As soon as Madame Gao walked out the door, her wet nurse hurried over to greet her. Seeing her pale face, the wet nurse's heart skipped a beat and she quickly asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

  "Mad, mad!" Mr. Gao was so angry that he was trembling all over, "They're all mad!" As he spoke, he had already scanned the whole courtyard.

  The courtyard was quiet and still, the big red lanterns under the eaves shone on the yucca flowers blooming beside the steps, and the yucca flowers added a few more bright colors.

  She is a noble birth, and just because you can't see anyone in the yard doesn't mean there's no one in the yard.

  "Go and call the carriage driver," Madam Gao instructed the wet nurse, "and give him one or two silver coins. We will set off for Nanhua immediately."

  The carriage and the coachman were both from the same village as Li Juren's family. Li Juren heard that Wang Xingyi had borrowed them after his recovery, but now he wanted the coachman to drive through the night, so a reward was unavoidable.

  The wet nurse knew that something had gone wrong, but she was from the Gao family and understood the rules, so she didn't ask anything. She called out to the carriage driver, making an excuse about having urgent business at home, and left the Duan residence first.

  On the road, they ran into Duan's family carriage.

  The wet nurse let out a surprised "eh" and laughed: "It's probably Master Qi of the Duan family returning!"

  The implication is whether or not to say hello.

  Gao pulled the wet nurse and ordered the carriage driver: "Don't stop!" His voice was somewhat urgent.

  Two cars passed each other.

  Gao sighed heavily and muttered: "Now I don't even have the face to greet people from the Dou family!"

  The woman leaned in close to Mr. Gao's ear and whispered: "What's wrong?"

  Gao was taken care of by the wet nurse from birth, and later followed her to suffer in the Wang family for ten years. To Gao, she was like a close relative, so she didn't hide anything and told her everything that had happened one by one.

  The wet nurse listened with her eyes wide with shock and anxiety, saying: "How can this be good? How can this be good?" Thinking of Madame Gao rushing to Nanwa overnight, she grabbed Madame Gao's hand and repeatedly advised her, "You and Master have been married for 19 days, and Master followed the old master to Xining Wei. To say that you and Master only have a relationship of obligation, but not affection. Don't be foolish, this is their brotherly love affair, you can advise them, but don't stubbornly insist on it alone. You know the old lady's temperament, if it weren't for you, how could the Wang family afford to buy land? How could the young lady do business? You treat the old lady more kindly than your own mother, but when the old lady talks about family matters, she always puts the young lady before you. Madame Pang unwillingly married into the family and looked down on you when the family had no wealth, relying on Master's doting on her, wanting to compete with you. Now that the old master has recovered, who knows what she is planning? Don't let everyone in the family look down on you."

  "All mothers dote on their daughters, and my mother is no exception." Madame Gao weakly argued, "The reason I want to rush back is to persuade Master to ask his father to intervene and forcibly bring Little Sister back. Otherwise, if we let Madame Pang continue to stir up trouble like this, even if we do manage to bring Little Sister back, it will likely become a huge scandal that everyone knows about, and that would be utterly humiliating!" Her expression was somewhat helpless.

  The milkmaid nodded without stopping: "As long as you have a plan in mind, I'll feel at ease."

  On the other side, Duan Zhao saw a horse carriage passing by and couldn't help but turn his head to take a look.

  This whole street is lined with Xidu's mansions, who would be passing by here at this hour?

  A thought flashed through his mind and he heard Gao Sheng say: "Seventh Master, it seems to be the Wang family's carriage."

  Dong Shiying was taken aback for a moment, then calmly said: "Maybe there's something to discuss with Wang Zhihan, let's just pretend we don't know."

  Gao Sheng smiled and responded with a "yes", the horse carriage didn't stop until it entered the second gate.

  The housekeeper and the servants came forward one after another, and the butler smiled and said: "Seventh Master, Sixth Master arrived at noon and has been waiting for you in the study until now."

  Dou Shiying carried Dou Zhao and went to the study room.

  Dong Shi Xiang Zheng was sitting leisurely in a drunkard's chair reading a book, with tea and fruit placed on the small table beside him.

  Hearing the noise, he raised his head and said to his father, "I'm back." He asked, "Have you gone fishing again?" His tone was natural, and people who didn't know would have thought he was the master of the study.

  The father smiled and said nothing.

  The sixth uncle wanted to speak but stopped.

  "My father said in a low voice: 'I know what I'm doing!'"

  "It's enough that you know."

  The two of them quickly changed the subject, as if they were playing dumb.

  "What are you looking for me?" Father said, "Waiting for me until now, can't even leave a note?"

  "I just wanted to ask if you're going to participate in this year's imperial examination." Sixth Uncle poured a cup of tea for Father, "If you're going to take the exam, then it's time to prepare for departure." Then he playfully tugged on Du Zhao's hair and smiled, "Little tail, did you go fishing with your father? Is the food at Old Man Feng's house delicious or not?" He handed her a cup of tea as well.

  It seems that Sixth Uncle not only knew about Father secretly visiting Grandma, but also understood that after Father visited Grandma, he would go find Feng Baoshan to talk things over!

  Dong Zhao politely called out "Sixth Uncle" and replied with a "delicious", quietly sat there sipping tea from his cup.

  Father hesitated: "I went, what about Shou Gu? There is no one in charge of the inner courtyard, I am a bit worried."

  Sixth Uncle didn't think much of it: "Send her over to me, and let your sixth aunt help take care of her."

  "We'll talk about it later!" The father still hesitated a bit.

  Sixth Brother didn't rush him and pointed to the several large volumes of books on the desk: "This year's new essays, Fifth Brother had someone bring them back, one copy for each person in the family who has entered school."

