A year after Aunt Ding entered the household, there was still no sign of pregnancy, causing great anxiety for Dou Zhao’s paternal grandmother. She heard of a family named Cui on the Dou family estate who had eight sons and two daughters, all surviving. Unable to support so many children, they had sent two sons to be live-in sons-in-law for other families and now wanted to arrange a marriage exchange for their eldest daughter, who was fourteen.
Dou Zhao’s paternal grandmother saw this as a sign from heaven. After meeting the Cui family’s eldest daughter, who was tall and robust but still had delicate features, she spent two hundred taels of silver to bring her into the household without consulting Dou Zhao’s grandfather.
Ten months later, Dou Zhao’s father was born.
Just after the child’s hundred-day celebration, Dou Zhao’s grandfather summoned her paternal grandmother and, pointing to the infant Dou Shiying, said, “Raise this child yourself. Don’t let that illiterate Cui woman ruin him.”
Thus, Cui was sent to the Dou family’s small estate in Dongji Village, with only about a hundred mu of land, where she remained until her death.
Essentially, Cui had always been a village woman.
During the years Dou Zhao lived with her, Cui not only taught her how to water, de-bug, and weed the vegetable garden behind the house but also how to manage crops and raise chickens and pigs. In Cui’s words, “Learn to tend to crops, and you’ll never starve wherever you go!”
Growing up in this environment, Dou Zhao knew when to sow in spring, harvest in autumn, plant vegetables, and hatch chicks. She could even predict the coming year’s weather based on winter conditions. She was more like the daughter of a rural gentry family than a young lady from a generations-old official family.
Dou Zhao first met Tuo Niang shortly after her tenth birthday. The adults were busy with spring plowing; her grandmother and the estate manager had gone to the fields. She stood with several maids under the elm tree in front of the house, watching village children pick elm buds.
A caterpillar fell on Dou Zhao’s shoulder, startling her. She caught it and used it to scare the maids, causing chaos as they screamed and pushed each other.
Tuo Niang appeared out of nowhere, rushing over like a mad woman to chase and beat the maids, shouting, “She’s the young miss, the Dou family’s young miss! How dare you disrespect her? I’ll beat you to death, I’ll beat you to death…”
Recalling this, Dou Zhao felt emotional.
After her stepmother entered the household, those who had served her mother were either sold due to lack of seniority, given freedom papers by the stepmother citing their service, or sent back to their maternal uncle’s family. No one told her about her mother’s fate. Even her loving grandmother repeatedly said, “One must look forward. What use is there in constantly asking about the past? You should think more about your future, about how to please your mother-in-law when you marry into the Jining Marquis Manor.”
No one knew of her inner fears.
How did her mother die?
Why was everyone so tight-lipped about it?
Her stepmother Wang’s maid, Hu, said it was because she had given birth to a daughter…
Did that mean she had caused her mother’s death?
Was that why she had been sent to live with her grandmother in the countryside?
When her mother was alive, had she ever resented her? Had she ever regretted giving birth to her?
As she grew older, Dou Zhao became increasingly afraid to ask.
Her mother’s death remained an unhealing wound in Dou Zhao’s heart.
It was Tuo Niang who told her the truth, even arguing with her grandmother: “I don’t know about those grand principles. I only know that Wang caused the Seventh Madam’s death. Wang is the Fourth Young Miss’s enemy. The Fourth Young Miss cannot accept a murderer as her mother! What you’re doing isn’t helping the Fourth Young Miss; it’s harming her, forcing her into filial impiety!”
Dou Zhao still remembered the shock on her grandmother’s face.
Afterward, her grandmother said nothing and kept Tuo Niang at the estate.
Of the many who had served her mother, only Tuo Niang had spent eight years searching for her, and only Tuo Niang had spoken up for her!
Her character was evident.
Now, with her movements restricted, Dou Zhao urgently needed someone who would obey her without question.
No one was more suitable than Tuo Niang!
Hearing this, Xiangcao, despite Shuangzhi’s objections, took the initiative to bring Tuo Niang.
Tuo Niang looked at Dou Zhao in confusion, nervous and constrained, softly calling her “Fourth Young Miss.”
This Tuo Niang was young, rosy-cheeked, with a gentle and shy gaze, completely different from the haggard, disheveled woman in Dou Zhao’s memory.
Dou Zhao felt a pang in her heart.
She asked Tuo Niang, “Do you… know… me?”
“Yes,” she said quietly. “Xiangcao told me on the way here. You’re the Seventh Madam’s daughter, the Dou family’s Fourth Young Miss.”
It was good that she knew she was the Seventh Madam’s daughter!
Dou Zhao nodded with a smile and reached out for Tuo Niang to carry her, saying, “Let’s go… to Heshou Hall. Shuangzhi, lead the way.”
Tuo Niang picked up Dou Zhao without hesitation, but Shuangzhi hesitated, saying, “What if…”
“I want… to go!” Dou Zhao glared at Shuangzhi.
Shuangzhi smiled sheepishly.
Xiangcao quickly chimed in, “What about me? Fourth Young Miss, what about me?”
One cannot surround oneself with only one type of person. Sometimes, strengths can become weaknesses, and weaknesses can become strengths.
“Come along,” Dou Zhao smiled.
Xiangcao happily agreed, leading the way.
Now Shuangzhi had no choice but to go.
The group headed to Heshou Hall.
A servant boy stopped them at the door: “The Old Master said no one is allowed in!”
Tuo Niang looked anxiously at Dou Zhao.
Shuangzhi was at a loss, nearly saying “I told you so.”
Xiangcao stepped forward with a smile, jokingly calling the boy “brother” and said, “We’re here on the Seventh Madam’s orders to bring the Fourth Young Miss in… Isn’t there a commotion inside? That’s why we’ve brought the Fourth Young Miss. If you don’t believe us, why not go in and announce us?”