Chapter 36 — A Temporary Stay
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
That night, Wang Zhibing and Gao shi stayed over at the Dou household.
Dou Yan paid them little mind; she had been waiting all along for Tuo Niang to return.
"Old Mother Yu says she will bring the things over first thing tomorrow morning." Tuo Niang had come back rather late.
Dou Yan breathed a sigh of relief and instructed Tuo Niang, "Pack up all the things we ordinarily use. In a few days we may be going to stay with Sixth Uncle's household in the East Mansion."
"Why would we go stay at Sixth Master's house?" Tuo Niang's mouth fell open. "Is it because Concubine Wang has been kicking up such a dreadful fuss at home?"
Even she knew about it—which showed that everyone in the Dou household, high and low, had heard the news.
Dou Xin said, "No. Father is going to the capital to sit for the provincial examination, and he fears I will have no one to look after me, so he may send us to stay at Sixth Uncle's for a while."
Whatever else might happen, the examinations came first; Father would certainly go to the capital to sit for the provincial examination.
In her previous life, Concubine Ding had very successfully set Dou Yan and her aunt against each other, and she had dwelt safely in the Dou household, with Dou Huaiying helping to provide for her in her old age and bury her at the end. In this life, she had lost her power to manage the inner household, and Dou Yan had likewise lost the protection of her elders; since Grandfather would not look kindly upon Grandmother, Sixth Uncle's proposal conveniently solved Father's difficulty, and she would in all likelihood be sent to stay temporarily at Sixth Uncle's household.
Dou Yan was willing to go and stay at Sixth Uncle's house.
Sixth Aunt's family name was Ji; she was from Yixing County in Changzhou Prefecture of South Zhili. Her grandfather Ji Nian had been the top graduate in the metropolitan examination of the jichou year, and her family had also produced a teacher of the emperor and a grand secretary—one of the few families of official lineage to be counted on the fingers of one hand in Jiangnan.
The Second Madam had taken a fancy to Sixth Aunt's family background back then, and relying on the favor Second Great-Uncle had once done Ji Nian when he served as censor, she had shamelessly begged for this match on Sixth Uncle's behalf.
Compared with the Ji family, the Dou family at this time was far inferior in both prestige and wealth. What was more, the people of Jiangnan managed their households with greater refinement than those of the north, and after Sixth Aunt married in, the Second Madam felt rather like a plain stone set beside a pearl when in this daughter-in-law's presence, and was somewhat constrained in both speech and conduct.
Fortunately, Sixth Aunt came of a great house, generous and composed, and did not put on airs for having married beneath her station. Whether toward her mother-in-law or toward her sisters-in-law and husband's sisters, she was respectful and courteous; and as she conceived soon after entering the household and bore two sons in succession, in the course of time Sixth Aunt became the apple of the Second Madam's eye.
In her former life, Dou Yan had not had much contact with this Sixth Aunt.
But before her marriage, Father had asked Sixth Aunt to instruct her in the matters of the boudoir.
She still remembered how Sixth Aunt, on the point of leaving, had taken her hand and exhorted her in a low voice: "Remember: after you marry, the most important thing is to bear sons, the next is to flatter your mother-in-law. As for your husband, you need only keep your looks ever fresh before him..."
It was the first time anyone had stripped away the veil of womanly speech and womanly virtue and spoken to her so plainly of the way of being a wife.
Dou Yan was deeply shocked.