Chapter 196 — A Wish

Granny Zhou understood her meaning and lowered her voice. "Still here! And no one has mentioned returning them."

So they felt they had been slapped in the face by Dou Ming, and meant to weep and wail until they recovered their dignity!

Wang Shuying gave a derisive laugh. "Just you wait—in a few days the Master will be cheerfully preparing to marry off his daughter again." Then, wondering how Dou Ming could have come to exchange words with that Wei Fan, she knit her brows tightly. "Ming-jie too—what business does she have meddling in Dou Zhiwei's affairs? Is she not borrowing trouble? Why did you not hold her back a little?"

Granny Zhou smiled bitterly.

There had been no sign beforehand; by the time she knew, the storm had already broken. How was she to have prevented it?

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When Dou Huaiying returned that evening and saw that the Wei family had sent festival gifts, he instructed Gao Sheng to return double their value.

When Wei Wan learned of this, she said to Mrs. Tian with satisfaction, "I told you long ago—how could the Dou family bear to break off with us? They only meant to frighten us a little."

Mrs. Tian breathed a sigh of relief.

Breaking off an engagement was no good thing, after all. If a new match were to be discussed, the other party would surely inquire closely into the reasons for the broken engagement, and one misstep would doom the whole affair. There might even spread rumors of some hidden illness or defect, and then arranging a match would be impossible.

Wei Fan stood by, not daring to make a sound.

Wei Wan instructed the household of the Marquis of Jining, "Pay them no attention."

And so the servants of the Jining Marquisate grew somewhat remiss toward Dou Juan.

Hearing this, Wang Shuying felt her heart stir.

She asked Old Zhou, "That day at the Puji Temple—did the eldest son-in-law go or not?"

"He should have gone, I think?" Old Zhou was not certain either.

At the time, all of them who served at Dou Ming's side had been summoned for questioning, and had nearly been sold off by a human trafficker.

If he had not gone, how could the Fifth Madam have flown into such a rage?

Wang Shuying then said to Old Zhou, "Send a maid to carry a message to the eldest son-in-law, saying the Fifth Miss has business with him."

Old Zhou was aghast.

Wang Shuying laughed. "What are you imagining? It is I who wish to see him—and I do not wish him to know it."

Old Zhou had a vague sense that something was not right, but Wang Shuying's face had already darkened with displeasure, so she did as Wang Shuying bade and passed a word to Wei Fan.

In less than half an hour, Wei Fan had hurried over.

The Jining Marquis's residence was no more than half an hour's journey from here.

Wang Shuying nodded to herself and instructed Old Zhou, "I have seen the man. Find some excuse and send him away."

Old Zhou felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her.

And Wei Fan went back to Jining Prefecture, utterly bewildered.

Wang Shuying went to Dou Ming's rooms.

Dou Ming was lounging on the kang reading a book. Seeing her mother burst in, she lifted her eyelids and said, "What are you doing here? Did you not say Grandmother had business with you these past few days?" Then she lowered her head and went back to her book.

Wang Shuying snatched the book from Dou Ming's hands. "Do you know why your father has not interfered with my comings and goings these past days?" And she told Dou Ming of how Wang Xingyi had approached Gao Zhengyuan to arrange a match for her. "...The Liu family may be spotless in reputation, but you must think this through. This is the great matter of your whole life. One misstep, and your sister will be a marchioness lofty and exalted, while you will be a peasant woman toiling in the fields!"

Dou Ming was still young, after all. At these words her face flushed scarlet, and she rolled the book into a tube, over and over between her fingers.

Wang Shuying said nothing, only sat quietly watching her.

Dou Ming held her silence a long while before saying, heavy and low, "I will not marry that Liu Qingzhuo—but nor am I willing to marry Wang Tan."

Wang Shuying began to laugh. "Silly child, who said anything about marrying you to Tan? Look at your sister—she takes nothing to heart, holds nothing in her eye. When the business at the Puji Temple left her with no way out, all she could do was weep and wail and threaten to hang herself, and in the end she still set her heart on marrying into the Jining Marquisate. These years your father has kept me confined, and I know nothing of what goes on above. But this I know: if your sister thinks a thing good, and your Fifth Aunt and Sixth Aunt think it good, then it is surely good."

Dou Ming said, perplexed, "Mother, what is it you are really trying to say?"

Wang Shuying smiled faintly, a smile with a flavor not easily put into words, and told Dou Ming of how Wei Fan had just been summoned here. "Did your sister not feel you had trampled on her pride, and cry and carry on that she would never marry into the Jining Marquisate? Then you marry into it instead!"

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Making up for the update of May 8.

o(n_n)o~

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