Chapter 210 — A Misstep (Bonus update, begging for pink votes)

When the Wei family arrived at the Jining Marquis's residence,.

Wei Wan caught sight of the Dou family's carriage and could not help but find it strange. "Why have the Dou family come so early?" she asked.

By custom, the Dou ladies ought to have waited for the Wei family to send three invitations and four urgings before deigning to appear, as if doing them a reluctant favor. By that time, the bride would usually have already opened her trousseau and presented the customary gifts to her new in-laws. It was barely the hour of the rabbit, and the newlyweds had not yet begun the rite of worshipping the kitchen god—the Dou ladies had indeed come rather too early.

The old nurse sent to inform Wei Wan dared not say much, only mumbling vaguely, and for a long while Wei Wan could make nothing of it. It was Zhang Yuanming who laughed and said, "When they come late, you complain they lack respect; when they come early, you complain they lack restraint. You truly are a hard one to please!" Wei Wan could not help but laugh and gave her husband a playful thump. "You never have a kind word, do you?" The gloom that had weighed on her heart over her brother's marriage to a sister-in-law she found so unsatisfactory melted away in an instant, and her face glowed with renewed spirit, wreathed in smiles.

The steward, having received word, had long been waiting respectfully. He invited Zhang Yuanming to entertain the Dou men who had come to formalize the kinship, while the old nurse led Wei Wan and the child to the western courtyard where Madam Tian lived in widowhood.

Before long, a few muffled sounds of commotion drifted faintly from the western courtyard.

Zhang Yuanming, in the flower hall, was somewhat taken aback, unable to imagine what could possibly warrant such a fuss on this fine morning, of all days—the joyous occasion of his brother-in-law's wedding.

Yet Dou Wenchang and Ji Yong, seated across from Zhang Yuanming, understood full well.

The scandal had come to light.

Fortunately, one was steady and prudent, the other quick-witted beyond measure; both betrayed nothing, and went on exchanging pleasantries with Zhang Yuanming.

Zhang Yuanming, of course, could only pretend not to have heard, and smilingly steered the conversation to the matter currently on every tongue at court—the rebellion of the Dao clan of the Menglian Pacification Office in Yunnan. "...Thanks to Lord Wang, the people of Yunnan are spared the horrors of war once more."

The "Lord Wang" he referred to was none other than Wang Xingyi—both a kinsman by marriage to the Dou family and, in name, the new bride's maternal grandfather.

The man looked dull and slow-witted. Yet he was no fool after all.

Ji Yong listened as Dou Wenchang and Zhang Yuanming exchanged polite words, and was silently turning this over in his mind when he saw a servant hurry to Zhang Yuanming's side and whisper a few words in his ear. Zhang Yuanming's face went blank with shock, and it was some time before he recovered his wits; when he next looked at Dou Wenchang and Ji Yong, his expression had turned rather odd.

Dou Wenchang could not help but feel a pang of guilt, and his speech lost the fluency of a moment before. Ji Yong, by contrast, smiled all the more merrily, and began chatting with Zhang Yuanming about the local customs of Yunnan, which left Zhang Yuanming at a loss for how to respond, and he grew visibly restless.

A commotion rose outside, accompanied by a growing clatter of hurried footsteps—clearly Wei Wan had found out and come to settle accounts with the Dou ladies!

It seemed a fierce exchange of words was unavoidable!

The Fifth Madam had instructed Dou Wenchang that under no circumstances was the Wei family to send Dou Ming back. Yet this business of shamelessly foisting a bride upon another household ran wholly counter to his own nature, and in his shame he grew suddenly tense.

They were husband and wife, after all. Zhang Yuanming heard Wei Wan's voice.

He frowned to himself.

What was so urgent that it had to be raised at this very moment?

Right or wrong, it would only make a spectacle for others!

Regardless of who else was present, he summoned his personal servant: "Go tell the lady that the hour grows late, and she should hurry to have the newlyweds worship the kitchen god and report to the ancestors, so that I may properly drink a few cups of wine with the Dou kinsmen."

The implication being: whatever the matter, wait until the Dou family has gone.

The servant answered and departed.

So Zhang Yuanming, after all, was a man who knew how to consider the larger picture.

But men who consider the larger picture are usually prone to compromise.

Ji Yong's eyes lit up.

Yet before the servant could reach the door, the speckled-bamboo blind—not to be taken down and stored until after the Mid-Autumn Festival—clattered loudly, and Wei Wan stormed in at the head of several trusted old nurses.

"Drink what wine? Worship what god? As if those lowborn Dou creatures were worthy!" She pointed straight at Dou Wenchang and Ji Yong and launched into a tirade. "Have the Dou girls no one to marry them, that you must foist them on our house? A younger sister standing in for the elder—only you could dream up such a thing! A household of rites and letters, are you? I say you are scarcely better than those who ply their trade at the door and smile for coin! Do not think the Wei family, thin in numbers as we are, can be bullied at will! When our ancestors followed Emperor Taizong to open new lands and win the empire, your family was still scraping husks and eating chaff, herding cattle and tending horses for others! To think you could play us Wei for fools—you are not fit for it! I tell you," she said, brandishing the marriage contract in her hand, "unless you send the Fourth Miss over, we Wei shall never be done with you!"

The implication: she held the marriage contract; push her too far, and she would take it to court—the Dou family was not to be trifled with either.

Zhang Yuanming was struck dumb, and only after a moment recovered himself. He hurriedly pulled aside one of the nurses who had come in with Wei Wan and questioned her. The nurse dared not conceal the truth, and told Zhang Yuanming that Dou Ming had been married in place of Dou Yan.

In the crisp, clear autumn weather, Zhang Yuanming was drenched in sweat.

If the Dou Fifth Miss had already consummated her marriage with Wei Fan, how could they then marry the Dou Fourth Miss to him?

And Wei Fan and the Dou Fifth Miss had already bowed to Heaven and Earth. Even if she could be sent back, Wei Fan would not escape a reputation for heartlessness; and then what decent family would dare contract a marriage with the Jining Marquis's household? Better to accept the match as it stood, and let the Dou family owe the Wei a favor, so as to have some leverage in bargaining with them. Besides, the Fifth Miss was Wang Xingyi's own granddaughter by blood, and would surely treat the Fourth Miss—the false granddaughter—well; perhaps the Wei family might even gain the Wang family's support?

He hurried to restrain Wei Wan. "Be a little careful—do not let everyone know..."

"Let them know, then! Let them all see just what the Dou family are!" Wei Wan raged, stamping with fury.

The Dou family had actually dared to humiliate the Wei like this!

She would make them pay!

Not only would she send the Dou Fifth Miss back and make the Dou family swallow a loss for nothing, she would force them to marry the Fourth Miss in as well; and when she had tormented her enough, she would divorce her and send her home—let the Dou family lose a wife and suffer a loss besides, and become the laughingstock of the capital!

Ji Yong was a man of a hundred schemes; how could such petty tricks of Wei Wan's escape him?