ATLAS TRANSLATES

That evening, Dou Zhao, who was kept at the East Residence, lay in Six Aunt’s inner chamber’s gauze cabinet but couldn’t fall asleep.

Half of the West Dou family’s property was now hers?

In her mind, she kept seeing her father’s face – gentle yet determined – as he crumpled up the document.

A quarter of the Dou family’s assets – did her father know what he was doing?

Yu Daqing only managed her mother’s small dowry, but after her mother’s death, he developed different intentions. She was just a five-year-old child – who would loyally manage these assets for her without being tempted by the silks and riches?

Should she contact the Cui family?

In her previous life, she was twelve.

In this life, she was still innocent and unknowing.

Dou Zhao had been through too much already and no longer dared to test a person’s character with money.

On the other side of the gauze cabinet, Madam Ji wasn’t sleeping either.

She was thinking about today’s events.

She wanted to share some intimate words with her husband, but when she turned to look at him, she saw his sleeping face.

The thousands of words remained stuck in her heart.

She carefully got up and put on her clothes, first checking on the “sleeping” Dou Zhao, then sat alone on the large kang bed by the window.

The current Dou Zhao was like an infant clutching a bag of gold ingots in her swaddling clothes. Though the gold could ensure her basic needs were met, she had no power to protect it, and it would only tempt others to try to steal it.

For Dou Zhao, the disadvantages probably outweighed the advantages!

Madam Ji thought of the child’s peaceful sleeping face, her serious expression while writing, and that occasional flash of cleverness in her eyes, and suddenly felt heartbroken.

Such a good child – how could they let her be ruined like this?

She couldn’t help but look toward where her mother-in-law lived.

As for Second Madam who had sent away Dou Tuo and his son, she was having a private conversation with her second son Dou Shishu in her inner chamber.

“If your Third Uncle ultimately doesn’t agree to give half of West Dou’s property to Miss Shou, do you really plan to give her your share along with what Third and Sixth Brother should get?”

The serving maids had been dismissed, leaving only Second Madam and Dou Shishu in the room.

Dou Shishu smiled without answering. He personally poured his mother a cup of tea.

Second Madam was both angry and anxious, saying reproachfully: “You’re being too hasty! Thankfully Wan Yuan stepped in today, otherwise how would you have resolved this situation?”

“I hadn’t expected that,” Dou Shishu sat opposite his mother. “Wan Yuan has become much more steady compared to before.” He continued, “Please help look after family matters here. I’ll be returning to the capital early tomorrow morning.”

“Such effort spent…” Second Madam sighed. “I doubt Wang Xingyi will appreciate your gesture. He might even blame you for not trying hard enough when things turned out this way.”

“Mother,” Dou Shishu laughed. “Do you think Wang Yousheng and I could ever eat from the same bowl?”

Second Madam was slightly startled.

Dou Shishu continued: “Our Dou family – by my generation, we’re already in the third generation, right?”

Since the Dou family first had someone enter the imperial examinations, Dou Shishu was the third generation.

Second Madam nodded.

“No matter how many scholars and successful candidates our family produces, as long as no one becomes a high minister, we’ll always remain just an ordinary official family – unremarkable in official circles and powerless at court,” Dou Shishu’s expression grew serious, his features becoming as sharp as if carved by a knife.

“Now I have such an opportunity, seeing such prospects, with the possibility that someday my portrait might hang in the Dou family’s ancestral hall in the North Tower, my name written on the first page of the family genealogy – Mother, do you think I could give that up? Would I give that up?”

Second Madam firmly replied: “Of course not!”

“Wang Xingyi chose to be House Master’s vanguard for a full ten years. He endured harsh conditions in the northwest while his wife and children lived in poverty,” Dou Shishu’s eyes narrowed, his sharp gaze flashing like a knife.

“Now that he’s finally returned to officialdom, House Master will compensate him for all his grievances. Do you think he’ll be content with the status quo and not seek advancement, letting his hardships go unrewarded?”

“He won’t!” Second Madam seemed lost in thought.

“Since neither of us can back down, why should I try to please him?” Dou Shishu smiled. “Besides, the current situation benefits us more – ‘cultivate oneself, regulate the family, order the state, bring peace to all under heaven’ – he can’t even manage family affairs and needs our family to expend such effort cleaning up his mess. House Master will likely need to reevaluate him.”

“Exactly!” Second Madam’s spirits lifted. “How can someone who can’t even manage household affairs be trusted with important state matters? Paper can’t wrap up fire – even if we keep quiet, this will eventually reach the ears of your classmates and colleagues. Which official doesn’t want to advance? Even if Master Zeng favors him, others will surely object.”

She smiled as she continued, “Looking at it this way, we should thank Madam Pang for causing this disturbance, otherwise things wouldn’t have reached this point.”

“However, letting a woman like Madam Wang enter the family is still somewhat inappropriate,” Dou Shishu mused. “I fear the next generation might follow her example and ruin the Dou family’s reputation. You should pay more attention to matters at the West Residence – Third Uncle’s household has long lacked someone to manage internal affairs, there must be much to do. It would be better if Miss Shou stayed at our residence, and if Wang’s daughter could also come live with you, that would be even better.”

