Chapter 124 — The Message

Second Madam hastened to smooth things over. "The fault lies only in there being no one at the head of the household. Seventh Uncle has to this day no heir to carry on the family estate. I think we would do well to find Seventh Uncle a wife from a respectable family to serve him, and let that Wang woman come back and manage the household."

"That is an idea," the Second Old Madam said, musing.

Second Madam said quickly, "I think the person should be found among our relatives, someone we know through and through, so that we may visit back and forth easily."

The Second Old Madam nodded.

The second Madam promptly fell to discussing with the second Dowager which family's daughter would be suitable, and her manner suggested she had come prepared.

The third Madam sat nearby, drinking her tea without a word.

These past few years they had helped Shouyuan manage the family estates, and their circumstances had gradually grown comfortable. Plenty of people eyed them with envy. The seventh uncle had no son; even after splitting half the property to Shouyuan, what remained was still a vast estate. And since Shouyuan's marriage would require no further dowry, Dou Ming would at most give a little extra according to the customary share of the common purse, so it was no wonder some people had their eyes on it.

Just as the two were talking animatedly, Matron Liu walked in with a dark expression. "Dowager, a messenger has come from the Fourth Miss of the West Mansion. She says the Marquis of Jining has passed away from illness."

"Ah!" All three in the room were struck dumb. The second Madam was the first to recover, and volunteered herself: "Shouyuan is a daughter-in-law who has not yet been married through the door. By rights a mourning gift ought to be sent. She is only a young girl—how would she know about such things? I shall go over and lend her a hand."

Unprecedented zeal.

The second Dowager, reflecting that such matters had always been the third Madam's responsibility, gave it no further thought. "You go over together with the third Madam's wife," she said.

The third Madam, thinking that since the third Madam was going, with herself added the second Madam surely would not grow suspicious, said as well, "I shall go along and take a look too!"

"Fine!" said the second Dowager. "The Marquis of Jining's household has only this one son, Wei Fan. Once the old Marquis is gone, he will have to take charge of the household. The mansion has lost the one who managed its domestic affairs; the Wei family will certainly send someone to discuss the wedding date. Call the third one here—this is a matter he will have to deal with."

The two answered in unison. One was dispatched to invite Dou Heng, while the other went back to change clothes; then, calling on the third Madam, they went together to the West Mansion.

Along with the news of the Marquis of Jining's death came a letter from Chen Yanzhou.

He had arrived safely in the capital with Song Yan. Song Yan was the heir of the Duke of Yingzhen's household, whose residence lay on the western road of the Duke of Yingzhen's estate—three halls with five courtyards, and one step out the door brought you to the side gate of the Duke of Yingzhen's mansion, which led to Jianzi Alley. South of Jianzi Alley was the Duke of Yingzhen's Lane, and north of it was Fuxue Alley, so named because the Shuntian Prefectural School stood there; past Fuxue Alley was Andingmen Street. Coming and going was most convenient. He had been settled in a small three-room compound with a rear extension at the northeast corner of the garden of Song Yan's residence, and Xuanying had assigned two young servants to attend to his daily needs. In his idle hours he often chatted with the two servants and learned that the Song family was not numerous: the Duke of Ying, Song Cen, was an only son; a cousin, Song Maochun, and two younger cousins, Song Fengchun and Song Tongchun, were all within the five degrees of mourning, Fengchun being of the same grandfather. Song Cen and Song Maochun each had only two sons; Song Fengchun had a son and a daughter; Song Tongchun had only one son. Perhaps because he was the eldest legitimate grandson, Song Yan had been favored from birth by his grandmother—a daughter of Lu Zongyuan, formerly governor of Guangdong and Guangxi—who had passed over her own son and given her entire dowry to this grandson, Song Yan. Song Yan owned thirteen trading firms and more than ten thousand mu of fertile land in Guangdong... In the end, he tactfully told her that a few days earlier, after the Duchess of Ying had entered the palace to plead for the Duke of Dingguo, Lu Fuli—second son of Lu Zongyuan, the current Chief Transmission Officer—had submitted a memorial declaring the Duke of Dingguo's innocence.

Dou Yan's fury flared up in a rush; with a sharp slap she threw the letter down on the desk.

In the end, one's words carried little weight!

The Duke of Dingguo's death did not matter so much; what mattered was what would become of those Japanese pirates after his death, and what would become of the common people of Fujian. Song Yan had power, influence, and wealth besides—if he chose to settle accounts with her, what was she to do?

So when the Wei family proposed that she be married within a hundred days, she could not help but snap: "Our Dou family is not some fallen house, to take its own daughter and gild another family's name with her."

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Sisters, brothers, gathering the source materials took a long time. I will say nothing more—first let me make up the March 19 update; the updates over these two days will be a little irregular... o(n_n)o~

ps: Begging for pink tickets!

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