Chapter X. Mothers

　　Hearing Dou Zhao's words, Shuang Zhi looked at Dou Zhao with a few moments of horror in her eyes. 　　Dou Zhao didn't care. 　　As long as her mother and the elders didn't suspect anything, any more talk from the servants would just be talk. 　　Dou Zhao commanded Tu Niang to carry herself back to the house. 　　Xidou's personnel was simple, and although the tension at Heshoutang made the servants nervous, it was far from the point of panic. 　　As soon as Shuangzhi told them that Touniang and Vanilla would be working in Dou Zhao's house, everyone's attention quickly went to the two of them. 　　Some laughed and scolded, ''That little hoof of Vanilla, in the end, let her have her way. I don't know whose path she is taking." 　　More people greeted Touniang and introduced themselves as "I am Ginkgo" and "I am Clove", while others asked: "Which house was Sister originally working in, and how did she suddenly get assigned to the Fourth Miss's house? " 　　Touniang, unaccustomed to such enthusiasm, murmured a reply. 　　Hearing that she was a rough maid in the washing room, everyone looked at each other, somewhat at a loss. 　　Touniang was even more formal at the sight of her. 　　"Well," smiled Shuangzhi, relieving Touniang, "you can talk about anything later. For now let Touniang settle down." Then she pondered, "Sister Hanyou and I have two more beds in the house, and while Grandma Seven and the others don't know when they'll be back today, Fourth Miss can't afford to be without someone by her side. I think, let Touniang sleep in our house first, and wait until the Seventh Grandmother has signaled." 　　Touniang sighed in relief. 　　Everyone came back to their senses, either volunteering to help Touniang pack up her things, or volunteering to help Touniang make her bed. 　　Touniang refused to take a step away from Dou Zhao: "Who will serve beside miss? I'd rather wait for Herb to arrive." 　　Dou Zhao smiled faintly. 　　Touniang recognized the truth. 　　When she married into the Jining Marquis, her future was unclear, and she didn't dare to bring Touniang over, and when she stabilized herself in the Jining Marquis and wanted to take Touniang over, Touniang died of an illness. 　　When she thought of this, her eyes reddened slightly, and she gently held Touniang's hand. 　　Touniang looked at her gravely and solemnly said, "Fourth Miss, don't worry, I will guard you every inch of the way." Speaking as if everyone else was a bad guy, the faces of the people in the room all darkened, looking at Touniang's gaze was a little unkind, but Touniang was oblivious, guarding her side with a straight face, not moving. 　　Shuang Zhi can only resentfully instructed the maid to go to the washing room to report, and pack up the resting place of Touniang. 　　Everyone went their separate ways, and no one accosted Touniang again. 　　Dou Zhao and Touniang stayed in the inner room with wide eyes. 　　Not long after, Herb ran in, "Fourth Miss, Seventh Grandma and Sister Yu are back!" 　　But she didn't mention her father. 　　Dou Zhao's heart sank as she asked, "Father?" 　　Vanilla wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "The Seventh Master, the Old Master, the Third Master, and the Third Mistress are still at the Heshou Hall." 　　Were they discussing the matter of taking a concubine? Or are they discussing how to get their mother to loosen her tongue? 　　Dou Zhao was a bit anxious and got off the bed with Touniang's help, scattering her legs and running outside. 　　Touniang and Vanilla followed closely behind her. 　　The sullen-faced mother, supported by Sister Yu, walked in expressionless. 　　"Mother, Mother!" Dou Zhao pounced over. 　　Mother's face cleared up slightly, bent down to pick up Dou Zhao, kissed her little face, and then handed her over to Hanyou behind her, "Accompany the fourth young miss to play with the rope flip." 　　Hanyou was busy carrying Dou Zhao. Dou Zhao, however, pulled on her mother's lapel and wouldn't let go. 　　Mother suddenly became very impatient: "You child, why don't you listen? Mother still has things to do, you and Hanxiao play." Saying this, she raised her eyes and saw Tou Niang and Vanilla, and raised her finger to point to the two, "Otherwise, play with the two of them." 　　Dou Zhao knew that her mother was not in the mood to coax her right now, and obediently held by Hanyou, waiting for her mother and Sister Yu to enter the inner room, she slipped out of Hanyou's arms and ran towards the inner room. 　　The maid on duty didn't dare to stop her. 　　She entered the inner room smoothly. 　　Mother was crouching on the kang table and crying: ''...... You all saw it, the person hasn t even entered the door yet, and he is protecting it like this, afraid that the person will suffer a little bit of wrongdoing. What can I say. I'll follow his wishes, let that woman enter the door! I'd like to see what that woman is capable of, what tricks she uses, and how she charmed him to the point where his parents, wife, and children, and his honor and morals are all abandoned!" 　　Sister Yu's eyes flickered, and she whispered, "The seventh master's concubinage is not a big deal, but not a small one, you see, is it not better to send someone to tell uncle ...... about it?" 　　"No!" Not waiting for Sister Yu to finish her words, mother looked up violently and said sharply, "Brother will be going to the capital to take the spring exams in the beginning of the year, and is studying behind closed doors at the moment. If you know that I'm going to take a concubine after only three years of marriage, your brother's temperament will never let it go, so you can't delay your brother's future just for my sake." She also repeatedly urged Sister Yu, "You are the one who serves my mother, if it were anything else, I wouldn't bother with you if you did anything behind my back, I know you're doing it for my own good. But this matter is not trivial. Our Zhao family has not produced a scholar for forty years. If anything happens because of you, you are setting me up for injustice and making me the Zhao family's eternal sinner!" 　　Sister Yu nodded her head and turned away to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes. 　　Is uncle that good? 　　Dou Zhao skimmed her mouth and secretly said to her mother, "Just go ahead and bother him. He's a jinshi from the Dingwei Section. And as soon as he took the examination, he made a real vacancy in the Northwest, and took the whole family to the post, and never returned to Zhending. 　　