Chapter 450 — A Hundred Days

Jiang Ling, finding herself alone, called a young maid over and asked, "Have you seen the young miss?"

"..." The maid answered quickly, "I'll go look for her for you, madam."

Dou Yan overheard and smiled. "What's this? Yan-mei has gone missing?"

Jiang Ling gave a wry smile. "She's probably hiding somewhere again." Then she called out to the maid, "Go on about your business!" She turned back to Dou Yan. "I'll go have a look at Bishui Pavilion—maybe she's gone back there."

The household had played host a few times already, and Dou Yan had more or less gathered how shy Jiang Yan could be. She smiled and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Cousin Twelve—there are so many guests today, I haven't the time to keep an eye on her."

"Don't worry yourself, Cousin-in-law," Jiang Ling said with a smile. "Leave Yan-mei to me."

She bobbed a curtsey to Dou Yan and made her way to Bishui Pavilion.

All was quiet at Bishui Pavilion. Only two young maids whose hair had just been gathered up sat inside, plying their needles and chatting as they worked.

"The young miss isn't here?" Jiang Ling asked, puzzled.

The two maids dropped their sewing and rose together. "The young miss went off to drink with Sister Yinghong attending her."

Eh? Then where had she gone?

Jiang Ling wondered to herself, then went searching along the little path beside the lake.

She was nearly at the Flower-Drooping Gate when she saw several maids standing beneath the pomegranate tree before it, and beside them a man and a woman standing together in conversation.

She looked closely. The man wore a lilac silk gown of Hangzhou weave, bound with a black silk cord from which hung a mutton-fat jade pendant. The woman wore a pink embroidered jacket, a large pearl and emerald ornament like a lotus seed glinting softly at her dark temple, setting off a face as lovely as a magnolia. Who else could it be but Chen Jia and Jiang Yan?

For no reason at all, Jiang Ling's heart gave several heavy thumps.

She saw Chen Jia say a few words, and Jiang Yan covered her mouth and laughed.

Those brows and eyes bloomed like flowers, sweet and charming in the extreme.

Jiang Ling could not help but hurry forward.

Catching sight of her, Jiang Yan greeted her with a beaming smile. "Cousin!" Then she explained, "I heard Master Chen had come to drink, so I came specially to thank him, and to ask about Li Liang while I was at it."

By now Chen Jia had heard them and turned around. Smiling, he cupped his hands to Jiang Ling and greeted her, neither haughty nor humble, as "Madam Wu."

Jiang Ling's mind was in a turmoil. She gave Chen Jia a perfunctory nod, took Jiang Yan by the hand, and scolded, "What are you doing all the way out here? Cousin-in-law is looking everywhere for you!"

At that, Jiang Yan's face fell at once. She said to Chen Jia, "I'll leave this matter in your hands, then!"

Chen Jia's tone was respectful. "Not at all. If any word comes, I'll have Tao Er's wife send a message to Sister Yinghong."

Jiang Yan nodded, linked arms with Jiang Ling, and was escorted back toward the inner courtyard by Yinghong and the others.

Only then did Jiang Ling ask, "What have you gone and asked Master Chen to do this time?"

"Didn't I ask Master Chen last time to send some silver to Li Liang?" Jiang Yan said. "I just wanted to ask how Li Liang is doing now. But it turns out Master Chen passed it along through someone else, and when that man wrote back, Master Chen forgot to ask about Li Liang. So I asked him, if he should run into the man again, to ask after Li Liang for me."

Was there any need to go to such trouble?

Jiang Ling said nothing.

Jiang Yan wanted to return to Bishui Pavilion. It took all of Jiang Ling's efforts to persuade her to come along to Dou Yan's instead.

The visiting ladies were all in the flower hall listening to the opera; in the resting room of the main house, only Dou Yan and the Lady of Changxing were seated shoulder to shoulder, talking.

Seeing the two of them enter, the Lady of Changxing cast an amused glance at Jiang Yan and broke off her words.

Jiang Ling, betraying nothing, came forward with Jiang Yan to pay their respects.

Dou Yan asked Jiang Yan gently, "Where did you slip off to just now? They're performing The Story of Washing Silk outside—the one playing the female lead is that disciple of Zeng Chusheng's. She sings quite well. You sit cooped up at home doing needlework all day; once in a while you ought to come out and stir about."

Jiang Yan murmured, "Yes," but Jiang Ling took up the thread: "When I found her at Bishui Pavilion, she was doing her needlework, just as Cousin-in-law said! If I hadn't dragged her out by main force, I daresay we'd still be looking for her now." Then she turned to Jiang Yan. "Didn't I say so? If Cousin-in-law knew you were at Bishui Pavilion with your needlework, she'd surely make you come out and watch the opera. Told you so, didn't I!"

What was this?

Jiang Yan was taken aback.

If she said "yes," was she not lying to her cousin-in-law? And if she said "no," was she not calling Cousin Twelve a liar?

She hesitated, at a loss what to do.

Beside her, the Lady of Changxing laughed. "Young girls ought to come out and get some air. Shut indoors all day, even the cleverest will grow dull-witted. Go on, young miss, go watch the opera! They should be at 'The Parting' just now—that's Zeng Chusheng's specialty, and his disciple shouldn't be far behind."

She looked altogether like she was shooing the two of them off.

Recalling the scene when they had entered, Jiang Ling guessed that the Lady of Changxing had wanted a private word with Dou Yan, and that she and Jiang Yan had interrupted it.

She said "Yes" with a smile and drew Jiang Yan out of the resting room.

Dou Yan shook her head at the Lady of Changxing. "You see for yourself—ours here is still like a child, and remarried besides. To have her preside as the matriarch of your family's eldest son, I fear she cannot bear the burden."

"And why do you think there's such a thing as 'matching the match'?" the Lady of Changxing said with a dismissive laugh. "My eldest brother—and I don't say this to boast—is famed for his capability for ten li around. There's nothing in the house or out of it he can't handle. But a capable man has a capable man's failing: he's headstrong. When my sister-in-law was alive, she quarreled with him no end over it—once he was so provoked he brought me home to talk her round. So this time, when my eldest brother takes a new wife, he has said plainly that he cares not whether she be maiden or widow, dowered or not—only that she be gentle and well-mannered. It was seeing how sweet-tempered your young lady is that put the thought in my head. Besides, my eldest brother is more than ten years her senior, and your young miss is a beauty besides. If the match comes off, an old husband with a young wife will be fetching her soup with one hand and her washing water with the other. Would he dare lose his temper? Just you wait and see—I guarantee my eldest brother will be meek as a lamb before her, not daring to raise his voice."

Dou Yan said, "For this matter, madam, I must beg you to let me consult with our heir apparent."

"But of course," said the lady of Changxing Hou with a smile, nodding as she followed Dou Yan to the flower hall where the opera was being performed.

The audience was utterly absorbed in the play. Only a handful noticed that the lady of Changxing Hou and Dou Yan had slipped away and returned, and Dou Yan, catching sight of Jiang Yan and Jiang Ling seated at the far end of the long corridor, cracking melon seeds and sipping tea while maids and old serving women attended them, could not help but smile faintly before turning her attention back to the stage.

Before long, the banquet was laid out.

The stewardesses came to invite the guests to table.