Chapter 100 — Farewell

Why had Dou Ming not married Wang Tan in her previous life?

The two of them were actually quite well matched!

"Don't imagine that everyone will indulge you the way your two cousins do..." Dou Yan gave Dou Ming a stern lecture, then confined her to the house. "You will stay quietly at home for the next few days. When you've come to your senses, you may go back to Master Song's lessons."

Perhaps she was afraid of Ji Yong's methods, or perhaps his attitude had shocked her—whatever the reason, Dou Ming said not a word. She stayed obediently in her room, reading and practicing her writing, and went nowhere at all.

The maids, old women, and young servants around Dou Ming also became a good deal more circumspect.

Dou Si said to Ji Yong, "A beating would have been enough. You went too far."

"Aren't you girls all afraid of dirt?" Ji Yong blinked at her. "I thought this would be more effective."

Dou Chiyou frowned. "You are a scholar, at the very least. How can you conduct yourself with such a complete lack of propriety..."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Ji Yong said with disgust. "What I hate most is people lecturing me about propriety. I watched the way you dealt with Pang Kunbai—clean and decisive—and took you for a straightforward sort. Seems I misjudged you."

And so it somehow became her fault.

Dou Yan could not be bothered to argue with him further. She turned and went to see Lady Ji. It was not until Ji Yong was about to leave for the capital with the brothers Dou Yong and Dou Huaide that she deigned to appear and say to him, "Have a safe journey."

Ji Yong gave a cold sneer and ignored her. Beaming, he took his leave of the Third Master Dou and the others, and departed the Dou household in that carriage of his that looked so plain and was in truth so luxurious.

Dou Ming came back to life at once. She went to Master Song's lessons. She learned to play the pipa from Wan Niang, practiced her calligraphy whenever she had a free moment, and often accompanied Dou Yan to pay her respects to the Second Old Madam. When she met Cousin Yi and Cousin Shu she was all smiles and sweet talk. They were, after all, aunt and nieces, and both Cousin Yi and Cousin Shu were soon to be married, so they had grown more forgiving in their dealings with others than before. Cousin Yi even went with Dou Ming once to Jingjue Temple to hear a sermon, where they encountered the Eighth Miss of the Lang family. As children they had been foolish, and so had boldly imitated the way the adults spoke. Now they were all grown. Dou Ming greeted the Eighth Miss of the Lang family with a bright smile. The Eighth Miss, for her part, let bygones be bygones and exchanged a few pleasantries with Cousin Yi and Dou Ming.

Dou Yan merely smiled faintly when she heard of it.

Whatever the reason, it was always good that Dou Ming could keep her temper in check.

In the blink of an eye winter had set in. Dou Yan and her grandmother were busy moving all the flowers and plants of the household into the heated sheds for the winter when Dou Ming finally could bear it no longer and burst out at Granny Zhou: "Why hasn't Mother come to fetch me yet?"

"My dear young lady," Granny Zhou could only keep soothing her, "the New Year is nearly upon us. With the Second Old Madam and Aunt Cui here to see, how could we possibly send you off to the capital now? Don't fret—I imagine the Mistress will come for you once spring arrives."

Only then did Dou Ming calm down.

Having fetched the new almanac from the yamen, the Dou family began making preparations for the New Year. Cui Min's business was likewise finished, and he formally took his leave of Dou Yan.

Dou Yan was very reluctant to see him go. "What a pity I have no fine future to offer you," she said regretfully. "Otherwise, wouldn't it be wonderful if you stayed on at my side?"

Cui Min was a very tactful man, but that did not diminish his respect for Dou Yan. He smiled and said, "Then let me first wish you success in the examinations. When the time comes, I'll come and serve as your gatekeeper."

Dou Yan laughed heartily. "A gatekeeper would be a waste of your talents! At the very least you must be a legal secretary or a grain secretary!"

"Then I'd first have to go back to the county school and study a few more years." Cui Min traded a few more pleasantries with Dou Yan, took his leave of her, and went with Su Lan—who had been waiting for him outside the gate all the while—to see Dou Yan.

Dou Yan gave him a bank draft for a thousand taels. "Fan Wenshu is doing well in the capital. On my behalf, go and pay New Year's calls on the patrons there who have supported our business all these years."

Cui Min went home and spent two days with his parents before setting out.

He had scarcely gone when Ji Yong, Dou Yong, and Dou Huaide returned on his heels.

Dou Yan was astonished. "Ji Jianming isn't going home for the New Year—what has he come running back to Zhending for?"

Su Lan laughed. "Who cares why he's back? It's not as if he'll be coming to our West Mansion for the New Year."

"True enough," Dou Xin said. "It's just that I get jittery whenever I see him, afraid that if I blink twice too many I'll miss something and he'll stir up some fresh trouble."

Su Lan burst out laughing, then lowered her voice and asked Dou Yan, "Fourth Miss, do you suppose that's why the Ji family won't let him sit for the imperial examinations and sent him out to gain experience instead?"

"Not necessarily," Dou Xin said. "There are plenty of people like him who study well and are restless besides—that's no great hindrance. I only fear there's something about Ji Jianming we don't know. Otherwise I wouldn't be so uneasy."

Su Lan nodded again and again.

Seeing her grow more and more familiar and insolent in her speech, Su Xin scolded her: "Go and bring in the young lady's hot water."

"There are rough-work women for that," Dou Yan said. "No need for her to do it."

"You spoil her far too much, young lady," Su Xin said. "She was born with a fine pair of strong arms—those rough-work women aren't half as steady as she is."

Su Lan grumbled as she went to fetch the water: "But the young lady said that everyone should do the work that suits their station—I'm a second-class maid at the young lady's side, so why should I be the one fetching water?"

Su Xin said nothing, only glared at her.

She immediately lowered her head and slipped obediently out the door.

Dou Yan could not help laughing.

Without Su Lan's liveliness, her days would surely be short a great deal of laughter.

She asked Su Xin, "The anniversary of Steward Bie's death is coming up soon, isn't it? I'll give you sisters three days off. Go home and pay your respects properly to Steward Bie, and do your duty as his daughters."

Su Xin's eyes reddened, and she choked out her thanks to Dou Yan.

As they stepped out the door, they saw Zhao Liangbi talking with Gan Lu.

He was exceptionally capable. In barely a year he had already been promoted to manager of the grain shop. Dou Xiuchang had several times proposed that Zhao Liangbi come back to help him, but Dou Yan wanted him to stay on at the Dou family's shop a few more years—not only to learn the trade, but to learn how to conduct himself as a man—and had never agreed.

Zhao Liangbi, for his part, kept his patience and applied himself steadily to his duties as manager.

This was also the very quality in him that Dou Yan had valued most in his previous life.

Seeing Dou Yan and Su Xin come out, his face flushed faintly, and he stepped forward to greet Dou Yan with a bow.

Dou Yan smiled gently.

In his last life, Zhao Liangbi had married Ganlu.

"What brings you here today?" Dou Yan asked him warmly. "Is the shop doing its year-end inventory?"