Dong Zhaoyou hinted at his mother with a few words, but he thought of the other wing room where a house full of maids who had not been dealt with were still locked up.

  She sprang up and sat on the bed, shouting loudly "Dad".

  If mother were clever enough, she should have taken the initiative and brought her to father.

  If grandfather blamed her, as long as she pushed the responsibility onto her, would grandfather still bother to argue with a disobedient child?

  But she obviously overestimated her mother's wisdom and also overestimated her own influence.

  Seeing her making a fuss, Mother frowned unhappily: "It's so late, why isn't this child sleeping yet?" Then she ordered Yu Niangniang: "Take Sister down! She's making my head ache."

  Yu's nanny smiled apologetically at her mother and quickly helped her get dressed: "Fourth Miss, be good, Yu's nanny will take you to find your wet nurse! Don't cry..."

  Dong Zhao really wanted to learn from those village women in Tianzhuang how to roll her eyes at her mother with disdain.

  How can mother be so childish?

  If she were like her mother, she would have been eaten alive long ago.

  Dou Zhao clutched the bed curtain that hung down by the bedside, crying and shouting for "Father", but was finally forcibly carried to the warm pavilion behind the inner chamber by Yu Niangniang.

  Without her mother, Du Zhao also calmed down and was listlessly placed on the kang by Yu Niang.

  Yu's aunt quietly helped her tidy up her disheveled hair, saw Dou Zhao's gaze was a bit dazed, and said in a low voice: "Don't you also think that today's matter is a bit unusual? I'll go take a sneak peek, you stay here quietly, don't make any noise, okay?"

  Dong Zhao suddenly regained his energy.

  It's really true that a real person doesn't show his face!

  Can't see it, Yu's mother is so clever and capable.

  Her eyes were wide open, and she nodded her head like a chick pecking at grain.

  Yu's mother was taken aback, then smiled warmly and said with some emotion: "Our fourth miss is really clever, at such a young age, she has everything figured out. Unlike Seventh Granny..." She suddenly stopped here, muttering to herself: "What am I saying to this child..." Then she turned around and called in a maid: "Huanxiu, stay here with Fourth Miss, I'll go take a look at the Crane Longevity Hall."

  With a gentle smile, she was seventeen or eighteen years old, with a dignified appearance and a warm and steady demeanor.

  After hearing Yu's words, she was surprised, but soon composed herself and responded with a "yes", saying very cleverly: "If there is anything, I will immediately let Shuangzhi go call you."

  Yu's mother nodded in satisfaction and quickly walked out of the warm pavilion.

  With a smile, Han Xiang and Du Zhao got on the heated kang. Seeing that Du Zhao was neither crying nor making a fuss, but instead calm like an adult, she smiled slightly and asked softly, "Fourth Miss, may I pat you to sleep?"

  Dong Zhao shook his head.

  Her smile grew thicker as she said, "Then I'll accompany you in skipping rope, okay?"

  Does she like jumping rope very much?

  Dong Zhao shook his head.

  "Then what do you want to do?"

  "Wait... mother." Dòu Zhāo said.

  Smiling in surprise, he stared at Dou Zhao.

  Dong Zhao ignored her, pulled over a big pillow and leaned against it in a daze.

  With a faint smile, he helped Du Zhao put on a thin quilt.

  She felt something was wrong from her father's attitude towards her mother. What made Yu Nainai sense that something was off?

  What else doesn't she know?

  Dong Zhaos thoughts were deep in contemplation, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

  No, have to wait until Madam Yu comes back.

  She wants to know what happened!

  And then there's Tuo Niang, what kind of person is she anyway?

  Dong Zhao shook his head and forcibly opened his eyelids.

  After a brief moment of stillness, his eyelids drooped down again as if they had a mind of their own.

  Can't sleep!

  She fell asleep, and perhaps she would come back again.

  What if she went back to that dream of wisteria flowers at that time?

