Chapter 144 — Ill Tidings

Ji Yong was furious when he heard it. "Why should I leave her a way out? She fell into my trap because she was stupid. If she wants to scheme against me, she had better have the ability to do it! Setting herself on fire, putting purgative in the horse feed—I stopped playing those games when I was five! And spying on our movements, summoning the elders... If I were her, I would simply have forged a letter in your handwriting and let Granny Liu discover it. Why call in a whole crowd for such a fuss? She has no skill, and yet you blame me! What did I do wrong? And you take her side! When all is said and done, it is only because she is your sister..."

He did not think himself in the wrong at all.

The reason Dou Ming had come to such an end was that Dou Ming was incompetent.

What enraged him was that he had spoken up for Dou Ming.

Dou Yan suddenly understood why the old master of the Ji family had sent Ji Yong out into the world to temper himself.

In Ji Yong's heart there was no right and wrong—only friend and foe.

And so he repaid every slight in full.

He knew perfectly well what fate awaited Dou Ming if she were abducted, and he did not care in the least.

He was too clever, too conceited; the things of this world, propriety and morality alike, he held in utter contempt.

When others did wrong, they at least feared ghosts and gods or retribution, but Ji Yong feared nothing.

He was truly without scruple!

The more such a person read, the more he knew; and the more he knew, the greater the ruin he could wreak.

The old master of the Ji family had only meant for Ji Yong to taste the joys and sorrows, the partings and reunions, of the bustling mortal world, so that a little compassion might take root in his heart.

But clearly, in the previous life, the old master of the Ji family had failed!

Ji Yong had challenged worldly convention from the standpoint of one who stood outside the world, wearing a monk's cassock while holding the rank of a third-grade official. His urging the Emperor to leave the household was nothing but an attempt to save those who could not be saved, to accomplish what no one before him had accomplished, and so prove his own cleverness.

"No." Looking at the agitated Ji Yong, Dou Yan cut him off. "Not because she is my sister, but because I do not want to watch you become a man like Dou Ming!"

Her voice was calm and rational, tinged with a faint ache of sorrow, and Ji Yong was struck dumb.

"You are so clever, so capable," Dou Yan said, gazing at him earnestly. "You learn everything faster than others and do everything better than others. What takes other people half a day to puzzle out, you accomplish without a second thought. You ought to be more outstanding than anyone—more brilliant than anyone! But look at you now: dueling wits with a man outside the world, bickering over trifles with Dou Ming... And then look at Boyan. He spent a whole year traveling through Zhending, hoping to do all he could to better the lives of the common people! He may not be as clever as you, but what he does is far more meaningful than what you do! Cousin Ji," her expression was utterly sincere, "you should stand higher and see farther, not confine yourself within these inner courtyards. With your intelligence and talent, you could surely become a man who brings benefit to the common folk and earns the admiration of later generations!"

Ji Yong's expression gradually grew grave.

The atmosphere was stifling and heavy.

Ji Yong was the sort who yielded to softness but not to force. Had her words of instruction been a little too harsh?

Dou Yan wondered, and put on a playful smile. "And then I can tell my descendants, Ji Jianming, Ji Yong, is my cousin! When he sat for the jinshi examination, he even lodged with our family to study!"

Ji Yong kept his face stiff, not a trace of a smile. He flicked his sleeves and stalked off.

"Ah!" Dou Yan shook her head.

Sulan came running in great haste. "Miss, the Fifth Young Lady is making a fuss and insists on going to see Young Master Ji."

Dou Yan's temper flared at once. "What does she want now?" she said, and hurried toward Qixia Court.

Sulan and the others quickly followed.

Qixia Court was brightly lit. Granny Zhou had her arms wrapped tightly around Dou Ming's waist, holding fast while Dou Ming thrashed and stamped, and she pleaded with her earnestly: "Fifth Young Lady, please stop making a scene. If this blows up, what happened that day will not stay hidden, and how will you be able to face people afterward! These past few days the Fourth Young Lady has been running herself ragged over your affairs, busy inside and out, and she has grown thin. If only for the Fourth Young Lady's sake..."

"Why should I spare a thought for her sake?" Dou Ming grew only more furious as she listened, and she screamed, "She knows perfectly well it was Ji Yong who harmed me, and still she shields him! Does she treat me as a sister at all? If it cannot stay hidden, then let it not! At worst, I die!"

"Granny Zhou, let her go!" Dou Yan had entered the inner chamber at some point.

She stood at the doorway, her gaze cold as she looked at Dou Ming. "She is only relying on the fact that she has returned home now, and that if she makes too great a scene, the Dou family will not sit by and watch, and Ji Jianming will not dare do anything to her. Since she wants to go to Ji Jianming, then let her go! But I say this to your face: if you will not spare me respect, I need not spare you any. This time, even if Ji Jianming holds you down in the lake and drowns you, I will stand by and watch." As she spoke, her eyes swept over the faces of all those serving in the inner chamber. "As for the rest of you, whoever helps her carry on this madness will suffer the same fate as those who once served in Qixia Court."

The maids and serving women turned ashen at once and shrank cowering into the corner.

Dou Ming glared at Dou Yan as though she would swallow her whole. "Dou Yan, do not think I dare not!"

"You dare!" Dou Yan's expression was calm, as though Dou Ming were merely shouting that she would not eat her vegetables. "I know you dare, which is why I told Granny Zhou to let you go. You care for no one, after all. When your personal maid Ji Hong helped you, she was sold off—so go and get yourself another maid. Granny Zhou protected you of her own free will, and if she dies for it, she has only herself to blame..."

"You are talking nonsense, nonsense!" For the first time, Dou Ming, who had always been so overbearing before Dou Yan, wore a look of panic and confusion.

"Am I talking nonsense?" Dou Yan retorted. "Where has Ji Hong gone? And ask Granny Zhou—if not for me, could she still be standing here? A worthless creature who cannot even protect those around her deserves only to tyrannize her own household. If you truly have ability, then do not drag down the people at your side—go settle your accounts with Ji Jianming yourself!" With that, she turned to Sulan. "Pass down my orders: shut the main gate. Let the Fifth Young Lady do whatever she wishes, but if anyone helps her—if anyone so much as hands her a needle—drag them out at once and beat them to death with sticks!"

Granny Zhou held Dou Ming even tighter. "Fifth Young Lady, Fifth Young Lady, I beg you, I beg you..."

Dou Ming savagely pried Granny Zhou's hands apart and rushed out.

Granny Zhou ran after her at once.

Dou Chuba stopped Granny Zhou. "Do you want to be the death of her a second time?"

Granny Zhou burst into bitter weeping.

Driven by the fury in her heart, Dou Ming rushed in one breath all the way to Hesou Hall.

But when she stood at the entrance of Hesou Hall, she hesitated.

Along the way, everyone she met had indeed looked straight through her.

The cold, frost-like little eyes of Aunt Mo Er floated into her mind once more.

She could not help but shiver, wrapping her arms around herself.