Chapter 210 — A Misstep (Bonus update, begging for pink votes)
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
When the Wei family arrived at the Jining Marquis's residence,.
Wei Wan caught sight of the Dou family's carriage and could not help but find it strange. "Why have the Dou family come so early?" she asked.
By custom, the Dou ladies ought to have waited for the Wei family to send three invitations and four urgings before deigning to appear, as if doing them a reluctant favor. By that time, the bride would usually have already opened her trousseau and presented the customary gifts to her new in-laws. It was barely the hour of the rabbit, and the newlyweds had not yet begun the rite of worshipping the kitchen god—the Dou ladies had indeed come rather too early.
The old nurse sent to inform Wei Wan dared not say much, only mumbling vaguely, and for a long while Wei Wan could make nothing of it. It was Zhang Yuanming who laughed and said, "When they come late, you complain they lack respect; when they come early, you complain they lack restraint. You truly are a hard one to please!" Wei Wan could not help but laugh and gave her husband a playful thump. "You never have a kind word, do you?" The gloom that had weighed on her heart over her brother's marriage to a sister-in-law she found so unsatisfactory melted away in an instant, and her face glowed with renewed spirit, wreathed in smiles.
The steward, having received word, had long been waiting respectfully. He invited Zhang Yuanming to entertain the Dou men who had come to formalize the kinship, while the old nurse led Wei Wan and the child to the western courtyard where Madam Tian lived in widowhood.
Before long, a few muffled sounds of commotion drifted faintly from the western courtyard.
Zhang Yuanming, in the flower hall, was somewhat taken aback, unable to imagine what could possibly warrant such a fuss on this fine morning, of all days—the joyous occasion of his brother-in-law's wedding.
Yet Dou Wenchang and Ji Yong, seated across from Zhang Yuanming, understood full well.
The scandal had come to light.
Fortunately, one was steady and prudent, the other quick-witted beyond measure; both betrayed nothing, and went on exchanging pleasantries with Zhang Yuanming.
Zhang Yuanming, of course, could only pretend not to have heard, and smilingly steered the conversation to the matter currently on every tongue at court—the rebellion of the Dao clan of the Menglian Pacification Office in Yunnan. "...Thanks to Lord Wang, the people of Yunnan are spared the horrors of war once more."
The "Lord Wang" he referred to was none other than Wang Xingyi—both a kinsman by marriage to the Dou family and, in name, the new bride's maternal grandfather.
The man looked dull and slow-witted. Yet he was no fool after all.
Ji Yong listened as Dou Wenchang and Zhang Yuanming exchanged polite words, and was silently turning this over in his mind when he saw a servant hurry to Zhang Yuanming's side and whisper a few words in his ear. Zhang Yuanming's face went blank with shock, and it was some time before he recovered his wits; when he next looked at Dou Wenchang and Ji Yong, his expression had turned rather odd.
Dou Wenchang could not help but feel a pang of guilt, and his speech lost the fluency of a moment before. Ji Yong, by contrast, smiled all the more merrily, and began chatting with Zhang Yuanming about the local customs of Yunnan, which left Zhang Yuanming at a loss for how to respond, and he grew visibly restless.
A commotion rose outside, accompanied by a growing clatter of hurried footsteps—clearly Wei Wan had found out and come to settle accounts with the Dou ladies!
It seemed a fierce exchange of words was unavoidable!
The Fifth Madam had instructed Dou Wenchang that under no circumstances was the Wei family to send Dou Ming back. Yet this business of shamelessly foisting a bride upon another household ran wholly counter to his own nature, and in his shame he grew suddenly tense.
They were husband and wife, after all. Zhang Yuanming heard Wei Wan's voice.