Chapter 34 — Chaos

She remembered that Father's examiner had been He Wendao, then Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat; he had served as Grand Secretary for twenty years, presided over two metropolitan examinations in succession, and lived through two reigns—a famously unshakable tumbler in officialdom. Chen Jizhou, by contrast, was a name she had never once heard. But then, she had married into a family of hereditary nobles, and the men of letters she knew were few; it was only natural she had not heard of him.

At this thought, she sat bolt upright.

Dou Xiao was born in the gengxu year—that is, on the sixteenth of the third month of the coming year. At his full-month celebration, word arrived that Father had passed the examination with honors, and Wang Shuying afterward made frequent use of this, citing it as proof of how Dou Xiao's birth had brought prosperity to the household.

Counting the days, it must have been around this time that Wang Shuying conceived.

She grew restless and irritable, yet did nothing.

When the heavens mean to rain, and a mother means to remarry, there is no stopping it.

She might block it once—but could she block it a second time, a third?

Dou Yan thought of her mother.

Even if she had not succeeded in dying that time, the sight of Wang Shuying pregnant and giving birth would surely have driven her to the same folly again.

Dou Yan was angry at her for fighting so poorly—but more than anger, it was heartache, heartache at her mother's blind devotion.

She tossed and turned half the night before sinking into a hazy sleep.

When she woke the next day, a fine drizzle was falling; the leaves in the courtyard had been washed a vivid green, giving off a fresh, clean scent.

Tuo Niang was leading Moli and Haitang in making Dou Yan her winter socks when Yuzan came rushing in.

"It's pouring out there!" She wrung out her soaked skirt and said to Tuo Niang, "I have to take some silk thread over to Sister-in-law Yu's in a bit. Lend me that Hangzhou silk drawn-thread skirt Fourth Miss gave you last time—I'll return it as soon as I'm back."

"Sister-in-law Yu" was what everyone called the wife of Yu Daqing, who was the son of Old Mrs. Yu.

Tuo Niang was none too pleased. "If Sister-in-law Yu wants silk thread, why doesn't she buy her own? Handing out things from Fourth Miss's rooms to curry favor—mind Seventh Master doesn't hear of it and lose his temper."

Yuzan, stung into a fury, sneered, "So long as you keep your mouth shut, Seventh Master won't hear of it." She went on, "You think everyone's like you—ten taels of silver tucked in your bosom and you fancy yourself a rich woman! Seventh Master is Master Dou Juan; three thousand taels, and he hands them to Fourth Miss without a blink. A few skeins of silk—why, if you went and told him, and he saw I was only looking after Fourth Miss at the late Mistress's bidding, he might reward me with a whole box of them! If you're too stingy to lend the skirt, say so straight out—no need to drag Fourth Miss's name through the mud to shame me."

Moli, frightened, shrank into the corner trembling, but Haitang refused to give ground. "Then let's go tell Seventh Master and see whether he rewards you with a few strokes of the plank or a few boxes of silk thread!"

"You little wretch, you've turned the world upside down!" Yuzan strode forward and slapped seven-year-old Haitang across the face, and was drawing back her hand to slap her again when Tuo Niang rushed up, seized her wrist, and gave it a hard yank. Yuzan staggered and nearly went sprawling.

"Just try laying another hand on her!" Tuo Niang glared at Yuzan, brows bristling, eyes blazing. "I'll go tell Seventh Master this very instant."

Yuzan reflected that Tuo Niang had started out as a drudge in the laundry, and fearing she would come off worse in the here and now, shot her a venomous glare, flung the door curtain aside with a clatter, and stormed out.

Moli was on the verge of tears. "Sister Suxin, you'd better go apologize to Yuzan—she's surely gone to complain to Old Mrs. Yu about you."

But Tuo Niang gave a cold snort and said stubbornly, "My conduct is upright and my conscience clear. She's the one in the wrong for hitting someone—why on earth should I apologize to Yuzan?"

"But..." Moli, a year older than Haitang, was deeply worried. "Sister-in-law Yu is Old Mrs. Yu's daughter-in-law..."

"So what if she's the daughter-in-law?" Haitang said indignantly. "Being the daughter-in-law makes it all the more reason she shouldn't take things from Fourth Miss's rooms." She stood by Tuo Niang. "Sister Suxin, last time when Second Madam from the East Mansion came back from Fujian, she specially sent Fourth Miss some Fujian specialties. I saw Yuzan pick out two of everything from those snacks and take them over to Sister-in-law Yu. If Seventh Master asks, I'll testify for you!"

They treated Dou Yan as a child who understood nothing—Yuzan striking someone, Haitang tattling—and did not bother to shield her from any of it.

Dou Chi sighed inwardly.

This was the trouble with having no mistress of the household.

Still, Yuzan could not be allowed to stay in her rooms any longer. As superiors did, so would subordinates follow—she would only lead the little maids in her service astray.

As for Old Mrs. Yu, for the moment she would wait and see how she dealt with the matter.

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O(∩_∩)O~

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