Dou Zhao leaned on the windowsill with his chin in his hand, watching the sky gradually turn whiter.

The maids who came in to help Ji get up were startled and whispered in surprise, "Fourth Miss, why are you up so early?"

Ji was awakened and hurriedly lifted the plain white gauze curtain: "Shou Gu, why didn't you wake up Sixth Aunt now that you're awake?" As she spoke, she couldn't help but yawned with her hand covering her mouth.

Last night, she talked with Dou Shiheng for most of the night and confirmed Wang Xingyi's promotion.

Dou Shiheng, who was sleeping soundly, was also awakened. He asked sleepily, "Who was on duty last night? How come no one knew that Shougu woke up?" Then he forced himself to sit up. "Fortunately Shougu was obedient. If she had run away, how would we explain to our seventh brother?" He scolded Ji.

The maid on duty was the one with almond eyes and rosy cheeks, named Cailan, who was the head maid serving my Sixth Aunt.

She didn't know why when she woke up, Dou Zhao, who had slept with her in the gauze closet, was nowhere to be seen.

"It was my turn." She stood trembling at the head of Ji's bed. "I was so sleepy that I didn't notice that the fourth young lady had woken up."

She could be on duty at night when Sixth Uncle stayed in Sixth Aunt's room, and she was most likely Sixth Uncle's maid.

Dou Zhao pondered and said with a smile: "I got out of bed quietly, and Sister Cailan didn't know."

Cai Lan felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders, and the look she gave Dou Zhao was much softer than yesterday.

Ji scolded Cai Lan a few words and asked her to go down and rest.

The maids came in to help Ji, Dou Shiheng and Dou Zhao wash up.

Ji said, "Why don't you sleep in the study for a few days? I can also arrange for Shougu's maid to take charge at night."

The sixth uncle was somewhat unhappy and said, "I will leave the day after tomorrow."

Ji's face turned slightly red.

The Sixth Uncle said, "How about letting Shougu and Huige sleep together?"

Huiger is the eldest son of my sixth uncle.

"How can that be possible!" Ji objected, "Shougu has just arrived and we have to move to another place. She will be scared."

"Then what do you say we should do?" Sixth Uncle asked impatiently.

Dou Zhao really wanted to say, "I'm not afraid, I want a separate room," but she couldn't say anything. She could only pretend not to understand and let the maids dress her.

"Then I'll go to the study with you." Sixth Aunt said in a low voice, "Let Shougu rest in the main room first."

The Sixth Uncle called the maid, "Go and ask when the old lady of the West Mansion passed away."

Last night, even after they had gone to bed, the Second Lady's party was still going on.

The maidservant left in response. Another senior maidservant of Sixth Aunt, named Caishu, instructed her daughter-in-law to prepare breakfast. Two children with thick eyebrows and big eyes came in, surrounded by maidservants and old women.

The older one is Huiger, whose real name is Dou Zhengchang, and he is nine years old this year. The younger one is Zhiger, whose real name is Dou Dechang, and he is seven years old this year.

Dou Zhao glanced at Dou Dechang.

In his previous life, Dou Dechang was an outlier in the Dou family.

When others were studying, he was causing trouble everywhere; when others were getting married, he abducted his cousin who had returned from the Ji family; when others were starting their own careers, he had already raised crickets in the Hanlin Academy and was a well-known troublemaker in Kyoto.

After paying respects to his parents, Dou Dechang ignored his brother standing beside him and threw himself into his mother's arms.

Ji smiled lovingly and pulled her son away from her arms: "You are already in school, you are not a child anymore, be careful or your fourth sister will laugh at you."

They had met yesterday and had dinner at the home of their third uncle. On the way, Dou Dechang secretly pulled her braid, but Dou Zhengchang gave him a glare before he stopped.

He didn't take it seriously and called Dou Zhao "Fourth sister", then snuggled into his mother's arms with a smile.

Ji was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

Dou Zhao turned his head away.

She thought of her two sons...

