Chapter 68 — Encounter

"It's only as an assistant," Dou Xin said. "It's not as if he's pledging himself to the man!" She added, "Boyan has great ambitions. If Cui Min can establish a connection with him, it will do him good in the future."

Grandmother was about to say something more when Dou Yan smiled and said, "Boyan's monthly allowance is only five taels of silver. With Cui Min following him, I'm not so sure who's helping whom."

Among the Dou clan's younger generation, only after marriage did the monthly allowance rise to twenty taels.

Grandmother chuckled.

Dou then summoned Cui Min into the residence and explained the matter to him.

Cui Min's eyes lit up at once, and he asked when he might go see Dou Yan.

Dou Yan sent a maid to check whether Dou Yan was at home, and kept Cui Min behind to talk with Grandmother.

Before long the maid returned with word: "The Fifth Young Master has not yet returned from the lake, but he left instructions with the household. He said that if Cui Min came, he was to wait a while—he would surely be back before the evening meal."

Dou Yan reflected that Cui Min was, after all, Grandmother's nephew, and that the matter had been her own proposal; having put her hand to the plough, she might as well see it through. Better that she accompany Cui Min herself. Then when the servants saw them, even if they wished to show Cui Min a sour face, they would think twice. And it would give her a chance to visit her Sixth Aunt—when Father had left, she had just begun studying painting under Sixth Aunt, but had stopped her lessons out of worry for Grandmother. Now that autumn had arrived, it was time her studies gradually resumed.

She took Cui Min to the East Residence.

The moment the old woman on duty at the second gate caught sight of Dou Zhiwei's carriage, she came running up to greet them.

"Fourth Young Miss, you haven't come all summer!" She bustled about helping Dou Yan down from the footstool. "Our ladies and young mistresses have missed you terribly." As she spoke, she caught sight of Cui Min and saw that he wore a fine cloth Daoist robe and did not look like a servant; at once she smiled fawningly and said, "Oh my, and who might this young gentleman be?"

Dou Yan smiled faintly and said concisely, "This is Cui Min. The Fifth Young Master has asked him to come and lend a hand."

The old woman's eyes widened slightly.

Cui?

Kin of Aunt Cui of the West Residence?

"I was wondering who it could be! So handsome and distinguished—so he's a young gentleman of the Cui family," the old woman said flatteringly.

Dou Yan had already smiled and walked inside.

Cui Min followed behind her and said quietly, "You always seem so quiet and unassuming—I never imagined you had it so good in the Dou household."

Dou Xin said nothing.

She enjoyed the favor of the Second Madam—who would dare not curry favor with her?

It was a pity she had no intention of setting the West Residence to rights; otherwise she could have ruled the roost there, and her days would surely have been freer and easier than they were now—there was no telling how many in the West Residence ate from the West Residence's bowl while fawning on the people of the East Residence.

At this thought, something stirred in her heart.

Why not take over Grandmother's estate early? Then she could install some people of her own there.

In her previous life, she had grown up alongside Ganlu and Sujuan. Though bound by the names of mistress and servants, they had been as close as sisters. After Grandmother passed, the three of them had depended on one another and struggled bitterly before they finally achieved what came after. But in this life, she had grown up in the East Dou household, and by the time she found Ganlu and Sujuan, they already understood a little of the world. Though she never had to worry about their work, no matter how affectionately she treated them, the two always kept strictly to the bond of mistress and servant. Sometimes, when her words grew too intimate, they would betray a hint of fear—where was the closeness of her previous life?

To gain is to lose!

As she mulled it over, she arrived at the third branch's quarters.

Her third cousin-in-law, the wife of Third Tang-brother, was waiting at the door to welcome her in person.

"What brings you here?" she said, smiling as she took Dou Zhiwei's hand. "Weren't you supposed to be keeping Madame Cui company? If there was something you needed, you could have sent word—there was no call to come running over yourself."

"Boyan sent me," Dou Yan replied, explaining her errand in brief and then smiling. "Where's Shu-jie?"

"She and Yi-jie are learning needlework from Ninth Sister-in-law!" Third Sister-in-law smiled and settled onto the kang by the window in the main room with Dou Yan. "Those two aren't little girls anymore. The Second Madam said that since we have a skilled teacher right here in the house, why go to the trouble of hiring someone from outside? Anyone from outside might not have Ninth Sister-in-law's skill anyway."

Dou Yan had to think for a moment before she understood.

Yi-jie and Shu-jie were the same age as she was, all twelve this year, and by the standards of a prominent household, it was time to be discussing betrothals.

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I wonder whether I can make the posting before twelve o'clock?

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