Chapter 172 — A Misstep
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
"Mother, listen to me." Wei Wan's expression was resolute as she caught her mother's hands, and Tian Shi's fluttered heart quieted a little; she sat still and listened to her daughter. "In this world, everything depends on how it is told. Look at Song Yan, the heir of the Yingzhen Garrison House—he has killed so many. Everyone knows something happened in that family, yet father and son still go about arm in arm, and when anyone asks Song Yan about the killings, the Song family insists those guards were bandits; even when His Majesty inquires, not a word slips out for half a day. They smeared the whole affair over and got clean away with it. Tingyu has only two or three months of mourning left. Is he not in business with Gu Yu and Song Yan? When the time comes, we need only tell the Dou household that he is busy with that matter and put the wedding off a while. With Dou Yan so ill-regarded at home, there must be those who dislike her marrying above her station. I need not name them; that Wang Shi..." Here she raised an eyebrow. "We need only find a way to strike up acquaintance with Wang Shi, and then I shall offer her my friendship and keep up a social connection. Wang Shi was a concubine raised to wife—how could she not be moved? Then it will be a simple matter to have Wang Shi find some fault with Dou Zhiwei. Mother, where there is a will, what cannot be done?"
"But would that not ruin Dou Yan?" Tian Shi struggled. "She is already so ill-regarded at home; if the betrothal is broken, what way out would she have..."
"Mother, there you are mistaken," Wei Wan said gently. "Dou Zhiwei's fifth uncle is a Grand Secretary, and there must be any number of scholarly families eager to ally with the Dou. If sons of the great old houses will not do, are the poorer families beneath her? Perhaps, once the match with our family is broken, she may find one of equal standing and live all the better for it."
Tian Shi was still reluctant.
Wei Wan grew angry. "Mother, why was I married off to the Zhang family in the first place? If you let my brother take that Dou Yan, then what am I to be?" As she spoke, thinking of the grievances she had endured in the Zhang household these past years, she could not help sobbing. "Our family had no means to begin with, and now that my brother has Song Yan's patronage, he stands on the verge of pouring in gold by the day—what well-bred maiden of good family could not be won for him? I am already as I am; if my brother cannot even have a good match, what meaning is left in my life? What hope is there in the days to come?" With that, she covered her face and wept in stifled sobs.
Tian Shi was pierced to the heart, and embracing Wei Wan, she too began to cry.
For a time, Tian Shi's inner chamber became a land of rivers and lakes.
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When Wang Shuying received Wei Wan's card of introduction, she was greatly astonished, and said to Granny Hu: "Does she not know that the household affairs of the Dou are in the hands of Gao Sheng's wife?" As she spoke, a look of mockery surfaced on her face despite herself.
Granny Hu handed Wang Shuying a washed plum and smiled. "The Fourth Young Lady is to be married, and before the in-laws, you surely cannot be said to have no say in the household now?"
Wang Shuying gave a cold laugh and tossed the card onto the kang. "Now they know they want me to put up a good front for them. Where were they before?" Turning to the maid who had brought the report, she said stiffly, "I will not see her."
But Granny Hu shot the maid a look, then urged Wang Shuying: "The Fourth Young Lady will surely be married out from the Yunqi Temple Lane, and when the time comes, the Fifth Madam and Sixth Madam will both be there to help. That will be your chance. Why must you hold a grudge against the Fourth Young Lady over this? The Fifth Young Lady is thirteen this year—of an age to discuss a match..."