Chapter 456: Take Refuge

The maid on duty is Fu Ye.

She bowed calmly and said with a steady smile, "Madam, I'll go out and take a look."

Dou Zhao nodded.

Fu Ye walked out of the inner room with light steps.

After just a few breaths, she turned back.

"Madam." She leaned close to Dou Zhao's ear and whispered to him that Miao Ansu had tied Qixia up.

Dou Zhao frowned as he listened.

What the hell is this Miao family doing?

Even if Qixia had made some mistake, there was no need to make such a big fuss and let everyone know about it.

The thought flashed through her mind and she felt something in her heart.

Could it be that Miao's original intention was to embarrass everyone?

She ordered Fuye: "Send away all those who are watching the excitement, and let the second wife bring Qixia in."

Fu Ye left immediately.

Ganlu came in to help Dou Zhao change his clothes.

Yuan Ge'er danced with joy and insisted on being held by his mother.

Dou Zhao was both amused and angry. He tapped his son's forehead and said, "Your father is such a dull person, why do you always love to join in when you see something lively? I don't know who you inherited this from!"

The servants in the room all smiled.

Dou Zhao handed Yuan Ge'er to the wet nurse and went to the hall.

Miao Ansu stood in the middle of the room with an angry look on his face. Several servants held Qixia's head and knelt at his feet.

Dou Zhao noticed that Qixia's hair was wet, as if it had just been washed.

Now it is October, and people no longer wash their hair at this time of year for fear of catching a cold.

She calmly sat down on the armchair in the hall, and before Miao Ansu could speak, she began to reprimand Gan Lu: "Second Madam is new here, and she doesn't know that you can't just enter the hall. You've served me for so many years, don't you know that?"

Ganlu knelt down and apologized.

Miao Ansu's face was so red that blood seemed to be dripping out.

She said hurriedly, "This is not Miss Ganlu's fault. I don't know the rules." As she spoke, she winked at the servants, "Why don't you leave quickly?"

Several old women retreated in panic.

Dou Zhao then said, "What happened? How could you be so impatient and make such a big fuss?" He did not even invite Miao Ansu to sit down.

Miao Ansu moved his feet uneasily and glanced at Ganlu.

Ganlu swiftly retreated with the maids and servants.

Miao Ansu then angrily told Dou Zhao what had happened, and said: "What do you think is going on? She is an old lady by the side of the Second Master. If she had such thoughts, she could have just told me. But she insisted on trying to get close to the Masters. Where can I save my dignity as a wife? I was so angry that I didn't care about anything else. I had her tied up and brought her to my sister-in-law to seek justice. After my sister-in-law said this, I realized that I was too reckless..."

Dou Zhao was shocked, but he didn't believe that Qixia seduced Song Han.

If Qixia had this intention, why did she use her own hard-earned private savings to beg Ruozhu?

She stared at Qixia with a sharp gaze, trying to see something from Qixia's expression.

Qixia, however, lowered her head and did not move, like a wooden sculpture made of clay.

Dou Zhao couldn't help but secretly sighed and said in a deep voice: "Qixia, raise your head."

Qixia raised her head.

Ruyu's face was already full of tears.

Miao Ansu was very surprised.

Dou Zhao asked Qixia: "Do you know you are wrong?"

Qixia was unwilling to accept this, but she knew that her excuses would only make her situation more difficult and might even bring trouble to her family.

She kowtowed three times to Dou Zhao respectfully and said in a low voice: "I know I was wrong!"

Dou Zhao nodded and said, "In that case, it's not appropriate to keep you in the mansion. I'll let Ganlu accompany you to pack your things, and you can leave the mansion with the human traffickers in the afternoon!"

"Yes!" Qixia responded, kowtowing to Dou Zhao while tears fell like raindrops.

Ganlu, who heard the commotion, came in and helped her back off.

Miao Ansu was a little dazed.

Just cut off the Gordian knot and the matter is over?

She still has a lot to say and a lot to ask!

Miao Ansu looked towards Dou Zhao.

I saw Dou Zhao drinking tea with a calm face.

She hesitated to speak.

Dou Zhao did not point out her little thoughts and said with a smile: "Since you have handed this matter to me, don't worry, I will give you an explanation. I heard that the Duke gave you a house. You need to repair and paint it, pack up the boxes, and hire new maids. I'm sure you will be very busy, so I won't keep you here." As he said that, he picked up the teacup.

Miao Ansu walked away embarrassedly.

Dou Zhao looked at her back, smiled, and returned to the inner room.

By the time Song Han learned that Qixia had been handed over to Dou Zhao by Miao Ansu, Qixia had already been taken away by human traffickers.

Song Han was so angry that his face turned blue and he almost slapped Miao Ansu in the face.

He grabbed Miao Ansu by the collar and asked, "What was the name of the trafficker? Which brokerage firm was he from? When did he come? When did he leave? What else did Qixia take with her besides the clothes and jewelry she brought with her?"

Look at the scene, it looks like he is trying to catch up.

Miao Ansu was filled with anger and perfunctorily replied, "I don't know either. The trafficker was hired by my sister-in-law, and the person was taken away from Yizhitang..."

Song Han pushed Miao Ansu away, turned around and left the inner room.

Miao Ansu staggered and almost fell to the ground.

She spat in the direction where Song Han was going away, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

At this moment, Qixia, with a dull expression on her face, suddenly discovered that the carriage had stopped.

She couldn't help but lift the curtain and look outside.

The dusk was all around, and the dense forests all around made it look very desolate.

