Chapter 188 — Countermeasure (Seeking Pink Tickets)

Dou Ming was no longer the child who, at the first sight of the Second Old Madam, felt a flicker of fear in her heart.

The governess Dou Huaiying had gone to great lengths to engage for her had taught her how to become a well-bred young lady who met the expectations of the world.

She knelt before the Second Old Madam and wept as though her heart would break: "A son does not speak of his father's faults. However wrong my mother may be, as her daughter I cannot stand by and watch her be shamed. Father has always pitied Sister for losing her mother so young, and Sister was raised at the knee of Aunt Cui. I do not ask that Sister speak a good word for my mother, but she ought at least to counsel Father. I have a hot temper and speak without weighing my words—that fault is mine. But every time Father sees Sister he quarrels with Mother—has Sister no share of the blame? Now that Sister has come to the capital, she neither calls on Mother nor pays her respects to our grandmother—" Here her eyes swimming with tears, she turned to the Second Old Madam. "Xuanming Sect, since I was small you have always told me to keep the rules. Tell me, is this keeping the rules?"

Listening from the side, Dou Yan felt a tangle of emotions.

Wang Shuying was her stepmother, and Mrs. Wang, née Xu, was her grandmother; by rights she ought to go and kowtow and pay her respects. But the Second Old Madam was bent on slapping Wang-shi in the face, and so of course would not let her go and inquire after the health of Wang-shi and Wang Shuying. Had she not been sure of that, Dou Yan would never have moved into the Huai Tree Alley residence with the Second Old Madam. Yet watching Dou Ming learn to use Aunt Cui to provoke the Second Old Madam, learn to deflect the Second Old Madam's attention with talk of whether something was or was not in keeping with the rules, she felt a faint, secret reassurance.

At least Dou Ming now knew how to use her head; she was no longer the willful child who, when struck a blow, could only shout and scream or hide in the arms of Wang-shi and Wang Shuying. That, for the road she would have to walk hereafter, would make things far easier.

As expected, the Second Old Madam's momentum flagged; she did not open her mouth to rebuke Dou Ming, yet bound by her rank and station, she could hardly argue with a junior either.

Nurse Liu saw her opening, and smiling, stepped forward to Dou Ming's side, bending at the waist to take her by the arm as she said, "The Fifth Miss is wrong to speak so. You learned to walk on the Old Madam's own kang. The palm is flesh—is the back of the hand any less flesh? The Old Madam dotes on the Fourth Miss, and she dotes on the Fifth Miss just the same. It is exactly as the Fifth Miss says: a son does not speak of his father's faults. It is only that there are some things the Old Madam finds it improper to say to you juniors. Otherwise—your sister has not gone to pay her respects to your grandmother, so why is your grandmother not the least bit resentful?" She added, "The Fifth Miss is grown now. She ought to think things over more carefully when she meets with trouble."

A leopard's spots do not change. At Dou Ming's age, though she might grasp this or that principle, it was hard for her to master her feelings. She had come in a rage, but when Dou Yan turned and walked away without a word, she could not help crying inwardly, "Oh no," and after much desperate thinking, hit upon a scheme to extricate herself.

When Nurse Liu came to take her arm, she hesitated only a moment, then rose, sobbing.

The Second Old Madam had meant to use the trouble Dou Huaiying had caused the Dou family. Suddenly she felt dispirited, and lost her grip on the matter.

She waved her hand. "As for your mother's business, I will speak to your father. You go back first. Study the rules properly with your governess, and do not let your parents fret over you any more."

As though Dou Ming were some hopelessly unruly creature.

Dou Ming could not help biting her lip, but reflecting that for the first time in all these years she had come away whole from an encounter with Dou Yan, she could not resist casting a challenging glance at Dou Yan. Only then did she withdraw with Nurse Liu.

Dou Yan paid no mind to Dou Ming's attitude. Dou Ming could not command the stewards or the guards of the Dou household; she was like a cat with its claws clipped—however fierce, she could do no harm.

She saw the weariness in the Second Old Madam's face, said a few words—"I beg the Old Madam to counsel my father and make him stop this commotion"—and withdrew.

Two days later, the Old Madam finally told Dou Bingheng of the matter.

Dou Bingheng at once sent for Dou Huaiying to talk it over.

Dou Huaiying's anger had not yet cooled, and before the cousin he trusted so wholly, the words in his heart poured out like beans from a split bamboo tube: "...Wang Shuying may be muddle-headed, but that eldest married lady of the Wei family is even more hateful. She actually led Wang Shuying on to humiliate Shouyuan! What on earth does her family want? If they were not satisfied with the match, they should have said so plainly at the outset. The He family is a decent house too. As it is, Shouyuan has waited bitterly three years for the Wei family, and now, now that the wedding day is at hand, the Wei family has hatched such crooked schemes, so that Shouyuan is neither here nor there, and the Wei family can pinch and squeeze her as it pleases."

Dou Bingheng's face turned grave at his words: "Can Wang-shi's testimony be trusted?"

The doubt in his words made Dou Huaiying's face flush dark.

He could not help lowering his head and muttering, "I questioned the people around Wang-shi most carefully... she was not lying. And these past days no one but the Wei lady has come to call; Wang-shi has been shut up at home for some time, so she could not suddenly have thought up such a scheme on her own—she said so herself, that it was because the Wei lady promised to arrange a good match for Ming, a plum in exchange for a peach, and she could hardly refuse the Wei lady, and so agreed..."

Since entering the Grand Secretariat, Dou Bingheng had been overwhelmed with official business and social obligations; he had handed over even his own children's affairs entirely to Mrs. Five, to say nothing of the marriage of a younger cousin's second daughter.

"What is wrong with Ming's marriage?" he said. "Is it not going smoothly?"

Dou Huaiying said in a low voice, "It is not that it is not going smoothly—it is that nothing is quite good enough, and nothing quite suitable. The family the Wei lady proposed is the household of Shi Ruilan, Marquis of Changxing—his nephew..."

Dou Bingheng's brows knit slightly. "Generals and ministers are not born to their posts. So long as a child has ability, a fortune of ten thousand strings can be earned. But if a child's character is unsound, mountains of gold and silver will be squandered to nothing. For a family like ours, it is better to find a son-in-law who is a scholar. That was my reason for opposing Shouyuan's marriage into the Jining Marquis's household in the first place." He paused, then said, "I think this is best: I will speak to Fuzhi and ask him to take an interest and find Ming a scholarly family of upright character and clean reputation."

Fuzhi was the courtesy name of his in-law Cai Bi.

Cai Bi was smooth and versatile, a man who could turn his hand to anything and who claimed to have bosom friends the world over; with him making the introductions, the matter would be twice as effective with half the effort.

Dou Huaiying hastened to thank Dou Bingheng, and though half his anger was spent, he was not prepared to let the Wei family off so easily—Shouyuan had not yet married into that house, and already the Wei family dared to scheme thus; were she married, would they not pick her bones clean?

For the first time he seriously pondered the question of heirs.