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

Watching him, Dou Ming ground her teeth, sprang to her feet, and declared in ringing tones, "I will not put my Lord Marquis in such a difficult position!" Then she lowered her head and charged at the great red pillar beside her.

"Fifth Miss!" Wei Fan turned pale with fright, leapt up from the bed, and in one stride caught Dou Ming about the waist. "Let us talk this over, talk it over! You must not seek death!"

"If I do not seek death, am I to live on just to be laughed at?" Dou Ming struggled, still trying to hurl herself at the pillar.

"Don't do this. Don't do this!" Wei Fan was beside himself with alarm.

With a crash, Ma Jun's wife burst through the door.

"My lady, my young lord, what is the matter here?" Who would have thought the Fifth Miss had such tricks in her! With the Fifth Miss on their side, this errand was more than half accomplished! She could not help praising Dou Ming inwardly, though her face put on a look of horror. "Whatever it is, let us talk it over calmly, talk it over calmly! This is only the second day of the wedding—soon people will come to fetch you for the kitchen god's offerings and the introductions to the kin. If word of this gets out—" She turned to Dou Ming. "The Dowager will surely think you shrewish and willful, disrespectful to your husband the moment you set foot in the house." Then to Wei Fan: "Children are corrected in the hall, a wife at the pillow. Even if our young lady has done something amiss, you cannot make a spectacle of it for all the world as you are doing today. Our young lady is, after all, to manage the household accounts in time to come. If you do not respect our young lady, how will the old retainers of this house ever submit to her? When all is said and done, this is a case of slaying a thousand enemies and losing eight hundred of your own! I beg my Lord Marquis to calm his anger. Whatever there is to say, say it gently to our young lady. She was schooled from childhood in the family's teachings and has read a great stack of books—what principle does she not understand? She is no ungrateful wretch; my Lord Marquis's kindness will surely be kept in her heart." All the while she spoke, she was moving to hold Dou Ming back.

Wei Fan, already frightened out of his wits by Dou Ming, visibly relaxed at the sight of someone coming to mediate. He let out a long breath.

Dou Ming seized the moment to fling herself into Ma Jun's wife's arms and weep aloud. "My Lord Marquis wants to send me back—I might as well dash my brains out here! Had I known it would come to this, I should never have married in my sister's place! If there is anyone to blame, blame my soft heart, that I feared my Lord Marquis would be disgraced—and forgot that my Lord Marquis has only my sister in his heart..."

Hearing that Dou Ming had married him for his sake, Wei Fan was overcome with guilt and said hastily, "No, no!" As to what exactly the "no" referred to, he could not have said.

Dou Ming simply burst into loud sobs.

Ma Jun's wife inwardly applauded: Well said, indeed! But her face at once took on a fierce, glaring look. One arm about Dou Ming's shoulders, wiping her tears, she shouted, "Then it is my Lord Marquis who is in the wrong! Before the wedding, my Lord Marquis was hardly unacquainted with our Fifth Miss—so what is this? Now that you have bowed to Heaven and Earth, lifted the veil, drunk the cup of wine, and entered the bridal chamber, you will not own her? Where were you earlier? Is there such a bargain as this anywhere under heaven?" As she spoke, she helped Dou Ming to a seat in the great armchair to one side, then in two strides she was before Wei Fan, seizing him by the arm. "Come! Let us go to the Shuntian Prefecture and ask the Lord Justice to judge for us! Let us see on which side the right lies!"

She shoved and pulled at him, insisting on dragging Wei Fan to the Shuntian Prefecture.

Dou Ming covered her face and wept as though her heart would break.

Wei Fan felt his head swell to twice its size. He understood in his heart that this substitution of brides could not have been so simple a matter—it must have had the consent of the Dou elders—and that he had been quietly outmaneuvered. Yet every word Ma Jun's wife spoke was right on the mark. For a moment he was in such a fluster that sweat poured down, and he thought this wife's woman far too bold. He could find not a single word to refute her; he was so frantic he could not speak a word at all. Had she not been a servant of the Dou household—for if he laid a hand on her, that would be improper—he would long since have kicked Ma Jun's wife out the door and never have tolerated such insolence.

His face, however, had turned iron-dark.

Dou Ming, who had been watching Wei Fan closely all the while, naturally saw it.

Forgetting her tears, she hurried forward to restrain Ma Jun's wife. "If there is blame, blame my ill fortune—what has it to do with my Lord Marquis? Let go of him at once!"

The Fifth Madam meant to acknowledge this marriage. Once this hurdle was cleared, the Marquis of Jining would still be the Fifth Son-in-law of the Dou household, and she herself was merely a serving woman in the Dowager's rooms—how would she dare show the Fifth Son-in-law of the Dou family a sour face!

Ma Jun's wife let go at once and, clutching Dou Ming, burst into loud wails: "My poor Fifth Miss! How could you be so foolish? If the Wei family loses face, let them lose face—what has that to do with you? Rushing out like this in such a hurry, who will be grateful to you for it? They will only think you a nuisance..."

This woman certainly knew how to talk!

Dou Ming wished she could reward her with a few of the finest sealed red packets.

She and Ma Jun's wife held each other and wept bitterly.

Wei Fan was struck dumb.

He could neither go forward nor back.

The room had descended into utter chaos.

A capable old nurse from Tian Shi's household, sent by Tian Shi to sound out the true state of the newlyweds, heard the commotion and hurried off to report to Tian Shi.

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Sisters and brothers reading this, no need to fret, no need to fret—matters must be settled one at a time, and the characters you like will appear soon enough!

o(n_n)o~

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