Chapter 124 — The Message

Shaanxi lies at the heart of the Central Plains; its Grand Coordinator governs eight prefectures, twenty-one subprefectures, and ninety-five counties, commanding the Shaanxi Regional Military Commission and forty-nine guard battalions and twenty-five companies of the Forward Commission. Yunnan lies on the southwestern frontier; its Grand Coordinator governs nineteen prefectures, forty subprefectures, thirty counties, eight Pacification Commissions, four Subduing Commissions, and five Consoling Commissions, commanding twenty guard battalions and twenty-four companies of the Yunnan Regional Military Commission.

Could the two even be compared?

Dou Xin sat gracefully on the broad heated kang by the window, eating cherries.

Shu came over to see her.

Dou Qu called for Ganlu to brew a pot of Biluochun: "Before long the new tea will be on the market, and I will have you over then to drink some."

"There is new tea every year," Shu said, uninterested in that, and gazed at her hopefully. "Tell me, now that Eleventh Uncle is betrothed, could we take the opportunity to go to the capital and have a look?"

Dou Chi was interested and encouraged Shu to go and see the world—she was to be married next year, and after that her chances of going out would grow even slimmer.

"Who from the family is going?" she asked Shu.

Shu said hurriedly, "Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, Seventh Brother… they are all going."

With Dou Yan there, there was nothing to worry about.

Dou Xin said, "As long as Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law agree, all your expenses in the capital will be on me."

Shu was overjoyed and would not let go of Dou Zhiwei's hand. "Fourth Aunt is the best to me!" Then, shamelessly pressing her luck, she insisted she come along too. "On my own, Father and Mother will surely refuse, and I would have no one to talk to, and it would be awkward on the road and when stopping at inns…"

Dou Yan shook her head. "If you are worried that Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law will refuse, I will go and plead your case."

"Fourth Aunt has never been to the capital either, have you? I hear the capital is great fun, with so many temples, and temple fairs every few days. There is a place by Baiyun Temple that sells only antiques, the front gate of Puji Temple is mostly all sorts of jewelry, and there is a street called—what was it? I cannot remember. They sell shoes and socks from Jiangnan. Fourth Aunt, do come with me! Just think of it as keeping me company…"

Her manner was excessively eager.

Dou Yan fixed her eyes on hers.

Shu gave an embarrassed laugh.

Yet within the time it took to drink a cup of tea, she could hold out no longer and laughed charmingly: "All right, all right, I will tell you—it was Sixth Aunt. Now that Eleventh Uncle is betrothed, she very much wants you to come. She says she has invited you several times and you refused each time. Cousin Ji from the Ji family made a wager with Eleventh Uncle and Twelfth Uncle: if he could get you to come, Eleventh Uncle would give him the jade-lotus brush washer enshrined on the top shelf of his study, and Twelfth Uncle would give him that landscape painting by Zhao Boju…"

Dou Yan was both vexed and amused. "And what did you get out of it?"

Shu flushed with shame. "."

"So I am worth no more than a painting!" Dou Yan teased her.

"Oh, that is not what I meant!" Shu grew flustered. "I want Fourth Aunt to come to the capital with me and see the world too!" Then she suddenly grew a little wistful. "I am afraid I will never have another chance to go to the capital."

"Nonsense!" Dou Xin said. "A person's life is long. Never say never. If one day Boyan and the others pass the imperial examination and stay on in the capital like Fifth Uncle and Sixth Uncle, could you not go and visit?"

As the two were talking, Ganlu rushed in, and seeing Shu there, quickly composed herself and curtsied to Shu with a smile.

Shu knew Ganlu had something to say to Dou Yan, but how could she go back having accomplished nothing? On the pretext of choosing two pots of flowers to take home, she led her attendants out. She thought she would have a good talk with Dou Yan later; Cousin Ji's painting was a small matter, but the important thing was that Sixth Grandaunt would surely be delighted to see Fourth Aunt. She left a little maid in the main courtyard: "The moment Fourth Aunt is free, come and tell me."

The little maid, who often accompanied Shu on her visits to the West Residence, smiled and assented, then went off to play with the little maids in Dou Yan's chambers.

Shu went to Dou Zhiwei's greenhouse, where an old serving woman eagerly showed her around; she chose a pot of cyclamen, crimson edged in white, and a pot of summer azalea still in bud, and drank two cups of tea and ate a few pastries, and still the little maid had not come.

She sent her own senior maid to go and see: "What is going on?"

The senior maid took the time of half a stick of incense before she returned. She glanced at the servants in the greenhouse; Shu understood, and stepped outside, where the two of them stood beneath the great willow to talk.

"It is the Second Young Master of the Wang family of the capital. He sent a letter to Fifth Miss, saying that Lord Wang has been transferred to Yunnan. When the old lady of the Wang family heard, she was so frantic she fainted clean away. And she summoned Seventh Madam and gave her a terrible scolding, which made Seventh Madam cry and cry. Fifth Miss is clamoring to go to the capital to visit her grandmother and keep Seventh Madam company, and no one can stop her. Fourth Miss had no choice but to set guards at Qixia Court, saying she will write to Seventh Master at once, and the moment Seventh Master agrees, she will send her back to the capital."

Shu was puzzled. "What does Lord Wang's poor luck in office have to do with Seventh Madam?"

The censor's impeachment had named only the Wang family, without a word about Wang Shuying being elevated to wife; and Dou Bingheng had taken the opportunity to enter the Grand Secretariat. Anyone with a keen eye who thought it over would smile knowingly. Shu had grown up in the inner chambers and naturally did not know the ins and outs of it.

The maid knew even less, and laughed. "Perhaps she was simply in low spirits and called her daughter home for a scolding or two?"

Shu frowned. "I am afraid Fourth Aunt has no heart to talk with me now. Let us go back first!" And she went to Dou Yan's quarters.

Dou Yan was writing a letter to her father. She exchanged a few pleasantries with Shu and saw her to the second gate.

When Shu reached home, her mother was discussing with a tailor the clothes to be made for her trip to the capital. Thinking of Dou Yan bent over her desk writing away, she suddenly felt a pang of sadness, and when the tailor had gone, she told her mother the whole business.

Third Madam was displeased to hear it. "This is Seventh Uncle's doing, and wrong of him. Shouyuan is only two years older than Ming, and however steady she is, she is still a little girl, and not born of the same mother… These past few years it has truly been hard on Shouyuan, coaxing and cajoling her, that nothing worse has happened." Then, thinking again, afraid something might blow up over there, she dismissed her daughter and went to Second Madam.

Second Madam took her by the hand and led her to the Second Old Madam. "There are only two young girls at home over there, neither yet of age. This matter needs the Old Madam to decide."

Grandmother had never been a proper elder.

The Second Old Madam gave a cold laugh. "So the Dou family has been raising a daughter for the Wang family all along! If she wants to go back, let her—let her go back with that mother of hers!"

That was putting it very strongly.