Chapter 144 — Ill Tidings

A servant boy came out of the Hall of Longevity: "What has happened to the young master? Lying there like a fool in the drunkard's chair, neither eating nor drinking—if anything were to happen to him, how would we ever answer to the Old Master!"

"Nothing to worry about. I hear the young master once set about making an elixir of immortality. He didn't step out of his room for a whole year, and he came through perfectly fine!"

Dou Ming hastily hid behind a large tree nearby.

The two servants walked past her, chatting and laughing.

She crouched down beneath the tree.

She watched the sun sink in the west as darkness gradually swallowed everything around her.

The night wind seemed to blow straight into one's bones.

Dou Ming shivered with cold.

No one came looking for her.

The moonlight was like a wash of silver, and a few stars hung sparsely in the sky.

"Dou Yan, Ji Yong, I'll make you pay, I'll make you pay..." Dou Ming muttered through gritted teeth, her hands clenched into fists.

A dark shape suddenly darted out of the flower bed beside her and landed at her feet.

She screamed shrilly and fled as if for her life toward the Qixia Courtyard.

The dark shape, badly startled, arched its back and let out a "meow."

Both the Hall of Longevity and the Qixia Courtyard fell quiet.

Su Lan let out a long breath: "At last I can do something else in peace!"

With the beginning of winter, it was time to prepare for the Winter Solstice sacrifices.

The serving women had to pound rice cakes and make dumplings, while Dou Yan had to make shoes and socks with her own hands to present to her elders.

For a time everyone was busy.

Duan Bing and Su Xin came hurrying back, travel-worn and dusty.

Dou Yan and Su Xin talked in the inner chamber.

"The Seventh Master was furious—before I could even withdraw, he smashed the teacup in his hand. Granny Liu was even worse, needling away with one barbed remark after another, saying the Wang family had no breeding, that if they couldn't raise a daughter properly they couldn't even train their servants. Old Madam Wang nearly swooned with rage. Then the Wang family's Second Mistress jumped in to quarrel with Granny Liu, and Ma Jun's wife, whom Granny Liu had brought along, gave not an inch of ground, trading insults with the Wang family's Second Mistress," Su Xin said, clicking her tongue. "I'd always thought Ma Jun's wife was quite amiable, never imagined she had such a sharp tongue—no wonder Granny Liu brought her along! If not for her, we truly had no one on our side who could keep up with the Wang family's Second Mistress. In the end it was the Wang family's First Mistress who stepped forward, on the one hand urging Old Madam Wang not to stoop to Granny Liu's level, and on the other scolding Granny Liu for blurring rank and showing no respect for superiors or inferiors—her few words were quite elegantly put. Unfortunately, Granny Liu was under the Second Old Madam's orders and had come deliberately to quarrel, so she spoke without the slightest courtesy, and in a few phrases she silenced the Wang family's First Mistress. Yet Old Madam Wang, fussing that the First Mistress spoke too softly, wouldn't let her interfere, leaving the First Mistress fretting helplessly on the side. A provincial governor's private residence, and it was worse than the main street of our Zhending County—the cursing was so loud and lively, I wonder whether the neighbors next door could hear it?"

This too was within Dou Zhiwei's expectations.

Dou Ming was, after all, a Dou family daughter; airing the matter publicly would do the Dou family no good either. But to let Wang Xu-shi off so easily—the Second Old Madam would certainly be unwilling. So she sent several formidable old women to humble Wang Xu-shi, to make things difficult for her and to vent her own spleen.

Still, that Wang Xu-shi chose to trade insults with Granny Liu and her party caught Dou Yan somewhat by surprise.

In her previous life, Dou Yan had had no small dealings with Wang Xu-shi.

In her memory, Wang Xu-shi was a person who cared rather a lot about appearances, so this time she must truly have been driven red-eyed with rage.

But none of this was her concern; she cared only about her father Dou Huaiying's reaction.

Dou Yan asked Su Xin: "Did you deliver my words to my father? What did he say?"

"The Seventh Master looked very troubled," Su Xin said. "He said he wasn't at ease handing the Fifth Young Lady over to anyone else. So I told the Seventh Master what the Second Old Madam had said to you that day; he said nothing at the time, and only just before I was to return did he call me in and say that after the Winter Solstice we should send the Fifth Young Lady to the capital. However, I heard from Steward Gao that the Seventh Master seems to have engaged a matron from out of the palace to instruct the Fifth Young Lady properly in manners."

That was just as well!

Dou Yan nodded.

Su Lan came running in, all smiles: "Guard Duan is here."

Before Duan Bing's departure, she had quietly instructed him to find an opportunity to meet with Chen Yanzhou.

Dou Yan rose at once and went to the reception hall.

Duan Bing's hair was still damp; clearly he had washed and tidied himself before coming to see her.

There was no one else in the hall, so Dou Yan asked him directly: "How is Old Chen now?"

"Old Chen is well in every respect," Duan Bing said gravely. "At first people still stopped him wherever he went, but ever since the Jiang family affair was settled, so long as it is not one of the vital places—Young Master Mei's study, inner chamber, resting room, or accounting room—Old Chen may come and go freely." Here he paused, then said, "However, the Duchess of the Duke of Ying passed away from illness on the twenty-sixth of the tenth month."

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To all you readers, here is the update I owe you from yesterday.

And while I'm at it, one small plea: in the upper right corner of the book's cover there's an "I want to rate" button. Sisters and brothers, if you think Ninefold Purple is passable, please help cast a vote or something; if you think it's no good, just sound off in the comments and let it be—please don't go rate it, since that gets factored into the probabilities...

o(n_n)o~

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