Chapter 74 — Taking Them In

"You two—stop arguing." Bie Gangyi's voice came out dry and rasping. "You're both doing this for my sake... it's not worth it..." As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward Dou Yan. "Fourth Miss, I know this puts you in a difficult spot, but there is no one else I can entrust them to... When their mother passed, I promised her I would take good care of the two girls..." Moisture began to shimmer at the corners of his eyes. "I cannot push my children into the fire pit..."

Listening, Dou Yan could not help but feel a pang of sorrow.

"I ask for nothing else—only that after I am gone, these two children may live with dignity," Bie Gangyi said, his voice wheezing like a bellows. "I know the Dou family is no ordinary household, but these two girls are both obedient and sensible. They will not cause you any trouble..."

"I know, I know." Dou Qu walked over and sat down where Chen Yanzhou had been sitting moments before. "If you trust me," he said in a low voice, "I will have them enter into a fictive kinship with my own grandmother's family—that is, with the relatives of Aunt Cui of the Western Dou. Then I will have the two sisters move to Aunt Cui's farmstead. That is Dou property, under Dou protection..."

Chen Yanzhou could not help but be taken aback.

Just moments ago this Fourth Miss Dou had been full of evasions and excuses—how had she changed her mind in the blink of an eye?

Dou Yan had wanted to help the Bie sisters from the moment Chen Yanzhou mentioned their circumstances, lest fine pearls be cast into the dark and they be humiliated by the likes of Shan Jie. She simply disliked being calculated against as though she were a naive child, and so she had deliberately traded barbs with Chen Yanzhou.

"So... you agree?" Bie Gangyi was both startled and overjoyed, gazing at Dou Zhiwei with eyes full of gratitude.

Dou Xin nodded.

How many fathers in this world could go as far as Bie Gangyi had for their children—and for two daughters, no less!

For that alone, she ought to help the Bie sisters.

"If you are still uneasy, you may also let them live with me at the Western Dou," she said. "No one has been at the house these past few years anyway. If the sisters come, they will keep me company..."

But Bie Gangyi shook his head. "I know the young lady means well, but the Dou clan is vast in wealth and enterprise. Fourth Miss has elders above her and siblings below. If the two sisters simply followed along, there would be no end of gossip saying they are taking advantage of the Dou family—and likely no small amount of slander aimed at Fourth Miss as well. You saved my whole family; I ought to repay you properly. It is a pity my body will not cooperate—not only can I not repay you, I have brought you no end of trouble. How could I let you suffer further grievance..." As he spoke, he called out "Uncle Chen," smiled with his withered lips, and said, "You are a man of learning, and your handwriting is fine. I ask you to write a deed of allegiance for the sisters..."

"Master Bie!" Dou Yan and Chen Yanzhou exclaimed in unison, then exchanged a glance despite themselves.

"Without a deed of allegiance, the name is improper and the words carry no weight," Bie Gangyi said, ignoring their outcry. "Rather than leave the sisters hanging ambiguously at Fourth Miss's side, it is better to fix their status. Then they will know what they may do and what would be presumptuous—it benefits both Fourth Miss and themselves."

Dou Yan fell silent.

There was no denying the sense in Bie Gangyi's words.

What people fear most is being unable to find their proper place, and striving in the wrong direction.

Those who signed a contract of sale—in life they did not return to the ancestral hall, in death they did not return to the clan; their marriages, their lives and deaths, all were decided by their masters. Those who wrote a deed of allegiance were "righteous servants": the master could not sell them, they could marry on their own and hold private property, and unless they harmed or reviled their master, even if they broke the law they were dealt with as commoners. Though the two differed, in either case, once the deed of allegiance was written, a relation of "master and servant" was established with the household—and in the end, it was still a life of serving others.

She thought of how Chen Yanzhou had just sent the Bie sisters out, and said thoughtfully, "Do Sulang and the others know about this?"

"Not yet." Bie Gangyi's answer was just as Dou Zhiwei expected. "But they are both down-to-earth girls. So long as they can live honestly and cleanly, I believe they will gladly follow Fourth Miss."

Chen Yanzhou said, "Perhaps we should first ask the two sisters what they think?"

Dou Yi also felt this was the better course.

So Bie Gangyi asked Chen Yanzhou to call his two daughters in.

Bie Suxin and Bie Sulan were naturally astonished beyond measure.

They had guessed their father might fear that after his death the sisters would have no one to rely on, and wish to entrust them to the Dou family's Fourth Miss—but they had never imagined he would have them write a deed of allegiance.

Bie Sulan was still dazed and at a loss, but Bie Suxin thought of those agonizing days and nights when her father was in prison, of Shan Jie's shameless face, of her sister running about in every direction, and then of the worry in her father's eyes that would not close even in death. She steeled her heart, knelt before Dou Zhiwei, and said to Chen Yanzhou, "Uncle Chen, please write a deed of allegiance for us sisters!"

Dou Yan reached out to raise her up.

But she knelt and would not rise, and pulling the dazed Bie Sulan down beside her, knelt both of them before Dou Yan. "Fourth Miss, I know the Dou family is a house of wealth and honor, and there must be countless people who wish to attach themselves to it—there is no need for anyone to write a deed of allegiance as we are doing. That you would take us in is entirely out of pity for two sisters with nowhere to go. We are not ungrateful wretches. If we may follow you into the household, we will serve you faithfully hereafter, obey the matrons of your chambers, and live in harmony with all the sisters..." By this point her face was streaming with tears.

Bie Sulan burst into loud weeping; she crawled on her knees to Bie Gangyi's side, crying "Papa."

Bie Gangyi stroked his younger daughter's head, and tears the size of beans slid silently from his sunken eye sockets into his temples.

Everyone in the room was weeping.

Zhao Liangbi peeked through the curtain, and his nose stung too; he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

It was a long while before the weeping in the room gradually subsided.

With reddened eyes, Dou Yan said to Chen Yanzhou, "Then please, Elder Chen, write the deed of allegiance, so that Master Bie may have peace of mind."

Chen Yanzhou said no more. Seeing that the Bie household had no brush, ink, paper, or inkstone, he went home, wrote out the Bie sisters' deed of allegiance, and brought it back.

Dou Yan said to Bie Gangyi, "Let this deed stay in Suxin's keeping. Rest well and recover—the best outcome would be that it is never needed." As she finished speaking, she pressed down the grief in her heart and showed a bright smile. "And when the time comes, whatever happens, I will not simply wash my hands of it."

"Thank you, Fourth Miss." Bie Gangyi knew Fourth Miss Dou was only comforting him, but that she could say such a thing gave him one more measure of assurance for his daughters' future.

Dou Yan called Zhao Liangbi in and had him present himself so Bie Suxin could learn his face. "These days he will be at the Dou family's grain and oil shop on East Street in Zhending Prefecture. If you have any need, have him see to it."

Bie Suxin hastily bent her knees and made a curtsy to Zhao Liangbi.