Dong Zhao was extremely surprised when he heard that the He family had entrusted Cai Yi to help the Dong family retrieve the betrothal gift from the Hou Mansion in Jining.

  It stands to reason that at this point, the He family should have kept silent even if they were unwilling to let go. Why would they risk damaging their reputation by helping the Duan family? Are they looking out for themselves or are they looking out for Duan Shixiong? Or perhaps He Wenda and Duan Shixiong have reached some sort of agreement, urgently needing this marriage as cover? After all, in his previous life, Duan Shixiong had only entered the Imperial Court with He Wenda's support.

  She boldly assumed: "Could it be that He Yun and his elder brother have irreconcilable contradictions?"

  Chen Qu's eyes narrowed and he said solemnly: "Don't mention it, if that's really the case, then this matter can be explained."

  He Wenda knew that after his death, He Yu would not be able to get the support of the family's elite, and he had already set his sights on Dou Zhao. So, He Wenda entrusted his most beloved youngest son to Dou Shiwei, and strongly supported Dou Shiwei's entry into the cabinet. For He Wenda, it was just a matter of taking an early stance in the struggle for power among the cabinet members, although there were risks involved, but they were not enough to shake the foundations. At the same time, he also resolved several conflicts between his children, which can be said to have achieved multiple goals at once.

  He worried: "I'm afraid this matter will have trouble."

  "What can be done without trouble?" Dou Zhaoluo said optimistically with a smile, her expression relaxed. "Let's investigate the He family's affairs in this direction first. Also, we need to send someone to keep an eye on the Wei family. Cai Bi...” She wanted to say "I know him", but considering her current identity, she paused for a moment before continuing, "I've heard that his eloquence is exceptional, I'm afraid the He and Dou families would rather compensate the Wei family to retrieve the token, the Wei family's eldest lady is quite greedy, we need to guard against her tricks."

  Chen Qu Shui had no doubts.

  Dong Zhao's chest had a deep ditch, it was related to her lifelong major event, she thought of ways to get news about the Wei family situation which is very normal.

  "I'll go and arrange it now." Chen Quanshui was a man of action, and Duan Zhao admired him greatly for this.

  She called out to Chen Qu Shui and said: "Is there any news from the Ji family?"

  Dong Zhao didn't tell Chen Qu Shui about Ji Yong's words "Since we are relatives, I'll help you this time". She subconsciously thought that the sentence was too absurd and even if she said it herself, Chen Qu Shui probably wouldn't believe her, or would just think of it as a momentary impulse of a hot-blooded youth.

  Chen Qushui said: "There is no news for the time being." But in his heart, he was thinking about whether he should go to visit his relatives himself.

  It's probably because Miss Si saw something that made her realize what was going on in the He family. Otherwise, they might still be clueless about it even now, let alone making any progress.

  Every time this happens, Chen Qu Shui deeply feels the pain of having no one to turn to.

  He was about to discuss with Dou Zhao, when Su Xin walked in with a strange expression: "Fourth Miss. Two young masters claiming to have something to do on their way through Zhen Ding County, came to pay respects to the Seventh Old Master. One of them claims to be surnamed Wei, and is the son of the Marquis of Ji Ning, while the other claims to be surnamed Wang, and is the fourth son of the Marquis of Ting An..."

  Wei Tingyu and Wang Qinghai!

  Dong Zhaoxi's eyes widened. Elegant words and emotions first appeared.

  Chen Qu Shui was also startled and looked at Dou Zhao, who seemed a bit dazed, and hastily asked: "Where is he? Doesn't he know that Seventh Master is in Kyoto?"

  "We said," Su Xin's expression became even more bizarre, "but Mr. Wei said that if the Seventh Master is not at home, any elder in the family can make do. He just came to ask after his health..." Su Xin had also guessed Mr. Wei's identity, and she hesitated. "Do you think we should invite Aunt Cui to come out and help with the reception?"

