Chapter 177 — Exchange
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Can a person's birth hour and eight characters be told to just anyone?
Is fortune-telling something anyone can do?
What if a little figurine gets stuck with needles on my behalf?
.
She exchanged a few vague words with Hong Gu and hurried out of the stationery shop.
As she emerged onto the street beneath the Drum Tower, she caught sight of a fortune-teller's stall...
Something stirred in Granny Lü's heart.
What if the Fourth Miss of the Dou family and the Jining Marquisate were ill-matched in their horoscopes?
She could not wait to go and see Wei Wan.
Wei Wan listened with mingled alarm and delight.
If the horoscopes clashed, there were plenty of ways to remedy it.
But if Dou Zhiwei's fate was too hard to bear... then the Wei family would be under no obligation.
And if it was someone from the Dou family who said so, so much the better!
She praised Granny Lü roundly; yet after the old woman had withdrawn, beaming with satisfaction, Wei Wan fell to fretting again.
The idea was sound enough, but Wang Shuying was only a stepmother, and she had no footing in the capital. Words from her mouth would carry little conviction!
It would be best of all if Fan Shi, the wife of Dou Bingheng, could step forward.
Wei Wan at once had Granny Jin carry word of this to the Crane Cry Temple Alley.
Wang Shuying nearly fainted when she heard it. Mastering her fury, she hissed low in the room, "Who does she think she is? She means to order the Fifth Lady about? Has she lost her wits? Does she take everyone in the Dou household for fools?"
Nurse Hu soothed her. "Wei Wan only wants someone whose word will be believed."
"Someone whose word will be believed..." If that Dou Ji were to have his betrothal broken off by the Wei family—Wang Shuying could almost see Dou Huaiying's face, all remorse and resentment. She burst out laughing, laughed till Nurse Hu's scalp prickled, and only then did she check her mirth and say, "If my mother were to be brought forward, everyone would believe it, wouldn't they?"
The wife of Wang Xingyi. That title still carried some weight in the capital; but in the matter of Dou Zhiwei, the Wang family was Wang Shuying's own natal house, and the Sixth Lady of the Dou branch's censure of Dou Zhiwei would cut deeper than anything Wang Xu Shi could say.
"But the Elder Madam's household..." Nurse Hu said anxiously. "I fear she will only scold you again."
"When has she ever not scolded me?" Ever since Gao Shi had refused Wang Shuying's request, the feud between Wang Shuying and Gao Shi had been sealed for good. She said venomously, "Last time it was she who ruined Ming's good fortune! If she dares to stand in the way again this time, I will risk my very life to drive her out of the Wang family!"
Nurse Hu listened, terrified out of her wits, and dared say nothing.
.
Wang Xu Shi was somewhat doubtful of Wei Wan's words. "Can she really bring off this match?"
Wang Shuying bit her lip. "We must try, at any rate. Even if it comes to nothing, to have a family of such standing discuss a match is a good thing for Ming. I do not want her married back to Zhending!"
In Zhending, many would speak ill of Dou Ming's origins, and it made her life utterly without dignity.
Wang Xu Shi understood.
Dou Ming had been raised in her arms, and her affection for the girl was beyond the ordinary. Though Wang Shuying's business had vexed her sorely, at the thought of her clever, charming granddaughter her heart softened, and she nodded in consent.
Wei Wan then arranged to meet Wang Shuying and her daughter at the Puji Temple the next day.
By seizing the occasion when all the capital's ladies would be gathered at the Puji Temple to hear the abbot preach the Dharma, and by speaking before those titled wives, the Wei family could break off the betrothal afterward on perfectly proper grounds.
Yet for some reason, though everything had been arranged, Wei Wan still felt vaguely uneasy at heart.