Chapter 189 — Taking Action

Ji Yong sprang up from the bed and called out loudly for Zishang. "I am going to Cat Alley to visit my aunt."

Zishang's mouth, open wide in the middle of a yawn, could not close for a long moment. He glanced out the window. "Young Master, there is a curfew in the capital. Should we not wait until daybreak?"

Only then did Ji Yong realize he had spoken out of turn. He gave a cold snort and said with a stiff face, covering his slip: "Of course I know it is the middle of the night. I meant that I will go to Cat Alley tomorrow morning to visit my aunt."

But tomorrow morning you have to go to the office!

Zishang did not dare say this aloud. He grumbled to himself, could not get back to sleep, and waited with great difficulty for dawn. He attended Ji Yong to the Hanlin Academy, and just as he was about to find somewhere to doze off, Ji Yong strode out. "We are going to Cat Alley."

Zishang opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing. When Ji Yong got into the carriage, he leaped up onto the shaft and told the driver to go to Cat Alley.

The Sixth Madam had just seen Dou Heng out. Seeing Ji Yong arrive so early, she hurried to ask him: "What has happened?"

"Nothing." Ji Yong said. "I was thinking that tomorrow I must go to my examiner's, and I need a copy of *Xuan Yuan's Agricultural Matters* by Shen Xi of the previous dynasty, but I cannot find it anywhere. I recall I seem to have seen a copy here at my uncle's. Aunt, help me look for it."

Ji-shi at once summoned the brothers Dou Yong and Dou Huaide to help search for the book.

The three of them rummaged about for a long while, but there was no sign of the book.

Ji Yong muttered: "Could it have been at Uncle Seven's house that I saw it?"

"That is possible." Dou Yong was in charge of checking the catalogue, while Dou Huaide did the searching. Dou Yong, exhausted, collapsed onto a meditation chair. "Fourth Sister loves reading that sort of book. When Uncle Seven found one at a secondhand book stall, he would always buy it and send it to Zhending. It is just that I do not know whether the book you mean is now in Zhending or at the Yunqi Temple Alley house."

Dou Yong quickly added: "Let me go with you!"

Ever since the matter of Ji Lingze, Ji Yong had looked down on his maternal family, the Han, and so treated his cousin Han-shi with coldness as well. Dou Yong did not want Han-shi to be embarrassed, and seized the chance to smooth things over with Ji Yong.

Ji Yong acted as though he did not remember the matter at all, and dragged Dou Yong off to Crane Cry Temple Alley.

Dou Huaiying was not at home; Wang Shuying was said to be unwell and had gone to stay for a while at the Dou family's country estate in Wanping.

Gao Sheng came out to receive Ji Yong and Dou Yong.

"It is nothing much, just a book I came to find." Dou Yong was rather polite to this chief steward at Dou Huaiying's side.

Gao Sheng respectfully led Dou Yong and Ji Yong to the wing room where Dou Huaiying kept his books, and assigned two sharp young servants to attend them.

Ji Yong rummaged through the books at random for a while, then said: "I am going outside for some air." He seemed restless and impatient.

Dou Yong gave a sound of assent and went on searching, head bowed.

Ji Yong, meanwhile, drew a servant aside and asked him clearly where Dou Ming's quarters were. Then he barged straight in without ceremony.

Dou Ming was tuning the strings of her pipa. Seeing Ji Yong, she jumped up in fright. "You—how did you get in here?" As she spoke she had already retreated five or six steps and pressed herself against the latticed window behind her, calling out loudly for someone to come.

Ji Yong gave a derisive snort, his face full of mockery. "I had forgotten. The moment you see a man and a woman together, you assume they are carrying on an affair." As he spoke he looked Dou Ming up and down. "What? When it comes to your own turn, it is not the same thing?"

Dou Ming's breath caught; her voice was choked in her throat.

Ji Yong gave her a glance and rose to walk out, ordering Dou Ming as he went: "Come here. I have something to say to you."

His tone was that of one condescending to a lesser. Dou Ming went white with anger, but at the thought of Second Aunt Mo's little green-bean eyes, a chill seized her heart. Biting her lip, she followed behind Ji Yong.

Ji Yong came to a stop in the middle of the courtyard. In this way, all the servants attending Dou Ming's room were within his line of sight, yet no one could get close enough to hear what he was saying.

He lowered his voice and whispered a few words into Dou Ming's ear.

"What did you say?" Dou Ming leaped up, staring at Ji Yong in horror, her expression somewhat dull.

"You heard me correctly." Ji Yong said coldly. "So long as you help me accomplish this, the grudge between us is wiped clean. Otherwise the two scores will be settled together—and it will not be as simple as selling someone into a house of ill repute."

Dou Ming could not help but shiver. A flash of hatred crossed her gaze as she looked at Ji Yong, and she said fiercely: "You—why are you doing this?" Her voice was hoarse, as though greatly agitated, or perhaps greatly afraid.

"You do not need to know why." Ji Yong cast her a contemptuous glance and said coldly: "You need only do well what I have instructed."

Dou Ming lowered her eyelids, her face dark and unreadable.

Ji Yong swept out.

Dou Yan soon learned that Ji Yong and Dou Ming had met alone. She was very worried, and said to Chen Yanzhou: "Those two, one is water and the other fire—they can never walk together. If they have come together, the matter is certainly not simple. Since there is no way to find out what Ji Yong and Dou Ming said, we can only keep a close watch on the two of them."

Chen Yanzhou gave a slight nod.

Wei Fan once again came calling with valuable gifts.

Dou Huaiying still would not see him.

Wei Fan stood on the steps of the Dou family's reception hall, at a loss for what to do.

The Beginning of Winter was almost upon them. If the marriage was not settled soon, he would have to wait until next spring.

Rich or poor, a man wants a wife home for the New Year.

This year was the first Spring Festival since the end of his mourning. Apart from himself, there was only his mother at home. If Dou Yan could come into the household early, his mother would have someone to keep her company, and the visits among relatives during the first month would be livelier too.

How could he make his father-in-law relent?

As Wei Fan pondered this, a peal of silvery, cheerful laughter came from behind him.

He turned and saw a girl of surpassing grace, dressed in a peach-red beizi over a skirt of oil-green silk, her brows and eyes as finely drawn as a picture—like a peach blossom in bud in the first warmth of spring, so that his eyes lit up at the sight of her.

"You must be the Marquis of Jining?" the girl greeted him of her own accord. "I am the fifth in my family." Her eyes flickered, quick and bright, giving an impression of cleverness. "My father made things hard for you—did you feel very ill-used?"

So she was the Fifth Miss of the Dou family.

Wei Fan shook his head again and again.

But Dou Ming did not wait for him to speak. "In ancient times there was the tale of three visits to the thatched cottage," she said. "You have only come a second time—it is still early yet!"

Wei Fan was overjoyed. He hastened to say, "Thank you for the Fifth Miss's guidance!"

Dou Ming smiled with pursed lips, and, surrounded by a cluster of maids, brushed past Wei Fan.

On the third visit, Dou Huaiying finally received him in the flower hall. Though he spoke only two brief sentences of courtesy, Wei Fan breathed a long sigh of relief.

Coming out of Dou Huaiying's study, he encountered Dou Ming again.

A crowd of maids and serving women was escorting her toward the study.

Dou Ming winked at him.