Chapter 162 — The Metropolitan Examination
Purple Streets of Chang'an Page 2 of 2
It seemed she would have to make careful inquiries of the young mistress about Fourth Miss Dou.
Having settled her mind, she instructed Zixi: "What happened today—out of your mouth and into my ear—must not reach a third person. Do you understand?"
"Rest assured, Madam," Zixi knew the gravity of the matter. He swore, "If I ever speak of it again once I leave this door, may Heaven strike me with lightning and grant me no peaceful death!"
Han-shi nodded and bade Zixi rise. "Leave this matter alone; I shall see to it myself." A trace of gladness showed upon her brow.
One look was enough for Zixi to understand.
He cried out inwardly that this was disastrous, and hastily steeled himself to say: "Madam, Fourth Miss Dou is already betrothed…"
"What did you say?" Han-shi turned ashen with shock. "What exactly is going on? Is there something else you have not told me?"
"This humble one has concealed nothing from Madam," said Zixi, who knew Han-shi had mistaken the nature of the bond between Ji Yong and Dou Zhiwei, and so recounted in detail certain matters that had passed between the two.
Han-shi's expression shifted from dark to fair, her lips half parted, and only after a quarter of an hour did she murmur: "So then, it is Jianming whose barber's pole is heated on but one end?"
Zixi lowered his head and dared not answer.
"What is to be done?!" Thinking of her son's character, Han-shi was frantic enough to weep.
"What has happened?" Ji Qi walked in at some unknown moment. "Has Jianming gotten himself into trouble again?" The sight before him filled him with foreboding.
"No!" Han-shi dismissed Zixi and forced herself to attend Ji Qi as he changed his clothes. "It was I who summoned Zixi to ask what Jianming has been up to these days."
Ji Qi merely doted on Ji Yong and turned a blind eye to certain things—that did not mean he was careless by nature.
He gripped his wife by the shoulders and said gravely: "Do you know why Grandfather would not let Jianming grow up at our side? A man without virtue cannot stand; a state without virtue cannot prosper. Jianming was exceedingly clever from childhood, and Grandfather feared we would spoil him overmuch, knowing only to make him study while neglecting his conduct… If Jianming does wrong, you must never help him hide it. At his tender age he already answers to no one; if you indulge him blindly, then even should he place first in the palace examination, will he ever become a minister of renown whose name is handed down in history?"
Had Ji Qi said nothing, it might have been better; but at his words Han-shi could contain herself no longer, and her tears fell like rain: "Jianming—he has set his heart on another man's wife…" And weeping, she told Ji Qi the whole story from beginning to end—how Ji Yong had carved a wooden hairpin with his own hands for Dou Yan.
As Ji Qi listened, his countenance grew ever more grave: "Are you certain of what you say?"
"This is no happy matter—would I deceive you?" Han-shi wiped her tears. "That wooden hairpin is still tucked beneath Jianming's pillow even now!"
Ji Qi did not know what to say.
This son of his had never been still, from childhood to this day.
If this matter were mishandled, it would not only ruin Fourth Miss Dou's reputation but cut Ji Yong off from officialdom forever.
He thought a while, then said with resolve: "This matter must be told to Grandfather, and he must be asked to decide." He added, "For now Jianming only harbors Fourth Miss Dou in his heart; do not beat the grass and startle the snake. Only see that he does not suddenly bolt off to Zhending in the dead of night. Everything waits until Grandfather has made up his mind."
Han-shi assented, and attended her husband as he wrote a letter; the next day at dawn she sent a trusted serving woman to deliver it to Yixing in person.
Ji Yong knew that Zixi had been summoned by his mother for questioning.
The people around him were called in for questioning every few days.
Ji Yong reckoned he had nothing he feared others might learn, and gave it no thought. After giving away all the books in the Shuntian prefectural school residence to Dou Yong and Dou Huaide, he had meant to make a trip to Daxing, but reflected that the court examination was only days away; if he placed well in it, he would be able to direct the Ji family stewards to act on his behalf, whereas rushing about now like a headless fly was both tiring and fruitless in gathering news. Better to wait for the court examination results to be posted. So he moved back to Yuqiao Alley, dug out ten years' worth of the official gazette, and sought instruction from his uncle and father, studying the sovereign's inclinations and pondering every circumstance the court examination might present. When the metropolitan examination results came out at the end of the second month, Ji Yong had placed fourth.
The Ji family could no longer conceal their joy—nor had they any need to.
At Ji Yong's age, even a poor showing in the court examination would still earn him the title of tanhua.
Yet Ji Yong's expression was as ordinary as ever; he did as he always did, while muttering inwardly: Could Dou Yan truly have guessed it right? That I can only be summoned to the palace for the reading of the roll…
Han-shi watched in burning anxiety. In private she said to her husband: "Even this cannot give Fourth Miss Dou some account of herself?" This earned her a glare from Ji Qi, who could not refrain from rebuking his wife: "What nonsense are you talking?"
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o(n_n)o~
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