Chapter 28 — New Year

Knowing he would not have to squeeze into a carriage with his mother and sister, he leaped down from his own family's carriage at once and came running over, grinning.

"Seventh Great-Uncle!" Dou Yan saluted his father, then reached out to pat Dou Zhiwei's head. "Fourth Aunt!"

Dou Yan had the soul of an adult within her; when her grandfather or father patted her head, she could just about endure it, but for her eleven-year-old nephew Dou Yan to pat her head... She tilted her head slightly and dodged his hand.

"Eh?" Dou Yan was puzzled for a moment.

Dou Huaiying was already carrying Dou Yan toward his own carriage, and as he walked he asked Dou Yan, "I hear that the other day at the clan school you quoted the classics left and right and made even Old Master Du admit defeat?"

Dou Yan gave a dry laugh, put Dou Zhiwei's odd behavior out of his mind, and followed Dou Huaiying into the carriage. He sat down beside him and said with a grin, "Seventh Great-Uncle, weren't you shut up at home reading? How is it you know every little prank we juniors get up to in the schoolroom?"

The implication was that Dou Huaiying was not devoting himself properly.

A sharp tongue indeed.

Dou Yan studied Dou Yan with interest.

"All you know is to show off your clever tongue—mind that trouble doesn't come out of your mouth," his father said with a laugh. "No wonder your father has to go apologize to Master Du every few days!"

Master Du was the tutor at the Dou clan school.

Dou Yan chuckled and nudged his father with his shoulder. "Seventh Great-Uncle, can I discuss a little something with you?" He looked a bit of a rogue.

His father raised an eyebrow.

Dou Yan said with a smile, "I've arranged with my schoolmates to go to Zhending Prefecture to see the lanterns during the Lantern Festival. How about you sponsor a little travel money for me?"

His father laughed. "Does your father know?"

"He knows, he knows." Hearing there was hope, Dou Yan beamed. "He agreed too. But he'll only give me three taels of silver—not even enough to buy a decent lantern! Seventh Great-Uncle, we all know you're the most generous and openhanded. Lend me twenty taels, and next time you go to Fufangzhai to buy curios, I'll lend you a hand!"

"I have servants—what would I need your help for? Besides, you probably couldn't do it as well as they do!"

"Then—then I'll copy scriptures for you." Dou Yan didn't blush in the least; his eyes darted, and he said at once, "I know you mean to copy a thousand scrolls of the Lotus Sutra for my late Seventh Great-Aunt, to burn for her at the end of the mourning period..."

Dou Yan looked at her father in surprise.

Her father did not notice her. He laughed and said, "Copying scriptures is a matter of sincerity—what would it mean if you did it for me? Enough, enough. Twenty taels is out of the question, but ten taels might be considered..."

"Seventh Great-Uncle, ten taels is far too little!" Dou Yan ground his teeth. "If word got out, wouldn't it diminish your reputation?"

"I wasn't aware I had a reputation as a 'squire of loose purse strings'?" His father was unmoved. "You're young, you eat and use what the family provides—what do you need so much silver for? Ten taels, take it or leave it."

"I'll take it, I'll take it!" Dou Yan feared that if he said another word, even these ten taels would vanish.

His father laughed. "But I'll have a word with your Third Uncle and Sixth Uncle, so you don't take my ten taels and then go scrounging elsewhere!"

"Seventh Great-Uncle!" Dou Yan wailed and collapsed onto the large bolster.

Dou Huaiying roared with laughter, feeling the gloom that had weighed on his heart these past days suddenly lift a good deal.

Watching her father laugh so heartily, Dou Yan felt a welter of emotions.

In her past life, she had harbored resentment toward her father.

And so she had never once looked him in the eye.

She had always thought that apart from studying his Book of Changes he cared for nothing else... letting Dou Ming run rampant and Dou Xiao stir up trouble, letting her fend for herself!

She had never imagined he had this side to him!

The clatter of the carriage wheels mingled with Dou Yan's banter, and soon they arrived at the North Tower.

Seven or eight carriages were already scattered before the Dou ancestral hall. Stewards and servants hurried in and out, busy at their tasks. Hearing their approach, some ran to report to Third Uncle, while others gathered around, some to steady the carriage, others to set out the mounting stool. For a time the area before the Dou ancestral hall was a hubbub of voices, bustling with noise and excitement.

※

O(∩_∩)O~

※