Chapter 232 — A Visit

At first light the next morning, Gu Yu left the Yingzhengguo Estate and instructed the driver, "To the Longhua Temple alley!" Then he swung himself up into the carriage.

The driver dared not dawdle; they raced along at full speed, and in less than half an hour arrived at the mouth of the Heming Temple alley.

Gu Yu jumped down and saw a man selling douhua at the alley entrance; since it was still early, only two or three laborers sat at the stall.

He sent his attendants on ahead to the Heming Temple alley, found himself a reasonably clean stool, sat down, ordered a bowl of douhua, and ate it at a leisurely pace.

Before long the douhua stall grew lively.

Snatching a moment from his work, the stallkeeper called out to two women standing before the stall sipping their douhua: "Sister-in-law Liu, what's this—selling vegetables with Sister-in-law Wang today? Have you guests at home?"

"That's right!" laughed one of the women, dressed in a lilac-colored vest. "Our household is inviting the full-fortune women today—we've several banquets to prepare."

By custom, when a family took a daughter-in-law or married off a daughter, the full-fortune women and the hair-dressers who would assist were invited some days in advance to drink wine at the house, as a mark of respect.

Hands never still, the stallkeeper chatted on with a smile: "Your Fifth Miss's wedding was a grand affair indeed! I hear you had the wife of a Hanlin Academy scholar as the full-fortune woman—I wonder, for the Fourth Miss's wedding this time, which lady will do the honors?"

"Naturally another Hanlin wife," the woman smiled. "Only this time it's the wife of His Excellency Zhao—His Excellency Zhao and our master are of the same examination year."

"Rich folk are a breed apart," someone beside them chimed in. "Two daughters married off inside a month—must cost forty or fifty thousand taels at least, surely?"

The two women smiled and said nothing.

Someone egged them on: "Sister-in-law Liu, do tell us! I hear Old Master Dou is marrying off his daughter this time and donated a thousand taels of oil money to the Yunqi Temple—is that true?"

The woman laughed: "How would I know? I only serve in the kitchen. For such matters you'd have to ask our estate's steward."

Another person said, "How come we haven't seen your Steward Gao about these days?"

The woman replied, "Why, I greeted Steward Gao before I came out..."

Gu Yu tossed down a piece of broken silver, quietly left the douhua stall, and found the carriage waiting at the side gate of the Yunqi Temple alley. He went up and stripped the driver of his clothes: "Wear these for me a while." He paid no mind to the driver, who sat on the shaft in nothing but a thin inner garment, his face crimson with embarrassment. Gu Yu went straight to the Dou estate's back gate, and with the help of two bodyguards climbed over into Dou Juan's rear courtyard, and soon found the eastern wing where Dou Yan was resting.

Dou Yan had barely slept all night, and had only closed her eyes when the sky turned faintly light; now she was catching up on her sleep. Not only the wing, but the entire upper house—the maids and old women alike—walked on tiptoe, hardly daring to breathe.

Gu Yu drew out his pocket watch and glanced at it.

A quarter past the third hour of the si period.

Still not up at this hour. A lazy good-for-nothing if ever there was one!

Gu Yu gave a cold snort, tucked the watch back into his breast, and went on standing motionless behind the pomegranate tree back of the wing.

The sun rose higher; sounds began to stir within the eastern wing.

Suxin brought a bowl of bird's-nest porridge and attended Dou Yan as she ate, then smilingly helped her straighten her clothes: "Would you like to sleep a little longer? There's still more than an hour till the midday meal!"

Dou Yan sat on thorns, quite unable to sleep. She told Suxin, "Go and fetch Steward Gao. I have something to ask him."

Suxin went off at once and brought Gao Sheng back with her.

Dou Yan asked him, "Father has always known he is no hand at managing household affairs. Such matters he leaves to Third Uncle or to you. That Risheng Silver House was quite unknown—no one had ever heard of it. Even if Father wished to send me something quietly, he could have found some pretext—gilding a Buddha image at a temple, say—and run the silver through the accounts. Whyever would he think to buy shares in Risheng Silver House? And why did you not talk him out of it?"

Gao Xing lowered his eyes meekly and smiled: "Manager Zhang of Risheng Silver House came to the master time and again. The master said he seemed a man who knew his business. And he came to us through His Excellency Yan—one cannot disregard the face behind the introduction, after all; some silver had to be given him to send him on his way. It happened to coincide with the matter of the young lady. So the master put in a large sum. But Manager Zhang swore to the master as between brothers that within three to five years at most he would build Risheng Silver House up—he dared not promise the master would recover every tael of his capital, but he would never let the master lose on it."

Dou Yan caught the note of approval in Gao Xing's voice as well. This man of commoner origin had dared stake his fortune and his life against the Prince of Liao—plainly a man of fierce ambition. That her father and Gao Xing should bow to him was only to be expected.

She said to Gao Xing, "The other two shareholders in Risheng Silver House are Father's colleagues. Father produced fifty thousand taels in one breath—if word of that gets about, a tall tree catches the wind, and I fear others will come knocking, begging Father to invest in their ventures. If he cannot refuse His Excellency Guo today, tomorrow he cannot refuse His Excellency Zhao—and he ends by making enemies instead. The family may have fifty thousand taels, but I doubt Father could have carried fifty thousand taels to Manager Zhang in one go; most likely some silver house stood surety, and he used silver drafts." Here she glanced at Gao Xing.

Gao Xing hastened to say, "The young lady sees all. It was the Tongde Silver House, which has long done business with our family, that stood surety; the draft was to be paid within fifteen days. The master meant to tell the young lady once the Risheng matter was settled—but no sooner had he the contract in hand than he told you..."

Dou Yan's brow broke out in sweat.

If her father had not drunk a little too much today, and if she had not, contrary to all her habits, shouted as she had—her father would likely still be quietly congratulating himself, and would have told her only after the silver had reached Risheng Silver House's accounts.

She said, "Then send word to Tongde Silver House that this sum is not to be transferred to Risheng for the time being. Then go and explain matters to Manager Zhang—say that two happy events have come to the house in succession, and that both our sons-in-law are of illustrious birth, so that not a tael can be spared on appearances; say that we are short of silver now and must wait for the year-end accounts before we know whether there will be any for him next spring. Make it plain to him: when the Dou family marries off a daughter from the common funds, the rule has always been two thousand taels; the dowries for me and for Dou Ming both came from Father's private purse. The Dou family may be rich, but the money lies in the common funds; if Father wishes to draw on what stands in his own name, he must go through Third Uncle."