ATLAS TRANSLATES

Dou Zhao rested her chin on her hands as she leaned on the windowsill, watching the sky gradually turn white.

The maids coming in to serve Lady Ji were startled, exclaiming softly: “Fourth Miss, why are you up so early?”

Lady Ji was awakened by the sound and quickly lifted the plain white gauze curtain: “Shou Gu, why didn’t you wake up Sixth Aunt when you woke up?” As she spoke, she couldn’t help covering her mouth as she yawned.

Last night, she had talked with Dou Shiheng late into the night, confirming Wang Xingyi’s promotion.

Dou Shiheng, who had been sound asleep, was also awakened and said drowsily: “Who was on night duty yesterday? How did no one know when Shou Gu woke up?” Then he forced himself to sit up, “It’s fortunate Shou Gu is well-behaved. If she had wandered off somewhere, how would we explain to Seventh Brother!” He scolded Lady Ji.

The maid on night duty was the one with apricot eyes and peach cheeks, named Cailan. She was Sixth Aunt’s head maid, and she didn’t know why when she woke up, Dou Zhao, who had been sleeping with her in the gauze cabinet, had disappeared.

“It was my duty,” she stood trembling by Lady Ji’s bedside, “I was too deep in sleep and didn’t notice Fourth Miss had awakened.”

Since she could be on night duty when Sixth Uncle was staying in Sixth Aunt’s room, she was probably Sixth Uncle’s personal maid.

Dou Zhao pondered this, then said with a grin: “I got out of bed quietly, Sister Cailan didn’t know.” Cailan felt relieved, and her gaze toward Dou Zhao became much gentler than yesterday.

Lady Ji reprimanded Cailan briefly and sent her to rest.

The maids came in to help Lady Ji, Dou Shiheng, and Dou Zhao wash up.

Lady Ji then said: “Why don’t you sleep in the study these few days? Then I can better arrange maids for night duty for Shou Gu.”

Sixth Uncle was somewhat displeased and said: “I’m leaving the day after tomorrow.”

Lady Ji’s face reddened slightly.

Sixth Uncle said: “Why not let Shou Gu sleep with Hui boy and the others?”

Hui boy was Sixth Uncle’s eldest son.

“That won’t do!” Lady Ji objected, “Shou Gu just arrived, and moving her again would frighten her.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Sixth Uncle was becoming impatient.

Dou Zhao wanted to say she wasn’t afraid and would like her own room, but she couldn’t say anything. She could only pretend not to understand while letting the maids dress her.

“Then I’ll go to the study with you,” Sixth Aunt said quietly, “Let Shou Gu stay in the main room for now.”

Sixth Uncle called a maid: “Go ask when the Old Master from the West Mansion left?”

Last night, things hadn’t dispersed at Second Madame’s place even by the time they went to bed.

The maid left to inquire. Another of Sixth Aunt’s head maids, called Caisu, directed servants to set up breakfast. Two children with thick eyebrows and large eyes came in, surrounded by maids and old servants.

The older one was Hui boy, formally named Dou Zhengchang, nine years old this year. The younger one’s childhood name was Zhi boy, formally named Dou Dechang, seven years old this year.

Dou Zhao glanced at Dou Dechang.

In her previous life, Dou Dechang had been the black sheep of the Dou family.

When others were studying, he was causing trouble everywhere; when others were getting married, he had eloped with Ji family’s eldest daughter’s cousin; when others were establishing their careers, he was already raising crickets in the Hanlin Academy, known as a notorious playboy in the capital.

After paying respects to their parents, Dou Dechang ignored his brother standing respectfully beside him and threw himself into his mother’s arms spoiled.

Lady Ji smiled indulgently as she pulled her young son away from her embrace: “You’re already attending school, you’re not a little child anymore. Be careful or Fourth Sister will laugh at you.”

They had already met yesterday and had dinner together at Third Uncle’s house. On the way, Dou Dechang had secretly pulled her braids until Dou Zhengchang gave him a fierce glare to make him stop.

He paid no mind and called out “Fourth Sister” to Dou Zhao, then playfully nestled back into his mother’s arms.

Lady Ji didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Dou Zhao turned her face away.

