In the letter, Dou Shiying first explained Yuzhan's marriage, then listed a long list of farms and houses that he was going to divide up for Dou Zhao, and finally asked Mrs. Zhao: "...if you have any objections, you can discuss it with the Sixth Master."

Entrust this matter to Dou Shiheng.

Mrs. Zhao frowned as she took the letter and asked Aunt Peng, "Do you think we can trust Dou Shiying's words?"

Dou Zhao was also full of suspicion.

"It's hard to say whether we can believe it or not," Madam Peng murmured, "but if Master Tang were to check the details of these farms and houses, it would definitely save us time rather than just groping in the dark."

Mrs. Zhao nodded, copied out a copy of Dou Shiying's letter and gave it to Aunt Peng: "Take this to Master Tang."

Master Tang received the list and went to check it out with his men overnight. Mrs. Zhao took Dou Zhao to chat with the second wife, visit the first wife, or drink tea with Ji every day... It didn't seem like they were here to discuss Dou Zhao's dowry with the Dou family, but rather to visit relatives. If anyone asked, she would just say "Master has hired someone to help sign the contract. I don't understand these things. The person is still on the way."

It was not Dong Dou's property that was divided, and it was not Dong Dou's relatives that were supported. So, of course, there was no rush for Dong Dou's people. While Mrs. Zhao was a guest at home, and the Second Madam treated Mrs. Zhao very warmly, the Second and Third Cousins ​​took the opportunity to persuade the Second Madam to invite a female storyteller to tell stories at home. The Second Madam got a hint from her second son, and thought that if Mrs. Zhao also agreed to keep Dou Zhao in the East Mansion, this matter would be easy to handle. Therefore, she not only invited a female storyteller to tell stories at home, but also invited a troupe to perform at home a few days later, and invited the mistresses of the rich families in Zhending County to accompany them. People came and went in the house, and there was laughter and chatter. It was even more lively than the New Year, which made Wang Yingxue, Pang Shi and others anxious, not knowing what had happened.

After more than half a month, news came from Master Tang that the places listed by Dou Shiying were all excellent, especially the houses on South Street and North Street of Qingyuan County. There were pavements facing the street, all connected together, occupying more than half of the two streets. The annual rent alone was more than 10,000 taels of silver.

Qingyuan County is the capital of Baoding Prefecture, and South Street is the most prosperous main street in Qingyuan County.

Mrs. Zhao couldn't help but sigh: "I knew the Dou family was rich, but I didn't expect them to be so rich."

Aunt Peng smiled and said, "It's a pity for the Wang family this time."

Mrs. Zhao couldn't help laughing even though she disliked the Wang family.

The next day, Master Tang was introduced to Dou Shibang.

Dou Shibang took Master Tang to Dou Duo to discuss Dou Zhao's dowry.

Dou Duo was prepared, and took out a thick stack of paper: "These are for Shou Gu."

Master Tang took a look and said with a smile, "Our master means that since your cousin is a woman and doesn't know how to run a business, we don't want these oil presses, bamboo shops and so on. We should ask for more farmhouses." After saying that, he handed over the list that he had discussed with Mrs. Zhao.

After reading it, Dou Duo's face became as gloomy as if it was going to rain, and he glanced coldly at Dou Shibang.

Dou Shibang was struck by this unprovoked disaster. He could not help but pick up the list written by Master Tang and immediately started to curse in his heart, "Who informed the Zhao family of this?" Several people who were sitting and counting money were all here.

No wonder Uncle San glared at him.

But this really wasn't his fault!

He felt like crying but couldn't.

But I could only stay by his side and endure it.

The two families haggled for more than ten days. The Zhao family gave up some land and took over several workshops, and Xidou also gave up several properties. The matter was roughly settled.

Mrs. Zhao sealed several gold ingots, ten new-style beaded flower rulers, and some beaded flower headdresses to visit the third aunt: "...it has troubled the third uncle these days. In the future, I will ask her third uncle to deal with the longevity aunt. Please help me.”

Looking at the nearly 1,200 taels of silver in front of her, Third Aunt couldn't help but smile even more.

After leaving the third room, Mrs. Zhao went to the second wife's place.

"You see, the child is so young and doesn't know anything. Brothers fight together to fight tigers, and fathers and sons fight together in battle. According to our master's opinion, we still want to ask the child's uncles and cousins ​​to help manage this business."

The Second Lady's eyes lit up.

The dragon gives birth to nine sons, each with its own characteristics. The Dou family had people like Dou Shishu who were admitted to the imperial examinations at an early age, and there were also people like Dou Shibang who were only a scholar at the age of 40. If the Dou family members were allowed to help Dou Zhao manage the business, it would at least be a livelihood, and it would sound good when others talked about it.

But can the Zhao family feel at ease if the Dou family is in charge?

She remembered the "over thirty" clause that had made her so angry that she almost vomited blood.

"I'm afraid the Dou family can't manage it well." The second wife said implicitly, "I'm sorry for Madam Zhao's kindness!"

"How can it be badly managed!" Mrs. Zhao said with a smile, "The people who are helping to manage it now are originally from the Dou family. Fortunately, Shougu got some farms and houses. I don't understand business, but I know the farm very well. In a good year, you can harvest a few more pounds, and in a bad year, you can harvest a few less pounds. But this is more or less. If you take ten years as a period, there will be a number every year. In my opinion, it is better to take the income of the past ten years as the standard and calculate how much it is every year. In the future, we will use the annual income as the standard. The extra money will be collected by the manager first, and then it will be used to make up for the bad years. If there are good years in a row, it must be the Bodhisattva who wants to reward him for his hard work, and naturally it will all belong to him."

