Chapter 110 — A Dilemma
Purple Streets of Chang'an Page 1 of 2
Ji Yong watched the carriage recede into the distance, his face darkening.
Zishang's heart was pounding.
The young master had never in all his life been brushed off like that. What means might he devise to deal with this old fellow Chen?
Still, this old fellow Chen seemed to be one of the Fourth Miss Dou's people.
And the Fourth Miss Dou was formidable in her own right—she had played the deaf mute and beaten that Pang Kunbai half to death, and not only had the Pang family been unable to cry foul, they had ended up paying her twenty thousand taels in compensation. If she learned that the young master had made trouble for one of her people, would she come looking to settle accounts with him?
The young master's temper was fierce enough, but every time he ran up against the Fourth Miss Dou it was like fire meeting water—no matter how high the flames leapt, a few words from her could douse him to the bone, leaving him gasping for a long while after.
If the Fourth Miss Dou and the young master fell to quarreling, would it splash onto him, a mere shrimp in the pond?
As Zishang was brooding over this misery, a man dressed like a steward came hurrying out through a side gate.
He bowed to Ji Yong. "Master Ji, our Marquis begs you to take tea in the flower hall."
Ji Yong gave him a haughty nod, clasped his hands behind his back, and strode first through the gates of the Jining Houfu.
The steward started, then hurried after him and scrambled ahead to lead the way.
The Wei family's flower hall was lush with greenery; beyond the window stood a redbud tree thick as a rice bowl, blazing with bloom, while the furnishings within were like a woman past her prime, whose rouge and powder could not conceal the wear and age beneath.
Ji Yong curled his lip and chose an armchair that looked relatively new.
The maids served tea and sweets.
The steward escorted the Marquis of Jining in.
After they had exchanged greetings and taken their seats according to rank, the Marquis of Jining laughed heartily. "Master Ji, you are indeed a young man of great achievement! Might I ask what business brings you to me?" His manner was warm, his smile genial, like an elder overflowing with fondness for the younger generation.
But Ji Yong's mind was already turning several circles.
He had meant to use Dou Juan's silence to persuade the Wei family to keep the betrothal token once exchanged with Dou Yan, and to negotiate terms with the Dou family instead—thus achieving his aim of securing the title of heir apparent for Zhang Yuanming, while standing on the high ground of principle and letting the Wei family reap both fame and profit. Who would have thought he would run into Chen Yanzhou at the gates of the Jining Houfu?
Others might be taken in by Chen Yanzhou, fancying him no more than some obscure accountant in the Dou household, but he could not be fooled—these past two years Chen Yanzhou had been in Dou Yan's service, and where Dou Juan's people were concerned, let alone giving him orders, even asking him to offer a suggestion was out of the question, given Chen Yanzhou's pride.
His coming to the Jining Houfu must mean he had been sent by Dou Yan to settle the matter of the token. Ji Yong himself did not know what Chen Yanzhou had said to the Wei family, but judging by Chen Yanzhou's expression and his abilities, he had plainly already achieved his aim.
There was no need at all for Ji Yong to see the Marquis of Jining again.
Yet for some reason, he was most unwilling to leave just like that.
.
He wanted to know what Chen Yanzhou had said to the Marquis of Jining. Had the Wei family decided, as he had imagined, to return the token to the Dou family and then, once the storm had passed, quietly break off the betrothal with Dou Yan? Or had they suddenly discovered that Dou Chi was not only capable but would come with a substantial dowry, more than enough to shore up this fallen, ghostly house of a marquis, and changed their minds on the spot, deciding to propose to the Dou family? Or had something else occurred that he had never foreseen...
Just as he had never foreseen that Dou Yan would send Chen Yanzhou to call at the Jining Houfu, and so had never set anyone to watch the comings and goings at Zhending.
If he had not run into Chen Yanzhou today, he would probably still be gloating that everything was under his control, would he not?
He detested this feeling of losing his grip.
Ji Yong could not help complaining inwardly.
Was Dou Chi supposed to sit docilely at home and wait for him to settle this business for her? Why had she jumped out without a word, not only wrecking his arrangements and deployments but catching him off guard and nearly tripping him up...
He had not met with such a thing in many years!
Why would she do this?
Were they not on the same side?
He had said long ago that he would resolve this matter for her. Did she doubt he had the ability? Or had she simply never taken his words to heart?
All this muddle put Ji Yong in a foul temper, and naturally he wore no pleasant expression for the Marquis of Jining.
He said coolly, "Just now at the gate of your esteemed house I met old Chen, the accountant in Dou Juan's service. He has always attended on the Fourth Miss Dou at Zhending, yet here he has suddenly appeared in the capital. It must be over the marriage between your esteemed house and the Fourth Miss Dou. I have also heard that your esteemed house intends to exchange the betrothal token for the title of heir apparent of the Duke of Jing with the He family, and so I came to call on you, Marquis, to learn whether you mean in the end to return the token to the Dou family or hand it to the He family..."
The Marquis of Jining's face went black on the instant.
Whether the Wei family meant to return the token to the Dou family or hand it to the He family—what business was it of his?
He had only received him kindly out of regard for his being a son of the Ji family, and the fellow had taken an inch and demanded a mile, prying into others' private affairs at such a tender age—talented but without virtue. Even if he passed first in the imperial examination, he would do no more than struggle in the sea of officialdom as a poor Hanlin scholar.
"Is Master Ji not casting his net a little too wide?" The Marquis of Jining raised his teacup without ceremony and called loudly, "Seeing the guest out!"
Ji Yong was hardly going to wait for someone to come and eject him.
He had risen the moment the Marquis of Jining lifted his cup, and before the Marquis could get out the words "seeing the guest out," he said coldly, "My family and the Dou family are connected by marriage. Through the kindness of the Second Dowager of Dou Juan, I was kept at the Dou household over the New Year this year. And seeing that I was to return to the capital to be reunited with my father, she feared that the several uncles of Dou Juan might let the Fourth Miss Dou suffer some grievance, and so she specially charged me to keep a careful watch on goings-on in the capital. Should the several uncles of Dou Juan prove unequal to the task, and the elders of the house conceal it from her so that she remained ignorant, she bade me quietly inform you that if you were to leave the token with the Wei family now, then once the talk had died down, she would be willing to buy it back at a handsome price..."
Before he had finished speaking, the Marquis of Jining's throat seemed stopped up; he gaped, and for a long while could not utter a single word, though his mind raced.