Chapter 99 — Resentment (Bonus Update for 870 Pink Votes)

At the thought of those iron balls, Dou Ming said at once, "I wouldn't trade for anything!"

Ji Yong sighed. "Then there's nothing to be done. I didn't know you disliked silk flowers—next time I'll bring you something else." He looked quite helpless.

Dou Ming glanced at Lady Ji, said nothing more, thanked Ji Yong with a sweet smile, and had her maid take the silk flowers.

Dou Yan saw that though the flowers were made of velvet, they were crafted to look utterly lifelike, with a butterfly resting atop them. The pair of antennae quivered delicately—quite charming.

Dou Ming shot her sister a smiling glance and had Ji Hong help pin the flower in her hair.

A few days later, when Dou Yan and Dou Ming came to pay their respects to the Second Old Madam, they discovered that the maids and mammies of any standing in the Ji household all wore velvet silk flowers in their hair—only the colors differed, and the insects perched on them differed.

Dou Ming's face flushed red and pale by turns. She seized a maid and, pointing at the flower on her head, demanded, "What is this?" Her voice was so shrill that the maid started in fright. "It was a gift from Young Master Ji," she said hastily. Then, feeling this was improper, she added in a panic, "Young Master Ji bought ever so many silk flowers in Baoding Prefecture and gave one to everyone he saw. When I served Young Master Ji his tea, he gave me one too—and Caiyun in the Second Old Madam's rooms, when she brought him melon and fruit, got one as well..." Her face had gone white with fear.

Seeing Dou Ming so furious her mouth was twisted awry, Dou Yan quickly sent the maid away. "It's nothing—the Fifth Miss was only asking. Go about your business!"

The maid fled like one escaping a tiger's jaws.

Dou Yan warned Dou Ming in a low voice, "This is the Second Old Madam's courtyard. If you don't want to be confined to your rooms, keep your temper in check."

Dou Ming gave a cold "Hmph," and only after a long while did her face calm.

Dou Yan said to Ji Yong, "If you didn't bring Dou Ming a gift, so be it—but there was no need to humiliate her like this!"

Ji Yong retorted with perfect righteousness, "I never brought her anything in the first place. She asked for something right in front of my aunt, so I had no choice but to fob her off. Surely you can't blame me for that? Who goes around asking others for things in front of everyone!"

Dou Yan was speechless.

"All right, all right." Ji Yong smiled. "For your sake, I won't hold it against her—will that do?" Then he said, "Fourth Sister, are those iron balls fun? I've heard that anyone passing through Baoding Prefecture on the way to the capital buys them as gifts..."

Dou Yan called for Su Xin.

Su Xin, beaming, drew the pair of iron balls from the pouch at her waist and set them spinning—smooth and natural, the sound like a little tune softly sung.

Ji Yong gave a sheepish laugh.

Dou Yan swept off in a huff.

From that day on, Dou Ming harbored a grudge against Ji Yong.

At the family banquet on the fifteenth of the eighth month, the great red lantern above Ji Yong's table suddenly burst into flame. Everyone panicked and scrambled to get away—only Ji Yong sat calmly in place. Before the stewards or page boys could rush over, he flung a cup of tea at it, soaking the lantern and putting out the fire.

A few days later, one of Dou Ming's page boys went missing.

Dou Ming searched high and low without success. That night, someone found him in the latrine in the back alley of the West Dou—trussed up hand and foot, his face smeared with ink, a foul sock stuffed in his mouth, wedged into a corner of the latrine's cesspit, with no small amount of yellow and white filth hanging from his head.

Dou Yan's face went ashen. She asked Dou Ming, "What exactly happened?"

Dou Ming said nothing.

Dou Yan sneered. "You needn't tell me. Next time, it might well be your turn..."

Before she could finish, Dou Ming shrieked, "I only had someone slip a few croton beans into his horse's feed—and he goes and does something this vicious..."

Dou Yan thought of those fine steeds, sleek-coated and sturdy.

And that was not enough to warrant this?

Dou Yan said in a low, grave voice, "Who told you croton beans can't be put in horse feed?"

Dou Ming was stunned.

Dou Zhiwei's gaze had already flashed cold as a blade's edge.

Dou Ming involuntarily stepped back a few paces and said in a low voice, "It—it was Brother Tan!"

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Sisters and brothers who are reading, today a great many helpless trivial matters delayed the extra update, and the update has been pushed back by a few hours; it is fine for everyone to read it tomorrow morning after getting up.

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