Chapter 390: Old Stories
"Madam, please give us a way out." Song Shize kowtowed to Dou Zhao three times, and no longer talked about the past. "When Madam Jiang was in charge, she liked to employ people from the Dingguo Mansion. When the Duke was in charge, we were like thorns in his eyes and flesh. Now the Crown Prince has followed Madam Jiang's old path. We have sincere hearts but no way to serve him. I beg Madam to fulfill our loyalty and bring our descendants back to serve you again."
His reaction was within Dou Zhao's expectations.
If they didn't have such an idea, why did they leave such obvious clues for Chen Qushui to find when they announced that they would make use of the Song family's servants?
However, some things need to be made clear first.
She smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Song is a wise man. Do you know why the prince followed the old path of Madam Jiang?"
Song Shize hesitated for a moment and whispered, "When the Crown Prince and the Duke had a falling out, we old people who stayed in the mansion stood by and watched, watching the Crown Prince suffer without helping. The Crown Prince was angry and didn't want to use us anymore..." As he spoke, he suddenly raised his head and said loudly, "Madam, has the Crown Prince noticed that Guard Hu from the Guard Department, Manager Li from the Return Department, Manager Chen and Manager Wang from the Accounting Office, etc., have disappeared before Madam Jiang's funeral?"
Dou Zhao was slightly surprised.
She really hadn't noticed.
At that time, she was only thinking about how to get Song Mo to escape from Song Yichun and return to the Duke of Ying's Mansion openly. How could she pay attention to the changes in the Duke of Ying's Mansion? Moreover, under that circumstance, even if she wanted to pay attention, she couldn't take care of it, and there was a lack of manpower.
She pondered and said, "Are these the people that the old Duke left for Madam Jiang or for the Crown Prince?"
Upon hearing this, Song Shize became even more in awe of Dou Zhao.
Although the Crown Prince's wife was born into a family of officials, she was very familiar with the rules and regulations of aristocratic families. Her marriage to the Crown Prince was decided on a spur of the moment. She had been married to the Duke of England's Mansion not long ago, and only started to preside over the Duke of England's Mansion's internal affairs a few years ago. However, she was able to hit the nail on the head in one sentence, which showed that she was an extremely unusual woman.
When he looked at Dou Zhao again, his eyes became solemn: "These few people are the ones that the old Duke left for the prince."
This answer shocked Dou Zhao.
The old Duke had passed away for many years. At that time, Song Mo was just a babbling child. The royal family and general affairs of the Duke of England's Mansion had been handed over to Madam Jiang. The old Duke also deliberately left a few people for Song Mo to command, which showed that the old Duke still had some reservations about Madam Jiang.
In a flash, a thought flashed into Dou Zhao's mind.
She couldn't help but exclaimed: "Mrs. Jiang didn't know about these people, but they were handed over to the old Duke when he was dying... But is that so?"
Song Shize could no longer conceal his admiration for Dou Zhao. He looked at Dou Zhao deeply and nodded slowly.
Dou Zhao took a breath of cold air.
That's why when Song Mo got into trouble, no one from the Duke of Ying's Mansion came to help.
It is so difficult to cultivate a loyal servant. Song Yichun dealt with Hu Huwei, Li Guanshi and others just like dealing with cabbages and radishes.
She felt it was a pity and heartbroken every time she thought about it.
Is it because of this that Song Mo fled Kyoto alone in his previous life?
Song Yichun, how much must he hate Song Mo to do such a thing!
Dou Zhao looked timid and asked, "What happened that forced the old Duke to hand over the Duke of Ying's Mansion to Madam Jiang?"
Song Shize's expression was gloomy and unclear. After a while, he looked at Chen Qushui, indicating that the matter was of great importance, and asked Dou Zhao to ask Chen Qushui to step aside.
"Mr. Chen is responsible for taking care of all my affairs," Dou Zhao said calmly, "There is nothing he doesn't know. Just tell him what you want to say."
Chen Qushui listened, bowed slightly, and bowed to Dou Zhao in gratitude.
Song Shize was stunned.
He originally thought that Chen Qushui was a man of the Crown Prince Song Yantang, but was assigned to Dou Zhao for assignment. He did not expect that he was actually a man of the Crown Prince's wife Dou!
Song Shize thought of the abilities and methods that Chen Qushui had demonstrated along the way...
What kind of woman is Madam Dou who can have such a man under her command?
His expression was more respectful and serious than before.
Song Shize talked about the past: "…After the miscarriage of her first child, Madam Lu could not sit still. By the time she was pregnant with the Duke, she was nearly 40 years old. She lay in bed for seven months before giving birth to the Duke safely. The old Duke and Madam Lu were very happy and loved him like a treasure. When he was old enough to be enlightened, the Duke was a bookworm, and the old Duke was very relieved. Perhaps because of this, the Duke was a little casual and didn't care much about dealing with people.
The then Crown Prince of Earl Guang'en - now Earl Guang'en and Duke Guo grew up together and have a very good relationship.
The Guang'en Marquis's Mansion is different from the Yingguo Duke's Mansion. Ever since Princess Huaishu's consort Dong Lin was demoted to a commoner, every generation of the Dong family has been fighting for the position of the crown prince, and the Guang'en Marquis's Mansion has gradually fallen into decline.
