By mid-June, Pang Kun's robbery case finally had a result.

  Originally, Pang Yulou still wanted to say a few good words for her nephew, but because of Du An's involvement, she and Wang Yingxue were accused of inciting the incident. Wang Xuzhi naturally would not admit that this matter had anything to do with Wang Yingxue, it was all the fault of her daughter-in-law, her own daughter was just being deceived, and wanted to divorce Pang Yulou. Wang Zhi brought his two sons, Wang Tan and Wang Shan, to kneel in front of Wang Xuzhi's house to plead for his wife, only then did Wang Xuzhi change her tone, letting Pang Yulou set rules for herself in front of her, Pang Yulou didn't dare say another word, every day diligently serving her mother-in-law, just hoping to get through this storm and that was it, she didn't dare mention Pang Kunbai again.

  Du Shiying was furious beyond control.

  He threw a copy of "Nu Jie" to Wang Yingxue, letting her copy it in the house. When she finished copying 1,000 copies, she could leave the house. Then he handed over the internal affairs to Gao Sheng's wife to take care of, and indirectly deprived Wang Yingxue of her right to manage the household. He also chose a date to send Wang Yingxue back to her hometown in Zhen Ding, where she would be taken care of by the second lady.

  Wang Xu's face turned pale with shock.

  Wang Yingxue had no children under her knees, which was a heart disease for her.

  If Wang Yingxue is sent back to Zhen Ding, at her age, wouldn't it be impossible for her to have another son in this lifetime!

  She personally begged for mercy from Duan Shiying.

  Dowager Concubine Sheng remained unmoved, showing unprecedented firmness.

  Wang Xu's family had no way out and went to ask Dou Shixiu for help.

  Dong Shixiu smiled and said, "This is the family affair of my seventh brother. As an elder brother, I really can't intervene." However, he hinted to Wang Xushi, "Don't say it was me, even if Shougu pleaded with Seventh Brother's wife, saying that as long as the Pang family compensated two thousand taels of silver, Seventh Uncle wouldn't bother..."

  Wang Xu's eyes lit up. After returning, he forced the Pang family to compensate Du Zhao with 20,000 taels of silver.

  Where did the Pong family get this silver from?

  Wang Xu's wife sneered: "Then take your family's daughter back home. We can't afford to raise such a wasteful thing in our house!"

  Pang Yulou was so angry that she jumped up and down, and sent her personal attendant to persuade the three brothers: "As long as we have this green mountain, we don't have to worry about firewood. Without the Wang family's big tree, no matter how much silver we have, we can't keep it safe."

  Pang Jinlou urged his father: "The family's ancestral property is naturally not to be sold. The second brother's wine house, tea house, the third brother's money house, pawnshop, are worth at least 20,000 taels of silver. If it's still not enough, use our miscellaneous goods store as collateral and borrow some more silver - with the miscellaneous goods store, those money houses will dare to lend us silver, we still have the capital for a comeback."

  The grocery store is the property of Pang Jinlou.

  Pang Fu nodded without staying, and didn't care whether Pang Yinlou and Pang Xilou agreed or not. He directly found someone to take over the property and handed over 20,000 taels of silver to Xi Dong.

  Pang Yinlou and Pang Xilou kicked open the door of Pang Jinyu's house and chased him to beat him up.

  Pang Jixiu's wife, Chen Shi, held her elbow and watched the play with a smile.

  Pang Jixiu's face turned red with rage, and he shouted at Chen Shi: "Don't you dare help me pull Second Uncle and Third Uncle apart! If anything happens to my dad, I'll divorce you immediately!"

  Chen was not afraid at all.

  Pang Jixiu wouldn't feel satisfied if he didn't scold his wife at least twice a day.

  She dragged Pang Jixiu back into the house by his collar.

  "As for what Pang Kunbai did, the Duan family spared his life, and you still want me to help you fight? You're dreaming. Chen Shi said disdainfully, calling out to the maid to pack up, "You come with me back to my mother's house to stay for a few days, and wait until this matter is settled before coming back."

  Pang Ji strode away with a flourish of his sleeve.

