Chapter 58 — Funeral

Wang Shuying said, "Quickly," and then caught sight of an unfamiliar young servant glancing about; in a flash he slipped into the side chamber where Dou Yan was resting.

Her heart stirred. Pointing him out, she said softly to Nurse Hu, "Send someone sharp-eyed to watch that boy."

Nurse Hu answered and went.

Zhao Liangbi entered the chamber and reported in a low voice, "Aunt Cui already knows that Old Master Dou has passed. Aunt Cui will hurry over shortly."

Dou Yan said in surprise, "Has word been sent to Aunt Cui here?"

"No," said Zhao Liangbi. "Aunt Cui said—whether or not she was told, she has been told now, and she must come and burn a stick of incense..."

"That goes without saying," Dou Yan said. "But how she comes, and when, is another matter. She herself may not care, but in the eyes of others it is a different thing entirely. Speak to Cui Min'sui and have him hold Aunt Cui back. Whenever Dou Juanren goes to fetch Aunt Cui, that is when he is to escort her over. If Dou Juanren does not go to fetch her, then she does not come."

"Cui Min says the same," Zhao Liangbi said, much troubled. "He says a certain dignity must be kept. One must stand on ceremony when the occasion calls for it, or one will be looked down upon—people will think that now the Third Old Master is dead, Aunt Cui could scarcely wait to hurry back... But Aunt Cui says, let whoever wants to talk, talk. She insists on coming."

"Find a way to stop her," Dou Xin said. "Cui Min will surely think of something."

Zhao Liangbi had no choice but to go back and report to Cui Min.

Everyone in the household knew that Wang Shuying had tried to make things hard for Dou Yan and been checkmated for her pains, and that the steward of the kitchen might well be cleaned out root and branch by Dou Chu.

For a time the Western residence was in a state of panic. Before Dou Yan, the maids and serving women trembled with fear, more deferential even than they were before Wang Shuying.

Dou Chi, who managed such affairs, saw that noon had come and went to the side room of the Hall of Crane and Longevity to attend upon the Second Madam as she took her midday meal with the several elders.

Early the next morning, Dou Zhen went in person to fetch Grandmother over.

Aunt Ding clutched Grandmother's hand and wept with singular bitterness.

Dou Zhiwei's expression turned rather strange.

In her last life, Dou Xiao had already been five when Grandfather passed away. Her Third Uncle had brought them back from the farm, and when Aunt Ding saw Grandmother, though her eyes were red and swollen, she merely greeted her faintly and then went to help Wang Shuying entertain the guests.

She had stopped her mother's first suicide, and in doing so had thrown matters badly off course.

She did not know where Dou Xiao was.

Grandfather had still not seen the birth of his eldest legitimate grandson, whom he had thought of without cease.

Grandmother was still Aunt Cui.

In her last life, Aunt Ding had attached herself to her stepmother Wang Shuying. In this life, Wang Shuying, raised from concubine to wife, had her hands full with her own troubles, and Aunt Ding had played such a role in the matter of Dou Zhiwei. As Father took charge of the household, nothing good could be waiting for her; she could only seek Grandmother's sympathy and pity.

On that last point, Dou Yan felt rather glad of the change.

But could she find some way to lengthen Grandmother's span of years?

Even if only by a few short months, or a few years—enough that she and Grandmother might have a few more years together?

After paying her respects to Grandfather and politely declining Aunt Ding, Dou Yan settled Grandmother in the guest quarters of the Western Dou.

Grandmother took her hand and said, somewhat ashamed: "I had thought that if I came earlier, I might be of some help to you. Now it seems I am doing well merely not to be a burden."

With Grandfather, her father-in-law, gone, and Grandmother as her husband's concubine, Wang Shuying would be obliged to treat Grandmother with the courtesy due a concubine-mother; she could forget about doing as she pleased. Dou Yan could quite well persuade Grandmother to stay on at the Western Dou, or even use Grandmother to keep Wang Shuying in check.

But Dou Chi wanted to drag Grandmother into it.

All her life Grandmother had wanted nothing to do with the Dou family, and now that she had reached her later years, Dou Yan hoped she might live as she herself wished.

"Why do you say that?" She wrung out a cloth and wiped Grandmother's face.

Grandmother said, a little embarrassed: "It is the same as when you wanted me to wait for Dou Juanren to come fetch me. I only thought that after all, your grandfather and I brought your father into this world, and now that he is gone, I would come and pay my respects to him, and that would be that... I gave no thought to anything else."

Dou Xin said, "Then you surely would not be willing to live in the Dou household either?"

"This is not my place," Grandmother said with a smile. "I am not used to living here."

"Once Grandfather's funeral is over, I will send you back to the farm," Dou Xin said. "But you need not stay at the farm all the time. If you miss me, or Father, have Cui Min send you over to stay a few days."

"That is good," Grandmother said, smiling. "But better still, you should come and stay a few days with me!"

Dou Yan gazed at Grandmother and smiled faintly.

Father still had three years of mourning to observe. Would Grandmother, because of it, remain forever merely "Aunt Cui"?

A faint unease stirred in her heart.

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