Chapter 177 — Exchange

Can a person's birth hour and eight characters be told to just anyone?

Is fortune-telling something anyone can do?

What if a little figurine gets stuck with needles on my behalf?

.

She exchanged a few vague words with Hong Gu and hurried out of the stationery shop.

As she emerged onto the street beneath the Drum Tower, she caught sight of a fortune-teller's stall...

Something stirred in Granny Lü's heart.

What if the Fourth Miss of the Dou family and the Jining Marquisate were ill-matched in their horoscopes?

She could not wait to go and see Wei Wan.

Wei Wan listened with mingled alarm and delight.

If the horoscopes clashed, there were plenty of ways to remedy it.

But if Dou Zhiwei's fate was too hard to bear... then the Wei family would be under no obligation.

And if it was someone from the Dou family who said so, so much the better!

She praised Granny Lü roundly; yet after the old woman had withdrawn, beaming with satisfaction, Wei Wan fell to fretting again.

The idea was sound enough, but Wang Shuying was only a stepmother, and she had no footing in the capital. Words from her mouth would carry little conviction!

It would be best of all if Fan Shi, the wife of Dou Bingheng, could step forward.

Wei Wan at once had Granny Jin carry word of this to the Crane Cry Temple Alley.

Wang Shuying nearly fainted when she heard it. Mastering her fury, she hissed low in the room, "Who does she think she is? She means to order the Fifth Lady about? Has she lost her wits? Does she take everyone in the Dou household for fools?"

Nurse Hu soothed her. "Wei Wan only wants someone whose word will be believed."

"Someone whose word will be believed..." If that Dou Ji were to have his betrothal broken off by the Wei family—Wang Shuying could almost see Dou Huaiying's face, all remorse and resentment. She burst out laughing, laughed till Nurse Hu's scalp prickled, and only then did she check her mirth and say, "If my mother were to be brought forward, everyone would believe it, wouldn't they?"

The wife of Wang Xingyi. That title still carried some weight in the capital; but in the matter of Dou Zhiwei, the Wang family was Wang Shuying's own natal house, and the Sixth Lady of the Dou branch's censure of Dou Zhiwei would cut deeper than anything Wang Xu Shi could say.

"But the Elder Madam's household..." Nurse Hu said anxiously. "I fear she will only scold you again."

"When has she ever not scolded me?" Ever since Gao Shi had refused Wang Shuying's request, the feud between Wang Shuying and Gao Shi had been sealed for good. She said venomously, "Last time it was she who ruined Ming's good fortune! If she dares to stand in the way again this time, I will risk my very life to drive her out of the Wang family!"

Nurse Hu listened, terrified out of her wits, and dared say nothing.

.

Wang Xu Shi was somewhat doubtful of Wei Wan's words. "Can she really bring off this match?"

Wang Shuying bit her lip. "We must try, at any rate. Even if it comes to nothing, to have a family of such standing discuss a match is a good thing for Ming. I do not want her married back to Zhending!"

In Zhending, many would speak ill of Dou Ming's origins, and it made her life utterly without dignity.

Wang Xu Shi understood.

Dou Ming had been raised in her arms, and her affection for the girl was beyond the ordinary. Though Wang Shuying's business had vexed her sorely, at the thought of her clever, charming granddaughter her heart softened, and she nodded in consent.

Wei Wan then arranged to meet Wang Shuying and her daughter at the Puji Temple the next day.

By seizing the occasion when all the capital's ladies would be gathered at the Puji Temple to hear the abbot preach the Dharma, and by speaking before those titled wives, the Wei family could break off the betrothal afterward on perfectly proper grounds.

Yet for some reason, though everything had been arranged, Wei Wan still felt vaguely uneasy at heart.

She dismissed Granny Jin and had a private word with Granny Lü.

"Tell me, can that Wang woman be relied upon? Once this is done, she will become the target of every arrow. Will the Dou branch spare her then?"

Granny Lü smiled. "Madam, the Wang woman has only this one daughter, the Fifth Miss of the Dou family. She will have to depend on her son-in-law for her livelihood hereafter."

Light broke upon Wei Wan.

Wang Shi was already advanced in years and could bear no more sons. If she could find her daughter a good husband, then whether it came to taking concubines to bear sons or adopting an heir, she would have standing to speak. The Dou family's reproaches would be to her no more than a flea bite.

Wei Wan cheered up and instructed Granny Lü, "On second thought, do not wear that moonlight-white vest—it is too plain. Wear the bean-green jacket with the vase-and-flower pattern. It will make you look more spirited."

Granny Lü went smiling to fetch the garment herself and draped it over the clothes rack, then carefully checked the jewelry, shoes, and stockings to be used the next day. When a young maid came to report that Zhang Yuanming would be spending the night in the study in the outer courtyard, she attended Wei Wan until she was settled, and only then withdrew.

As for Zhao Zishu's residence in the North Chan Temple Alley, better than half a city away from the Jingzhen Garrison's Princely Estate, there the strains of strings and pipes never ceased, and laughter and chatter filled the air.

Zhao Zishu, whose charms were so delicate and bewitching that one could scarce tell man from woman, set down his wine cup. A flush stained his cheeks, and he cast a sidelong glance at Ji Yong, his eyes brimming and rippling with a softness like spring water.

"Lord Ji," he said, his voice low and a little husky, and paired with the clear, soaring notes of the sheng and xiao it seemed like the rustling of wind through a bamboo grove, wondrously harmonious, breathing a calm that could soothe the heart, "my wine is drunk!" And with that he turned the cup upside down.

Not a drop fell.

When they had taken their seats, Zhao Zishu had first drunk three cups to He Yu's health; then Ji Yong egged him on, and Zhao Zishu drank three cups with each in turn. Four rounds had passed, and this was the fifth.

Unlike the brisk, faintly condescending air of the Zui Xian Pavilion just now, they lounged about the water pavilion beside a white marble channel built to imitate the winding-cup game of the ancients. Tall crimson melon-shaped palace lanterns stood among the greenery, their light falling on the young performers seated not far off, some plucking the qin, some piping on the flute, softening every face into a delicate, luminous beauty and lending this midnight banquet a touch of languid sensuality.

Wang Yu and He Yu, flushed and heated with wine, had stripped down to their undergarments. One reclined against the knees of a girl with fine, gentle features, letting her massage his temples; the other cradled in his arms a performer whose childish face could not conceal her loveliness. Both wore an air of unrestrained abandon.

Gu Yu alone was neatly dressed, though he had kicked off his shoes and sat with bare feet dangling in the winding, twisting channel. Drinking at his leisure, he kicked at the flowing water, and the spray he sent up struck the lotus blossoms drifting slowly across the surface, sinking them to the bottom in an instant. He only laughed and raised his hand, and an attentive, handsome performer was there at once to fill his cup.

The wine was in his belly, and it was high summer besides; light and cool as his Hangzhou silk robe might be, Wei Fan was still drenched in sweat.

He glanced at Wang Yu and He Yu on the opposite bank, then at Gu Yu beside him, and for a moment could not decide whether he would be better off stripping off his robe like Wang Yu and He Yu, or soaking his feet in the clear channel water like Gu Yu.