Chapter 190 — A Heart-to-Heart

The ruddy firelight played across Dou Zhiwei's face, lending a touch of melancholy to features that were usually so bright and open.

Dou Huaiying poked at the silver-frost charcoal with the fire tongs and smiled. "What is it? You came running home after me all full of excitement, and now you look so glum. Is the house not entertaining enough for you? And do not blame Ming for it—that is simply her nature. Just think of it as keeping me company."

Because the Second Old Madam was there, they had their New Year's Eve dinner at the Huai Tree Alley house, and stayed up together to see in the new year. Only after hearing the spring-announcing bells of the capital's eighty-one temples did they set out for home.

But Dou Ming, yawning, declared herself too tired and went off to her room to rest, leaving Dou Yan standing alone at the gateway of the hanging flower gate.

So Dou Huaiying dragged Dou Yan into the study to roast sweet potatoes, and had the nerve to call it "when you were little, I often roasted sweet potatoes with you in the study."

Whether it was her memory that had gone wrong or his, she could not say.

Dou Yan grumbled inwardly, then gave a long sigh and said, "I have been thinking about our family's marriage alliance with the Wei family…"

The hand holding the tongs stiffened, and a certain gravity came over Dou Huaiying's face. "What have you heard?"

The matter had been noised about far and wide; his daughter could not possibly be wholly ignorant of it. But if the people at the Huai Tree Alley house had told Dou Yan everything—well, with the strictness of the Fifth Sister-in-law's household management, that too was impossible.

Dou Yan looked gravely at Dou Huaiying. "I hear the Wei family wants to break off the engagement…"

"Hu Yandao!" Before she could finish, Dou Huaiying had already rebuked her with a dark face. "Who told you that? Only a few days ago the Wei family invited the Marchioness of Ting'an to discuss the wedding date; it is only that no auspicious day could be settled on, and so the matter has been dragged out…"

"Why must Father deceive me?" Dou Yan said calmly. "Where has the Seventh Madam gone? Even if she is ill, at New Year's like this she ought to be brought back for a reunion dinner. When the Wang family sent their New Year gifts the other day, why did not a single one of their people ask after the Seventh Madam? Father, do not take me for the ignorant child of seven or eight I once was."

Dou Huaiying was struck silent.

Dou Yan seized the moment. "I do not wish to marry into the Wei family either!"

Dou Huaiying's face fell in alarm. "How can that be! I was merely angry at the Wei family's disrespect toward you—the Wei family has committed no great fault. Even if there is some peculiar design in it, it is the Duchess of Jing, the heir's wife, stirring up trouble; what has that to do with the Jining Marquisate? And the Marquis of Jining has come to the house time and again to apologize. Do not listen to those women egging you on. When two families join in marriage, even the most delighted of in-laws will have some unpleasantness over dowries and betrothal gifts—how can there be any talk of breaking it off simply because things could not be agreed! Do not let your thoughts run wild; this is all your father's affair. When the time comes, all you need do is go to them happily. By the way—when you marry, would you like Eleven to carry you out, or Twelve?" Then he regretted it. "If only you had a brother."

But Dou Yan was not about to let Dou Huaiying muddle her thoughts. She laughed and said, "Sir Cai has passed forty and still gave Sister-in-law Ten a little brother. It is not too late for you to give me a brother now!" Then she said, "Father, do not change the subject—"

Dou Huaiying grew flustered at this.

Dou Qu said, "Father, be at ease a moment and hear me out."

Dou Huaiying was slightly taken aback.

Dou Yan had already begun: "I have thought carefully about this marriage with the Wei family, and I always feel there is no fate between us. In earlier years, when the old Marquis of Jining was alive, they were cold and distant toward our family, and we never made much of the matter either; even when I was thirteen, there was still no word of the betrothal. Later, when the He family came to propose, our family, not wishing to be caught up in the disputes among the He brothers, used the Wei betrothal as an excuse; the Wei family, for the sake of appearances, reluctantly agreed—and then the old Marquis of Jining passed away. After much difficulty the Marquis of Jining came out of mourning, and I too had observed my three years. Just when the clouds seemed about to part and the sun to shine through, and we had come at last to discussing the wedding date, rumors sprang up that the Wei family meant to break the engagement. So many twists and turns… and I think of what you once said: what is fated will come, and what is not fated must not be forced. Perhaps even if I married into the Wei family, my days would be very hard. If that is so, why force it, and ruin my whole life? You should know that the one who said this is the Wei family's own Grand-Aunt, and the Jining Marquisate has always taken its lead from this Grand-Aunt!"

Dou Huaiying knew his daughter was speaking the truth, but to break off the engagement… He still hesitated. "That may be so, but a life is made by the people who live it—what household has no conflicts when a woman marries into it? The Wei family's Grand-Aunt is a little unreliable, true, but she is a married-out daughter after all. The Marquis of Jining is an only son and has already inherited the title; there are no brothers to quarrel with, no sisters-in-law to contend against. Compared with those great houses, it is already as far apart as heaven and earth. You must look on the bright side."

Having lived two lives, Dou Yan of course was not so naive as to think a single speech of hers could move her father to step forward and break off the match with the Wei family. Otherwise, why would she have taken the soft approach and worked on Wei Wan instead?

In the eyes of her father and the elders, Wei Fan's worthlessness, his liking for men, even fathering a bastard son before ever taking a wife—none of these counted as any great fault. What mattered was whether the family valued the alliance with the Dou family, and whether he would respect the wife he had wed. So long as Wei Fan showed a sincere willingness to turn over a new leaf, dismissed his catamite and his concubine, came meekly to the door to apologize, and gave the Dou family enough face, then the match would still have to be made do with.

This was also why Dou Yan feared Ji Yong's meddling.

Ji Yong valued individual feeling, and his schemes were always built on people as their foundation. This was the art of emperors, and the art of ministers too. For whether as the former or the latter, one could turn one's hand to cloud and the other to rain, instantly altering the whole configuration; and so he could calculate without omission.

But in a marriage, a woman's feelings had never been an important factor standing in the way of an alliance; her reaction to Wei Fan would have no effect at all.

Dou Yan shook her head inwardly.

Ji Yong had spoken only a single sentence to Dou Ming, but given Ji Yong's abilities, and given Dou Ming's dread of him, that one sentence was likely enough to change Dou Ming's attitude entirely.

What exactly did he want Dou Ming to do?

Ji Yong worked upon the human heart; it was from that angle that she ought to be thinking.

And what did Dou Ming desire most?

To bring her down?!

Dou Yan's heart jolted.

Could it be… that Ji Yong had told Dou Ming to seduce Wei Fan?

She cried out inwardly that this was bad.