Chapter 247 — Two Courts

For Wang Yu to have come this far...

Consider a fellow not yet even of age, with the nerve to attempt such a thing—and the ability to pull it off. Give him a few years, and with more polished methods and a firmer resolve, what sort of sight would he present then?

Once Wang Yu had grasped the crux of the matter, he resolved to make use of his wife's former role as a bridesmaid to Dou Yan at Song Yan's wedding, and attend the Song family's kin-recognition banquet.

Young Madam Wang was taken aback. "This—this hardly seems proper, does it?"

His wife was gentle by nature, though not a woman of strong opinions or sharp wits. Fortunately, whether or not she understood a thing, she always took her cue from him in all matters, so Wang Yu was spared having to explain himself to her at every turn.

"What's improper about it?" he said with a laugh. "Aren't weddings and funerals all about a bit of liveliness? The Song household is thin in numbers—such a great main hall, and so few relatives. It looks rather desolate, however you slice it. Now that the Dou girl is entering the family, we'll go add to the merriment. Would Yantang really find us too noisy? Besides, Yantang has pulled me into two great ventures these past two years—you know it yourself, both grand undertakings—and this connection must not be severed on any account. The Dou girl may come from a distinguished house, but she is, after all, the daughter of an official, and she grew up in Zhending. She's surely unfamiliar with the capital. If you keep company with her now, then I can keep regular dealings with Yantang, and when business comes up hereafter, I'll get my share of the broth. In short, it's all benefit and no harm."

Young Madam Wang hid her smile behind her sleeve. "Since when has the Heir become like a merchant—prizing profit and thinking little of partings? Last night you told me that if we were to associate with the Dou girl, I should keep a low profile, and if not, then to have no dealings at all. After one night's sleep, the Heir has changed his tune. Not only has he pushed me forward, he's going himself to add to Young Master Song's liveliness..."

Wang Yu and his wife were deeply fond of each other, so he did not mind her teasing him now and then. But hearing her words, he could not help muttering inwardly: Who would willingly offer himself up to lend another face? It was only that he could not afford to offend them—and dared not hide from them either.

He went in person to the storehouse and selected a set of exceedingly precious head ornaments—pure gold inlaid with red stones—as a gift of greeting for Dou Zhiwei.

Seeing this display, Young Madam Wang dared not be careless. She wore a robe of true red with full-length sleeves, arranged her hair in a peony knot, put on kingfisher-feather pearl ornaments, and on her wrists and hands wore five or six pairs of bracelets in gold, silver, and enamel.

Wang Yu frowned outright. "Are they going to look at you, or at the bride?"

"Oh!" At his words, Young Madam Wang hurried to change into a pale green brocade jacket patterned in ten auspicious hues, and put on a full set of pearl ornaments. Only after Wang Yu nodded did she board the carriage with him, and they drove straight for the Yingzhen Ducal House.

At the main gate, they encountered Zhang Xuming and his wife.

Wang Yu started, but quickly went forward to greet them with a face full of smiles.

Zhang Xuming was plainly surprised to see Wang Yu as well, and actually asked, rather foolishly, "What brings you here too?"

He was, after all, distantly connected by marriage to the Song family. Wang Yu and the Songs, by contrast, had not the slightest tie between them.

Wang Yu laughed. "Isn't it that I wanted to see Yantang's bride?"

Zhang Xuming roared with laughter.

Young Madam Wang noticed that the Third Madam Zhang looked out of sorts, and asked after her with concern: "Were you worn out yesterday?"

Third Madam Zhang shook her head. Recalling that Young Madam Wang was close-lipped, she could not help complaining in a low voice: "Tell me, as one of the same generation—with my maternal grandmother above me, and my parents and brothers and sisters-in-law besides—I could simply have given the Dou girl a pair of gold hairpins or two kingfisher-flower ornaments and been done with it. But Jixian insisted I give as a greeting gift a gold buyao that I'd only had made a few days ago. And then he sulked and said, 'Isn't it just a new style from the south? Can't the silversmiths of the capital make one too? Whatever silver it cost, I'll repay you double.' I'm still shaking with anger! Tell me, am I such a miser? Isn't it that I was afraid of outshining my grandmother and my parents and brothers and sisters-in-law?"

Young Madam Wang was greatly startled.

She had heard of that gold buyao. It was said to be inlaid with gems of every color—not only costly but rare, the only one of its kind in all the capital. A few days before, when the Xuanning Marquis's household had taken a daughter-in-law, the Heir's wife of the Donglin Earl had half in jest asked Third Madam Zhang for that buyao to use as a pattern, and Third Madam Zhang had laughingly deflected her. And now, in the blink of an eye, Third Master Zhang had forced her to bring it out as a greeting gift.

She could not help thinking of the set of head ornaments in her own hands—by comparison, they no longer seemed so very precious.

"These are all matters of courtesy and return. What you bring out now, the bride will have to match when her turn comes," said Young Madam Wang, being of a peacemaking disposition. "Besides, the bride's dowry is ample. Ordinary things would likely not catch her eye. Isn't Third Master Zhang simply wanting to save face?"

These words dispersed no small part of Third Madam Zhang's resentment.

When they entered the flower hall, she found that the Lu family's relatives had long since arrived, and she must go forward to pay her respects; introductions were made for Young Madam Wang, and one thing led to another until the time flew by. By the time she was teasing Lu Gui, asking how many red envelopes he had received the day before, the pair who had led Song Yan and his wife to the ancestral hall to offer sacrifice to Song Cen and his wife had already entered the flower hall.

Elder Madam Lu quickly urged everyone to be seated.

The eyes of all the Song family's kin, near and distant, fell upon Dou Zhiwei.

Dou Yan wore the true-red silk robe with full-length sleeves befitting a bride. Her black hair was coiled into a peony knot and pinned with a gold phoenix buyao; the phoenix's eyes were made of rubies, and in its beak it held a ruby the size of a bodhi bead, from which hung three strings of ruby beads the size of lotus seeds, blazing with a brilliance like leaping flame, so dazzling that one could scarcely look away. Yet Dou Yan had been bestowed a pair of eyes even brighter and more radiant than that buyao, and they utterly overwhelmed the luster of the rubies, drawing the eye at once to her snow-white skin, her long brows sweeping toward her temples, her high nose, her red lips—and to the moon-bright earrings at her ears, the white jade rings on her fingers, the jadeite jingles at her waist...

She stood straight and tall, a dash of brisk valor in her brows, her steps steady yet light, her figure graceful yet elegant. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the handsome, radiant Song Yan, the two shone like sun and moon in mutual brilliance, each matching the other in splendor.

The wife of Lu Fuli could not help applauding inwardly, and murmured to Princess Ninghuai at her side: "This Dou girl... she puts me in mind of Lady Jiang."

Princess Ninghuai smiled faintly. "In her day, Lady Jiang did not have the Dou girl's composure—and the Zhenguo Lord was never as handsome as Yantang!"