Chapter 394 — Dragon Boat Festival
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
The steward of the household Chen Jia had newly purchased was a woman named Yao Er; she and her husband were both southerners, hereditary servants in a great household until that family ran afoul of the law. The servants were implicated and sold off, and it happened that Chen Jia had asked his colleagues in the Embroidered Uniform Guard to find him a few reliable maidservants. The Guard officers there, eager to curry favor with him, bought the whole family and presented them to him as a gift. Seeing that the woman handled affairs with method and steadiness, he put her in charge of his inner household; Tao Er stood guard at the main gate, one son worked alongside his father, another swept the courtyard in the outer compound, and it was only the youngest daughter who followed her mother into the inner quarters as a little maid tending the flowers and plants.
It was Tao Er's wife's first visit to the Ying Ducal Estate. Before she came, Chen Jia had warned her again and again, making sure she understood just how important the Ying Ducal Estate was to him. Her heart had been in her throat the whole way, and when she saw the row of black-lacquered flat-roofed carriages lined up before the gate delivering festival gifts, her heart pounded even harder. She had not expected Chen Jia to enjoy such standing at the Ying Ducal Estate; not only had the Heir Apparent's wife received her in person, she had even bestowed upon her a generous red envelope. At last her heart settled.
On her return she spoke of it to Chen Jia, and could not help betraying a note of delight.
Chen Jia was somewhat taken aback as well.
The Ying Ducal Estate was not a place where you delivered a gift and were simply let in; without the rank of a third-grade official or above, the gatekeepers would not even glance at you. He was only a fourth-grade official now — had he not found his way through the Heir Apparent's wife, where would he even have had a place to stand? How could a mere maid have been granted an audience with Lady Dou?
He thought to himself that these visits ought to become more frequent.
The very next day he brought two jars of the finest realgar wine to call on Duan Bing.
Duan Bing saw through him at once.
But if not Chen Jia, there would be some Wang Jia; and besides, Chen Jia suited his temper. What was there to take offense at?
He promptly prepared a few dishes to go with wine and pressed Chen Jia to stay and drink at his home.
Chen Jia had come for precisely this. He agreed readily, and suggested inviting Old Chen over for a cup or two as well.
Duan Bing waved a hand. "Old Chen has matters to attend to these days and cannot spare the time. Next time you come, we shall invite him over for a few cups."
Chen Jia quickly asked what the matter was.
Duan Bing glanced at him with a smile.
Chen Jia flushed. "Everything I have today, I owe to Lady Dou. I have long wished to repay her, but she lacks for nothing — even if I wished to send a gift, I could never hit upon the right thing. So I thought I might lend her some assistance, and that is why I asked."
Chen Jia spoke with intent, and Duan Bing listened with intent. After seeing Chen Jia off, he went at once to see Dou Yan.
Dou Yan was entertaining the two young madams of the Lu family who had come delivering festival gifts, and Duan Bing waited half an hour before he was granted an audience.
"My lady, that matter you had me look into last time — didn't I manage to dig up a thing or two?" He offered Dou Yan his counsel. "What do you say to having His Excellency Chen Jia help with the inquiries? He has men who do precisely this sort of work — we cannot compare!"
Dou Yan had always been curious about who had been inquiring after the Li family in the first two years after they moved away, and she was rather tempted by the suggestion. Still, she said, "It is, after all, an old matter of the household's. It would not do for others to learn of it."