Chapter 16 — The Plea
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
Returned to her childhood?
Then what was all that had gone before?
What of the agony of childbirth?
Dou Yan was utterly at a loss.
Daoist Xu caught a fox spirit in the Dou household.
Abbot Tuyin of Lingyan Temple said she was haunted by a vengeful ghost and that a forty-nine-day rite must be performed.
Abbess Falin of the Niangniang Temple said she had been cursed by a petty person, and that only eighty-one days of burning perpetual lamps could avert the calamity and lessen her suffering.
Her mother and Aunt Ding even went behind Grandfather's and Father's backs to summon a spirit-medium, Immortal Aunt Peng, who came to the house and made a great commotion, and only then did Dou Zhiwei gradually recover.
Everyone in the household breathed a sigh of relief.
Her mother set aside the household's petty affairs and watched over her day and night. Fearing she would be lonely, she assigned four young maids of her age to keep her company, summoned a goldsmith to the house to fashion jewelry for her, and called in tailors to make clothes. Dou Yan's room saw a constant stream of visitors, busier than New Year.
For the first time Dou Yan enjoyed such unrestrained pampering, and tears nearly fell from her eyes.
Her mother held her in her arms and patted her back gently. "Shouyuan, dear, are you unwell somewhere? Would you like Xiangcao to come play with you?"
Ever since one mishap after another had befallen Dou Yan's room, everyone had been replaced except Tuoniang—who, far from shunning Dou Yan as possessed, had tended Dou Zhiwei day and night without undressing—including Xiangcao, who had just been assigned to her.
Dou Yan shook her head.
Her mother thought for a moment, then poured a box of pearls onto the heated kang. "Aren't they pretty? Shall we make our Shouyuan a pearl jacket?"
The round, smooth pearls rolled and spun across the kang, shedding light in every direction.
Dou Yan scooped them up and let them fall again, the pearls pattering down like rain.
In fifteen years as the wife of a marquis, she had never lived in such luxury.
Her mother smiled.
Carrying her in her arms, she went to Yuquan Temple to fulfill a vow.
When Abbot Tuyin of Lingyan Temple saw how bright and spirited her eyes were, he urged her mother to donate funds for a thousand copies of the Lotus Sutra to be printed at Lingyan Temple for her recovery: "This will also be a blessing for the Fourth Miss!"
Her mother agreed without the slightest hesitation, saying, "Then let it be two thousand copies!"
Abbot Tuyin could not hide the delight on his face; pressing his palms together before her mother, he invited her to the meditation room nearby to choose a blessed ritual object.
Her mother carried Dou Yan over.
Dou Yan chose an agate pendant threaded with white silk at the back.
Her mother was delighted, and accompanied by Abbot Tuyin, she went to view the Goose Pagoda at Lingyan Temple, whose construction had only recently broken ground, and said, "If I provided all the funds, could I ask the Bodhisattva to shield Shouyuan so that from now on she may be safe and serene, blessed with fortune and long life?"
"You can, you can, you can!" Abbot Tuyin's smile was so wide his eyes all but vanished. "How could you not? This Goose Pagoda was built from the very start to invoke blessings for the charitable, people like you, Seventh Lady."
Her mother was led by Abbot Tuyin to a side chamber to drink tea and discuss how the Goose Pagoda should be built.
Dou Yan stood beneath the covered corridor, gazing at the resplendent golden Sakyamuni enshrined in Chengguang Hall, its great doors thrown wide open, and a strange excitement surged in her heart.
She ran pell-mell into Chengguang Hall and knelt lightly and carefully upon the cushion.