Chapter 73 — What She Asked For

The people of Beizhili all said that the Dou clan of the North Tower had accumulated strength over generations and produced talent in abundance. He had rather disdained such talk before, but now, having witnessed how Fourth Miss Dou conducted herself, he was utterly convinced—and could not help thinking, with a sinking heart: no wonder he had been shrewd in every matter and yet ended up achieving nothing. Bie Gangyi was rough and careless, yet had friends throughout the realm, and in his time of trouble there was no lack of friends to help him. By that skill of judging character alone, he himself fell far short.

Old Chen sighed inwardly, then a chill went through him.

Would he himself end up ruining Bie Gangyi's affairs?

Unease seized him at once.

"Fourth Miss Dou." Anxious as he was, his tone remained perfectly ordinary. "I hear your father, your mother, and your younger sister have all gone to the capital, leaving you alone here in Zhending?"

Dou Yan regarded Old Chen, whose smile was full of certainty, and a faint flicker passed through her eyes, a blade's glint of snow.

Old Chen's smile grew only more composed.

"I have also heard," he went on, "that the Fourth Miss's mother was a second wife, and that since her own mother's death the Fourth Miss has been raised in the Sixth Madam's rooms in the East Dou. If the Fourth Miss were to take in the Bie sisters, I think everyone hereabouts on East Lane Street would sing the praises of her kindness. In time, as more and more people spoke of it, the Fourth Miss would surely earn a fine name for succoring the endangered and aiding the distressed—and by then, I daresay, even the Second Madam of the Dou clan would look at the Fourth Miss with new eyes. When the Fourth Miss reaches marriageable age, would not every matchmaker within a hundred li of Zhending wear the Dou threshold flat? Fourth Miss, tell me—is there not reason in what I say?"

Old Chen's words suddenly carried Dou Yan back to that night of bright moon and sparse stars, when she had overheard Lady Ji and Old Wang speaking intimately together.

It had been the same then—drawing out thread after thread from small details, piecing scattered words back into the whole course of events.

This was what people meant by taking one step and seeing three ahead, was it not?

Her hand clenched into a fist inside her sleeve. The look she bent on Old Chen shone bright.

Living her life over again, what did she lack most?

Someone who could scheme and calculate on her behalf.

This Old Chen was precisely the man she had been looking for.

In an instant, Dou Yan's heart brimmed with fighting spirit.

She would take this man under her banner and make him her own.

"How should I address you, sir?" Dou Yan asked.

It was a mark of respect.

Old Chen rejoiced inwardly, though his face betrayed nothing. "This humble one is surnamed Chen, given name Bo, styled Qushui, and known as Yuechuan," he said gravely.

"Master Yuechuan," Dou Yan said, "are you aware that my stepmother is the daughter of Wang Yousheng, the Shaanxi governor?"

Chen Yanzhou was somewhat taken aback.

Not at Wang Shuying's station—rather, he could not quite fathom what Dou Yan meant by raising it.

"My fifth uncle and Wang Yousheng passed the examinations in the same year," Dou Yan said evenly. "Ever since Wang Yousheng took the Mongol khan Tumur alive two years ago, his prestige has reached its height; no civil or military official at court can stand at his back, and the calls for him to enter the Grand Secretariat grow louder by the day. But do you know why he has never gotten his wish?"

Chen Yanzhou's lips moved slightly; he checked himself.

Dou Yan pursed her lips and smiled in understanding. "My fifth uncle and Wang Xingyi are like brothers eating from the same bowl. When no outsiders are about, they may each use whatever means they can to snatch the meat. But if an outsider should try to snatch the bowl they eat from, they will join forces against him—for otherwise, once the bowl is smashed, neither of them will have anything to eat. And if either of them wanted the bowl for himself alone, he would first have to beat those who covet it so badly they dare not reach out a hand, and only then could the two of them turn on each other. I doubt they will have the stomach to fight over that bowl for another ten years, don't you think? That being so, what have I to worry about? Master Yuechuan, tell me—is there not reason in what I say?"

Chen Yanzhou's expression shifted slightly.

Quite so.

At present the Fourth Miss of the Dou family stood in a delicate and awkward position, yet so long as neither Wang nor Dou had emerged the victor, neither the Wangs nor the Dou could afford to make things hard for this Fourth Miss. And judging by how matters stood—the moment she spoke, the Dou had at once come forward to protect Bie Gangyi—it was plain that she not only rested secure in the Dou household but moved through it with ease, and had no need at all to shield herself behind a good name.

He looked at Dou Zhiwei with a shade more gravity.

A violent fit of coughing suddenly broke out in the room.

Dou Yan and Chen Yanzhou could not help glancing at Bie Gangyi, and saw him gasping hoarsely for breath, staring straight at the two of them.

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Sisters, I've revised the text again. Old Chen's name needed a proper change—I'm told it duplicated someone else's.

ps: still haven't gotten my schedule straightened out... ~~~~(_

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