Dou Zhao's tone was a little hurried, which made Chen Qushui very suspicious about the source of her words.

No wonder the Fifth Elder said something to the Fourth Miss?

But he immediately dismissed the idea.

How could Dou Shishu possibly tell his niece, who had not yet reached the age of marriage, about such matters concerning the temple?

He was a little confused.

Dou Zhao also realized that his tone was too hasty and perfunctory, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

After all, I am too timid and lack confidence!

She could only say briefly: "People say that too much wisdom is close to evil... Sometimes thinking too much is not necessarily a good thing!"

Chen Qushui thought about it and it made sense.

Otherwise, the Fourth Miss would not have explained it to me.

Actually, I was overthinking it.

Chen Qushui mocked himself in his heart and asked Dou Zhao about his future plans: "Do you have any instructions for the Wang family?"

"Let's put this matter aside for now." Dou Zhao felt that the fire had already been lit. If he fanned it too hastily, it might be extinguished. It would be better to let it burn slowly and add some firewood. This fire might burn more vigorously. So he said, "Pay attention to Zeng Yifen's health. It would be great if Wang Xingyi could stay in Shaanxi."

Although the emperor's will played a decisive role in who could enter the cabinet, such promotions were rare. As long as Wang Xingyi stayed in the local area, his hope of entering the cabinet was very small, not to mention that there were many people watching him covetously. If he was allowed to enter the cabinet smoothly, it could only be said that he was too lucky and it was God's will.

Chen Qushui asked, "You mean... let us contact the Five Elders?"

"My fifth uncle must have already planned this matter," Dou Zhao said tactfully. "Even if we want to help him, we don't have the qualifications and ability. The main thing is to find out more about the situation so that if something unexpected happens, we won't be too passive."

"I see." Chen Qushui laughed, "I'm also trying to get Fan Wenshu to interact more with the people at the head office."

Dou Zhao smiled and nodded.

Chen Qushui went to Kyoto twice in succession and brought back only good news.

"First, someone accused Wang Xingyi of falsely claiming military merits, and then someone else accused Wang Xingyi of embezzling military pay." Sitting in the flower hall, drinking iced green bean soup, his voice was somewhat contented. "Although the emperor kept both of them, he sent his trusted eunuch Peng Qian to serve as the military supervisor of the Shaanxi Xingdusi, which shows that he still has some grudges about this matter. So much so that Zeng Yifen proposed to promote Wang Xingyi to the position of Dali Temple Minister a few days ago, but the emperor did not agree."

It seems that Zeng Yifen still likes Wang Xingyi the most in the end.

Dou Zhao said, "Is there any news about my fifth uncle?"

"It's the same as before with Zeng Yifen," Chen Qushui said, "but I'm closer to He Wendao."

Dou Zhao murmured, "If we can get Ji Yong's uncle Ji Song out of the game early, maybe the Ji family will support my fifth uncle..."

Chen Qushui was stunned.

There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

I didn't expect that the fourth young lady has already touched the threshold of officialdom!

But knowing is one thing, and implementing is another. Just like the staff of the provincial governors, no matter how good their ideas are, without the support of the provincial governors, they are just pie in the air.

He couldn't help but remind Dou Zhao: "Fourth Miss, even if Zeng Yifen and Ye Shipei took action personally, they might not be able to get someone like Ji Zirong out early..."

Jisong, whose courtesy name was Zirong.

"I know!" Dou Zhao smiled, "I was just thinking about it." Suddenly he felt that he was a bit like those people in Kyoto who spent all year hanging out in teahouses. They could talk a lot but when it came to doing things they had no idea where to start.

Time passed slowly until the beginning of August. During this period, Dou Shiying sent two letters to ask about Dou Ming's situation. Dou Zhao answered one by one: "I studied with Mr. Song, and my calligraphy has improved greatly... I practiced pipa for an hour every day... I went to the East Palace every now and then to greet the Second Madam, and she liked me very much. During the Zhongyuan Festival, the Second Madam specifically asked me to go to Fayuan Temple to burn incense... Shu Jie'er got engaged. The aunt's family name is Wu, from Pingshan County. His ancestors had a Jinshi, who was three years older than Shu Jie'er and studied in the Dou family school. Dou Ming embroidered a pillow with a pair of lotus flowers and gave it to Shu Jie'er."

Dou Shiying was very satisfied.

He warned Dou Zhao: "If she doesn't listen, you should discipline her. If she dares to contradict you, tell her that I said it."

No matter who said this, she will be the one who will be hated in the end.

Dou Zhao ignored Dou Shiying.

Ji Yong is back.

He gave Dou Zhao a red lacquered and gold-painted box. It was so heavy that Su Xin almost dropped it when she took it.

Dou Ming laughed and said, "What did the cousin from the Ji family give my sister? It's so heavy. Could it be gold, silver or gems? Sister, open it and take a look!"

Ji glared at Ji Yong fiercely, thinking that since Ji Yong wanted to give Dou Zhao something, he should give something that people could tell what it was at a glance, so as to avoid people making wild guesses and saying nonsense.

Ji Yong laughed and said, "I'm giving your sister a good thing. If Fifth Miss is curious, why not open it and take a look."

Dou Zhao knew from what he said that he was not a good person and wanted to stop Dou Ming, but then she changed her mind and thought of Dou Ming's willfulness, so she just let her open the box.

The box contained a pair of shiny iron balls, as big as a baby's fist.

Everyone in the room was stunned.

