Chapter 396 Li Family

Dou Zhao naturally didn't know about Dou Ming's little thoughts, but given Dou Ming's attitude towards her, she didn't want to put up with him and make herself uncomfortable; of course, even if she knew Dou Ming's little thoughts, she wouldn't care too much. She had a lot of people to entertain, so she didn't have the time to care about Dou Ming's life.

When I came out of the palace, it was already past the hour of You, and the setting sun was illuminating the whole world with a golden glow.

Song Mo accompanied Dou Zhao in a sedan chair, and the two returned home chatting and laughing.

Yan Chaoqing was waiting for Song Mo in the study.

Dou Zhao and Song Mo were both a little surprised.

Yan Chaoqing smiled and said, "It's a letter from my eldest aunt's wife in Haozhou, saying that my twelfth cousin's wedding date is set for the 22nd of this month. My fourth aunt's wife, my thirteenth cousin and my fourteenth cousin will accompany my twelfth cousin to Kyoto at that time. They asked you to help arrange a house for my twelfth cousin to get married." As he said that, he handed a letter to Song Mo.

Dou Zhao had no idea what was going on.

Song Mo did not read the letter immediately, but explained to her: "The twelfth cousin is the eldest daughter of my third uncle. Before my eldest uncle got into trouble, she was betrothed to Wu Zijie, the eldest son of Wu Liang, the flag bearer and the Tongzhi. After my eldest uncle got into trouble, the Jiang family was quickly demoted back to Haozhou and did not have time to care about the marriages of several cousins. I didn't expect that after the mourning period for the twelfth cousin was over, the Wu family sent someone to discuss the marriage. This time, they should be here to send her off."

Dou Zhao couldn't help but respect the Wu family: "Then you have to help me with this matter."

Although the Jiang family had fallen on hard times, they still had the powerful relative, the Duke of England, so the twelfth young lady of the Jiang family could get married in a decent manner.

Yan Chaoqing smiled and said, "I'm afraid I'll disappoint Madam. My eldest aunt said that the Wu family is loyal and they can't be heartless. So this time when the twelfth cousin is leaving the palace, neither the Jiang family nor the Wu family will publicize it. They will just ask the prince to find a quiet house to avoid unnecessary trouble. My eldest aunt also said that she sent a letter to the Duke, saying that everything about the fourth aunt's wife going to Beijing depends on the prince, so the Duke doesn't have to worry about it."

When Song Mo and Song Yichun had a quarrel, Madam Mei was still alive, so Song Mo kept the matter secret in Haozhou. Later, Madam Mei passed away. Although Song Mo did not tell anything to the people in Haozhou, they had heard something more or less. Whenever there was any matter, they would contact Song Mo directly and then greet Song Yichun, being cold but polite.

Song Mo also said, "Let's follow the wishes of our aunt and arrange a quiet house for our aunt and cousins." He instructed Yan Chaoqing, "Leave this matter to Liao Bifeng!"

During this time, Yan Chaoqing was helping Song Mo with the affairs of the Imperial Hospital. He smiled and responded, then left.

Song Mo said, "Tomorrow you can ask the people from the silver shop to come and make a few sets of red gold head ornaments for your twelfth cousin to add to her box."

Wu Liang does not mind the current state of the Jiang family. Not all members of the Wu family are the same. Giving some shiny things as dowry is direct and neat, and can be exchanged for money in times of emergency.

Dou Zhao knew Song Mo's feelings for the Jiang family. In addition to helping the twelfth lady of the Jiang family to make four sets of pure gold head ornaments in the jewel shop, he also added a pair of jadeite bracelets, a pair of Hetian jade silencers, a set of South pearl head ornaments and twenty pieces of silk and satin of various colors.

Jingui and Yingui looked at it in amazement.

Gan Lu thought they were being superficial and asked Dou Zhao, "Do you want to prepare some antiques, calligraphy and paintings? They will look more elegant."

Dou Zhao smiled and said, "Since the Jiang family renovates the old house in Haozhou every year, there must be some good things left in the old house. Instead of preparing antiques, calligraphy and paintings for Miss Twelve, it is better to prepare some practical things."

Ganlu smiled embarrassedly.

Chen Jia asked for a meeting.

He got the news so quickly!

Dou Zhao was very happy and met Chen Jia in the small flower hall.

"No matter how the Li family moves, they can't give up their ancestral home." Chen Jia told Dou Zhao in detail what happened, "I went to Shuntian Prefecture to check the Li family's ancestral home first, and found that the Li family's ancestral home was still in Shuntian Prefecture. The taxes and other things were paid by the old neighbor who bought their ancestral home now, which shows that the two families had contacts. According to our Jinyiwei's habit, we can naturally find out the whereabouts of the Li family by arresting people and interrogating them, but because Madam just wants to know the current situation of the Li family, this method is not feasible, so I sent my close followers to keep an eye on their home."

Dou Zhao couldn't help but smile when he heard this.

It can be seen that it was right to entrust this matter to Chen Jialai.

Even if ordinary people want to get this trick, they can't go to Shuntianfu to verify it.

"Because Master Duan said before that Li Tiao Niang's brother Li Liang was a scholar, I went to Shuntian Prefecture School to check Li Liang's academic record. He took the exams since the year of Wushen, and failed four times in a row. It was not until five years ago that he gave up the imperial examinations. The teacher of Shuntian Prefecture School was deeply impressed by him. Knowing that I was his distant relative, he called a scholar who had taken the exams with Li Liang to come over." Chen Jia said, "I heard from the scholar that Li Liang was a melancholy person, spoke very little, did not socialize much, and had small hands. He was not very familiar with Li Liang's situation. He only knew that although he was from Kyoto, he did not live in Kyoto, but lived near Kyoto. No one knew exactly where he was.