  "Does this mean that Fifth Brother has made up his mind to let all of us in the family who are eligible take part in the imperial examination?"

  Sixth Uncle laughed and said: "Zi Jun says he won't go. He's afraid of being a fellow graduate with him!"

  Zi Jun was the courtesy name of his second elder paternal uncle, Dou Yu Chang. He later really did pass the imperial examination to become a jinshi, but fearing ridicule, he refused to take office no matter what and ended up staying at home helping his third elder paternal uncle manage the Dou family's affairs.

  Father burst out laughing and ordered the maid to call Tuo Niang over, letting Tuo Niang serve Dou Zhao back to sleep, while he himself went with Sixth Uncle to read the memorial.

  Dòu Zhāo made great efforts to recall things from his previous life.

  Father and Sixth Uncle went to Kyoto together to take the imperial examination, both passed as juren, then stayed in Kyoto until June of the following year before returning. In the imperial examination, Father was ranked 13th in the second class, while Sixth Uncle failed.

  She remembered that her father's teacher was He Wendao, the then Cabinet University Scholar. He had been a university scholar for twenty years and had presided over two imperial examinations, spanning two dynasties, and was a well-known figure in official circles. On the other hand, she had never heard of the name Chen Jizhou. However, as she married into an aristocratic family, her acquaintances among scholars were limited, so it was normal that she hadn't heard of him.

  She suddenly sat up at this thought.

  Dòu Xiǎo was born in the year of Gēng Xū, which is March 16th next year. When he celebrated his full moon, he received news that his father had passed the imperial examination with high honors. Later on, Wáng Yìng Xuě often used this to prove that Dòu Xiǎo was blessed with good fortune.

  Calculating the days, Wang Yingxue should have gotten pregnant during this period of time.

  She was somewhat restless and anxious, but did nothing about it.

  The sky is going to rain, and mother is going to get married.

  She can stop it once, but can't she stop it twice or thrice?

  Dong Zhaohad thought of his mother.

  Even if she hadn't died back then, seeing Wang Yingshuang pregnant and giving birth would probably still drive her to do something stupid!

  Dong Zhaonü was angry at his lack of contention, but more so, it was heartache, heartache for his mother's foolish devotion.

  She tossed and turned on the bed for half a day before falling into a daze of sleep.

  The next day, I woke up to the patter of rain, and the leaves in the courtyard were washed a bright green, exuding a refreshing scent.

  Tuo Niang led Jasmine and Haitang to make winter socks for Dou Zhao, Yu Chuan rushed in.

  "It's raining so heavily outside!" She twisted her wet skirt and said to Tuo Niang, "I'll be sending some silk threads to Mrs. Yu later, can I borrow the Hangzhou silk dress with embroidery that Fourth Miss gave you last time? I'll return it as soon as I get back."

  Yu Jia Saozi is what everyone calls Yu Daqing's wife, and Yu Daqing is the son of Yu Baba.

  Tuo Niang looked displeased and said, "Why didn't the mistress of the Yu household buy silk threads herself? You're taking things from Fourth Miss's room to curry favor with others. Be careful that Seventh Master doesn't find out and get angry."

  Yu Zhui's face turned red with anger and she sneered, "As long as you don't say anything, Seventh Master won't know." She continued, "You think everyone is like you, just because you have ten taels of silver in your pocket, you think you're a rich person! Seventh Master is the master of the Duan family, three thousand taels of silver, if he says it's for Fourth Miss, then it's for Fourth Miss. A few strands of silk are nothing, maybe if you go and ask, Seventh Master will see that I'm taking care of Fourth Miss on behalf of the previous madam and reward me with a few boxes of silk! If you're reluctant to part with your skirt, just say so, no need to use Fourth Miss's name to humiliate me."

  Jasmine was so frightened that she hid in the corner, trembling. But Hai Tang refused to back down and said: "Then let's go before Seventh Master and see if he will reward you with a few slaps or a few boxes of silk threads."

  "You little scoundrel, you've gone mad!" Yu Chuan stepped forward and slapped seven-year-old Hai Tang's ear. Just as she was about to slap him again, Tuo Niang rushed up and grabbed her hand, pulling it back with force. Yu Chuan stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

  "Try it again!" Tuo Niang glared at Yu Chuan with a scowl, "I'll tell Seventh Master right away."

  Yu Zhui thought that Tuo Niang was a rough servant from the laundry room, afraid of losing out in front of her, she glared at Tuo Niang fiercely and "clang clang" swung open the curtain and went out the door.

  Jasmine was so anxious that she almost cried: "Su Xian sister, you quickly apologize to Yu Chuan, she must have gone to tell on you to Madam Yu."

  Tuo Niang hummed coldly and said stubbornly, "I'm standing upright and sitting straight. Obviously she was the one who hit me, why should I apologize to Yu Zhuo?"

  "But..." Ma Li, who was one year older than Hai Tang, was worried. "Yu's sister-in-law is Yu's daughter-in-law..."

  "What's wrong with my daughter-in-law?" Haitang said discontentedly, "My daughter-in-law shouldn't take things from Fourth Miss's room even more." She supported Suo Niang, "Sister Su Xian, last time when Second Madam of the Eastern Manor returned from Fujian, she specially sent someone to give Fourth Miss some local specialties. I saw Yu Zan picking two pieces of each snack and sending them to Auntie Yu's place. If Seventh Master asks, I'll be your witness!"

  They treated Du Zhao as a naive child, Yu Chui hit people, Hai Tang reported the case, and did not avoid Du Zhao.

  Dong Zhao couldn't help but let out a sigh in his heart.

  This is the trouble of not being the hostess.

  However, Yu Chui could no longer stay in her house, as she would set a bad example for the young maids.

  As for Yu Nainai, let's see how she handles this matter first!

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  O(∩_∩)O~

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