Chapter 123 — The Bluebird

Suxin came in through the door curtain carrying a dish of washed peaches, and scolded her sister: "What nonsense are you spouting now?"

"Nothing, nothing," Dou Yan said, waving her hand and telling Sulan to eat a peach. "Those two pieces of news—who did you hear them from?"

Sulan said, "The Sixth Master sent someone back to report the good news. The East Manor has already started handing out rewards. The little maids who sweep and wipe tables and the young serving boys each get ten copper coins from the first year of Chengping; third-class maids, old women, and married serving women get a hundred each; second-class get two hundred; first-class get three hundred; and the stewards and stewardesses of standing each get a tael of silver. I saw with my own eyes Third Master's attendants carrying the silver back!"

In officialdom, passing the metropolitan exam one day sooner or one day later, entering the Grand Secretariat one day sooner or one day later—all of it served as crucial grounds for ranking men by seniority.

It truly was an occasion worth celebrating.

She instructed Suxin: "Once the East Manor's people come to give us the good news, we'll hand out rewards on the same scale as the East Manor."

Suxin went off smiling to prepare the copper coins and silver.

The East Manor's messenger arrived to announce the good news.

"Go tell the Fifth Miss," Dou Yan said, calling Ganlu and Sujuan in to help her dress and tidy herself. "We must go across to the other manor and offer our congratulations to the Second Madam."

Sulan volunteered to go notify Dou Ming.

When she came back, she whispered to Dou Yan: "The moment I told the Fifth Miss, she started crying. So I said, on a joyous day like this, if you go with both eyes red, I'm afraid the Second Madam will be upset. The Fifth Miss was so angry she threw a teacup at me. I dodged, and the cup fell to the floor and smashed to bits. So I told Granny Zhou, this cup is the new doucai ware from the official kilns, a set of twelve taels of silver, and now that one's broken, the whole set is ruined. I'm afraid the stewardess in charge of the storeroom won't be able to account for it. You'd better buy a replacement set outside to make up for it..."

Ganlu and Sujuan stood to one side, covering their mouths and laughing.

Dou Yan shook her head helplessly.

At that age she too had loved to spar with people. And Sulan was a lively little thing who all but delighted in chaos.

"You're both older than she is, so what are you quarreling with her for?" Dou Yan scolded them. "Never say such things again."

Ganlu and Sujuan answered in unison, but Sulan pulled a face and darted off like a wisp of smoke.

About half an hour later, Dou Ming came over, dressed and made up, with Granny Zhou accompanying her.

Dou Yan saw that her face was clear and rosy, betraying nothing out of the ordinary, and nodded to herself in approval. Together they went to the East Manor.

Every face was brimming with irrepressible joy. At the sight of Dou Yan and Dou Ming, the crowd never stopped offering congratulations, flattery pouring out like a stream—livelier even than New Year.

Only when they entered the Second Madam's hall did Dou Ci realize that all the Dou family were already assembled.

The Second Madam was discussing with the Second Lady how best to celebrate.

Seeing Dou Yan approach, she quickly beckoned her to sit beside her and asked, "For this opera, would ten days be better, or fifteen?"

The last time three men of the family passed the county exam, they had had opera performed for ten days straight.

Dou Xin said, "I think a family meal together would be enough. An opera would be far too noisy."

To make such a lavish show of celebration over merely entering the Grand Secretariat would seem rather arrogant—like some newly rich household.

Everyone was taken aback.

The Second Madam thought for a moment, then clapped her hands and said, "Shouyuan sees it clearest. It's settled, then—a family celebration together, and no more."

The Second Lady caught on as well, and when she looked at Dou Zhiwei again there was a new measure of respect in her gaze: "Your Sixth Aunt has gone to the capital, so the household has lost a pair of helping hands. You've little to occupy you at home these days, Shouyuan—why not come over for the next few days and help me arrange a few banquets?"

For any other young lady of good family, this would be a rare chance to gain experience; but for her, a girl who could instruct others in how to run a household, it was simply going to lend a hand.

She would not do such thankless work!

"I don't understand any of it—better let a few of my cousins help you!" Dou Xin declined flatly. "The rain has barely stopped and the sun's already blazing. My flower house has suffered badly for it. I'll need to keep after the maids and old women for the next few days to set it to rights, or that double-colored peony I managed to keep alive this year will surely be done for."

The Second Madam knew nothing about growing flowers, but she knew what it meant to have raised a double-colored peony, and she let Dou Yan return home without a moment's hesitation.

After the Dou family had eaten their celebratory feast, word came from the capital: Wang Xingyi had been transferred to the post of Grand Coordinator of Yunnan.

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Read today's update tomorrow, everyone!

o(n_n)o~

ps: recommending a book:

Title: *The Road of the Interstellar Queen*

Author: Diaolan Yuzhuo

Synopsis: What will the world look like thousands of years from now?

When Ye Wen opened her eyes, she found a beautiful starry sky beyond the window. After thousands of years of evolution, humans had grown strong of body and keen of mind, and after thousands of years of development, technology had become something utterly unrecognizable.

She, however, was a prisoner in a laboratory, with no telling where tomorrow might find her. Escape had become her only choice.

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