I went to Shuntianfu to check the land and properties of the Li family at that time.

The Li family's property was in Langfang and was managed by an old servant of the Li family. On the sixth day of every December, Li Liang would come to collect rent. At other times, even the old servant could not be found.

It’s just that the Li family has not been doing well in the past few years. The 200 acres of good farmland have been gradually sold off, leaving only about 10 acres, and Li Liang has not come to collect rent in the past two years.”

Dou Zhao couldn't help but frown.

The Li family seems to be hiding from something.

She remembered what Duan Gongyi said, "In the first two years, some people came to ask where the Li family had gone," and she wanted to know more about the Li family's current situation.

"In other words, all clues are gone?" Dou Zhao thought, "We can only wait for Li Liang to show up himself?"

Chen Jia laughed when he heard this. His ordinary facial features suddenly became lively, and he looked energetic and radiant: "Just as my madam said. I was also worried at the time, and felt that I was too passive, so I thought of a way." He looked at Dou Zhao cautiously and said softly, "I asked someone to pretend to be the steward of the Duke of Ying's Mansion and go to the farm to inquire about the whereabouts of the Li family. The old servant behaved very calmly at the time and kept saying that he didn't know. On the third day after my people left, we who had been hiding near his house for three days and two nights without moving discovered that the old servant had gone out on a donkey.

I sent seven or eight people to follow him.

He turned left and right, and on the fifth day, he got on the post road to Kyoto and headed straight for Kyoto.

When we get to Kyoto, isn't that still our Jinyiwei's territory?

My people followed him and soon found Li Liang. "

Dou Zhao was shocked and asked hurriedly, "Where does the Li family live now?"

Chen Jia smiled and said, "It turns out that the Li family now lives in Shuzi Hutong, not far from Wanming Temple."

Dou Zhao raised his eyebrows.

She knew that place.

Because the whole street was filled with shops selling combs, the alley behind it was called Comb Alley. When Zhao Zhangru was in Kyoto, she and Zhao Zhangru went there together to buy a lot of combs.

"I didn't expect that either." Chen Jia was not surprised by this result, but he saw that Dou Zhao was a little surprised. In order to take Dou Zhao's feelings into consideration, he also showed some surprise. "Although Shuzi Hutong is two alleys away from the Li family's old house, one is in the south and the other is in the north, it is only separated by two streets. Li Liang actually lives there."

"Maybe it's because that place is the one he holds the most sentimental feelings for." Dou Zhao said, "Otherwise, why do people want to return to their roots when they get old?"

"That's exactly what Madam said." Chen Jia smiled and said, "The Li family moved to several places in the past few years. Maybe they had no hope of starting a business, so they moved back to Kyoto five years ago."

Dou Zhao nodded slightly and said, "What is the current situation of the Li family? Is Li's mother still alive? The Li family's land has been sold almost completely. How does the Li family survive now?"

Chen Jia said, "Li's mother passed away four years ago. Li Liang now makes a living as a bookkeeper for a north-south commodity store. He changed his name to Li Xun. Every year after the first month of the lunar year, he goes south with the second manager of the commodity store and comes back in the last month. His wife and children live with him in the south. The only person at home is his cousin who came to live with him in his early years and had nowhere to go after her husband died. She lives with her daughter in Suzi Hutong to look after his house."

Your husband’s cousin died?

Dou Zhao's heart skipped a beat and he asked, "Have you checked the background of this cousin?"

Chen Jia coughed slightly with an unnatural expression and said, "According to the neighbors, his widowed cousin is not very clean... The neighbors all guessed that the so-called cousin who lives in Li Liang's house is either Li Liang's concubine or has an affair with Li Liang. After Li Liang's mother passed away, Li Liang's wife and children followed Li Liang to Jiangnan and never showed up again. Li Liang was not at home at all. The widowed lady was a little afraid at first, but she became more and more courageous in the past two years. She once let a merchant from the northwest live in her house for some time. At the beginning of this year, the merchant came again. Maybe Li Liang heard something, and the merchant came in and Li Liang came back right after him. If the merchant had not run fast, he would have been caught by Li Liang.

Despite this, the two still had a big quarrel. Li Liang seemed to have even started a fight, beating the widow badly and even bought some medicinal wine for bruises.

The people I sent stayed on the roof of their house for a night and found that although the two did not sleep together, Li Liang went in and out of the widow's house without any scruples, very casually, not like a normal widowed cousin. "

Dou Zhaozhi frowned and asked, "Does Li Liang's cousin not care that she has a daughter?"

Chen Jia said: "Li Liang's cousin's daughter married to a man far away in Baoding last autumn. It is said that the marriage was arranged since she was young. The husband is a distant nephew of the Li family. Li Liang went to see her off in person. The reason why Li Liang's cousin is becoming more and more reckless is also related to the fact that her daughter is already married."

Everything sounded normal, but Dou Zhao felt vaguely uneasy.

She asked, "How old is Chen Jia's cousin? How old is the daughter that her cousin brought over?"

Chen Jia said: "Li Liang's cousin is very beautiful. She looks no more than 25 or 26 years old, but her daughter was already 14 years old when she got married. I think she should be at least 28 or 29 years old..."