Ji Yong smiled and took the pair of iron balls in her hands and started to spin them.

The sound of the iron ball is sometimes high and sometimes low, crisp and pleasant to the ear.

"It's interesting, isn't it?" He looked at Dou Zhao with a smile, "Take a turn like this every day when you have nothing to do. It can help you stay healthy, and then Fourth Sister won't have to walk around the yard."

Is this something for girls?

Dou Zhao was furious. He said "thank you" with a fake smile and let Su Xin put it away.

Ji Yong's eyes flashed with disappointment, but he quickly regained his happiness and showed Ji a piece of Shu embroidery he brought back from Baoding Prefecture: "... a blue-green pattern with a few bright red threads. It will be cold in a few days, so Auntie can make a tent for me. It will definitely look great."

Ji accepted it with a smile.

Then there was the peach wood hairpin for Aunt Cui, the gold and jade bracelet for the second wife, and the Buddhist beads for the first wife...

Dou Ming was stunned and asked, "Cousin Ji, where is mine?"

Ji Yong thought for a moment and said with a smile, "I also brought something back for Miss Fifth." Then he told the servant beside him, "Take out the large silk flower in the 'plum blossom' box."

The servant responded and left.

Dou Ming said coquettishly: "Why did you give me the big velvet flower? My cousin from the Ji family is really partial!"

Ji Yong smiled and said, "These are the only things I brought back. How about you exchange with your sister?"

Dou Ming thought of the pair of iron balls and immediately said, "I won't change them!"

Ji Yong sighed, "There's nothing I can do. I didn't know you didn't like silk flowers. I'll give you something else next time." She looked very helpless.

Dou Ming glanced at Ji and said nothing more. He smiled sweetly and thanked Ji Yong, then asked the maid beside him to take the silk flower.

Dou Zhao saw that although the silk flower was made of velvet, it looked lifelike. There was even a butterfly resting on the flower with its pair of antennae trembling, which was very interesting.

Dou Ming smiled and looked at his sister, then asked Ji Hong to help her put the silk flower on her head.

A few days later, when Dou Zhao and Dou Ming came to pay their respects to the Second Lady, they discovered that all the prominent maids and nannies in the Ji family were wearing velvet and silk flowers on their heads, the only difference being the colors and the insects resting on the flowers were different.

Dou Ming's face turned red and white. He grabbed a maid and pointed at the silk flower on her head and asked, "What is this?" His voice was very sharp, which scared the maid. She hurriedly said, "It was given by Master Ji." After saying that, she felt that this was inappropriate, and said in panic, "Master Ji bought a lot of silk flowers in Baoding Prefecture and gave one to everyone he met. I served tea to Master Ji, and he also gave me one. Caiyun in the second lady's room served fruits to Master Ji and also got one..." Her face turned pale with fear.

Seeing that Dou Ming was so angry that his mouth was crooked, Dou Zhao hurriedly sent the maid away: "It's okay, Miss Fifth is just asking, you can go and do your own thing!"

The maid ran away as fast as she could escape from a tiger's mouth.

Dou Zhao warned Dou Ming in a low voice: "This is the Second Madam's yard. If you don't want to be confined, calm down."

Dou Ming snorted coldly, and his expression calmed down after a while.

Dou Zhao said to Ji Yong: "It's fine if you didn't bring a gift for Dou Ming, but you don't have to humiliate her like this!"

Ji Yong said confidently, "I didn't bring anything for her in the first place. She asked for something in front of my aunt, so I just gave in. Can you blame me for this? Who would ask for something in front of others?"

Dou Zhao was speechless.

"Okay, okay." Ji Yong smiled, "For your sake, I will never argue with her. Is this all right?" Then he said, "Fourth sister, is that iron ball fun? I heard that everyone who passes through Baoding on their way to Beijing will buy that iron ball as a gift..."

Dou Zhao called out Su Xin.

Su Xin took out the pair of iron balls from her waist pouch with a smile and started spinning them. Her movements were smooth and natural, and the sound was like a low tune.

Ji Yong smiled awkwardly.

Dou Zhao turned away in anger.

From then on, Dou Ming hated Ji Yong.

At the family dinner on August 15th, the big red lantern above Ji Yong's table suddenly caught fire. Everyone was panicked and tried to avoid it. Only Ji Yong sat there steadily. Before the steward or the servant came over, he poured a cup of tea over it, soaking the lantern and putting out the fire.

A few days later, a servant boy serving Dou Ming disappeared.

Dou Ming searched for a long time but couldn't find him. At night, someone found him in a toilet in the back alley of Xidou. He was tied up, his face was smeared with ink, his mouth was stuffed with smelly socks, and he was stuck in the corner of the toilet cesspool, with a lot of yellow and white things hanging on his head.

Dou Zhao's face turned pale, and he asked Dou Ming: "What's going on?"

Dou Ming said nothing.

Dou Zhao sneered: "You don't have to say it, maybe it will be your turn next time..."

Before she could finish her words, Dou Ming screamed: "I just asked someone to give his horse a few croton beans, and he was so cruel..."

Dou Zhao thought of those tall, strong horses with shiny fur.

Isn't that a big deal?

Dou Zhao said in a deep voice: "Who told you not to put croton in horse feed?"

Dou Ming was stunned.

Dou Zhao's eyes flashed with a cold light like a knife.

Dou Ming could not help but step back a few steps and whispered, "Yes, it's Tan Ge'er!"