  How did you manage to invite him over?

  She knew that if their marriage was smooth and quiet, it would be fine. But if something exciting happened, the first person to jump out and watch the excitement might be Wei Tingyu!

  "It's all right." With her understanding of Wei Tingyu, if he couldn't see himself, he would definitely think of a way to stay at the Wei residence and not leave. Rather than letting Wei Tingyu make a fool of himself later on, it was better for her to take care of him herself. Du Zhao instructed Su Xin, "Please invite the two young masters to sit in the flower hall. I'll change my clothes and go over."

  "Isn't this a bit off?" Chen Quanshui said with a smile, "Don't the household chores all rely on Third Master to take care of? Why don't we invite Third Master over to keep our guest company."

  No matter what, this young master of Jining may also become Dou Zhao's husband, so he cannot let Dou Zhao lose face in front of Wei Tingyu.

  Dòu Zhāo knew what Chén Qǔshuǐ was thinking.

  She doesn't care at all.

  Wei Tingyu may look down on her, but as long as she is willing, there is a way to marry him. He values himself highly, and as long as she is not willing, he can ruin this marriage.

  She was more confident in him than in anyone else.

  Wei Tingyu is not the problem at all!

  But she didn't want to show it too clearly and arouse other people's suspicion.

  "Then please ask Mr. Chen to accompany me to see the guests!" said Dou Zhao, "If they have nothing to do, please ask Mr. Chen to keep them company, set up a banquet to entertain them, send some gifts, and send them away. If there is something, please ask Mr. Chen to take them to Third Uncle's place and let them discuss with Third Uncle."

  That's okay too!

  It's better than letting Auntie Cui face it.

  I'm afraid she's like a grandmother-in-law, the more she looks at him, the more satisfied she is, and in the end, she'll marry off Fourth Miss in a muddle. The marriage of Fourth Miss has been Aunt Cui's heartache for these two years. Yesterday, she even went to their house to ask whether it would be better for Fourth Miss to marry into the He family or the Wei family.

  "Since Fourth Miss doesn't despise old me for being poor, I'll accompany Fourth Miss on a trip!" Chen Quanshui humbly said, and went with Du Zhao to the flower hall.

  Wei Tingyu was sizing up the furnishings in the flower hall with Wang Qinghai.

  "See that?" Wang Qinghai nudged Wei Tingyu with his elbow, pointing to the celadon vase on the long table with a branch of peach blossoms inserted in it. "It's your bottle." He also pointed to a pair of pure white coral sculptures placed on the grid of the treasure pavilion, "Two feet high. I'm afraid even Yu Bao Xuan in Kyoto doesn't have such good quality coral... Your wife's family is really rich!"

  "What nonsense are you talking about?" Wei Tingyu was staring at the few clumps of bamboo outside the flower hall, apart from the purple bamboo, square bamboo, spotted bamboo and nan bamboo that he recognized, there were several other types of bamboo that he had never seen or heard of. After hearing Wang Haicheng's words, he turned his head around and thought about how the Duan family had sent someone to ask for the engagement token from back then, and awkwardly said, "We met when we were kids, who knows if they still recognize me!"

  "Hey, still childhood sweethearts..."

  Chen Qu Shui saw that both young men were handsome and talented. However, their behavior was somewhat frivolous, which made him feel disappointed, so he lightly cleared his throat.

  The two of them involuntarily turned their heads back.

  Then he saw a slender old man wearing a green robe walking in with a tall and slender girl.

  That girl looked like she was only thirteen or fourteen years old, with skin as white as snow, long eyebrows that reached her temples, and a pair of eyes that shone brightly like cold stars, exuding an air of confident composure. She left Wei Tingyu and Wang Haicheng, who were used to seeing gentle and weak beauties in their hometown, staring at her in awe. Wang Haicheng even exclaimed enviously, "She's really beautiful... You're lucky, hurry up and marry her back home... Whatever you do, don't return that jade pendant to the Duan family..."

