Chapter 344 — The Rules
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 3 of 4
Wei Wan would have none of it. "Mother, if not for that Wang woman's scheme to swap the sisters in marriage, how would Dou Yan have become the Heir's Consort of the Yingzhen Duke's household? And how would Dou Zhiwei's dowry have ended up in the Song family's hands? When the beam is crooked, the rafters are askew. Look at the days since Dou Ming married into our family—you have been kind to her, you have not made her stand on ceremony, and what does she do? Not the slightest sense of a daughter-in-law's duty. Apart from her morning and evening greetings, she vanishes without a trace. Clearly she learned all these bad habits from that Wang woman.
"She has married into our family now, so she is one of us. We can hardly send her back, can we?
"But you cannot let her go without learning these rules. If she does something shameful, people will still point at our family and talk."
"In my view, you must keep her by your side and instruct her constantly in what may be done and what may not. You cannot simply let her follow her own whims."
Tian-shi shook her head as she listened. "I do not like to look at her."
Wei Wan could not help but press a hand to her forehead.
Matron Jin, worthy confidante that she was, softly offered a word at her side: "Madam, you do not know. Some days ago our household celebrated the lady's birthday. The families of the Second Madam and the Third Madam had arrived long before, yet our lady did not show herself until the feast was about to begin. Worse still, she claimed you were ill and that she must nurse you, and withdrew early—which put our lady in a very foul temper and earned the Heir's Consort a scolding. If you do not take her in hand now, whatever will become of her?"
Tian-shi was struck dumb. "No wonder Zhen'er's mother-in-law sent medicines over the other day…" In an instant a fire leapt up in her heart.
Why she herself had fallen "ill"—others might not know, but could you, Dou Ming, not know as well?
You plainly used me as your pretext to humble my daughter!
Tian-shi made her decision at once and ordered the matron attending her: "Go, summon the lady here. Tell her I am about to take my morning meal and she is to come serve the dishes and pour the tea!"
The matron answered and went.
A flicker of a smile passed over Wei Wan's face.
Dare to scheme against me, and do not blame me if my heart is venomous and my hand cruel.
But at the next thought—of that Dou Zhiwei and her dowry—her heart burned with a searing pain.
She could not help saying to Tian-shi: "Mother, did you know that under Dou Yan's name there are estates worth several hundred thousand taels of silver? Had that Wang woman and her daughter not played their tricks back then, all that silver would have come to our Wei family—and then not only Peijin, but Peijin's sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons would never want for food or drink…"
"So much!" Tian-shi was utterly astonished.
"Indeed!" Wei Wan sighed. "A pity we were schemed against by that Wang woman and her daughter… and who knows how that Wang woman is laughing behind our backs even now!"
Tian-shi slapped the kang table with a "smack," her resolve in her heart firmer than ever—and for a person like Tian-shi, who ordinarily had no mind of her own, once she set her mind on something, nine oxen could not drag her back.
She was determined to put Dou Ming in her place; only her mother-in-law had never laid down rules for her, and she had no notion of how a mother-in-law set rules for a daughter-in-law, so she made a point of inquiring of others.
Those she asked could not help feeling that the more numerous and the harsher the rules, the more refined and particular they appeared—from rising early to help one's mother-in-law dress, to letting down her bed-curtains at night, down to the most trivial details, long-winded and tedious, until there were several hundred in all.