Chapter 42 — Reactions
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
Ji shi's eyelid gave a tiny twitch. She smiled and said, "Hui has already begun studying the Analects. Zhi has been reading with me these two days, and in the few days since he started school he has nearly finished the Three Character Classic—much faster than the other children of his age in the clan school. He is a little inclined to get above himself, and I thought it was well enough for the moment, but if it goes on, it will only breed conceit and complacency. I must find some way to take them down a peg or two without their noticing." As she spoke she took the Second Old Madam's arm. "As for Shouyuan, I fear I cannot look after her as I ought. Still, when one has been entrusted with a charge, one must see it through faithfully. I saw that she had been practicing her writing every day with the Seventh Master, so I found a copybook and have kept her at home practicing her characters—first, to observe the rules of the West Household, and second, to keep her from running about and running into something or knocking into something, which I could never answer for to the Seventh Master."
The Second Old Madam nodded again and again. She set Dou Yan aside and began to question her carefully about her two grandsons' studies.
Ji shi, having seen the Second Old Madam seated in the hall, told her all about her two sons' doings at the school, until the old lady was so pleased that her eyes narrowed to slits and she kept patting Ji shi's hand. "It is all your doing—all your good teaching." Then she sighed. "Among all the daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law of the Dou family, there may be those who speak more cleverly than you, and those who serve their husbands and children better than you; but as for teaching children, if you in your modesty call yourself second, no one would dare call herself first!" At this Ji shi broke out in a cold sweat. She had meant to pull herself free of this muddy water, yet in a word or two the old lady had drawn her back in. Those who understood knew that the old lady was building a platform for her, so that in due course the children of the West Household might be sent to be raised at her side. Those who did not would think she fancied herself a descendant of some great Jiangnan family, arrogant and flaunting, and that she looked down on all the wives and daughters-in-law of the Dou clan.
If in future both her sons should pass the examinations at the top of the list, earlier than anyone else, well and good. But if any family's son should become a jinshi before Hui and Zhi, there would be no end to the jeers and sneers.
For a moment she could not tell whether her mother-in-law was exalting her—or setting her on a fire to roast.
Fortunately the Second Old Madam did not linger on the subject. She said she wished to see Dou Yan, and, surrounded by a great crowd of attendants, went to the study.
Dou Yan sat before the painting table practicing her characters. Though Tuoniang and Cailan stood by fanning her, her little face was still red, and the tip of her nose was beaded with sweat.
Sensing that someone had come in, she still finished the last stroke before she raised her head to look.
Seeing it was the Second Old Madam, she smiled and handed her brush to the little maid Haitang, who waited on her, and let Tuoniang lift her down from the armchair to make her curtsy to the Second Old Madam.
The Second Old Madam chuckled and said to those around her, "Look at this little creature—only a few days with the Sixth Madam, and she is as proper as a little grown-up."
Everyone standing by laughed along with her.
A flicker of helplessness passed through Ji shi's eyes.
Dou Yan, meanwhile, regarded the Second Old Madam with a look that was half smile, half something else.