Chapter 172 — A Misstep
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 3 of 4
If the Dou household had a mind to hold her down and let a whisper of these family matters slip out, what respectable great house would marry Dou Ming?
Wang Shuying's eyes reddened, and tears pattered down. "Dou Huaiying has a heart too cruel! Dou Yan is his daughter—is Ming not his own flesh and blood too? If I had not been taken in by him back then, how would I have come to such a pass?" Then she turned to rail against her elder sister-in-law, Gao Shi. "When Father met with misfortune, how well I treated her! Nan was so ill he had scarcely a breath left in him—had it not been for me, he would have died long ago. Now that her days are easy and her brother has become a great frontier official, she turns her back and knows me no more. I asked only that she help find a good match for Ming among the Gao nephews and sons, and she hedges and puts me off at every turn, as if she feared I would fasten onto Nan—she hurried to betroth Nan to her own niece, Gao Mingzhu..."
Granny Hu was silent.
Ever since Wang Shuying had been stripped of her authority as mistress of the household, the Wang family too had gradually drawn away from her, and she would say such things every few days.
If she was not complaining of Gao Shi, she was scolding Pang Shi, or else recounting how she had been duped by Dou Huaiying into becoming a concubine...
Not a trace remained of the brisk, forthright woman she had been in her cotton-trading days... she was like a typical resentful wife of a great house...
At this thought, Granny Hu gave herself a great fright.
She could not help studying Wang Shuying closely.
A sallow, withered face, a listless air, endless complaining... whether anyone was listening or not, Wang Shuying talked on to herself.
Granny Hu was on the verge of tears, and before she could stop herself she broke in on Wang Shuying: "Seventh Madam, you are a clever woman. You opened a way through times far harder than these; this time too you will surely weather the storm."
Wang Shuying was startled, and her vacant gaze gradually brightened. Her lips moved as though she would speak—when a little maid came rushing in: "Seventh Madam, the Seventh Master is here."
"Ah!" She exchanged a glance with Granny Hu despite herself.
Dou Huaiying had already strode in.
"I hear the married daughter of the Jining Marquisate is coming to call on you," he said. He wore his court robes and looked hurried, plainly having just had the news and rushed back from the yamen. "She is Shouyuan's elder sister-in-law. I have already given orders for Gao Sheng to receive her well; you must gather your spirits too, and see to it that she feels thoroughly at home!"
Wang Shuying gazed at Dou Huaiying, who to this very day still wore so mild an expression toward her, gentle as polished jade, and a confusion of feelings filled her heart.
Once, she had taken this for tenderness and consideration on Dou Huaiying's part; only now did she know it was merely his Xuanqing manner.
He was like this with everyone.
It was as if he slid a soft blade into her body—she had thought it would not hurt, yet it could torment her until she wished for a single breath to end it all.
Wang Shuying longed to lift the teacup at her hand and fling its brimming contents into Dou Huaiying's face, but she thought of Dou Ming, thought of Dou Ming's marriage prospects, and her hands clenched tightly into fists—then, bit by bit, loosened again.
"I understand," she heard herself answer Dou Huaiying in a docile tone. "I will certainly not make the Fourth Young Lady lose face."
Dou Huaiying nodded in satisfaction. Not long after she left, she sent Gao Sheng's wife over with a box.
Wang Shuying opened the box.
The gleam of pearls and the luster of gold lit the whole room.