She only saw her uncle once on the day of her marriage. 　　Mother had an uncle. When she said goodbye to her relatives, she respectfully kowtowed three times to her uncle for her mother's sake. 　　Her uncle seemed to be very emotional, and the way he looked at her gave her the illusion that "my daughter is growing up". She was overjoyed at the time, thinking that uncle in the Northwest as an official, long distance, contact is inconvenient, the eyes of the stepmother and only their own mother's family brothers, uncle is a scholar, surely high-minded and proud, unwilling to be humiliated by this, so they do not enter the door of the Dou family. This time the uncle from the office to send her, visible heart still have her niece. She even intends to take advantage of this reunion to properly honor her uncle, let him tell himself about his mother back then. 　　She did not expect that when she left the house, her uncle returned to the Northwest, and since then, he has never given her a single word. 　　If once upon a time uncle had scruples about his stepmother, what scruples did he have after she married into the Marquis of Jining? 　　Dou Zhao couldn't figure it out. 　　Later, her uncle's first cousin Zhao Biru, who was living with her husband in Kyoto, had visited her and let her get away with three cups of tea. 　　Could such a person be counted on? 　　Dou Zhao doubted it and hid behind the mantle of the floor-to-ceiling coverings in contemplation. 　　Since mother had agreed to father taking a concubine, could it be that stepmother had been corrected? 　　But every time the stepmother said it, she said she was "the Dou family marriage, with eight carries sedan chair to welcome in", listening to her this person also no one refute ah! 　　The stepmother can dismiss the mother's loyal servants, can threaten to seduce the Dou family servants, not even the Zhending County, those dignified officials also followed the blindfold! 　　Is there a woman in the middle? 　　That's not right ah, stepmother into the door with joy, sister Dou Ming is only two years and seven months younger than her ...... 　　The more Dou Zhao thought about it, the more confused he became. 　　Hanyu walked in. 　　"Seventh Grandmother," she said carefully, "Third Mistress has come over." 　　Mother busily wiped her tears, and while instructing her to "quickly invite Third Cousin's wife to speak in the house," she got up to greet her. 　　Third Auntie walked in with a serious expression, surrounded by two maids. 　　When she saw her mother, her eyes reddened and she took her mother's hand and went to the bed. 　　The servants in the room all retreated obediently. 　　Third Auntie didn't wait for Sister Yu to serve her tea and said: "I know you're sad in your heart. I won't try to persuade you, so you can cry if you want to. But after you finish crying, you need to pick up your spirits, look at Uncle Seven, you still have a tough battle to fight in the future!" 　　"I know!" Mother said, tears couldn't help but fall again, she didn't complain, but apologized to Third Auntie, "On Third Uncle's side, please ask Third Sister-in-law to say a few words for me. I was so angry that I said those words to third uncle. Please, third uncle, on account of the fact that I'm young and haven't gone through anything, don't bother with me in general!" 　　"When you say that, you're seeing your third brother and I as outsiders." Third Aunt followed suit with tears, "After all is said and done, it's all your third brother's fault! If it wasn't for your third brother's recklessness, seventh uncle wouldn't have made this mess ......" 　　"What does this have to do with Third Uncle?" Mother sobbed and interrupted the words of the third aunt, "said from the brother, but the third uncle treats the million yuan as if it were a son, million yuan have something to find to go, the third uncle can not stand by and do nothing about it? After all is said and done, it is still not Yuan's, he is obsessed ...... I just hate ...... us growing up together, on love, should be better than other couples is. He wants to take a concubine, why not discuss with me first? When I didn t agree, he knelt in the snow and didn t get up ...... Eunuch only added this only seedling of his at the age of forty two, what does he take me for? And where do you put me? I think of the heart cold ......" crouched on the kang table and cried again. 　　"Don't cry, don't cry!" Third Auntie hugged her mother, "In a person's life, who doesn't have any difficulties? Seventh Uncle is still young, it's inevitable that there will be times when he's confused. I'm not afraid to laugh at you. Your eldest uncle is a calm and reserved person, right? When he was first awarded a bachelor's degree, he followed the example of others in publishing books and taking concubines, and his sister-in-law was so angry that she cried, but in a few years' time you can see that, after that bout of frivolity, he knew that the family was better off, and he devoted himself to living with his sister-in-law. Sister in law is almost forty years old, even added the Lan brother ...... can see that there are times when you have to be soft to conquer hard, not hard!" 　　"I understand everything third sister-in-law said." Mother listened, sat up straight, wiped her tears and said, "I do have something that I want to ask third sister-in-law." She did not continue this request with Third Aunt. 　　Third Aunt was a bit surprised and busily said, "You say it, you say it. As long as I can help." 　　"Since that woman is going to enter our family's door, how can I look at her!" Mother said, "I would like to ask Third Sister-in-law and Eldest Sister-in-law to be a chaperone then." 　　This was originally the rules of a large family, even if the husband agreed to take a concubine, you have to look at the person, if it is some kind of woman of the world or a flawed character, as a wife, even if she refused her husband's request, is not in the "good jealousy" of the list. Unlike the burgeoning merchants, there is nothing to be said, you can take it home if you like it. 　　Third aunt suddenly realized: "Good, good, good. I'll go talk to sister-in-law right now." 　　"Then I'll be grateful to third sister-in-law." Mother said and stood up, "I'll talk to Wan Yuan and ask him to bring the person from Kyoto to Zhending." 　　Third Auntie did not answer, smilingly patting her mother's hand, she said, "Seventh Sister has grown up too!" 　　The tone was half-sentimental, half-relieved.