"Ah!" Even the Second Lady couldn't sit still anymore.

That half of the industry is so huge that even if there is a little more, it will not be a small number.

She called several daughters-in-law to discuss the matter.

The eldest wife listened with a smile on her face - there was no way Lang'er would give up his business to help others with household chores.

The third wife's children are still young and have no experience. Unless Dou Shibang secretly takes care of them, he doesn't have the ability to do so.

The fourth branch is in Xinyang, the fifth branch is in Kyoto, and the sixth branch has only Dou Shiheng.

After all the calculations, this matter could only fall on the second wife's head.

Ji couldn't help but sigh.

I wonder who came up with this idea?

It’s amazing!

After all, Dou Zhao is a girl from the Dou family. She still has to live in the Dou family. After getting married, she will have to rely on the help of these uncles and brothers from the Dou family. The Zhao family was very unhappy with the Dou family because of Zhao Guqiu's death, and now it has divided half of Western Dou's property. Some people in the Dou family have privately complained that the Zhao family is troublesome. The Zhao family has a simple population. If nothing else, as long as The second wife said that if the Dou family takes back all the stewards and clerks who were in charge of Dou Zhao's dowry, there will be chaos there. The Zhao family simply does not have the ability or manpower to take over those industries in a short period of time. Now Mrs. Zhao proposed to let the Dou family help Dou Zhao manage the property and offered such generous conditions. Whoever takes over the management of Dou Zhao's property will be tied to Dou Zhao and become Dou Zhao's strongest link in the Dou family. of help. If this person comes from the second wife, and the second wife is the wife of the Dou family... Dou Zhao's life in the Dou family will be easier.

She glanced at the Second Wife.

There was a bright flash of heartbeat in the second wife's eyes.

This time, the Zhao family really came well prepared!

Ji smiled and said, "Our Sixth Master just won the imperial examination this year and is thinking about participating in the Spring Examination. Hui'er and Zhi'er still need someone to take care of them, so our family will not be involved in this matter."

The eldest wife also expressed her opinion after hearing this: "Tomorrow, Chunlan will be leaving school. We are afraid that we are unable to keep him from studying until midnight every day."

The Third Madam hesitated for a long while, and finally said, "Our Third Master is in charge of the Dou Mansion's property. Not to mention that he is very busy every day, even if he wants to avoid suspicion, it is not convenient for him to help Shougu manage the property."

The Second Lady asked the Second Wife, "What do you mean?"

The second wife took the lead and said, "The eldest is with the fifth uncle in Kyoto, and the second, third, and fifth are all at home. Can we choose one from them?"

"Okay." The Second Lady smiled and said, "Once you've made up your mind, come and tell me so I can give Madam Zhao an explanation."

This can be regarded as a reward for the second wife's support for her son in the Dou Zhao incident.

The second wife knew the truth, so she went back home and called her son and daughter-in-law to discuss the matter.

After Dou Zhao found out, he chose his third cousin Dou Xiuchang.

In the previous life, the eldest cousin had always been with the fifth uncle, and later the fifth uncle paved the way for the eldest cousin to become an official; the second cousin retired only after passing the imperial examination; the third and fifth cousins ​​had little contact with her, but she remembered that after the third uncle passed away, the third cousin had been helping the second cousin to manage the Dou family's affairs, which showed that the third cousin was still capable of taking on important tasks in this regard, and the third cousin's eldest son, Dou Qijun, was the most promising one among the "Qi" generation.

When she was chatting with her aunt, she said: "…My third aunt scolded my seventh cousin, saying that he was not as good at studying as Zhi Ge'er."

Mrs. Zhao immediately kept it in mind and asked someone to inquire about Dou Qijun.

When the second wife asked my aunt to come over to discuss the matter, my aunt chose the third cousin over the fifth cousin: "…Master Xiu is older and is the father of several children, so he must be more stable."

The second wife doesn't care, they are all her sons.

Dou Xiuchang's family was overjoyed.

For them who rely on monthly allowance for food, with the extra income, their children can eat better and dress more decently.

Even Dou Duo could not object.

He had a very good relationship with Dou Xiuchang's father, Luo Shiqi, who was Dou Zhao's second uncle.

Dou Xiuchang took over Dou Zhao's dowry very smoothly, and his aunt also handed the letter of consent to the second wife.

After finishing all these, it is already the winter solstice and every household is eating dumplings.

My aunt discussed with Dou Xiuchang: "Why don't you also manage the property that Shou's mother left to her? Wang is about to marry into the family, and it's not a good idea for Yu Ma to continue to stay in the West Mansion. Why not take this opportunity to let her be raised in honor, so that her son and daughter-in-law can be freed from debt, and it can be regarded as serving our aunt."

If it were someone else, they would probably worry about whether this would give people the misunderstanding that they were eliminating dissidents as soon as they took over Dou Zhao's business. However, Dou Xiuchang was the legitimate head of the Dou family, so why would he care about what those maids said?

"Sure!" He agreed nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter if I release just one sheep or a flock of sheep."

My aunt sent someone to call Nanny Yu over to talk to her and asked Yu Daqing to hand over the accounts to Dou Xiuchang in the afternoon.