It would have been impossible for Dou Ming to eagerly marry Wei Tingyu simply because he was Dou Zhao’s fiancé, as Wang Yingxue had suggested. The reason Dou Ming went along with it, despite knowing it was improper, was firstly because she was attracted to Wei Tingyu’s handsome and elegant demeanor, his consistent gentleness and courtesy towards her, and his protective nature. Secondly, she valued his high-born status and small family, which would allow her to live a private life after marriage. Wei Tingyu, true to her expectations, accepted the marriage even knowing she had replaced her sister. Although they occasionally argued after marriage, they always reconciled quickly, not lacking the passion and sweetness of newlyweds. However, Wei Tingyu had never looked at her with such icy coldness as he did just now as if she were a stranger.
Dou Ming felt panicked and, disregarding her pride chased after him in front of all the servants in the courtyard.
“My lord!” she called, grabbing his sleeve.
Wei Tingyu didn’t even glance at her, shaking off her hand and walking away.
Dou Ming was stunned.
Growing up, she had lived with the Second Madam, then her maternal grandmother Wang Xu spent a few years in Zhending, returned to the capital, and lived with her mother for several more years. While she couldn’t claim expertise in other areas, reading people’s expressions had become second nature to her. Her proud and stubborn personality simply made it difficult for her to bow her head easily.
Wei Tingyu’s behavior instinctively made her sense danger.
She followed him.
Wei Tingyu ignored her, walking straight into the small study and slamming the door shut in her face, nearly hitting Dou Ming’s nose.
Dou Ming stood there in shock for a while before softly asking, “My lord, what exactly happened? Even if it’s my fault, you should tell me so I can correct it. How can I know what I’ve done wrong if you don’t say anything?”
Inside, Wei Tingyu sat behind his desk, lost in thought.
He recalled Dou Ming’s radiant smile when he first met her.
At the time, he thought this young girl was pure and innocent, more beautiful than the spring sunshine.
The Dou family, known for their scholarly and official lineage for generations, was one of the most prestigious households in North Zhili. Their daughters were expected to remain secluded, rarely leaving the inner quarters. Like Dou Zhao, who was his official fiancée, he had only caught glimpses of her on rare occasions.
Had he already fallen into Dou Ming’s trap at that time?
Wei Tingyu’s heart ached unbearably.
He then remembered the day Dou Zhao called him to Jing’an Temple Alley, saying she believed there was nothing between him and Dou Ming… Dou Zhao’s gaze was as clear as spring water… In the end, he had betrayed her…
Wei Tingyu covered his face, feeling the wetness between his fingers.
Meanwhile, Wei Tingzhen, seeing her brother leave in such a daze, quickly sent her maid to follow him. Learning that Dou Ming was knocking on Wei Tingyu’s door and speaking softly, she smiled coldly. However, with numerous household matters awaiting her decision, she couldn’t linger at her parents’ home. She left her trusted maid, Jin, to serve Lady Tian and said to her mother, “No one wants such things to happen. Even if you want to hold a memorial service for that Zhao woman, with the New Year approaching, it’s difficult to find a virtuous high monk at short notice. I suggest we wait until after the Lantern Festival, and I’ll slowly find a good temple and a reputable monk to conduct several proper services. For now, please focus on recovering. During the New Year, I’ll bring your grandchildren to ask for red envelopes!”
Lady Tian finally settled back into bed, but her mind still dwelled on the deceased Zhao Guqiu: “She was several years younger than me. When we attended weddings of relatives and friends, she always liked to stay close to me. If I wore a new piece of jewelry, she’d ask where I bought it; if I embroidered a new handkerchief, she’d inquire where I got the new pattern…”
Wei Tingzhen signaled to Jin, instructing her to watch Lady Tian closely and prevent any accidents. Only then did she return to Duke Jing’s mansion with a heavy heart.
During the busy daytime, she naturally had no time to think about this matter. But when evening came and things quieted down, her heart began to ache intermittently.
Three hundred thousand taels of silver!
Even if converted into silver notes of ten taels each, it would still form a small mountain! Not to mention all the farmland, forests, shops, and houses!
It was more than the Wei family could use up in two generations!
She tossed and turned, unable to sleep like a pancake being flipped over and over.
Zhang Yuanming, disturbed by her restlessness, sat up in bed and asked wearily, “Did Mother upset you again?”
Wei Tingzhen never hesitated to discuss her family matters with her husband.
After some thought, she also sat up, leaning against the headboard next to her husband, and told him about Dou Ming’s situation.
Zhang Yuanming smiled and said, “What’s done is done. There’s no use dwelling on it. Fortunately, Lady Dou’s dowry wasn’t small either, so don’t be too stubborn about it.”
“How can you say that!” Wei Tingzhen was displeased. “If Dou Zhao had married into the Wei family, wouldn’t that money have become ours?”
As she spoke, she suddenly remembered Wang Yingxue’s proposal to collaborate in ruining Dou Zhao and Wei Tingyu’s engagement.
Could it be that Wang Yingxue had been planning to have both families break off the engagement even then?
Wei Tingzhen gritted her teeth in anger.
Their Wei family had been victimized by Wang Yingxue and Dou Ming, the mother-daughter pair.
If Wang Yingxue and Dou Ming thought they could just let this matter go, they were sorely mistaken!
She turned to Zhang Yuanming and said, “Can you help me find out exactly how much silver was added to Dou Zhao’s dowry?”
