Chapter 343 — Suspicion

Dou Ming stumbled along in a daze, with no clear memory of how she had made her way back to the Jining Hou estate.

When she entered the main house, she found Wei Fan standing rigid in the center of the hall, his face cold as ice.

"Where did you go?" His voice was colder still than his expression. "You slipped back without a word to anyone, and I've been searching high and low for you. If I hadn't run into Granny Jin, I wouldn't even have known you'd come home..."

Dou Ming did not want to say a single word. She walked straight past Wei Fan as though he were not there and went into the inner chamber.

Wei Fan flew into a rage and followed her in. "I'm talking to you! What is the meaning of this? How could you claim my mother had fallen ill?"

Dou Ming raised a hand in a gesture that bade him say no more, and said coolly, "When we went to the Jing residence, did your mother not say she was feeling unwell? Was I lying?"

Wei Fan was struck dumb.

It had been the birthday of the Duke of Jing's wife. To lend his sister some dignity, he had wanted to give the Duchess a gift of some value for her birthday. But the year's end was drawing near, and with so many people sending gifts, the better pieces in the antique and jewelers' shops cost a full three-tenths more than usual, while the inferior pieces he would not even deign to look at. It happened that Dou Ming had opened the storeroom that day and brought out some porcelains from her dowry to furnish their rooms. He had taken a liking to a pair of Ru-ware plum vases and proposed giving them to the Duchess as a birthday gift, adding, "Consider them bought from you. Reckon up the price in silver and I'll have my steward send it over directly."

Dou Ming had flown into a temper on the spot, accusing him of scheming after her dowry.

He had thought to himself: It isn't as though I mean to cheat you of the money. If you can't bear to part with them, just say so plainly. Was there any need to make such a fuss?

And so the two of them had fallen to quarreling.

To put out the fire between them, his mother had feigned a sluggish stomach and a spell of discomfort, and only then had Dou Ming's temper been brought under control.

Now that she had brought the matter up again, Wei Fan found himself caught between two fires: to answer "no" would not do, and to answer "yes" would not do either.

He flung aside the door curtain and stalked out.

Dou Ming lay flat upon the bed, and the tears came pouring down.

Her mother had sought a great and illustrious house for her precisely because she feared her husband's family might covet her dowry. Little had she expected that a great house would prove more sordid than a humble one. A poor family that coveted her dowry at least came at it with blade and spear in the open; a great house that coveted her dowry must needs drape itself in righteousness and trot out all manner of noble-sounding reasons...

Tomorrow Wei Wan would very likely come to demand an explanation about the dowry she had contributed, and what was she to do then?

And then there was that wretch Gao Sheng, who had dared to scold her right in front of her father, as though she had come home to scheme after the Dou family fortune. One way or another she must think of a way to make Gao Sheng come to grievous harm, to teach him that when the master of the house speaks, it is none of his business to open his mouth.

The more she brooded, the more she felt as though she were being fried in a cauldron of oil, tossing and turning and unable to sleep.

But Wei Wan came sooner than she had expected.

The lamps in the house had not yet been lit when Wei Wan hurried back, laden with bundles and parcels. Before she had even set foot across the threshold, she was anxiously questioning Wei Fan, who had come out to meet her: "Is there truly nothing wrong with Mother? You mustn't keep anything from me!"

"Truly nothing," said Wei Fan. How could he possibly tell his sister that he and Dou Ming had quarreled? "There was no need at all for you to make a special trip back to the house." The Duchess of Jing disliked Wei Wan, and apart from the matter of her son, a very weighty reason was that she could not bear to see Wei Wan worship her own mother as though the woman were a living Bodhisattva. Wei Fan had not known this before, but after serving some time in the Five Cities Military Command and drawing closer to the Jing household, he had gradually come to see the way of things.

As he accompanied Wei Wan toward the western courtyard where Madam Tian lived, he asked her, "Does your husband know you've come? Have the guests at the Jing house dispersed yet?"

"The guests have not dispersed. But your brother-in-law knows." Wei Wan understood her brother's worries. "I made my escape on the pretext that your brother-in-law wanted me to help him change his clothes, which gave me the chance to open the storeroom and fetch some things—everyone is saying the hall performance is excellent, and they are calling for two more selections."

Wei Fan could not help but sigh. He was ashamed that, as a son, he had let his mother feign illness for the sake of his own affairs.

The brother and sister entered the hall where Madam Tian lodged, side by side.

Madam Tian was reclining against the kang by the window, while her personal maid read the Buddhist scriptures aloud to her.

Seeing her son and daughter arrive together, she was greatly startled and quickly asked what had happened.

"Nothing, nothing," Wei Wan said with a smile. "I only heard you were ill and came to see you."

Madam Tian could not help but glance at her son, then fobbed her daughter off with a few evasive words.

Seeing that her mother was indeed well, Wei Wan breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked Wei Fan about the matter of Dou Yan's dowry contribution: "...Did you know about it?"

Wei Fan had already heard some talk of it at the banquet, and nodded at her words. Madam Tian, however, was hearing it for the first time. She stared at her daughter and son in astonishment and urgently asked what it was all about.

Wei Wan recounted the whole affair from beginning to end, and when she had finished she could not help but frown. "They are both daughters—why is there such a vast difference in how the Dou family treats Dou Ming and Dou Yan?" She turned to Wei Fan. "Surely there isn't something we don't know about?"

Ever since the business of the sisters swapping marriages, she had always felt that there was something dubious about Dou Ming's character.

Wei Fan was in a fretful mood. "What could there be? Sister, don't let your thoughts run away with you."

Dou Ming was a daughter-in-law of the Wei family now; if he tossed about baseless suspicions, his brother would lose face. And their mother was sitting right there—if there really was some wretched business afoot, would that not give her cause for worry?

Wei Wan swallowed her words again and again, forcing down what had risen to her lips. She only advised Wei Fan: "Whether you have business or not, go often to your father-in-law's house. Anyone can see that your father-in-law truly dotes on his daughters. A single scrap that falls from between his fingers would be more than we could ever hope for."

Wei Fan did not care to hear this, and answered her absently.

Wei Wan could only sigh in secret. After sitting with her mother a while, she went to Dou Ming's quarters.

Granny Zhou, having long since received Dou Ming's instructions, said only that Dou Ming was unwell and had retired.

Wei Wan did not dare linger long in her maiden home. She departed with a cold laugh.

Wei Fan stood for a long while beneath the covered corridor, then turned and went to the study in the outer courtyard.

Granny Zhou could not help but fret a little, and asked Dou Ming softly, "Shall I bring the Marquis something to eat?"