Chapter 75 — Honesty (Bonus chapter for 570 pink votes)

The tutor Dou Huaiying had hired for his daughter was surnamed Jiang, given name Li, courtesy name Yougong—an old juren past sixty who had served for fifteen years as household tutor to the Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, none other than Dou Huaiying's own patron He Wendao. Pleading old age and failing vigor, he had asked to resign his post and return home, but Dou Huaiying had talked him round.

"...Editor Dou says the pupil is a young girl, and that it matters little what she studies, so long as she grasps some larger principles." Jiang Yougong's words were courteous, yet his tone carried a distinct haughtiness. "And with Vice Minister Dou adding his word on her behalf, I could hardly refuse for face's sake. Though I know my learning is shallow, I had no choice but to stiffen my neck and come."

The Dou family held no fewer than three posts at court in the capital, so he had no choice but to address them by their official titles.

Dou Zhen thanked him profusely, then summoned Tutor Du to keep him company. He personally arranged for Jiang Yougong to lodge in the outer study of the West Dou compound, assigned him two young servants, two maids, and two drudges for rough work, and called Dou Yan out to pay her respects to Jiang Yougong. Only after the date for lessons to begin was fixed did he return to the East Dou compound.

The Second Madam asked her son, "What sort of man is he?"

Dou Zhen gave a bitter smile. "His learning is first-rate, but that temper of his... I wonder whether we can even keep him."

The Second Madam frowned.

Dou Yan, for her part, was so furious she wanted to curse.

Why couldn't her father simply leave things be? This man surnamed Jiang had hardly come to be her tutor—he had plainly come to go through the motions!

A man who had already reached the age of sixty ears and still clung to the great divide between men and women—during lessons he had to set up a screen to separate himself from Dou Yan, and he was forever going on about how things had been at Minister He's house. Nor did he care whether Dou Yan understood a word. He simply sat there lecturing away, and when he was done he left, as though Dou Yan were a block of elm wood: no matter how well he taught, she could not grasp it, and no matter how poorly he taught, she would not know the difference. And so he taught with the barest minimum of effort. Yet Dou Huaiying had promised him, besides a yearly fee of one hundred taels of silver, two suits of clothes for each of the four seasons.

He was simply taking advantage of the fact that she was a girl.

It so happened that Dou Yan was home one day when Jiang Yougong was lecturing her on "Teng Wen Gong, Part II" of Mencius. Dou Yan sent for Cui Min and asked Dou Yan to compose an examination essay on the theme "The Duke of Zhou took in the Yi and Di barbarians and drove out the fierce beasts, and the common people were at peace." The next morning she placed it on Jiang Yougong's desk. Jiang Yougong gave it a cursory glance at first, then uttered a startled "Eh?" and picked it up to read closely for a good while. Then he asked Dou Yan, "Who wrote this?"

Dou Yan, without so much as a change in expression, replied, "Your student wrote it in jest."

Jiang Yougong gave a snort of contempt and tossed the essay aside. Then, using "Teng Wen Gong" as his text, he began to lecture her on the way of concubines and wives.

Dou Yan said not a word, going to her lessons and coming home each day without wasting a single moment.

When Chen Yanzhou heard that the Seventh Master of the Dou family had invited a tutor from the capital for his daughter, he burst out laughing. He wrote to Dou Yan, saying that flattered by her regard for him, he had decided to set out at once for Zhending County to take up a teaching post in the Dou household.

Dou Yan installed Chen Yanzhou at the country estate.

Watching the carriage skirt the city of Linzhang and speed off toward the country estate in the outskirts, Chen Yanzhou could not hide his surprise. He asked Zhao Liangbi, who had come to fetch him, "Where are we going?"

Zhao Liangbi laughed. "Why, to Aunt Cui's estate, of course!" he explained. "Aunt Cui gave the word long ago that this estate is to be left to the Fourth Miss, and the Seventh Master agreed. From now on this estate belongs to the Fourth Miss."

Chen Yanzhou fell silent.

No wonder the Fourth Miss Dou had said she wanted to engage him as her own tutor.

Could it be that the Fourth Miss Dou had known all along that the Seventh Master would bring a tutor back from the capital for her?

He had only meant to give Dou Yan a little trouble, to make her understand that the Dou family did not necessarily turn on her word. A promise, too, requires strength behind it!

Now it seemed that his little jest was utterly insignificant before the Fourth Miss Dou.

Why would the Fourth Miss Dou want a tutor to lecture her on the classics and histories?

For the first time, Chen Yanzhou seriously pondered why Dou Yan had sought him out.

Dou Yan took a day off and waited at the gate of the estate house to welcome Chen Yanzhou.

Chen Yanzhou, seeing no elders present, was somewhat taken aback.

Dou Yan pretended not to notice. Smiling, she invited Chen Yanzhou into the study that had long since been prepared.

It was a three-bay house of gray brick, one bright hall and two dim side rooms. To the east was an inner chamber with a warm alcove behind it; to the west was the study, with a suite of rooms behind. A crabapple and an apricot tree grew before the door, and a stand of bamboo behind the house. Gray bricks paved the floor, Korean paper covered the windows, and on the black-lacquered furniture stood a blue-and-white porcelain teacup and a Song white-porcelain vase holding two branches of crimson hibiscus, one tall and one short. Yet a fresh, pleasant air met one at the door.

Chen Yanzhou's eyes lit up at once. When he lifted the teacup, he saw the tea was a brilliant yellow, its fragrance clear and elegant; tasted, it was mellow and full, with a long sweet finish. It was in fact this autumn's newly arrived Tieguanyin. Delight leapt to his brow, and he praised aloud, "Good tea!"

Dou Yan smiled faintly.

A man without a passion is not worth knowing, for he has no deep feeling; a man without a flaw is not worth knowing, for he has no true nature.

Chen Yanzhou had known half a lifetime of hardship, and yet he could still be moved by a scene, a cup of tea—a sign of his true nature.

She lowered her head and took a sip of tea, letting the sweet, fresh flavor of the Tieguanyin roll through her heart and lungs, before she smiled and asked, "May I ask what the Master plans to do from here?"

Chen Yanzhou's brow arched slightly, as though asking what she meant by it.

Dou Yan did not conceal her meaning. Frankly she said, "One who dwells long in a room of orchids no longer smells their fragrance; one who dwells long in a fish market no longer smells the stench. With the loss of the innkeeper from East Lane Street, I fear it is no longer a place for the venerable Chen to reside. I wish to ask the Master to stay at the estate, so that I may consult you on learning at any time. What does the Master think?"

Chen Yanzhou's gaze sharpened slightly.

There was deep meaning in the Fourth Miss Dou's words.

When he had first arrived at East Lane Street, he had been extorted by a gang of idlers. Had Bie Gangyi not stepped in, how could he have escaped unscathed!

Chen Yanzhou thought of Bie Gangyi, whose time was nearly up, and of the Bie sisters, soon to seek refuge with Dou Zhiwei, and he felt a faint stirring of inclination.

He had long since accepted his fate. He asked nothing more now but to live out his remaining years in peace and quiet.

And he was somewhat uneasy about the Bie sisters, and hoped to repay Bie Gangyi for the care he had shown him over the years.