Chapter 23 — Little Sister

Xuancao draped herself over the edge of the heated kang and, still unsatisfied, went on: "Sister Suxin, do you think someone truly means to harm Concubine Wang? A few days ago Mother Hu was also shouting that someone had put poison in her food, but when the Senior Madame and the Third Madame came in person to investigate, it turned out to be nothing but huangqin powder. And now musk has been found... Who would want to harm Concubine Wang? And why would they want to harm her?"

"How should I know!" Tuoniang said, uninterested.

Xuancao was greatly disappointed. After a few more words she ran off to whisper with Qiukui and the others.

Tuoniang looked at Dou Yan.

Dou Yan said, "There is too much trouble over at Concubine Wang's. You had better have a word with Dingxiang's mother. Dingxiang is not young anymore, and she is already betrothed. Better to take her out of there early."

Tuoniang assented, but as she looked at Dou Zhiwei she could not keep a hint of doubt from showing in her eyes.

"Ah!" Dou Yan sighed inwardly.

Being young had its advantages and its drawbacks.

Fortunately the people around her were Tuoniang and the rest; with anyone else, they would likely have been frightened into fleeing long ago.

Still, Wang Shuying truly knew how to hold her nerve, to persevere even in such a state.

Should she frighten her a little more?

Dou Yan turned the matter over in her mind, and when she woke the next morning, word had already gone out that Wang Shuying had given birth to a daughter.

She gazed at the pomegranate flowers blooming bravely outside the window, nodded in satisfaction, and asked Tuoniang, "What is the date today?"

"The twelfth of the fifth month."

In her last life, Dou Ming's birthday had been the third of the seventh month.

It seemed that in this life, Dou Ming would have to celebrate her birthday on the twelfth of the fifth month.

In her last life, Dou Ming had been born premature.

In this life, how would Wang Shuying explain Dou Ming's birth?

Dou Yan was eager to see.

She instructed Tuoniang, "Change me into something pretty. I want to go and see my little sister."

Tuoniang called Yuzan in, and together they changed Dou Yan into a summer dress of moon-white silver-striped gauze, then accompanied her to Wang Shuying's rooms.

Third Aunt and Aunt Ding had long since arrived, and with the crowd of people attending Wang Shuying, the room was packed full.

Dou Huaiying was holding the child and looking at it. When he saw Dou Yan, a rare smile surfaced on his somewhat gloomy face. "Shouyuan, this is your little sister!" he said, and crouched down so that she could see the child in his arms.

Wrinkled and shriveled, like a monkey—what was there to look at!

Dou Yan grumbled silently to herself, but still she sidled up with a smile. "Little sister is so tiny!"

As she spoke, she glanced at Wang Shuying.

Wang Shuying was leaning with a smile against a great bolster. Because of the birth her face was very pale, yet it lent her a delicate, fragile beauty.

Seeing Dou Yan look her way, she could not help clutching tightly at the corner of her quilt.

Ever since the day Dou Yan had spoken with her, she had been avoiding Dou Yan.

Dou Yan smiled faintly and asked her father, "May I hold my little sister?"

"Yes!" Dou Huaiying laughed and stroked his eldest daughter's head.

"No!" Wang Shuying said nervously, sitting up straight.

Every eye in the room turned to her.

"I mean, Shouyuan is still too young," Wang Xueying hurried to explain. "I fear she could not hold the child steadily..."

"Then may I come and see my little sister every day?" Dou Yan cut Wang Shuying off, tilting her little head and blinking her big eyes up at her.

"Does Shouyuan not play jumping-rope with Xuancao and the others?" Wang Shuying's smile was strained. "If you come to see your sister, you will have no time to play!"

"My little sister is much more fun than jumping-rope!" Dou Yan said without a moment's thought, then raised her head to look at her father beside her. "Papa, may I come and see my little sister?"

"Of course you can! Of course! You may come and see your sister whenever you like, as often as you like!" Dou Huaiying thought his eldest daughter a most obedient, kindhearted child. He handed the baby to the wet nurse and lifted Dou Yan into his arms. "You are an elder sister now. You must look after your little sister well from now on—do you understand?"

"I understand!" Dou Yan said loudly, her brows curving and her smile sweet as honey.

Dou Huaiying could not help praising her. "Shouyuan is such a good girl!"

Dou Xin smiled and glanced toward Wang Shuying.

Wang Shuying gazed at the innocently beaming Dou Yan, and her heart kept sinking.

The look in her eyes and the expression on her face that day, when she had spoken with her, had been nothing like a three-year-old's—and sure enough, she had borne a daughter.

All of it was too horrifying, too uncanny!

Dou Ji seemed—seemed like some monster draped in a child's skin... peel that skin away, and there was something that devoured people... and yet no one else noticed a thing.

Wang Shuying's fingertips went cold. She watched as Dou Yan wriggled out of Dou Huaiying's arms and slid to the floor, darted swiftly to the wet nurse's side, and seized her little sister's soft, fine baby hair in her fist. Even as she tugged, she said, "Father, look—sister does not have as much hair as I do!"

Caught off guard, the wet nurse was frantic. She pleaded in a low voice, "Fourth Miss, let go, quickly!"

Dou Chi paid her no mind and only smiled at her father.

Dou Huaiying walked over, looked carefully at his second daughter, then at Dou Yan, and said gravely, "Mm, she does not have as much as you!"

Dou Yan grinned wide with delight.

The wet nurse had no choice but to appeal to Wang Shuying for help.

Wang Shuying, long since frozen stiff with fright, forced out a smile after a long moment and said gently to Dou Yan, "Your sister is still small—you must not pull her hair!"

Dou Yan snorted coldly in her heart.

Of course she knew the child was still small and that she must not pull her hair.

Dou Ming had no fighting strength at this age—beating her would be no victory—so she would not hurt Dou Ming.

She was only putting on a bluff to give Wang Shuying a good fright.

She remembered how, once upon a time, Wang Shuying had left her with grievances she could not voice. Now she would let Wang Shuying taste that same flavor.

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It is the weekend again—wishing everyone a pleasant weekend!

O(∩_∩)O~

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