  But was caught by Chen's family and grabbed his collar from behind, lifting him from the edge of the door to the middle of the hall.

  "Listen to me seriously, you must listen carefully!" Chen's face turned stern. A pair of copper bell-like big eyes shone with a fierce light, "Immediately follow me back to my mother's house to stay for a few days. My mother hasn't seen you for some time and says she misses her son-in-law."

  Beat again beat no use, scold people but people also don't care.

  Pang Jixiu kicked his feet straight.

  Chen smiled slyly and dragged Pang Jixiu out of the room.

  Pang Yinlou's wife was lying in the front yard, shouting: "Pang Jinglei, you bastard! You instigated Father to sell our family business. What can we use to pay for Kunbai's medical treatment? Poor Kunbai... He's like a living dead man..."

  Pang Jixiu hastily pointed at Pang Yiner's wife and said to Chen Shi: "Look!"

  "There's nothing worth seeing." Mr. Chen walked out without looking back, "If he's dead, then he's dead. People like him are a waste of rice, cloth and land even when they're alive! Just taking up space!"

  Pang Jixiu was so angry that he could hardly speak.

  Chen lifted her hand and stuffed him into the carriage.

  Her maid jumped onto the carriage shaft, waving her whip, and the horse-drawn carriage rattled out of the Pang family's house.

  Dong Zhaonan was unwilling for Wang Yingshuai to return.

  Out of sight, out of mind!

  She had Su Xin pass a message to the people of the Pang family: "These twenty thousand taels of silver are compensation for us, if they want me to speak well of her in front of my father, let them bring another five thousand taels of silver."

  The Pang family was in a difficult situation, but they didn't dare not respond. They borrowed 5,000 taels of silver from the printing shop and sent it over.

  Dong Zhao wrote a letter to his father, saying that without a mistress in the inner house, people would gossip. Since Wang Yingxue was now the hostess of the Gao family, it was better to keep her by his side and limit her interactions with relatives later on. Moreover, he really did not want to live with Wang Yingxue under the same roof.

  Dou Shiying was determined to bring Wang Yingxue back, he agreed to let her stay in Kyoto, but proposed that Dou Ming return to Zhen Ding and be disciplined by Dou Zhao.

  Dong Zhao did not respond.

  Dòu Shìyīng directly sent the person back.

  At the age of ten, Du Ming's eyebrows and eyes were clear and delicate, her figure was slender, and she already showed a few hints of frailty like a willow swaying in the wind. However, at this moment her small white face was tense, and her big almond-shaped eyes seemed to have a burning fire in them, like a rose with thorns rather than a water lily blooming by the water.

  "Don't think I'm happy to see you back," Dou Zhao said lightly, sitting in the master chair in the main hall of the house. "If you want to blame someone, blame the Pang family, there's no need to take it out on me." Then she pointed towards the direction of Qi Xia courtyard, "From now on, you'll live in Xi Kua courtyard, I'll assign Du Ning to serve you, you can do whatever you want, as long as you don't disturb my main courtyard or bother Madame Cui in Dong Kua courtyard." After finishing speaking, she stood up, "Let's go, I'll take you to pay your respects to Madame Cui!"

  Her sister's aloof gaze, calm demeanor, and absolute self-confidence that seemed to grasp everything in the world made Du Ming suddenly feel like she had returned to her childhood. It made her not dare to act rashly, but also gave birth to a deep-seated resentment.

  "How dare you order me around!" She couldn't help but clench her fists and shout, "She's just a concubine, don't think I'll go pay my respects to a concubine!"

  Dou Zhao stood still, coldly staring at her. Without saying a word.

  A neatly dressed woman rushed forward and covered Su Ming's mouth: "Fourth Miss, please don't take offense, Fifth Miss is just confused... No, she's not angry with you, it's the old master..." Fine sweat appeared on her forehead.

  Dòu Zhāo recognized her.

  In her previous life, she was the housekeeper arranged by Wang Xushi for Du Ming after he went to Kyoto. Her surname is Zhou and she has a distant relative relationship with the Xu family. She is very loyal to Du Ming and manages the affairs of Du Ming's household in an orderly manner.

