Chapter 80 — Joy

Bie Suxin met Chen Lanxu at the gatehouse of the Dou family's outer courtyard.

Chen Lanxu, crestfallen, asked Bie Suxin, "Have you really thrown in your lot with the Dou family's Fourth Miss?"

Bie Suxin laughed. "Would I really lie to you about something like that?"

Chen Lanxu said nothing for a long while.

Bie Suxin said, "If there's nothing else, senior brother, I'll be going back. These days I've been learning household rules from the Sixth Madam of the East Branch." Then she added, "The Dou household is full of people and gossip, and there are generations of family servants everywhere. We sisters have only entered the household at this age, and we stand out as it is. If anyone hears us calling each other senior brother and junior sister, they'll only grow more curious about us. From now on, I'd better call you Elder Brother Chen!" She asked again, "When are you setting out beyond the pass with Cripple Chen? If anything comes up at home, you can have Auntie send word to us. The Dou family's Fourth Miss is very kind, and we can find time to go visit your mother."

Hearing this, Chen Lanxu felt even more ashamed. "I was going beyond the pass with Cripple Chen because he offered a lot of silver, and I wanted to help the two of you. Now that you've both found someone to rely on, and Mother doesn't want me leaving home, I've already told Cripple Chen I won't go."

Bie Suxin gave a noncommittal "Oh."

A clamor rose from the direction of the main gate.

Chen Lanxu and Bie Suxin both looked over.

Two dust-covered black-lacquered carriages with flat, level roofs had drawn up at the gate of the West Dou residence. Du An, the steward, lifted the curtain and helped a man of about fifty down from the carriage.

The man was of medium height, with a pale complexion and no beard. He wore a round-patterned straight-collared robe in sapphire blue, and had something of the scholar's refinement about him.

He raised his head and surveyed the Dou family's main gate. Du An introduced him from the side: "This is our master's ancestral home. Please, Mr. Song!"

The man addressed as Mr. Song smiled and followed Du An into the residence.

Over there, Dou Yan had already received word that the new tutor Dou Huaiying had hired for her, Mr. Song, had arrived.

Dou Yan told Gao Xing to see to Mr. Song's accommodation.

Gao Xing was Gao Sheng's younger brother. When Dou Huaiying went to the capital, Gao Sheng accompanied him to serve him there. The household affairs had originally been meant for Du An, who had served Dou Duo, but Wang Shuying thought Du An handled matters carefully and properly and wanted him to go to the capital as well. She proposed that Du An's cousin Du Ning be made chief steward. The household was full of servants and womenfolk; Du An was promoted because he had served at Dou Duo's side. Dou Huaiying never took such matters to heart and agreed without a second thought. Dou Huaiying had not yet left. Dou Ji, on the pretext that his estates lacked stewards, kicked several stewards loyal to Wang Shuying over to his own estates as stewards, and promoted new men in their place. After Dou Huaiying left, Dou Yan began directing everything to Gao Xing, who kept the gatehouse for the Dou family, and at once left Du Ning with no authority at all. Before long, on the pretext that those stewards knew nothing about estate work, she sent the men home to idle.

In the Dou household, even the serving women who swept the courtyard knew what was going on. No one dared speak up; they merely grew more attentive whenever they met Dou Yan.

Du Ning did not dare speak against Dou Yan either; only when drunk did he dare curse Gao Xing: "...What is he, anyway? He can't even read an account book, and he's made chief steward—people will laugh their teeth out!"

When word of this reached Dou Yan, she sent out a message: "Whoever I say is capable is capable, capable or not; whoever I say is not capable is not capable, capable or not!" Everyone in the West Dou household, high and low, trembled to hear it, and someone with a mind to do so passed the words on to the East Branch. The Second Madam frowned when she heard, and said privately that Dou Yan was arrogant and conceited. She had meant to help Dou Chu, but in the end stood by and kept silent. Someone passed these words on to Dou Yan as well; Dou Yan pretended not to hear, and privately told Gao Xing how to grasp the big things and let go of the small. Gao Xing followed Dou Zhiwei's words to the letter. Though he was rigid in doing things, more than a year had passed and no great mistake had been made, which made the Second Madam say "Oh?" in considerable surprise.

Gao Xing was gone barely the time it takes half a stick of incense to burn before he came back.

"Fourth Miss," he reported respectfully, "Steward Du has returned, and Mr. Song is with Steward Du."

Dou Yan raised an eyebrow.

She wondered what Du An had come back for.

She asked Gao Xing, "Did you come back on your own, or did Steward Du tell you not to meddle in this?"

Gao Xing answered honestly, "I couldn't get a hand in, and I thought I should tell the Fourth Miss, so I came back."

Dou Yan said, "In that case, pass on my words: none of you are to trouble yourselves over Mr. Song's affairs."

Gao Xing knew what "not to trouble yourselves" meant, and hesitated. "But Mr. Song is the tutor the Seventh Master hired for you. What if he gets angry and runs off like that Jiang Yougong did...?"

"What has that to do with us?" Dou Yan said in surprise. "Isn't Du An entertaining Mr. Song? If Mr. Song gets angry and runs off, my father should settle accounts with Du An, shouldn't he?"

Gao Xing thought it over, decided Dou Yan's words made sense, smiled his simple smile, and passed Dou Zhiwei's instructions down.

On Du An's side, there was suddenly not even a person to hand him a handkerchief.

He was furious, stamping and raging, and summoned Du Ning to give him a severe dressing-down.

Du Ning said aggrievedly, "I told you long ago, you should have stayed in the Dou household..."

"To hell with your dog's advice!" Du An could not help saying. "However formidable the Fourth Miss is, in a few years she'll be married off. However attentive I am, what the Seventh Master likes is still Gao Sheng, who served him from childhood." Then he sighed. "If only the Fourth Miss were a young master, what would I have to hesitate about? I'd just curry favor with the Fourth Miss wholeheartedly and live out my days!"

"But if you offend the Fourth Miss, she might remember it at some point and send you packing. If you offend the Madam, you can still beg the Fourth Miss and go serve on her estate or in her shop..."

If the Fourth Miss hadn't gotten half the West Dou property, would she still be so overbearing?

Du An sighed inwardly and fell silent for a long while.

Du Ning asked him cautiously, "What do you say we do about this?"

Du An glared fiercely at Du Ning. "What do we do? You think of a way to find a few people and muddle through this situation first." He added, "The Madam sent me back this time on important business. For now, don't trouble yourself with household matters; just wait for my orders. Once this business is done, you'll be the true chief steward of West Dou." By the end, his words had turned somewhat gnashing.

Du Ning nodded repeatedly and called over his wife, who served in the Dou household, along with his nieces and nephews, to help.

Mr. Song, too, was accustomed to moving among great households. He had brought a clansman's son, Song Yan, to attend him, and seeing the situation could not help secretly regretting it. He said to his young clansman, "I was told only that there was a young lady in the household who wished to learn a little poetry, qin, calligraphy, and painting for her own enjoyment. Who would have known the household's affairs were so tangled? Ah, if I hadn't had business to beg of Lord He, why would I ever come here to sit as tutor?"