Chapter 158 — The Coming-of-Age Ceremony
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
Old Master Cui had only stopped working the fields in the last few years. Among farming folk, the usual exchange of gifts was a couple of feet of blue or red cloth—what good ideas could he have? He thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you go ask your aunt?"
Cui the Elder scratched his head. "I already asked. Aunt said there's no need for all that trouble—two pairs of shoes and socks would be enough."
.
Just then Cui Min came in.
Old Master Cui quickly pulled Cui Min onto the kang to sit and asked him, "You tell us. When people in the capital run into this sort of thing, what do they give?"
Cui Min laughed. "No wonder there are no small households in the capital."
"That's true enough." Old Master Cui laughed despite himself.
Cui Min said to Cui the Elder, "I think you'd do best, Elder Brother, to just let the stewards each give their own... You can't very well steal everyone else's thunder, can you?"
Cui the Elder nodded. "That's the way of it." His gaze toward Cui Min grew ever more eager.
Cui Min coughed, embarrassed. Only then did he say, "What Aunt said makes sense too. Our family might as well make a few pairs of shoes and socks, and give a couple of rare trinkets as well."
"What rare trinkets?" Old Master Cui and Cui the Elder fixed their shining eyes on Cui Min.
Cui Min went back to his room and brought out a brocade box. "This is something I picked up from the Ji family's shop. It's called a kaleidoscope..." Then he took it out and demonstrated it for them.
Old Master Cui's eyes went wide and fixed. He asked, "How much silver did this cost?"
"Thirty taels," Cui Min said.
Fan Wenshu had picked up a lotus-patterned jadeite brush washer in an antique shop in the capital for thirty taels of silver, and Cui Min had prepared this gift for Dou Yan in the same spirit.
Old Master Cui gave a start. "So expensive!" But he clutched the thing in his hand and would not let go, and impatiently called out for "Cui the Fourth's wife," summoning Tuo Niang.
"You take this and give it away." Old Master Cui stuffed it into Tuo Niang's hands, brocade box and all. "This is our family's gift for the Fourth Young Miss's coming-of-age. You take your sisters-in-law and younger sisters-in-law and help the Fourth Young Miss make two outfits. Ask your mother for the silver. When the time comes, you and your eldest sister-in-law take Cui Jiu's wife with you into the city to pay your respects to the Fourth Young Miss."
Cui Jiu's father-in-law had once served for several years as a gatekeeper at the county yamen, and Cui Jiu's wife counted as a woman of some experience in the Cui household. That was why Old Master Cui had her go along to congratulate Dou Yan.
Cui the Elder and Cui Min had never dreamed that Old Master Cui would cut the ground out from under them midway. They were dumbstruck, and it was a good while before they came to their senses—but by then Tuo Niang had already neatly packed the thing away.
"Grandfather..." Cui Min looked as if he wanted to weep but had no tears.
Old Master Cui, however, sat there serene as a sage. "It's only thirty taels of silver, isn't it? You can ask your grandmother for it later. You young fellows can just make a trip to the prefectural city tomorrow." Then he waved a great hand and ordered Tuo Niang, "Quick, set the table! The ones coming back from the fields should be here soon."
What could Cui the Elder and Cui Min say? They hastily bolted a few mouthfuls of food, then hurried through the night to the prefectural city. They barely managed to buy a pair of glass bowls and a tortoiseshell incense burner the size of a palm before the Ji family's shop closed for the New Year, and only then did the two of them breathe easy.
When the ninth day of the first month came, Cui the Elder and Cui Min drove the carriage, bringing Cui the Elder's wife, Tuo Niang, and Cui Jiu's wife to the county town.
On the road, they saw several fine black-lacquered carriages with flat tops and even fronts.