Chapter 394 — Dragon Boat Festival

Dou Yan breathed a sigh of relief and waited at home for news.

In the end, a letter arrived from Huguang, saying that Zhao Zhangru had been diagnosed with a pregnancy.

Dou Yan was naturally overjoyed. She gathered food, medicinal herbs, gold and silver ornaments, silks and satins — a whole cartload of it — and sent it off to Huguang, while she and Song Yan began preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival, when they would enter the palace to offer congratulations to the Empress Dowager, the Empress, and the other noble ladies.

At the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, Dou Yan encountered Dou Ming.

She was much thinner than she had been before her marriage, which made her chin look sharper and her eyes larger, and made her all the more delicate and affecting.

Dou Ming saw Dou Yan as well.

Her gaze turned to knives in an instant.

Dou Yan was wearing a scarlet court robe. She came in from outside, chatting and laughing in low voices with the Marchioness of Changxing, the Duchess of Xingguo, the Countess of Donglin, and the other matriarchs of the foremost houses of merit in the court.

Her young face stood out strikingly among that crowd of women in their thirties and forties.

And the moment they stepped through the gate of the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, Auntie Miao, the most favored attendant at the Empress Dowager's side, came forward to meet them with a group of palace maids, smiling as she exchanged pleasantries with Dou Yan and the others, and deferentially led them toward the Empress Dowager's bedchamber. Unlike the wives of the second- and third-rank houses of merit, who had long since lost real power and were fading into obscurity, they did not have to stand waiting before the screen wall until the Empress Dowager summoned them to an audience...

How fine it looked, Dou Yan following those ladies past the screen wall without a glance to either side.

Dou Ming's hands clenched tightly into fists.

Someone was still complaining at her ear: "Truly, fate treats people differently. Thirty years ago, when I entered the palace with my mother-in-law, one announcement was enough to see the noble ladies of the palace — not like now, when we have to wait outside..."

Dou Ming felt her face burning hot.

Someone said in a low voice: "That young one — she is the Heir of Duke Yingguo's wife, is she not? I hear her due date is only days apart from the Crown Princess's? What a fortunate fate. If she gives birth to a child with the same birthday as the imperial grandson, boy or girl, the Crown Princess will surely remember it — that is true blessing!"

Another said: "You think the Yingzhen Ducal House is as shallow as you! The Duke's heir was granted a hereditary fourth-rank assistant commissioner's post within days of his birth, and began joining the autumn hunt before he could walk — whose house in all the court enjoys such honor? Their eldest legitimate grandson could be born on the fifteenth of the seventh month and still have a splendid future ahead of him. What are you fretting yourself over?"

Dou Zhiwei's due date was in mid-sixth month.

The one who had been contradicted was displeased, and said with a touch of gloating: "Who is to say the Yingzhen Ducal House's eldest legitimate grandson will not really wait and be born on the fifteenth of the seventh month?"

"What nonsense are you talking!" someone scolded. "This is the palace — beware of walls with ears."

The lady was about to say more when two palace maids came around from behind the screen wall.

All voices stopped at once.

One of the maids smiled and said: "Might I ask which of you is the Marchioness of Jining?"

Dou Ming was startled.

Someone beside her nudged her.

She hurried forward to answer.

The maid smiled: "The Xuanming Sect has heard that you are the younger sister of the Heir of Duke Yingguo's wife, and would like to meet you!"

The moment the maid finished speaking, Dou Ming seemed to hear a chorus of envious sighs.

Her fists clenched even tighter.

But before the noble ladies of the palace, she dared not show the slightest bit of it.

Dou Ming thanked the two maids with a smile and followed them toward the Empress Dowager's bedchamber; after they had rounded the screen wall, she slipped two red packets to the two maids.

The two maids accepted them with easy smiles, and even said: "Everyone says Lord Dou gave all his family fortune to his two daughters as dowry, and that Lady Dou is just as generous when she enters the palace. The rumors are not false — we will not stand on ceremony."

Dou Ming was so angry she ground her teeth.

Dou Yan had gotten the advantage and still played the innocent — when had she ever received half of their father's property?

At the thought, her heart felt as if it were smothered in oil, unable to draw breath.

After she had kowtowed and paid her respects to the Empress Dowager, she nearly toppled over backward — the Empress Dowager summoned her forward, studied her carefully for a long while, and then actually raised her head and said to the Empress Yihe and the assembled noblewomen of the inner and outer courts: "Yantang's wife is the better-looking one after all. The Marchioness of Jining is too thin!" (To be continued)