Chapter 113 — Heavy Rain
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Word came that the Dou and Wei families had exchanged betrothal gifts.
The rain fell in bean-sized drops, pouring down with a rush and in an instant turning Zhending County into a land of standing water.
Dou Yan stood beneath the covered corridor, and the spray kicked up where the downpour struck the bluestone paving soon soaked the hem of her skirt.
Suxin, straw cape and bamboo hat over her shoulders and clogs on her feet, came in through curtain upon curtain of rain.
"Miss, do go back inside and rest!" she urged Dou Yan even as she carefully took off her cape and hat and handed them to the maid beside her, fearful that a stray drop might dampen Dou Zhiwei's clothes. "It's raining too hard out there. I've tidied the greenhouse just as you instructed and set two steady old nurses to keep watch through the night, so set your mind at ease!"
How could Dou Yan set her mind at ease?
Spring rain is as precious as fine thread.
But if this spring rain kept falling thus, the crops newly sown would likely rot in the sodden ground.
She raised her head to the crow-black sky, and with a furrowed brow went inside.
Chen Yanzhou came through the rain.
"Miss, the weather looks wrong to me. Ought we not send someone to look in on the farm?" His face was grave.
"Master and I are of one mind." As Dou Yan spoke, the sky flared and a bolt of lightning streaked across it, followed by a rumble of thunder. "This rain won't stop any time soon, I fear. The east courtyard and the main house have both been repaired these past two years, but the west courtyard and the Hesou Hall—someone should be sent to see whether they're leaking anywhere."
Seeing that Dou Yan understood the situation, Chen Yanzhou was reassured.
Honggu came holding a tung-oil-paper umbrella, supporting Old Aunt Cui.
"So Master Chen is here too!" She greeted Chen Yanzhou, her eyes full of deep worry. "Shouyuan, this rain is too heavy. I fear the crops in the fields won't hold up. I must go back and see."
"How can you?" Dou Yan and Chen Yanzhou said as one. "If anyone goes, it should be us—how could we let you?"
They made everyone laugh, and the mood suddenly turned warm.
"What good would it do for you to go?" said her grandmother. "You know nothing of farming, and going would be no more than a glance from a galloping horse. I'd best go myself!" Then she instructed Shouyuan. "Prepare me a carriage. If the crops in the fields truly come to grief, once the rain stops we must think of some way to get everyone to replant quickly, or there'll be no harvest this year. Even if we waive their rents, they'll have a hard time of it, I fear. We'll need to set aside grain to lend them through the winter—otherwise people will starve."
Dou Yan had never lived through a famine year, and Chen Yanzhou had fared well even in the lean years; neither had the old lady's depth of feeling, and so neither felt her urgency. One urged, "In such heavy rain, what if you take a chill?" The other said, "Old Aunt Cui, there's no need to worry. Zhending has had favorable weather these past few years. If a flood really comes, the county and prefecture will find a way, and at the very least the court will send relief. You needn't be too anxious."
Old Aunt Cui shook her head stubbornly, insisting on going back to the farm to see for herself.
At her wit's end, Dou Yan said, "Then let me go myself!"
Naturally Old Aunt Cui would not agree. "You're a young girl—what could you do there?"
How Dou Ci had treated Old Aunt Cui these past years, Chen Yanzhou had taken to heart. He smiled and said, "If you're uneasy, why not let me go with Fourth Miss? Perhaps the rain will stop any moment! With you worn out from the journey, Fourth Miss would only fret at home."
That would do.
Dou Yan turned it over in her mind, and she and Chen Yanzhou talked at her grandmother from this side and that until the old lady had no strength to resist, and had to agree that Chen Yanzhou should accompany Dou Yan to the farm.