Chapter 23 — Little Sister
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
The south was rich and fertile, and many eyes were fixed on it; only those with connections could go there, which made the official circles there complicated, and one misstep could bring a man down. The northwest was barren, but its people were honest and simple, and the folk there were relatively straightforward—perhaps that was no bad thing.
Thinking of all this, Dou Yan sighed softly.
※※※※※
Two days later, her uncle and aunt took the three cousins back to Anxiang. Apart from coming to burn incense for her mother on the seventh-day observances, they had no dealings with the Dou household. When the fifth-week rites were performed, her mother's coffin was carried to the ancestral graves for burial.
Her spirit tablet would be enshrined in the small Buddhist hall of the West Dou for three years, after which it would be moved to the ancestral shrine in the Dou family's North Tower.
Outwardly all was calm; not a word of censure against her mother reached her ears. It was her uncle instead whose doings became known even to Dou Yan—selling fields and land to scrape together silver for a journey to the capital to seek a post.
She could only smile bitterly.
This was the trouble with living so near: the slightest stir of wind or grass reached your ears.
No wonder her uncle had failed in the last life!
The Dou family sent over two thousand taels of silver; her uncle returned every coin untouched.
Third Uncle was somewhat worried. "Ruifu has taken a hatred to our family. Generations of friendship, and it ends like this." His tone was full of sighs.
Grandfather, however, was indifferent. "The great trends of the world: what has long been joined must part, and what has long parted must join. There is no need for sighing."
But Third Uncle still wanted to mend matters. He sent a man to offer for the hundred mu of mountain forest that had come to Aunt as her dowry, at a price two taels above the market rate, and Aunt refused.
In private, Dou Yan said to Tuo Niang with a sigh, "Uncle and Aunt are far too honest. In their place, I would sell the land and go on hating them just the same."
Tuo Niang was sewing socks for Dou Yan under the lamp. At this she opened her eyes wide. "Would that not make you a scoundrel?"
Dou Yan was taken aback, then burst out laughing. "So it seems that at heart I am still a Dou!"
Tuo Niang did not understand.
Dou Yan did not explain, only asked her, "What has Concubine Wang been doing these days?"
Through Tuo Niang she was using the people her mother had left behind, and they served her very smoothly.
"The same as before," said Tuo Niang. "Cooped up in her room every day, retiring early. Before she eats or drinks anything, that maid of hers, Qiongfang, must taste it first."
Dou Yan gave a faint "oh."
Then Xuancao came running in. "Suxin, Suxin! Something has happened over at the Qixia Court!"
Dou Yan was still a small child, and the maids never bothered to watch their tongues around her.
Tuoniang did not much care, and answered perfunctorily, "What has happened?"
"Someone put a piece of musk in the flower vase in Concubine Wang's inner chamber. If Mother Hu, the one who serves her, hadn't found it so quickly, it could have been a serious matter."
Tuoniang glanced at Dou Yan.
Dou Yan was listening with great interest, her big eyes wide open.
Tuoniang had no choice but to say, "What serious matter could there be? I have heard people say musk is the finest of perfumes!"
"Mother Hu says musk can cause a miscarriage," Xuancao said in a low voice. "Concubine Wang forbade anyone to speak of it, but Mother Hu has such a loud voice that we all heard."
"Oh!" Tuoniang was sparing of words to begin with, and now she said even less.