Chapter 35 — Disposal

Granny Yu soon arrived with several respectable stewardesses in tow.

Yuzan followed behind them, head hanging, spirits crushed.

First, Granny Yu roundly scolded Yuzan before everyone and praised Tuoniang, then asked Tuoniang and the others, "What else did she give Daqing's wife?"

Tuoniang was a plain, direct sort; she recounted every last needle-and-thread detail, with Haitang chiming in from the side, until Granny Yu's face grew darker and darker as she listened, and by the time they finished she was in a blazing fury. She instructed a certain Granny Huo beside her: "Go and fetch Daqing's wife."

Granny Huo hesitated a moment, then went out.

Yu Daqing's wife wore a pongee summer blouse and gilded earrings, her vulgar, mercenary nature plain for all to see. At the sight of the gathering, she dumped the whole blame on Yuzan: "...She said she wanted to acknowledge me as her sworn sister. Gifts between sworn sisters are common enough, and these were all trinkets besides, so I never thought twice about it. How was I to know Yuzan had taken them behind the Fourth Miss's back?" With that, she turned to flee. "I'll go bring back everything she gave me right now."

"Stand right where you are!" Granny Yu snapped, her face cold. "The Seventh Master entrusted the inner household to me, and that is the dignity of us servants. Do not presume, just because you are my daughter-in-law, that you may run wild in this house..."

Dou Yan had no wish to hear more.

She needed only to learn how Granny Yu handled the matter to know Granny Yu's attitude toward it.

Dou Yan returned to the inner chamber.

Moli followed at once.

Dou Yan spread out a sheet of xuan paper to practice her calligraphy, and Moli ground the ink beside her.

The commotion outside went on for a while, then quieted.

Tuoniang and Haitang, the latter still grumbling indignantly, lifted the curtain and came in: "...Yuzan was only fined two months' allowance! By the Dou family's rules, a person like that ought to be flogged before everyone and driven from the house. And then there's the Yu family's wife—she has long been boasting that she meant to quit service in the Dou household; Granny Yu relieving her of her duties now and barring her from the house probably plays right into her hands!"

Tuoniang said, "What's the use of saying all that? We need only look after the Fourth Miss. You must be sharper from now on, too—don't let anyone take advantage of the Fourth Miss again."

Haitang nodded again and again.

Dou Yan, listening, paused in her brushstroke.

In her last life, she had relied on the people of the Tian estate and the Cui family.

They had followed her from Zhending to the Jining Marquis's estate, and those who could stand at her side in the end were all loyal, shrewd, and clear-sighted.

In this life, she had intended to use the same old people again. But she was still young; to summon such people to her side rashly might only backfire. Better to wait two or three years—then, if anything about her aroused suspicion, a single word, "precocious," would smooth it over.

She had never counted on her mother's people. She reasoned that in her last life Wang Shuying had been her stepmother, and clearing out the inner quarters, suppressing some and co-opting others, was what every second wife did. She herself had been muddled and naive then, with no full brother to back her; the people around her mother could see no hope, and over time made plans of their own—all of it understandable.

Understandable, yes—but that did not mean she could forgive it.

So Dou Yan had let things drift somewhat.

So long as everyone could muddle through these next two or three years, before her own people took over, she was willing to turn a blind eye—taking it as thanks for their having served her mother.

But now it seemed the fault was hers.

The Yu family were nothing but servants, so on what grounds did Yu Daqing's wife boast that she meant to quit service in the Dou household?

It was simply that lining her own pockets while helping her mother manage the household affairs had taught her to look down on the pittance earned by serving in the Dou house.

A nameless fire flared in her heart.

When her mother died, Granny Yu had wept as though she would die of grief. Dou Yan believed in Granny Yu's feelings for her mother—but when she thought of how Granny Yu had dealt with Yuzan and with her own daughter-in-law, she trusted her own judgment as well.

Perhaps in her last life Wang Shuying had been able to get her mother's people under her thumb precisely because she had seized some hold over Yu Daqing.

At this thought, Dou Yan set down her brush and told Tuoniang, "Bring me that box painted with peonies."

As Tuoniang went to fetch the box, Dou Yan asked Moli and Haitang, "Can you two tell the difference between beeswax and yellow jade?"

Both were yellow.

Moli and Haitang were somewhat surprised.

The Fourth Miss rarely spoke to them.

After a moment's silence, Moli shook her head; Haitang hesitated for a few breaths, then shook her head as well.

Just as she had thought!

Dou Yan's brows drew together slightly.

Her mother's sudden death had thrown the inner household into disorder, and these newly brought-in little maids had never received proper guidance. Her own age was a fatal flaw besides: even if she wished to use them, they were not up to the task—and in this house, apart from Tuoniang, she trusted no one. Yet Tuoniang had only barely learned a few characters after entering her service, so Yuzan, who could read and write, had become the only possible choice for the managing maid of her chambers.

Tuoniang brought the box over.

Dou Yan took out a stack of gift lists kept inside.

Her experiences in her last life had bred in her a bold yet cautious nature; out of habit she had kept all the gift lists, and now they proved useful.

When servants turn disloyal, the most direct and effective tactic is open compliance and secret defiance—goods never entered in the ledgers, stolen and no one the wiser.

The food, clothing, and daily expenses of her chambers all came from the common funds, with the account books in her third uncle's keeping. Her mother's belongings had been entered into the ledgers under her aunt's personal supervision: one copy with her father, one in her aunt's hands, one in Granny Yu's. The only thing Yuzan could have touched was the rewards Dou Yan had received these past days.

It seemed she would have to inventory these rewards herself.

It had been over a decade since she had done anything of the sort.

"All of you may go now!" Dou Yan said to Tuo Niang and the others. "Just don't let Yuzan come bursting in."

Tuo Niang acknowledged the order and withdrew to the outer room.

Haitang, who had followed Tuo Niang out, stopped short at the threshold.

"Fourth Miss, are you going to take inventory of the things?" she asked nervously. "My grandmother once served the Old Madam. Our family has a few old things the Old Madam bestowed on her, and my grandmother often took them out to polish..."

Dou Yan said, "Then come over and lend a hand!"

Haitang assented cheerfully and sat down beside her to help sort through the items.

With the slightest guidance from Dou Yan, she immediately learned to tell agate from amber.

With enough practice, she would do well enough.

Dou Yan nodded to herself in silent approval.

In the midst of this, a page from Dou Huaiying's household came to report: "The Seventh Master says he has business with the Sixth Master these days, and the Fourth Miss is to practice her calligraphy on her own."

Dou Yan had no wish to see her father either; she nodded, had Moli tip the page a few coppers, and went on searching through the things with Tuo Niang and the others.

By afternoon they had found that one gilt hairpin inlaid with garnets in the many-sons-many-blessings pattern was missing, along with a string of agarwood prayer beads.