Chapter 194 — Countermeasures

His face flushed a deep red. He mumbled an acknowledgment, fixed his eyes straight ahead, and strode past her with his chin held high.

Dou Yan, torn between vexation and laughter, asked the young servant who had escorted Ji Yong: "What did Cousin Ji come for?"

The servant smiled and said, "The Fifth Master rarely gets a day off this year, so Compiler Ji made a point of coming to pay his respects to the Fifth Master and to discuss some scholarly matters."

Dou Yan gave a soft "Mm," and returned to the main courtyard.

Lady Ji was saying something to the Fifth Madam, her expression somewhat sour. Seeing her enter, the two of them broke off at once and said to her, as if by prior agreement, "You are back!"

Dou Xin stepped forward with a graceful smile and paid her respects to her two aunts, then slipped her arm through the Sixth Aunt's.

The Sixth Aunt's body went stiff.

The Fifth Aunt, however, laughed and said, "Look at the two of you, standing there like mother and daughter."

The Sixth Aunt said nothing.

Dou Yan giggled. When the steward came in to ask the Fifth Aunt for instructions, she drew the Sixth Aunt into the western wing, brought out the peach cakes she had made herself, and offered them to her.

The Sixth Aunt's expression turned somewhat veiled and troubled. Holding a peach cake, she gently patted Dou Zhiwei's hand and said in a low voice, "Shouyuan, if your Sixth Aunt has ever done anything wrong, you must forgive me."

Dou Yan understood.

On one side stood herself; on the other, the elders of her natal family. Caught between them, the Sixth Aunt was in a difficult position.

Had Ji Yong been a worthless sort, it would have been easy enough; at least the Sixth Aunt would have had grounds to object. But Ji Yong had passed the examinations in his youth and was, in the eyes of the world, a Tanhua of boundless promise—and the Sixth Aunt's grounds were no grounds at all.

She leaned her head against the Sixth Aunt's shoulder with a grin and said teasingly, "A child never thinks her mother ugly. Rest easy. Even if you gave the gold necklace you promised me to my eleventh sister-in-law, I would not hold it against you."

"You child!" Lady Ji stroked Dou Zhiwei's hair, her heart aching all the more, and silently resolved that if Ji Yong should show Dou Zhiwei the slightest disrespect, she would tear relations with her sister-in-law to shreds before she let Dou Yan suffer any grievance.

She could not help murmuring, "Do not worry. You will live very well."

Dou Yan's nose stung, and she nearly burst into tears.

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When Wei Fan learned that Dou Yan wished to see him, he hurriedly had a straight robe made—in the green-bamboo shade of Hangzhou silk currently most fashionable in the capital, with cloud-pattern cutwork—and went to the Heming Temple alley.

This was the first time since her rebirth that Dou Yan had looked Wei Fan squarely in the face.

A young face, with fine down still visible about the lips; he sat there bolt upright, looking exceedingly ill at ease, at once familiar and strange to her.

"Have some tea!" Dou Yan gestured toward the Biluochun on the tea table.

"Many thanks!" Wei Fan murmured, flushing, and lifted the cup to take a sip.

Perhaps from nerves, perhaps because he drank too hastily, he choked on the tea at once and began to cough.

Dou Qu motioned for Suxin to hand him a handkerchief.

Wei Fan thanked her in embarrassment, his manner somewhat easier than before.

Dou Ji said, "Do you wish to break off the engagement?"

"No, no," Wei Fan waved his hands repeatedly at these words, looking flustered. "I have never thought any such thing..."

Dou Yan said, "I also believe there is nothing between you and my sister..."

"Fourth Miss!" Before she could finish, Wei Fan's face was already full of shock.

Ever since he had been discovered meeting Dou Ming by arrangement at the Puji Temple, his elder sister had said not a word—she had simply slapped him across the face with a "smack"—his mother had wept without ceasing, even his brother-in-law, who had always treated him like a brother, had looked at him with disappointment, and Wang Qinghai had gone even further, asking him with barely concealed glee, "Which one is prettier, the elder sister or the younger?"

Only Dou Yan believed that nothing improper had passed between him and Dou Ming.

"There truly is nothing between your sister and me!" he said excitedly. "It was your sister who sent word to me, saying she had something urgent concerning my marriage to you, and asked me to come quietly to the Puji Temple, where her maid would be waiting..."

Dou Yan truly believed him.

Dou Ming was no fool.

"You need not explain," Dou Yan said. "I believe what you say."

"Thank you, Fourth Miss." Wei Fan's face was full of gratitude.

"It is only that after all that has happened, I am worn out in body and mind, and the elders of the family are displeased," Dou Yan said. "Shall we leave the matter of our marriage for some days yet? Let everyone catch their breath, and take this chance to think carefully about what comes next."

Wei Fan was stunned.

What did Dou Yan mean by this?

To say she believed him, and yet to put off the wedding...

The windows of the parlor stood open on all four sides, and the riotous spring colors of mid-season poured in—yet Wei Fan felt not the least joy.

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Sisters and brothers, this is to make up for the extra update of May 7th.

o(n_n)o~

ps: I am not sure whether I will be able to write the update for the 7th; everyone should check back tomorrow at noon, just to be safe.

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