She thought of her own two sons…

Over there, Sixth Uncle asked about Dou Zhengchang’s studies: “What did the teacher lecture on yesterday?”

Dou Zhengchang answered respectfully: “The Master said: Don’t worry that others don’t know you; worry that you don’t know others.”

“What’s the meaning?”

Dou Zhengchang said: “Others not knowing me causes me no harm; if I don’t know others, then I cannot distinguish between worthy and unworthy, good and evil, enough to ruin affairs and oneself.”

Sixth Uncle nodded with satisfaction and looked toward Dou Dechang.

Dou Dechang stood up straight obediently.

Despite this, Sixth Uncle’s expression was still somewhat displeased. He asked sternly: “What did the teacher lecture on yesterday?”

“Su Mingyun, at twenty-seven, first became determined to study books,” he answered quickly, clearly having memorized it well.

“What’s the meaning?”

“We can wait until we’re twenty-seven to start studying.”

Sixth Uncle slammed his hand on the table with a “bang,” his face turning ashen.

Dou Zhengchang lowered his head, his shoulders shaking.

Dou Dechang looked to Lady Ji for help.

Lady Ji’s expression was even more severe than Dou Shiheng’s.

Dou Dechang shrank back and obediently said: “Su Mingyun, named Su Xun, styled Lao Quan, was from Meishan in Meizhou…”

Sixth Uncle’s expression softened slightly.

The maid who had been sent to inquire returned and reported: “Things haven’t dispersed at Old Madame’s place.”

Sixth Uncle was startled and said to Sixth Aunt: “I’ll go check!”

“Why not have breakfast first?” Sixth Aunt said, but Sixth Uncle had already waved his hand and hurried out.

The expressions of brothers Dou Zhengchang and Dou Dechang relaxed. Dou Dechang particularly jumped onto his chair in two or three bounds and waved to Dou Zhao: “Fourth Sister, come quickly, today we have chive dumplings. Our cook makes the best chive dumplings. She came with my mother from Yixing, her chive dumplings are different from Grandmother’s and Third Aunt’s, you definitely haven’t tried them before.”

Sixth Aunt was from the South and wasn’t used to kang tables, so the Sixth House used tables and chairs for meals.

“Why are you like a monkey, unable to stay still for a moment?” Lady Ji scolded him with a smile as she placed Dou Zhao in the round chair at the table. Worried that Zhao wasn’t used to it, she assigned a maid specifically to support Dou Zhao.

Dou Dechang made faces at his mother.

Both Lady Ji and Dou Zhengchang laughed heartily.

Although everyone followed the etiquette of “no talking while eating or sleeping” during breakfast, they were all smiling and the atmosphere was pleasant.

After the meal, the brothers respectfully bid farewell to their mother and left for the clan school.

Lady Ji then took Dou Zhao to pay respects to Second Madame.

Dou Zhao looked at the towering trees along the way, thinking about what she had heard last night.

In two months, Wang Xingyi would be promoted to Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and concurrent Imperial Censor, Governor of Gansu, responsible for horse market affairs. A year later, when the Mongols invaded, Wang Xingyi would repel the Mongol Khan Ludu, capturing five thousand warhorses and killing over thirty thousand enemies, advancing to become the Provincial Governor of Shaanxi.

Later, Wang Xingyi repeatedly repelled the Mongols, achieving great military success, which led to Wang Zhishao being granted the hereditary position of Fourth-Rank Commander of Miyun Guard.

Meanwhile, her Fifth Uncle was still struggling in his position as Vice Minister of Personnel, and it wasn’t until seven years later when Zeng Yifen passed away that he entered the Cabinet with He Wendao’s support, managing the Ministry of Personnel. But compared to Wang Xingyi, his prestige was far inferior, so much so that despite having more seniority than Wang Xingyi and managing a more important ministry, he always ranked below Wang Xingyi.

In this life, her rebirth had disrupted the existing trajectory – would things turn out differently?

Dou Zhao smiled as she and Sixth Aunt stopped at Second Madame’s doorway.

