Chapter 172 — A Misstep

When Wei Wan learned that Chen Yanzhou and Hong Gu had, within a single day, paid calls at the Crane-Cry Temple Lane, the Cat Lane, and the Locust Tree Lane, her heart turned to ice.

"So, by your account, Chen Yanzhou and that Hong Gu are still lodging at the shop?" she asked Granny Jin. "And when they went to call at the Quiet Repose Temple Lane, Lord Dou did not even keep them for a midday meal?"

"Just so!" Granny Jin nodded. "More than that—they did not even get a glimpse of the Seventh Madam's face."

"How can that be?" Wei Wan's brows knitted tightly together.

Granny Jin, whom Dou Yan had once rebuked without the least mercy, felt a certain schadenfreude; naturally she wished Dou Yan as much misfortune as possible. Her eyes darted about, and she lowered her voice to Wei Wan: "But when they came out of Lord Dou's mansion, they did carry off a few boxes of pastries—for all the world like alms tossed to a beggar."

Wei Wan's expression turned uglier still.

After some thought, she went to the Jining Marquisate.

Tian Shi was struck dumb with amazement; plainly she had never imagined Dou Yan to be in such straits within the Dou household. Only after a long while did she stammer: "But what is to be done? It is no more than one extra pair of chopsticks at the table—let it be as though I had raised one more daughter."

Wei Wan would not accept it. "Mother, have you considered? Wang Shi is a stepmother, and for a stepmother to dislike the daughter of the first wife is only human nature—that much can be excused. But look: for the sake of her dowry, that accountant begged at one house, then at another, and every house gave him the same perfunctory brush-off. That is no longer a simple matter of a stepmother's disfavor; perhaps even Dou Zhiwei's character is in question. Our Tingyu is handsome in person and upright in conduct. Father and Mother engaged tutors from his earliest years to instruct him at home and teach him how to be a man; and as he grew a little older, fearing he might fall in with the idle young rakes, you hired masters to teach him archery. Who knows how much heart's blood was spent on him. Among all the noble houses of the capital, how many sons are there like our Tingyu? What well-bred maiden of good family would not be a match for him? Why should he suffer such indignity? He is a boy we reared in the palms of our hands!"

Tian Shi wept as she listened. "Then tell me, what is to be done? Surely we cannot break off the match? If there is anyone to blame, blame me! Had I not meddled and gone to visit Zhao Shi, this betrothal would never have come about... I had thought the Western Dou were thin in numbers, and that Dou Yan being the eldest daughter, Dou Wanyuan would not neglect her, come what may. Who could have known it would come to this?"

But at these words Wei Fan's heart gave a leap.

She sat down beside her mother, drew out a handkerchief and handed it to her, and said in a low voice: "Mother—what if we were to break off this betrothal?"

Tian Shi felt as though she had been struck by lightning. She waved her hands again and again. "No, no! Tingyu is in mourning, and Dou Yan has waited three years for him. Besides, this match was wrested from the He family in the first place—if we were to break it off now... there would be no justifying it at all. And Dou Yan has done nothing wrong..."

"Mother, listen to me." Wei Wan's expression was resolute as she caught her mother's hands, and Tian Shi's fluttered heart quieted a little; she sat still and listened to her daughter. "In this world, everything depends on how it is told. Look at Song Yan, the heir of the Yingzhen Garrison House—he has killed so many. Everyone knows something happened in that family, yet father and son still go about arm in arm, and when anyone asks Song Yan about the killings, the Song family insists those guards were bandits; even when His Majesty inquires, not a word slips out for half a day. They smeared the whole affair over and got clean away with it. Tingyu has only two or three months of mourning left. Is he not in business with Gu Yu and Song Yan? When the time comes, we need only tell the Dou household that he is busy with that matter and put the wedding off a while. With Dou Yan so ill-regarded at home, there must be those who dislike her marrying above her station. I need not name them; that Wang Shi..." Here she raised an eyebrow. "We need only find a way to strike up acquaintance with Wang Shi, and then I shall offer her my friendship and keep up a social connection. Wang Shi was a concubine raised to wife—how could she not be moved? Then it will be a simple matter to have Wang Shi find some fault with Dou Zhiwei. Mother, where there is a will, what cannot be done?"

"But would that not ruin Dou Yan?" Tian Shi struggled. "She is already so ill-regarded at home; if the betrothal is broken, what way out would she have..."

"Mother, there you are mistaken," Wei Wan said gently. "Dou Zhiwei's fifth uncle is a Grand Secretary, and there must be any number of scholarly families eager to ally with the Dou. If sons of the great old houses will not do, are the poorer families beneath her? Perhaps, once the match with our family is broken, she may find one of equal standing and live all the better for it."

Tian Shi was still reluctant.

Wei Wan grew angry. "Mother, why was I married off to the Zhang family in the first place? If you let my brother take that Dou Yan, then what am I to be?" As she spoke, thinking of the grievances she had endured in the Zhang household these past years, she could not help sobbing. "Our family had no means to begin with, and now that my brother has Song Yan's patronage, he stands on the verge of pouring in gold by the day—what well-bred maiden of good family could not be won for him? I am already as I am; if my brother cannot even have a good match, what meaning is left in my life? What hope is there in the days to come?" With that, she covered her face and wept in stifled sobs.

Tian Shi was pierced to the heart, and embracing Wei Wan, she too began to cry.

For a time, Tian Shi's inner chamber became a land of rivers and lakes.

※※※※※

When Wang Shuying received Wei Wan's card of introduction, she was greatly astonished, and said to Granny Hu: "Does she not know that the household affairs of the Dou are in the hands of Gao Sheng's wife?" As she spoke, a look of mockery surfaced on her face despite herself.

Granny Hu handed Wang Shuying a washed plum and smiled. "The Fourth Young Lady is to be married, and before the in-laws, you surely cannot be said to have no say in the household now?"

Wang Shuying gave a cold laugh and tossed the card onto the kang. "Now they know they want me to put up a good front for them. Where were they before?" Turning to the maid who had brought the report, she said stiffly, "I will not see her."

But Granny Hu shot the maid a look, then urged Wang Shuying: "The Fourth Young Lady will surely be married out from the Yunqi Temple Lane, and when the time comes, the Fifth Madam and Sixth Madam will both be there to help. That will be your chance. Why must you hold a grudge against the Fourth Young Lady over this? The Fifth Young Lady is thirteen this year—of an age to discuss a match..."

If the Dou household had a mind to hold her down and let a whisper of these family matters slip out, what respectable great house would marry Dou Ming?