Over there, Uncle Six asked Dou Zhengchang about his homework: "What did the teacher talk about yesterday?"

Dou Zhengchang said respectfully: "The Master said: I am not worried about people not knowing me, I am worried about not knowing people."

"What do you mean?"

Dou Zhengchang said: "If people don't know me, it won't hurt me. But if I don't know people, I won't be able to tell the wise from the foolish, the good from the evil, and that will lead to failure in both my work and myself."

Sixth uncle nodded with satisfaction and looked at Dou Dechang.

Dou Dechang stood up straight obediently.

Despite this, Uncle Six still looked a little unhappy. He asked in a deep voice, "What did the teacher say yesterday?"

"Su Mingyun, at the age of twenty-seven, began to get angry and read books." He answered very quickly, and it was obvious that he was well versed in the books.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not too late for us to continue studying at the age of 27."

Sixth uncle slammed the door on the roof with a bang, his face turning ashen.

Dou Zhengchang lowered his head and shrugged his shoulders.

Dou Dechang looked towards Ji as if asking for help.

Ji's expression was even more serious than Dou Shiheng's.

Dou Dechang shrank his head and said obediently: "Su Mingyun, whose name is Su Xun, also known as Laoquan, is from Meishan, Meizhou..."

Sixth uncle's face brightened slightly.

The maid that Sixth Uncle had sent to ask about the matter came back and reported, "The Madam has not left yet."

Uncle Six was stunned and said to Aunt Six, "I'll go take a look!"

"Why don't you have breakfast first?" Sixth Aunt said. Sixth Uncle had already waved his hand and hurried out the door.

The expressions of the brothers Dou Zhengchang and Dou Dechang relaxed. Dou Dechang even jumped onto a chair and waved to Dou Zhao, "Come here, fourth sister. We have chive dumplings today. The chive dumplings made by our cook are delicious. My mother brought them from Yixing. The chive dumplings she makes are different from those made by my grandmother and third aunt. You have definitely never tasted them."

My sixth aunt is from the south and is not used to a kang table, so the six rooms all use tables and chairs for meals.

"Why are you like a monkey? You can't keep quiet for a moment!" Ji scolded him with a smile, and put Dou Zhao on the armchair in front of the table. Fearing that Dou Zhao would not be used to it, she pointed a maid to support Dou Zhao.

Dou Dechang made faces at his mother.

Ji and Dou Zhengchang both laughed out loud.

Although everyone followed the etiquette of "no talking while eating and no talking while sleeping" during breakfast, everyone was smiling and the atmosphere was very good.

After the meal, the two brothers respectfully bowed to their mother and went to the clan school.

Ji took Dou Zhao to pay his respects to the Second Lady.

Dou Zhao looked at the towering trees along the way and thought about what he heard last night.

Two months later, Wang Xingyi was promoted to Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and concurrently Assistant Military Governor of Gansu, and was in charge of horse market affairs. A year later, the Mongols invaded, and Wang Xingyi repelled the Mongol Khan Ludu, captured 5,000 horses, killed more than 30,000 enemies, and went to Shaanxi to pacify the enemy.

Afterwards, Wang Xingyi repeatedly repelled the Mongols and made great achievements in battle. As a result, Wang Zhishao was secretly appointed as the fourth-rank commander of Miyun Guard.

Her fifth uncle was still struggling as the Minister of Personnel until Zeng Yifen died seven years later. With the support of He Wendao, he entered the inner cabinet and took charge of the Ministry of Personnel. But compared with Wang Xingyi, his reputation was not as good as Wang Xingyi. Even though he was older than Wang Xingyi and managed a more important department than Wang Xingyi, he was always ranked below Wang Xingyi.

In this life, her rebirth broke the existing track. Will things be different again?

Dou Zhao smiled and stopped in front of the Second Lady's door with his Sixth Aunt.

Madam Liu, the most capable woman in front of the Second Madam, winked at Sixth Auntie and said, "The Madam has something to discuss with the old lady of the West House, so the morning and evening visits of the ladies and grandmothers will be excused today."

