fine of a few taels of silver.
The second grandson of the powerful steward escaped, but no one ever mentioned it.
Did someone cover up the matter for the butler? Or was it because there were so many deaths that it was impossible to investigate?
Dou Zhao's expression changed slightly.
After she took charge of Zhongfu, the accounts of the inner court were handed over to her. She could find out some old events of the Duke of Ying's mansion through the annual expenditure of the mansion. However, the accounts of the outer court were in the hands of Song Yichun. They were relatively powerless to find out the situation of the outer court and could only find ways to slowly verify it.
"It would be great if we could get the list of the outer courtyard maids!" Chen Qushui also felt a headache, "At least we can know which people have disappeared. If we pull out the radish with mud on it, we may be able to find out more."
Dou Zhao thought for a moment and said, "I'll find a way to deal with this matter. But what did the tailor say? As a small tailor, who could guarantee that a fugitive slave without household registration could sail south?"
Chen Qushui couldn't help but give Dou Zhao a thumbs up and said, "Madam's thinking is still so sharp!"
Dou Zhao laughed and said, "There is no one else here. You are just pretending to be a sly person. Let's get down to business!"
Chen Qushui laughed several times, then said calmly, "Madam, you guessed right. There were two other people who went sailing with the second grandson of the manager. One was a third-class manager in the Yingguo Mansion's Huichu Office. His surname was He and his name was Yuan. His father was once an accountant in the Yingguo Mansion. He went to Guangdong many times to inspect the prince's property at the order of Madam Jiang. Before he officially worked in the Huichu Office, he had followed his father to Guangdong many times to play and had several friends there.
The other one was surnamed Li, named Xiaoli. His father died early and his grandfather was the steward of the gatehouse. He inherited his grandfather's business and also worked in the gatehouse. He and Steward He grew up together and had a very good relationship. On the day when the incident happened in the Duke of Ying's Mansion, they drank too much and quietly rested in the gatehouse, which is how they escaped the disaster.
Li Guanshi had a good relationship with He Anyuan's father, and Li Caisui also went through He Yuan to settle the bill. The two were very familiar with each other.
After He Yuan escaped, the first person he looked for was also the sharp tailor.
It was He Yuan who later suggested sailing south.
Because Li Tailor had left home early, he didn't know much about what happened to the steward. It was not until his nephew fled to him that he learned that something had happened in the Duke of Ying's mansion. He had gone into the city to inquire about it, but found nothing. He only heard that many people he knew had died suddenly. He became afraid, and in order to preserve his brother's bloodline, he agreed to let his nephew follow He Yuan south.
He was worried that someone would come looking for him, but nobody paid any attention to them.
He has been keeping an eye on the Duke of England's mansion for the past few years and has even secretly inquired about what happened back then, but to no avail.
After He Yuan went south, he asked someone to bring him two oral messages, both asking about the situation in Kyoto and the status of the Duke of Ying's Mansion.
Li Taixiu said that He Yuan and his friends really wanted to return to the mansion, but they didn't know what the situation was like in the Duke of Ying's mansion, and they couldn't go back home, so they could only stay outside. He also said that he was very happy when he knew that the lady needed help in her house and didn't continue to use the people from Zhending, but selected maids from various farms. He hoped that these people would be used by the lady and they would have hope.
Dou Zhao was very surprised and looked out the window.
It was a sunny day outside the window, and a few little maids, still in their pigtails, were playing shuttlecock in the yard.
"The news about Daxing Manor actually reached the ears of a tailor in Wanping who left the mansion early due to lameness. He may not know much about the Duke of Ying's Mansion, but I don't believe that he has no connection with these people in the Duke of Ying's Mansion." She smiled and turned her head to look at Chen Qushui, saying, "I originally just wanted to find one or two useful clues from them, but I didn't expect that I was so blinded by one thing and underestimated them. Now it seems that you have to help me check these girls of the 'Fu' generation around me. I gave them almost two months to choose someone."
Chen Qushui responded with a smile.
When Song Mo came back, Dou Zhao told him about the manager.
Song Mo was not too surprised when he heard this. After a moment of silence, he said, "Although there was chaos back then, not so many people died. It's not surprising that some people escaped."
It turns out Song Mo knew.
But why didn't he pursue it?
Dou Zhao suddenly understood.
Song Yichun wanted to frame Song Mo. Even if the maids didn't know before, they must have known about it later. But none of them protected him, none of them asked for help from the outside world, and no one even spoke up for him. So when Song Yichun started killing these people, he chose to stand by and watch indifferently.
At that time, he must have felt betrayed, right?
That's why he was determined to employ only people from the Duke Dingguo's Mansion.
Dou Zhao felt sad and hugged him lovingly, saying, "They are just servants with limited knowledge. They only know to listen to the Duke and they will not go wrong. When the disaster came, they only knew to run away like birds and beasts. How could they care about many things? Now that they have calmed down, they will regret it, right? Otherwise, if Mr. Chen went there, without any coercion or inducement, he would tell Mr. Chen everything about what happened in the past.
