My father's carriage was parked at the second gate. Several servants were busy moving things inside. My father, wearing a royal blue silk gown with calamus pattern and a sable fur cloak, stood beside the carriage with a graceful demeanor and was talking to Gao Sheng.
Hearing the noise, he turned around, smiled gently, and had a handsome figure, like the breeze and the bright moon.
Dou Zhao felt a little hesitant.
She knew her father was handsome.
But she had never seen a father like this.
In her memory, her father always frowned slightly, laughed suddenly, and there was a bit of unremovable gloom between his brows. Especially when he looked at her quietly, his eyes were dull, like a thousand-year-old well, which made people feel cold.
Unlike now, he was young, handsome, sunny, like a carefree teenager, and it was heartwarming to look at him.
"Shou Gu," her father's smiling face appeared in front of her, "You didn't even shout when Daddy came back!" He reached out to pinch Dou Zhao's nose.
Dou Zhao subconsciously turned his head away and avoided his father's hand.
Her father was startled, then smiled indifferently, took out a windmill from the carriage behind him, blew it up, and held it in front of her: "This is what Dad bought for you from Kyoto. Is it fun?"
If she were really a child, she would be attracted to the windmill with great pampering, but she was already the mother of three children. She was the one who bought the windmill to coax the children to play with it. How could she take it seriously?
Dou Zhao stretched his neck and looked into the carriage.
The mother blushed and looked at the father lovingly, saying in a coquettish and angry tone: "It's good that you are back safely. What else did you buy for us? We have everything at home."
"That's different!" Father took Dou Zhao from Mother's hands, "I bought this specially for you from Kyoto."
My mother's face turned even redder, and her eyes became hazy, as if she had drunk some aged Huadiao wine.
Dou Zhao leaned sideways and tried to open the curtain of the carriage, but his forearms were too short to reach the curtain.
Her father noticed her intention, patted her butt gently, and put her on the carriage: "What are you looking for?"
Dou Zhao ignored him and dived into the carriage.
The carriage was covered with thick bedding, with several scriptures such as "Four Books Annotations" casually thrown on the bedding. In the corner was a tea bucket for warming tea. With the lid opened, a purple clay teapot with a handle was placed inside.
There is nothing else.
Dou Zhao stood in the carriage, looking around in confusion.
Did she remember it wrong?
Or maybe...what Tuoniang said is not true at all!
※※※※※
When my father returned from a long journey, the first thing he did was to pay his respects to my grandfather.
The mother went back to the upper room on the pretext of arranging a family dinner and called all the maids working in the upper room to the living room.
"Who is that bastard who told my sister those dirty words? Come out now!" She slammed the table in anger. "If my sister points it out, it won't just be a matter of serving in the outer courtyard and being fined a few months' salary! I will report it to the old lady and call a human trafficker to sell her to the poor mountains and valleys. She will never be able to eat white flour steamed buns in her life!"
The room was dead silent.
The teacup on the table was clanged loudly by the mother's shaking: "Great! Not a single one of you came forward. You think I can't find out? My sister is only a few years old and can't even speak clearly, but you guys are instigating her to talk nonsense in front of me. If my sister was older, wouldn't she have been corrupted by you guys..."
Dou Zhao, accompanied by a little maid, sat on the warm kang in the inner room of the upper house, sighing from time to time.
It was her own idea, who would come out and admit it?
But Dou Zhao did not defend the maids.
She is now a child who can hardly speak. From her mother's perspective, such a fabricated statement as "father brought back a woman" was certainly taught by the maids around her. If she defends those maids, her mother will only become more suspicious of someone with ulterior motives, and it will be even more difficult for those maids to get away.
She asked the little maid beside her: "What's your name?" Her throat seemed to be blocked and she couldn't utter a complete sentence.
The little maid was overwhelmed by the favor and said earnestly, "My name is Xiangcao, Miss Fourth."
She said: "I want... Tuo Niang!"
The little maid opened her eyes wide and asked curiously, "Who is Tuoniang?"
Dou Zhao was dumbfounded.
Someone shouted, "Grandma Qi, Master Qi is back."
There was a commotion outside.
My mother said nervously, "Madame Yu, take the people in the fourth young lady's room back first. The fourth young lady will stay here with me tonight. As for the others, go do what you need to do."
An old voice replied respectfully, "Yes."
Then there was another noise.
After a while, mother came in with father, smiling sweetly.
Seeing Dou Zhao sitting stupidly on the kang, her father smiled and touched her head: "What happened to you, kid?"
The mother couldn't tell her husband that Dou Zhao had been instigated by someone, so she smiled vaguely and said, "Maybe he's too tired from playing, he'll be fine soon."
My father didn't ask any more questions.
The maids came in with water and scented soap, and my mother helped my father to wash his face and change his clothes. Dou Zhao was also carried down by the maid, washed and changed his clothes, and went to see his grandfather together.
My grandfather lived in the west side of the house, and because there was a plaque with the words "鹤寿同年" (Crane's Longevity) written on it in the middle hall, it was called "鹤寿堂" (Crane's Longevity Hall).
There is a pond and rockery in front of the Heshou Hall, and wisteria trees behind the house. It is the place with the best view in the house.
Dou Zhao remembers that she has been to Heshou Hall twice. Once was when she was nine years old, when her grandfather passed away. According to her grandfather's will, the mourning hall was set up in Heshou Hall, and she came back to attend the funeral; another time was to attend her grandfather's mourning ceremony.