Second Madam despised Madam Wang and by extension disliked Dou Ming, saying: “We’re now at odds with your Third Uncle. If it’s just for her upbringing, I think we should forget it!”

“But she’s still a Dou family girl,” Dou Shishu said. “If she marries into another family and behaves inappropriately, it’s our family’s face that will be lost.”

Second Madam nodded reluctantly.

Dou Shishu added: “Please tell the family not to gossip about Miss Shou getting half of the West Residence’s property.”

Second Madam looked puzzled.

Dou Shishu said tactfully: “I’m worried someone might target Miss Shou.”

Second Madam understood.

Half of West Dou’s property – how much silver was that?

Any family that married such a daughter-in-law would allow their descendants to live idly for generations.

“We must find someone close to our family for Miss Shou,” Second Madam pondered.

“It would be even better if her heart favored the East Residence,” Dou Shishu saw his mother understood his meaning, his eyes full of mirth. “Madam Zhao will return with Lord Zhao’s consent document in the next few days. Madam Zhao is still young. You should help her with any matters to avoid complications in dividing the property – since we’ve agreed to Zhao family’s conditions, why not do it beautifully?”

Second Madam was surprised that Dou Zhao’s aunt would arrive so quickly.

Dou Shishu smiled and said: “As soon as I got news that Ruifu wanted to give half of West Dou’s property to Miss Shou as dowry, I understood his intention. I immediately sent someone to Ganquan County, fearing that if we waited too long, Third Uncle might change his mind when it came time to hand over the property.”

“You’ve thought it through so thoroughly,” Second Madam couldn’t help but praise her elegant yet confident son repeatedly.

Dou Tuo’s regret came faster than Dou Shishu had anticipated.

Upon returning home, he threw his pen wash at Dou Shengying.

Dou Shengying neither dodged nor moved. After his father finished venting his anger, he quietly said: “I’ll return to the capital tomorrow with Fifth Brother…”

“Haven’t you embarrassed us enough today?” Dou Tuo angrily interrupted him.

“I still need to take next year’s spring imperial examination,” Dou Shengying said. “I want Fifth Brother to help introduce me to an old Hanlin Academy scholar to teach me about essay writing.”

Dou Tuo’s anger suddenly subsided. Then he said: “Fine, we’ll hold the formal recognition ceremony after you return from the spring examination. It will be good to let that Wang woman wait.”

Why must it be like this?

Dou Shengying wanted to advise his father, but thinking of his father’s resentment and knowing he couldn’t skip the spring examination, he held his tongue.

Dou Tuo began discussing essay writing with his son.

Father and son asked and answered questions until fish-belly white appeared in the sky.

After Dou Shengying returned to wash up with his red eyes, he went back to Heshou Hall to have breakfast with his father. When Gao Xing came to report that the luggage had been loaded onto the cart, Dou Tuo accompanied his son to the main gate.

As father and son were talking, a large group of people carrying gongs and drums surged toward them.

Dou Tuo frowned and had just called out “Du An” when a man’s loud cry came from the crowd: “Elder Master Dou, it was my brother’s foolishness that offended you. We three brothers come bearing thorns to beg your forgiveness. Please be magnanimous and don’t hold it against us, forgive us!”

The Dou family members were startled and all looked toward the crowd.

They saw three men in clove-colored silk pants walking in the middle of the crowd, bare-chested and carrying thorny branches on their backs.

Weren’t these the three Pang brothers?

Du An was so surprised his mouth fell open.

Dou Tuo was so angry his temples throbbed. He harshly asked those beside him: “What are they doing here?”

“Don’t… don’t know,” the servant said. “I’ll go ask.” Before he could reach the Pang brothers, they had already fallen to their knees in the middle of the street like toppling mountains.

“Master Dou, we kowtow to you!” With that, they began knocking their heads on the ground with loud thuds, their foreheads quickly turning purple.

“What happened?”

“Who are these people?”

Some recognized Pang Xilin, the third Pang brother: “Isn’t that Third Master Pang from neighboring Lingshou County? He’s a famous troublemaker there, never thought he’d see such a day! Wonder what the Pang family did to offend the Dou family?”

The watching neighbors discussed among themselves, while Pang family members kept explaining to the crowd: “Our Third Master didn’t recognize a precious jade, offended Elder Master Dou, and has come to apologize.”

“Serves him right!” Came spiteful spitting from the crowd. “So even Pang Yiba has such a day!”

“The Pang family elder should teach him a good lesson!”

“Must be that Pang Yiba tried to extort Elder Master Dou!”

There were all sorts of comments.

Dou Tuo’s fingers trembled with anger.

Pang Yulou’s second brother Pang Yinlou couldn’t help feeling somewhat proud, quietly saying to his elder brother Pang Jinlou and younger brother Pang Xilou: “See? Wasn’t I right? If little brother had personally gone to cause trouble for those families that day, how would we save face today? When dealing with these domestic matters, the worst thing is to leave no room for maneuver by striking someone dead with one blow. You should be more mindful when encountering such situations in the future!”