Chapter 195 — Changes
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Seeing the look on Wei Fan's face, Dou Yan could only sigh.
In both this life and the last, he had rarely been one to use his head.
Dou Yan had no choice but to say, "Everyone's spirits are low just now. If we try to settle on a wedding date at a time like this, I fear nothing good will come of the discussion. Fortunately, we've only agreed on a date by word of mouth and haven't sent out formal invitations yet. Better to put the wedding off for a while and wait until both families are calm again."
Indeed, his mother had summoned his elder sister home to discuss how to furnish the bridal chamber, and his sister had flown into a temper over whether to place a pair of sky-blue Ru-ware flower vases or a pair of fashionable famille-rose plum vases on the curio shelf. She had complained that the date had been set too hastily, leaving no time to prepare, and then turned on him for having agreed to meet Dou Ming at the Puji Temple—if not for that, the Wei and Dou families would long since have broken off the engagement, and she could have helped him court Wang Qingyuan of the Wang family. Now she was forced to go back on her word and sit down with the Dou family to renegotiate the date; not only was a match with the Wang family now out of the question, but all her pains to leak word of her whereabouts had been wasted...
At these thoughts, Wei Fan let out a long breath.
He did not want to break off the engagement, but with his sister forever finding fault with one thing or another, there was little he could do.
Putting the date off was probably for the best—at least it would spare him her constant fretting and carping.
Wei Fan smiled and nodded, saying, "All right."
Seeing him so carefree and guileless, Dou Yan could not help shaking her head. She wanted to advise him—something along the lines of "Rather than idling your days away, why not hire a master to teach you archery and horsemanship at home? The Emperor has always set great store by the autumn hunt; if you could place well, you might get into the Imperial Guard or the Fengtai Barracks, and your mother would no longer spend her days worrying over you"—but then she recalled how in her previous life she had urged Wei Fan to take part in the autumn hunt, only to have him mock her, saying, "My brother is at least a marquis; surely he needn't compete with men who don't even qualify as heir apparent for some petty post of squad leader or company commander in the Imperial Guard or the Banner Guard." Wei Fan had listened to his sister, and so had frittered away the better part of a lifetime in idleness.
She swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue and asked Sulang to see him out.
But Sulang came back and reported, "I saw the Marquis out as far as the hanging-flower gate. I was just wondering whether to go to the kitchen and see if the midday meal was ready when I spotted the Marquis following an old serving woman back inside. I ducked behind a tree at once, and once they had gone some distance, I sent a little maid to follow. The maid says the Marquis went with that woman into the Fifth Young Lady's courtyard."
Dou Yan pressed her lips together and said nothing.
She truly believed that Wei Fan had no designs on Dou Ming—but she also truly believed that Wei Fan could never bring himself to refuse Dou Ming's tears.
Still, some things depended on one's own fate and fortune; no one else could hurry them along, however anxious they might be.
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Back at the Locust Tree Lane residence, her Fifth Aunt was just seeing off guests at the head of her two daughters-in-law.
Dou Yan looked closely and saw that the guest being seen off was none other than the wife of Cai Bi—her Fifth Aunt's in-law relation and the mother of her tenth cousin's wife.
She stepped forward, dipped in a curtsey, and greeted her.