Chapter 85 — Ji Yong

The main gate of the Dou household was still thronged with people, but the side lane through the smaller gate was quiet. Two black-lacquered carriages with flat, even-topped roofs stood there, hung with curtains of mottled bamboo.

The chests were amber in color, neither new nor old, yet their wood grain ran smooth and clear, the four corners bound in bronze with cloud motifs; they looked plain and still, with a certain weightiness about them.

"Truly extravagant—it's all rosewood." Dou Yan heard Dou Huaide muttering beside her and couldn't help smiling to herself, stealing another glance or two.

The sturdy servants carrying the chests were at most twenty-seven or twenty-eight in age, the youngest eighteen or nineteen, all grave of countenance and brisk in movement; they lifted the great chests without flushing or panting, clearly trained in the martial arts.

It was hardly rare for a great house to travel with martial attendants, but to see them all so alike in height and build, dressed and adorned identically as these were, was indeed uncommon.

Truly extravagant!

Was he not afraid of being robbed?

Dou Yan followed Dou Huaide and Wu Shan around the flower hall to the Sixth Aunt's quarters.

The black-lacquered ruyi gate stood wide open, and the bluestone path was spotless, as if it had been washed with water. A mynah bird under the eaves flapped its wings with a whir, and beside it a pomegranate tree blazed with fiery blooms.

Maids and old serving women stood in the covered corridor with hands folded, holding their breath and not daring to stir; seeing the three of them come in, they blinked their eyes at them.

"See that?" Dou Huaide whispered at Dou Yan's ear. "It's not a cousin who's come to our house—it's the Emperor!"

Dou Yan spluttered with laughter and barely managed to hold it in as she followed Dou Huaide and Wu Shan, one behind the other, into the hall.

Dou Yong stood deferentially at Ji Shi's side. Ji Shi sat shoulder to shoulder with a youth in a moon-white robe of fine cloth, on a luohan couch inlaid with mica, and was smiling broadly as she held the youth's hand and talked.

At the sound of their arrival, both looked up.

Ji Shi's smile was extraordinarily radiant, as though it welled up from the bottom of her heart. The undisguised joy in it was utterly unlike her usual reserved, low-key manner, and it took Dou Yan quite aback. Then she looked at the youth beside her—only fifteen or sixteen, perhaps; though tall and handsome, his features were otherwise ordinary. Yet as he sat smiling, his expression placid and serene, his eyes shone with a flowing luster bright as stars and stones, giving the impression that "though he seems mild-tempered, if you slight him, he is not so easy to deal with." This contradictory air made him unforgettable; it even stirred a curiosity to see what lay beneath.

Dou Yan was secretly alarmed.

This must be that Ji Yong.

She suddenly thought of the beautiful youth she had seen at Lingyan Temple.

One, and now another... more of them than in her previous life.

Dou Yan shot a glance at Dou Huaide.

Dou Huaide and Wu Shan were both staring wide-eyed at Ji Yong.

Over there, Ji Shi was already warmly greeting them: "Wu Shan, you've come too! Zhi and Shouyuan, come quickly and pay your respects to your Sixteenth Cousin."

Ji Yong rose with a smile and bowed gracefully to each of them. "This humble one is Ji Yong, courtesy name Jianming, of Yixing."

Ji Yong already had a courtesy name... he was about Dou Huaide's age. Only youths who excelled in the examination studies could be granted a courtesy name by their elders or teachers ahead of time. Could this Ji Yong be outstanding in his studies?

Dou Yan curtsied in return, and Ji Shi, beaming, pointed at Wu Shan: "This is the son of the Wu household—the Hanlin scholar's son—who took first place in this year's provincial examination for the Northern Metropolitan Region." Then she indicated Ji Yong: "My nephew from my maiden family, who took first place in the provincial examination for the Southern Metropolitan Region in the yi-mao year—he was only thirteen then."

A first-place provincial graduate at thirteen!

Why had she never heard of him in her previous life?

Had something changed in this one?

She might have married into a family of titled nobles, but she would still have heard the names of top scholars and famous ministers. Perhaps this man had grown up to be merely ordinary?

Dou Yan pondered this. She noticed that Dou Yong's and Dou Huaide's faces had both turned somewhat green, and even Wu Shan's smile had grown strained.

Ji Jianming seemed wholly unaware—or perhaps he was long used to such looks. He said with a faint smile, "Aunt, you flatter me. It was only luck." Then he quickly changed the subject, cupped his hands to Dou Yong and Dou Huaide, and said with a smile, "I have long heard that Cousin Dou Yong and Cousin Dou Huaide love to travel and are broad in experience. I fear I shall be imposing on you both while I am in Zhending."

Dou Yong and Dou Huaide hurriedly cupped their hands in return, but before they could speak, Ji Shi laughed and said, "We're all family—no need to gild their faces for them. Those two simply love to play. If there's anywhere you wish to go, just ask them."

Dou Yan saw Dou Yong and Dou Huaide looking thoroughly embarrassed.

Something stirred in her heart. She thought of the tone she herself had used when disciplining her son in her previous life—praising others and belittling her own child—until her son would not only refuse to learn from those people, but would hide far away at the very mention of their names.

Dou Yan began to understand, vaguely.

Neither Dou Yong nor Dou Huaide was narrow-minded; but judging by the Sixth Aunt's manner, she had likely praised Ji Yong and disparaged the two of them before their faces more than once, so that they had taken a dislike to Ji Yong before they ever met him.

She must take this as a warning in the future!

Dou Yan admonished herself.

After Ji Yong and Wu Shan had exchanged a few pleasantries, Ji Shi drew Dou Yan to her side and said with a smile, "This is your cousin from the Dou family, fourth in the ranking at home, who grew up at my side—as dear to me as Hui and Zhi. You two should meet as well."

Ji Yong looked at Dou Yan with an easy candor and said with a smile, "Fourth Cousin."

Dou Yan was very grateful to Ji Shi.

She must have thought that since Dou Yan had no full brothers of her own, making the acquaintance of in-laws like Ji Yong might give her someone to rely on in the future.

Dou Yan called out sincerely, "Cousin Ji."

Everyone sat down to tea.

Ji Shi went on talking with Ji Yong.

From the way she spoke, the Ji family had five branches within the clan and eight collateral branches outside it, with nearly a hundred descendants in the direct line alone—far more complicated than the Dou household, no telling how much.

No wonder the Ji woman had carried everything off so lightly after marrying into the Dou family.

Dou Yan listened, clicking her tongue in astonishment.

Before long, a young maid came to report, "The Old Madam has set a feast in the Green Shade Pavilion to welcome the young master from the cousin's family, and has summoned the young masters and young misses of several branches to keep him company."

The Green Shade Pavilion stood beside the main hall of the Dou residence; only when men of rank and power came calling were its lattice doors opened.

Madam Ji, her face glowing, led them toward the Green Shade Pavilion.

Along the way, Dou Huaide muttered under his breath to Wu Shan, "If he's so brilliant, why didn't he keep going and take first place in all three examinations? What's he showing off in our house for?"

Dou Yan pressed her lips tightly together, afraid she might burst out laughing.