Chapter 194 — Countermeasures

Once the second day of the second lunar month had passed,

the flowering trees put forth tender buds, green grass thrust up from the earth, and winter jasmine burst into exuberant, wanton bloom, splashing color over every branch and slope until the whole sky seemed to brighten with it.

Dou Yan wore a pale moon-white silk jacket and a dark blue eight-panel Xiang skirt, sitting quietly on the beauty's seat of the octagonal pavilion in the rear garden, tranquil as a stream murmuring through a mountain ravine.

The old Master of the Ji family had come forward in person, offering to back her Fifth Uncle's patron—Fang Zhou, Vice Director of the Bureau of Verification and Appointments in the Ministry of Personnel—for the post of Zhejiang Provincial Administration Commissioner, and on that condition had reached a tacit understanding with her Fifth Uncle.

All that remained was to break off the engagement with the Wei family, and then she would be betrothed to Ji Yong.

Why had the Ji family suddenly set their sights on her?

And at that, while she was already pledged to another.

If word of this ever got out, how would the Ji family maintain their footing in Jiangnan?

No wonder everyone who knew of the matter kept it strictly to themselves!

Dou Yan never belittled herself, nor was she ever blindly conceited.

As for character, compared with those famed paragons of filial piety and chastity, she fell far short; as for birth, her own mother had died early; as for looks, she was a long way from toppling cities and kingdoms; as for family standing, the Dou family had indeed become one of the notable great houses of the Northern Metropolitan Region through her Fifth Uncle's entry into the Grand Secretariat, but he had only just entered it, his foundations still shallow, and Jiangnan was crowded with century-old lineages, the Ji among them. It was impossible that the old Master of the Ji family would contract a marriage with the Dou family for the sake of clan interests—especially when the Ji and Dou were already bound by marriage. Her Sixth Uncle, who had married a Ji daughter, was a full brother of her Fifth Uncle, far closer kin than she, a mere cousin five degrees removed. The Ji family had no need whatsoever to go to such pointless lengths...

Turning it over and over, she could reach only one conclusion.

The Ji family hoped to use her to rein in Ji Yong.

As Dou Yan pondered, her gaze fell on the flowering quince not far off.

The whole tree was ablaze with deep crimson blossoms, brilliant as sunset clouds, burning like flame.

Did Ji Yong know the old Master's true intent?

And what did he himself think of it?

Dou Yan felt she ought to meet with Ji Yong face to face.

But before she could give Suxin her instructions, Chen Yanzhou arrived with the account books to see her.

"The heir wishes to see you," he said, fingers flicking at the abacus. "From his tone, it seems he knows you are unwilling to marry the Marquis of Jining."

Dou Yan's head ached.

The Wei family business was not yet settled, Ji Yong had gotten mixed up in it, and now Song Yan had cropped up as well...

"Tell the heir," she said, "that my marriage is for my elders to decide, and I would ask him not to interfere."

Chen Yanzhou hesitated greatly.

Dou Yan told him of the old Master of the Ji family's visit.

Chen Yanzhou was aghast. "How could this be?"

Compared with the Wei family, this match with the Ji was a union of equals in every respect.

"I wish to break off the engagement, and I turn a blind eye to Song Yan's maneuvers—what sort of arrangement is that?" said Dou Yan. "Besides, you know Song Yan's character as well as I do. He does nothing if he does not act; but once he acts, he is certain to succeed. And afterward? I fear that the moment I break with the Wei family, the Ji family will come proposing the very next day—and the Ji are not the Wei. They can lend Fifth Uncle a hand in the halls of court, and once such a match is settled, it will not be so easily undone. If I refuse to the death, then never mind the Second Dowager and Fifth Uncle—even Father, Aunt Cui, and Sixth Aunt would likely not indulge me any longer, and the scandal would be everywhere. People might well think me mad. Once matters reached that pass, it would be a dead end. Am I truly to marry Cousin Ji after all? I would sooner marry the Marquis of Jining. At least the Marquis is easy to fool. With Cousin Ji, I would have to sleep with one eye open. All I want in this life is to live out my days in comfort and pass away peacefully at a ripe old age. I have no intention of helping a husband to a princedom or a chancellorship, to leave a name in the annals—to be a Liang Hongyu or the like."

Chen Yanzhou could not help laughing. "Here I am, old as I am, and I have never carried on so about living and dying, while you, young as you are, speak like a doddering ancient. Still, there is something in what you say. Ji Jianming may be immensely talented, but he is arrogant in temperament and hard to get along with. And the Ji family has six branches of the direct line, thirteen of the collateral, and, counting the in-law families that cling to them, a hundred households or more. Marrying Ji Jianming would truly be worse than marrying into the Marquis of Jining's household."

Chen Yanzhou was the only one who could understand her wish to keep herself apart from it all.

With his endorsement, Dou Yan's spirits rose greatly.

"I think this matter must be approached through the Wei family," she said. "So long as the Wei refuse to break the engagement, the Dou cannot possibly negotiate a match with the Ji. In time the Ji will surely try to entice the Wei into breaking it off. If we can seize evidence against both the Wei and the Ji, we shall hold the moral high ground, and Fifth Uncle can forget any notion of marrying me into the Ji family."

Chen Yanzhou mused. "You mean to accuse the Ji family of wrecking your marriage... Thus, even if the Fifth Master wishes to ally with the Ji, he could never bear the reputation of colluding in villainy and persecuting his own niece!"

"Exactly," said Dou Yan. "The Wei break faith and forget honor; the Ji use their strength to oppress the weak. With that as my excuse, I can take up the life of an old Buddha before a green lamp and never speak of marriage again. For the sake of half the Western Dou fortune, I trust the Second Dowager will persuade Fifth Uncle to keep me at home."

But Chen Yanzhou said with concern, "And if the Ji and the Wei drag on like this? The Marquis of Jining is no longer young, and there is no one in his household to manage the domestic affairs. The Wei cannot afford to let it drag on forever—by autumn at the latest, this marriage will have to come to some resolution."

"Then do you think the Ji family will drag it out with the Wei like that?" said Dou Yan.

Chen Yanzhou was puzzled. "Delay can only benefit the Ji family—after all, they are the ones in the wrong."

"If the Ji family thought that way, they would never have done such a thing as to snatch another man's wife," Dou Yan sneered. "Ji Jianming has turned out the way he is—do you suppose the Ji family bears no responsibility for it?"

Chen Yanzhou smiled bitterly.

"Help me invite the Marquis of Jining to the house for a meeting," said Dou Yan.

"Here, or the Xiangshan Temple alley?"

"The Xiangshan Temple alley, of course," said Dou Yan. "Here it is Fifth Aunt who manages the household, and there would be too many inconveniences. And while you are at it, drop a hint to Song Yan—best to let him think that though I am heartbroken, I still hope to salvage my marriage, so that he will not meddle and make things even more complicated."

Chen Yanzhou nodded.

The two discussed a few more particulars, and Dou Yan saw him out to the hanging-flower gate, where she ran into Ji Yong.

"Cousin Ji!" Dou Yan greeted him.