Chapter 54 — Old Acquaintances
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Grandmother observed Tuoniang for some time, and seeing that she was honest and good-natured at heart, she grew rather fond of her and genuinely wished to find her a fine match. So whenever she had a moment to spare, she would take Dou Yan strolling about the village, and whenever they came across a young man of suitable age, she could not help but look at him a little longer and ask a question or two more. Within a few days, word had gone round the village that Seventh Master Dou had asked Grandmother to find him an honest, dependable attendant, and thereafter, whenever Grandmother and Dou Yan went out, they would keep running into people who had conveniently brought their sons along to cross their path.
Grandmother was caught between laughter and exasperation, yet she could hardly explain why, and so she could only go on repeating, "There is no such thing, there is no such thing."
Naturally, no one believed it.
It was at this very time that Dou Ming encountered Zhao Liangbi.
The Zhaos and the Cuis were relatives, though precisely how they were related she had never been able to work out.
That day they were taking their evening meal in the courtyard when Zhao Liangbi's father came shuffling slowly in, his hands tucked into his sleeves and his back bent, while eight-year-old Zhao Liangbi followed sullenly behind him, his head hanging low.
"Elder Sister-in-law," Zhao Liangbi's father said, halting some distance away, a smile of studied eagerness squeezed onto his thin, dark face, "you eating?" Zhao Liangbi, meanwhile, had crouched down by the gate.
Grandmother quickly set down her bowl, called out "Third Brother," and welcomed him warmly: "Have you eaten? Join us and have a little more!" Then she called for a maid to bring a stool and another set of bowls and chopsticks.
Zhao Liangbi's father waved his hands again and again. "We have already eaten, already eaten!" Then he looked at Dou Yan and said, "This must be the Fourth Young Lady, is it not? So fair and clean-skinned—she looks like a figure out of a New Year print."
Grandmother chuckled and ordered tea and refreshments brought in.
At that, Zhao Liangbi's father bellowed at Zhao Liangbi: "You dog! What are you crouching there for? Get over here and kowtow to the Fourth Young Lady and your Elder Sister-in-law!"
Zhao Liangbi came over with a dark scowl on his face.
"This is?" Grandmother asked, looking at Zhao Liangbi's father in confusion.
"Elder Sister-in-law." Zhao Liangbi's father gave an embarrassed laugh. "A half-grown boy eats his father out of house and home. You know my wife—three hundred and sixty days of the year, she lies abed three hundred and sixty of them, and what little the fields bring in is not enough to pay for her medicine. Gousheng here—we truly cannot feed him any longer. I hear Seventh Master Dou is looking for an attendant..." He gazed at Grandmother with a face full of earnest entreaty.
Grandmother was stunned.
Dou Yan was stunned too.
In her last life, Zhao Liangbi had not appeared until she was ten. Back then, Zhao Liangbi's mother had died of illness, and his father had decided to go to Fujian with others to work as a carpenter, entrusting the thirteen-year-old Zhao Liangbi to Grandmother, while Zhao Liangbi's nine-year-old sister was given away to be a child bride... In this life, because of Tuoniang, he had appeared at the farmstead five years early.
Would fate be changed on account of this?
Dou Yan pondered.
Then she heard Zhao Liangbi's father stammer: "I know Gousheng here is no looker and has no particular talent... but for the sake of our being kin, won't you put in a word for us..."
Before he had finished speaking, Zhao Liangbi, standing awkwardly to one side, had already cried out loudly: "Father, how many times have I told you—the closer the kin, the less likely Elder Sister-in-law is to recommend anyone to the Dou family! Why can you never take that in..."