Chapter 104 — A Proposal of Marriage

Dou Yan gave a sheepish laugh. "I'm becoming more suspicious by the day!"

Chen Yanzhou disagreed. "It isn't that you are overly suspicious, young lady; it's that we are nothing but vines clinging to the tree of the Dou family. We have no channels of our own to reach the core of things, and can only infer how matters will unfold by observing small details—so as to avoid anything that might affect us..." He paused there, his expression turning grave. "Fourth Miss, thanks to your generosity, the family has kept nothing from me. I know you wish to stand on your own two feet, but have you truly thought it through? A thing like that cannot be accomplished in under ten years."

"Not only have I thought it through, I know how hard our road will be." Dou Yan nodded. "I am a woman. I cannot establish a household of my own and must rely on the Dou family—that is the first difficulty. I do not mean to marry, and I will have no children. That seals it that no one in my direct line can ever become a jinshi, and without a jinshi one can only attach oneself to others in politics—that is the second difficulty. Though there is a great deal of property under my name, I receive only ten thousand taels a year as my allowance. I have opened a brush-and-ink shop, and I have someone like Fan Wenshu to help me, but it will take five years before it makes any name for itself—and even if it became the finest in Beizhili, its returns would be a drop in the bucket against our expenses. We must keep a whole company of people ready to gather intelligence for us at any moment—that is the third difficulty. If even I can see all this, then you, sir, must see farther and deeper than I do." She said sincerely, "And so, though I have not said it aloud, I am deeply grateful in my heart that Elder Chen has agreed to help me."

Chen Yanzhou hastened to clasp his hands in a bow. "Ashamed, ashamed! This old man is shallow and ill-learned, and has been of no help to you at all."

"You need not be modest, sir," Dou Yan said. "Without you, we would not be where we are today." Her gaze was firm and bright, her tone calm and unafraid. "But I cannot give up merely because there are difficulties. One must at least try!"

Chen Yanzhou nodded solemnly. "That is precisely the principle you speak of, young lady."

It was exactly this that had drawn him to Dou Zhiwei.

No matter what hardships she met, she never gave up.

His own heart, long since cold and ashen, began to beat again along with hers.

So long as a person holds unshakable conviction and the courage to press ever forward, then no matter how winding and arduous the road, what awaits him in the end must surely be abundant fruit.

His only fear was that Dou Yan might give up halfway.

Their talk had been so grave that the atmosphere in the room could not help but grow a little heavy.

Dou Chi liked such an atmosphere.

She smiled and heartened Chen Yanzhou. "Look at things now—my yearly allowance has already risen from one thousand taels to ten thousand, and I have even engaged experts like Duan Bing and Chen Lanxu to protect me. A few years ago, that would have been beyond imagining! A person's life is long, and who knows what may be met along the way? We must have faith."

Chen Yanzhou laughed heartily, his worries set at ease. "Very well! So long as you have faith, young lady, what does it matter if I drag this old, weak, battered body of mine along with you on this journey!"

Dou Yan could not keep the corners of her mouth from curving upward. She raised her tea in place of wine and toasted Chen Yanzhou.

Chen Yanzhou drained his cup in one go.

The two of them could not help but look at each other and smile.

A few days later, Cui Min returned from the capital. "There, it's done. I paid a call on every one of those people you mentioned." He asked doubtfully, "You really want me to go be the second manager of a brush-and-ink shop in the capital? I don't understand the first thing about it. Are you having me learn the trade in the Dou family's shop for two years first? And that Fan Wenshu seems to be doing quite well—there's no need at all to add a second manager."

As for the wariness thinly veiled beneath Fan Wenshu's warmth toward him—in the past, he would certainly have bristled and picked a fight with the man. But ever since he had followed Dou Yan to see how the refugees and hired farmhands lived, his outlook had undergone a great change. He felt that Fan Wenshu's conduct was only human nature. Not only could he appreciate it, he could understand it. There was no need to make a fuss, nor to hold a grudge against Fan Wenshu when the man had done nothing wrong.

Dou Yan said nothing. Her slender, fair fingers, with their clear, well-defined joints, traced lightly over the green glaze pattern of her teacup. "Thirteen," she said softly, "have you ever heard about my mother?"

Cui Min started. He lowered his eyelids as if to evade the question. "No!" he said quietly.

"You're lying," Dou Yan said, her laugh clear and pleasing to the ear.

Cui Min was thoroughly discomfited.

Dou Yan said unhurriedly, "The Wang family is powerful, and for now I cannot afford to provoke them. But that does not mean I will never be able to. I am sending you to be second manager not so that you can meddle in the brush-and-ink shop's business, but so that you can make connections in the capital with officials who can supply us with news from the court."

She laid her cards on the table for Cui Min.

Cui Min's expression changed drastically. "You want revenge on the Wang family?" Then he said hastily, "I won't be part of this..."

How fickle the ways of the world!

Dou Yan smiled bitterly at herself.

The person who had been most loyal to her in her last life had, in this one, refused her without the slightest courtesy.

"Revenge on the Wang family?" She lifted her teacup without haste. "You flatter her far too much—and underestimate me far too little."

Cui Min was dumbfounded.

"Me, take revenge on her?" Dou Yan took a leisurely sip of tea. "I need only persuade Father to take a concubine, have her bear a bastard son for me to raise, and then find someone to lead Dou Ming astray—and she is finished! Would I even need to take revenge?"

"Th-then what are you going to do?" Cui Min leaped up, his face as white as paper.

Quite right. Not a word of what she said was wrong.

In all the years since Lady Wang had entered the household, she had never produced a male heir for the West Manor, whose line was already thin. Dou Yan could perfectly well pressure Dou Huaiying through the Second Old Madam or even through Aunt Cui to take a concubine; and then Lady Wang, having lost the authority of the principal wife, could have her young bastard stepson handed over to be raised by the composed, steady, generous, and dignified eldest daughter—all perfectly reasonable. And now, from top to bottom, West Dou was staffed entirely by Dou Zhiwei's people; to ruin Dou Ming's reputation would be as easy as turning one's hand, requiring no thought at all...

The thought flashed through his mind, and gazing at Dou Yan's frost-like countenance, Cui Min had a sudden, inexplicable flash of insight. He thought of another possibility.

He could not help blurting out in horror, "Could it be—you want to establish a household of your own?" No sooner had the words left his mouth than he denied them himself. "No, no, impossible..."

Cui Min had always been that quick-witted.

Dou Yan gave a long sigh. She asked him, "Why impossible?"

Cui Min answered without thinking, "Because you're a woman..."

"Aunt Cui is a woman too," Dou Yan said. "And isn't she living quite well?"

Cui Min's mind went blank for a moment. He could not help lowering his head in thought, and little by little a bold idea began to take shape in his mind. "You mean—to carve out a place for yourself in the Dou family. To force the Dou family to respect you..."