  "Holding a smile," Du Zhao opened his eyes wide, "Nanny, find!"

  "No!" With a faint smile, she gently waved her hand, "I want to stay here with you."

  "I'm listening!" Duan Zhao said.

  With a faint smile, she pondered for a moment, seeing Du Zhao's expression becoming more and more determined. She hesitated and said, "Alright, I'll go take a look at what Yu Niang is doing." Then she called in Shuang Zhi.

  Shuangzhi was a round-faced little girl who quietly accompanied Dou Zhao.

  Before long, she returned with a smile: "Fourth Miss, Yu and Madame have gone to see the old master."

  "Oh!" Dou Zhaolai smiled and went to find Yu Niangniang.

  Smiling faintly, she refused to agree: "If I'm discovered... even if I don't die, I'll be skinned alive."

  That's also true.

  Dòu Zhāo is a housekeeper, and he knows how vicious it can be.

  She could only wait for Yu Niang and her mother to return, hating herself for being tied up, instead of being like in another dream with wisteria flowers, doing whatever she wanted.

  Time passed bit by bit, and Mother Yu and Nanny were still nowhere to be seen. Dou Zhao's eyelids stuck together and could no longer be separated.

  She fell into a sweet and sound sleep.

  It was as if it had been just a moment, yet also as if it had been thousands of years. Du Zhao woke up.

  She jumped up without thinking.

  Someone on the side shouted "Fourth Miss".

  Dong Zhaoyang opened his eyes and saw a round face with a smiling expression.

  She let out a long sigh.

  Still in a dream.

  She suddenly came back to her senses and asked Erniang: "Huanxiu? Nianiang? Mother?"

  "With a smile, she was called away by Granny Yu." Shuangzhi smiled as she helped Du Zhao put on her clothes and called for the little maid to bring in hot water.

  The warm pavilion is bustling with activity.

  Dong Zhao only then realized that the sky had already brightened greatly.

  She narrowed her eyes and asked the two branches: "Hán Xiào, where are you?"

  Shuangzhi smiled and said: "At the old man's place." As he spoke, his eyes caught a glimpse of the warm curtain being lifted from the seam, and someone was peeking inside.

  Her face sank, and she said in a low voice: "Who is it outside the warm screen, sneaking around?"

  Immediately a little maid went to lift the warm curtain.

  The person behind the curtain was at a loss, nervously twisting his fingers: "I, I'm looking for Fourth Miss..." Then he loudly and emptily shouted, "It's Fourth Miss who asked me to help her investigate someone..."

  Dou Zhaolun heard the sound and looked back, seeing Xiang Cao.

  She felt a slight movement in her heart and loudly shouted "Xiang Cao".

  Shuangzhi and Xiaoyan looked puzzled, but still let Xiangcao in.

  Vanilla proudly raised her chin towards the double branches and small fork, ran to Du Zhao's face with a dog leg, and said in a low voice: "Fourth Miss, you said Tuo Niang, I found it." After she finished speaking, her tone was slightly paused, and her eyes were full of a certain expectation as she looked at her.

  Dòu Zhāo smiled faintly.

  In Jin'ning Houfu, she had seen many such maidservants.

  In order to stand out from the crowd, as long as they can see a glimmer of hope, they will spare no effort to grasp it.

  She doesn't dislike people like this and their behavior.

  If everyone is content with the status quo, what's the point of living?

  It's just that Xiang Cao is too impulsive, pinning her hopes on a young child who doesn't understand things yet, lacking in careful consideration and long-term planning. Still, she has to thank Xiang Cao; otherwise, how would she have gotten news of Tuo Niang?

  Dòu Zhāo said to Shuāng Yī Dào: "Good, fragrant grass!"

  Unable to make up one's mind between two alternatives.

  As the hostess, Fourth Miss is also a bit... too young!

  Shall we go ask Grandma Qi first?

