Chapter 97 — Encounter
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Dou Yan shook his head in private. "Who knows how many more messes I'll have to clean up for her yet!"
.
She helped Dou Yan change his clothes, then accompanied Dou Yan and Dou Ming to the Second Old Madam's quarters.
When the Second Old Madam saw Dou Ming, she merely said flatly, "So you've come."
Perhaps because she had been disciplined by the Second Old Madam as a child, Dou Ming behaved with perfect docility before her, addressing her respectfully as "Great-Aunt," inquiring whether the aching in her back had improved at all, and saying that this time she had brought a kind of plaster from the capital that was said to be especially effective for backaches—all of which, by dint of sheer persistence, coaxed a cold-faced Second Old Madam into beaming smiles.
Watching from the side, Dou Yan pursed her lips in secret.
Dou Ming was just as she had been in her last life: as long as it pleased her, she could make even cats and dogs adore her; but let her temper flare, and she would raise a fuss even against the King of Heaven himself.
The Second Old Madam took Dou Ming's hand and asked her what books she had been reading these past years, and how she had progressed in needlework and embroidery.
"I studied *The Admonitions for Women*, *Biographies of Exemplary Women*, and *The Classic of Filial Piety* with my eldest aunt," Dou Ming said, her smile sweet. "I haven't yet begun to learn needlework, but I love to play the pipa, so my eldest aunt hired a master to teach me. This time she came back to Zhending with me as well."
Clever of her not to mention her maternal grandmother.
Had she dared bring up Lady Wang, the Second Old Madam would likely have turned on the spot.
Come to think of it, after so many years as mistress of the Dou household and a leader of the Xuanming Sect, the Second Old Madam's jealousy had only grown; she could tolerate no voice but her own, and no person but herself.
Dou Yan was mulling this over when she heard the Second Old Madam address her: "Shouyuan, you have fine needlework. Now that Sister Ming has returned, you must give her proper guidance in needlework." She went on to praise the books as well chosen and to deliver a long discourse on the importance of womanly virtue. The gloom in Dou Ming's eyes deepened with every word, until at last a flicker of impatience crossed her face—and then Ji Yong arrived.
Seeing the Dou sisters, Ji Yong looked somewhat surprised.
Seeing Ji Yong, the Dou sisters looked somewhat surprised as well.
Only the Second Old Madam lit up with delight, beckoning to Ji Yong again and again. "At this hour, why aren't you resting in your room with Brother Hui and Brother Zhi? What brings you to my quarters? Come, come sit by my side." She not only picked up a round fan and fanned Ji Yong herself, but urged the maids to hurry and bring a bowl of iced mung bean soup—as warm as if her own grandson had come calling. Dou Ming could not help but stare, and only just restrained herself from asking who this was.
The fellow Ji Yong, as it turned out, was rather good at charming old ladies.
Upon his return from Mount Tai, he had brought the Second Old Madam a stone whose veins, at a glance, resembled an old man of longevity leading a sika deer. The Second Old Madam had been overjoyed, and had a stand made of red sandalwood on purpose, enshrining the stone in her own little Buddhist shrine.
Dou Yan glanced toward the little shrine, and the Second Old Madam was already pointing Dou Ming out. "Jianming, you haven't met Sister Ming yet, have you? This is the second daughter of our family's Seventh, who has been in the capital with him all this while. She only returned today." Then to Dou Ming: "This is the nephew of your Sixth Aunt's natal family. Just follow Shouyuan's example and call him Cousin Ji."
Ji Yong greeted Dou Ming with ease, refined and modest, like a graceful young gentleman.
Dou Ming curtsied in return, looking a little surprised.