Chapter 76 — Agreement

Jiang Yougong sat in the study. He waited until the lamps were lit and still saw no Dou Yan. His fingertips turned white on the book he held in his anger, and he sent a servant boy to carry a message to Dou Yan: "The Spring Festival is nearly upon us. This old man has not returned to his village in seven or eight years. I wish to close the school a few days early and go home for the New Year." Then, without waiting for Dou Zhiwei's reply, he straight away ordered the servant boys and maids to pack his things.

Dou Yan sent Haitang with twenty taels of silver as a farewell gift: "The roads are long and the mountains high. When spring comes, the snows will be melting—the master had best stay in his village and enjoy his grandchildren."

Jiang Yougong smashed a teacup on the spot.

Since faces had been torn, Haitang was in no mood for courtesy either. As she walked out she muttered, loud enough for Jiang Yougong to hear, "Doesn't even look at where he is. That teacup is new famille rose from the imperial kilns—ten taels for a single set. And him a scholar, too—how can he have so little eye?"

The servant boys, maids, and old women who came to attend him changed their manner as well, dragging their feet at their work. Two days passed and his things were still not packed. In the depths of winter, the food brought to him was either cold or too salty and greasy—unfit to swallow.

Since coming to teach at the He household, when had Jiang Yougong ever been treated so?

He could not stay a single day longer. He found two men outside to help pack his luggage, hired a cart himself, and returned to his native village.

Only after he got home did he remember that he ought to write a letter to He Wendao and Dou Huaiying.

But by the time his letter reached the He household, He Wendao had already received a personal visit from Dou Huaiying to apologize: "...My daughter's learning is shallow, and she could not understand nine parts in ten of what Mr. Jiang taught. Moreover, being a frail girl, she could not keep up with daily lessons. For any disrespect, I beg Mr. Jiang's forbearance. I have already sent five hundred taels of silver to Mr. Jiang as a farewell gift."

He Wendao was much discomfited, and recommended another man to Dou Huaiying: "This fellow is ordinary in the examination arts, but he is thoroughly accomplished in the four arts of the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and a master of poetry and painting as well. He would be just the thing to teach your daughter those refinements that cultivate the mind."

Dou Huaiying thanked him profusely, and wrote back to Dou Yan: "This time you must not drive the man away in a temper. Once it may be another's fault—but the second and third time, can it still be another's fault? Some things need not be taken so seriously. Just think of it as keeping a hanger-on about the house."

Was that any way for a father to speak?

What would she want with a hanger-on?

Dou Yan tossed the letter aside.

Her grandmother summoned her. "The New Year is almost here, and with no relatives to speak of over at the Bie household, it must be terribly bleak. Have someone take them some New Year goods and go see how they are. And see whether the Bie martial hall can be bought up. If he can die in his ancestral home, then when he meets his forebears in the Yellow Springs he will not have to hang his head in shame."

Dou Yan was still angry at Dou Huaiying. Seeing that the weather had just cleared, she took Ganlu and Sujuan and set out for Zhending Prefecture.

For Ganlu and Sujuan this was the first time in their lives they had traveled far from home. Seeing Dou Yan with her eyes closed, resting, they stealthily drew back the carriage curtain all along the way to peer outside, whispering and murmuring their private talk together, thoroughly delighted.

When they reached the Bie house, they found Chen Yanzhou at the gate, laden with bundles large and small, likewise come to deliver New Year goods.

The Bie sisters were full of gratitude, and hurried Dou Yan and Chen Yanzhou into the firewood room, while Bie Sulan entertained Ganlu and Sujuan with tea in the kitchen next door.

Bie Gangyi had already sunk into unconsciousness. That he had held on so long was owed entirely to the good medicines he could take, and most of the silver for those medicines had come from Dou Yan.

She handed the deed to the Bie martial hall to the Bie sisters.

The Bie sisters burst into tears on the spot.

Dou Xin said, "It is that Liu Zizhuang you should be thanking."

Liu Zizhuang was the man who had bought the Bie martial hall when Bie Gangyi fell on hard times. When Zhao Liangbi wanted to redeem it, he had agreed without a moment's hesitation and sold it back to Zhao Liangbi at the original price.

The Bie sisters nodded again and again, while Ganlu and Sujuan watched them with curious eyes.

When Bie Sulan went to cook, Ganlu helped her at the stove, and quietly asked her what had happened.

From outside came a young man's voice, loud and clear: "Younger sister, I have come to see the master."

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Sisters, we are about to reach 600 pink votes with this update... o(n_n)o haha~

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