Chapter 208 — The Next Day (Extra Chapter, Begging for Pink Votes)

Wei Fan woke to the pounding of a hangover headache. Before he even opened his eyes, a gentle voice inquired, "My Lord Marquis, are you awake?" A faint scent of osmanthus drifted to his nose, and soft arms gently propped him up, a warm porcelain bowl brought to his lips. "My Lord Marquis, drink a little of this sobering soup. It will make you feel better."

Too lazy to open his eyes, he gulped the soup down in a daze, then flopped back down to sleep a while longer, wondering vaguely who this maid was. Why did her voice sound so unfamiliar? Though it was rather pleasant. Her body was soft and fragrant, her movements gentle—far better than the servants who usually attended him... The thought flickered past, and then it struck him like a thunderbolt: he had gotten married yesterday! He let out a cry and sat bolt upright, and when he opened his eyes he saw Dou Ming sitting at the edge of the bed, still holding the empty bowl and not yet risen.

"Fifth Miss?!" Wei Fan's eyes went wide as bronze bells. "You—what are you doing here?" He cast about the room in a panic, terrified that he might have done something terrible last night. But everywhere he looked there were red wedding curtains and red wedding candles, and only then did he dare believe he was truly in his own bridal chamber. His heart settled a little, and he let out a long breath—just as Dou Ming asked him with a soft smile, "My Lord Marquis, what is the matter? Did you have a nightmare?" She hid her smile behind her sleeve, and her large almond eyes rippled with tenderness like spring water, so that Wei Fan stared, dumbstruck, and for a long moment could not come back to himself.

Dou Ming, who had taken her sister's place as bride, was at that moment caught between hope and dread. Earlier, when Wei Fan had looked at her as though she were a viper, her heart had twisted with pain—but she remembered that when she decided to marry in her sister's stead, she had resolved that whatever hardships she might face, she would not regret it, would not complain, would not pour out her grievances to her natal family. Her so-called family amounted to nothing more than a sister whose husband she had stolen—a sister she would likely never speak to again as long as she lived—and a pack of cousins and in-laws who had no liking for her. For her mother's sake, that she might live more comfortably in the Dou household, and for her own dignity, she must win this fight. She must live well with Wei Fan, no matter what.

So she put on an air of unconcern, forced down the ache in her heart, and chatted and laughed brightly with Wei Fan.

And Wei Fan, just as before, stared at her and lost himself again.

The smile at the corners of her lips deepened.

Her mother had been right. A man need only be coddled, and nine out of ten would lose their heads entirely.

She simply lowered herself further still, and asked him with a charming smile, "Is my Lord Marquis feeling unwell anywhere? Shall I make you another bowl of sobering soup?"

Wei Fan gave a start and came to his senses.

His eyes turned wary. "You—what are you doing here? Where is your sister?"

At that, Dou Ming blinked, and tears began to patter down in no time. "Yesterday—yesterday it was I who stood in for my sister and bowed to Heaven and Earth with you, my Lord Marquis, and entered the bridal chamber." As she spoke, two rosy clouds rose on her cheeks, tender and vivid as peach blossoms in spring.

But Wei Fan had no heart left to admire them. Sweat stood on his brow, and he cried out in alarm, "How could this be? Where is your sister? What happened?"

In the upper rooms of the Marquis's residence, Ma Jun's wife had been keeping watch all night in the sitting room outside the inner chamber. Now, hearing the commotion, she knew the secret was out. The Marquis of Jining would demand an accounting.

The little wife who had shared his bed all night—and a pretty young thing at that—would naturally be more welcome to him than a half-broken old woman like herself. Why would she be so foolish as to barge in uninvited?

She threw a glance at the maids who had come with the dowry, and one of the little maids slipped inside, gathered up the attendants serving the inner chamber, and withdrew them all from the bridal room.

Ma Jun's wife pressed her ear to the door leaf and listened.

From within came Dou Ming's sobbing.

"What could have happened? Does my Lord Marquis not understand my sister's feelings? When I first asked you to meet me at the Puji Temple, it was because there were too many people at home and too many mouths to wag—I feared someone with ill intent would poison my sister's ear and make her jealous. But somehow she found out anyway. She refused to marry you, and she wept and wailed and begged my Fifth Aunt to help her break off the engagement."

"Breaking off the engagement would have been one thing. But your sister would not agree—she insisted that the Dou family had delayed your marriage and demanded the Dou family compensate yours. Consider: my North Tower Dou family has produced officials for generations, with many sons and nephews. My Fifth Uncle is a Grand Secretary of the present court. If he agreed to compensate your family, then whenever any other son of the clan encountered such a case in future, would he not follow suit? Where then would my Fifth Uncle's dignity be?"

In this matter, her sister truly had been in the wrong!

"Th-this, this..." Wei Fan wiped the sweat from his brow, wholly in the wrong and knowing it.

The hand Dou Ming had been using to wipe her tears paused ever so slightly, and the corner of her eye slid a glance his way.

She pursed her lips and smiled to herself, then at once wept all the louder. "How could my Fifth Aunt agree? And my sister would not marry you no matter what. When the hour came for the bridal sedan, my sister—I don't know how—suddenly fell into a dead faint, and your family's sedan was already at the gate, and the whole household was thrown into a panic... Then they all turned on me, saying it was all my fault. In a fit of pique, I put on my sister's wedding clothes..." Here she scrubbed at her face and straightened her back, and said stubbornly, "We may have bowed to Heaven and Earth, but last night you were terribly drunk and did nothing at all. Between us all is still clean and proper. If your heart still clings to my sister, then while the hour is early and we have not yet made offerings to the ancestors, send me back. If my sister is willing to come to you, then let it be as though none of this ever happened, and I shall cut off my hair and become a nun. If my sister is not willing to come, then you hold the marriage contract in your hand, and it was the Marquis of Yan'an whom you asked to be your matchmaker—ask him to help you, either to demand the person from the Dou family or to demand silver in compensation. Do as you see fit. Your handmaid will obey my Lord Marquis in all things!" With that she pressed her lips tightly shut, wearing the look of one who submits herself to his judgment, while tears fell silently like rain.

[[23b]]

Seeing this delicate little creature, fragile as a crabapple blossom, clearly frightened yet forcing upon herself the resolve of a hero setting out never to return, Wei Fan's heart had long since melted to a puddle of water. What mind had he left to ponder Dou Ming's words carefully? He only felt, by instinct, that if he sent Dou Ming back, she would likely have no way to live; and if the matter blew up, the Dou family would lose face, but the Wei family would be pointed at and whispered about just the same, and a lawsuit against the Dou family was out of the question... But his betrothed was Dou Yan!

The image of that face, bright and radiant as a May sky, rose before his mind's eye, and he hesitated once more.

She had spoken her heart out to this point, and still Wei Fan stood there wavering.