Chapter 172 — A Misstep
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
When Wei Wan learned that Chen Yanzhou and Hong Gu had, within a single day, paid calls at the Crane-Cry Temple Lane, the Cat Lane, and the Locust Tree Lane, her heart turned to ice.
"So, by your account, Chen Yanzhou and that Hong Gu are still lodging at the shop?" she asked Granny Jin. "And when they went to call at the Quiet Repose Temple Lane, Lord Dou did not even keep them for a midday meal?"
"Just so!" Granny Jin nodded. "More than that—they did not even get a glimpse of the Seventh Madam's face."
"How can that be?" Wei Wan's brows knitted tightly together.
Granny Jin, whom Dou Yan had once rebuked without the least mercy, felt a certain schadenfreude; naturally she wished Dou Yan as much misfortune as possible. Her eyes darted about, and she lowered her voice to Wei Wan: "But when they came out of Lord Dou's mansion, they did carry off a few boxes of pastries—for all the world like alms tossed to a beggar."
Wei Wan's expression turned uglier still.
After some thought, she went to the Jining Marquisate.
Tian Shi was struck dumb with amazement; plainly she had never imagined Dou Yan to be in such straits within the Dou household. Only after a long while did she stammer: "But what is to be done? It is no more than one extra pair of chopsticks at the table—let it be as though I had raised one more daughter."
Wei Wan would not accept it. "Mother, have you considered? Wang Shi is a stepmother, and for a stepmother to dislike the daughter of the first wife is only human nature—that much can be excused. But look: for the sake of her dowry, that accountant begged at one house, then at another, and every house gave him the same perfunctory brush-off. That is no longer a simple matter of a stepmother's disfavor; perhaps even Dou Zhiwei's character is in question. Our Tingyu is handsome in person and upright in conduct. Father and Mother engaged tutors from his earliest years to instruct him at home and teach him how to be a man; and as he grew a little older, fearing he might fall in with the idle young rakes, you hired masters to teach him archery. Who knows how much heart's blood was spent on him. Among all the noble houses of the capital, how many sons are there like our Tingyu? What well-bred maiden of good family would not be a match for him? Why should he suffer such indignity? He is a boy we reared in the palms of our hands!"
Tian Shi wept as she listened. "Then tell me, what is to be done? Surely we cannot break off the match? If there is anyone to blame, blame me! Had I not meddled and gone to visit Zhao Shi, this betrothal would never have come about... I had thought the Western Dou were thin in numbers, and that Dou Yan being the eldest daughter, Dou Wanyuan would not neglect her, come what may. Who could have known it would come to this?"
But at these words Wei Fan's heart gave a leap.
She sat down beside her mother, drew out a handkerchief and handed it to her, and said in a low voice: "Mother—what if we were to break off this betrothal?"
Tian Shi felt as though she had been struck by lightning. She waved her hands again and again. "No, no! Tingyu is in mourning, and Dou Yan has waited three years for him. Besides, this match was wrested from the He family in the first place—if we were to break it off now... there would be no justifying it at all. And Dou Yan has done nothing wrong..."