Chapter 170 — Confirmation

A few days later, Grandmother summoned Dou Yan to speak with her. "Old Chen came by. He says he's going to the capital in a few days to go over the shop accounts, and it occurred to him that the Wei family will be out of mourning in the seventh month. He wants to take Hong Gu along, to pay her respects to Madam Wei, so that when the two families discuss the marriage later there'll be someone to carry words between them. I was afraid Hong Gu might lose her nerve, but Old Chen says the Wei family has lived in the capital so long they've seen every kind of person there is—the more honest and plain a body is, the more sincere we look. The better it is. I thought Old Chen's words made sense, so I agreed. See if there's anything you'd like to say to Hong Gu; you can give her your instructions in a little while."

Dou Yan thanked his grandmother with a conscience full of guilt, and gave Hong Gu only this instruction: "Whatever happens, do as Old Chen says."

Hong Gu nodded again and again, then dug out several garments of Lu silk and Hangzhou silk that had been kept at the bottom of her chest, dressed herself up properly, and set off for the capital with Chen Yanzhou.

Fan Wenshu and Cui Min had already received word, and brought Tian Fugui with them to meet Chen Yanzhou outside the Chaoyang Gate.

Chen Yanzhou shut the door and spoke with Fan Wenshu.

"So the Marquis of Yan'an's birthday is next month, is it?" Chen Yanzhou said, musing.

Fan Wenshu nodded. "The Wang family has been scouring everywhere these days for a birthday gift for the Marquis of Yan'an." He had started out in the antique trade, and still kept up constant dealings with the clerks in those shops; news of this sort came to him with perfect ease.

Chen Yanzhou asked, "Last time I asked you to get acquainted with the serving women around the wife of the Heir of the Jing Dukedom—have you made any progress?"

The wife of the Heir of the Jing Dukedom was a married daughter of the Jining Marquis household, and the Fourth Miss was soon to marry into the Jining Marquis household. To worm one's way into the good graces of the Jining Marquis household's married daughter through the people around the Jing Dukedom's heir's wife—this was the customary method of those who knew how to do business. Fan Wenshu suspected nothing, and said with a smile, "That Mama Bao who runs the kitchen at our shop—it was Matron Jin, from the household of the Jing Dukedom's heir's wife, who recommended her."

Chen Yanzhou nodded in satisfaction and said to Fan Wenshu, "Hong Gu rarely comes to the capital. I think we might as well have this Mama Bao take Hong Gu around the city."

Fan Wenshu understood. He called Mama Bao over and gave her instructions, then rewarded her with ten taels of silver and hired a carriage. With a young servant along to attend them, Mama Bao led Hong Gu on a tour of the capital.

When had Hong Gu ever seen such bustle? Not only were her eyes dazzled; she bought heaps of things in great and small bundles. "This is for Aunt Cui, this is for the Fourth Miss, and this is for the girls—Suxin, Sulan, Ganlu, Sujuan..." Mama Bao's eyes went red with envy at the sight, and she grew all the more warm and attentive to Hong Gu. By the time Chen Yanzhou had finished his business and sent Hong Gu to pay her respects to Madam Tian, Mama Bao volunteered of her own accord to accompany Hong Gu to the Jining Marquis household.

Wei Fan and Gu Yu and the others were doing well in their business. They had put in only a few thousand taels, and the first payment alone had recovered their capital. Madam Tian calculated that once the work on the four river sections was done, they would earn tens of thousands of taels, and then they could hold Wei Fan's wedding feast in proper style. The thought of it filled her heart with ease, and she felt all the more that life had something to look forward to.

When she heard that the Dou family had sent someone to pay her respects, Madam Tian was delighted. She had Hong Gu brought in at once, and seeing that she was a plain, honest woman, she liked her all the more. She talked with Hong Gu for a long while, gave her a red packet of the finest sort, and had the matron beside her keep Hong Gu for a meal before seeing her out.

When Wei Wan heard that someone from the Dou family had come to see her mother, she thought that the two families were about to fix the wedding date, and feared her mother might muddle-headedly agree to some condition or other from the Dou family. She hurried over herself to ask what it was all about.

Madam Tian thought her daughter was borrowing trouble, and said with a smile, "The woman only came to the capital on business and stopped by to pay her respects. It's only you who read too much into things." Then she told a maid to pick out some of the newly arrived fruits and bring them in.

The matron Madam Tian had sent to entertain Hong Gu looked at Wei Wan with pleading eyes.

Wei Wan took the hint, and drew the matron aside to speak with her out of her mother's hearing.

"Miss, that matron from the Dou family—she came to the capital on the orders of the Dou family's Aunt Cui, to discuss the Fourth Miss's dowry with the Dou family's Seventh Madam."

The wedding was almost upon them, and yet someone had been sent from Zhending to the capital to demand a dowry. Could she have misjudged him before? Was Dou Yan nothing but a weed in the Dou household that no one paid any heed to?

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Sisters, brothers, here is the belated update for April 21.

ps: The next chapter will make up the April 2 update; I can't be quite sure of the timing...~~~~(_

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