Chapter 206 — Resentment
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 5
Ji Yong stood on the steps.
There was likely no one more foolish in all the world than this Wei Fan!
The vows were exchanged, the bride entered the bridal chamber, the veil was lifted—Dou Ming sat with her head bowed beside the great red dragon-and-phoenix candles, where the glow could not reach the bed curtains, while Ma Jun's wife called anxiously from outside: "The Marquis must hurry to the wedding tent to toast the guests—they're pressing him!" Yet he had not so much as glanced carefully at his bride before hastily downing the nuptial cup and rushing out again.
Man proposes, but Heaven disposes.
When he finally discovers the bride has been swapped, let us see what face he dares to put on it!
A maidservant of the Wei household came over smiling, and made a respectful curtsy to Ji Yong: "Cousin-in-law by marriage, we've prepared sobering soup in the flower hall—shall I bring you a bowl?"
Once the bridal pair had entered the nuptial chamber, the bride's family should have taken their leave and returned home, coming back the next day to the groom's house for the recognition feast.
The Wei maidservant was reminding Ji Yong that it was time to go.
Ji Yong paid her no heed.
The woman could not help feeling uneasy.
How was it that every last one of these Dou kinsmen was stranger than the next—the bride had entered the house, yet it was the bride's family's "complete-fortune woman" who helped arrange everything; the personal maids and serving women who had come as part of the dowry had all been sent to rest in the eastern wing; and the complete-fortune woman arranged by the Wei family had been packed off to the front to enjoy the wedding wine... And now that the bride had entered, here stood the bride's brother, not moving an inch—did he mean to eavesdrop on the bridal chamber too?
The woman muttered to herself.
Fortunately the bride was composed; when the Wei kinsmen and friends came to look at the new wife, she only lowered her head and smiled with pursed lips, a pretty, neat figure, no pockmarks on her face, no defect about her person—otherwise the woman would have thought something was wrong with the bride!
Just as she was thinking this, a burst of laughter came from the direction of the bridal chamber, and several distant relatives who had been teasing the bride came tumbling out together, among them an old lady whom even the Marquis had to address as "Great-Aunt Zeng," supported by her own daughter-in-law. As they walked out, she was still joking: "No wonder the Marquis was in such a hurry to see his bride—with a little wife so pleasing to look at, if I were the Marquis, I'd be shooing people out the door too!"
Another round of laughter, which startled the golden pheasants kept in the courtyard for good fortune into a great flapping.
Madame Cai went about in circles making curtsies to the Wei ladies: "Tomorrow we'll have the Marquis properly kowtow to all you elders." She escorted the group of ladies—who looked pleased at the flattery—out of the courtyard.
Ji Yong saw Ma Jun's wife poke her head out from the bridal chamber, and when she saw the ladies had gone far off, she shut the bridal chamber door with a clang.
He smiled faintly and left the main house with the maidservant.
He ran straight into Dou Wenchang, covered in sweat.
"Master Ji, I've been looking for you everywhere." He wiped the sweat from his brow. "It's getting late—we should be going back. Tomorrow we still have to arrange for people to come drink the recognition wine..."
For Dou Yan's wedding, he had been assigned to carry the bride on his back.