Chapter 97 — Encounter

"I don't want to hear such talk again," Dou Yan admonished. "So long as you do everything by the rules, no one can make things hard for you. But if you break the rules and pick and choose, it will be the same wherever you're posted."

The several of them answered tremblingly that they understood.

Dou Yan held her head high and entered her grandmother's room.

Honggu wanted to speak but held back.

Dou Yan said, "I know what you mean. But no matter what she has done, she is still one of the mistresses of this household. If I want to deal with her, I will deal with her. I have no need to let these people who fawn on the high and trample the low humiliate her." She paused slightly, then continued, "Besides, it's the easiest way to corrupt the atmosphere of the household."

She thought back to when she had managed the household of the Marquis of Jining's estate, and how much effort it had taken to turn that atmosphere around.

Honggu thought it over and decided there was something to that.

A little embarrassed, she smiled and said, "I was thinking about it the wrong way."

Dou Yan put an arm around Honggu's shoulders. "It's not that you were thinking the wrong way—it's that your heart is with me." That one sentence brought tears to Honggu's eyes.

The group went laughing and chatting into their grandmother's inner chamber.

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Dou Ming had brought back only a dozen or so chests. In her mind, once this storm blew over, her mother would naturally find a way to send for her. There was no need to bring so much, and so the furnishings and such in Qixia Court were all left as they had been—nothing worth packing or tidying. Granny Zhou and the servants had the courtyard arranged in less than half an hour.

By the time Dou Ming had washed and changed, Granny Zhou saw that only the sun's afterglow remained in the sky, and a cool breeze was blowing through the covered walkway. She brought out a brocade stool and sat in the walkway helping Dou Ming dry her hair.

"Doujuan is really such a pretty place." She gently urged Dou Ming, "You have a whole side courtyard to yourself—much more spacious than in the capital. How nice!"

In the capital, Dou Ming had lived in the warm chamber behind Wang Shuying's inner room.

"Life in the capital is no easy matter." Dou Ming would not allow anyone to say a word against her maternal family. "Zhending is a country place, so naturally the courtyards are bigger."

Granny Zhou followed her lead. "That's right! Just think of it as coming here for a summer holiday. When you've nothing to do, play the pipa with Wanning, read a book, or else take a walk about. How carefree!"

Wanning was the tutor who taught Dou Ming to play the pipa.

To this, Dou Ming raised no objection.

Later, when Granny Zhou went to arrange her supper, she quietly instructed her personal senior maid, Ji Hong: "Help me find out about Cousin Ji."

Ji Hong smiled and agreed.

Dou Yan had the news at once.

She said to Sulan, "Just keep an eye on her. Don't let her do anything ridiculous that will make a laughingstock of us."

Sulan nodded with a grin.

Dou Ji discussed it with Song Yumin, and it was agreed that half an hour every morning would be set aside to teach Dou Ming the Analects.

A tutor in another household usually had to teach two or three, even seven or eight students, finishing with the younger ones before moving on to the older. In the Dou household, he taught only Dou Chu, and there was no requirement for examination success, so he had long been idle to the point of restlessness. Another student would be just the thing to fill his time.

"Then I'll teach the Fourth Miss in the morning and the Fifth Miss after that!" Song Yumin agreed at once.

Dou Shi, knowing that he still taught Song Yan for an hour every day, asked, "Will it interfere with Song Yan's lessons?"

Song Yan's parents had died young. Though he lived off the charity of others, he studied with fierce perseverance, single-mindedly devoted to learning. Song Yumin pitied him for losing his parents at such a tender age, and admired him for refusing to be daunted by poverty, and so had taken the boy under his wing.

"It's no trouble," Song Yumin said with a smile. "I can give him his lesson in the afternoon just the same." Here he hesitated. "There is one thing, though, that I would like to ask of the Fourth Miss..."

Dou Qu said, "Ask is too strong a word. You are my teacher—whatever it is, just tell me."

Even so, Song Yumin thought it over before speaking. "Song Yan is not a young child anymore, and he has been studying with me all this while. I have some small accomplishments in poetry, music, calligraphy, and painting, but as for the eight-legged essay..." He gave a sheepish chuckle. "I never managed to pass the examinations myself, let alone Song Yan—I would like to have Song Yan attend the Dou family school as an outside student. I wonder if the Fourth Miss might put in a word with the Third Master?"

The Dou family school had always wished to gather the finest talents under heaven and teach them; besides, Song Yan was a young man of upright character, and that alone was enough to make Tutor Du agree.

"Each man has his own specialty. Master Song loves poetry, music, calligraphy, and painting, and so has simply not devoted his mind to the examination path." Dou Yan paid Song Yumin a few compliments and promised to speak to her Third Uncle first thing the next morning.

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