Chapter 35 — Disposal

Dou Yan instructed Tuo Niang: "Go tell Granny Yu to get those two things back."

Tuo Niang stamped her foot in fury. "That Yuzan has more nerve than she ought! You can spend a thousand days catching a thief, but who can spend a thousand days guarding against one? I say this ought to be reported to the Seventh Master..."

"No need," Dou Yan said. "So long as the things are recovered, that's enough."

Seeing her say so, Tuo Niang had no choice but to let Yuzan be. Clutching the gift list, she went off to Granny Yu in high dudgeon.

Dou Yan had plans of her own.

The reason Yuzan dared to be so bold was simply that she took advantage of Dou Yan's youth, and of the fact that Granny Yu managed the household affairs.

If this were brought to her father, the most he would do, given his nature, was have Yuzan beaten with a few strokes and driven out. He would never think any further than that.

Men, it seemed, were all alike, blind to the scheming and infighting within the inner quarters.

She would do better to find her own solution.

As Dou Yan and Haitang were packing up the things, Xuancao came running in.

Seeing only the three of them in the room, her face lit up at once: "I tell you, there's been a fight over at Qixia Court!"

Dou Yan was stunned.

Moli and Haitang were already pressing her eagerly: "What happened? Sister Xuancao, do tell!"

Xuancao loved nothing better than gossip about the neighbors, for which Tuo Niang scolded her often enough. Now that everyone was gazing at her expectantly, she grew rather pleased with herself and said, "Just now Concubine Wang's elder brother and his wife came to fetch her, and she wouldn't go back. So Concubine Wang's elder brother gave her a slap that swelled half her face. Then Concubine Wang's second sister-in-law said the elder brother's wife was vicious, egging the elder brother on to beat Concubine Wang, and the elder brother's wife flew into a rage and started quarreling with the second sister-in-law, and then Concubine Wang snatched up Sister Ming and threatened to kill herself..." She clicked her tongue in wonder. "It's quite the spectacle over there. The Seventh Master isn't home, so the Old Master had to go over and break it up."

"You don't say!" Moli and Haitang exclaimed together. "How do you know all this?"

Xuancao said smugly, "Me? Not just me. Wan'er, who serves Concubine Ding, and Qinghai, who serves the Seventh Master, were both hiding there watching the fun! Qinghai even got caught red-handed by the Old Master. Luckily he's quick-witted; he said the Seventh Master had instructed him before leaving to keep an eye on Qixia Court, and the Old Master was in such a hurry to get there that he let it slide and sent him off to the Eastern Mansion to fetch the Seventh Master."

Dou Yan was left speechless: "Concubine Wang quarreled with her own brother and sister-in-law right in front of the Old Master?"

Xuancao nodded vigorously.

Dou Yan gave a cold laugh.

She had seen fools before, but never a bigger one than Wang Shuying.

In her previous life, how had she ever taken Wang Shuying for a rival?

She instructed Xuancao: "Then go back and see what other excitement you can find."

This was exactly what Xuancao wanted to hear. She assented and darted off like a wisp of smoke.

Things did not quiet down over there until the lamps were lit.

Xuancao sighed with feeling: "To think that Concubine Wang, so beautiful and gentle, had suffered so much in the past."

Moli and Haitang at once crowded around her, and even Dou Yan gave an "oh" and listened with great interest as she went on.

So Xuancao told them how Wang Shuying had tearfully recounted the agony of being jilted by the Lei family, how grateful she was that her elder sister-in-law had married into the Wang household, how she had secretly vowed that even if she had to eat husks and swallow wild herbs, she would never let her sister-in-law and nephew go without a single bowl of gruel, and how hard it had been all these years to go out in public and do business... until she left Wang Zhibing and Madam Gao utterly speechless.

"Her second sister-in-law is a terror!" Xuancao said with lingering dread. "Not only did she speak up for Concubine Wang, she cursed out the Seventh Master and the Old Master to boot. Said she'd go file a complaint against them, ruin the Seventh Master's career, strip the Old Master of every shred of dignity... left the Old Master so furious he couldn't get a word out. And Concubine Wang's second sister-in-law even had her own serving woman summon all the brothers from her maiden family, saying she means to take the Dou family to court!"

Dou Yan burst out laughing.

Pang Yulou, always so delightful!

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O(∩_∩)O~

The weather was clear and cold, the sun bright as a mirror, and then a fine rain began to fall—the drops caught the light and glittered like spun gold, and people opened their hands to catch it, laughing, saying it was auspicious.