Chapter 142 — Aftermath

Dou Ming sat on the bed, her face ashen, her eyes vacant, like a puppet whose soul had fled.

Granny Zhou held her and wept aloud.

Dou Yan stood by the window, watching the scene before her with cold detachment.

Ever since Duan Bing had brought Dou Ming back, she had been like this.

If Madam Pang had conducted herself with honesty and propriety, how would Dou Ming ever have mistaken Yu Er for someone sent by Pang? How would she ever have fallen into a trap as full of holes as Yu Er's?

Yet the ways of the world were strange indeed.

They loved to weave schemes and intrigues, and in the end it was those very schemes that stole in through the gaps they left.

Was this not what they meant by the swimmer drowning in water?

As she mused, Su Xin hurried in and reported in a low voice, "Miss, Guard Duan is here!"

Dou Yan glanced at Dou Ming, then turned and left the inner chamber.

None of them noticed that Dou Ming's fingers stirred ever so slightly.

In the hall, Duan Bing bowed respectfully to Dou Yan. "Fourth Miss, I have handed the people over to the authorities as you instructed. Prefect Lu said he will certainly handle the matter impartially and will never let that Wang Laoqi and Mo Ergu talk nonsense. Please set your mind at ease." There was a note of lightness in his voice as he spoke—were it not for his service as a guard in the Dou household, how would Prefect Lu, a metropolitan graduate of the highest honors and a fourth-rank prefect, ever have spoken to him so courteously? It gave him a sense of walking in the open light, a steadiness worth more to him than any amount of silver.

"I am indebted to Guard Duan for his trouble," Dou Yan said gratefully, then asked about Mo Ergu. "Did she confess anything?"

Duan Bing smiled bitterly. "She said plenty that amounted to nothing—Yu Er had been on close terms with Wang Laoqi back in Lingbi County. This time he claimed he had gotten into trouble at the Wang household and was short of silver, so on the road he snatched up a young lady to trade for a few taels. That young servant called Shang'er was killed as well. If you want to know what possessed Yu Er, or whether anything can be learned in the capital, that is where inquiries must be made."

"I fear this matter will require another trip from Guard Duan," Dou Yan said after a moment's thought. "With something this grave, even if the rumors outside can be suppressed, we cannot fail to give an account to the elders at home. In her present state, the Fifth Miss is hardly fit to remain in Zhending. I intend to send Su Xin in my place to see my father, and to have Dou Ming return to the capital, and to speak of this matter to the Wang family as well. First, to see whether any clues can be found; second, to let them know that the Fifth Miss was deceived precisely because she believed what Yu Er told her, and to urge them to act more openly in the future, rather than always skulking about as if they had something to hide. Even a single word must needs be wrapped in shadows and spoken in stealth."

Duan Bing had always been bold, and with his experience at Prefect Lu's yamen behind him, he felt far more at ease about paying a call on the household of the Grand Coordinator of Yunnan.

He answered "Yes" in a solemn voice. Reflecting on how greatly Dou Yan respected him—in matters of guarding she asked only after the result and never the process, the ten taels of silver she allotted him each month for expenses were never audited, and even a crisis of this magnitude in the household had been entrusted to him—he felt she had recognized his worth, and his loyalty to Dou Yan grew all the more sincere. With a frankness more befitting friends, he reminded her, "Su Xin is, after all, only a young girl. Will the Wang family listen to her?"

Dou Yan said, "Is the Second Dowager not there as well?"

Duan Bing did not understand.

Dou Yan said, "I shall keep you in suspense for now. You will know when the time comes."

Just then, two strong, sturdy old women escorted in a maid whose face was the color of death.

Duan Bing knew Dou Yan was about to deal with matters of the inner household, and quickly rose to take his leave.

Ji Hong knelt woodenly on the floor.

Dou Yan said, "Loyalty in serving one's mistress is a fine thing, but it does not excuse failing to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil. Fortunately the Fifth Miss was found today. Had she not been—what did you plan to do? The Dou family can keep you no longer. When the matchmaker arrives, gather your things and go with her."

Ji Hong froze. Then tears came pouring down.

"Thank you, Fourth Miss, thank you, Fourth Miss!" She knocked her head against the floor with resounding thuds. "Thank you, Fourth Miss, for sparing my life!"

After such a debacle, had it been anyone else, she would likely have been beaten to death on the spot.

As it was, she had at least kept her life!

Dou Yan waved a hand, signaling the two coarse serving women to take Ji Hong to the matchmaker.

The two women understood, curtsied, and hustled Ji Hong out of Qixia Court.

Granny Zhou came out of the inner chamber, her eyes red and swollen.

She knelt before Dou Yan, ashamed and mortified. "Fourth Miss, I know that nothing I say will be of any use, and I have no face left to serve the Fifth Miss. I only beg that you find a few honest, well-behaved people to attend her, so that even if the Fifth Miss wishes to do something, she cannot... I shall be grateful to you all my life." With that, she knocked her head three times before Dou Yan.

Granny Zhou was not like the other maids and serving women. She was Dou Ming's wet nurse, owed a debt of nurture for having suckled her, and she held no bond of sale, only a contract of employment; if she wished to leave during her term, she need only pay a few taels in compensation. The reason she had tended Dou Ming so tirelessly all these years was that she truly regarded Dou Ming as her own child.

Dou Yan sighed inwardly. "You had best stay, Granny. I see that Dou Ming has been badly frightened; I fear she will need nursing for some time. You suckled her from infancy—with you at her side, she will recover the sooner."

Granny Zhou was stunned.

Dou Yan said, "But the others around Dou Ming must be replaced. I shall discuss with Aunt Cui and see what is best to be done."

Only then did Granny Zhou come to her senses.

"Fourth Miss, no wonder everyone praises your compassionate heart!" She wiped her tears as she spoke. "You are so magnanimous and do not hold anything against the Fifth Miss—that is the Fifth Miss's good fortune!"

"I would not presume to call it good fortune," Dou Yan said coolly. "I only hope that after this ordeal she will have learned her lesson, and that in the future she will not always think first of crooked paths, but think along the straight road and walk along it. Father forbade her to return to the capital; if she wished to go, she had only to try every means to beg Father, to beg her grandmother—but she should not have followed others back to the capital in secret, in such an underhanded way. Had she not harbored that hope, how could Yu Er ever have deceived her?"

Granny Zhou nodded again and again. "The Fourth Miss's reproof is just. I shall speak with the Fifth Miss about it, little by little."

As the two were speaking, the physician arrived.