I made mistakes, and you forgave me.
These people are even less worthy of your attention.
Don't think about the past.
If there is something that can be used, we will use it for the time being. If it cannot be used, we will pretend that we don’t know about it. Those who escaped have no household registration and will not see the light of day for the rest of their lives. How can they live a good life? It can be regarded as God punishing those people on your behalf.”
Song Mo laughed: "Don't make up all these nonsense reasons just to comfort me." He pulled Dou Zhao's shoulders and stared into her eyes, "When have you ever made a mistake? How come I didn't know? Can those people compare with you? They are not even worthy of carrying your shoes! I have only compromised for you since I was a child. Why do they have the face to do so?"
Well, the more he talked, the more resentful Song Mo became.
Dou Zhao could only argue: "Anyway, you said that this matter is left to me to handle, so you can only agree to what I say!"
Song Mo really didn't take these people seriously.
Will the tiger take the rabbit seriously?
Even if a wolf in rabbit clothing occasionally emerges among this group of rabbits, it will only take a little more effort.
If his methods had not failed to find out the cause of his mother's death, he would not even agree to let Dou Zhao take charge of the matter.
However, if these people can cooperate with Dou Zhao obediently, he will also put aside the past grudges and pretend to be ignorant, letting these people fend for themselves!
Those who depend on the Duke of England for survival are nothing without the Duke of England. But without them, the Duke of England can slowly recover even if it is seriously injured.
Song Mo didn't want to upset Dou Zhao because of these people, so he smiled and said, "Then tell me, what do you want me to do?"
"Try to get me the list of maids who have worked in the front yard over the years." Dou Zhao looked at him with blinking eyes.
Song Mo said solemnly: "I have seen this thing before. There seem to be several boxes. Are you sure you want to find clues from it?"
Dou Zhao humiliated him: "It seems that someone has been searching for it for several years and still can't find it. It's obvious that they don't know how to do it!"
"Great! How dare you frame me!" Song Mo went to catch Dou Zhao.
"Don't bully people like this!" Dou Zhao smiled and dodged.
Song Mo refused to give in.
The two of them burst into laughter.
Passing by the corridor of the east chamber, Fu Feng said to Fu Ye with a red face and a smile: "The prince and his wife are so nice!"
Fu Ye's face was tense, and she said, "Okay, let's wait until twenty years have passed before we decide."
Fu Feng couldn't help but smack his lips and said, "Sister, you are so good at speaking!"
Fu Ye glanced at her, turned and walked towards the back room where they were resting.
Fufeng wrinkled his nose and hurried to catch up.
There was a sound of hurried footsteps behind me.
Fufeng looked back and saw Ruozhu hurriedly entering the main house.
"The prince is in the inner room," she murmured, "I wonder what urgent matter has occurred?"
Under such circumstances, the maids would not easily disturb Song Mo and his wife unless it was an urgent matter.
She stood on the corridor, looking as if she wanted to know but didn't dare to go forward to ask. After a while, she sighed quietly and looked back with some regret. Suddenly, she found a figure opposite her, looking at her quietly.
Fu Feng was startled and was about to scream, but the figure took two steps forward and covered her mouth.
"What are you going to do?" An extremely angry voice came to my ears, "If you alarm the prince and his wife, you will be in trouble!"
Fu Feng felt relieved when she heard the figure talking, and then she realized that the person covering her was Fu Ye.
As a maid, you should avoid being startled by trivial things.
She smiled awkwardly and asked curiously, "Didn't you already pass the ear room? Why did you turn back?"
Fu Ye said unhappily, "You followed me and disappeared, how could I not come back to look for you?" Then he said, "Why are you still standing there like an idiot? Why don't you come back with me!"
Fufeng smiled ingratiatingly at Fuye and followed Fuye out of the main courtyard.
She didn't notice that just as they were about to leave the main courtyard, Fu Ye glanced back at the main courtyard thoughtfully.
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In the inner room, Dou Zhao and Song Mo both looked unhappy.
"A little man with a silver needle and Chuan'er's name on it was found in Baizhi's room?" Dou Zhao asked Ruozhu in a deep voice, "The housekeeper in the Duke's room is Huang Qing's sister Tang Huang. What did she say?"
Ruo Zhu said: "Madame Tang was so scared that she just yelled for someone to go find the Duke, and everyone in the mansion knew about it. But the Duke went to the Third Princess's mansion, and no one knew when he would be back..."
As she spoke, she glanced at Dou Zhao.
It seems that there is something behind this!
Although this is a good opportunity to use this incident to clean up Song Yichun's backyard, this incident can also easily get him into trouble, so let Song Yichun worry about it himself!
She is just a daughter-in-law!
Dou Zhao was afraid that Song Mo would meddle in other people's business, so he pulled Song Mo's hand and said with a smile, "Isn't there still the chief steward? The Duke is not at home, so he should be the one to handle this matter! Go and ask the chief steward what happened in the Fragrant Courtyard?"