Chapter 8 — The Incident

As she was turning it over, she saw Xiangcao's eyes light up; already Xiangcao had bent her knee to Dou Yan in thanks, then edged close and chattered away: "Tuoniang is a little maid in the laundry room in the back courtyard. The Seventh Madam picked her up when she went to burn incense at the Jingjue Temple. I asked everyone in the household before I found her. What do you want with her, Miss? Shall I fetch her for you? She's easy to talk to. In the laundry, she grabs up all the dirty, heavy work, and the wives there are all very fond of her. As soon as I asked, they took me straight to Tuoniang..."

Dou Yan understood all at once.

Those who could serve at her mother's side or her own were all servants of standing in the Dou household; how would they ever know a menial from the laundry room? And conversely, Tuoniang, a menial in the Dou household, had taken no part in whatever happened that year—she had only heard tell of it afterward. That also explained why Tuoniang's account did not square with the facts...

Her eyelid twitched.

The facts!

Could it be that, deep down, she believed everything unfolding before her eyes was real?

Then where was she now?

Thoughts she had brushed aside earlier began to spin through her mind once more, sending chills of dread through Dou Yan, cold to the bone.

A young maid came rushing in.

"Sister Shuangzhi, we're in trouble!" Her face was frantic, as though a great enemy stood before her. "The Hesheng Hall—they're in an uproar!"

Dou Yan's heart skipped a beat.

Shuangzhi was already pressing anxiously: "What's happened?"

"The Seventh Master took a fancy to some woman while he was in the capital," the maid said, her face pale. "He wants to take her into the household, and he brought Third Master from the East Estate to plead his case. The Old Master was beside himself with rage—he drew his sword to kill the Seventh Master!"

"Ah!" The room descended into chaos. "What happened after?"

"Thank goodness Third Master hadn't left—he held the Old Master back," the maid said. "But the Seventh Master is dead set on bringing that woman in. In the dead of winter, he knelt in the snow begging the Old Master to consent. Then the Seventh Mistress found out, and the Seventh Master started begging her instead. She was furious—she wouldn't agree, and she wept and railed, calling him an ingrate, until even the Old Master couldn't get a word in. Seeing that, Third Master had Dafu quietly fetch the Third Mistress."

"No wonder Sister Hanxiao vanished after Old Mother Yu summoned her!"

"Could that woman really be prettier than the Seventh Mistress?"

"Did the Old Master finally agree to let the woman in?"

"Won't that make another mistress of the house?"

The maids chattered all at once, and no one noticed Dou Yan.

Dou Yan sat there like a clay statue, utterly stunned.

Ever since she took charge of the household accounts of the Jining Marquis's estate and became the one who managed its affairs, she had always been puzzled—why her Third Uncle, a man respected throughout the Dou clan for his skill in managing household matters, would go off every few days to the country estate to visit a grandmother who had been born a concubine and had never had any dealings with the Dou family at all.

So that was it. He had been going to see her.

Tuoniang had said her mother had been forced to hang herself.

As the Third Aunt who had helped plead his case, his heart must have been filled with an unspeakable guilt toward her—that must be why he went.

Dou Yan thought of the way her Third Uncle had looked at her.

Always with a tenderness tinged with sorrow.

And there was the will Third Uncle had left behind, bequeathing her several calligraphies and paintings by famous masters of the previous dynasty.

In those days the Dou family had not yet divided its property; Third Uncle had no private holdings. What he left his own sons, Dou Fanchang and Dou Huachang, was no more than a few inkstones and pieces of jade.

She had always believed it was simply because Third Uncle doted on her.

Yet what one sees is not necessarily the truth, nor what one hears, nor even what one feels.

Her voice hoarse, Dou Yan said, "I want Tuoniang. Bring her to me!"

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Work tomorrow...~~~~(_)~~~~

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