Chapter 66 — Companionship

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Dou Huaiying came to consult Dou Yan. "What do you think we should do?"

Though young, the eldest daughter's tone of unshakable confidence when she spoke often gave him boundless reassurance.

Dou Yan did not know how best to deal with Dou Ming.

To leave her at the Second Old Madam's side to learn the rules meant enduring endless cold words and barbed remarks; to send her to the Wang family in the capital for a long stay—in her last life, Dou Ming had been warped by Lady Xu's upbringing, and in the end had even dragged Wang Nan down with her.

Rubbing her temples, she said, "Why not ask Mother? She is Dou Ming's birth mother."

With Wang Shuying present, no one else could easily interfere; even if it was for Dou Ming's own good, the bond between mother and child being what it was, in the end Dou Ming might well resent whoever meddled.

Dou Huaiying hesitated.

A little maid came running in, breathless, and, seeing Dou Huaiying there, tried to tiptoe back out again.

Dou Huaiying barked, "What is it?"

The maid cast a pleading look at Dou Yan.

Dou Yan could think of nothing she needed to hide from Dou Huaiying, and nodded to the maid.

The maid murmured, "The Seventh Madam is packing trunks and boxes—she says she is taking the Fifth Miss to the capital."

Dou Huaiying flew into a rage and hurried off.

Dou Yan called Haitang in. "Bring the needlework I did a few days ago, and help me change my clothes. We are going to see Ninth Cousin's wife."

In the second month of this year, Dou Huanchang had married a daughter of the Huang family of Huai'an.

The match had been settled while the eldest uncle was still alive. Huang's grandfather and the eldest uncle had been classmates in the same examination year, and Huang had a clansman—a cousin of her father's generation—who now served as a magistrate in the Court of Judicial Review.

Huang was the same age as Dou Huanchang. She had a gentle face and a mild, amiable temper, and her needlework was exquisite. The eldest aunt was exceedingly fond of her, and had praised her daughter-in-law before the assembled Dou family more than once.

Both being daughters-in-law who had come from Jiangnan, people could not help comparing her with Lady Ji.

Ji was serene; Huang was tender—both possessed the refined grace of the water towns of the south.

Second Cousin's wife made fun of herself: "Set the Sixth Aunt and the Ninth Sister-in-law beside us, and the rest of us are nothing but kitchen drudges."

Ji and Huang naturally made modest demurrals, but the two had also grown close on that account, and Huang was accordingly warmer to Dou Yan than to the others.

Some days earlier, word had come that Huang was with child.

Dou Yan thought she would go there to hide for a while—the eldest aunt was widowed, Huang's pregnancy had not yet passed its third month, and no one would casually intrude upon the eldest branch's household. It was the quietest place imaginable.

With company, and that company being the exceedingly sensible and considerate Dou Yan, Huang welcomed her with open arms.

Dou Yan lingered in the eldest branch's quarters until the afternoon, and only after the evening meal did she return to the Western Dou household.

The moment she stepped through the gate, she saw a young groom from the stables squatting there, hammering at a cartwheel.

Dou Yan sighed to herself.

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From her experience in her last life, whenever Wang Xu-shi laid eyes on Dou Ming, she would keep the girl in the Wang household for a long stay.

She returned to the main house, where her father sat staring blankly at a book, his face a picture of displeasure.

"I hear you went to see Jixin," Dou Huaiying greeted his daughter. "Well? Did you get anything out of it?"

Jixin was the courtesy name of Ninth Cousin Dou Huanchang.

"Ninth Cousin's wife taught me how to embroider a bird's eye," Dou Yan said, having changed her clothes and tidied herself before sitting down on the kang by the window to talk with her father. "I think it is much the same as the techniques of painting—no wonder Sixth Aunt's aunt could even embroider long scrolls of landscape."

This put Dou Huaiying in a much better mood. Then he brought up Dou Ming: "...Everyone loves the splendor of the capital, and children especially. Would you like to go with Dou Ming and stay there for a while?"

And then have her bow to the Wang family as a junior to her elders?

Better not.

"She cannot bear to leave her grandmother," Dou Yan said, "and I cannot bear to leave my Granny Cui."

Dou Huaiying laughed despite himself. After pondering a long while, he probed, "If you and Granny Cui stay at home alone, will you be afraid?"

Dou Yan brightened at once.

It seemed her father was preparing to go to the capital with Wang Shuying and Dou Ming.

Perhaps because there was no resentment left in her. Her heart was at peace now, unlike her last life, when the sight of her father together with Wang Shuying, Dou Ming, and Dou Xiao had set her blood boiling and left her half dead with fury.

At this moment there was only her grandmother in her heart.

"So you agree to let me bring Granny Cui home to stay for a while?" Dou Yan asked her father with a smile.

"When did I ever disagree?" Dou Huaiying said with a laugh. Then his expression turned somewhat dispirited. "I only feel that even without Granny Cui, the Pang family would still not dare come knocking."

Is that why you sulked and refused to go to the capital to wait for an official post?

Dou Yan was caught between laughter and tears.

Fortunately the matter had already been settled, and she did not want to argue with Father over it, so she asked when he planned to set out.

"The day after tomorrow, I think!" Dou Huaiying said with a smile. "Tomorrow we go to fetch your Great-aunt Cui."

Dou Xin nodded eagerly and took it up with Father: "Hasn't the east cross-courtyard just been renovated? Why not have Great-aunt Cui stay in the Qingshuang Pavilion there? The trees are thick and lush—there's no cooler place."

"Come on," Father said, rising in high spirits. "Let's go have a look."

The two of them did not even stop for supper; they went all through the Qingshuang Pavilion together, deciding where the inner chamber should be, where the sitting room, where the chests and trunks would go, where the maids would sleep—arranging every last detail before they returned to the main house. At first light the next day they harnessed the carriage and drove out to the farmstead.

Granny Hu, packing trunks alongside Wang Shuying, was somewhat uneasy: "Easy to invite a god in, hard to send one away. What do you make of this business?"

At these words Wang Shuying's mood immediately turned restless.

She knew that Zhao Guqiu's death was a knot in Dou Huaiying's heart, but the dead are dead, and the living must go on with their lives. She had thought that with time, and with her own patient yielding, the knot would naturally come untied.

Who could have known it would turn out otherwise.

So many years had passed, and Dou Huaiying had not only failed to forget Zhao Guqiu—he had drifted further and further from her, and their old intimacy was gone beyond recall.

Opportunity always comes to those who are prepared.

Just as Dou Ming's grief had come.

In Zhending, in the Dou household, Dou Ming's legitimacy was murky; and she herself would forever be the second wife elevated from concubine.

At the thought, she could not help gritting her teeth.

She and Dou Huaiying must begin anew.

The capital was a place where outsiders swarmed like carp crossing the river, and no one knew another's true origins. Once they were there, with Dou Huaiying taking office and kinsmen like Dou Bingheng and connections like the Wangs, they could settle in the capital for good. They need never return to Zhending, and Dou Ming could grow up happily there and marry with a clean name.