Chapter 102 — Spring Couplets

In the carriage back to the West Mansion, Dou Yan seemed rather quiet.

Suxin and Sulan had both gone back to Zhending Prefecture for the anniversary rites of her father's death, and the one attending her now was the livelier Ganlu.

Smiling, she asked Dou Yan, "Fourth Miss, whatever is the matter?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Dou Yan said absently. "I was thinking of things from the past."

How old was Fourth Miss, to be dwelling on the past?

What past could she possibly have?

Ganlu pursed her lips and smiled, imitating the maids in Lady Ji's chambers.

Dou Yan did not notice Ganlu's odd manner at all; her mind was on her own thoughts.

In her last life, it was when she was fourteen that Sixth Aunt had come to the capital, and before long she had bought a two-courtyard house in Cat Lane beside Yunqi Temple and married Dou Yong off there.

Dou Yong's bride was the niece of Sixth Aunt's own sister-in-law, a girl of the Han family, from a great house of the Jiangnan region. She was a little lacking when it came to managing the household stores, but her learning was exceptional. Whenever Dou Yong wrote an examination essay, he would discuss it with this Eleventh Sister-in-law. In time Dou Yong became a famous master of the craft, and any model essay he had annotated would at once sell out north and south. The couple shared the same aspirations and were deeply devoted to each other.

And it was for just this reason that Sixth Aunt, to look after the daily comforts of Sixth Uncle and the young couple, afterward took up permanent residence in the capital, and never returned to Zhending even up to the time of her rebirth.

Was she about to part from Sixth Aunt, then?

At the thought, her heart tightened, and tears nearly fell from her eyes.

For several days on end, Dou Zhiwei was rather low in spirits.

Her grandmother simply assumed Dou Yan was tired, and told her to rest more: "...There are only three of us for the New Year anyway. Even if we're short of this or lacking that, it doesn't matter."

Dou Yan giggled and seized the chance to be lazy, handing the household affairs to Suxin, who had returned to the mansion, while she hid in her room doing needlework.

In this life she would never go back to the capital; if Sixth Aunt settled there, the two of them would likely never have another chance to meet. Sixth Aunt had cared for her like a mother for several years, and now that the parting was close at hand, she wanted to sew a few garments with her own hands as a small token of her feelings.

And so word went round the household that she was unwell.

Dou Ming loitered a long while before Dou Yan's door, but in the end turned and walked away.

Dou Yan shook her head slightly, a faint disappointment welling up in her heart.

She had always believed human nature to be fundamentally good. It was only that Dou Ming's luck was too poor.

First she had run into Wang Shuying, who used her as a tool against her father, adding a measure of self-interest and subtracting a measure of a mother's love; then she had run into Madam Wang of the Xu clan, who raised her like a pet, knowing only how to dote on her and never how to take responsibility for her future; and now she was in her own care—and she herself was not one skilled at bringing up children. Her three children in her last life were proof enough... Her bitterness was hers alone to swallow!

When word reached the East Mansion, Lady Ji came over at once.

Dou Yan had no choice but to reassure her: "...It's only that the weather's cold and I want to sleep a little longer!"

Seeing her rosy complexion and bright spirits, Lady Ji knew she was not merely putting her off.

Even so, the Second Dowager still sent Stewardess Liu to look in on her, while the Second and Third Madams came in person, and the Second and Third Young Madams brought Yijie and Shujie along with them; there were also the First Madam's daughter-in-law, Madam Huang, Dou Fanchang's wife, Dou Huachang's wife, and Dou Yan's wife, Madam Qi—all of them together, lively and clamorous, crowding the inner room until there was nowhere to set a foot.

Dou Yan could only keep explaining that there was nothing seriously wrong with her, that she merely felt tired now and then—yet Dou Heng still sent the steward from his side over with medicinal herbs.

If this went on, she feared even Dou Xiuchang and Dou Yuchang would be sending people to inquire after her illness.

Dou Chi had no choice but to "recover" with all haste.

It set the Bie sisters laughing endlessly among themselves in private. Sulan even said, "Now I know it's no easy thing to be emperor—if one day the emperor felt like slacking off and skipping court, never mind the consorts of the rear palace; the several grand secretaries of the Grand Secretariat alone would fuss at him till he got no peace."

Suxin teased her too: "So you see, 'snatching leisure from busyness' isn't something just anyone can manage."

Seeing the sisters in such good spirits, Dou Yan joked, "And did Zhao Liangbi end up being any help at all to the young master of the Bie household?"

When the Bie sisters went back, Zhao Liangbi had taken the chicken feather she had given him long ago and used it as a warrant, declaring, "This was what the young lady instructed." The Bie sisters were both women, and so long as the business outside the house was left to him to run about on, it was enough—he had gone along with the Bie sisters to Zhending Prefecture.

Whether Suxin and Sulan had failed to see Zhao Liangbi's feelings or simply had not grasped the meaning behind Dou Yan's words, they answered frankly and generously with a laugh, "How did he not help? Buying the sacrificial offerings, arranging the feasts, receiving the guests—we owe it all to Manager Zhao." Which only left Dou Chi at a loss for what to say.

In her last life there had been no Bie sisters, and Zhao Liangbi and Ganlu had married smoothly and lived in mutual respect, a pairing that made others envious. In this life, Zhao Liangbi had met Suxin.

What else, then, would change?

Dou Yan felt somewhat at a loss, and somewhat expectant.

Ji Yong sent his personal page boy Zishang to bring her two fifty-year-old ginseng roots: "Our young master says to slice the ginseng and hold a slice under the tongue each night before sleeping; it calms the spirit and restores the vital breath."

The Ji family truly lived up to their name as a great house a century old—a sovereign remedy that others could not buy for any money, and he had simply given it to her offhand.

Dou Yan thanked him sincerely: "Tell your young master that I'm grateful for his ginseng, and that I'm quite well now." Reflecting that this was a medicine that could save a life, she did not decline it, and had Suxin put it away, then rewarded Zishang with two fine red packets.

Zishang thanked her respectfully.

Dou Yan then asked him whether Ji Yong was spending the New Year at the Dou household or returning to Yixing.

"Our old master originally meant for our young master to spend the New Year in the capital with the two masters, but our young master said the capital was no fun, so he came to Zhending with the young master of the cousin's family." Zishang was quick-tongued and clear in what he said. "When spring comes, he'll go back to the capital together with our young lady."

Then when the New Year came, she would send him something in return.

Only, this person lacked for nothing—what was she to give him?

Dou Yan was still stewing over her dilemma when Ji Yong sent someone to fetch her to help write spring couplets: "...I was simply idle and thought I would lend a hand. But somehow everyone and their cousin claimed to be busy, and five hundred couplets landed in my lap! Since you are well again, come over and help! Otherwise, when will these couplets ever be finished!"

This was the duty of the Dou clan's sons. What business was it of hers?