Chapter 162 — The Metropolitan Examination
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
Her smile froze on her face, and she asked Zixi urgently, "Since the young master left Yixing, where has he been? Whom has he seen?"
Ever since Ji Yong had begun carving that wooden hairpin with his own hands, Zixi had felt as though he were roasting over a fire.
The young master treated the Fourth Miss of the Dou family far too well. He had half a mind to drop Han-shi a hint, yet feared she would think nothing of it; but if the young master went on this way, and one day some trouble came of it, then for those who served him closely it would no longer be a question of whether they had been respectful enough to the Ji elders. It would be a matter of poor character, of instigating their master to wickedness—and even with the young master's protection, the Ji family could never keep them.
Now that Han-shi asked, he was both startled and glad, and dropping to his knees before her with a thud, he told her everything from beginning to end: how Ji Yong had conceived the notion of going to Zhending to visit the Ji family, how he had come to know Dou Yan, how Dou Yan had dealt with Pang Kunbai, and how Ji Yong had come to regard Dou Yan with special favor.
Han-shi listened with a pounding heart. It was a long while before she came back to herself: "You mean to say that Jianming carved that wooden hairpin with his own hands for the Fourth Miss of the Dou family?"
Zixi nodded. "The young master drew the design himself and carved it himself. It took him nearly a month."
Han-shi was astonished. "Then why did he not give it to her? If I remember rightly, the Fourth Miss of the Dou family's coming-of-age ceremony was on the tenth of the first month."
Ji Lingze had attended Dou Zhiwei's coming-of-age ceremony.
Zixi looked uneasy. "The young master said that if he could not place on the golden roll this time, by what right would he presume to send the Fourth Miss of the Dou family a congratulatory gift?"
Han-shi's expression changed drastically.
So the Fourth Miss of the Dou family weighed so heavily in her son's heart!
If that was so, why had he not told her, and let her go make the proposal properly?
Could it be that he feared the Fourth Miss Dou would disdain him?
At that thought, Han-shi's heart was a tangle of emotions.
Her son—this paragon of talent, this scholar of vast learning, this darling of heaven whom so many envied, whom so many fawned over and flattered in hopes of a match—should one day stoop to court a girl's favor!
And what was so fine about this Fourth Miss of the Dou family?
She was not only a motherless eldest daughter, but cold and proud by nature, one who would beat a person to death if the mood took her. If he truly married her, when her son was already treading so cautiously to please her, what standing would she have to play the mother-in-law? Would it not be like taking an ancestress into the house?
But if they refused—apart from the old master, there was truly no second person in this household who could control their son.
But if they refused—apart from the old master, there was truly no second person in this household who could control their son.
The old master is advanced in years—surely he cannot manage his son forever?
From what Zixi says, though that Fourth Miss Dou may be ruthless in her methods, at least she is a woman of firm resolve. The only reason our son agreed to sit the examinations this time was that Fourth Miss Dou gave him a good dressing-down.
When taking a wife, one takes virtue. To be able to govern her husband, urge him to better himself, and bring glory to the ancestral name—that is the greatest virtue a woman can possess.
Thinking thus, a subtle change came over Han-shi's heart.
Even if her son did not marry Fourth Miss Dou, would he truly grow any closer to her?
But if her son were to marry Fourth Miss Dou… a woman's domain is the inner quarters; if she could keep the daughter-in-law, then she could keep the son as well…