Chapter 97 — Encounter
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
Ji Yong had come to take his leave: "...My great-grandfather has an old friend in Baoding Prefecture, and this time I'm going out; my great-grandfather instructed me to pay him a visit."
The Second Old Madam said at once, "Why not wait a few days? These are the hottest days of the year." Her tone was full of concern.
"I plan to go to the capital with Brother Hui and Brother Zhi after the Mid-Autumn Festival," he said with a smile. "I haven't seen my uncle and father for several years, and it works out well that I can go with Brother Hui and Brother Zhi and pay a visit to my aunt's husband as well."
Dou Yan had heard from the Ji clan that six members of the Ji family currently held office. Besides Ji Yong's uncle, who served as vice minister in the Ministry of Works, and his father, who served as right administrator in the Office of Transmission, several of his cousins and uncles were posted to various provinces as prefects, judicial commissioners, or financial commissioners—all with promising futures. This ought to have been the Dou family's greatest support, but because the Ji and Dou families differed in their political views—and because Ji Yong's uncle harbored ambitions of being appointed chancellor—the two families had grown less close. Still, having in-laws of such comparable standing, each inevitably held the other in some esteem, and their private dealings were not affected.
"A visit to the capital would do you good," the Second Old Madam said cheerfully, and instructed her personal maids to fetch some pills—patchouli pills, ren dan, and the like—for Ji Yong. "The weather is too hot; take these along for the road."
Ji Yong thanked her profusely.
Still uneasy, the Second Old Madam took his hand and fussed over this and that for the longest time.
When it came time to leave, Dou Yan noticed Dou Ming quietly asking one of the Second Old Madam's maids, "Cousin Ji seems to be very much in Great-Aunt's favor?"
"Of course he is," the maid said, her face full of envy. "You may think Young Master Ji is young, miss, but he's the provincial graduate of highest rank in South Zhili! How could the Old Madam not favor him?"
Dou Yan saw Dou Ming's eyes flicker.
That was the look she always wore when she wanted something.
Given a second life, would Dou Ming's sights shift from Wang Nan to Ji Yong?
She had always believed that Dou Ming did not necessarily care much for Wang Nan; rather, Wang Nan was a young man of talent whom everyone praised, with a brilliant future ahead of him, and the one most valued by the Wang family—yet he had fallen for the noble-spirited Gao Mingzhu, and Dou Ming simply could not swallow the injustice.
Dou Yan still remembered the sight of Wang Nan in her last life, sprawled over Gao Mingzhu's coffin, weeping without a sound...
If Ji Yong's arrival had shifted Dou Ming's attention, that might not be a bad thing at all.
Compared with Wang Nan, Ji Yong had far more sense of his own mind.
Dou Yan was pondering this as she and Dou Ming parted at the second gate, one going to the east cross-courtyard, the other to the west. But no sooner had she stepped into the courtyard than she saw three or four matrons assigned to manage affairs in the west cross-courtyard gathered around Honggu, talking about something; seeing Dou Yan enter, the several of them exchanged glances and, as if by prior agreement, clustered around her.
"Fourth Miss, won't you let us manage affairs in the east cross-courtyard instead?"
"That's right, Fourth Miss. We'd all like to work in the east cross-courtyard—even if we're not managing anything, just keeping watch would do!"
Dou Yan asked them coldly, "Has the Fifth Miss pulled faces at you in front of others? Or punished you without distinguishing right from wrong?"
The managing matrons all lowered their heads.