  Never thought we'd meet again in this life.

  She smiled and said to Dou Ming, who was struggling in Zhou Mama's arms: "Don't humiliate yourself. This time, I'll only punish you to kneel for half an hour in the flower hall. If there's a next time, I'll make you kneel for two hours in the courtyard of the North Tower Temple. If you don't believe me, just try it!"

  Dong Ming stared at her.

  Dong Zhaohui ordered Zhou Mama: "Let her go. This is not the Wang Mansion, this is the Dong Mansion. Above there is my paternal grandmother, below there are my nieces. If I don't discipline her, she will only ruin her own reputation and make herself unworthy of attention."

  Old Lady Zhou nodded repeatedly.

  Dou Zhao heard her whisper a sentence "A good man does not take advantage of the present", and slowly let go.

  Dong Ming indeed did not make another sound.

  Dong Shuang and she went to her grandmother's place.

  They were all her granddaughters, and the grandmother was delighted to see Du Ming, holding her hand and asking her if she had eaten well on the road, slept well. Let Hong Gu bring out all the delicious things in the house for Du Ming to eat.

  Dong Ming had never liked the Dong family, and looked down on his grandmother's food. However, seeing Dong Zhao standing beside him with a smile, he felt intimidated and reluctantly placated his grandmother.

  Grandma looked at her and sighed silently in her heart. After letting Duan Ming go back to rest, she said to Duan Zhao: "Your father sent her back. Most likely, he didn't want Wang Shi to spoil her. There are some things that you, as an older sister, should take care of." She also advised her, "In this life, we are sisters, but in the next life, we may not be sisters. This is also your fate."

  Dòu Zhāo really wanted to say that she had been sisters with Dòu Míng for two lifetimes... but she didn't want her grandmother to worry, so she respectfully nodded in agreement.

  Grandma smiled and hugged Dou Zhao, saying: "I knew our Shou girl was a broad-minded and reasonable good child!"

  "She also thinks so," said Du Zhao.

  Otherwise, she wouldn't have spoken so politely just now.

  An idea flashed through her mind and she burst out laughing, suddenly feeling much better.

  Back in the house, Du Zhao called all the major and minor managers of the household to the flower hall and reassigned the personnel matters of the household.

  The women in the kitchen, the laundry room, the stable, the sedan chair house and even those on night duty were all divided into three groups. The people in the east wing served Madame Cui, those in the central wing served her, and those in the west wing served Dong Ming. The people in the east and central wings were managed by Gao Xing, while those in the west wing were managed by Zhou Mama, including public expenses which were also divided in this way.

  Zhou Ayi was extremely surprised, hesitated and shouted "Fourth Miss", but was interrupted by Duan Ming: "You are the person my grandmother gave me, what can't you bear?" Then he said to Duan Zhao, "Consider yourself sensible!"

  No one has ever dared to speak to Duan Zhao like this before.

  All the maids in the house lowered their heads with a look of terror on their faces, and for a moment the room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

  Dong Zhaoduan lifted the tea cup, using it to gently sweep away the tea leaves floating on its surface. The jade bangles on her wrist clinked softly, like a drumbeat striking at people's hearts, creating an oppressive and heavy atmosphere.

  "Dou Ming, does your knee hurt?" Dou Zhao asked softly, "Can you still kneel for another half an hour?"

  A hint of embarrassment flashed across Du Ming's face.

  Please give my regards to your grandmother. Duan Zhao had her go to the flower hall for punishment, where she was forced to kneel by a maid standing beside Duan Zhao. She didn't think much of it at first, but after kneeling for half an hour, her knees still ache slightly to this day.

  "Dou Ming," Dou Zhao said, "I treat you like a younger sister and have the maids in the house treat you like a young lady. But if you don't respect this kindness, I can also treat you like a stranger, and the maids don't need to show you any courtesy either."

  Dong Ming glanced at Dong Zhao's back with a clear heart, and his voice was as cold as a cicada.

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  Those who read books, ask for pink tickets...

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