Dou Zhao felt conflicted.
If this suddenly appearing woman was to be her stepmother, her mother’s attempts to make an issue of her status would likely end in disappointment.
Her stepmother’s surname was Wang, with the given name Yingxue, daughter of Wang Xingyi.
Wang Xingyi, courtesy name Yousheng, was from Nanwa Village in Lingshou County, North Zhili. He passed the imperial examinations in the 36th year of Zhide. Initially appointed as an official in the Ministry of Personnel, he was later promoted to the Bureau of Imperial Carriages.
During this time, when the Mongolian leader Anda Khan repeatedly invaded the northern border, Stone Duanlan, the general defending Datong, requested to open horse markets for peace.
Wang Xingyi submitted a memorial opposing the horse markets, strongly criticizing Stone Duanlan’s “ten impossibilities and five fallacies.”
When the palace eunuch Chen Dong protected Stone Duanlan, Wang Xingyi accused Chen Dong of “five treacheries and fifteen crimes.”
In the fourth year of Yongming, Wang Xingyi was beaten with a hundred strokes and thrown into death row. He became famous among scholars for refusing to write a letter of repentance while in prison.
After Chen Dong died, through the efforts of his teacher – the Grand Secretary and Minister of Personnel Zeng Yifen – Wang Xingyi’s sentence was reduced to exile in Xining in the sixth year of Yongming.
In the years that followed, the Mongols continued to raid the borders, and the horse markets were disrupted.
In the fourth year of Chengping, which was the third year after the stepmother’s marriage, Wang Xingyi was reinstated on Zeng Yifen’s recommendation.
He was first appointed as the magistrate of Xintai County in Shandong, then transferred to various positions in the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of War, receiving four promotions within half a year.
By then, ten years had passed since his exile, spanning two dynasties.
Later, Wang Xingyi’s career flourished. By the time Dou Zhao fell ill, he had risen to become Grand Secretary and Minister of Rites, one of the highest positions possible for a civil official.
The Wang family had been simple scholars for generations in Nanwa. After Wang Xingyi’s downfall, his wife Lady Xu sold all their property to try to save her husband. After his sentence was reduced to exile, the eldest son Wang Zhibing accompanied his weak father to Xining, while his wife stayed behind with their newly married daughter-in-law Lady Gao, second son Wang Zhishao, and daughter Yingxue.
With no regular income, Lady Gao voluntarily sold her dowry1 for three hundred taels2 of silver. Thirty taels were used to buy four mu of good farmland for daily needs, while the rest went to support Wang Xingyi and Wang Zhibing’s living expenses in Xining. Life was extremely difficult.
While some families showed great integrity like the Gaos, others like the Lei family – Yingxue’s intended in-laws – were purely profit-driven.
In the eighth year of Yongming, seeing that Zeng Yifen had been forced to retire and Wang Xingyi had no chance of reinstatement, the Lei family broke off their engagement with the fourteen-year-old Wang Yingxue.
Wang Yingxue gritted her teeth and sold the Lei family’s betrothal gifts. Through one of Lady Gao’s servants, she started a cotton trading business, which helped support the bottomless pit of expenses in Xining until Wang Xingyi was finally reinstated.
So when Third Aunt told Mother that Father had already sent people to bring that woman to Zhending, and after discussing with First Aunt, they decided to meet that woman at First Aunt’s dowry estate, Dou Zhao cried and clutched at her mother’s skirt, refusing to let go.
Mother forced down her anger and tried to comfort her.
Third Aunt suddenly had an idea and smiled, “This works well. If anyone asks, we can just say we took Shu girl to play at Sister-in-law’s estate.”
Mother finally relented and absently followed Third Aunt to First Aunt’s estate.
First Aunt was already waiting at the second gate.
She held Mother’s hands and looked her up and down, nodding in approval: “I was worried you couldn’t handle it, but now I see I was overthinking.”
Mother wore a large-sleeved jacket in the bright red color reserved for primary wives, with a vase and persimmon pattern. Her jet-black hair was styled in a loose bun, adorned only with a peony-shaped pearl flower made of lotus-seed-sized pearls. A jade-green bracelet shone like spring water between her snow-white wrist and the bright red sleeve cuff, elegant yet dignified.
Third Aunt also praised: “Seventh Sister-in-law has always known how to dress well, and today you look especially beautiful.”
A bitter smile flickered across Mother’s lips before quickly disappearing.
She curtsied to First Aunt and Third Aunt: “Please help me with today’s matter, sisters-in-law.”
“Of course,” First Aunt and Third Aunt said in unison as they helped Mother up, looking at her with maternal affection, “We won’t let Seventh Uncle have his way.”
Mother’s expression steadied slightly.
First Aunt smiled and hugged Dou Zhao: “Shu girl, the camellias behind Great Aunt’s house are in bloom. Would you like to take some maids later to help Great Aunt cut a few branches for the vase?” Her gaze, however, fell directly on Tuo Niang and Xiangcao who were following her.
Dou Zhao hugged First Aunt’s neck tightly: “I want to, Mother, I want to, First Aunt, I want to, Third Aunt…” She cried so loudly it gave First Aunt a big fright.
Mother quickly took Dou Zhao, her face red with embarrassment and annoyance: “I don’t know what’s wrong with this child lately, she won’t leave my side for a moment. As soon as I walk away, she cries so much no one can get any peace…”
First Aunt sighed upon hearing this and stroked Dou Zhao’s hair: “The elders often say that mothers and daughters are connected at heart. This child is clever, she knows you’re suffering inside, so she’s scared!”
These words brought tears to Mother’s eyes, and her arms tightened around Dou Zhao.
“Let her stay with you!” Third Aunt said with feeling, “She’s still young after all.”
Mother made a sound of agreement.