“Why are you inquiring about this?” Realizing it had nothing to do with his mother, Zhang Yuanming lost interest in the matter. He yawned and burrowed back under the covers. “The Dou family used to do business with the Ministry of Works. Just in the capital, each branch of the family has its residence. Old Master Dou was known for his integrity and reportedly never took his salary. If it’s a quarter of the Dou family’s assets, it must be more than three hundred thousand taels of silver…”
He mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.
Wei Tingzhen, however, tossed and turned even more, unable to sleep. As the sky began to lighten, she finally dozed off. The next day, after dealing with the trivial matters of Duke Jing’s household, she hurried to the Marquis of Jining’s mansion.
Lady Tian was listlessly drinking porridge when her daughter arrived, asking if she had eaten breakfast.
“I’ve already eaten,” Wei Tingzhen replied. Not seeing Dou Ming, she asked, “Where’s Dou Ming? Why isn’t she serving you breakfast?”
Lady Tian responded wearily, “I’m not some wicked mother-in-law, why should I set such rules?”
Wei Tingzhen, hearing this, became upset and said, “Mother, if it weren’t for that Wang woman pulling this sister-swap stunt, how could Dou Zhao have become the Duke of Ying’s daughter-in-law? How could Dou Zhao’s dowry have ended up with the Song family? When the top beam is crooked, the lower ones will be askew. Look at how Dou Ming has behaved since marrying into our family. You’ve been kind to her, not setting rules, but she shows no awareness of her duties as a daughter-in-law. Apart from morning and evening greetings, she’s nowhere to be found. She’s learned these bad habits from that Wang woman!”
“She’s part of our family now that she’s married. We can’t send her back, can we?”
“But you must teach her the rules. If she does something embarrassing, won’t people gossip about our family?”
“I think you should keep her by your side, constantly teaching her what she can and cannot do. You can’t just let her do as she pleases.”
Lady Tian shook her head, saying, “I don’t like seeing her.”
Wei Tingzhen couldn’t help but rub her forehead in frustration.
Jin, being Wei Tingzhen’s confidante, softly interjected, “Madam, you don’t know, but during our Duchess’s birthday celebration recently, the second and third young madams’ families arrived early, while the Marchioness of Jining only showed up just before the feast began. Not only that, she claimed you were ill and she needed to attend to you, leaving early. This greatly displeased our Duchess, who even scolded our young madam. If you don’t intervene now, how will things be in the future?”
Lady Tian was stunned, saying, “No wonder Zhen’er’s mother-in-law sent over medicinal herbs a few days ago…” Suddenly, a fire ignited in her heart.
Others might not know why she was “ill,” but how could Dou Ming not know? She was using Lady Tian as an excuse to slight her daughter!
Lady Tian immediately made a decision, instructing her maid, “Go, summon the young madam. Tell her I’m about to have breakfast and she should come to serve me dishes and pour tea!”
The personal maid complied and left.
A hint of a smile flashed across Wei Tingzhen’s face.
If you dare to scheme against me, don’t blame me for being ruthless!
But then, thinking of Dou Zhao’s dowry, her heart burned with pain again.
She couldn’t help but say to Lady Tian, “Mother, do you know that Dou Zhao had several hundred thousand taels worth of property in her name? If it weren’t for the Wang mother and daughter’s meddling, that money would have belonged to our Wei family! Not just Peijin, but even Peijin’s sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons would have been set for life…”
“So much?” Lady Tian was very surprised.
“Indeed!” Wei Tingzhen sighed, “Unfortunately, we were outmaneuvered by the Wang mother and daughter at the time… That Wang woman must be laughing behind our backs even now!”
Lady Tian slammed her palm on the kang table, her resolve strengthening. And for someone like Lady Tian, who usually lacked strong opinions, once she made up her mind, not even nine oxen could pull her back.
She was determined to teach Dou Ming a lesson, but having never been made to follow strict rules by her mother-in-law, she didn’t know how to impose them on her daughter-in-law. So she went around asking people for advice.
Those she asked generally believed that the more rules and the stricter they were, the more refined it appeared. From serving the mother-in-law with dressing in the morning to setting up mosquito nets at night, the list of duties was extensive and meticulous, amounting to hundreds of rules.
Lady Tian not only wrote them down but also spent two days memorizing all the clauses, then made Dou Ming follow them to the letter.
Dou Ming had to rise at the fourth watch (3-5 am), help her mother-in-law with face-washing by holding towels, assist with hair-combing by handing over combs, and during meals, she had to quickly place whatever dish Lady Tian’s eyes fell upon into her bowl. If she was even a moment slow, Lady Tian would launch into a long-winded lecture. Even when Dou Ming wanted to visit Willow Leaf Alley, she was rebuffed by her mother-in-law: “Which family’s daughter-in-law is always thinking about going out like you? Are you restless? Do you feel wronged here?”
Dou Ming assumed the Wei family resented missing out on Dou Zhao’s enormous dowry, so she pretended not to hear and gritted her teeth while serving Lady Tian.
But following such strict rules in front of one’s mother-in-law was no easy task.
Within just two days, Dou Ming was so sore and exhausted that she could barely stand.
“What can we do?” Madam Zhou was heartbroken but helpless, only able to massage Dou Ming every night in hopes of easing her discomfort.
Yet Dou Ming still managed to drop a spoon into the soup bowl while serving her mother-in-law lunch, splattering oil spots all over Lady Tian.