Chapter 46 — Half

Dou Yan returned to East Dou in the family carriage.

In the carriage, Dou Duo asked his son, "What did Yuanji say to you?"

Just now, with Steward Dou present, he had not dared probe too deeply. He knew only that Dou Bingheng had returned, and he guessed Bingheng had most likely come over the Zhao family's conditions—yet he could not fathom what use Bingheng's return could possibly be. The conditions the Zhao family had put forward were plainly meant to corner him, to shift the blame onto his shoulders. Unless Zhao Ruifu got half the West Dou fortune, he would never agree to put his signature to a consent. Ruifu held all the winning cards; he would not abandon them at a few words from Dou Bingheng. He would not cede half of West Dou's property to Dou Yan merely on Bingheng's word of acknowledgment. And the Wang family would never let Wang Shuying remain in the Dou household without the Zhao family's consent.

The more he thought, the more it seemed a dead end.

Dou Huaiying said bluntly, "Fifth Brother told me everything that has happened at home during this time."

That said, he said nothing more, so that Dou Duo waited in vain for a good while and had to prompt again, "And then—what did Yuanji say to you?"

"Fifth Brother said that our brother-in-law's demand is reasonable in sentiment but not in principle," Dou Huaiying replied. "But with what happened to Guqiu, our brother-in-law's anger will not be appeased, and he demands that the Dou family compensate Shouyuan. If we put ourselves in his place, we would likely do something even worse. Had this not come just as Lord Wang was touring Gansu as grand coordinator, our three families could have sat down and talked it through properly, renegotiated a sum the Zhao family would find reasonable and you could accept—we might even have refused our brother-in-law's demand outright, and Lord Wang, I daresay, would have understood. But the timing is wrong. The Zhao family can afford to wait; the great affairs of the court cannot be delayed. If Lord Wang is impeached, I fear no one else will have the prestige and the resolve to shut down and investigate the frontier horse markets. The Emperor's wish to pacify the northwest would become empty talk, and Lord Zeng would likely face the danger of being forced into retirement once more. Fifth Brother asked me to counsel you: think of the larger picture, and think thrice before you act."

Dou Yan pursed her lips.

In her past life, Wang Xingyi had in the end only managed to close the horse market at Lianguan; he had never succeeded in banning the horse trade outright.

If the court forbade it, did the garrison commanders of the Nine Border Regions have no means of their own? What, then, were the commissioners of the Five Army Command living on? What were they drinking on?

In the end, the horse market was hard to ban because it was the private treasury of every military officer in the northwest—which was precisely why Wang Xingyi opposed opening the market in the first place. And it was for the same reason that the censors had never been able to bring down Shi Ruilan, for all his arrogance and tyranny. This was no longer a simple question of whether or not to open the horse market; it was a covert struggle between the civil officials and the military officers. In the end, Dou Yan had been able to impeach Shi Ruilan only because the new emperor ascended the throne, decided to take the Lianguan horse market into his own hands, and dispatched Han Wei, a eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, to serve concurrently as supervising censor of the Shaanxi Regional Military Commission, permanently stationed in Xi'an, in charge of the frontier horse markets…

Dou Duo gave a cold laugh. "We merely eat by the grace of the East Residence. The larger picture? What has the larger picture to do with us? Where would we get such foresight?"

He was still angry over being left to cool his heels all day and all night in the East Residence by the Old Madam.

Then he pointed at Dou Yan. "If she were a son, I would gladly promise not half the family fortune but all of it. But you would have me take the estate our ancestors left and let a slip of a girl carry it off into another man's house—I would sooner the whole Dou family go down with Zeng Yifen."

Dou Huaiying said nothing, only gently stroking Dou Zhiwei's head, as though consoling her, telling her not to be afraid.

The three of them rode in silence all the way to the East Residence.

Fifth Uncle was waiting in person at the gate.

"Little Uncle," he said with impeccable courtesy, "I ought to have come to pay my respects to you. But this is no private matter; I must first hear what my elder sisters-in-law have to say. So I have put public before private. Once this business is settled, I shall come to your residence to beg your pardon and receive your instruction."

Fifth Uncle spoke with a smile, coming straight to the point, his gaze frank and open, his manner earnest, so that Grandfather could find no fault in him at all; the pent-up irritation in his chest could only be forced down, and with a sullen face he let Fifth Uncle escort him into the main hall.

Dou Huaiying handed his daughter over to Tuoniang. "There's a good girl, run along and play. Father will come fetch you from Sixth Aunt's later."

Dou Yan nodded. Once her grandfather and father had entered the hall, she made a circuit of the courtyard outside, then seized a chance to slip inside.

Fifth Uncle was speaking: "…So after turning it over and over, I have decided: Shouyuan's dowry shall be provided by us of the East Dou!"

"You are mad!" Grandfather and Father could not hide their astonishment, Grandfather especially, his face ashen. "Do you know what you are saying? Do you know how much money half of West Dou's property is? This is the ancestral estate!" As he spoke, he looked toward the Second Old Madam.

The Second Old Madam drank her tea with her head down, her face expressionless, as though what her son had just given away were not a quarter of the Dou family fortune but a small bowl of sacrificial-red porcelain.

"I know!" Fifth Uncle said warmly, his manner as genial as spring. "Our ancestors toiled to leave behind such a great estate—was it not so that we, their descendants, might live better and better? If that estate becomes a burden instead, then giving it up costs us nothing. In this world, things belong to those who are worthy of them. I believe that even if we surrender a quarter of the estate, with me," his gaze passed in turn over every descendant of the Dou family seated there, "with Lan ge'er, with Zhi ge'er, our days will only grow more prosperous, more flourishing."

Dou Chiyou nodded to himself.

Lan ge'er belonged to the eldest branch; Zhi ge'er to the second.

This Fifth Uncle of hers—no wonder he had entered the Grand Secretariat. Setting aside all else, that flawless art of speech alone was enough for her to study long and hard.

Dou Duo could not summon a single word for the longest time.

This Dou Bingheng—he could truly scheme, and truly deliver!

No wonder he had taken this matter in hand.

No wonder that among all the Dou family's many descendants, his was the highest office!

He was ruthless to others, and just as ruthless to himself.

A quarter of East Dou's estate, and he cast it aside without a second thought.

At this thought, Dou Duo could not help knitting his brows.

Wait… his own son wished to elevate a concubine to wife, and rather than spend his own pile of silver, he would have his cousins put up the money. This was not Old Five giving up the ancestral estate—this was coercion, naked coercion!

Dou Duo's eyes went red at once.

He must not let Old Five have his way!

Dou Duo looked toward his nephews and his nephews' wives.

The First Madam kept her eyes lowered, her fingers ceaselessly turning a string of rosewood prayer beads.

The Second Madam sat composed and upright, like the ancestral portraits in the shrine.