Liu Mama, Second Madame’s most capable servant, gave Sixth Aunt a meaningful look: “Old Madame has matters to discuss with the Old Master from the West Mansion. Today the ladies are excused from their morning and evening greetings.”

Sixth Aunt and Second Brother’s wife, who had arrived at the same time, smiled and left Second Madame’s courtyard.

Second Brother’s wife quietly asked Sixth Aunt: “Do you know what happened?”

Sixth Aunt shook her head and said: “If you hear anything, remember to let me know.”

“Of course,” Second Brother’s wife nodded with a smile and reached out to Dou Zhao, “Come, Shou Gu, let Second Sister-in-law hold you.”

Dou Zhao moved from Sixth Aunt’s arms to Second Brother’s wife’s, who told her grandchildren who had come along to pay respects to Second Madame to “quickly greet Great-aunt.”

The two boys and one girl, aged five, four, and two respectively, all looked at Dou Zhao with bright, curious eyes as they called her “Aunt.”

Second Brother’s wife put Dou Zhao down and smiled: “Go play with your nephew and nieces!”

But Sixth Aunt took Dou Zhao’s hand: “We still need to pay respects to First Sister-in-law, we’ll visit you later.”

Second Brother’s wife smiled in agreement, and they parted ways under the hundred-year-old osmanthus tree in the east wing.

Sixth Aunt carried her and walked slowly toward her own residence.

Dou Zhao felt somewhat puzzled.

Sixth Aunt suddenly stopped.

The maids following behind them immediately stood still.

Sixth Aunt carried her alone to a nearby waterside pavilion.

“Shou Gu,” she put Dou Zhao down on the pavilion’s water-polished stone floor, crouched down and looked at Dou Zhao seriously as she asked quietly, “Would you like to study?”

Dou Zhao was stunned.

Sixth Aunt’s grandfather, who had achieved the third rank in the imperial examinations, was a literary master. Sixth Aunt came from a scholarly background, and was not only skilled in music but also wrote excellent prose. It was said that she would sometimes discuss examination writing techniques with Sixth Uncle. In the South, the separation between men and women was stricter than in the North, and well-educated young ladies from noble families would study with their mothers, sisters-in-law, or aunts. Only newly wealthy families would hire old scholars as tutors.

Could it be that Sixth Aunt wanted to teach her?

Previously, she had only felt that her handwriting wasn’t as good as those ladies who had studied, but after hearing Sixth Aunt’s words yesterday, she realized how far she was from those truly educated women.

If she could study under Sixth Aunt, that would be wonderful.

She nodded her head vigorously twice.

Lady Ji smiled, her gaze gentle as she said softly: “Good child, remember, people become well-behaved through books.”

She probably pitied how Dou Zhao had been used as a pawn and still had to be grateful to those who manipulated her?

Dou Zhao felt a bitterness in her heart.

They returned to the room.

Several old servants were waiting for Sixth Aunt’s instructions.

But Sixth Aunt ignored them.

She carefully looked at Dou Zhao’s tracing practice and instructed Caisu: “Bring the ‘Maosong Pavilion’ calligraphy copybook from my study.” Seeing Dou Zhao looking at her with wide eyes, she smiled and said: “The ‘Maosong Pavilion’ copybook was given to me by my aunt years ago. It’s more suitable for girls to practice with. You can trace it first, and in the afternoon I’ll explain to you in detail how to handle the brush.”

Completely rejecting Father’s set.

Dou Zhao smiled sheepishly.

Only then did Sixth Aunt allow the servants waiting in the corridor to come in and report their matters.

Meanwhile, Caisu took Dou Zhao to Lady Ji’s study.

The study had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves along the walls, densely packed with books and poetry collections. In the center was only a large drawing table with two round chairs.

Next to the drawing table was an extremely large old porcelain jar filled with various scroll paintings. On the table was an old porcelain tube containing many used brushes, and beside it was an enamel box with lotus patterns, brightly colored and exquisitely crafted, yet containing a half-used old inkstone with a small finger-thick piece of black ink lying across it.

Dou Zhao sat at the drawing table and could smell a faint jasmine fragrance even before grinding the ink.

This was truly the setup of a cultured noble family.

She couldn’t help but silently praise it.