Chapter 31 — Eavesdropping
Purple Streets of Chang'an Page 2 of 2
So Father meant to persuade Wang Shuying to return to her natal family for good!
Dou Xin watched the two with narrowed eyes, and then saw Wang Shuying, her face streaming with tears, throw herself into her father's arms and clutch tightly at his waist: "I will go nowhere. I want only to be by your side—even as a slave or a servant girl, I am willing..."
"Do not be like this!" Her father gently pried apart the arms wrapped around him and said softly, "If you act this way, what is Minister Wang to do?" He stepped back a few paces, and the look he gave Wang Shuying was sincere. "Your father and your brother have treated you well. You should treasure that, and not grieve them again..."
Wang Shuying looked at the distance between them, and bitterness rose in the depths of her eyes. She asked her father, "Is it because of the Fifth Miss of the Zhu family?"
Father was taken aback. "What?"
"Is it because of the Fifth Miss of the Zhu family?" Wang Shuying pressed again, tears suddenly scattering like rain. "Have you fallen for the Fifth Miss of the Zhu family? I've heard people say her looks are quite extraordinary..."
"Where has your mind wandered off to?" Father laughed despite himself. "I have never even laid eyes on the Fifth Miss of the Zhu family."
"Then why did you have Gao Sheng deliver a letter to the Zhu family?" Wang Shuying's gaze was somewhat piercing.
So it seemed she was not the only one concerned about the marriage between the Dou and Zhu families!
Dou Yan pricked up her ears.
"You knew I sent Gao Sheng to the Zhu family with a letter?" Father was astonished.
Realizing she had let something slip, Wang Shuying said guiltily, "That night Ming'er wouldn't stop fussing, and I kept soothing her until dawn. Just as I was about to go to bed, I heard the maids say Gao Sheng had been sent by you to deliver a letter to the Zhu family..."
Utter nonsense!
Dou Yan pursed her lips in disdain.
Gao Sheng was Father's trusted confidant; if he could not hold his tongue, Father would have replaced him long ago.
She had clearly gone to some trouble to find out!
Father did not dwell on the matter. He spoke frankly: "I sent a letter to the Zhu juren, telling him certain things about our household and asking him to wait until I have straightened out my family affairs before raising the matter of the marriage..."
"Why?" Wang Shuying fixed Father with a torch-bright gaze. "Why would you do such a thing?"
Did she imagine Father had done it for her sake?
Dou Yan sneered inwardly.
Father was silent for a long while, then said in a low voice, "Yingxue, I have my responsibilities! The Western Dou needs an heir, and Father is waiting to hold a legitimate grandson. I do not want to drag the Fifth Miss of the Zhu family into this. She bears no responsibility for the mistakes I have made, no obligation to face such strife the moment she enters this house..."
"Am I a mistake to you?" Wang Shuying's face went white as snow in an instant, and she asked sharply.
"Do not twist my meaning." Father spoke gently. "I only hope that no one else is hurt on my account!"
"And what of me? What am I?" Wang Shuying demanded of Father. "You do not wish to hurt the Fifth Miss of the Zhu family—but can you bear to let Ming'er and me be parted forever? To let Ming'er grow up without a mother?"
"Yingxue, it is not that I am hard-hearted." Father heaved a long sigh. "Ming'er's standing in the Wang family is uncertain. In the Dou household, at least, she is the Fifth Miss of the Dou. She is still young and remembers nothing; raised at whose side, she will grow close to whom, and there will be that much less grief and sorrow..."
"She is my daughter, my daughter!" Wang Shuying cried in a low voice, and furiously flung the pouch at Father. "I do not want your silver notes—I want my daughter." With that, she lifted her head high and turned into the flower hall.
Father smiled bitterly, shook his head, and followed her into the flower hall.
Dou Yan stared at the pouch on the ground, wondering whether pocketing those three thousand taels of silver notes would land the maids and menservants on duty in the flower hall in trouble.
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A friend left a comment saying that I was whitewashing Dou Huaiying. Actually, I don't think the question of whitewashing even arises. Every person has many facets; it is impossible to be either all black or all white, and impossible to wear only one face forever.
O(∩_∩)O~
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