Chapter 3 — Bitterness

Perhaps fearing to disturb her, Zhu kept her voice low: "...I heard the madam was ill, so I just wanted to come and see. Don't worry, I'll pay my respects and be off." Then she asked him, "How have you been these days? I heard from the Second Young Master that you went hunting with the young gentlemen of the Jingzhenguo Estate—how many golden pheasants did you bag?"

Wei-ge was ashamed, and protested indignantly, calling her "Nanny": "Cousin shot several rabbits!"

Mama Zhu chuckled. "A few rabbits, what's so remarkable about that!" She lightly brushed at Wei-ge's spotless collar and sighed with feeling: "Our young heir has grown up—he can ride and hunt now, just like the Marquis. This time it was golden pheasants; next time I'm sure he'll bring back a roe deer, just like the Marquis did."

She tilted her chin up slightly, her whole manner brimming with shared pride.

Wei-ge was taken aback for a moment, then smiled—a little shyly, but wholly delighted—and said: "Nanny, are you getting used to life at the farm? Is my milk-brother well? Shall I speak to the estate steward and have my milk-brother transferred to one of the shops in the capital? I've already started helping Mother manage household affairs. Back then my milk-brother was better at figures than I was—he'd be more than fit to serve as a shop manager..."

"Hu Yandao." Zhu reproved him with a smile, though the comfort in her eyes was impossible to hide. "The household has its own precedents and regulations. He may be your milk-brother, but he is also in your service—where your milk-brother serves is for the madam to decide. You are the heir of the Jining Marquis Estate, not some ordinary child from any old family. You must think things through before you act, and not break the rules just to suit your own preferences..."

"I know, I know!" Wei-ge answered impatiently, yet he nestled affectionately against Zhu's arm. "I finally get to see you—can't you scold me a little less? Oh, right—last time Second Brother went to see you, he came back and told me your hands had been frostbitten. Let me see... The day before yesterday I went to the Imperial Medical Office and found you a jar of chilblain ointment. They say it's a formula the Taizu Emperor himself used—very effective. I was just about to send it to you when, who'd have thought, you came into the estate..."

Dou Yan could listen no longer.

Her hands were frostbitten, and you rushed off to the Imperial Medical Office to find her remedies fit for the imperial house; I was sick to the point of death—did you ever once boil me a bowl of medicine with your own hands?

A piercing ache spread outward from her chest.

Dou Yan stumbled back into the inner chamber, not knowing how she had managed to climb into bed, knowing only that when she came to herself, her back was soaked through with sweat.

She called out loudly for Cuileng to come in: "Send Zhu and the young heir to me."

Seeing Dou Yan's poor color, Cuileng gave her an uneasy look before going to relay the message.

Before long, Wei-ge and Zhu came in.

As if to avoid any appearance of impropriety, they entered one after the other, each standing respectfully in place—one with lowered eyes murmuring "Mother," the other curtsying with due deference and calling her "Madam."

Dou Yan felt a chill in her heart and could not even be bothered to keep up appearances. She told her son outright about the impending marriage alliance with the Guo family—after all, even if she kept it from Zhu, either her eldest or her second son would tell her anyway.

Perhaps caught off guard, Wei-ge looked somewhat bewildered, while Zhu was greatly startled—then her face lit with joy, and she looked on the verge of tears.

Her son had not yet grasped the deeper meaning of it, but Zhu understood.

Dou Yan's heart suddenly turned cold and weary, and she said to her son simply: "Your wet nurse suckled you—if she has no merit, she has at least labored. Relay my word: Zhu is to return to your chambers to serve you as before, and your milk-brother shall serve under the chief steward of the general affairs office."

"Mother!" Wei-ge was astonished and overjoyed. Without a second thought he dropped to his knees with a thud beside Dou Zhiwei's bed and knocked his head several times before Dou Yan with great force. "On behalf of my nanny and my milk-brother, I thank you, Mother!" His face was full of excitement.

Zhu was greatly alarmed and hurried to pull Wei-ge back: "Young heir, you mustn't, you mustn't!"

Even a wet nurse knew it mustn't be done—did her own carefully raised son not know it too?

It was simply that his feelings had run away with him.

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