Chapter 72 — Stepping In
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
"Bie Gangyi once served as an instructor in the capital, and after his wife died..." Zhao Liangbi said tactfully. "He is from Zhending Prefecture. The house he lives in and the fields he owns are all ancestral property."
A rabbit does not eat the grass by its own burrow. However domineering a man may be abroad, once he returns to his own hometown he will conduct himself honestly and by the rules; for if he loses his footing there, he is nothing but duckweed adrift.
There was no way Bie Gangyi would ever do a thing to tear down his own walls.
Perhaps Bie Gangyi's affairs had stirred something in Zhao Liangbi too, for he sighed and said, "When you come down to it, the Bie sisters are pitiable creatures as well. Their mother died of illness when they were tiny, and Bie Gangyi is a rough man who feared his daughters would be wronged, so he would not take another wife. The two sisters had no one to look after them—stitching and patching, scrubbing pots and washing pans, all learned by themselves from the neighbors. And when they grew a little older, they had to look after Bie Gangyi in turn. Otherwise, how would the elder Bie girl ever have caught Shan Jie's eye?"
Dou Yan resolved to step into the matter.
She nodded without a word and took up her teacup.
Zhao Liangbi, who ought to have withdrawn, lingered where he stood, his face full of hesitation.
Dou Yan raised an eyebrow.
After a long pause Zhao Liangbi stammered, "There is one more thing I have learned... After Bie Gangyi's trouble, he especially enjoined that it be kept from the elder Bie girl. But a few days ago she found out anyway. She cut off a lock of her hair and laid it before her mother's spirit tablet, and was set on going to be Shan Jie's concubine. It was Old Chen next door who saw something was wrong and forcibly kept her back... Fourth Miss, you..." He looked at Dou Yan imploringly, plainly hoping she would help.
Dou Yan was astonished.
She had not expected both Bie sisters to be girls with minds of their own when trouble came.
"Do not fret," she said. "I will report to Grandmother, and then go see Third Uncle."
Seeing that Dou Yan meant to go to Dou Zhen that very night, Zhao Liangbi was surprised and deeply grateful. "It is getting late," he said. "I have to return to the East Estate in any case—let me escort you there."
Zhao Liangbi, fourteen years old, was still serving in the East Dou accounting office. Only at sixteen would he have a chance to be sent out as a second steward.
If he did not learn the outcome, he would likely not sleep a wink tonight.
Dou Xin agreed and went to report to Grandmother.
Grandmother, on hearing the matter, loathed Shan Jie with all her heart and urged her again and again, "Go, go quickly!" Then she added, "To save a life is to build a seven-story pagoda. If your Third Uncle will not stand surety for Bie Gangyi, tell me. I still have some acquaintance with the Lang family; I will ask them to come forward and stand surety for him."
Dou Yan felt all the more assured. She answered "Yes" again and again and went off to the East Dou compound.
Dou Zhen had already gone to bed. Hearing that Dou Yan sought an audience, he was greatly startled, threw on his clothes, thrust his feet into his shoes, and came running out. "What has happened? What has happened?" he asked anxiously—which in turn flustered Dou Chu, who secretly regretted coming so late and disturbing Third Uncle's rest.
She told Third Uncle how Bie Sulan had stopped her carriage on the road, and then asked, "Has the Shan family sent anyone to make inquiries? Or let slip any word?"
"None of that." Now that Dou Zhen understood Dou Zhiwei's errand, he let out a long breath. "It is only that Shan Jie is narrow-minded and hot-tempered, reckless in all he does. Better to have one thing less than one thing more."