Several boys who came to swim last time came to thank Dou Zhao in batches, including Pang Jixiu, but the elders of the Dou family did not show up. Dou Zhao knew that they were afraid of being blamed by the elders, so they discussed and kept the matter secret.

Dou Zhao thought this was a good idea.

The incident happened on my grandmother's farm, and the people in the Dou family are prejudiced against her, so they might put the blame on her.

She told Hong Gu: "If anyone else comes to swim, you should do as I said and go to the village to find a few people to guard the river. It's better to be prepared!"

Hong Gu nodded in a flurry.

After Dou Zhao visited Tuoniang, he asked his grandmother to help her find a few maids to take back with her: "...I don't have any capable people over there."

The grandmother thought about it and called four or five little girls of appropriate age.

Dou Zhao recognized Ganlu and Sushen.

At this time, one of them was called Erya and the other was called Zhaodi.

Dou Zhao kept the two of them, changed their names, and personally taught them how to behave.

Just like in her previous life, Ganlu was smart and learned things very quickly. Sujun was calm and thoughtful in everything she did. In her previous life, Sujun was in charge of her own box and Ganlu followed her closely and served her.

Dou Zhao nodded secretly.

In August, Xifu sent someone to pick up Dou Zhao.

Dou Zhao persuaded his grandmother: "Why don't you come back with me? The Mid-Autumn Festival is just a few days away."

"I'm not used to it." Dou Zhao couldn't count how many times her grandmother had rejected her. "Please don't make me feel uncomfortable."

Dou Zhao had no choice but to instruct Hong Gu not to leave his grandmother alone, not to let her get up so early to water the vegetable garden, not to let her patrol the fields at noon... He gave her all sorts of instructions and chattered for a long time before setting off.

Hong Gu said to her grandmother, "The fourth young lady really wants to honor you. You will make her sad by doing this."

"What do you know?" Cui said unhappily, "Shou Gu is still living in the main house. Where should I live if I go there?"

Hong Gu was silent.

Dou Zhao returned home, washed up, and went to greet his father.

Dou Shiying lived in the study, and Dou Ming lived in Qixia Courtyard with Wang Yingxue.

When she went there, Dou Shiying was bending over to take care of the chrysanthemums in the yard. Wang Yingxue was serving him with a tray containing scissors and other things. Dou Ming was lying on Dou Shiying's drunkard's chair under the veranda, eating osmanthus cake.

When she saw Dou Zhao, she turned her head away and pretended not to see it.

Dou Shiying waved at her with a smile on his face: "You're back. How's Aunt Cui? Have you had dinner?"

"Aunt Cui is doing well," Dou Zhao said, nodding to Wang Yingxue and calling her "Madam." Then he glanced at the chrysanthemums that his father had carefully nurtured and said with a smile, "I didn't expect that all of your chrysanthemums have buds. They should be able to bloom during the Mid-Autumn Festival, right?" As he spoke, he bent down and stroked one of them, "Is this a black chrysanthemum, the kind that can bloom black flowers?"

"How did you recognize it?" asked the father curiously.

Dou Zhao couldn't help laughing and pointed at the flowerpot: "You use a porcelain pot with a magnolia flower painted on it to grow it."

My father also laughed, reached out to take a towel from the tray held by Wang Yingxue and wiped his hands, then went into the house with Dou Zhao: "Are there really only a few ginkgo trees planted in the east courtyard?"

When Dou Zhao's great-grandfather built this house, Dou Huancheng and Dou Yaocheng had just started a family and built a career. He hoped that his family would prosper and his descendants would flourish, so he built more than a dozen courtyards of different sizes. When the house was passed to Dou Duo, except for the main hall and the main house in the middle, the Heshou Hall in the west and the study and Qixia Courtyard in the front were still occupied, but the east cross courtyard was completely empty. After decades, no matter how well it was maintained, it still had a smell of decay. Dou Shiying was idle at home and had nothing to do, so he thought about tearing down the east cross courtyard and rebuilding it after the mourning period. Dou Zhao felt that his father had gone to Kyoto to wait for a vacancy, and this matter was either left to Wang Yingxue who stayed at home, or it was possible that Wang Yingxue followed him to Kyoto and left the matter to him. If I leave it to myself, I really have no interest in it; and if I leave it to Wang Yingxue, she has no idea what it will look like and it would be better to keep it as it is, so she suggests that my father only renovate the east courtyard and plant some flowers, plants and trees.

After listening to Dou Zhao's ideas, Dou Shiying felt that his daughter seemed to have a talent for construction, and he often pulled Dou Zhao to discuss the renovation of the East Courtyard. After writing and drawing for almost a year, there was still no sign of construction. This made Dou Zhao more certain that his decision to stop his father from rebuilding the East Courtyard was the right one.

When passing by the veranda, Dou Shiying stopped and called to Dou Ming who was pretending to be asleep: "Your sister is back!"

Dou Ming had no choice but to open his eyes. Fearing that Dou Zhao would see him, he pretended to rub his eyes and called out "Sister" in a sleepy manner.

Dou Zhaoquan pretended not to see it and said with a smile: "I brought you some fresh dates. Haitang will send them to your room later."

Dou Ming stood up reluctantly, bent his knees and thanked Dou Zhao.

Dou Shiying looked at it with satisfaction and said "hmm", then he and Dou Zhao went into the study.

Dou Ming jumped up and pulled Wang Yingxue, saying, "Mother, mother, look at Dou Zhao, what's his attitude? He neither greets you nor says hello when he sees you..."

