Chapter 104 — A Proposal of Marriage

"Do you want to do this together with me?" Dou Yan answered his question with an invitation. "That way, the Cui family will be able to raise its sons to study, and in a few decades—or a century—perhaps it will become a second Dou family!"

Cui Min's eyes lit up. After only a moment, he said with absolute resolve, "I'm in."

Dou Yan gave silent approval, then said in a low voice, "The most important thing for you in the capital this time is to find a way to run a moneylending operation quietly..."

She told Cui Min her plan.

As Cui Min listened, his eyes grew brighter and brighter, and by the end his blood was running hot.

"Fourth Miss, just leave it to me!"

It was the first time he had addressed Dou Yan as "you" in the respectful form.

Dou Yan pretended not to hear and nodded at him with a smile.

But Cui Min said, "Then, then why not use those same methods against the Wangs?"

Dou Yan was silent for a long while, then said gravely, "A person must have a bottom line."

Cui Min fell silent. He sat quietly for a good while, then rose and made her a respectful bow before withdrawing.

Dou Chu sat alone on the large heated kang by the window, slowly sipping tea.

Wang Shuying. She had done wrong, and she must be punished. If the Wang family would not deal with her, then she would do it herself.

But not now.

Children and the like would only make her grieve and suffer, but they would not make her regret, would not drive her to despair.

Dou Ming had wronged her in her previous life.

But in this life she had done nothing wrong.

She could not take revenge on her for things she had never done.

That was the principle by which she lived.

She had not lied to Cui Min.

Dou Yan turned her face away.

Through the panes of the glass window, she saw several young maids building a snowman in the courtyard.

The little maids' cheerful expressions slowly eased the tension in her own face.

Chen Yanzhou came in hurriedly, accompanied by Suxin.

Dou Yan was a little surprised and called out to the maid on duty outside, "Ask Old Chen and Suxin to come straight in."

The little maid answered "Yes," and within a few breaths Chen Yanzhou and Suxin had pushed aside the curtain and entered.

Seeing there was no one else in the room, Suxin slipped back out through the curtain, while Chen Yanzhou, his face grave, bowed to Dou Yan.

"What has happened?" Dou Zhiwei's expression could not help but turn serious as well.

"Young Master He—no, the He family has formally proposed marriage to the Dou family!" Chen Yanzhou drew a deep breath. "The Fifth Master and your father have both already agreed."

Dou Yan was shaken to the core and cried out in alarm, "Have the two families formally exchanged the horoscope cards? When did this happen? Has word reached the East Dou branch?"

"The horoscope cards have not yet been formally exchanged." Chen Yanzhou's expression was anything but relaxed. "This happened two days ago. The He family asked Cai Bi, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, to make the proposal to your father. Though your father did not agree outright, he made a special trip with the Sixth Master to consult the Fifth Master about the matter, and afterward your father consented to the match. For now, using the Fifth Master's name, we can still make use of the military courier routes to send messages, so the East branch does not yet know of this."

Dou Yan barely restrained herself from cursing her father a few times in her heart, but she also understood that in this matter her father had done nothing wrong—the command of parents and the word of matchmakers; the He family was illustrious, He Yu was handsome and striking, and he was the favored youngest son of the household. It was hardly surprising that her father had agreed to the match.

Only...

"Wait..." she said. "Lord He was my father's examination patron. By rights, He Yu ought to address my father as senior fellow student. How could they propose marriage to our family?"

Fifth Uncle was bending every effort to curry favor with the He family, so it was possible he had turned a blind eye and played deaf and dumb. Her father had never had much mind of his own, so it was possible Fifth Uncle had talked him round. But the He family ought not to have made such a mistake!

"It seems Young Master He kicked up an endless fuss at home," Chen Yanzhou said, and there was something odd in the look he gave Dou Zhiwei. "Lord He and Lady He had no way out and simply had to agree."

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Sisters, brothers, here is the update I owe you from yesterday.

o(n_n)o~

ps: Regarding pink votes—apart from a few fixed holidays, such as May Day, National Day, and New Year's Day, when we run a double pink vote event where one pink vote counts as two, at all other times it is one vote counted as one. Everyone may vote whenever they like; just don't forget to show some support for Ninefold Purple. Pink votes are tallied monthly, and they expire once the month is over.

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