Chapter 44 — The Quick Blade

When something touches a person's own interests, word of it sprouts wings and flies everywhere; there is no stopping it.

In a single night, everyone in the Dou household, high and low, had heard the news.

Some cursed Wang Shuying behind her back as a root of disaster; some blamed Zhao Si for letting her imagination run wild; some were calculating what they might gain or lose; and some, never happier than at a spectacle, waited to see the joke unfold. But whatever their feelings, not one of them was willing to be the first to speak. In an instant, the East Dou, so lively before, fell silent. Apart from a few coarse maids and old serving women moving about the courtyard, not a soul could be found anywhere in the various apartments.

Dou Yan was rather gleeful about it. Ji shi, however, took her to the West Residence.

"Your grandfather is ill," Ji shi told her as she changed her clothes. "We are going to see him."

In front of the Zhao family he had put on the air of a man who, now that the Wang family held such power and office and insisted Wang Shuying be made legitimate, had no choice in the matter; and in front of the Wang family he had worn the look of a man who, though dissatisfied with Wang Shuying, would, matters having come to this, still find some way to see her made legitimate for the sake of both families' faces. He had hoped to please both sides and be all things to all men; now he found himself pulled both ways and stuck fast, unable to advance or retreat.

He must have been taken ill by the worry of it.

She turned this over in her mind as she followed Ji shi into the Crane Longevity Hall.

Dou Duo lay in bed wearing a blue net cap, his face very poor, with Aunt Ding attending him at his side.

Hearing that Dou Yan had come to see him, he did not so much as lift an eyelid.

Aunt Ding looked awkward.

Ji shi poured a cup of tea and signaled to Dou Yan to hand it to her grandfather.

Dou Duo gave a vague grunt and turned away.

Dou Yan held the teacup and blinked, turning her head to look at Ji shi.

Ji shi's brows knit almost imperceptibly. She stepped forward, gathered Dou Zhiwei by the shoulders, and said with a smile, "Your grandfather is ill and in poor spirits. Just set the tea on the small table."

Dou Yan listened and set the teacup down with great care.

Dou Duo still paid her no heed.

Then Ji shi said with a smile to Aunt Ding, "Since UncleThird has rested, we will not disturb him; we shall go back and visit again tomorrow." She nodded politely to Aunt Ding and led Dou Zhiwei by the hand out the door.

On the road, Dou Ming caught a glimpse of Pang shi's figure flitting past among the flowering trees.

She pretended not to have seen and climbed into the carriage.

Pang shi hurried all the way back to the Qixia Court.

Wang Shuying was dreadfully thin and looked listless as she sewed autumn clothes for Dou Ming.

Her brother had come and gone, and had said things she had never once imagined.

The reason she could still live safely in the Qixia Court to this day was, plainly put, simply that her father had been restored to office. It was because her natal family had power.

If her father were to be dragged into her troubles… Wang Shuying hardly dared to go on thinking.

But if she took Dou Ming and went back to the Wang family just like that, how was she to live the rest of her days?

At the very thought of the gentle and considerate Dou Huaiying, Wang Shuying's heart twisted as though with a knife, and she could only pray that this situation might be dragged out one day at a time… if only she could wait until Dou Huaiying returned.

Seeing Pang shi come in, she forced a smile at her. "Second Sister-in-law, you came in such a hurry—is something the matter?"

Pang shi poured herself a cup of tea, drained it in one gulp, and only then sat down beside her and said in a low voice, "I just saw Dou Yan!"

Wang Shuying could not help crying "Ah!" and sat up straight.

The night before, they had already heard Zhao Si's terms. Wang Shuying thought Zhao Si had gone mad, but Pang shi's eyes had lit up, and she had been beside herself all evening.

"Don't panic," Pang shi said with a smile. "From the look of it, Dou Yan came with the Sixth Madam to visit the invalid." She clicked her tongue twice. "I must say, Dou Yan has grown up truly beautiful. That pair of embroidered shoes she had on her feet, the ones sewn with pearls—they must have cost at least a dozen taels. The Dou family really does have money."

Wang Shuying thoroughly disliked the way her second sister-in-law judged everything by the amount of silver it cost.

Yet she could hardly say so to her.

These past days, she owed much to her second sister-in-law's help; surely she could not squabble with her over trifles like these?

"Yingxue, have you made up your mind?" Seeing that Wang Shuying said nothing, Pang shi sneered inwardly—to play the harlot and yet want a monument raised to your chastity, there is no such good fortune. "Don't say your sister-in-law never warned you. Without the Zhao family's letter of consent, Father-in-law will never let you stay on in the Dou household in this ambiguous state, nor do you want your brother and sister-in-law and nephew to be unable to hold up their heads on account of it, do you? If you are made legitimate, at least you will get half the family fortune. If you go back, the Dou family's property will have nothing whatsoever to do with you."

"It isn't as though I cannot support myself," Wang Shuying said crossly. "I simply think the old gentleman Dou will certainly never agree to this…"

"That is a matter for later," Pang shi said, pressing her. "Just tell me—do you want to be made legitimate or not?"

Wang Shuying lowered her head and said nothing.

"Here I am worrying my head off over the ancients like some storyteller in the teahouse!" Pang shi said. "Fine. I am meddling where I shouldn't. I shall go back to Nanwa this instant, and I wash my hands of your affairs!"

Wang Shuying suddenly seized Pang shi by the sleeve.

Pang shi could not help raising an eyebrow and smiling… Dou Yan and Ji shi had just stepped down from the carriage when they saw Cailan hurrying toward them.

"Sixth Madam," she said, curtsying and lowering her voice, "the Fifth Master has come back, together with the Sixth Master and the Seventh Master!"

Dou Yan and Ji shi were both greatly startled. Ji shi's face turned grave. "Do you know why the three masters have returned?"

"I do not know," Cailan said, shaking her head. "I only heard that the Fifth Master asked for a few days' leave and came back with the Sixth and Seventh Masters." She added, "The Seventh Master has already returned to the residence. The Sixth Master has just now been sent for by the Old Madam, and the Old Madam instructed that if you had come back to the residence, you were to go to her at once."

Ji shi thought for a moment, then asked, "Apart from me and the Sixth Master, who else?"

"The Third Master and the Third Madam as well."

Ji shi pondered a while longer, then said, "I understand." She handed Dou Yan over to Tuo Niang and Caishu. "Look after Shouyuan well. Once I am back, we shall send Shouyuan home."

The two answered in unison and carried Dou Yan back to Ji shi's residence, while Ji shi took Cailan with her to the Matriarch's quarters.

The Matriarch's courtyard was utterly silent; the maids and old women in attendance stood in the middle of the yard holding their breath.

At the sight of Ji shi, Granny Liu, stationed before the steps of the main hall, hurried forward. Smiling, she ushered Ji shi inside, and in a voice as faint as a mosquito's whine said, "The moment the Fifth Master returned, he shut himself in the inner chamber with the Matriarch for a long while. When he came out, he sent for the several of you."

Seeing that the inner chamber was but two steps away, Ji shi shot Granny Liu a look, then, smiling, let Granny Liu lift the curtain for her and walked in.