Chapter 375 — Dismissal
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
"I know that after Madam Jiang died, the serving women of the Yingguo household were purged, and that the break between Yizhi Hall and the Yingguo residence dragged many others down with it. But a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. There is no way the Yingguo residence should be as it is now — fresh whitewash and new paint, and not one seasoned steward able to hold the place steady!
"Take Zeng Wu, who has just come to serve at the Duke of Yingguo's side. By mere chance — a menial who followed his horse-tending father into the household — he found his way through Huang Qing, chief steward of the front courtyard, and became the Duke's personal attendant. In our Dou family such a thing would be unthinkable. We would not go back three generations, but we would watch a man closely for two or three years before daring to bring him near, and he would begin in the third rank."
That was also why, in her former life, Wang Shuying had been so overbearing, and why in this one, though she held half the assets of the Western Dou, Gao Sheng remained loyal to her father.
Chen Yanzhou was, after all, only a poor scholar, and had never given these matters much thought. Hearing Dou Yan speak of it now, he felt it too.
"I remember the first time I came to the Yingguo residence," Chen Yanzhou recalled. "Two hundred people lived there, and yet it was silent as a tomb, without a single human voice. The serving women walked with their heads high and their chests out, wearing smiles at once haughty and servile, and most of them looked at me with a touch of contempt.
"The one who brought me into the household was Yan Che.
"We met head-on a steward surnamed Li, his temples streaked with gray.
"Yan Che not only greeted him with respect, but when the steward asked about me, he made up a story and explained it to him with great patience.
"Afterward Yan Che explained to me that this Steward Li had once served the old Duke, and now had charge of instructing newly arrived servants in etiquette, and that he carried considerable authority in the Yingguo household. Then he said to me, joking, that there were many old servants like him in the Yingguo residence, and I had best keep my eyes open from now on and not cross these old fellows."
"I thought to myself at the time, I wonder whether the Duke of Yingguo will find these old servants, who once waited on the old Lord Zhenguo, an eyesore.
"And look at the Ying Zhenguo household now. Both the Heir and the Duke of Yingguo are rather unbridled, doing whatever they please... A man can even stuff a maid who once served him personally into his son's rooms. Even if the maid is spotless, how is such a thing to be explained? If word gets out, what is the Ying Zhenguo household to be taken for?"
As Chen Yanzhou spoke, something stirred in his heart, and he looked toward Dou Yan.
He saw that Dou Yan was gazing at him with shining eyes.
Both of them could not help changing countenance slightly.
Chen Yanzhou said hesitantly, "You suspect the Duke of Yingguo seized the occasion to dispose of everyone who was an eyesore to him."