Chapter 127 — Racing to Sow (Extra Chapter: Asking for Pink Votes)

A heavy rain had brought varying degrees of disaster to the whole of Zhending Prefecture, and the worst hit were Zhending County and Lingbi County, where hardly a grain was harvested. Prefect Lu paid a special visit to Dou Heng to discuss disaster relief for Zhending Prefecture. The Dou family, of course, did not shirk its duty. Dou Qiguang, Dou Yan, and the others who had been preparing to go to the capital for Dou Yong's betrothal ceremony all stayed behind, awaiting Prefect Lu's orders and helping to deal with the aftermath.

Without her family to accompany her, Cousin Shu naturally could not go to the capital either.

Grumbling that "my luck really is terrible," she went off to Dou Yan's place.

The weather was growing warm by degrees, and Dou Yan had changed into a white gauze jacket with a front opening and a short sleeveless vest of coarse cloth, a tiny silver redbud pinned at her ear—neat and brisk.

She had Ganlu brew a pot of Meiwu Longjing for Cousin Shu.

Cousin Shu closed her eyes, letting the fragrance of the tea linger between her lips and teeth, and said with satisfaction, "Pre-Qingming Longjing! Everything at Fourth Auntie's is the finest!"

Dou Yan laughed heartily and asked her, "Would you like to come with me to the manor? They're sowing corn there these days—I want to go have a look!"

"I've nothing to do anyway," said Cousin Shu, whose cheerful nature was at once diverted. She stood up full of eagerness. "Let's go—to the manor!"

Dou Yan could not help smiling, though she liked the girl's temperament well enough, and the two of them climbed into the carriage one after the other.

Everyone at the manor was busy sowing. The oxen lowed, children chased one another along the field ridges, chattering and laughing, and the air was steeped in the fragrance of earth.

Cousin Shu's eyes went wide as she looked all around.

Dou Yan thought of the Wu family she was soon to marry into—great landowners of Pingshan—and asked with a smile, "Shall I find a few women who know farming well to show you around?"

Cousin Shu understood her meaning and grew a little bashful. But she had always been frank with Dou Yan; after thinking it over, she not only agreed with easy grace but asked Dou Yan to recommend a few people for her as well: "...He's the fourth son of the family. Once I'm married in, I won't be running the household, but I can't be utterly ignorant either, or my parents-in-law and sisters-in-law will laugh at me. Mother told me to bring two households of retainers with me—one to manage the shops, one to manage the manor. For the shops, Father has people he knows thoroughly; for the manor, though, I'm rather at a loss, and since their family has passed down farming and scholarship together for generations, it would be best if Fourth Auntie helped me settle it properly."

Dou Yan liked this—when there was something to discuss, everyone spoke plainly; if you could help, you helped, and if you could not, you said so clearly, which saved everyone trouble.

"I'll go back and ask Hong Gu," she said with a smile. "She knows the people at the manor best."

She could hardly say that she herself knew them very well.

Cousin Shu thanked her, blushing.

That afternoon, just as they were about to walk about the village with the two women, several elders who had been summoned by Dou Yan for questioning during the last rain came to seek an audience.

"Then go on ahead and look around," said Dou Yan, sending Cousin Shu off, and invited the old men into the main hall for tea.

"We all remember Auntie Cui's kindness," the elders said, bowing respectfully to Dou Yan and speaking all at once. "Though the old lady has reduced our rents, we can't simply take advantage of it. We're all putting our backs into making this season's corn grow well, so that one way or another we can give the landlord a bit of grain in return."

.

Dou Xin asked a few questions about the fields. Seeing that everything was arranged in good order, she nodded to herself, then joined Cousin Shu and strolled through the village with her, and while the day was still early they returned to Linzhang City.

She kept Cousin Shu for the evening meal.

Cousin Shu did not stand on ceremony; after the meal she went to pay her respects to Auntie Cui, and only after listening to Auntie Cui talk about farm work for a good long while did she rise to take her leave.

Suxin came in and reported, "This afternoon a letter arrived from Old Chen."

In mid-May word came of the Duke of Dingguo's death, and court and country were shaken. Memorials impeaching the Duke of Dingguo for "bullying men and seizing women," "embezzling military pay," and the like flew thick as snowflakes. Jiang Lansun and Jiang Songsun were escorted to the capital with all possible speed.

In her former life, Jiang Lansun had died in Fujian together with his elder brother Jiang Meisun. In this life, though Jiang Lansun's legs and arms had all been broken and he was barely breathing, more air going in than coming out, he had in the end held on and returned to the capital. It was Jiang Songsun, who in the former life had returned to the capital, who this time died on the road through Baoding Prefecture when his injuries proved too severe.

It was said that the Emperor flew into a rage.

But Jiang Lansun and Jiang Baisun were still thrown into the imperial prison.

Then came a letter from her father. He rebuked Dou Ming: if she would not obediently listen to her elder sister, she was to be sent to learn proper conduct from the Second Old Madam.

Dou Ming wept in secret for several days, then quietly wrote to her maternal grandmother, Lady Xu, begging her to plead with her father on her behalf and allow her to return to the capital.

At the end of May, Lady Xu wrote back, saying that everyone in the household was busy preparing for Wang Xingyi's departure, and that she should stay put in Zhending; once the family's affairs were settled, she would speak to her father for her.

Dou Ming wilted like an eggplant struck by frost—all the spirit gone out of her at once.

In early June, Wang Xingyi, newly appointed Grand Coordinator of Yunnan, quelled two small Miao uprisings and received commendation from the Emperor.

Dou Ming perked up again, and even her steps grew light.

Truly, it was a chaotic early summer!

Sighing, Dou Yan sat on the large heated couch by the window in the inner room and opened Chen Yanzhou's letter.

The Jiang family was stripped of its title. Males above the age of five were exiled to Tieling Guard; the women and boys under five were reduced to commoners, and apart from the sacrificial fields and ancestral residence in their native place, all their property was confiscated.

Attached at the end was a small piece of news: Wei Fan had smoothly inherited the title and was now the newly installed Marquis of Jining.

Dou Yan did not give the matter a second thought.

She was thinking about the Jiang family.

Exile to Tieling Guard!

That was the fief of the Prince of Liao.

From all that had happened in this life, the men of the Jiang family were either imprisoned or had followed Jiang Meisun to Fujian, and the Jiang family's retainers had no choice but to seek help from the Lady Jiang, wife of the Duke of Yingguo, the woman of highest birth and station among them; and Lady Jiang had indeed done all in her power, rushing about far and wide on the Jiang family's behalf.

In her former life, the whole Jiang family had been executed, Lady Jiang had soon fallen ill and died, and Song Yan had been driven from the household...

In this life, every male child and female member of the Jiang family under the age of five had survived, and they had even been able to return to their ancestral home to recover and rebuild. Lady Jiang ought not to die so young this time, and Song Yan would not be driven from the family gates.

And now, instead of Song Yan, a whole Jiang family had been sent away!

Was this fate?