Chapter 42 — Reactions

After breakfast the next day, Wang Zhibing took his leave of Dou Duo: "...My father only told me to bring my sister home. There are some matters he does not yet know of, and I had best inform him of them myself."

In all those years in the northwest, Wang Zhibing had not only attended to his father's food, drink, and daily needs, fulfilling the duty of a son; he had also helped his father—whose long torment in prison had left him unable to bend over a desk for any length of time—organize his books, copy out the court gazettes, and write letters to old friends, doing the work of a private secretary as well. He had long since grown used to his father handing him a task: whatever difficulties he met, he simply carried the thing through to a fine finish, rather than running to his father to pour out his troubles, complain, or even claim credit.

The matter of Wang Shuying had been no different.

He had thought that, twists and turns notwithstanding, he would in the end be able to bring his sister home.

But now events had long since veered off course, and he was no longer in any position to decide anything.

Dou Duo smiled. "That is as it should be."

He escorted Wang Zhibing to the gate himself.

But as he turned back, he heard Wang Zhibing's page boy murmuring to his master that someone had come.

At the words, Wang Zhibing's expression shifted subtly, and he hurried out.

Something stirred in Dou Duo's mind, and he quietly instructed Du An, "Go and see."

Du An answered and went off.

Only after about the time it takes to burn two sticks of incense did he return to report: "It was one of Lord Wang's attendants. From his accent, I gathered that Lord Wang is to take up an official post somewhere in Gansu, and that the young master is to set out for Xi'an at once..."

Dou Duo shot up from his chair.

"Can it be that His Majesty means to open the horse market?" He frowned and looked toward the Qixia Courtyard.

Meanwhile, the Second Old Madam had also received the news.

She rubbed the notepaper between her fingers, sat in thought for a long while, then summoned her personal maid, Mama Liu. "Sitting at home day after day is dull enough. Let us go and pay a call on the Sixth Madam."

Mama Liu made haste to smile and assent. She helped the Second Old Madam tidy herself, arranged the maids and old women who would attend her closely, helped her into the little bamboo sedan chair, and, holding a parasol of green silk oiled with tung oil over her own head, set off for Ji shi's quarters.

Ji shi was in the middle of a private talk with Old Mrs. Wang: "...Opening the horse market has its advantages and its drawbacks. Elder Ge is newly risen to his post. Even if such a plan is in his mind, by rights he ought to proceed slowly. Otherwise, one careless step and the whole game could be lost; it is too hasty by far." She went on, "And yet this move is a clever one. Everyone knows Lord Wang is set on opening the horse market. However the men below may oppose it, when they think of Lord Wang's resolve, they will surely weigh the matter a time or two—and the way will be opened quickly enough."

Hearing that the Second Old Madam had come, both were taken aback. They exchanged a glance, and Ji shi, smiling, went forward with Old Mrs. Wang to greet her.

The Second Old Madam's eyes swept the room. "Where is Shouyuan?" she asked with a smile.

Ji shi's eyelid gave a tiny twitch. She smiled and said, "Hui has already begun studying the Analects. Zhi has been reading with me these two days, and in the few days since he started school he has nearly finished the Three Character Classic—much faster than the other children of his age in the clan school. He is a little inclined to get above himself, and I thought it was well enough for the moment, but if it goes on, it will only breed conceit and complacency. I must find some way to take them down a peg or two without their noticing." As she spoke she took the Second Old Madam's arm. "As for Shouyuan, I fear I cannot look after her as I ought. Still, when one has been entrusted with a charge, one must see it through faithfully. I saw that she had been practicing her writing every day with the Seventh Master, so I found a copybook and have kept her at home practicing her characters—first, to observe the rules of the West Household, and second, to keep her from running about and running into something or knocking into something, which I could never answer for to the Seventh Master."

The Second Old Madam nodded again and again. She set Dou Yan aside and began to question her carefully about her two grandsons' studies.

Ji shi, having seen the Second Old Madam seated in the hall, told her all about her two sons' doings at the school, until the old lady was so pleased that her eyes narrowed to slits and she kept patting Ji shi's hand. "It is all your doing—all your good teaching." Then she sighed. "Among all the daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law of the Dou family, there may be those who speak more cleverly than you, and those who serve their husbands and children better than you; but as for teaching children, if you in your modesty call yourself second, no one would dare call herself first!" At this Ji shi broke out in a cold sweat. She had meant to pull herself free of this muddy water, yet in a word or two the old lady had drawn her back in. Those who understood knew that the old lady was building a platform for her, so that in due course the children of the West Household might be sent to be raised at her side. Those who did not would think she fancied herself a descendant of some great Jiangnan family, arrogant and flaunting, and that she looked down on all the wives and daughters-in-law of the Dou clan.

If in future both her sons should pass the examinations at the top of the list, earlier than anyone else, well and good. But if any family's son should become a jinshi before Hui and Zhi, there would be no end to the jeers and sneers.

For a moment she could not tell whether her mother-in-law was exalting her—or setting her on a fire to roast.

Fortunately the Second Old Madam did not linger on the subject. She said she wished to see Dou Yan, and, surrounded by a great crowd of attendants, went to the study.

Dou Yan sat before the painting table practicing her characters. Though Tuoniang and Cailan stood by fanning her, her little face was still red, and the tip of her nose was beaded with sweat.

Sensing that someone had come in, she still finished the last stroke before she raised her head to look.

Seeing it was the Second Old Madam, she smiled and handed her brush to the little maid Haitang, who waited on her, and let Tuoniang lift her down from the armchair to make her curtsy to the Second Old Madam.

The Second Old Madam chuckled and said to those around her, "Look at this little creature—only a few days with the Sixth Madam, and she is as proper as a little grown-up."

Everyone standing by laughed along with her.

A flicker of helplessness passed through Ji shi's eyes.

Dou Yan, meanwhile, regarded the Second Old Madam with a look that was half smile, half something else.

In her last life, her father had muddled into marrying Wang Shuying, and the two families had become in-laws. To win Wang Xingyi's support, her Fifth Uncle had become Wang Shuying's greatest patron in the Dou household, and she herself had been a grain of sand that made people uncomfortable at the sight of her. She had wanted only to grow up safe and sound, and above all not to catch Wang Shuying's eye, and so she had been sent to the villa to live with her grandmother. In this life, Wang Shuying had become her father's concubine, and her Fifth Uncle, to make Wang Xingyi bow his head, meant to use her against Wang Shuying. She had become the Dou clan's prized steamed bun; and so, to have her under his thumb, the Second Old Madam meant to raise her in the East Household, right before her eyes.