Chapter 256 — Taking Stock (Bonus Update, Asking for Pink Votes)

"Father, could you please stop chasing shadows and listen to me for a moment?" he cut short his father's speculation. "I did not quarrel with Yantang. I came back because I want to tell you something..."

She was thinking how best to say this to her father, and in that brief hesitation Dou Huaiying pressed on anxiously: "If you did not quarrel with Yantang, then why have you come back alone today? It is not the ninth of the month, nor any festival or solar term."

Dou Yan simply drew her father down onto the large kang by the window and sat beside him, smiling. "Do you remember, on the third-day visit, the heir said something about his reading the *Spring and Autumn Annals*?"

"I remember." Dou Huaiying's face was full of suspicion.

Dou Yan pressed her lips together and smiled. "He made that up to curry favor with you!"

"Ah!" Dou Huaiying's eyes went wide.

Dou Yan explained: "The Duke of Zhongyi is a man of profound learning. When he studied under the Duke, he doubtless acquired some acquaintance with the various schools and the hundred philosophers, but he had no need to sit the examinations, and his family had also engaged masters to teach him riding and archery. How could he have shut himself away like those scholars who 'hear nothing beyond the window and give their hearts only to the books of the sages'? He must have asked around somewhere and learned that you are fond of the *Spring and Autumn Annals*, so he read the *Spring and Autumn* through carefully. As for true scholarship, I fear it is still rather shallow." In her words was a defensiveness she did not herself notice.

Dou Huaiying heard it nonetheless.

He could not help laughing aloud. "How old is he? Even if he were a child prodigy, how much learning could he have?" No sooner had the words left his mouth than sudden enlightenment struck him. "This time you threw propriety to the winds and came rushing back—were you afraid that once we heard he had chosen to read the *Spring and Autumn Annals*, we would test his learning? Were you afraid Yantang would not be able to answer, and came to plead for him?" With that, Dou Huaiying looked at Dou Yan and laughed again. But this laughter was more joyous than the last, and the look he bent on Dou Zhiwei held a shade more of teasing. "Silly child, do you take me and your uncles for fools? When we were his age, did we know what we ought to read? He says he likes to read the *Spring and Autumn*, and all we did was admire that he had settled his ambition so young, and were glad that someone else loves the *Spring and Autumn* as we do. How could we possibly test his learning? Even if we did, it would be no more than asking him something rather shallow, such as 'In the fifth year of Duke Yin, in spring, the Duke fished with a line at Tang—what remonstrance did Zang Xibo make?' Would we set about it like those old pedants in the Hanlin Academy, who must needs examine a man to ruin before they can show off their own learning? Not only I and your sixth uncle—your fifth uncle, when he was in the Hanlin Academy, lectured the imperial princes on the classics. We know very well how much they are worth! Set your mind at ease; no one will make things hard for Yantang!" Then he added with a sly smile, "I have read books for thirty-odd years and would not dare claim acquaintance with all the hundred schools. You have fairly gilded his face for him!"

Dou Yan's cheeks burned.

No wonder her father and her fifth and sixth uncles had believed Song Yan's words so readily. They had never believed that Song Yan had any great learning at all—they merely thought he was still willing to read!

Yet at the thought of the contempt running through her father's every word—"Song Yan's little store of learning is nothing in our eyes"—she felt profoundly uncomfortable, felt that her father had wronged Song Yan, and could not refrain from arguing: "Song Yan is not one of those imperial princes or grandsons. Whether in his studies or in riding and archery, he is most diligent. That he was made Commander of the Forward Guard of the Golden Serpent Guard before he was even twenty was because he took first place in the autumn hunt's trials several years running—not merely because he is heir to the Yingzhen Duke's house. His calligraphy is excellent as well, and has won the Emperor's favor... He is not as worthless as you make him out to be! Had I known it would come to this, I would never have told you anything..." She regretted it deeply, felt she had been too rash in this matter, and complained with some displaced anger, "If this is how you are, how shall I ever dare to come to you for counsel again?"

Seeing Dou Yan angry, Dou Huaiying said hurriedly, "No, no, I meant no slight to Yantang." Then, feeling his words too pale and insincere, he added ingratiatingly, "How about this: let Yantang study with me. I promise he will not be inferior to those scholars of the Hanlin Academy!"

"I really should never have told you." Dou Chiyou glared. "Yantang has no idea I came, all right? If he knew, would he still have the face to come to our house?" Thinking of her father's temperament, she demanded a promise: "You must not tell anyone about this! Not even to my sixth uncle may you breathe a word!"

Dou Huaiying hurriedly swore an oath.

Only then did Dou Zhiwei's expression improve somewhat.

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Sisters and brothers, the weather in Wuhan is hot enough to burn a hole in the quilt, and my air conditioner has broken down. This afternoon I have to find a repairman to fix it, so don't wait up for tonight's update. If I can't manage an update today, I will make it up tomorrow.

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