Chapter 383 — Zhang Mu

Wei Wan could endure no more. She slapped Wei Fan on the shoulder and scolded in a low voice, "Are you even a man? Is this how you conduct yourself? You agreed so readily before, and now you change your mind? What do you take your sister for? Do you still mean to let your sister hold her head up among people?"

Wei Fan was truly caught — hard on the left, hard on the right.

He clutched his shoulder and said in a low voice, "Then — then what are we to do? If it were anyone else, we could simply pay silver in lieu of the hundred strokes. But we are bringing suit against the Dou family — they will surely find a way to make me take those hundred strokes. And this matter could even be twisted into seduction, or outright illicit union... and in the end it is we who would lose face. In a lawsuit, we cannot beat the Dou household..."

Wei Fan was on the verge of madness.

Was this really her brother?

Not help her — and hold her back besides?

Unfortunately, at this moment the lounge held only the womenfolk of the Dou and Wang households, together with Wei Wan and her sisters and Dou Ming; every eye was fixed on the brother and sister, and though the two spoke softly, the rest heard every word clear as day.

Lady Gao could not help rejoicing inwardly.

So long as the Wei family softened, the matter would be simple enough to settle.

She turned quickly to the Fifth Madam. "Madam, once one enters a house, one is of that house. There are matters that need not be weighed out so finely. I say let this business rest where it lies. Henceforth let the Fifth Missus and the Fifth Master shut their door and live in peace and concord, and that will be enough. We are only outsiders, after all; so long as they are happy, what grievance is there that cannot be got over?" Then she turned to Lady Ji. "Would you not say that is the way of it?"

Lady Ji nodded, smiling.

Their purpose in coming had been to overawe Wei Fan; that purpose achieved, it was only natural to let things drop and calm the waters.

She said with a smile to Wei Fan, "Marquis, will you not make haste and beg Ming's pardon? She has but lately miscarried, and her health has not yet come back to her. To have borne such an ordeal on top of it — who knows how wretched she must feel. You are a man of generous spirit; do not weigh every jot and tittle against Ming." And with that she plucked at the sleeve of Lady Cai, who sat below her, signaling her to smooth matters over.

By now Lady Cai had come back to herself. She rose at once, all beaming smiles, and half led, half pushed the still-sobbing Ming to Wei Fan's side. "Make haste and beg the Marquis's pardon! You raised such a stir, and the Marquis never once took you to task — plain enough that he holds you dear. You must never provoke him so again."

Her eyes red and swollen, Dou Ming stole a glance at Wei Fan; that timid look struck him clean through.

Wei Fan's face went crimson. "It was my fault..." he said sheepishly, his voice low.

Wei Wan ground her teeth so hard they grated. She thrust her brother aside and cried "Hold on!" in a loud voice, then said, cold as frost, "If this matter is to be settled so, then you must agree to a few conditions of ours!"

With the Wei family's bluster on the verge of being beaten down, how could the Fifth Madam let the thing go at that?

"There are no conditions to be discussed in this business!" she said at once. "For the better part of a year, out of regard for the Marquis's kindness to Ming, we have borne what could be borne and overlooked what could be overlooked — never dreaming that in others' eyes it would look like a guilty conscience, like timidity, like weakness ripe for bullying. Even a patient man has his limits. Either we make this one exception for the Marquis's sake, never to be repeated, or we do as the eldest Missus says and meet in the courts!"

Wei Wan was fierce in word and faint at heart, yet she would not yield. "The courts, then!"

Wei Fan said hastily, "Fifth Aunt, my sister means nothing more than that Ming should not go back to her maiden home hereafter." His eyes turned tenderly upon Dou Ming. "Every time Ming returns from her family, she is out of sorts for a long while after... I only want to live peaceably, and not to quarrel endlessly day after day..."

The Dou family had built their fortune through generations, and were now at the very height of their power, in their season of fullest bloom — and the Wei family would have Dou Ming never set foot in her maiden home again?

Then when Dou Ming suffered wrong in her husband's house, to whom was she to appeal? Who would speak up for her?

This Marquis of Jining had seemed at first a man of fine appearance and forthright conduct; only when trouble came did they learn that he was utterly without judgment or understanding.

Thank goodness Dou Yan had not married him; otherwise the Dou family would have lost so stout a prop as Song Yantang.

The Fifth Madam was all but showing her contempt when she heard Dou Ming say quietly, "If I am not to see my mother, will this matter then be passed over and never spoken of again?"

※

o(n_n)o~

Never thought I would sleep two hours, get up, and write another chapter — so I can post it early...

Sisters and brothers, I beg for your pink votes!

ps: Many friends think Dou Ming is a bit player I can just dash off (rubs nose) — but I have to see her business through to the end, don't I...