Chapter 183 — Bound for the Capital
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 4 of 4
When the three Dou brothers in the capital received word, they discussed it among themselves and decided that Dou Yan should accompany the Second Old Madam and stay in Dou Bingheng's residence; the Sixth Madam would for the time being also move to live in the Huashu Alley house, while the household affairs over in Mao'er Alley would be managed by the Han woman, who had entered the family not long ago.
Dou Heng nodded again and again and personally escorted Ji to Huashu Alley.
The Fifth Madam had never, since marrying into the family, properly lived under the same roof as the Second Old Madam, and her heart was all atremble; Ji's arrival delighted her beyond measure. She poured out a great basketful of polite words, cleared out the principal rooms, and, taking Ji by the hand, went all through the courtyard, arranging the rooms, deciding the menus, assigning the serving maids, stewards' wives, and old women, and sending word to Zhending to ask for the list of those who would make the journey. She spun about like a top. Her two daughters-in-law, the Guo and the Cai, helped at her side as well, and the Han woman came by from time to time to look in on things, so that within a few days everything was arranged properly.
On the fourth day of the eighth month of the Gengshen year, Dou Yan returned with the Second Old Madam to the capital, from which she had in truth been absent fourteen years, though in the eyes of others she had never been there at all.
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Sisters, my apologies—by the time I finished writing it was already three or four in the morning, and I was so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open, muddle-headed as could be, and I forgot to hit publish. This morning a friend texted me asking why I hadn't posted... ⊙﹏⊙b sweat...
I still owe everyone the chapter for the first of the month, and later I have to go talk with the neighbor downstairs about compensation for the water leak, so I can't guarantee the timing—please bear with me these next couple of days.
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