Chapter 161 — The Wooden Hairpin
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Dou Zhiwei was utterly resolute, and in the end Ji Shi returned in disappointment.
Ji Lingze could not help asking her aunt softly, "Is the relationship between Cousin Dou and her stepmother very poor?"
There was another purpose behind Ji Shi bringing Ji Lingze to Zhending for Dou Zhiwei's coming-of-age ceremony.
Ji Lingze was already betrothed to the sixth young master of the Han family of Huzhou. The sixth young master Han had been studying in the capital all along, and Ji Lingze's wedding date was set for October of this year—this was one of the reasons Ji Lingze had come to the capital early. After her marriage, Ji Lingze would reside in the capital with the sixth young master Han. The Wei family would end their mourning in the seventh month of next year, and by then they would certainly move quickly to set a wedding date with the Dou family. Once Dou Yan went to the capital, she would have a companion. Moreover, Ji Lingze was exceptionally clever, having studied since childhood under that learned aunt of the Ji family who had returned home in her old age, and she carried herself with perfect poise and grace wherever she went, never lacking in quickness. The Han family was likewise a family of officials; two of its lords were currently in office—one serving as a county magistrate in Huguang, and the other as a bureau director in the Ministry of Works' Bureau of Reclamation, overseeing the empire's river works.
Dou Yan's association with Ji Lingze could bring only benefit and no harm.
Now, hearing that Ji Lingze seemed rather puzzled by Dou Yan, she did not wish Ji Lingze to misunderstand Dou Chixiao because of it, and so she quietly told Ji Lingze, one by one, of the grievances of those years.
Ji Lingze was dumbstruck. After a long while she sighed, "If it were me, I fear I too would find it hard to remain calm!"
"Indeed!" Ji Shi sighed. "So some things cannot be blamed entirely on Shouyuan." She added, "It seems I shall have to come back for a while next year, to help Shouyuan with all the arrangements before her marriage."
Hearing this, Ji Lingze laughed. "Aunt, you truly treat Cousin Dou so well!"
"Of course." Ji Shi gestured with her hands. "I watched her grow from that tiny little thing to what she is now—there's no difference between her and my own child." She added, "She has been alone and friendless since childhood. From now on, you must treat her as your own true cousin."
"I know!" Ji Lingze took Ji Shi's arm and teased her aunt. "You are far too partial. Getting Jianming to acknowledge her as a cousin was not enough—now you want me to acknowledge her as a cousin too. It's a good thing Mengchun isn't here. If Mengchun were here, were you planning to have him acknowledge this cousin as well?"
Ji Mengchun, whose given name was Ji Yang, was Ji Yong's elder cousin. Though his reputation did not match Ji Yong's, he surpassed him in amiability and steadiness of conduct. Among the younger generation of the Ji family, he commanded even greater respect than Ji Yong.
Ji Shi said with perfect justification, "Naturally!"
Ji Lingze could not help laughing aloud. "Then do you know that Jianming has written a note reading 'Dou Four' and pressed it under the great desk in his study, and every day he must look at it a few times and mutter a few words before he can begin his reading?"
Ji Shi was greatly startled. "What happened?"