The Sixth Aunt and the Second Cousin's family whom she met left the courtyard where the Second Lady lived with a smile on their faces.

The second cousin's wife whispered to the sixth aunt, "Do you know what happened?"

Sixth Aunt shook her head and said, "If you hear any sound, remember to tell me."

"Of course." The second cousin's wife smiled and nodded, stretching out her hands to Dou Zhao, "Come here, Shougu, give the second cousin's wife a hug."

Dou Zhao moved from the arms of his sixth aunt to the arms of his second cousin. The two talked for a while, and the sixth aunt took Dou Zhao's hand and said, "We still have to go to the eldest sister-in-law to pay our respects, and then we will visit you later."

The second cousin’s wife agreed with a smile and said goodbye to them under the century-old osmanthus tree in the east courtyard.

Sixth aunt held her in her arms and walked slowly towards where she lived.

Dou Zhao was a little surprised.

Sixth aunt suddenly stopped.

The maids following behind them suddenly stopped moving.

Sixth aunt carried her to the waterside pavilion not far away.

"Shougu," she put Dou Zhao on the terrazzo floor of the waterside pavilion, squatted down, looked at Dou Zhao seriously, and asked softly, "Do you want to study?"

Dou Zhao was stunned.

The grandfather of my sixth aunt, who won the imperial examination, was a scholar in the literary world. My sixth aunt had a family of scholars. She was not only proficient in music, but also had a good hand in writing. It was said that she would sometimes discuss the art of making with my sixth uncle. In the south of the Yangtze River, the separation between men and women was stronger than in the north. The young men and women who were proficient in writing and calligraphy all studied with their mothers, sisters-in-law, or aunts. Only those newly arrived families would hire old scholars as their teachers.

Could it be that Sixth Aunt wants to teach her to read?

In the past, she just felt that her handwriting was not as good as those of the educated ladies. But after listening to her sixth aunt's words yesterday, she realized that she was far behind those truly educated women.

It would be great if I could study with my sixth aunt.

She nodded twice vigorously.

Ji smiled, her eyes were soft, and she said in a gentle voice: "Good boy, you must remember that people learn to be good from books."

Isn't it pitiful that she was used as a pawn and has to be grateful to those who manipulated her?

Dou Zhao felt sad.

They went back to the house.

Several old women were waiting for Sixth Aunt's instructions.

But Sixth Aunt ignored it.

She carefully looked at Dou Zhao's tracing and told Cai Shu, "Bring me the Maosongge calligraphy from my study." She turned around and saw Dou Zhao looking at her with wide eyes. She smiled and said, "The Maosongge calligraphy was written for me by my aunt. It is more suitable for girls to practice. You can trace it first. I will teach you how to use the brush in the afternoon."

He completely rejected his father's ideas.

Dou Zhao smiled awkwardly.

Only then did Sixth Aunt ask the old woman who was waiting in the corridor to come in and report the matter.

Dou Zhaoze was taken to Ji's study by Caishu.

The study room had bookshelves that were more than a meter high against the walls, filled with poetry books. There was only a large drawing table and two armchairs in the middle of the study room.

Next to the drawing table stood a huge old porcelain jar filled with various scrolls, and on the drawing table stood an old porcelain cylinder with a bunch of used pens. Next to it stood an enamel box inlaid with lotus patterns. The color was bright and the workmanship was exquisite, but there was an old inkstone that had been used for the most part, with a small piece of black ink as thick as a finger lying across the inkstone.

Dou Zhao sat in front of the painting table and could smell the faint scent of jasmine before he even started grinding ink.

She couldn't help but secretly praise him in her heart.

The Ji family of Yixing is indeed a century-old family that has passed down farming and reading. Just looking at this arrangement, it is hard to tell how many levels higher than the Second Lady's. No wonder the Second Lady felt a little guilty in front of Sixth Aunt.