Chapter 309 — A New Addition
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
Lady Ji jabbed a finger at Dou Zhiwei's forehead: "You blockhead! If the two of them were innocent and aboveboard, why would Lingze refuse to accept your Twelfth Brother's letters? Why would she refuse to see him? Why would your Twelfth Brother sneak about, finding lodgings elsewhere, instead of openly presenting a card of visit?" She asked several "why"s in one breath. "Has your Twelfth Brother said something to you? Are you covering for him? Among sisters, you and he have always been the closest..." Then her expression turned grave, and she said with all seriousness, "Shouyuan, you have always understood propriety. Lingze is a returned widow of the Han family, not some ordinary cousin. If this matter were to get out, I fear Lingze would have no place to stand, and your Twelfth Brother's name would be ruined, his prospects finished!"
Dou Chi'an cried out inwardly, "Oh no."
Just now she had been so busy persuading her Sixth Aunt that she had forgotten to look surprised.
"Nothing of the sort," she hurried to protest. "I may not have seen much of the world, but I know what is serious and what is not. Twelfth Brother has told me nothing; I guessed it myself." Then she diverted Lady Ji's attention: "But have you not thought of some way to see what it is that Twelfth Brother says to Cousin Lingze?"
As the saying goes, "Everything about one's own child is good." Even someone as sharp as Lady Ji did not doubt Dou Yan's clumsy explanation. Brows knitted, she said, "Since I discovered it, how could I not have opened your Twelfth Brother's letters? But they were all about scholarly matters..."
Dou Qu said, "Then what is there to worry about! By the look of it, even if Twelfth Brother has some fancy, Cousin Lingze understands it well enough. As I see it, you had best keep someone watching them. With a thousand li between them, given time, perhaps the feeling will fade. Besides, there is Cousin Lingze—she is not one without a will of her own."
Lady Ji thought it over and saw the sense in this. She let out a long breath, and the knot of tension in her chest finally loosened a little.
"You have no idea what these days have been like for me! I wanted to discuss it with your Sixth Uncle, but it was I who sent your Twelfth Brother to Yixing, and Lingze is my own daughter. Yet if I do not speak of it to someone, my heart tosses and turns with no peace at all... I must find your Twelfth Brother a match soon."
Dou Yan dared not say much more. She asked after the illness of Dou Huaide's maternal grandmother, and so steered the conversation elsewhere.
Fortunately, Lady Ji's heart was somewhat eased, and her spirits much improved. Besides her own son, her mind was still full of Dou Zhiwei's affairs. Fearing that Dou Yan might suffer grievances after marrying into the Yingzhen Duke's household, she set aside the matter of Dou Huaide and began asking about Dou Zhiwei's married life.
Dou Yan naturally chose the good things to say—and indeed Song Yan did treat her very well. Compared with her previous life, this marriage held far more hope.
Lady Ji listened with a pleased smile and arranged to meet her for incense-burning at Qixia Temple on the tenth day of the tenth month: "That is the bodhimanda of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Go and have a rite performed, and pray to the Bodhisattva to bless you with a son soon."
Dou Yan's face flushed slightly, and she said in a low voice, "Better not hold the rite. If I am still not with child by the end of the year, we can speak of it then."
"Very well!" Lady Ji thought for a moment and said, "You are a new bride entering the household now; anything too obvious would invite suspicion. A rite at Qixia Temple would only arouse people's doubts. Leave this matter to me."
Dou Yan's eyes grew slightly moist.
Only a mother would consider her child's every need so thoroughly.