Chapter 107 — The Ex-Husband
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Dou Yan was astonished to hear that the He family had entrusted Cai Bi to go with the Dou household and retrieve the betrothal token from the Jining Marquisate.
By any reasonable reckoning, matters having come this far, the He family ought to have kept silent even if they were unwilling to let go—so why would they risk their reputation to speak up on the Dou family's behalf? Were they after her, or after Dou Bingheng? Or had He Wendao and Dou Bingheng already struck some agreement, in urgent need of this marriage as a cover? After all, in her previous life, Dou Bingheng had entered the Grand Secretariat only with He Wendao's backing.
She hazarded a bold guess: "Could it be that He Yu and his elder brother are locked in an irreconcilable feud?"
Chen Yanzhou's eyes narrowed, and he said gravely, "Say what you will, but if that is truly the case, then everything falls into place."
He Wendao knew that after his death He Yu could never count on the full backing of the clan, and it happened that he had taken a liking to Dou Yan; so He Wendao entrusted this, his most beloved youngest son, to Dou Bingheng, and threw his weight behind Dou Bingheng's entry into the Grand Secretariat. For He Wendao, this was merely declaring his position early in the contest for the Grand Secretary's seat—risky, perhaps, but not enough to shake his foundations, and it settled the quarrels among his sons as well. Truly, several birds with one stone.
He said worriedly, "I fear this business will bring trouble."
"What business doesn't?" Dou Yan laughed cheerfully, her manner relaxed. "Let's find out everything about the He family's affairs first, working along these lines. And the Wei family—we'll need someone watching them too. This Cai Bi..." She very much wanted to say "I know all about him," but mindful of her present identity, she paused, then went on, "I seem to have heard that his tongue is remarkably glib. I'm afraid the He and Dou families may be willing to compensate the Wei family and take back the token anyway. The Wei family's eldest great-aunt is rather mercenary—we had best guard against her."
Chen Yanzhou suspected nothing.
Dou Yan was a woman of deep schemes; where her own lifelong marriage was concerned, it was only natural that she would find some way to learn about the Wei family's circumstances.
"I'll see to it at once." Chen Yanzhou did things with dispatch, which Dou Yan greatly admired.
She called him back: "Any word from the Ji family?"
Dou Yan had not told Chen Yanzhou about Ji Yong's words—"Seeing as we're family, I'll help you out this once." Instinctively she thought them too absurd; even if she repeated them, Chen Yanzhou likely would not believe her, or would dismiss them as the hot-headed impulse of a young man.
Chen Yanzhou said, "Nothing yet." Privately, though, he was wondering whether he ought to go to the capital himself.
If the Fourth Miss had not spotted something in the He family's affairs, they would probably still be groping in the dark, let alone making any progress.
At moments like this, Chen Yanzhou felt keenly the agony of having too few hands.
He was about to consult with Dou Yan when Su Xin came in wearing a peculiar expression: "Fourth Miss, two young gentlemen say they were passing through Zhending County on business and have come to pay their respects to the Seventh Master. One gives his surname as Wei and says he is the heir of the Jining Marquisate; the other gives his as Wang and says he is the Fourth Lord of the Ting'an Marquisate..."
Wei Fan and Wang Qinghai!
Dou Yan's eyes went wide.
Chen Yanzhou was badly startled too. Glancing at Dou Yan, who looked somewhat dazed, he said urgently, "Where are they? Does he not know the Seventh Master is in the capital?"