Chapter 253 — Unwilling
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 3 of 4
Such glass cups seemed rare enough to outsiders, but to the Dou family, who were connected by marriage to the Ji family, they were merely somewhat valuable—yet in the eyes of those serving women accustomed to reading their masters' minds, the gift drew smiles exchanged between them.
Some days before, when the Fifth Son-in-law and Fifth Daughter had come to kowtow to the Second Old Madam, she had rewarded them with a banknote worth a hundred and forty taels. How could that compare in dignity with this pair of glass cups?
The tea served to Dou Yan and Song Yan was the same tea as before, the cakes the same cakes as before; only the smiles were more attentive, the voices softer, the manner more careful.
Dou Bingheng invited Dou Heng, Dou Huaiying, Song Yan, and Wei Fan to the study to talk, and no one else was included. Only Wei Fan was invited last, and when he invited Wei Fan, he hesitated a moment.
Wei Fan felt nothing of it, but Dou Ming, who had grown up amid the gaze of others, saw it plainly.
Her face paled. Seeing the Second Old Madam holding Dou Zhiwei's hand while everyone sat around the two of them like stars around the moon, chatting and laughing, she slipped quietly out to the covered corridor outside the study.
Dou Bingheng was chatting with Song Yan, and the subject of their talk was, remarkably, anecdotes of the several Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat.
Song Ke now and then added a few words. Clearly he was well acquainted with these Grand Secretaries, and what he added was always the Emperor's or the Crown Prince's or some prince's or great minister's approbation of one or another of them, which raised Dou Bingheng's interest all the more, until even Dou Heng and Dou Huaiying joined the discussion.
She never once heard Wei Fan's voice.
Coming out of the Huai Tree Alley, Dou Ming took counsel with Wei Fan. "Why don't you go and seek some post with the Golden Guard or the like?"
Wei Fan looked at her as one looks at a child begging for sweets, with a touch of doting fondness. "How could it be so easy? The Golden Guard is the personal guard; its numbers are fixed. Unless a place falls vacant, no amount of money will serve."
Dou Ming bit her lip. "Then how was Song Yan's cousin able to enter the Golden Guard?"
"He's different." Wei Fan's tone betrayed an envy he himself did not notice. "The moment he was born he held a hereditary post of the fourth rank proper. His entry into the Jinwu Guard was by the Emperor's own appointment, and he went in as a commandant of the third rank proper. The former commandant of the Jinwu Guard's Front Division was transferred to the Henan Regional Military Commission as deputy commandant because of him—and that man is the legitimate second son of the Marquis of Jingjiang! Yet even he had to step meekly aside and make room. Apart from the Emperor, who else could command such a stroke?"
Dou Ming's face turned a blotchy red. Unreconciled, she said, "Then there's no other way?"
"Oh, there is!" Wei Fan thought the difficulty enormous—far beyond his own ability, and quite impossible to bring off—and so he spoke with great ease. "Once you have opened a path through the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Five Chief Military Commissions, then when the Jinwu Guard is reorganized, you can scheme for a post."