Chapter 368 — The Maid
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Dou Fan could not sleep. She lay with her eyes open until dawn.
Song Yan, seeing her looking so worn, assumed he had disturbed her in the night and said with a smile, "Shall I have a couch set up by the bed tomorrow, and sleep there instead?"
Yet he could not bear the thought of sleeping in separate rooms.
Dou Xin said, "Then I would still have to get up in the middle of the night to check whether your quilt is tucked in properly — even more trouble. Just rest properly in the bed and stop dreaming up one scheme after another."
Having her word for it, Song Ke let his brows rise in a smile.
That smile was warm and gentle, making even the morning air seem brighter.
*****
A few days later, Du Wei came to report to Dou Yan: "What the Li sisters said is all true. Their father's senior fellow disciple did not merely turn bandit — he also abducted the mistress of the Fuzhou Regional Military Commission's vice commissioner and stole that household's silver, and that is how he drew the Embroidered Uniform Guard's attention."
Dou Chi could not help laughing.
Seeing her interest, Du Wei went on: "The Li family was simply unlucky. A provincial graduate named Yin from Wuyi had long had his eye on the Li family's three hundred mu of good farmland and chafed at having no way to lay hands on it. When the Li family ran into trouble this time, that Graduate Yin seized the chance to send a hundred taels of silver to the Fuzhou vice commissioner, and the vice commissioner saddled the Li family with the charge of 'consorting with bandits' and confiscated their property for the state. Fortunately, that vice commissioner is on good terms with Magistrate Chen, and through Magistrate Chen's intercession the family was released on bail, and the three hundred mu of good land was returned to them."
Dou Yan nodded to herself and sent word to Chen Jia, telling him to send Jin Gui and Yin Gui over.
Chen Jia was naturally overjoyed when he heard.
He repeatedly admonished the two Li sisters to be utterly loyal, obedient and clever, and diligent with their hands: "If the madam questions you, you must not do as you did when you met Steward Zhao's wife last time, flinging yourselves at her legs and crying for help — ladies of rank only care to hear pleasant things…" He said everything he could think of. At the last he did not forget to threaten the two girls: "If you slip up in the slightest, I can send your family back into prison just as easily as I got them out." As a result, when the two girls came before Dou Zhiwei, they were still badly shaken, their faces pale.
Su Xin could not help casting Chen Jia a glance.
The two girls were not of a lively disposition, but they had conducted themselves properly enough. How was it that in a few days' time they had wilted like bitter greens, all their spirit gone?
She had no idea what Chen Jia had said to them.
Look at them, shrinking and cowering. Those frightened eyes — compared with last time, they seemed entirely different people, worse than the rough servant girls sent over from the Yingzhenguo Estate. How could such as these attend the madam at close quarters?
She muttered to herself, wondering where to place the two girls if the madam should take a dislike to them.
Dou Fan thought the two girls quite good.
Their skin was somewhat darkened by the sun and their fingers rather rough, but there was a certain uprightness in their brows and eyes. One could tell at a glance they were children raised under family discipline from an early age; with proper guidance, she believed they would soon adapt to life in Yizhi Hall.
Smiling, she asked the sisters about their family.
The younger, Jin Gui, was too timid to speak and hid behind her elder sister.