Chapter 105 — One Arrow

Chen Yanzhou's implication was that He Yu had set his sights on Dou Yan.

Dou Yan's head immediately began to ache.

She and He Yu had met only a handful of times—what had possessed him to suddenly insist on marrying her?

She said to Chen Yanzhou, "What does Elder Chen make of this?"

Chen Yanzhou hesitated for several breaths, then said with care, "The He family is illustrious, to be sure, but in my view, if the young lady is to marry, Young Master He is no fitting match."

Dou Yan arched an eyebrow.

Chen Yanzhou analyzed with perfect composure: "Lord He is ten years older than the Fifth Master and already advanced in years. The He family's eldest son passed the jinshi in the guichou year and is now observing administration in the Ministry of Works; he has three sons and a daughter. The third son passed the provincial examination in the renzi year; he has a son and a daughter. By the time Young Master He is ready to establish himself, all the He family will have left him is an empty name."

For the Dou family, the He family's value lay in its political resources.

But for Dou Yan, the He family's shortcomings lay in precisely those same political resources.

He Wendao could help Dou Bingheng now, but he could not help the Dou Yan of later years.

His eldest and third sons had already made their mark in the examinations. By the time He Yu came of age and needed a hand to steady himself, the eldest and third sons—both legitimate—would long since have dug in their heels and carved up He Wendao's political resources between them. Each had children of his own, and when the time came, far from helping their youngest brother find his footing, they would sooner leave their political resources to their own sons. He Yu looked glorious beyond measure now, but his prospects were in truth limited. And compared with He Wendao, Dou Bingheng was in the prime of life; now that Zeng Yifen was dead, there was every chance he would enter the Grand Secretariat. Moreover, Dou Yan and Dou Bingheng shared a bond of blood by nature—unlike in the He family, where she would be but one daughter-in-law among many. To rise above the rest, she would have to curry favor with Lady He; but currying favor with Lady He might well offend the wives of the eldest and third sons. To try to please everyone... with that much energy, she would do better to spend it on Dou Bingheng—at least Dou Bingheng, seeing that she held half the property of the Western Dou branch under her name, already looked on her with new eyes.

Why should they set aside their strengths and play to their weaknesses?

"That is just how I reasoned it," Dou Yan said with a slight nod. "And I have another concern. Lord He and Lady He clearly knew their son's conduct was improper, yet they still proposed to the Dou family despite the difference in generation—which shows how fond they are of Young Master He. If I married into that house, I might not fare well with him. And once the He family felt the match was not worth the cost, my days would only grow harder. It would be a vast waste of effort."

"The Fourth Miss speaks sense," Chen Yanzhou said, relieved.

Dou Yan had said she did not wish to marry, but he was a man who had weathered much, and he had not taken her words to heart. He had thought her young, not yet at the age when the heart first stirs; and when the He family suddenly proposed, he had feared both that Dou Yan might lose her head before the He family's fame and that she might be taken with He Yu's handsome face. Now, seeing her still calm and rational, he was greatly comforted. "I have an idea—I do not know whether it will work. Let me lay it out for your consideration." He spoke gravely. "I fear there is little hope of counting on the Fifth Master, but after all, the Seventh Master is your own father. So long as the Seventh Master firmly refuses, surely the Fifth Master cannot force him to consent to the match? I think we might proceed in two steps. First, send someone to speak with the Seventh Master and make him understand that this match, beyond whatever fleeting benefit it may bring the Dou family, can only do you harm and no good. Given how the Seventh Master has cherished the Fourth Miss all these years, I believe he will weigh the matter carefully. And as for who should make the case—no one could be better than the Sixth Master!"

The Sixth Madam would soon be arriving in the capital.

Dou Xin said, "You mean for me to persuade the Sixth Madam?"

"Exactly," Chen Yanzhou said. "The Sixth Master has always held the Sixth Madam in respect, and he is the Seventh Master's bosom friend. For the Sixth Master—a brother born of the same mother as the Fifth Master—to take up the matter would accomplish twice the result with half the effort." Here he smiled slightly, and a flicker of cunning crossed his face. "And if the Ji family were to learn that the He and Dou families meant to contract a marriage at this time, they would likely have thoughts of their own. Perhaps we might fish in troubled waters and slip away unscathed! That is the second step—drag the Ji family into it as well."

Dou Yan laughed aloud. "A woman follows her husband—my Sixth Aunt would never be so foolish. If you mean to work on my Sixth Aunt, sir, you would do better to start with our own Master Ji!"

"That will do as well," Chen Yanzhou said, readily accepting the correction, for he admitted he did not know the Sixth Madam. "Then let us send word to Master Ji."

Dou Yan mused, "Your words have reminded me of something, sir. I am sure there is more than one household that would like to stop a Dou-He marriage at this time. We might make use of the Marquis of Jining's house, the Wei family."

"The Marquis of Jining's house?" Chen Yanzhou was somewhat at a loss.

Because neither the Dou nor the Wei family had taken the engagement seriously, he did not know what relations existed between Dou Yan and the Wei family.

Dou Yan told him what had happened in those years.

Chen Yanzhou was dumbstruck, and it was a long while before he came to himself.

Dou Xin said, "When the time comes, I need only say that if they wish me to marry into the He family, they must first fetch back the token my mother gave the Wei family years ago. I imagine that even if Lord He does not care, he will still wish the Dou family to settle matters with the Wei family as soon as may be?"

Chen Yanzhou thought for a moment, then said with some misgiving, "By your account, the Wei family is not eager for this match. When your father demands the return of the token, the Wei family will surely not hesitate..."

Dou Xin said, "You need not gild the lily for me, sir. The Wei family is not merely unenthusiastic—they are altogether unwilling."

Chen Yanzhou gave an embarrassed laugh.

Dou Yan, however, did not mind in the least. "If all we wanted was the token back, the Wei family would be only too glad. But we want the token back in order to contract a marriage with the He family—and there, I fear, the Wei family will not be so accommodating."

"That is true," Chen Yanzhou said, and grew excited. "If we plan it well, we may smoothly turn aside the He family's suit and recover the Wei family's token besides."

It would certainly work.

From what she knew of Wei Wan, Wei Wan would seize on this hold over Dou Yan and make a great fuss, then, with her head held high, call off the marriage.

"There is another benefit," Dou Yan said with a confident smile. "Once my marriage has stirred up such a commotion, there may be no suitable family come to propose for three or five years—even seven or eight. And should some household, ignorant of the truth, blunder in, with the He family standing in the way, the Second Madam will very likely judge it unsuitable as well. And so the matter will quietly die."