Wang Yingxue turned her face away and said in a choked voice, "Who made me a concubine?" She wiped the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand. When she turned her head back, although there were no tears on her face, her eyes were red. "Ming Jie'er, your father likes your sister to be well-behaved and sensible the most. You should learn more from your sister in the future..."

"She can't even think about it!" Dou Ming said gritting his teeth, not sure whether he meant that she could not learn to be obedient and sensible from Dou Zhao, or that Dou Zhao could not even think about pleasing his father.

Wang Yingxue sighed inwardly.

No matter how she tried to please Dou Shiying these years, he remained unmoved and just perfunctorily treated her, but he loved his two daughters very much. She really had no choice but to push Dou Ming forward, hoping that Dou Shiying would treat her better for Dou Ming's sake.

Dou Ming spoke harshly, but when he really wanted to compete with Dou Zhao, he was completely helpless.

She heard the maids around her talking and knew that her mother wanted Dou Zhao to take care of the stove affairs during her grandfather's funeral. However, Dou Zhao said one word and everyone at the stove, from the mother who was in charge to the maid who picked vegetables, were driven out. Now everyone at the stove acted according to Dou Zhao's wishes. As long as Dou Zhao put a few more chopsticks into a bowl of food, the whole family would have to follow her to eat that dish the next day.

Dou Zhao even went to his third cousin to ask for money, saying that his mother's rewards for the four seasons were too little, and that she wanted to use her own money to reward the maids and old women around her. This caused the Second Madam to call his father to question him, and as a result, now as soon as his mother got the money transferred from the outer courtyard, the first thing she did was to settle the monthly wages of the maids and old women in Dou Zhao's room. As a result, the maids and old women in Dou Zhao's room were all arrogant and didn't take the other maids and old women in the mansion seriously at all. When Dou Zhao said a word, the maids and old women in the mansion ran faster than anything else, and they were almost wagging their tails and circling around Dou Zhao.

She was so angry when she thought of this that she shouted at the maid beside her: "I want to go play with Sister Yi!"

Naturally, no one in the mansion dared to stop her.

He immediately harnessed a carriage and sent her to the East Palace.

Yijie was changing clothes in the room, with several maids surrounding her. Shujie was sitting on the kang piled with clothes, holding a puppet, waiting for Yijie.

Seeing Dou Ming coming in, Yi Jieer pulled Dou Ming and said, "What do you think of my clothes?"

She was wearing a moon-white summer shirt with silver stripes, a scallion-green skirt with a hem embroidered with green bamboo, and a small red-gold lilac flower on her ear.

Dou Ming couldn't help but widen his eyes: "Dou Zhao also has such clothes and jewelry."

Sister Yi'er's face immediately turned red, and she argued, "When did she have a dress like this? How come I didn't know about it?"

Shu Jie'er also said, "Fifth aunt is mistaken. Fourth aunt's red gold lilac was given to me. Fourth aunt's horse-faced skirt is aqua blue, embroidered with magnolia flowers."

What's the difference? It's just a change of color and pattern.

Sister Yi said, "Yes, yes, how come I am wearing the same clothes as Fourth Aunt?"

Dou Ming was stunned.

Shu Jie'er said impatiently, "Second sister, how long will you take? I have been waiting for you for almost half an hour."

"Okay, okay." Sister Yi said, and finally looked at herself in front of the mirror, and said to Dou Ming, "Ah Qi is here, we are going to Sixth Aunt's place, do you want to go?"

Since they all went, of course she had to go too!

Dou Ming said gloomily, "Ah Qi is here, what are you doing going to Sixth Aunt's place?"

"Aqi will go to Kyoto with Mrs. Wu after the Mid-Autumn Festival." Sister Yi told Dou Ming the whole story.

Dou Ming was inspired by what he heard and said, "Kyoto is so much fun. There are people everywhere..."

The three little girls chattered and went to Ji's place.

Not only was Bi there, but also the siblings Wu Shan and Wu Ya.

They bowed respectfully to the Bi family and exchanged greetings with the Wu brothers and sisters.

It was the first time that Bi met Dou Ming. She smiled and asked, "Who is this?"

"She is Uncle Seven's second daughter," Ji said, "her nickname is Ming Jie'er."

"It turns out to be Sister Ming." Bi nodded with a smile and asked the maid beside her to present Dou Ming with a jade plaque.

When Yijie'er, Shujie'er and Bishi met for the first time, they also received such a jade token, so they did not care about it.

Dou Ming, however, thought that Bi really liked him, otherwise she would not have given her gifts. So he smiled and said to his sixth aunt, "My sister is back too!"

Sixth Aunt smiled gently and said, "I know. She just sent me some fresh eggs and vegetables."

Dou Ming was depressed.

Dou Zhao never seems to make any mistakes!

Sister Yi held Wu Ya's hand and said, "Grandma Wu, I want to invite Aunt Qi to play in the yard."

Bi looked at Dou Ming and hesitated for a moment.

Ji said hurriedly, "Ming Jie'er was originally raised in the Second Madam's house, and then Uncle Seventh came back to observe mourning, and took her back."

Bi laughed and said, "Don't run too far, and don't run around everywhere. Be careful not to bump into anything."

Yijie nodded several times and ran out.

Dou Ming followed behind from a distance, thinking about Wu Ya's mother.

She could sense that it was because of her that the Bi family didn't want Wu Ya to play with them.

But why?

Her mother said that she was being raised in the Second Madam's house and was living under someone else's roof, which was very pitiful. Why did Wu Ya's mother agree to let Wu Ya play with them after hearing that she was being raised in the Second Madam's house?