  Wei Tingyu's body shook and he seemed to wake up suddenly.

  He hastily made a bow to Du Zhao and said: "I am Wei Tingyu, we met once when we were young, I don't know if Miss Duan still remembers me? I have business passing through Zhen Ding, so I came to visit. Since the elders are not at home, then I will take my leave. I'll come again another day to pay respects to Miss Duan." As he spoke, he pushed and pulled Wang Haiqing to leave.

  Wang Haiqing and Chen Qushui were both left stunned by Wei Tingyu's sudden behavior.

  Chen Qu glanced at Dou Zhao, whose expression remained calm as ever.

  Wang Haiqing stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

  He hastily bowed to Dou Zhao and followed Wei Tingyu out of the flower hall.

  Chen Qu looked at Wang Haiqing's crooked and slanted back, very dissatisfied.

  "Fourth Miss. Birds of a feather flock together, and people are divided into groups. This Wang Siye has a light and frivolous demeanor, with coarse and vulgar speech, absolutely not the steady and serious type." He didn't dare to comment on Wei Tingyu, so he said Wang Haicheng, "It's better to take back the engagement token from the Wei family that year."

  Dòu Zhāo was already accustomed to Wèi Tíngyú's recklessness.

  She was thinking of Wei Tingyu.

  This is her first time seeing Wei Tingyu after her rebirth.

  She thought she would never see this person again in her life.

  Compared with Wei Tingyu in her memory, he was still a young man with a juvenile face. She found it hard to associate him with that handsome middle-aged man.

  She was still immersed in the shock of meeting again, and her words were somewhat casual: "Don't worry, if I want to get the letter back, there are plenty of ways. It's just not the right time yet, let's talk about it later."

  Chen Qu Shui felt that things were not as simple as Duan Zhao said.

  Dòu Zhāo seems to have a different kind of feeling towards Wèi Tíng Yú... it's as if she has a special tolerance, a special patience.

  He had a faintly bad feeling, but he knew this wasn't the time to say it to Duan Zhao.

  Chen Qu Shui chose Xu Xu Tu Zhi.

  He smiled and said: "It's better this way. Let's deal with the He family first, then we can talk about it later. The Wei family is simple-minded, after all, they are much easier to handle than the He family."

  Dong Zhao nodded.

  She also thinks so.

  Anything that gets entangled with politics becomes obscure and confusing.

  The Wei family is a leisurely noble family and does not have the qualifications or dare to participate in it.

  As soon as Wei Tingyu and Wang Haicheng walked out of the Dou family's gate, Wang Haicheng grabbed Wei Tingyu: "Tell me, what is so special about Miss Dou that the He family wants to marry her even if it means losing their reputation? You ran out without saying a word when you saw someone, and now you're doing this again. What do you want to do? If you don't give me an explanation today, don't think I'll accompany you out in the future!"

  Wei Tingyu looked around and saw that the gatekeepers of the Duan family were all sitting behind the door chatting, and the alley was quiet with no pedestrians. He then pulled Wang Haicheng forward a couple of steps and said in a low voice: "My sister said that if the He family is willing to help my brother-in-law get the position of Crown Prince earlier, she will agree to return the jade pendant to the He family. The He family has already agreed... it's just unknown whether this matter has been successful or not... My sister said that she will only give the jade pendant to the He family when she sees the imperial edict..."

  ※

  To all readers, I have a bad habit. The quality of my writing at night is usually not good. In the morning, I must read it again and again, but I'm not satisfied with it, so I want to revise it. The result of revising is often rewriting a chapter, and there are more mistakes than usual. But with the help of "Basi Jintiao" in proofreading, the errors can be corrected quickly. Revising and updating takes some time, so the response will be a bit slow. Please forgive me for this.

  Today's update will also be a bit late, so everyone can get up early and take a look!

  o(n_n)o~

  ※