Chapter 60 — Observing the Mourning Period

Hong Gu went at once and found several strong, able-bodied men in the village.

Seeing watchers posted nearby, Dou Yong and the others grew even more reckless in their play.

Pang Jixiu seized his chance and slipped quietly ashore, saying only that he was tired and wanted to go inside for a cup of water.

The servants, of course, had no reason to be on their guard.

Finding the courtyard dead quiet, Pang Jixiu was just wondering whether to walk straight in or call out from before the wide-open lattice window—he knew well enough how to deal with the women of the pleasure quarters who leaned in doorways and smiled for hire, but he had no notion how to handle a girl of only ten, and a girl of no small fortune besides, when he had not the slightest advantage over her.

Suddenly a voice came from the open lattice: "...little sister likes it best, and I thought Fourth Sister would surely like it too, so I had my page buy a bottle as well. Smell it—isn't the scent lovely?"

Pang Jixiu tiptoed quickly closer.

On the kang table sat a glass bottle the size of a hen's egg—gilt-mounted, its body the color of amber. Splendid, and lavish with it.

He was aghast.

This was Western rosewater.

He craned quickly to peer inside.

He saw Wu Shan's face, still carrying a trace of boyishness, creased in a smile.

Damn him—how old was he, to be scheming after women already!

No wonder he had wanted to come and play at Aunt Cui's country estate!

Pang Jixiu cursed inwardly, then heard Dou Yan say, "Many thanks, Fourth Brother Wu. This rosewater smells wonderful." She accepted it with perfect poise, then asked Wu Shan about his journey to the capital.

"The capital well deserves to be called the seat of the Son of Heaven, the very heartland of the realm—not only thronged with people and rich in treasures, but its streets so broad that four carriages can drive abreast..." Wu Shan talked eagerly of the capital while Dou Yan sat smiling, listening quietly, her thoughts flown far away.

Next summer she would find some excuse to bring Grandmother to stay a while at the Dou household, so that Grandmother need not rise at dawn to water the melon vines—and perhaps she might be spared a sudden death.

On this visit to the estate she would take Ganlu and Sujuan back to the Eastern residence.

And she must go and see Tuo Niang. Word was that she and Cui Si were getting on very well, and the Cui family thought highly of this honest, decent wife; she had already gained a firm footing in the Cui household...

Suddenly a clamor rose from outside.

Dou Yan, her mind on the crowd down at the river, leaned quickly out of the lattice and called to Hong Gu, "What's happened?"

Hong Gu came out of the kitchen, a chicken in one hand and something in the other, and said hurriedly, "I'll go and see."

Dou Yan urged Wu Shan, "Why don't you go and look too?"

Wu Shan said "Oh!" and ran out.

About half an hour later, Hong Gu returned.

"Miss, thank goodness you had me hire those good swimmers to stand by the river," she said, her face somewhat pale, still shaken. "Young Master Guang can't swim. He was roughhousing with Young Master Tai when his foot slipped and he slid into the water... If the men at the riverbank hadn't been so quick, Young Master Guang nearly didn't come back up."

Dou Yan let out a breath and said with feeling, "I hope this lesson will keep them from coming to swim again."

Hong Gu assented again and again.

The party had come in high spirits and went away in low.

They made a hasty supper at the estate and returned to the Dou residence.

That evening Grandmother pointed at the rosewater on the kang table. "Where did this come from?"

"A gift from Fourth Brother Wu," Dou Yan said frankly. "He said he brought it back from the capital."

Grandmother turned it over in her hand and examined it a long while, then set it silently back where it had been and went straight off to rest.

Two days later Dou Yan came to call on Dou Yan: "We have you to thank for stationing those men that day, Fourth Aunt. Otherwise something was bound to happen."

Though of the younger generation, he was the eldest in years, and the only one among them with a degree and official rank; should anything have gone wrong, the blame would have fallen heaviest on him.

"It was only a matter of being careful," Dou Xin said. "You need not give it another thought."

Dou Yan nonetheless thanked Dou Yan solemnly.

A few days later, Wu Shan and Dou Qiguang came to thank Dou Yan. "I was the one who proposed this affair. If anything were to happen to the fourth, how could I ever face Fourth Cousin?"

Dou Yan had no choice but to make another show of modesty.

Under the pretext of expressing thanks, Wu Shan came several more times.

Each time, Grandmother kept him for a meal and questioned him closely about his family. Once, Dou Yan even heard Hong Gu say to Grandmother, "That Bi woman is a person of great ambition, warm and courteous to others, exceedingly generous and mild..."

Sensing Grandmother's intent, Dou Yan was caught between laughter and tears.

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