Chapter 232 — A Visit

If Zhang Zhiqi had found her father only by chance, and come upon a man who could produce fifty thousand taels without turning a hair, he would surely send envoys again and again to persuade her father to invest with him; but if this was a scheme long in the making, then his aim must be to win over the court officials on the Prince of Liao's behalf—and with Father unable to give him silver, he would seize the chance to bring in a few more shareholders.

By then she would be able to judge what Zhang Zhiqi was really about.

Gao Xing had no suspicions.

Many masters and young gentlemen paid no heed to household affairs and had no notion how much silver the family actually had to spend; it was common enough for them to act on whim, contract great debts outside, and leave the family unable to produce the sum at short notice. He only felt that Dou Yan was being somewhat unfair in this, defeating Dou Huaiying's good intentions, and he hesitated.

Dou Yan, for her part, feared that Dou Huaiying would not be able to refuse out of mere courtesy and would insist on putting silver into Risheng Silver House. She said, "Do not speak of this to my father for the time being; I want to see what Risheng Silver House is really up to before I say more. If the people at Risheng take it that you are making difficulties for them, say nothing—just bring them straight to me, and I will deal with them." Then, reflecting that Gao Xing was above all loyal to her father and would, once her father gave the word, certainly act according to his will, she added, "The year-end is when the officials of every province come to the capital to report on their duties. Cui Min has found himself a great patron and has agreed to lend thirty thousand taels this year, to be repaid in the third month, at a full ten percent interest. Lend me that silver for a while first."

She knew that Gao Xing would turn and tell her father of this the moment he left, and that her father, who had always been indulgent toward her and her sister, would not blame them for it; he might even ask whether she was short of silver and have Gao Xing send her some.

Gao Xing knew this too, and smiled and said yes.

Dou Yan once more enjoined him repeatedly: "If anyone from Risheng Silver House comes to beg a favor of you, you must tell me."

Gao Xing gave his assurances again and again, and only then withdrew.

Gu Yu, who had been lying on the window lattice eavesdropping, was ready to burst with rage.

This woman—not only did she meddle in the family's affairs behind her father's back, she even lent money at interest. She was recklessly bold, and she could smell a profit from a mile off.

How could Cousin Tianci marry a woman like that?

No—he had to tell Cousin Tianci about this.

No wonder Uncle Song had been in such a frantic hurry to secure the match for Cousin Tianci.

He had thought to himself that if the woman was at least passable in looks, a dull temperament could be tolerated; once she bore a son, he would simply keep an eye on things himself. But now it seemed she was nothing but a troublemaker!

Thirty thousand taels of silver—from the way she spoke of it, one would think it were thirty taels. She carried on as though she had no notion of how dear firewood, rice, and oil had grown. How could such a woman ever manage a household or preside over the kitchen?

Gu Yu did not even glance at what Dou Yan looked like; he turned on his heel, left the upper courtyard, and hurried straight to the Yingguo Duke's residence.

Song Sui had been summoned into the palace.

He was so frantic he stamped his feet, wanting to go into the palace to find Song Yan.

But Chen He caught hold of Gu Yu and said in a low voice, "It was Steward Lu from the Empress's household who came in person to summon the heir."

Could it be that the Emperor's illness had flared up again?

Gu Yu feared that if he entered the palace and ran into Princess Jingyi, she would cling to him and weep without end, and that his aunt would end up scolding him too.

After thinking it over, he went to the Yan'an Marquis's residence.

Wang Yu was just then talking with his father over the wedding invitation the Song family had sent, and when he heard Gu Yu had come, he hurriedly ushered him into the study.

Gu Yu caught sight of the invitation at a glance and said, "So you know about this too?"

Wang Yu nodded, poured Gu Yu a cup of tea himself, and said with a smile, "From your tone, you also only learned of it when the invitation arrived." Then he grumbled, "Yantang really is too much—even for a wedding, he couldn't give us a word in advance. There's no time left for me to prepare a proper gift; I'm afraid I'll have to make do with a larger sum of money instead."

Gu Yu gave a cold laugh. "Hold off on the money for now. Let me ask Cousin Tianci about it first."

Wang Yu probed without betraying a thing: "What, Yantang doesn't know yet?"

How could Cousin Tianci not know?

He simply did not know that the Dou family's fourth young lady was this sort of person.

"I went to find Cousin Tianci, but he had been summoned into the palace," Gu Yu said vaguely. "I haven't seen him yet."

Wang Yu nodded with a smile.

But in his heart he understood.

This marriage was likely the Duke of Yingguo's idea; Song Yan probably knew nothing about it at all.

He had not expected the rift between father and son to be so wide.

It was just as well he had not married his sister into the Song family—otherwise she would have been devoured down to the bone.

He smiled and said, "My sister is to be married on the fourth of the ninth month. You and Yantang must come and drink a cup of wedding wine then!"

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Sisters, brothers—I finished writing at four in the morning, and then the power went out, and my wireless card ran short of data...~~~~(_

ps: I'm mooching off the network at little Zhizhi's school, and it's finally posted.

And here I thank little Zhizhi's teacher, Sister Yin.

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