Chapter 42 — Reactions

One life, one death, one thought apart—and her whole life had been turned upside down!

It was absurd beyond anything one could put into words... In mid-July, her father and her Sixth Uncle arrived safely in the capital, and each sent back a letter to say all was well.

And far away in Ganquan County, in Yan'an Prefecture, Zhao Si received a slip of paper from his niece, Dou Zhiwei.

In a fury he crumpled the note into a ball and flung it to the floor. "The Dou family goes too far! I would like to see how these two families mean to make a match of it—without my letter of consent!"

Mrs. Zhao came in softly, looked at the paper ball lying in the middle of the study, bent to pick it up, slowly smoothed it open, and, pressing it flat with her fingers, laid it on her husband's desk.

"I have just questioned the man who brought it," she said, pouring Zhao Si a cup of tea. Gently she went on, "Dou Huaiying has gone to the capital to sit for the provincial examination. He has entrusted Shouyuan to the Sixth Madam's care. They were servants from Ji shi's shop."

"You mean—?" Zhao Si's gaze fell, in spite of himself, on the note he had crumpled.

"Shouyuan is only a child of five. She can scarcely hold a brush steady," said Mrs. Zhao. "How would she know which words should be said and which should not?"

Zhao Si's eyes suddenly grew bright and sharp. "You mean this letter was written by the Sixth Madam, using Shouyuan's brush."

"Whether it was or not, we cannot yet tell," said Mrs. Zhao, weighing her words. "I only feel that those few lines carry a deep meaning."

Zhao Si calmed himself and sat down at the desk. He raised the note—only a few short lines—toward the daylight... Wang Xingyi was of middling height; the tortures of prison and ten years of exile had turned his hair white early, and left him haggard and aged.

At this moment he stood before the flower beds in a coarse hemp robe, and were it not for the lively gleam of his eyes as they opened and shut, he might have passed for a farmer tottering on the brink of the grave.

"Dou Duo," he murmured, "he is forcing my hand... forcing me to put Yingxue to death!"

Wang Zhibing was aghast, so terrified that a cold sweat broke out all over him.

"Father," he cried out, "you surely won't..."

Wang Xingyi shot his son a furious glare. "I, Wang Xingyi, may have failed to teach my daughter, but are the Dou family entirely without blame? They say Yingxue caused the death of Lady Zhao—did Yingxue quarrel with Lady Zhao? Or did she pour poison into Lady Zhao's bowl? If they did not want Yingxue to enter the household, she had only to refuse and hold firm—could Yingxue have forced her way past her into the Dou household? Since she consented to Yingxue's entry, then Lady Zhao ought to have kept to the proper way of wife and concubine: governing what ought to be governed, punishing what ought to be punished, rewarding what ought to be rewarded. Yet she chose to put on such a display. Is Dou Wanyuan to die every time he takes a concubine? Whether it was Dou Wanyuan who killed Lady Zhao or your sister who killed her, I say the truth of it is still very much in question. Do not go believing every rumor you hear! She is your sister—the sister who fed you and clothed you, who helped you care for your wife and children!"

Wang Zhibing fell silent as a cicada in winter.

Wang Xingyi's anger was still not appeased. "If Yingxue is at fault, then let her be dealt with as the fault deserves; as her father I will not shuffle off responsibility, and I can vouch that Yingxue will not shuffle it off either. But if Dou Duo means to pin Lady Zhao's death on Yingxue's head, that I will never permit."

Wang Zhibing could only smile bitterly. "Father, that was not what I meant. I only feel that Yingxue's situation is, after all, somewhat improper..."

"Wenwei, it is I who have wronged you all!" Wang Xingyi called out his eldest son's courtesy name, his expression suddenly fallen into dejection. "You were clever and quick from childhood, yet to this day you have not even earned the degree of xiucai; your younger brother grew up under the contemptuous looks of others, timid and weak, without a will of his own; and your sister, at such a tender age, had to show her face in public to make a living—how could she compare with the sheltered daughters of great houses, raised in their parents' palms, simple and pure of heart? All this I know, I know it all," he said, turning his face away lest his son see the moisture welling in his eyes. "One general's glory is built on ten thousand bleaching bones. For my own sake, I have ruined you all!" Then he whipped his head back around, fixing Wang Zhibing with a hawk's stare. "If you have done any wrong, I am willing to repay others a thousandfold, ten thousandfold. But if anyone thinks to destroy you for the sake of my empty reputation, then let them take my life first!"

The resolute, ringing words echoed through the flower beds.

Wang Zhibing dropped to his knees before his father with a thud, tears blurring his sight in an instant. "Father, it is not your doing—it is we who failed to make something of ourselves and brought shame upon you..."

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Today I spent a great deal of effort sorting out the character list, and I have not yet had time to correct the typos in this chapter. Everyone please bear with it for now—I will go hunting for bugs right away... and a word about pink votes...

※RQ