  She pondered, seeing Xiang Cao's eyes light up, and immediately knelt down to pay respects to Du Zhao, saying: "Tuo Niang is a small maid in the back courtyard laundry room. She was picked up by Seventh Granny when she went to Da Ci Temple to burn incense. I asked everyone in the mansion before finding her. What do you want with her? Do you want me to call her over for you? She's very easy to talk to. In the laundry room, she volunteers to do all the dirty and tiring work, and all the sisters-in-law like her a lot. As soon as I inquired about her, they took me to find Tuo Niang..."

  Suddenly enlightened.

  Those who can serve beside their mothers or as maids in the mansion are all dignified and respectable servants of the Dugu Mansion. How would they know a rough and menial servant like Tongnuan from the laundry room? On the other hand, as for Tongnuan, being a rough and menial servant of the Dugu Mansion, what exactly happened back then, she didn't participate in it, but only heard people talk about it afterwards. This also explains why Tongnuan's words don't match the facts...

  Her eyelid twitched.

  Fact!

  Could it be that in her heart of hearts, she thought everything happening before her eyes was real?

  Then where is she?

  Some ideas she had previously ignored were swirling in her mind again, making Suo Zha's heart skip a beat and her whole body feel cold.

  A little maid rushed in.

  "Second Sister, something terrible has happened!" She looked flustered, as if facing a great enemy. "He Shou Tang is in an uproar!"

  Dong Zhao's heart skipped a beat.

  "What's going on?"

  "Seventh Master was infatuated with a woman in Kyoto," her face turned pale, "he wanted to bring that woman into the family and even invited Third Master of the Eastern Manor to be the matchmaker. The old master was so angry he almost died, and drew his sword to kill Seventh Master!"

  "Ah!" The room was in an uproar. "What happened next?"

  "It's a good thing Third Master didn't leave, he managed to stop Old Master," said the little maid. "But Seventh Master was determined to let that woman into the house, and on this cold winter day, he knelt in the snow to beg Old Master for permission. As a result, Seventh Madame went to look for him, and Seventh Master begged Seventh Madame instead. This made Seventh Madame so angry she almost died, not only did she refuse, but she also cried and scolded Seventh Master for being ungrateful and disloyal, even Old Master couldn't get a word in edgewise. Third Master saw this and had Da Fu quietly go invite Third Madame over."

  "No wonder Huan Xiang sister was called away by Yu Niang and then disappeared without a trace!"

  "Is that woman even more beautiful than Seventh Granny?"

  "Did the old man finally agree to let that woman in?"

  "Isn't that household going to have another master?"

  The maidservants were chattering away in hushed tones, but no one noticed Duan Zhao.

  Dong Zhaoni sat there stupidly like a mud sculpture, extremely shocked.

  After she took charge of the Zhongying of Jin'ning Hou Mansion and became the person in charge, she was always very confused. As the third uncle of the Duan family, who was respected by the young masters of the Duan family for his good management of household chores, why would he go to the countryside to visit his concubine-born grandmother every now and then, who had no connection with the Duan family at all?

  It turned out he was there to visit her.

  Tuo's daughter said her mother was forced to hang herself.

  As the third aunt who helped her father say things, she should be filled with inexpressible guilt towards him, that's why she would do so?

  Dong Zhao thought of Third Uncle's gaze when he looked at her.

  Always with a hint of pity in his loving gaze.

  There were also three uncles who died and left a will, wanting to leave the few famous calligraphies and paintings of the previous dynasty he collected to her.

  At that time, the Dou family had not yet divided their property, and my third uncle did not have any private assets. What was left to his biological sons, Dou Fanchang and Dou Huachang, were only a few inkstones and jade stones.

  She had always thought it was because her third uncle liked herself especially.

  What people see is not necessarily true, what they hear is not necessarily true, and even what they feel is not necessarily true.

  Dou shouted in a low voice: "I want, Tuo Niang!"

  ※

  Back to work tomorrow...~~~~(sigh)~~~~

  ※