Chapter 140 — A Contest of Wits
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Ji Yong had said it in front of all the maids who had come to change his bedding, so it was only natural that the words soon reached Dou Ming's ears.
She gave a cold laugh and shut herself away, instructing Granny Zhou and Ji Hong: "From now on, anything sent to me must be examined carefully. Only when you are certain there is nothing amiss may it be brought to my hands. I refuse to believe that by staying indoors and eating and drinking nothing carelessly, he can still take my life."
Granny Zhou and Ji Hong had feared Dou Ming would meet Ji Yong head-on; seeing her handle it with such caution, they breathed a sigh of relief. Food, clothing, and all daily necessities had to pass through their hands before reaching Dou Ming. In less than a fortnight, they found a needle in the autumn clothes sent to her, a purgative in her meals, and a snake and two rats in her chambers.
Dou Ming laughed with scorn: "Is that all?"
Sulang, however, was deeply disappointed: "He talks as if he were so formidable, and in the end it is only these petty tricks!"
Suxin sharply rebuked her sister: "What more do you want? I think Young Master Ji shows great restraint! A harmless bit of mischief like this, giving the Fifth Young Lady some hardship—that is all. If something truly happened, the Fourth Young Lady, as her elder sister, would be hard-pressed to escape blame."
"Which is why the Fifth Young Lady should be sent back to the capital," said Sulang. In their private chamber, with only the two sisters present, she spoke without restraint. "I simply dislike the way the Fifth Young Lady always treats the Fourth Young Lady like an enemy."
"Even an upright judge cannot settle family affairs," Suxin sighed. "We shall do as the Fourth Young Lady instructs."
Sulang nodded. "What else can we do? Young Master Ji cannot be counted on!"
Indeed, Ji Yong could no longer be counted on.
After Dou Yan passed the provincial examination, he resolved to press on and sit for the spring metropolitan examination the following year.
The several jinshi of the Dou family all held posts away from home. The only one who had remained behind was a tong jinshi, who declared his own learning too shallow to delay Dou Yan's prospects and refused to instruct him in the art of examination essays. It occurred to Dou Yan that Jiangnan had always enjoyed a more flourishing literary culture than the north, and that Ji Yong, who had placed first in the Nan Zhili provincial examination two cohorts ahead of him, was the man to consult. So he brought his essays to Ji Yong for guidance.
Ji Yong was supremely clever. For things that followed discernible patterns, he possessed a gift beyond anyone's reach. In but a few words he gave Dou Yan the sense of a sudden clearing in the fog. Moreover, he had none of the musty pedantry of old scholars; whatever Dou Yan asked, he answered fully and without reservation, and Dou Yan benefited greatly. At first Dou Yan came only every few days, then every day. Later still, he simply moved in next door to Ji Yong...
How could he spare any thought for tormenting Dou Ming!
This was the outcome everyone was glad to see.
West Dou gradually recovered its former calm, and Dou Ming began practicing the pipa with Wan Niang every day.
The Beginning of Winter was fast approaching, and the household was busy preparing for the seasonal sacrifices, when Ji Hong quietly said to Dou Ming: "Shang'er, who attends the Second Young Master of the Wang family, slipped over in secret. He says he has something urgent to see you about. I was afraid the Fourth Young Lady might notice, so I hid him in the firewood shed for now."
Dou Ming was badly startled.
For the past two years, Wang Tan had been her source of news from the capital—but this time he had sent his own page boy...
She abandoned her pipa practice and urged Ji Hong to bring Shang'er in.