After Duke Dingguo was appointed as the general of Fujian, Earl Guangen began to think about joining hands with the wealthy families in Fujian to do maritime business. Duke Guo had never been interested in such things. When Earl Guangen came to him, Duke Guo wrote a letter to Duke Dingguo, asking him to take care of Earl Guangen's affairs.
It was a well-known and tacit fact that the big families in Fujian were doing maritime business. One more Guang Enbo would not be too many, and one less Guang Enbo would not be too few. Duke Dingguo received the letter and only told Guang Enbo to be careful and not stand at the center of the storm, so as to make it difficult for him to live.
Guang Enbo even wrote a letter to thank Duke Guo for this.
But it is just as the old saying goes, greed is like a snake swallowing an elephant.
Two or three years later, someone reported that some wealthy families in Fujian were doing business with the Japanese pirates and even providing shelter to the pirates who came ashore.
Duke Dingguo had been promoted to the position of Fujian Provincial Governor at the time and was rectifying the administration of Fujian. How could he tolerate such a thing? Naturally, he treated it as a major case and investigated it with great focus.
Who knew that after searching for a long time, they found out Guang Enbo.
Duke Dingguo felt very uneasy when he thought about the relationship between Earl Guangen and Duke Guo, so he sent his trusted aide to meet the old Duke Guo overnight and told him that he could delay the matter for a month at most. After a month, no matter what he found out, he would have to report it to the court and ask for the emperor's decision.
The old Duke was furious and personally led people to search the inner room of the Duke's study. Not only did they find the letter that Guangenbo wrote to the Duke, they also found the huge amount of banknotes that Guangenbo had hidden in the letter.
The old Duke was so angry that he slapped the Duke on the spot.
However, the Duke knelt before the old Duke and swore that he had absolutely no involvement in the business in Fujian and that he was not aware of the banknotes that Guangenbo had given him.
Mrs. Jiang also pleaded for the Duke. She said that the Duke was not that kind of person. She also said that if a person got so much money, he would definitely find a place to hide it. How could he be so careless as to put it in a letter? It was obviously the idea of Count Guangen.
The old Duke cursed the Duke for being an evildoer and asked his staff and the chief steward to clean up the mess for the Duke.
Mrs. Jiang helped the Duke back to the house.
Who would have thought that halfway through the journey, the Duke suddenly broke away from Madam Jiang's hand and ran to the outer courtyard, bringing several guards with him to confront Earl Guangen.
Guang Enbo naturally would not admit it.
Not only that, the Duke's questioning was a tip-off to Lord Guangen, allowing him to clean up his mess. When Duke Ding officially reported the case to the court, only a few wealthy families in Fujian were implicated, while Kyoto was innocent of any involvement.
From then on, Earl Guangen and Duke Guo had no more contact.
The old duke began to teach the duke step by step about the general affairs.
However, the Duke was only interested in reading sage books at the time and had no interest in these trivial matters, so his progress was slow. On the contrary, it was Madame Jiang who helped the Duke with ideas and made her own progress, which made the old Duke very impressed.
This is not unusual. Who doesn't like to play when they are young? As you get older, you will get used to it.
But the old Duke was old and weak, and he became bedridden after catching a cold.
The old Duke saw that his days were numbered, but he was still careless, so he had no choice but to entrust the family business to Madam Jiang. "
As he spoke, his voice gradually faded away.
"The old Duke saw that the Duke Ding's Mansion was in its heyday and was afraid that Madam Jiang would only be loyal to her family. The Duke was also a soft-hearted person and was worried that the Duke Ying's Mansion would be reduced to a vassal of the Duke Ding's Mansion. That's why he kept a trick, hoping that the Crown Prince would be able to support the family when he grew up and compete with the Duke Ding's Mansion."
When Song Shize said this, his voice began to choke.
"Those few people were all selected and tested by the old duke. They were the most outstanding figures in the palace at that time. Such good people to entrust the orphan to are gone just like that..."
In other words, the old Duke had never been optimistic about Song Yichun, and had long planned to pass on the family business to Song Mo instead of Song Yichun?
Dou Zhao said: "The Duke must have done more than one such thing, right?"
After all, he is his own son, the old Duke cannot give up so easily.
Song Shize's sob was stuck in his throat.
Dou Zhao drank his tea quietly and waited patiently for him to speak.
Song Shize sighed, looking quite helpless, and said softly: "The Duke has been accustomed to it, and Madam Jiang is a very capable woman. The Duke is no match for Madam Jiang. There is nothing we can do about the old Duke..."
This is an indirect acknowledgement of Dou Zhao's conjecture.
She couldn't help wondering, "Doesn't the old Duke worry that the Crown Prince will be influenced by Madam Jiang and get closer to the Jiang family?"
"Why didn't I think of that?" Song Shize said with a bitter smile, "But the Duke is not capable of taking on the responsibility of the Duke of Ying's Mansion. You can't let the Duke teach the Crown Prince not to know how to farm, right? As long as the Crown Prince is taught to be a man who can support the family business, the Duke of Ying's Mansion will not respect the Duke of Ding's Mansion in everything. Rather than leaving some handle for Duke Ding to be jealous of, it is better to let the Crown Prince accept the teachings of Duke Ding. No matter what, the Crown Prince was also born by Madam Jiang after ten months of pregnancy and hard work. A woman may side with her natal family because the man is not ambitious, but she is more likely to turn against her natal family for the sake of her son's future. Since ancient times, this principle is unbreakable!"