Chapter 29 — Speaking
Purple Streets of Chang'an Page 2 of 2
Dou Huaiying smiled and took Dou Ming into his arms.
Wang Shuying asked softly, "Does the Seventh Master have something weighing on his mind? Would you like to tell me?"
Dou Huaiying was silent for a long moment. "It's nothing," he said in a low voice.
Wang Shuying did not press him. Smiling brightly, she said, "I remember the Seventh Master is very fond of the oil-splashed noodles I make. Shall I go to the kitchen and cook you a bowl?"
"No need!" Dou Huaiying said listlessly. "It's almost time for the evening meal."
"It won't take long!" Wang Shuying gave their father no chance to refuse. Smiling, she told the wet nurse to keep a close eye on Dou Ming, then bustled off to the small kitchen.
Dou Yan, practicing calligraphy in the study, curled her lip slightly.
Her father carried Dou Ming over to her. "Shouyuan, look—isn't your little sister pretty?"
"No, she isn't!" Dou Yan said without expression.
Her father was taken aback.
Dou Yan asked him with a straight face, "Is she as pretty as me?"
Her father froze, then burst out laughing. "No, no. Our Shouyuan is the prettiest." He handed Dou Yan to the wet nurse beside him and pinched her little cheek. "That temper of yours—you get it from your mother." As soon as the words were out, something seemed to strike him; his face fell, and with a sigh he said, "Practice your calligraphy well. I'm going out for a walk."
When Wang Shuying came back smiling with the bowl of noodles, she found only Dou Ming, sound asleep in the wet nurse's arms.
Wang Shuying's face darkened slightly.
Dou Fan felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.
Wang Shuying had far too many opportunities.
And her father, like Wei Fan, could not be counted on in such matters.
If Wang Shuying were to conceive Dou Xiao now, the three years of mourning for her mother would become a joke, and the marriage alliance with the Zhu family would certainly fall through.
And once word came that Wang Xingyi had been restored to office, with the Wang family behind her, the Dou family would weigh its options—the Dou family had already fallen out with the Zhao family, and her uncle was only a seventh-rank county magistrate, so even if the Dou family refused to make Wang Shuying the legal wife, her uncle would not be one whit grateful to them. The Wang family was different: if the Dou family went along and acknowledged Wang Shuying, the Wangs would be overflowing with gratitude, and the Dou family would gain a powerful ally at court because of it.
It was already plain to see what choice the Dou family would make.
Unless Wang Xingyi failed to be reinstated—or, having been reinstated, was given no important post.
Dou Yan tried hard to recall what had happened in her former life.
Wang Xingyi owed his reinstatement to his old patron Zeng Yifen.
If Zeng Yifen did not recommend Wang Xingyi, then Wang Xingyi would naturally be finished.
But how was Zeng Yifen to be stopped?
Dou Yan gnawed at her nails.
She realized that, quite apart from the fact that she was now a child, even if she were the lady of the Jining Marquisate she had once been, she would still have found no way.
Dou Yan was greatly vexed.
She asked Dou Huanchang, "Do you know Zeng Yifen?"
Dou Huanchang thought for a long while, then shook his head apologetically and asked, puzzled, "What do you want with that man?"
"I heard Father say he's very formidable, so I wanted to know who he is."
"How about we go ask Zhi-ge?" Dou Huanchang said shyly. "He knows a great many people—maybe he's heard of this man."
Dou Yan went with Dou Huanchang to the Eastern Dou household.
The grown-ups simply assumed she had come for a visit.
the Second Madam Dowager, her eldest, third, and sixth aunts all rewarded her with quantities of treats.
Dou Huanchang led her to the study and sent a young servant to fetch Dou Yan.
Dou Yan came running in wearing a coarse hempen short jacket, his head streaming with sweat.
Dou Huanchang was aghast. "What have you been up to now?"
Dou Yan gave a chuckle, picked up the cool-water jug by the table, poured himself a cup, and drained it in one gulp before saying, "Never mind what I've been up to, Ninth Uncle. Just tell me what you wanted me for."
Dou Huanchang asked him, "Do you know of a man called Zeng Yifen?"
Dou Yan's eyes lit up. "You know about Zeng Yifen too? He was Fifth Granduncle's patron—a formidable man indeed. He has lived through four reigns, risen and fallen three times without ever being toppled! A while back the Emperor summoned him to court again, and now he serves as Chief Grand Secretary. A new Son of Heaven brings a new set of ministers—this time Fifth Granduncle is going to be shifted to another post..."
Dou Yan gave a bitter smile.
Wang Xingyi, she feared, was going to be shifted to another post as well!
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Sisters who read my work, my internet connection has been cut off here and the updates have been delayed a great deal. I am terribly sorry. In the next couple of days I will get a wireless network card, so that if this happens again I will have a backup.
⊙﹏⊙b sweating
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