Chapter 44 — The Quick Blade
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
The night before, they had already heard Zhao Si's terms. Wang Shuying thought Zhao Si had gone mad, but Pang shi's eyes had lit up, and she had been beside herself all evening.
"Don't panic," Pang shi said with a smile. "From the look of it, Dou Yan came with the Sixth Madam to visit the invalid." She clicked her tongue twice. "I must say, Dou Yan has grown up truly beautiful. That pair of embroidered shoes she had on her feet, the ones sewn with pearls—they must have cost at least a dozen taels. The Dou family really does have money."
Wang Shuying thoroughly disliked the way her second sister-in-law judged everything by the amount of silver it cost.
Yet she could hardly say so to her.
These past days, she owed much to her second sister-in-law's help; surely she could not squabble with her over trifles like these?
"Yingxue, have you made up your mind?" Seeing that Wang Shuying said nothing, Pang shi sneered inwardly—to play the harlot and yet want a monument raised to your chastity, there is no such good fortune. "Don't say your sister-in-law never warned you. Without the Zhao family's letter of consent, Father-in-law will never let you stay on in the Dou household in this ambiguous state, nor do you want your brother and sister-in-law and nephew to be unable to hold up their heads on account of it, do you? If you are made legitimate, at least you will get half the family fortune. If you go back, the Dou family's property will have nothing whatsoever to do with you."
"It isn't as though I cannot support myself," Wang Shuying said crossly. "I simply think the old gentleman Dou will certainly never agree to this…"
"That is a matter for later," Pang shi said, pressing her. "Just tell me—do you want to be made legitimate or not?"
Wang Shuying lowered her head and said nothing.
"Here I am worrying my head off over the ancients like some storyteller in the teahouse!" Pang shi said. "Fine. I am meddling where I shouldn't. I shall go back to Nanwa this instant, and I wash my hands of your affairs!"
Wang Shuying suddenly seized Pang shi by the sleeve.
Pang shi could not help raising an eyebrow and smiling… Dou Yan and Ji shi had just stepped down from the carriage when they saw Cailan hurrying toward them.
"Sixth Madam," she said, curtsying and lowering her voice, "the Fifth Master has come back, together with the Sixth Master and the Seventh Master!"
Dou Yan and Ji shi were both greatly startled. Ji shi's face turned grave. "Do you know why the three masters have returned?"
"I do not know," Cailan said, shaking her head. "I only heard that the Fifth Master asked for a few days' leave and came back with the Sixth and Seventh Masters." She added, "The Seventh Master has already returned to the residence. The Sixth Master has just now been sent for by the Old Madam, and the Old Madam instructed that if you had come back to the residence, you were to go to her at once."
Ji shi thought for a moment, then asked, "Apart from me and the Sixth Master, who else?"
"The Third Master and the Third Madam as well."
Ji shi pondered a while longer, then said, "I understand." She handed Dou Yan over to Tuo Niang and Caishu. "Look after Shouyuan well. Once I am back, we shall send Shouyuan home."
The two answered in unison and carried Dou Yan back to Ji shi's residence, while Ji shi took Cailan with her to the Matriarch's quarters.
The Matriarch's courtyard was utterly silent; the maids and old women in attendance stood in the middle of the yard holding their breath.
At the sight of Ji shi, Granny Liu, stationed before the steps of the main hall, hurried forward. Smiling, she ushered Ji shi inside, and in a voice as faint as a mosquito's whine said, "The moment the Fifth Master returned, he shut himself in the inner chamber with the Matriarch for a long while. When he came out, he sent for the several of you."