Chapter 69 — The Chrysanthemum Banquet

Dou Yan thought carefully about the marriages of Yi and Shu.

In her former life, both had married scholars—one named Sun, the other Wu, she believed—but neither had achieved much renown or made any mark in officialdom.

Which two families had they been?

Turning it over in her mind, she went to see her Sixth Aunt.

Ji was also fretting over Dou Zhiwei's lessons.

"Reading and writing can't be rushed—there's no rushing them," she told Dou Yan. "Read half an hour a day, write half an hour a day, and you'll steadily improve. What worries me is your needlework and your household accounts. Huang is due to give birth any day now; I can't very well have you go over there and join the commotion. You can learn sewing from me—you won't match the professionals, but at least you'll manage the mending and patching of everyday life without begging others' help. As for keeping accounts, though, you can't learn that from books. Best to learn from your Second Sister-in-law—she runs the household and has seen a great deal; only at her side will you really learn. Here I meet too few such matters. Even if I wanted to teach you, I'd have no examples to draw on—I fear the more I say, the more confused you'll become."

Her Sixth Aunt planned everything for her, and Dou Yan was grateful.

Only her circumstances were peculiar: what her Sixth Aunt worried over was precisely what she excelled at, and had no need to learn. And what her Sixth Aunt thought she could take her time with was precisely what she lacked most, and most hoped to master in this life.

She smiled. "I think I'd better just read well for now! Didn't you say people grow clever from books? Once I've read well, when the time comes to learn sewing and household management, I'm sure I'll get twice the result for half the effort."

At Dou Yan's touchingly naive optimism, Ji could only smile bitterly to herself. Recalling that the girl had handled needle and thread a little during the years she had spent at her side, she said, "I have a better idea. Come every day at the hour of Chen. Read for one hour, write for one hour. In the afternoon, from the hour of Wei to the beginning of You, learn sewing and household management. After the New Year, I'll see what plans Yi and Shu have, and the three of you can keep each other company."

Dou Yan dared not touch needle and thread before Ji. Even if she tried to imitate Yi and the others, she could never reproduce a beginner's crooked stitches—she would give herself away for certain.

"Let me read and write with you in the mornings," Dou Xin said. "In the afternoons I'll practice sewing at home. The West House has excellent maids for needlework."

Ji agreed.

And so Dou Yan began shuttling each morning between the East and West Dous.

Before many days had passed, word came from Dou Huaiying that he had been appointed to a post as an examining editor in the Hanlin Academy.

Her grandmother asked Dou Yan, "What does an examining editor do?"

Dou Yan knew only that it was a minor office of the seventh rank, and smiled. "Roughly like a clerk in the county yamen, I suppose."

Her grandmother laughed. "No wonder your grandfather had no stomach for office—he served as a Hanlin examining editor himself once."

The Second Madam, however, was well pleased that Dou Huaiying had gotten into the Hanlin Academy. "Now he and Zhongzhi are together again," she said with a smile. "Two brothers—they'll look after each other from now on."

Ji seized the chance to raise the matter of Dou Zhiwei. "...I hear Yi and Shu are both learning needlework from Huang. Seeing that Huang is in no condition for it, I didn't agree. The children at home are all growing up, and some things must be planned for early. Otherwise, when the time comes, shall we have Shouyuan learn proper deportment alongside Yi and Shu? What do you think?"

"We'll discuss that another time," the Second Madam said, and turned to the matter of the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth of the ninth month. "...I've been thinking we should still invite the mistresses of the various households to come admire the chrysanthemums. A Double Ninth without chrysanthemums—how is that a Double Ninth?"

Ji could hardly keep circling back to the topic. But Dou Yan had grown up at her side; having no daughter of her own, she had raised the girl as one, and Dou Yan had dabbled in lute, chess, calligraphy, and painting—not enough to call mastery, but sufficient that she would not be flustered among men of letters. Now she needed only some polishing in needlework, and then a little skill in household management, and the work would be complete—yet no good teacher could be found. In the end a woman must be skilled at running a household; elegant accomplishments were only embroidery on the brocade. If she never learned to manage a household, would all her past hardships have been in vain?

She was not ready to give up. Following the Second Madam's lead, she smiled and said, "Last year Uncle Seven's ink chrysanthemums took first prize. I hear they're blooming even better this year. Shall we have them brought over to lend the occasion some color?"

After Dou Huaiying left, his flower house had been entrusted to Dou Yan.

The Second Madam nodded with a smile. "One errand, one messenger. You were the one who borrowed the flowers last year—this year you may fetch them again."

Ji assented.

Yet she could not quite fathom the Second Madam's intent.

If the old lady meant to raise Dou Yan up, why not grant the favor of letting her learn household management at the Second Madam's side? And if she meant to hold Dou Yan down, why take the ink chrysanthemums Dou Yan had grown and make them the queen of the banquet? The mistresses of Zhending County would all be hearing Dou Yan's name.

Old Wang knew that Ji had gone to the Second Madam about Dou Zhiwei's affairs; seeing her return looking distracted, her heart leaped at once, and she asked anxiously, "What is it? What did the Madam say?"

Ji took the hot tea Old Wang offered, sipped it, and then recounted her meeting with the Second Madam.

Old Wang was alarmed. "Surely the Madam doesn't mean to keep the Fourth Young Miss at home?"

"It won't come to that," Ji said. "Even if she wished it, she'd have to be able to keep her."

Old Wang thought for a moment, then said slowly, "Do you remember our household's Thirteenth Young Miss? The ones who went with her when she married were all Ninth Madam's people. In the end, whenever the Thirteenth Young Miss wanted to... with her husband, she had to mind the nurses' faces. The Thirteenth Son-in-law flew into a rage and simply elevated a bedchamber maid to concubine. The Thirteenth Young Miss was too ashamed to speak of it—if that concubine hadn't borne a son, who in the family would ever have known?"

Ji's expression changed at once. She paced the room in agitation, and only after a long while calmed herself.

She instructed Old Wang, "Grind ink for me. I'm writing a letter to Zhongzhi."

Old Wang hesitated. "Sixth Master has a hasty temper. Why not write to Seventh Master instead?"

"Seventh Master has Wang at his side," Ji said helplessly. "I fear the business would fail, and I'd be the one everyone blamed."

Old Wang could only sigh.

Dou Chi knew of Ji's worries. That morning, after hearing Ji finish explaining the *Book of Songs*, he practiced writing for an hour in the afternoon, then accompanied his grandmother on a walk in the east side courtyard.

He consulted her: "Sixth Aunt says that once we've finished the *Book of Songs*, I needn't go to her to study anymore."

His grandmother was delighted. "Then haven't you read all the books there are?"