The group turned past the main hall to the flower pavilion in the back garden.
Snow was falling heavily, and the plum blossoms on the branches were in full bloom.
A graceful woman in a rose-red jacket stood straight by the window, creating a striking image against the winter plums outside.
Dou Zhao’s heart tightened.
It was her stepmother!
That silhouette, she would never forget!
When her grandparents had passed away and Third Uncle sent her to Beijing to reunite with her father, she had stood like this by the window, examining her with sharp eyes; on the evening when the Ji’ning Marquis’s family officially proposed to the Dou family, she had stood like this by the window, staring at her with an expressionless face; after she had sent her maid to Wei Tingyu to be his concubine, and Wei Tingyu had given the maid away, when she returned home for New Year’s visits, she had stood like this by the window, silently watching her with clenched hands; when she wanted to seek the granddaughter of Zeng Yifen as a bride for her brother Dou Xiao but was refused, she had called her back home and stood like this by the window with a twisted face…
Dou Zhao stared unblinkingly at that figure.
From trembling fear to hearty laughter, she had walked through purgatory barefoot.
Who had ever pitied her pain and cries?
Mother’s footsteps slowed.
The rain fell softly like willow catkins.
That figure turned around.
A smooth forehead, high straight nose, clear gaze, as naturally beautiful as a landscape painting.
Mother jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: “How can it be you? Wang Yingxue, how can it be you!”
She swayed unsteadily, and the arm holding Dou Zhao weakened. Only by Dou Zhao grabbing her mother’s waist did she avoid falling.
First Aunt and Third Aunt looked at each other in surprise, and Third Aunt quickly took Dou Zhao into her arms.
Wang Yingxue walked out with graceful composure.
She stood under the corridor and curtsied to Mother, softly calling her “Sister.”
“Our Zhao family has only one daughter, when did I get another sister?” Mother laughed coldly, trying hard to maintain her earlier calm elegance but unable to hide the distress in her expression, “Haven’t you mistaken me for someone else!”
Wang Yingxue lowered her eyes, kneeling on the cold stone floor of the corridor.
Her expression was humble and modest, just as she had always shown before the Dou family elders: “Sister, our families were neighbors, I had no sisters, and you only had one brother. We grew up together like siblings, you know my temperament better than anyone. Though my family fell on hard times, I’m not shameless. The Gao family knew of our misfortune yet still married their daughter to us. My sister-in-law and brother had been married less than a month when she voluntarily suggested that my brother accompany father to Xining. Now my nephew Nan is seriously ill, and even selling our four mu of farmland wouldn’t be enough for his medical expenses. I thought I would accept being a servant if anyone would have me, but unexpectedly, I met brother-in-law.”
As she spoke, she kowtowed deeply to Mother three times, “The great mistake has been made, I have nothing more to say. I can only beg the young master, if sister agrees to let me enter the household, I will surely forget the past and serve sister wholeheartedly. Sister…”
Her eyes glistened with tears, “If there’s anyone to blame, it’s fate playing tricks,” she kowtowed once more, “I will definitely serve sister well in the future!”
“Ha!” Mother sneered, looking intently at Wang Yingxue, raising an eyebrow, “What if I don’t agree?”
Wang Yingxue paused slightly, then smiled self-mockingly and said: “Then I beg sister to grant me a white silk rope3.”
Mother said nothing, took off the bright red handkerchief from her waist and threw it on the ground, smiling as she asked Wang Yingxue: “Is this long enough!”
Wang Yingxue looked at Mother with certainty, slowly stood up, walked to Mother’s front with a smile on her lips, curtsied to pick up the red handkerchief, said a faint “Thank you, sister,” and turned to walk toward the flower pavilion.
Snow fell in her jet-black hair, quickly disappearing.
This was First Aunt’s dowry estate – if there was a death here, her reputation would be completely ruined.
First Aunt became frightened and hurriedly said: “Seventh Sister-in-law, who is this woman? How do you know her?”
Mother stared at the flower pavilion door that had slammed shut with a “bang,” muttering in a daze: “She is Wang Yousheng’s daughter, from Nanwa… her father was my father’s classmate, our families often visited each other… she’s two years younger than me… when I got married, she even gave me two handkerchiefs she had embroidered herself with double lotus flowers… I never thought… I never dreamed… no wonder Wan Yuan wouldn’t say who it was… they set a trap to trick me…”
First Aunt and Third Aunt were startled: “Wang Yousheng, is he the Wang Xingyi who was exiled for offending Chen Dong?”
Mother nodded slightly, letting two clear tears fall.
“How could Seventh Uncle be so foolish? Her father was a Jinshi from the Yichou year, from the same examination as your Fifth Uncle.” First Aunt paced anxiously, “This won’t do, I must go tell Uncle…” She then instructed Third Aunt, “You quickly stop Miss Wang, I’ll go call someone!”
Since taking a concubine at a young age wasn’t something to be proud of, First Aunt had already dismissed all the servants inside and outside the flower pavilion.
Third Aunt also realized the gravity of the situation.
The Dou family wasn’t afraid of offending the powerful, but they feared being blamed for driving a fallen official’s daughter to death.
She responded with a cry, lifting her skirts as she ran toward the flower pavilion.
Mother stood quietly on the stone bridge, letting the snowflakes fall and pile up on her until she became like a snowman.
By her side was only little Dou Zhao.
- A dowry is a gift given by a bride’s family to their daughter after marriage, and it’s a sum that ‘belongs’ to the bride (and not the family they married into) even after marriage. ↩︎
- Taels is a unit of currency, often used to measure silver. Whilst the actual amount in today’s term will be hard to make equivalent, it’s definitely a big sum. ↩︎
- T/N: Might be redundant to mention, but to hang (her neck) upon. ↩︎
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