Chapter 16 — The Plea

Wang Shuying's family members arrived, and Dou Juanren took the occasion to discuss with the Wang family the matter of Wang Shuying entering the household.

Feeling that there was nothing more for her to do, Dou Yan crouched in the rear garden at Yuji Pavilion, from which the whole of the Western Dou compound could be surveyed, and lectured Tuoniang earnestly: "...I'm going back. Have you memorized everything I told you?"

Tuoniang said, puzzled, "Where is the Fourth Miss going?"

"Never mind that," Dou Yan said wistfully. "My long-cherished wish is fulfilled; even if it was all a dream, it comforts my life. I still have my duties and obligations. To have been able to make this journey at all is already good fortune. You must remember: never leave my mother's side, and never let her do anything foolish. Living is always better than dying!"

Tuoniang nodded solemnly. "Rest assured, Fourth Miss, I've remembered. I'll keep an eye on the Seventh Madam morning, noon, and night, and never let her be alone."

Dou Yan nodded and reached out to pat Tuoniang's hair, only then realizing that even crouching side by side, Tuoniang stood a full shoulder taller than she.

She gave an embarrassed laugh and went back to her room to sleep.

The golden crow sank, the jade rabbit rose, the stars turned and the heavens shifted. Dou Yan opened her eyes, and what met her gaze were still those heavy black-lacquered furnishings and the eager, smiling face of Xiangcao.

"How can this be? How can this be?" Beads of sweat the size of peas broke out on her forehead, and she grabbed the quilt and pulled it over her head. "I want to sleep, I want to sleep..."

Once asleep, she could go back!

But she could not fall asleep no matter what. When at last she did, and opened her eyes again, she was still in the same room, still lying on the same heated kang.

Tuoniang asked her, "Fourth Miss, what's wrong? Won't you get up and have your evening meal?"

"No, no, no!" Dou Yan's expression was frantic. "I have to go back. I haven't seen Wei'er married yet, I haven't arranged Yin'er's marriage... I must go back, I must go back!"

The maids all exchanged glances, and Xiangcao let out a shriek and rushed out: "The Fourth Miss has been possessed! The Fourth Miss has been possessed!"

Her father and mother were both alarmed, and even Grandfather, supported by Aunt Ding, appeared in her room with a grave expression.

"Perhaps we should send for Daoist Xu of the Three Pure Ones Temple to take a look?" Aunt Ding said in a low voice.

But before the words were out, Grandfather shot her a fierce glare. He was about to rebuke her when, from the corner of his eye, he saw his daughter-in-law, Madam Zhao, brighten; the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back.

Dou Huaiying knew his father detested all this talk of spirits and strange powers. Seeing that his father said nothing, he understood that the old man had tacitly consented, and shot his wife a glance, saying in a low voice, "Then shall we send for Daoist Xu of the Three Pure Ones Temple to take a look?"

Zhao Guqiu held her daughter, whose vacant stare made her seem somewhat simple-minded, and was filled with regret.

These past days she had been so busy quarreling with Dou Huaiying that she had neglected her daughter's daily needs. If anything should happen to the girl... she did not even dare to think further.

"There's no time to lose!" her mother said. "Why not send someone now to fetch Daoist Xu of the Three Pure Ones Temple."

Grandfather made no objection.

Her father at once sent for Gao Sheng and gave him his instructions.

Her mother stayed behind to keep Dou Yan company.

Dou Yan could not sleep. Over and over she stroked her mother's hand.

Warm, soft, delicate, supple... this was not something the imagination could conjure from nothing.

Nor the sweetness of sugar on the tongue, nor the crumbs of flaky pastry scattered on the kang!

Could it be that she had truly returned to the past?

Returned to her childhood?

Then what was all that had gone before?

What of the agony of childbirth?

Dou Yan was utterly at a loss.

Daoist Xu caught a fox spirit in the Dou household.

Abbot Tuyin of Lingyan Temple said she was haunted by a vengeful ghost and that a forty-nine-day rite must be performed.

Abbess Falin of the Niangniang Temple said she had been cursed by a petty person, and that only eighty-one days of burning perpetual lamps could avert the calamity and lessen her suffering.

Her mother and Aunt Ding even went behind Grandfather's and Father's backs to summon a spirit-medium, Immortal Aunt Peng, who came to the house and made a great commotion, and only then did Dou Zhiwei gradually recover.

Everyone in the household breathed a sigh of relief.

Her mother set aside the household's petty affairs and watched over her day and night. Fearing she would be lonely, she assigned four young maids of her age to keep her company, summoned a goldsmith to the house to fashion jewelry for her, and called in tailors to make clothes. Dou Yan's room saw a constant stream of visitors, busier than New Year.

For the first time Dou Yan enjoyed such unrestrained pampering, and tears nearly fell from her eyes.

Her mother held her in her arms and patted her back gently. "Shouyuan, dear, are you unwell somewhere? Would you like Xiangcao to come play with you?"

Ever since one mishap after another had befallen Dou Yan's room, everyone had been replaced except Tuoniang—who, far from shunning Dou Yan as possessed, had tended Dou Zhiwei day and night without undressing—including Xiangcao, who had just been assigned to her.

Dou Yan shook her head.

Her mother thought for a moment, then poured a box of pearls onto the heated kang. "Aren't they pretty? Shall we make our Shouyuan a pearl jacket?"

The round, smooth pearls rolled and spun across the kang, shedding light in every direction.

Dou Yan scooped them up and let them fall again, the pearls pattering down like rain.

In fifteen years as the wife of a marquis, she had never lived in such luxury.

Her mother smiled.

Carrying her in her arms, she went to Yuquan Temple to fulfill a vow.

When Abbot Tuyin of Lingyan Temple saw how bright and spirited her eyes were, he urged her mother to donate funds for a thousand copies of the Lotus Sutra to be printed at Lingyan Temple for her recovery: "This will also be a blessing for the Fourth Miss!"

Her mother agreed without the slightest hesitation, saying, "Then let it be two thousand copies!"

Abbot Tuyin could not hide the delight on his face; pressing his palms together before her mother, he invited her to the meditation room nearby to choose a blessed ritual object.

Her mother carried Dou Yan over.

Dou Yan chose an agate pendant threaded with white silk at the back.

Her mother was delighted, and accompanied by Abbot Tuyin, she went to view the Goose Pagoda at Lingyan Temple, whose construction had only recently broken ground, and said, "If I provided all the funds, could I ask the Bodhisattva to shield Shouyuan so that from now on she may be safe and serene, blessed with fortune and long life?"

"You can, you can, you can!" Abbot Tuyin's smile was so wide his eyes all but vanished. "How could you not? This Goose Pagoda was built from the very start to invoke blessings for the charitable, people like you, Seventh Lady."

Her mother was led by Abbot Tuyin to a side chamber to drink tea and discuss how the Goose Pagoda should be built.

Dou Yan stood beneath the covered corridor, gazing at the resplendent golden Sakyamuni enshrined in Chengguang Hall, its great doors thrown wide open, and a strange excitement surged in her heart.

She ran pell-mell into Chengguang Hall and knelt lightly and carefully upon the cushion.