Chapter 185 — Indecision
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
.
Song Yan had long suspected that Dou Yan and Wang-shi were at odds. Otherwise, no matter the reason, Dou Huaiying could never have packed his eldest legitimate daughter—a girl who had lost her own mother—off to the family's old home while he himself kept his second wife and the daughter she bore him in the capital year after year. What he had not imagined was that the rift between Dou Yan and Wang-shi ran so deep that Dou Yan would disregard the Dou family's reputation altogether.
What struck him as stranger still, however, was Wei Wan's attitude.
Dou Yan was her future sister-in-law, and Wei Wan was the sort who shielded her own. Yet before so many watching eyes she had not spoken a single word on Dou Yan's behalf; and when Wang-shi tried to drag her into it, she had hesitated for a moment. That defied all reason. And then
his thoughts turned to what had happened at the Northern Zen Temple.
He sent men to look into the marriage alliance between the Dou and Wei families.
Only then did Song Yan discover that although Dou Yan had been betrothed to Wei Fan since childhood, the two families had rarely exchanged visits in the early years. It was not until He Daowen sought Dou Yan's hand for his son that the engagement was brought up again. Even so, after the old Marquis of Jining passed away, the Wei family had proposed that Dou Yan be married into the Wei household within the hundred days of mourning—their contempt and disdain plain for all to see.
Or perhaps the Dou family had revived the Dou-Wei betrothal precisely in order to decline the He family's suit with polite excuses, while the Wei family had agreed to the match because of an early pledge to the Dou family—compelled by circumstance, with no way out...
Which would explain everything: why Ji Yong could not abide the sight of Wei Fan, why Wei Wan would stand by and let Dou Yan be humiliated, why Zhang Yuan, upon learning that he had settled the matter of the Southern Zen Temple alley, had hurried to bring Wei Fan to see him.
Wang-shi and her daughter were vicious of heart, and Wei Wan's designs were venomous—so venomous that all the capital now whispered that the Dou family's Fourth Miss, soon to marry into the Jining Marquis's household, was perverse and violent of temper, wholly without forbearance, a girl who had torn off all pretense with her stepmother before she was even wed...
Song Kejin felt a faint ache begin at his temples.
Yet Dou Chuxin was set on marrying into the Jining Marquis's household, and nothing would sway her. Otherwise—a little scheming, and what great matter would it be to have Dou Yan withdraw from the engagement without a scratch?
The problem was Dou Yan herself. What was she truly thinking...
At that thought he sat bolt upright and called out loudly for "Chen He," saying, "Tell Mr. Chao I have business elsewhere for a few days!"
If he stayed away from Yizhi Hall too long, Song Ji would have Yan Che invent some excuse to answer Song Cen.
Chen He answered and went off at once.
Song Yan slipped on his shoes and told Song Luo to help him change his clothes.
He had barely finished dressing when Yan Che came in, his expression hurried.
"Young Marquis," he said, bowing with clasped hands, his face oddly altered, "a quarter of an hour ago the Dou family's Fourth Miss entered the capital with the Dowager Lady Dou. She is now lodged at the Fifth Master Dou's residence on Huai Tree Alley."
"Why did you not tell me sooner?" Song Yan froze, then a trace of anger crossed his face.
If she had come to the capital with her elders, she could not have set out and arrived on the same day—there must have been preparations. Their people in Zhending should have had word long ago!