Chapter 138 — Jealousy

Linzhang was bustling with noise. The carriage had barely rolled through the city gate when Dou Ji heard someone shouting, "Hurry to East Dou to collect the reward money!"

Grandmother was startled and pressed Honggu again and again: "Collect what reward money?"

Dou Yan found it odd at first too, but after a moment's thought she understood. Seeing Grandmother's inquiry, she smiled. "I expect Boyan has passed the provincial examination."

"Oh, yes!" Grandmother brightened with delight and urged Honggu, "Go and ask!"

The carriage came to a stop, and Honggu casually grabbed a passerby to inquire.

"Master Dou the Fifth of the Dou family has passed the provincial examination, and the Old Madam has sent people to hand out rewards at the gate. Go late and there'll be none left!" The speaker hurried out the words and then took to his heels.

"Oh my, isn't that wonderful!" Grandmother's joy was written all over her face. "The Dou family is going to produce another high official!" She bore not the slightest resentment toward the family that had slighted her granddaughter.

Dou Chi's hand tightened around Grandmother's calloused one.

Without Grandmother, in her previous life she might well have become a bitter, sharp-tongued woman who did nothing but hate Heaven and resent the earth all day long. How could she ever have set aside all of Dou Juan's faults and gone off to live a good life of her own?

Back home, Dou Yan prepared some brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones as congratulatory gifts, and went with Dou Ming to the East Mansion.

Dou Yan's mother, the Third Madam, wore a brand-new Hangzhou silk jacket in sapphire blue with a ruyi-pattern, her face wreathed in smiles as she turned this way and that to entertain the ladies who had come to offer congratulations.

Dou Ming gave a cold, disdainful sniff.

Dou Yan told her, "If you didn't want to come, then don't come—there are plenty of excuses. Since you're here, be cheerful for me."

Dou Ming gave a charmingly naive smile and leaned close to Dou Zhiwei's ear. "That night, I saw Ji Yong go looking for you!" she whispered, her tone thoroughly venomous, tinged with undisguised glee at another's misfortune.

Dou Yan stepped back two paces and studied the girl before her carefully.

"Dou Ming, you don't like me, and I don't like you. There's no need for either of us to put on a pretense. I think that's fine." Her voice was grave. "If you like, of course you may spend your days watching my every move, opposing everything I approve and approving everything I oppose—even demeaning yourself to the level of mud just to make me miserable. But I will not change a single thing because of you. Remember that well. And if you think Ji Yong's coming to see me has damaged my reputation as a proper young lady, you may stand at the gate of West Dou and shout it to the world. I promise I will not stop you."

Dou Yan leaned against the railing of the covered walkway, her pea-green skirt embroidered with yellow persimmon-calyx patterns spread out on the ground, her posture utterly casual—yet a careless contempt swept toward Dou Ming and struck her heart like a sharp sword.

"Don't be so smug!" Dou Ming could not help threatening her. "One day, I'll make you weep and beg me!"

Threats are built upon strength.

If the one who said such a thing were Song Yan, she might well tremble.

The thought flashed through her mind, and Dou Yan nearly laughed aloud.

If it were Song Yan, he certainly would not utter such childish words.

He would simply do it. Make her weep and beg him.

Her expression suddenly grew a little distant.

Even by fast horse, the road from the capital to Liaodong took more than a month, so the Commander of Liaodong returned to the capital to report on his duties only once every three years. Since His Majesty had reprimanded Song Yan, it was clear he still held him in special favor. But if His Majesty suddenly thought of him and issued an edict summoning him while he was not in the capital... that would truly be a headache.

Dou Ming, standing across from Dou Yan, was trembling with rage to the very tip of her heart.

Dou Yan actually looked down on her to such a degree!

Was she so ridiculous? Not even worth the trouble of a little courtesy?

One day—one day—she would make Dou Yan regret this!

Dou Ming's hands clenched into fists, her nails digging so hard into her palms that they hurt.

※※※※※

The rear garden of East Dou. The lotus flowers had withered, the osmanthus still held its lingering fragrance, and the flowering quince was putting forth buds. One scene gave way to another.

The ladies chattered and laughed as they took their seats in the flower hall, congratulating Madam Qi one after another on her good fortune—she already had a son, and now she was with child again.

Madam Qi blushed and thanked them without cease. Her younger sister, the younger Madam Qi, had married the Fifth Madam's nephew, and now sat shoulder to shoulder with the Fifth Madam, a smile brimming in her eyes and brows, plainly delighted for her sister.

Kou'er, the eldest son of her seventh cousin Dou Fanchang, was peeking in from outside the flower hall.

Dou Yan quietly beckoned to him.

In her previous life she had been close to her third uncle, and by extension had been quite familiar with the two families of her third uncle's sons, Dou Fanchang and Dou Huachang. Kou'er in particular she had watched grow up, so naturally she felt a warm fondness for him.

Kou'er, his face alight with excitement, darted along the lattice doors of the flower hall to Dou Zhiwei's side.

"Fourth Aunt," he said in his childish voice, "Brother Anyuan asked me to find him a stick of incense..."

Dou Chu understood at once what was going on.

Firecrackers had been going off outside the gate all along, and mischievous children often picked up the ones that had failed to explode and lit them with incense. Because the fuses on string firecrackers were shorter than those on ordinary firecrackers, children often blew up their hands or injured themselves in other ways—it was especially dangerous. Grown-ups generally did not let children play with such things. The name Anyuan sounded somewhat familiar, but he was certainly not one of Dou Juan's children; in all likelihood he was a child from a family related to the Dou by marriage. They must have seen that Kou'er was young and a child of Dou Juan's household, and so egged him on to ask the adults for incense.

"What's so fun about firecrackers people have thrown away on the ground?" How could she let Kou'er play with that lot? Coaxing him, she said, "One of these days your Fourth Aunt will buy you a whole heap of firecrackers. Today there are fresh autumn pears—your Fourth Aunt will peel one for you, and later I'll have Sulan take you into the woods to look at birds. How about that?"

Kou'er's mouth began to water at once.

He sat obediently on the little stool at Dou Yan's feet and ate his pear.

Seeing this, the younger Madam Qi lowered her voice and asked the Fifth Madam, "Has the Fourth Miss been promised to anyone yet?"

To show her warmth, she followed her elder sister's example and addressed the Dou family members as her sister did.

Her youngest uncle had reached the age for discussing marriage.

Fifth Madam knew all about it, and at these words she burst out laughing. "You're a step too late! Our Fourth Sister is going to be a marchioness!"

A girl sought by a hundred families—and besides, Dou Yan was already betrothed, so she had no fear of anyone taking an interest in her; if anything, she considered it an honor to Dou Zhiwei. Once a girl married, she turned from pearl to fish-eye, and her dazzling years were only these few. So her voice was especially loud, and the whole flower hall could hear her.

Young Lady Qi's question had left room to advance or retreat, so there was no awkwardness; being a clever sort, she joined in the fun and offered her congratulations.