Chapter 52 — Refusal

In his past life, Father had placed thirteenth in the second tier of the spring examinations; in this one, he was sixteenth.

Was it because the business with Wang Shuying had consumed more of his attention this time around?

Dou Yan let his thoughts wander at random.

The Second Dowager, however, was disappointed.

She said to Dou Heng, "Wanyuan's luck is truly remarkable! If you had sat the spring examinations this year as well, who knows, you might have made the list too."

Ever since the Wang Shuying affair, Dou Huaiying had been regarded by the Dou family as a good-for-nothing with neither learning nor ability. Though he had passed the metropolitan examination, been selected as a Hanlin bachelor, and elevated to the post of Shujishi, the Second Dowager still believed he owed it all to luck rather than to real scholarship.

And the Second Dowager was not the only one in the Dou household who thought so.

Dou Heng was somewhat annoyed. "Wanyuan has always been clever at his books. He simply does not read himself blind the way others do, poring over dead words. Who ever passed the metropolitan and palace examinations and was chosen as a Shujishi on luck alone?"

The Second Dowager said nothing, but in her heart she remained unconvinced.

Dou Duo, by contrast, was overjoyed.

He posted the announcement of success upon the main gate of the house, and while savoring the pride and satisfaction of seeing passersby crane their necks to look up at it, he wrote a letter to Wang Xingyi to share the good news.

Wang Xingyi's days were rather miserable.

Since last winter and through this spring, he had beaten back several incursions of the Mongols. In the northwest his prestige was for a time without equal, his patron was pleased, and the Emperor had even proposed making him Governor of Shaanxi—yet for some reason the matter had simply been left to lie.

He suspected that the business of Dou Bingheng's return to his native place had led his patron to think him insufficiently steady, still in need of another year or two of tempering.

Wang Zhibing muttered, "Had we known it would come to this, you should have hurried to the capital and explained matters to Lord Zeng."

"The facts speak for themselves. Once a man starts explaining, he has already lowered himself. Better to leave it as it is, and let everyone see that Wang Xingyi is open and aboveboard, a man who dares to act and dares to take the consequences."

So he said, and yet he still wrote to his closest friend in the capital, Guo Yan—a Hanlin expositor and the son-in-law of Zeng Yifen: "...My family is poor to such a degree, and my daughter has stumbled. Whenever I think of it, I weep until I cannot speak. By great good fortune she has been given to the seventh son of the Dou family of Beilou. Now that his principal wife has died of illness, he intends to raise her to that place. I know it is improper, but when I think that my daughter suffers for my failure to teach her, then even were it bitter gall, I would drink it."

Looking back now, the letter had done some good—but not much that was plain to see.

At the thought, Wang Xingyi clasped his hands behind his back and paced twice around the room, then instructed his son, "Set the date for this month, then!"

Raising a concubine to wife was not the same as taking a bride. There was no need for betrothal gifts or inquiries into names, no need for a bride-price or a fixed contract. One simply set out a few tables of wine at home, invited the relatives, and had the woman dress in the auspicious red of a principal wife to pour wine for the guests—and with that her status was settled anew.

Wang Zhibiao assented, and wrote a reply on his father's behalf, affixing Wang Xingyi's private seal.

Dou Duo fixed the date for the twenty-second day of the fifth month.

Dou Yan had no intention whatsoever of kowtowing to Wang Shuying, offering her tea, and calling her mother.

She had Tuoniang carry a message to her grandmother, saying that she wished to pay her a visit.

No reply came from her grandmother for a long while.

Dou Yan had silver on hand. She had Tuoniang quietly hire a carriage: "...Tell the driver to wait at the mouth of the lane behind the West Residence at the hour of Mao on the twenty-second of the fifth month. At that time Third Sister-in-law will be bringing the helpers from the East Residence over. It is Wang Shuying's formal day, and she cannot go out as she pleases; Aunt Ding and Nurse Hu will both be on hand to receive Third Sister-in-law and the others—so we will take that chance to slip away."

Tuoniang nodded. "I will pack the young lady's trunks and boxes."

"What trunks and boxes?" Dou Yan said. "Just slip a few silver drafts and some loose silver into your clothes. Once we are settled, it will not be too late to come back for the rest."

Tuoniang could not shake the feeling that something was missing.

Dou Huaiying had come home.

He brought several jars of Dong wine for Sixth Uncle, several boxes of capital-style pastries for Sixth Aunt, a few inkstones for the brothers Dou Yong and Dou Huaide, and for Dou Yan and Dou Ming, two identical dolls.

Dou Ming was overjoyed, clutching hers to her chest and refusing to let go.

Dou Yan thought the doll less finely made than the one Sixth Aunt had given her; she thanked him, and had Tuoniang put it away.

The eldest daughter's sensible yet distant manner pained Dou Huaiying somewhat.

After paying his respects and inquiring after the Second Dowager's health, he made a point of coming to see Dou Yan.

Dou Yan was practicing her tracing of characters under Ji Shi's guidance.

Seeing Dou Huaiying turn back, Ji Shi excused herself to go brew tea for him, leaving the study to father and daughter.

Dou Yan came out from behind the desk and stood squarely before Dou Huaiying. "On the twenty-second, I want to go see Aunt Cui."

Dou Huaiying froze.

Dou Yan looked fixedly into her father's eyes.

The room was as still and empty as a void.

After a long while, Dou Huaiying asked his daughter, his voice somewhat hoarse, "Why?"

"I do not wish to call a concubine mother," Dou Yan said gravely.

Dou Huaiying was silent for a good while. Then he said, "I understand," his face without expression, revealing nothing of what he felt.

Dou Yan did not trouble herself over what her father thought.

If Father agreed to let her go to Grandmother's, it would merely make matters simpler for her; if he refused, she could reach the same end regardless.

On the strength of that sack of elm buds Grandmother had sent her, she was certain that once she arrived at the estate, Grandmother would take her in.

Dou Huaiying returned home in something of a daze, and found Gao Sheng waiting for him at the gate with a strange look on his face.

"Seventh Master!" Gao Sheng stepped forward and bowed to Dou Huaiying, then lowered his voice. "Aunt Cui sent word a little while ago. She says she is ill and would like Fourth Young Miss to come to the estate and keep her company."

Dou Huaiying was taken aback. "Where is the messenger?" he asked quickly, his voice tight, betraying his alarm.

"I've left him in the kitchen to eat," Gao Sheng said. "The Old Master would not consent."

Dou Huaiying gave a curt "Mm," and hurried off to the kitchen.

In the dim kitchen, Cui Da was holding a bowl and slurping down his noodles.

He was Cui Shi's eldest nephew, and had just turned twenty this year.

"Seventh Master," he said, setting down his bowl and chopsticks and rising to his feet. He looked somewhat constrained, and mumbled, "Aunt Cui said that if I ran into Seventh Master, I was to tell you that there's nothing wrong with her, she just wants to have Fourth Young Miss over to stay a few days." Then he added emphatically, "She'll send her back after a few days!"