Is she going to be silenced?

Qixia felt hopeless.

The curtain was lifted, revealing a simple and honest face of Ren Yazi: "Miss Qixia, this is the steward Cui who is by Madam's side. Madam knows that you have been wronged, but the government has its own rules. If she doesn't punish you, it will be difficult to convince the public. So Madam handed you over to this steward Cui. You should follow this steward Cui from now on."

Qixia's tears burst out like a spring.

She didn't even see the face of Steward Cui clearly, and just followed Steward Cui with her bag on her shoulder.

※※※※※

Song Han spent a lot of effort but failed to find out where Qixia was.

He felt more and more that something was wrong. After wandering around the house anxiously and angrily for two days, he went to Yizhitang.

Who knew that Dou Zhao was not at home.

Besides, Yuan Ge'er and the people from Zhending were not here either.

He was very curious and asked the people in Yizhitang: "Where did my sister-in-law go?"

The people from Yizhi Hall laughed and said, "Madam and the eldest master went out with the prince. How do I know where the madam and the prince went?"

The word "grandfather" pricked him like a needle.

He returned to the house with a cold face, but he kept thinking in his heart: Where did Song Mo take Dou Zhao and Yuan Ge'er to? They were about to separate, did they go to the Lu family? Or to the Dou family?

One of these two families is the elder uncle, and the other is the younger uncle. They both have to be witnesses when the family property is divided.

Song Han couldn't sit still anymore, so he went to Lu's house first.

Song Mo and Dou Zhao were not there.

He went to Dou's house again.

Even Dou Shiying was not at home.

Where did they go?

Song Han stood at the gate of Jing'an Temple, looking at the pilgrims coming and going, feeling helpless and bewildered.

At this time, Song Mo, Dou Shiying and others were in Housi Hutong behind Jing'an Temple Hutong.

Song Mo bought a small house with two entrances in Housi Hutong and brought Aunt Cui over from Zhending.

Dou Zhaozheng and Aunt Cui were hugging each other and crying!

Song Mo and Dou Shiying, who were sitting in the main room, shook their heads, and Yuan Ge'er, seeing his mother crying, also started crying loudly.

Aunt Cui pushed Dou Zhao away and wiped her tears: "Look at you, you made our baby Yuan Ge'er cry."

Dou Zhao smiled with red eyes, but tears fell uncontrollably again.

Aunt Cui held Yuan'er in her arms to comfort him, and while comforting him, she talked to Dou Zhao: "The prince often sent people to send me letters to tell me everything about you. I also knew that you were pregnant and had a child. I wanted to come to see you after you gave birth to Yuan'er, but the prince insisted that I wait until Yuan'er's 100th day ceremony. I know that he was afraid that I would be neglected when the child's full month ceremony and 100th day ceremony were crowded with guests. This child is really thoughtful. Shougu, you married a good aunt, you should treat him well."

Dou Zhao nodded while crying, and said, "You are not leaving this time, right?"

"I'm not leaving." Aunt Cui said with a smile, "The prince is right. As long as the family is reunited, anywhere is home. I will live here from now on. If you miss me, bring the child to see me."

Moreover, this place is very close to Jing'an Temple Hutong, so if my father wants to visit my grandmother, he can come anytime.

Dou Zhao nodded continuously.

Aunt Cui praised Yuan Ge'er: "This child is strong and healthy, just like you when you were a child."

Was I this strong when I was a kid?

Dou Zhao burst into laughter.

Dou Shiying sighed after hearing this and said to Song Mo, "You are so thoughtful... I saw a vegetable patch in the backyard..."

Song Mo said modestly, "Nothing! It was originally a small flower garden, and I saw that there were no good flowers to grow there, so I took the initiative to change it into a vegetable garden."

Dou Shiying was very emotional.

Wuyi, who had followed him, ran in and whispered, "My Lord, Lord Shi Chuan invites you to have a drink at Zuixianlou." As he spoke, he took out a visiting card.

Song Mo was about to say something, but Dou Shiying said, "If you have something to do, just go and do it. I'm here with Shougu and Aunt Cui, so nothing will happen." He reminded him, "Shi Chuan is the commander of the Jinyi Guard. The emperor hates him interacting with others. He asked you to drink, so it must be something important."

Most likely it was because of Shao Wenji’s death.

Song Mo knew that he couldn't hide the matter of the chopsticks from Shi Chuan.

However, he clearly knew that Chen Jia was his man, yet he still handed Shao Wenjie a small blade. Shi Chuan really didn't take him seriously!

Song Mo thought for a moment and said, "I'll go see what he wants me to do! Please ask Shougu to wait for me for a while, and then I'll come to take them home."

This left just enough time for Dou Zhao to talk to Aunt Cui.

Dou Shiying saw Song Mo off.

Song Mo went to Zuixianlou.

Shi Chuan is in his forties, of medium height, with dark skin and ordinary looks. He is the kind of person who would be hard to find in a crowd.

When Song Mo saw him, he inadvertently thought of Chen Jia.

Do all the people who do well in the Royal Guard look like this?

It's not like they haven't met before.

Song Mo smiled and greeted Shi Chuan, and then the guests sat down.

The food came out quickly.

Shi Chuan started with the topic of cuisine, and ended up talking about Chen Jia, saying, "He's very capable. With him in the Zhenfu Division, things are much smoother. He's worthy of being a person that the Crown Prince values. So I want to give him more responsibility and transfer him to the Jinyiwei Yamen as a Tongzhi, in charge of the Jinyiwei's internal affairs."