Mrs. Wu, who had originally planned to depart at the end of June, moved her trip forward a few days.

Second Madam Yu bids farewell to Auntie and mentions Wu Shan and Dou Zhao's marriage: "...How do you think I should explain this to the Madam?"

This marriage was proposed by Mrs. Wu, and now the Dou family has agreed. Logically, Mrs. Wu should have settled this matter before leaving Zhending. Even if she did not exchange engagement letters, at least she should have said something definite.

Mrs. Wu said calmly, "At that time, I was just asking. This matter still needs our master's consent."

Second Madam Yu was stunned.

Mrs. Wu lowered her eyelids in an evasive manner and took a sip of tea.

The Second Mistress became so angry that her face turned purple.

Although she is a girl from the Wu family, she is more of a daughter-in-law of the Dou family.

At first, her aunt was sincere, so she went to the Second Madam to ask for this favor. But her aunt suddenly changed her mind. How can she gain a foothold in the Dou family in the future?

"Aunt, we are not outsiders," the Second Mistress suppressed her anger for a long time and said hoarsely, "If you have anything to say, just tell me directly. I have to give an explanation to the Madam and my mother-in-law. You probably don't know yet? Shougu has half of Xidou's property as a dowry. I don't know how many families are eyeing it! If the Wu and Dou families were not relatives, if my uncle and fifth uncle were not close friends, the Dou family might not agree to this marriage..."

Mrs. Wu was stunned when she heard this.

Dou Zhao got half of Xidou's property as a dowry?

No wonder he was so arrogant and dared to beat Pang Kunbai half to death.

A woman like this should not be allowed in!

Otherwise, who will be able to control it in the future?

Maybe their Wu family will even be branded as being greedy for the daughter-in-law's dowry.

She was immediately furious and said dissatisfiedly: "Don't you know who your uncle and I are? Why didn't you tell me that Fourth Miss Dou had such a large dowry? Are you afraid that I would be greedy for her dowry? Fortunately, you told me about this matter today. If we wait until the two families come to pay their respects, can our Wu family afford the betrothal gift? How can you be a matchmaker? You are embarrassing your family! I tell you the truth, this Fourth Miss of your family just beat someone to death because he was robbed, and she is still a relative of yours. My son can't afford such a person! I'm also afraid that if I offend her one day, she will not even let me, her mother-in-law, go!"

The Second Mistress didn't know the details and was very surprised when she heard this, but she still defended herself, "Auntie, why are you talking like that? Fourth sister and Twelve Uncle were robbed, but they didn't resist. Could they have stretched their heads out and let others chop them off?"

Mrs. Wu thought she was just speaking for her husband's family, and said coldly: "I didn't say she shouldn't resist, but there must be a bottom line, right? She's a woman, she obviously has the upper hand, and she still has to be unreasonable..." As she was speaking, the bamboo curtain clanged, and Wu Shan rushed in from outside with a pale face.

"Mother, Fourth Sister is not that kind of person!" But within a few days, his eye sockets were sunken and he looked like a withered grass, no longer as lively as before. "It was our idea to attack Pang Kunbai. He is such a despicable person, we would be unwilling if we don't teach him a lesson..."

"Aren't you reading in the study? What are you doing out here?" Mrs. Wu looked at her son with an unprecedentedly stern look. "I'm talking to your cousin, do you have the right to interrupt? Who did you learn this from? You don't know any rules at all! Go back to your room!" As she spoke, she shouted to Nanny Bi, "How do you serve the young master? Why do you let him run around everywhere..."

Auntie is clearly referring to something irrelevant.

Second Mistress’s face changed drastically.

Wu Shan couldn't help but shout "Mother" loudly, and said, "You don't have to blame Madam Bi, it's all my fault. I'll go back to my room to study." After he said this, he did not go back to his room immediately, but hesitated for a moment, and suddenly knelt down in front of his mother with a "thump". "Mother," he showed determination in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, and begged Mrs. Wu pitifully, "You, please agree to my marriage with my fourth sister? I beg you..." As he said this, he kowtowed to his mother, "dong dong dong".

Mrs. Wu and the second wife were furious. Mrs. Wu even shouted, "Wu Shan, what are you going to do?"

What is he going to do?

He just won't give up!

Didn’t the fourth sister need the permission of her parents and the words of a matchmaker?

If the Dou family agrees to their marriage, even if that family comes to propose marriage, he can still fight for it, right?

Wu Shan's eyes were blurred with tears and he kept knocking his head, as if only in this way could the pain in his heart be alleviated a little.

The Second Mistress sighed softly and went forward to help Wu Shan: "Get up quickly!"

Wu Shan grabbed Second Grandma's sleeve as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw: "Cousin, please help me..."

Before he could finish his words, his mother slapped him hard in the face: "A real man should kneel before heaven, earth, king, parents and teachers. But you actually kneel before your mother and cousin for a woman. Are you still a man? Get up!" As she said this, she pulled Wu Shan randomly.

Wu Shan said nothing and stared at the Second Mistress intently.

The Second Mistress couldn't bear to look at his eyes, so she turned away and whispered, "Now that things have come to this, even if Fourth Sister marries over, do you think it's appropriate?"

When Wu Shan heard this, his eyes suddenly dimmed, and all the strength in his body seemed to be drained away. He was pulled up by his mother in a daze.

The second grandma didn't want to wade through the muddy water anymore, so she stood up and said goodbye.

