Chapter 94 — Aftermath

"Then go quickly!" Grandmother urged. "I daresay something has come up at the shop."

It was probably about the guards.

Dou Yan let it pass without comment and went to the study.

Chen Yanzhou had indeed come to her about this very matter: "Chen Lanxu and the others agreed without a word of protest. But they all asked to finish out this month and wait until their masters find replacements before they can come. Only Duan Bing said he could be here within a couple of days. So I made some inquiries, and they say that when Duan Bing first went to the Lang family as a guard, it was the old master of the Lang family who invited him, and later that old master passed away. The present head of the Lang family felt Duan Bing's stipend was rather high and tried several times to trim it, but, being wary of touching a man who had served the old master, he could not bring himself to say so outright. Duan Bing had long wanted to leave, but his mother lies bedridden and paralysed, needing both his care and money for medicine, and he could find no post better than guard in the Lang household, so he dared not speak of leaving. When I went to him, he heaved a great sigh of relief and of his own accord offered to take five taels less than the Langs paid him. Seeing that he was a man who could take up his duties at once, I offered him five taels more than the Langs had, but he would not hear of it."

Dou Yan mused, "Who else is in his household?"

"His wife passed away some years ago," Chen Yanzhou said, "and left him no children. His mother's illness has drained their savings these past few years, and he has never had the money to marry again."

"Then buy a maid to wait on his mother," Dou Yan said. "We shall pay the maid's monthly wage."

Chen Yanzhou smiled and agreed. Dou Yan then asked how the case was progressing: "Pang Xilou wants to bring suit against the Dou family—has Magistrate Lu accepted the complaint?"

"He has," Chen Yanzhou said with a smile. "Not only accepted it, but kept Pang Xilou back for a round of drinks at the rear office. He urged Pang Xilou to make big things small and small things nothing. And that Pang Xilou is a rare piece of work—hearing Magistrate Lu out, he actually said it was not he who wanted the suit, but his second elder brother who had pressed him to bring it. He begged Magistrate Lu not to be angry..."

The Pang family was even more amusing than she had imagined.

Dou Yan burst out laughing and entrusted the matter to Chen Yanzhou: "I must trouble you to keep an eye on this."

Chen Qu smiled and agreed. Over the next few days he was run off his feet—arranging quarters for the new guards, inquiring after Pang Kunbai's illness, and sounding out reactions from the capital.

Ji Yong fixed the day of his departure for Mount Tai and went from household to household to take his leave of the Dou family, which naturally included Old Madam Wu, who lodged in the same guest rooms as he did.

Old Madam Wu, all smiles, pressed Ji Yong to stay for tea.

Ji Yong did not stand on ceremony. He sat down below her and asked, "Why have I not seen Brother Wu these past few days?"

He lodged in the guest rooms east of the East Mansion, while Wu Shan lived with his mother and sister in the rooms to the west.

Old Madam Wu smiled. "We set out for the capital in a couple of days. Perhaps he fears his father will test his lessons, for he has shut himself in his room to study these past days, burning the lamp until midnight and letting no one disturb him. Had it not been for Zhi today, I doubt anyone could have knocked at his door—he has gone out with Zhi, saying some fellow students wished to give him a send-off."

Ji Yong laughed. "No wonder Brother Wu is so well liked. He has a generous, forthright nature. Had it not been for him that day, we should never have found that country estate!"

Old Madam Wu was startled. "What country estate?"

Ji Yong's smile faltered for an instant, but he quickly recovered and said with a laugh, "Oh, we went out together that day and lost our way, and Brother Wu helped us find the road." Then he raised his teacup and drank several large mouthfuls, as if to cover something up.

Suspicion stirred in Old Madam Wu's heart.

After seeing Ji Yong off, she summoned the young servant who attended Wu Shan and questioned him closely.

Though the servant had been warned by Wu Shan, he dared not conceal anything from Old Madam Wu, and soon poured out every detail of Dou Yan's abduction like beans from a bamboo tube.

Old Madam Wu's face changed drastically at his words. Again and again she asked the servant: "When you got there, that Pang Kunbai had already been beaten half to death? And yet the Fourth Young Lady was entirely unharmed, with a crowd of unfamiliar guards about her?"

The servant swore, "Madam, I would not dare deceive you. If I speak a single false word, may lightning strike me and may I die a wretched death!"

Old Madam Wu motioned for him to say no more and instructed him in a low voice, "Never mention this again, or you shall be beaten to death with rods."

The servant shuddered, nodded again and again, and scrambled out of the hall on all fours.

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Sisters and brothers, I beg you for pink tickets...

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