Chapter 160 — The Gift

That night, Dou Yan, permitted only a single cup of wine, slept in the same bed as her aunt and her cousin Zhao Zhangru.

The two women talked of all that had passed since they last met.

Though letters had often gone back and forth, there was a pleasure that letters could never satisfy: to lie squeezed together in one bed and gaze upon the face one had missed day and night.

Before long, the third watch drum sounded close by.

Zhao Zhangru had already slumped over, her head tilted, fast asleep.

Dou Yan, still brimming with questions, had not the slightest urge to sleep: "...So the new provincial administration commissioner and Uncle are of the same examination year?"

"So you needn't worry about us anymore." Her questions had all revolved around her uncle, and her aunt knew her heart well. "Not only that—when Lord Li sat the spring examinations, he lodged at the same inn as your uncle. The two took to each other at once, and have exchanged letters regularly ever since. When Lord Li took up his post this time, the first man he summoned was your uncle; he consults with him on most matters under his governance. That your uncle was promoted so smoothly to prefect of Qingyang Prefecture owes a great deal to Lord Li's recommendation."

Wang Yixing had been stalled in the Shaanxi provincial governorship for years, and the whole shape of the court had shifted—Shaanxi least of all excepted—and her uncle's official career had changed beyond all recognition.

Dou Zhiwei's delight showed plainly on her face. "Then you must keep in close touch with Lady Li, Aunt," she said with a smile.

Her aunt gave a chuckling laugh. "Our Shouyuan has truly grown into a young woman—she even knows about such things now."

Dou Yan pursed her lips and smiled, then asked after her three cousins.

"They are all quite well," her aunt said vaguely, then turned to Dou Zhiwei's coming-of-age ceremony. "Who is to pin the hairpin for you? Who will be the officiant and who the assistant?"

"Lady Dowager had meant to do it for me herself. The officiant and assistant were to have been Sister Shu, with another chosen at random from among our relatives," Dou Xin said. "We never thought you and Aunt Six would both be back. Aunt Six was afraid I might be left without an officiant or an assistant, so she brought Cousin Ji along. Now that you are here, Aunt, why don't you pin the hairpin for me?"

Compared with Lady Dowager, Dou Yan would far rather have her aunt perform the principal rite. And her aunt had come all this way. Out of respect for Dou Yan's maternal family, a hint dropped by Dou Yan should be enough for the Dou household to propose her aunt for the pinning.

So it was Lady Dowager herself who would pin Dou Yan's hairpin!

Her aunt was much surprised, and more than that, gratified.

To have the venerable Lady Dowager of Zhending pin one's hairpin raised Dou Zhiwei's standing; it could only help Dou Yan, never harm her.

Zhao Zhangru had come home, too, out of fear that Dou Zhiwei might lack a suitable officiant or assistant; now that all was arranged, her mind was set at ease, and she said not a word about Zhao Zhangru's own affairs.

"Best let Lady Dowager pin the hairpin for you," her aunt said with a smile. "It is rare for her to show such kindness. As for your Aunt Six, you must be filial to her—she has treated you like a daughter of her own flesh."

Dou Yan nodded again and again.

Her aunt, all worries laid to rest, laughingly urged her along. "We mean to stay in Zhending two months; there will be time enough for every question. Now go to sleep—tomorrow is your ceremony! On so important a day, it would never do to be short of spirit." Then she tucked the quilt around her.

Dou Yan giggled like a child. Sleep was far from her, but thinking that her aunt must be weary from her long journey, she said no more.

Soon she heard her aunt's breathing settle into steady rhythm.

In the quiet of the night, this room—usually rather cold and cheerless—was suddenly filled with a warm, homely glow.

Dou Yan closed her eyes, the corners of her mouth lifted, and soon sank into deep sleep. The next morning it was only Suxin's shaking that roused her.

She sat up with a start.

Her aunt's voice reached her ear, calm with a trace of amusement: "No hurry, no hurry! There's time. I told you to sleep a while longer, but Suxin says you asked her to wake you at the sixth hour. I could hardly stand in her way."

"Is it only the sixth hour?" Dou Yan breathed in relief, and only then noticed that Zhao Zhangru was still sleeping like a piglet—she had not been roused by all the commotion.

"It is already three quarters past the sixth hour," Suxin put in hurriedly. "In half an hour more, Lady Dowager and the others will be here."

Dou Yan did a quick reckoning. There was still time enough, and she relaxed all the more.

She let the matron they had hired dress her, while her aunt went to rouse Zhao Zhangru.

Zhao Zhangru squawked aloud. Slipping on her shoes, she found she had no socks; once the socks were on, her handkerchief was nowhere to be found. In a fluster she cried, "Shouyuan, lend me a handkerchief!" which set the maids in the room covering their mouths and laughing.

Her aunt, half amused and half vexed, scolded her: "Look at you—two years older than Shouyuan and not a tenth as steady. How am I ever to feel easy about marrying you off?"

Zhao Zhangru went crimson.

Dou Yan caught a hint of something more in the words. When her aunt had stepped out, she asked her third cousin softly, "Am I to have another wedding feast to drink to?"

Zhao Zhangru gave her a little shove and murmured, abashed, "Father wants to keep me at home..."

Memories of her former life gradually clarified in Dou Zhiwei's mind.

Her uncle had never taken a concubine; he had only ever had three daughters. The eldest and the second had both married into scholarly families in the places where he had held office, and the eldest cousin's husband had even passed the metropolitan examination. The third cousin had taken a husband into the family. Yet apart from the eldest, she had never met the other two, let alone grown close to them. Whom the third cousin had actually married, she did not know.

She looked at Zhao Zhangru, lips puckered, and smiled. "What? Do you not wish to stay at home?"

"What use is what I wish?" Zhao Zhangru grumbled. "I can't leave Father and Mother with no one to lean on in their old age."

What man of spirit and ambition would willingly marry into his wife's family?

Dou Yan could understand Zhao Zhangru's feelings, but as her cousin said, they could hardly leave her uncle and aunt with no one to lean on in their old age.

For a moment the mood turned somewhat glum.

Zhao Zhangru hurried to smile. "Never mind, let's not talk about me. Today is your day."

Yet nothing ill had ever been heard of her uncle's household, so they must be getting on well enough... And there was time yet to come—Zhao Zhangru was not even betrothed.

Dou Xin took Zhao Zhangru by the arm and led her to the hall.

Before long, the women of the East Household and the wives who had come to witness the ceremony had all assembled.

The Second Madam had dressed with great formality in the ceremonial robes of a third-rank lady, had lightly dusted her face with powder, and wore a set of emerald ornaments; she looked exceptionally vigorous.

The moment she entered, she took the aunt's hand and said with a smile, "Today I shall perform the hairpin ceremony for Shouyuan. Your daughter shall hold the tray for Dou Yan, and Miss Ji shall serve as the presiding assistant." Then, before the aunt could decline, she went on, "This matter is settled by my authority. None of you need say a word. You have traveled a thousand li to celebrate Shouyuan's coming of age—Shouyuan will remember this kindness, and so shall I."

Nothing in this world is fixed.