In less than half an hour, what happened in the west guest room reached Ji's ears.

She was furious and said: "What does the Wu family want to do? Do you think our Dou family is just a dish for the Wu family? Do whatever you want! I'll go to the madam to ask for a clear explanation of this matter."

The Second Lady was also very angry. She was lying on the kang with her eyes closed, resting her mind, while Madam Liu was hitting her legs with a beauty beater.

"A forced melon is not sweet. It's better if it doesn't work out." She advised Ji, but her eyes were cold. "Just now, she scolded Zijun's wife. But what's the use? Since Mrs. Wu looks down on Shougu, Shougu will not get any good even if she marries. If you are interested, you should pay more attention to her in the future and find her a better marriage than the Wu family."

Ji looked at the coldness that flashed in the Second Madam's eyes from time to time, and knew that the Second Madam hated Madam Wu and would most likely cause trouble for her in the future, so she said nothing more and stood up to leave. Thinking of Aunt Cui who had sent someone to ask her two days ago if she could help find two embroiderers from Jiangnan to embroider Dou Zhao's wedding dress, she felt a pang of sadness in her heart and told Caishu, "Have someone prepare a car. I'm going to the West Palace."

Dou Zhao also got the news. She thought Wu Shan had said something to Mrs. Wu. She breathed a sigh of relief, but a slight sense of sadness flashed through her heart. But she quickly put this sadness behind her and told Chen Qushui the news she had just received: "...The Second Madam has already determined that Duan was instructed by Wang Yingxue?"

"Yes!" Chen Qushui said with a smile, "The Third Elder not only wrote a letter to the Fifth Elder, but also wrote a letter to your father. Someone just sent it to Kyoto as fast as he could."

Dou Zhao pondered and said, "Given the character of my fifth uncle, he will definitely seize this opportunity to make trouble for Wang Xingyi. Although Wang Xingyi has made great military achievements in recent years, he is a general in the field. Although he is not subject to the orders of the emperor, the affairs of the army, such as military pay, rations, and compensation, cannot be done without the help of officials from the six ministries. My fifth uncle has been running the capital for many years and has deep roots. At this time, Wang Xingyi will never dare to turn against my fifth uncle. If I were him, I would definitely admit my mistakes and promise my fifth uncle something..." As she spoke , and laughed, "I'm really scared. We can't let Fifth Uncle get all the good things, right? We probably won't be able to eat the meat, but we can still have soup. Why don't we let the Pang family compensate us with 10,000 taels of silver... No, 20,000 taels of silver! For Pang Kunbai, I've put out a 10,000 taels of silver as a reward! Anyway, the people of the Pang family are all arrogant when they go out, as if 'I have money' is written on their foreheads, so let's give them a good beating!"

Chen Qushui laughed.

Dou Zhao told Su Xin: "Help me to grind the ink. I need to write a letter to my father. It would be best if he could talk to my fifth uncle about this matter."

Su Xin smiled and helped Dou Zhao prepare the pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

Dou Zhao wrote a letter to his father, and then talked about Duan Gongyi: "I have already told my third uncle that if Mrs. Duan needs any herbs in the future, she can ask her maid to get them from the Dou family's herbal medicine shop and put them on my account."

Yesterday, Duan Gongyi officially became a security guard of the Dou family.

Chen Qushui smiled and nodded: "That's great!"

Dou Zhao asked about the business of the pen and ink shop before returning to the inner courtyard.

My grandmother's eyes were red, as if she had been crying, and a hint of sympathy flashed in her gaze from time to time.

Dou Zhao was secretly amazed. After leaving the East Courtyard, she asked Gan Lu, "What's going on?"

Gan Lu lowered her head and murmured, "Sixth Madam came and said that the Wu family will leave for Kyoto tomorrow..."

So my grandmother was sad because her marriage didn't work out.

Dou Zhao sighed helplessly.

※※※※※

It rained lightly on the day Wu Shan left.

The rain was wet, washing the leaves, making them look especially green.

Dou Zhao spent the whole day trimming the holly tree in the greenhouse until Dou Dechang came to visit her in the evening: "Wu Si said that you once asked him to paint a fan, and asked me to deliver it to him."

She washed her hands and asked Suxin to put the fan into the box.

Dou Dechang said in bewilderment, "Don't you want to see what the painting is about?"

"What does it matter what the painting is about?" Dou Zhao wiped his hands carefully with a handkerchief and said lightly, "It's better to put it away."

Dou Dechang remained silent.

A few days later, Ji Yong came back from Mount Tai. When he heard that Wu Shan had left, he laughed twice, fanning himself, and told his followers to prepare a car as he was going to Xifu.

Ji stopped him nervously: "What are you going to do?"

Ji Yong's eyes widened: "I brought a fully formed Polygonum multiflorum for my fourth sister, and this is not allowed?"

Ji smiled awkwardly.

Ji Yong walked away.

Seeing Dou Zhao, he asked her, "I heard that your marriage with Wu Shan has fallen through? You don't have to be sad. He is such a soft-hearted person. He is really not interesting. You will definitely meet someone better in the future! I just found a branch of Polygonum multiflorum for you to give to you to fix your hair."

Is he comforting himself or beating himself up?

Dou Zhao was so angry that his head was throbbing. He gritted his teeth and said, "Cousin Ji, did you hear me wrong? How come I didn't know that I was engaged to Fourth Brother Wu?"

Ji Yong opened her mouth wide and took a long time to close it.

Dou Zhao felt much better.