Chapter 7 — Doubt
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
When word came that Dou Zhen had arrived, Father went out himself to welcome him in.
He carried a basket of oranges. Since it was all family, Mother and Aunt Ding did not withdraw. After the greetings were exchanged, Dou Zhen gestured at the oranges and said to Grandfather with a smile, "Eldest Brother sent these back. I brought a few along specially for you to taste." Then he fished an orange from the little basket and handed it to Dou Yan: "Shouyuan, have an orange."
Dou Yan was still somewhat dazed.
Mother gave her a nudge.
She murmured a "thank you."
Dou Zhen smiled and patted Dou Zhiwei on the head.
Grandfather said, "Come up on the kang and sit! I have some Da Hong Pao that Shenxing sent me."
Aunt Ding turned at once and went to the small tea room next door to brew the tea.
Dou Zhen did not stand on ceremony; he climbed onto the kang and sat cross-legged facing Grandfather.
Dou Yan held her orange and nestled quietly in Mother's arms, staring at Dou Zhen without blinking.
Her third uncle, dead these ten years, now stood living before her eyes — and was telling her to eat an orange!
She remembered how, back at the farm, Third Uncle would come to visit Grandmother every so often, and every time he would bring her some little thing — a fashionable handkerchief, a pretty hair flower, some rare delicacy; once he even gave her a pair of Wuxi clay dolls. Big eyes, round faces, little red jackets painted with gold, smiling and bowing with clasped hands — the farm children were wild with envy. She set the pair of dolls on the windowsill, and there they stayed until she left the farm at twelve, when they were packed away in a trunk and traveled with her from Dingxian to the capital, to remain at the Jining Hou residence.
In those days, each of Third Uncle's visits was like a ray of sunlight falling upon her, making her glow and shine.
She had never forgotten.
Dou Zhiwei's vision blurred a little; she heard Dou Zhen say with a smile, "...Eldest Brother's health worsens by the day. Lan sent word a while ago that since autumn set in, Eldest Brother has had three attacks of angina. Only the river works are unfinished, so he dares not slacken. Eldest Brother wrote that once these days are past, he means to resign his post and go home, to study the Book of Changes in earnest together with Uncle."
Grandfather laughed heartily. "Officialdom is glorious, but the paperwork is bitter. Who told him to be an official!" As he spoke, his smile thinned and his face turned grave. "His angina grows worse day by day — has he seen a physician?"
"Every famous doctor in Jiangnan has been consulted," said Dou Zhengbang. "But none has a good remedy. They all say only rest and quiet. And is Eldest Brother a man who can sit still..."
Dou Yan listened from the side, but her thoughts had already drifted far away.
Her eldest uncle was named Dou Shiyang, the eldest son of the eldest grand-uncle. He was thirty-nine years older than Father and four years younger than Grandfather. Like Grandfather, he had studied from childhood under their great-grand-uncle; they were uncle and nephew by blood, but in truth as close as brothers. He had already passed away by the time Dou Yan was old enough to remember. They said he had worked himself to death repairing river channels while serving as prefect of Yangzhou, and his deeds were carved on the bluestone tablet in the ancestral hall. In the fourth year of Jianwu, great floods struck Jiangnan and many dikes were breached; only the stretch of dike built during Eldest Uncle's tenure stood firm. His achievements were brought to light again, and the Emperor issued a special edict in his honor.