Chapter 140 — A Contest of Wits

After burning incense at Jingjue Temple, Dou Ming pleaded fatigue and retired to a side room to rest. The guards could hardly follow her in, so they sat in the courtyard outside, chatting idly. Dou Ming then sent Granny Zhou away on an errand, changed into a plain coarse cotton garment, and slipped out the back window of the side room. Stealthily she made her way to the small path behind Baoguang Temple.

Sure enough, Shang'er and Yu Er were waiting for her in a carriage by the path.

They climbed in hurriedly and drove away from Baoguang Temple.

It was a full hour before Granny Zhou discovered that Dou Ming was gone.

She turned pale with fright. When she learned what had happened, she slapped Ji Hong across the face. "That Yu Er is a grown man! Even to avoid gossip, you should never have let the young lady go off alone with the likes of them!" She hastily summoned the guards to chase after Dou Ming, but Ji Hong caught her by the arm and begged, "Granny, the young lady only wanted to go back to the capital."

Granny Zhou hesitated.

But after turning it over and over in her mind, she still felt something was wrong. Gritting her teeth, she called for the guards—though by then it was already afternoon.

The guards turned ashen with alarm. Some set off in pursuit along the path from Jingjue Temple, while others were sent back to report to Dou Yan.

Dou Yan was so furious her chest ached. She summoned Duan Bing. "...Ride hard. Whatever it takes, find the fifth young lady before nightfall."

Duan Bing understood the gravity of it.

An unmarried young lady of good family, without a single maidservant to attend her, traveling hundreds of li by night with a young servant boy and a grown man—if word of it got out, it would be ugly to tell and worse to hear.

He clasped his hands to Dou Yan and withdrew.

But the more Dou Yan thought, the more something struck her as wrong.

Even if Madam Wang Xu meant to send Wang Tan to Yunnan, that was a proper matter for molding the younger generation into worthy men. Madam Gao could not talk her out of it, Madam Pang could not talk her out of it—so what made Dou Ming think she could?

Sometimes Dou Ming simply took herself far too seriously!

Dou Yan cried out inwardly, "Oh no."

What if everything Shang'er had said was a lie?

A cold sweat broke out all over her.

But if it was Yu Er who had lied, then who would go to such lengths to scheme against Dou Ming?

To make Yu Er and that Shang'er betray the Wang family would cost a great deal—especially a rogue like Yu Er, born in the back alleys, who knew how to turn with every wind...

At this thought, she could not help glancing toward the Hall of Crane and Longevity.

Surely not?

Dou Yan told herself she was being too suspicious.

Luring Dou Ming to the capital was exactly what Dou Ming wanted—what kind of scare was that?

She let out a breath.

But what if it wasn't meant as a scare?

Dou Yan was frightened by the thought that had suddenly risen in her. Her head swam, her legs went weak, and she had to steady herself against the tea table beside her to keep from collapsing.

"Quick, quick!" she cried, drenched in sweat, calling for Suxin. "Fetch Guard Duan!"

Seeing her mistress's ghastly face, Suxin rushed off to find Duan Bing.

But when he came, Dou Yan found she did not know how to begin. At last she said, "If Yu Er meant to abduct the fifth young lady and run off, where would he take her?"

Duan Bing had thought Dou Yan had discovered something; at these words his face turned even uglier than Dou Zhiwei's.

He stepped forward and said in a low voice, "That Yu Er used to make his living by swindling and cheating. I only don't know who he'd hand her over to—if it's Old Seventh Wang, she'd be sold to a brothel in Yangzhou; if it's Tang San, she'd be sold off to the capital..."

In an instant Dou Yan felt a chill run through her. Her voice trembled. "Go and look into it—quickly!"

Duan Bing answered and left.

Suxin hurriedly poured Dou Yan a cup of hot tea and tried to comfort her. "Uncle Duan is a local snake—he knows every corner of this place. The fifth young lady has only been gone four or five hours; she can't have left Zhending yet. He'll surely have her back in no time." She knew what Dou Yan was afraid of, and added, "Young Master Ji may love to play tricks on people, but he's never taken a life, and he's a scholar besides. He would never do such a thing. Please set your mind at ease!" Then she thought again and said, "If you're still uneasy, why not ask Young Master Ji yourself? He's always been proud and arrogant—if he'd really done it, he wouldn't deny it."

"What I fear is that it wasn't him at all!" The warmth seeping through the painted porcelain teacup into Dou Zhiwei's hands loosened the taut strings of her heart a little. "He has always done things in his own peculiar way, and he already draws every eye. We can't go pinning every mishap on him just because of that, can we?"

Yet in her heart she always felt a thorn lodged crosswise there.

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Brothers and sisters, here is the update for March 27, made up at last!

ps: Thank you all for the treatments you offered; I will find a way to reach out to each of you one by one.

Thank you all once again!

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