Chapter 30 — Choice

Third Aunt felt the same way, yet she sighed and said, "You can't blame the Zhu family for being angry. We were the ones who said we would wait three years, and now we are the ones insisting on a wedding before the Dragon Boat Festival. The Zhu family is a grand household too. Never mind preparing a dowry in such a tearing hurry, just notifying relatives and friends in time would be a wonder."

"I know it well enough. But when matters press, we must bend the rules and make do," Grandfather said. "I recall that the Zhu juren has a sister married into the Chen family of nearby Xinle County. What if we asked the Zhu family's married aunt to speak on our behalf?"

"Then I shall set out for Xinle right after the midday meal," Third Aunt said at once, without demur.

Grandfather offered a few words of thanks and pressed Third Aunt to stay for lunch.

"The East Dou and the West Dou were one family to begin with. Seventh Uncle's affairs are as my own," Third Aunt said politely. "I fear I shall have to spend the night in Xinle, and there are matters at home I must see to first. Do not stand on ceremony with me, Younger Uncle; the only thing that matters is getting this business settled."

Grandfather did not press her further, and had Qiufen see Third Aunt out through the second gate.

Afterward, no matter whom Third Aunt brought in to plead with the Zhu family, they set their jaw and would not budge an inch.

Third Aunt was so frantic that blisters rose on her lips, and she regretted it bitterly. "Had I known it would come to this, we should have contracted a match with my elder sister-in-law's little cousin. As it is, even if we wanted to change brides, we would need the Zhu family's letter dissolving the engagement, and I fear there is no more time for that than for anything else."

Grandfather vented his anger on Father. On a sweltering day, he made Father kneel the whole afternoon in the front courtyard, where no tree gave shade, until Father's knees were red and swollen and he could scarcely walk; then he sent for a physician.

It was at this juncture that Wang Shuying's elder brother, Wang Zhibing, suddenly came calling.

Wang Zhibing was barely past thirty, but the hardships of recent years had aged him so that he looked like a man of forty.

He stood straight and tall in the Wang family's great hall, upright and unyielding as a green pine.

"My younger sister was dragged down by me, her brother, and that is why she went out into the world to ply a trade. I knew nothing of it before; now that I do, I have come to take my sister home," he said, his voice ringing firm. "We have taken none of your betrothal gifts, and there is no entanglement of money or goods between us. Write out a bill of divorce, and let our two houses be quit of each other from this day forth—bridge to bridge, road to road."

Grandfather was silent for a long while, then sent someone to fetch Wang Shuying.

At the sight of her brother, Wang Shuying was both startled and overjoyed.

"Elder Brother, how is it you have come back!" She caught hold of Wang Zhibing's arm before she could stop herself, then her expression suddenly changed and she looked him up and down. "Has something happened to Father?" Before the words were out, tears were already pattering down.

"No, no!" Wang Zhibing's own eyes reddened, and he said hastily, "Father has received an appointment as magistrate of Xintai County in Shandong. He wrote home, and only then did he learn that you—that you had entered the Dou household. Father was torn with remorse and loathing; he slapped himself three times across the face, saying only that the family had ruined you, and he sent me back to bring you home."

"What did you say?" Wang Shuying stared at him blankly. "Father—Father has been restored to office?"

"Yes!" Wang Zhibing nodded again and again. "Father has been restored to office. In a few days he will send for Mother and you to join him at his post, and you need never fret again over what the family is to eat and drink each day... From now on, leave all such worries to your elder brother!"

"Elder Brother!" Clutching Wang Zhibing's sleeve, Wang Shuying burst into loud sobs.

Wang Zhibing turned his face away, unable to bear the sight of her, and only when Wang Shuying had wept his sleeve wet did his own heart grow calm.

"Don't cry. Whatever there is to say, we will say it at home," Wang Zhibing said, then looked toward Grandfather. "If Master Dou has no further instructions, we shall take our leave now."

He did not even mean to take Wang Shuying's spare clothes.

Naturally Grandfather could not let Wang Shuying go just like that. He smiled and said, "Your honored father and our Yuanji passed the examinations in the same year; we are hardly strangers. Since you have come, you may as well sit down and take a cup of tea. When your sister entered our house, we assigned her a matron and maids to serve her, and added a few things for her. I shall have the matron and maids pack them up, and you may take the person and the belongings together. Your honored father has but just been restored to office, and a thousand threads must be sorted one by one. That Wang Shi could enter our house at all was the work of chance and mischance; surely you would not have her leave empty-handed? If others heard of it, it would not sound well!"

"There is no need!" Wang Zhibing had barely answered when his sister's voice, high and sharp with agitation, came to his ear: "What did you say? You would have me go back with you—then what is to become of Ming'er? She is only three years old!"

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At five o'clock the network went down, and wretched me had not yet finished writing. I went to borrow someone else's wireless card, but the owner had gone out shopping... Everything in a muddle, my mind all aflutter, and then I went back and revised the text again, and only now have I updated. I am too ashamed even to apologize... As for typos and the like, since revisions take a while to display, it is a bit slow; you can all go back and look a little later...

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