Chapter 217 — Matchmaking (Bonus Chapter: Begging for Pink Votes)
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Dou Huaiying felt a stir of temptation for a moment, but he quickly suppressed it.
This Tao Jun spoke with refinement and had a proper, upright appearance—he seemed like a modest, gentlemanly scholar, yet now and then he let slip a certain obsequious manner, which showed his character was not worth much. At this moment he was clearly proposing a match for his daughter only to ingratiate himself, and who knew what sort of family he had in mind?
Surely he could not simply marry Shouyuan off to just anyone because she was getting on in years?
He laughed a few times and brushed the matter aside.
Seeing this, Tao Jun did not press further, and he and Xu Zhiji took their leave together.
Dou Huaiying went back to his study and read for a while, when a young servant came running in: "Seventh Master, that Mr. Tao who came to visit with Lord Xu just now has come back. He says he has something urgent to see you about, and begs you to grant him an audience no matter what."
Though displeased, he was of a gentle temperament and still received Tao Jun.
The moment Tao Jun saw Dou Huaiying, he bowed low in a deep salute, his face full of shame. "Lord Dou, a man needs his dignity as a tree needs its bark. In Lord Xu's presence I truly could not bring myself to say it. My wife's nephew did not steal anything from anyone. While running a silver shop in Baoding Prefecture, he had an affair with a concubine of the Baoding prefect—a woman who often sent for the shop's craftsmen to make jewelry. The prefect noticed something but could find no proof, so he trumped up a charge and threw him into prison. I serve as an adviser in the Yingzhenguo Estate and count myself on pleasant terms with the Duke of Ying. I once appealed to His Grace about this matter, thinking at the time it was merely a misunderstanding, and His Grace even sent a calling card to the Baoding prefect on our behalf—that was how we learned what it was really about. But the prefect has made his position plain, and His Grace cannot well intercede now. I had nowhere else to turn, and so I have come to beg Lord Dou."
"He has committed such a sordid offense that we have no face to plead for him. But he has a mother of sixty above him and several young children crying to be fed below. If something happens to him, that old mother and those little ones will have no way to live. That is why I have dared to ask Lord Dou to intercede and spare his life..." With that, Tao Jun bowed low once more.
That was more like it!
Dou Huaiying mused.
As long as his life was spared, and with Tao Jun working behind the scenes, he would likely be out again in two or three years.
Now that he knew this was a private grudge, he grew all the more cautious, and said after weighing it: "Let me ask around for you first."
Tao Jun was overcome with gratitude and hurried to say: "When I said I wished to make a match for the eldest young lady of your household, I meant it in earnest. The suitor is the heir of my master, the Yingzhenguo Estate, sixteen this year. Beyond his handsome looks, he is thoroughly skilled in archery, horsemanship, and the six arts. When he was barely a month old he received imperial grace and was granted a hereditary fourth-rank assistant commissioner's post; at five he inherited the title of heir; and now he serves as commander of the forward guard of the Jinwu Guard—a proper third-rank military officer. He has only one full brother at home, and a few distant relatives—the household is quiet and uncomplicated. If not for the trouble at the Dingzhenguo Estate and Lady Jiang's passing, how would the heir's marriage have been delayed to this day..."
The matter of the Duke of Ding was known to all.
Most in scholarly circles believed the Duke of Ding had died unjustly; far from considering him a criminal, they likened him to Guan Gong, seeing him as a sacrifice in the contest between Zeng Yifen and Ye Shipei.