Both times, there was so much noise that she didn't even have time to take a closer look at He Shou Tang.
This time she came back to the dream again, leaning on her mother's shoulder and looking around.
The pond was frozen, the rockery was covered with snow, the trees had withered, and the vines were nothing more than dead stems. Although it looked bleak, its elegant layout could not conceal its brightness.
She couldn't help but nodded secretly.
No wonder those old scholars in Kyoto all praised my grandfather for his talent.
It’s a pity that my grandfather was not tired of the official career and resigned from his official position before he was 30 years old and returned to his hometown to become a farmer.
While they were daydreaming, they arrived at the door of Hemingtang.
A middle-aged beautiful woman who still had some charm welcomed them in with a smile.
Dou Zhao stared at the beautiful woman with his eyes wide open.
How could she dream of Aunt Ding?
If she is going to dream, she should dream about her grandmother!
She grew up with her grandmother.
Just as she was thinking about it, Aunt Ding came forward with a smile, pinched Dou Zhao's little hand, and said to her mother: "What's wrong with Shougu today? She looks unhappy and didn't even call for help..."
Mother winked at Aunt Ding and whispered, "I'll tell you later."
Aunt Ding understood, smiled, picked up Dou Zhao, and accompanied her mother into grandfather's study.
Dou Zhao felt very upset.
My grandfather was over 40 and still had no children, so my legitimate grandmother decided to give him two concubines. One of them was Aunt Ding and the other was my grandmother, Cui. Aunt Ding was childless like my legitimate grandmother, and my grandmother only gave birth to my father, so their family was not prosperous. Later, my stepmother came into the family and gave birth to my younger brother Dou Xiao. My grandmother had done a great job in raising a son, so the people of the Dou family changed their name to "Mrs. Cui". Although my father still called her "Auntie", the grandchildren called her "Grandmother", and Aunt Ding was always Aunt Ding.
After my first grandmother passed away, my grandfather decided not to remarry, and Aunt Ding took charge of the family. When my mother came into the family, she took over the family affairs. Aunt Ding only took care of my grandfather's household affairs. In his later years, Aunt Ding always accompanied my grandfather. My grandmother lived in a farm 50 miles away from Zhending County, and only came back for a few days every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Spring Festival.
Dou Zhao felt vaguely uneasy, as if something had happened and she was kept in the dark.
She observed the people and events around her quietly.
During dinner, Dou Zhao noticed that the dishes were served in a set of Yu Tang Chunse blue and white porcelain, with all the necessary bowls, plates, cups and spoons.
While his grandfather was questioning his father, Dou Zhao was left playing on the warm kang in the study.
She saw the pair of red sandalwood paper weights of immediate success on her grandfather's desk.
Dou Zhao thought about it, stood on tiptoe, and counted the glass beads on the tassel of the Longquan sword hanging on the wall.
She had seen all these things before.
At that time, they were my grandfather's favorite things and were placed in the coffin as burial objects.
She still remembered that there were only four bowls, two plates, a cup, and five spoons left of the blue and white porcelain tableware of Yu Tang Chun Se; there was only one purple rafter paper weight; and there were five colored glaze beads on the tassel of the Longquan Sword.
It was as if time had gone back, erasing the years left on those objects.
Listen to my grandfather's words again: "... This passage comes from The Analects of Confucius. You used 'The heart of a great official is generous and fair, loyal to his plans' to start the topic, and then used 'A generous heart is equal to gains and losses, and a fair heart is equal to things and myself. Ziwen thought it was loyal, but I don't know about benevolence' to continue the topic. It's very good. It shows that you have mastered the method of 'variation'..."
Dou Zhao's hands and feet were cold.
Although she knew how to read, she had never read the Four Books and Five Classics. How could she come up with such words out of thin air?
"Mother, mother!" Dou Zhao was terrified. She called her mother loudly, tears falling uncontrollably.
My grandfather, who was talking excitedly with my father, suddenly looked gloomy.
My mother rushed in from the living room in a panic: "Father-in-law, I'll take Shougu to play over there."
She looked apologetic and carried Dou Zhao out of the study.
Aunt Ding came over to greet us.
My mother had dinner at the same table with my grandfather and father. Because the wet nurse did not come with them today, Aunt Ding fed Dou Zhao first. By the time Dou Zhao was full, everyone at the table had left, leaving only some leftovers. She was just having dinner in a hurry.
"What happened?" She touched Dou Zhao's forehead. "He was fine on weekdays. Did he run into something dirty?"
Dou Zhao hugged her mother's neck tightly, feeling the warmth in her neck, as if this could prove that she was not encountering a group of ghosts.
"No way?" Mother shuddered and asked hesitantly, "Could it be that the person who instigated Shougu did this?"
"It's okay." Aunt Ding said confidently, "Even if someone tries to do something, we don't have to worry. We are a family that does good deeds. The gods will protect us and keep us safe and peaceful. I will pray for two petitions on behalf of Shougu in front of the gods later. You can wipe Shougu's body twice and then burn it. Shougu will be fine."
The mother nodded repeatedly and said through gritted teeth, "If I find out who has bad intentions, I will skin her alive!"
"Fortunately, I said it in front of you. If I had said it in front of Seventh Master, it would have been troublesome." Aunt Ding sighed. A servant ran in and reported, "Old Master, Seventh Master, Seventh Madam, Aunt Ding, the Third Master of the East Palace is here."