Chapter 143 — Pointing the Finger (Bonus Chapter — Begging for Pink Tickets)

Over the next few days,

one physician after another came and went, and prescription followed prescription, yet Dou Ming remained in the same dull, vacant state, speaking to no one and answering no one.

Granny Zhou was frantic with weeping. "What is to become of her? What is to become of her!"

Dou Yan had no good remedy either.

A letter arrived from Duan Bing, who had already reached the capital: Wang Tan had never damaged Wang Nan's letter of recommendation at all. Yu Er truly had committed an offense—he had lost silver gambling and urged Shang'er to steal Wang Tan's antique brush-washer and sell it. When the Wang household discovered this, they drove both him and Shang'er out of the mansion.

The trail had gone cold again.

Dou Yan let out a long sigh.

The Second Madam, the Third Madam, and several of the cousins' wives and nieces-in-law who were at home all came to inquire after the sick.

The affair of Dou Ming's abduction had done too much damage to the Dou family's reputation. The Second Old Madam, the Second Madam, and Dou Yan and the others had long since settled on one account: no matter who asked, they said only that Dou Ming had made a fuss about going to the capital to find her mother, that Dou Chi had consented, that she had sulked at Dou Yan over it, and that in the middle of the night she had hidden in the garden to frighten Dou Yan—and who would have thought she would end up frightening herself instead?

In her present condition, anyone who saw her would feel obliged to offer advice—recommending some famous physician, or some Daoist master. Yet whether the women of the Eastern Dou household believed the Second Old Madam's story and thought the whole thing too trivial to warrant attention, or whether they saw clearly and feigned ignorance, every one of them merely urged Dou Ming to rest and recuperate, and not a single one offered her any counsel. Their evasive manner made it seem they had come only out of courtesy to relatives, merely going through the motions. It was Dou Yan, instead, who was repeatedly drawn aside by one or another for intimate talk, called "silly child" or "silly girl," and told, "You cannot carry this burden. Go and speak to your father at once—the proper thing is to hand Ming back to her mother!"

Dou Yan had no choice but to explain over and over that Guard Duan had already escorted Granny Liu and Su Xin to the capital.

Her listeners breathed a sigh of relief and then all warned her repeatedly: "No matter what your father says this time, you must not take Ming into your keeping again. That child is far too much trouble."

Dou Chi nodded again and again, thanking each person who offered her advice.

She had barely managed to deal with the Eastern household's relatives when the Beginning of Winter arrived.

Dou Yan distributed the chrysanthemums and honeysuckle she had long since prepared among everyone in the household. They boiled the flowers for baths and washed away scabies.

The whole mansion was steeped in the fragrance of chrysanthemums and honeysuckle.

Granny Zhou had bathed Dou Ming early that morning too, and seeing how fine the weather was, and thinking that Dou Ming had been cooped up indoors all these days, she reported to Dou Yan. Then, with the wife of Fang Sheng, newly assigned to care for Dou Ming, and several maids great and small carrying cushions, tea, snacks, and brocade stools, she helped Dou Ming out to the rear garden.

As they walked, she kept telling Dou Ming, "This is witch hazel, this is southern magnolia, this is a pomegranate tree… The southern magnolia blooms in spring, and the pomegranate doesn't bloom until summer, and after the blossoms come the pomegranates…" Chattering on and on, she treated Dou Ming like a child who understood nothing. And Dou Ming? She was wooden, as if none of it had anything to do with her.

The wife of Fang Sheng wore an expression of pure pity. She led the little maids in settling Dou Ming down to rest in the waterside pavilion by the lake.

Granny Zhou then told the little maids, "Go and play!"

The wife of Fang Sheng hesitated. "Is that proper?"

They were all new to the household. They had heard that the servants before them had been dismissed by Dou Yan for failing to care properly for Dou Ming, and when they entered service they had spent nearly half a month learning the rules from the household's managing matron before being assigned to Qixia Court. They all followed the managing matron's instructions to the letter, not daring to overstep by a single step.

"The Fifth Miss used to love lively company," Granny Zhou said wistfully. "If you are all happy and cheerful, and the Fifth Miss watches you, perhaps remembering the old days will do something for her illness." She added, "The Fourth Miss is not as rigid as you imagine. It was because the people at Qixia Court before made mistakes that the Fourth Miss replaced them. If you don't believe me, just look at the people around the Fourth Miss—is there one who isn't beaming with joy?"

The wife of Fang Sheng thought it over and decided she was right, and smilingly gave the order.

The little maids were only seven or eight years old; Dou Yan had chosen them to serve Dou Ming in the hope that the atmosphere at Qixia Court might become livelier. None of them were children with heavy thoughts. At first they were somewhat restrained, but later, seeing the paths of colored brick in the garden, the clumps of blooming camellias, the lush old trees, they gradually let themselves go—one pair wrestling over grass, another pair admiring flowers together, laughter and chatter everywhere, a scene of great liveliness. This disturbed Ji Yong and Dou Yan, who had been pestered by Dou Yan for days and had made the excuse of taking a walk and were sitting not far off beside the Taihu rockery.

Dou Yan pulled Ji Yong up to the pavilion atop the rockery, and just then caught sight of the little maids laughing and tumbling about in a heap. He could not help reciting, "Lingering butterflies dance now and then; carefree orioles sing just so!"

Ji Yong rolled his eyes at him. "Show me one of them who is as lovely and charming as a spring oriole. Every one of them is covered in dust…" Before he finished the sentence, he suddenly said, "Eh?" and started down the hill.

"Where are you going?" Dou Yan hurried after him, and then saw several maids escorting Dou Yan toward the waterside pavilion.

"Fourth Aunt!" Dou Yan called out to her.

Dou Yan turned and, seeing Dou Yan and Ji Yong, smiled. "Cousin Ji and Boyan are strolling in the garden too?"

Dou Yan smiled. "These past few days I've been reading until midnight every night. Fine weather is rare, so I came out for a walk." Then he caught sight of Dou Ming sitting in the waterside pavilion. "Is Fifth Aunt any better?"

"No improvement for the moment." Dou Yan's spirits seemed somewhat low.

Ji Yong, however, said dismissively, "What business is it of yours? You're not her mother! And even her mother couldn't keep her tied to her belt every day."

Dou Yan smiled bitterly. "Father entrusted her to me. I bear the responsibility, one way or another."

Dou Yan said too, "The law does not lie beyond human feeling. From the standpoint of legal study it holds; from the standpoint of Confucianism it does not."

"Which is why the Confucians throw the law into chaos and ruin the order of the court."

"That is too arbitrary. If everyone merely obeyed the law and ignored human feeling, would all those righteous men who rid the people of villains have to be condemned as criminals?"

"It is precisely because there is such human feeling to appeal to that there are loopholes to exploit. Ridding the people of villains is the business of the authorities—what has it to do with those men of the rivers and lakes?"

Dou Chi teased Ji Yong. "Cousin Ji, it seems you are a Confucian scholar too!"

Ji Yong pursed his lips. "Wine and meat pass through the gut; the Buddha stays in the heart."