Chapter 218 — The Break

She had come together with the Fifth Madam, and...

He went straight to the eastern wing where Dou Yan lived.

Dou Yan was sitting cross-legged on the large heated kang by the window of the inner room with Zhao Zhangru, discussing where they might go to play in the coming days. When she heard that Ji Yong had arrived, her brow lifted and she gave a cold laugh: "I was just about to go looking for him, and here he comes running to me of his own accord!" Then she instructed her maid, "Invite Cousin Ji to the hall and serve him tea."

The maid answered and left.

Zhao Zhangru, however, was puzzled. "What's the matter with you? Angry as all this? How has Ji Jianming offended you?"

"It's not something I can explain in a sentence or two." Since it involved Ji Yong's private morals, Dou Yan naturally would not tell Zhao Zhangru the whole story. She put her off, saying, "When I have a free moment, I'll tell you in detail. Wait for me here—I'll be right back."

Zhao Zhangru nodded and urged her, "Then be careful!"

"It's not as if I'm going to a fight." Dou Yan left for the hall.

Ji Yong sat in the grand master's chair drinking tea, a trace of smugness showing between his brows. He set down the teacup, picked up the note paper lying on the table, and waved it at Dou Yan. "Dou Ming's marriage certificate!" he said, concise and to the point.

Which was to say, from this day on, Dou Ming was formally Wei Fan's wife.

Dou Chiyou said, "You helped arrange it?"

"Of course!" Ji Yong said without the slightest concealment. "If I hadn't gone to Shuntian Prefecture myself, do you think Dou Ming's marriage certificate would have been so easy to obtain?"

The Ji family intended to take her as a bride. She had not been certain before whether Ji Yong knew of this, but now, seeing the marriage certificate in his hand and hearing his words, how could she fail to understand?

Thinking of all that Ji Yong had done, Dou Chiyou gave a cold laugh and said mockingly, "I wonder what you are to our family? My cousins and nephews somehow don't even know which way the yamen gate faces? We had to trouble you, sir, to step forward before Dou Ming's marriage certificate could be issued? Thank you, Magistrate Ji!"

At the thought that Dou Yan and Wei Fan would have nothing to do with each other ever again, Ji Yong felt an indescribable ease in his heart. Holding the marriage certificate he had just obtained for Dou Ming, he had come eagerly to see Dou Yan. He had guessed she might be displeased on account of it, but never imagined she would be so utterly unsparing. The breath caught in his throat, and he nearly choked.

"If this matter hadn't concerned you, I wouldn't have bothered with it at all!" It was a long moment before Ji Yong caught his breath, and then he flew into a rage. "If not for me, how could the Wei family have acknowledged Dou Ming? If not for me, how could your marriage certificate with Wei Fan have suddenly disappeared? If not for me, how could the witnesses for the Dou and Wei families have arrived so quickly..."

Dou Yan cut him off without courtesy. "If not for you, how could we sisters have been swapped in marriage?!"

Ji Yong was taken aback, and asked doubtfully, "You know?"

"Leaping about as you have been, even if I didn't want to know, I'd have no choice but to know." Dou Yan looked at him coldly.

Ji Yong, stung into fury, cried, "Leaping about? I'm not a monkey! If not for you, would I have meddled in such wretched, filthy business? You may have set your heart on marrying Wei Fan, but what of Wei Fan? It wasn't as if he didn't know you sisters—yet he bowed to Heaven and earth with Dou Ming and entered the bridal chamber with her. Seeing Dou Ming weep and wail, he immediately took her in his arms and said, 'Since we have already bowed and become man and wife, then husband and wife we are.' His own sister wouldn't acknowledge this sister-in-law, yet he was the first to leap out and claim her as his wife; while we were busy with the marriage certificates, he was in the bridal chamber comforting his bride. When did he ever hold you in his heart? However worthless I may be, I would never neglect you as he has, never humiliate you as he has, never abandon you as he has..."

"And so you felt entitled to take another man's wife?!" Dou Yan looked at him, her gaze as cold and clear as moonlight.

Ji Yong choked on his words.

Dou Yan went on: "I once asked you why you did not trust my decisions. Now I ask you again: by what right did you make decisions for me without asking me a single word? You thought Wei Fan was unworthy of me, so you lured him into spending the night at the Nanfeng House and ruined his reputation; you wanted me to loathe Wei Fan, so you had Dou Ming invite him on an outing to the Puji Temple; you wanted to marry me, so you had us sisters swapped... From beginning to end, did you ever consider my feelings? Did you ever ask what I wanted? Is this how you treat me well? If this is how you treat me well, I would rather have none of it!"

"You..." Ji Yong's face went instantly pale.

If she let Ji Yong off so easily, he would only do something even more outrageous in the future!

"You think Wei Fan is unworthy of me, yet he has never once forced me to do anything." Dou Zhiwei's expression was stern. "You think you are better than he, yet you have turned my life upside down. You say you would not neglect me, you say you would not humiliate me, you say you would not abandon me... but look at me now: with my own elders' tacit consent and concealment, I was swapped in marriage by my own younger sister, and I can only force a smile, soothe my father and then comfort my aunt—is this not neglect? Is this not humiliation? Is this not abandonment? Then what is neglect? What is humiliation? What is abandonment? You think Wei Fan is no match for you, yet after bowing in marriage with Dou Ming, he defied his kinsmen's objections and acknowledged Dou Ming as his wife, preserving her dignity; you think yourself superior to Wei Fan, yet all you know is framing, slander, enticement, and scheming in the dark, making me a laughingstock and a topic for idle gossip after meals. In what way are you better than Wei Fan?!"

"Ji Jianming, I will never in this life marry a man who takes another's wife.

"From today on, my affairs are no concern of yours! You go your broad highway, I'll cross my single-log bridge—let us never have dealings with each other again as long as we live!"

With that, Dou Yan turned and left the hall.

A man who takes another's wife!

From today on... you go your broad highway, I'll cross my single-log bridge... never have dealings with each other again as long as we live...

Ji Yong stared blankly at the swaying warm curtain. Dou Yan's clear, pleasing voice rang in his ears like a great bronze bell, echoing on and on.

※※※※※

Dou Huaiying stared at the Fifth Madam's lips opening and closing, and for a long while could not collect himself.

Old Master Ji wished to seek Shouyuan's hand in marriage for Ji Yong?

After Dou Ming had inexplicably been married into the Wei family in Dou Yan's place?

Dou Huaiying could not help asking, "Does Fifth Brother know of this?"