Chapter 32 — An Oddness

In the end, Dou Yan picked the pouch back up.

Three thousand taels of silver, after all—enough to buy over a thousand mu of farmland or a four-courtyard mansion!

If someone else picked it up, the person and the banknotes would likely both vanish in the blink of an eye.

Better it go to her than to anyone else.

She opened the pouch.

Inside were notes of a hundred, two hundred, even a few dozen taels—the kind redeemable on sight.

Father had thought this through rather carefully.

Dou Yan put the notes back into the pouch and heard a burst of weeping and wailing from the flower hall: "Brother, pressing me like this—you might as well give me three feet of white silk and let me hang myself, so I need not fret and suffer a living death..."

Then give her the three feet of white silk, by all means!

Dou Yan cursed inwardly.

Hadn't Mother, at her own request, given her a handkerchief once? And how was it she was still alive and well?

How had Wang Xingyi come to raise such a shameless creature?

It truly disgraced his lifelong good name.

From the flower hall came Wang Zhibing's low voice, muffled and indistinct.

Dou Yan was wondering whether to eavesdrop a while longer when she saw the lattice door of the flower hall stir, and her father came out accompanying Wang Zhibing.

She hastily ducked behind a nearby Taihu rock.

Her father was placating Wang Zhibing: "...There is no need to fret or fume. The matter came so suddenly, she may not be able to accept it all at once. Talking back and forth like this will get us nowhere. Go home for today and let her sisters-in-law come and see her, hear what else is on her mind; then we shall sit down and discuss it. Whatever the Dou family can do, we will do our utmost to satisfy her."

Wang Zhibing's face was dark, and at these words several veins stood out on his forehead. He said in a low, heavy voice, "What does Seventh Master Dou mean by that? Do you take my sister for someone out to extort silver from your house?"

"Do not misunderstand." Father's voice was gentle. "I only thought that though you are her brother, man and woman are after all different, and you have been apart these many years; whatever troubles her heart, she likely cannot bring herself to tell you. Better to let a few days pass and wait until her feelings have calmed before deciding. " He added, "If she cannot bear to part with Ming, she may come and see her at any time. Only Ming is young, and I fear that if something said should reach Ming's ears, the child would be hurt. If she is willing, we might have Ming acknowledge her as a dry mother or dry aunt. When Ming is older, it will not be too late to tell her of the events of that year. But as to the precise wording and whether it can be done this way, I must ask your family to help decide; I will act in all things as you direct."

This speech, so proper and sincere, cleared Wang Zhibing's countenance at once.

He looked Father over carefully and said, "I did not expect you to conduct yourself with such steadiness and generosity—I had underestimated you."

Father flushed with shame and stammered, "It grows late; I will not keep you. Next time you come, I shall invite you to tea—I still have some Da Hong Pao that my second cousin sent from Fujian; it is well worth a taste."

Wang Zhibing departed, satisfied.

Father wiped the sweat from his brow, turned toward the Taihu rock where Dou Yan was hiding, and called out, "Come out now—the sun is fierce, mind you do not get scorched!"

Dou Xin emerged with a giggle and said, "I was hiding so well—how did Father spot me?"

Father smiled and pointed at the gold circlet on Dou Yan's head.

Had she known, she would have tied her hair with a string.

Dou Yan grumbled inwardly, then thought of the three thousand taels, held up the pouch in her hand, and said with a grin, "Father, I found a pouch..."

Never mind that she was only five; even at fifteen, secretly pocketing three thousand taels without a trace would be no easy feat. The best way was to lay it all out in the open and take it openly as her own.

Father laughed. "So it was you who picked it up." As he spoke, he reached for the pouch.

Dou Yan whisked her hand away and hid the pouch behind her back. "I found it, so it is mine."

Father was taken aback, then laughed. "But this pouch is mine. The owner has come looking for it—surely you do not mean to play the rogue?"

"Then you must thank me," said Dou Yan. "I want half."

Father could not help laughing; he tweaked her nose. "Where did you learn such things?" Then he opened the pouch, picked out a ten-tael note, and gave it to her. "Your reward."

"No, no," Dou Yan said, playing the rogue with him; fixing her eyes on the hundred- and two-hundred-tael notes, she grabbed a fistful. "These are all mine..."

Just then Grandfather came out.

Father hastily stuffed all the notes back into the pouch.

Grandfather frowned and said, "What is this about?" His voice was very cold.

"Nothing, nothing," Father said hurriedly. "Shouyuan's pouch came loose; I was helping her fasten it."

Ah!

Dou Yan could not help grinning.

These banknotes were Father's private savings.

Which was why even Grandfather had to be kept in the dark.

Grandfather said with displeasure, "Fastening pouches is maids' and old women's work—why must a grown man meddle in it?" Then he said, "Come with me. I have something to say to you."

Father assented, called Tuo Niang over, pointed at Dou Yan, and said a few words to her in a low voice; then he went off with Grandfather to the Hall of Crane Longevity.

Dou Yan made her way to the main house with a smile playing at the corners of her eyes.

Tuo Niang kept her eyes fixed on the pouch at her waist the whole way; every time they crossed a bridge or slipped through a winding path her face would tighten, and she muttered without pause, "Fourth Miss, do be careful, do be careful," as though she wished she could cup the pouch in her own two hands.

Dou Yan asked her, "Do you know what's inside?"

Tuo Niang nodded and nodded again.

Dou Yan fished a silver draft worth ten taels from the pouch. "This is for you!"

"I don't want it, I don't want it." Tuo Niang's face went white. "Miss, put it away at once! If anyone saw it and snatched it away, I could die a hundred deaths and still never make it good!" She was so frantic she was on the verge of tears.

Dou Yan sighed and handed the pouch to Tuo Niang. "Then you keep it for me."

Tuo Niang answered and tucked the pouch carefully into the front of her robe, and all the way back to the main house she kept one hand pressed over the place where it lay.

That evening, when Father came back to the room, he asked her, "Where's the pouch?"

Dou Yan pulled a box out from behind the bed panel. "Here."

Father roared with laughter.

Dou Yan took the chance to put the box back.

Father called Yu Ao in. "Three thousand taels in silver drafts have turned up in the Fourth Miss's room. Enter it in the ledger."

Yu Ao's expression changed drastically. "So much silver, kept in the Fourth Miss's room—is that proper?"

Father, long accustomed to spending freely, said offhandedly, "It's nothing. Three thousand taels, that's all."

Yu Ao could say no more, and Dou Yan's eyes curved into crescents with her smile.

That silver—she still had great use for it!

The next evening, Wang Shuying's sisters-in-law arrived.

The three women shut themselves in a room to talk.

Mistress Gao was a severe woman, and her words were none too courteous either. "There are no outsiders here. Whatever you're planning, say it straight."

Mistress Pang sat on a black-lacquered, gold-traced drum stool, sipping tea with an air of leisure, while her almond eyes, shrewd beyond measure, swept every furnishing in Wang Shuying's room.