Chapter 335 — Ventilation
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Dou Yan climbed down from the kang and said to Su Xin, "Come, let us go to the small flower hall! The people from Daxing Manor have sent all the young girls over. We will pick a few of the sharp-witted ones to keep."
Because of the attack on the road, Su Xin had turned back halfway, and the matter of choosing maids had naturally been put off.
The Daxing Manor had no idea what had happened. Yet a matter already agreed upon had suddenly changed, and the wife of the manor's head steward was deeply uneasy. A few days later, word came from Yizhi Hall telling her to bring the girls directly there, which made her even more nervous.
She feared Dou Chi would be dissatisfied with the girls she had chosen and send them all back; she feared the girls, having never seen the wider world, would say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing and be laughed at... She repeatedly warned the girls to stand straight, not to let their eyes wander, and to speak neither too loudly nor too softly, leaving these girls—who had grown up on the manor, hearing their elders tell of the glory of the Ying Zhenguo Estate—so terrified that they did not know what to do with their hands and feet.
When Dou Yan and Su Xin entered, the girls were standing woodenly in the middle of the hall, their faces pale.
She could not help smiling faintly, recalling how she had first met Gan Lu and Su Juan in her former life.
"Which manors were they sent from?" she asked the steward's wife gently, and the girls' expressions eased somewhat.
"These two are from our manor." The steward's wife pointed out the girls one by one to Dou Yan. "This one is from the Wanping Manor, these two are from the manor over in Langfang..."
There were twelve girls in all, all between eight and nine years old, all from manors near the capital, and all of families that had been tenants of the Song family for several generations; some even had elders who had once served at the Ying Zhenguo Estate.
Dou Yan was well pleased and kept them all. She said, "Though there is a fixed number for maids and servants, when I came to the capital from Zhending, only Su Xin and a few others came along to serve me. Let them count as my dowry maids!"
Since they were dowry maids, their monthly allowance and seasonal clothing would come out of Dou Yan's dowry.
The steward's wife was overjoyed and hurriedly curtsied her thanks.
Only six had originally been requested, and now all were kept. Others would not think that these girls had all won the lady's favor, but only that she enjoyed such standing before the lady.
The steward's wife sighed inwardly. A woman with a rich dowry was indeed different—if she wanted to keep people, she could keep them.
Dou Yan handed the children over to Su Xin for training, then called Gao Xing's wife in and had her take the steward's wife to draw up the girls' indentures of sale.
Just as this was settled, Song Yan returned from the yamen of the Five City Garrisons.
Dou Ji asked him, "Will you be on duty at the Five City Garrisons yamen from now on?"
"." Song Yan let Dou Yan change his clothes for him. He smiled and said, "The Embroidered Uniform Guard will still be my main post." Then he asked about the maids: "I heard Daxing sent the girls over. Were there any suitable ones?"
"I thought they were quite good," Dou Xin said as Song Yan led her by the hand to sit on the large kang by the window. "I kept them all." As for which side would pay their expenses, Dou Yan thought it a trifle and said no more.
Since Song Yan had handed the inner courtyard of Yizhi Hall over to Dou Yan, such matters were naturally hers to decide; he would not interfere. What concerned him most now was Dou Zhiwei's health: "After I left, did you vomit again?"