Chapter 41 — A Tiger Cowed

Dou Huaiying bowed to Ji shi. "I must trouble Sixth Sister-in-law to look after Shouyuan."

Ji shi promptly returned the courtesy. "You are too polite, Seventh Brother. Shouyuan is clever and well-behaved; we are all very fond of her."

Dou Huaiying took his leave with a smile.

Dou Heng saw him out.

Dou Huaiying stopped him. "We all have to rise early tomorrow; there is no need for such ceremony."

Dou Heng was a straightforward man. He waved cheerfully at Dou Huaiying. "Then we shall meet tomorrow."

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Ji shi, he watched Dou Huaiying depart.

Beneath the clear wind and bright moon, amidst the swaying lush branches, Dou Huaiying's figure looked lonely and forlorn.

Dou Yan turned her head away and pattered into the inner chamber... Gao shi stood on the steps of the east wing of Qixia Court. The thick, heady fragrance of the jade hairpin flowers struck her face in a warm wave, and Pang shi's sugary laughter drifted faintly from the main house. It pricked at her heart like the point of a needle, so unbearable she could scarcely endure it.

Her temper flared at once, and she could not keep herself from pacing about the courtyard.

How had she ever come to be Pang shi's sister-in-law?

She had seen shameless people before, but never anyone quite so shameless. Pang shi had dragged her own face through the mud along with hers.

She had been upright and proper from childhood. At all times she had acted openly and without fear. When had she ever come to this, needing to watch her own toes as she walked...

Fuming, Gao shi came to a halt before the covered corridor.

Whatever Wang Zhibing might be thinking, she would leave for Nanwa first thing tomorrow morning, take her son, and go to the capital to visit her father. She would have no more part in this muddy business.

If Wang Zhibing could afford to lose face, she could not!

Having settled the matter, she felt a little better—and then she saw a dark figure turn out from the trees beside her.

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked closer: it was her husband, Wang Zhibing.

His head was down, his steps uneven, and he wore the look of a man whose spirit had wandered off.

What had the Dou family's old Master said to him?

Gao shi turned it over in her mind, remembering how yesterday she had urged Wang Zhibing not to stay at the Dou household, saying they could hole up for the night anywhere at all. Wang Zhibing would not listen—and then, at breakfast this morning, the Dou family's serving girls had looked at them as though they were poor relations come to cadge a free meal. The resentment had sat in her chest all the way to the afternoon before it began to ease. She had no wish to pay her husband any mind.

She turned and went back into the side room.

Wang Zhibing gazed at the dim yellow lamplight spilling from the half-open door and gave a bitter smile.

Did he not know that they had no business staying here? But if he did not stay, there would be no one to keep Pang shi in check—who knew what other outlandish mischief she might get up to?

He had no idea who had arranged this match. This was no matchmaking; this was ruining their family outright.

Yet his younger brother was weak and spineless, held completely in thrall by this wife. As the elder brother, he could hardly reach past his younger brother to govern his sister-in-law.

His head splitting with pain, Wang Zhibing went inside.

Gao shi said not a word to him. In silence she fetched water for him to wash.

Wang Zhibing knew that family matters had made his wife suffer indignity, and he felt deeply at fault. Tugging at her sleeve, he made a show of profundity. "Do you know what Master Dou summoned me for?"

Gao shi answered perfunctorily, "What for?"

"Master Dou asked me: do I want Father to be a worthy minister whose name will be remembered in history? Or a forthright official who flares up like a flower and is gone just as quickly?"

Gao shi was appalled. "What did the Dou family's old Master say to you?"

"He told me certain things we did not know." Wang Zhibing hesitated a moment, then told Gao shi of Zhao Guqiu's death.

Gao shi's face was white as snow. She clutched at her chest, her lips trembling, and for a long while could not speak; at last she stammered, "Could it... could it be... a mistake?" Yet even as she said it, she suddenly recalled a time when her mother-in-law had said that a family of old acquaintance was marrying off a daughter and that she had no money for a gift and did not wish to go. It was she herself who had then pawned one of her gold hairpins so that Wang Shuying could go drink at the wedding feast... In her heart she already half believed it, and tears came spilling down despite herself. "What sin is this, that we should come to such a pass!"

"I never thought it either." Wang Zhibing's eyes were red too. "Old Master Dou said that if he did not hold my father's character in esteem, he would never have let Yingxue through the door. At first he meant only to look after the daughter of an old friend, never dreaming it would bring such disaster. Old Master Dou knows what Yingxue wants, but he has also said that after this business with the Zhao family, the Zhaos will never consent to raising Yingxue to wife. You know as well as I that without the Zhao family's written consent, even if the Dou family acknowledged Yingxue, it would be of no use..."

For some reason, at these words a phrase suddenly surfaced in Gao shi's mind: divert the flood eastward.

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Everyone in the comments asked me to post a full character list. Since the outline involves plot details, the character list travels together with the outline and has to be pulled out separately. For the moment I have made one in the format of "Mermaid in the Sky"; everyone have a look first, and I will update it when new characters appear. If it is still unclear, we can discuss changing the format, and corrections from anyone are welcome... In Chapter Twenty-Eight, "New Year," I have changed Dou Yan's age. According to the original outline, too much was written about the Dou household's affairs, so a few characters were cut, and this error resulted. I hereby offer my self-criticism.

Lastly, about forms of address. Originally, since the third branch had no imperial title, each was addressed in their own way, and I meant in the second part to unify all the forms of address. Now it seems this would only make things more confusing, and since the workload would be too great and I fear the file would crash if I tried to revise it all, I have prefixed each name to the "Chang" generation of the Dou family to distinguish them. For example, Dou Huanchang is called "Huan the Ninth." What does everyone think?

A few small errors are being corrected bit by bit.

※RQ