Chapter 250 — A Reminder

Suxin set the small wooden bucket of warmed tea on the long table against the wall and quietly withdrew.

The room fell silent at once; the distant sound of the night watchman's drum could be heard clearly.

Song Yan asked Dou Yan, "What did the Grand Princess Ninghuai and Old Madam Lu say to you?"

Today one of them had followed behind Song Cen to entertain the male guests, the other had accompanied the eldest Madam Lu in entertaining the ladies, and though each knew where the other was, they had not had a single chance to speak.

Among the kinswomen come to acknowledge the marriage, the Grand Princess Ninghuai was the most exalted and Old Madam Lu the most revered; if Dou Yan could win the recognition of the Grand Princess or Old Madam Lu, it would be of untold benefit to her future dealings with the noble houses and her comings and goings among the relatives.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," said Dou Xin. "Just family chatter." She could sense how much store Song Yan set by the Lu family, and so she told him that the Grand Princess Ninghuai and Old Madam Lu had invited her to visit them at home. "...They said they would send me an invitation when the time comes."

Song Yan was in excellent spirits.

The Grand Princess Ninghuai and Old Madam Lu were both the sort who seemed amiable and approachable yet kept others at a thousand miles' distance at heart; to win their recognition was no easy matter, and to be invited to their homes was harder still.

"It seems the two old ladies have taken quite a liking to you!" said Song Dan, and thinking of how his own mother, when she was alive, had also won the affection of those two old ladies, he could not help but feel a pang of sorrow.

If only his mother were still alive!

He recalled how his mother had praised Dou Yan for her quick intelligence; if she knew he had married Dou Yan, would she not have liked her just as the Grand Princess Ningde and Old Madam Lu did?

His thoughts drifted back to that day beneath the grape arbor.

His mother had asked him, "How old was that young girl you met in Zhending?"

And he had blurted out, "She is already betrothed..."

In the many nights that followed, he had quietly asked himself how he could have let slip such an ill-timed remark out of nowhere.

But before he could find an answer, his third uncle had passed away.

After that came a period of turmoil and chaos.

His small, secret feelings had seemed so insignificant that he knew not when they were cast to the back of his mind.

Now, thinking back on it... could it be that even then, he had harbored some peculiar feeling for Dou Yan?

The thought flashed through him, and Song Yan was badly startled.

He could not help but steal a look at Dou Yan.

She wore a pale crescent-white damask inner robe and leaned against a large bolster of crimson Zhangzhou velvet, her jet-black hair neatly coiled into a bun, yet the bun was a great crow-black mass, thick and full.

If it were let down, what a sight would it be?

Song Yan's mind conjured the image of Dou Yan lying upon the bed, her long, glossy black hair spread loose.

Black was her hair, white her face, purple-red her pillow... a beauty at its most extreme, tinged with a hint of the bewitching, striking straight at his heart so that his emotions surged like ocean waves beating the shore, beyond his control. Then all at once it was as though he stood beside a roaring furnace, his face burning hot, seared through, and Dou Yan was that furnace...

He hurriedly turned his head away. "Master Yan discussed something with me the day before yesterday," he said. "He plans to bring the people of Yizhi Hall to pay their respects to you the day after our wedding. I wanted to introduce the people of Yizhi Hall to you properly, but I feared Father would send someone at first light to hurry us to the ancestral hall, so I moved it to after our visit to your family home. I've taken five days' leave and don't report to the palace until the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, so I'll have half a day free that morning. Before that, we should go kowtow at my mother's grave..." Song Yan's mind was a blank; he had no idea what he was saying.

Song Yan and Song Cen's relationship must surely be tense. But to introduce his own people to her behind Song Cen's back meant it could not be merely the people serving in Yizhi Hall; it might even be the hidden force that enabled Song Yan to hold his own against Song Cen.

Dou Yan was greatly surprised. And rather moved.

By this act, Song Yan was treating her not merely as his wife, but as a comrade of like mind.

But then she recalled how Song Yan had turned to glance at her just now and quickly turned away again, how he had rambled on and on about nothing, how a flush had crept from the roots of his ears all the way to his cheeks, and she could not decide whether to be annoyed or amused; the solemnity of introducing his subordinates to her vanished in an instant.

Her clothes were all in order, and yet a single glance had turned him red as a beet; however would he manage in the future!

She reflected that although Yizhi Hall had seven or eight maidservants, they were all rough-work maids, and those who attended Song Yan closely were all young menservants, and she felt somewhat reassured. While he was speaking, she casually threw a lined jacket over her shoulders and said with a smile, "We have all the time in the world; there's no need to rush this moment. If there isn't enough time, meeting your subordinates later will do just as well. After all, Master Yan and I have dealt with each other more than once or twice; with Master Yan's help, routine matters will surely pose no difficulty." In her heart, though, she was thinking of how, early this morning before dawn, Song Cen had sent a matron called Granny Lu to hurry her and Song Yan to the ancestral hall.

Fortunately, she had acquired the good habit of retiring early and rising early from her grandmother; by the time Granny Lu arrived, she was already up—otherwise, by now the whole of the Yingzhen Duke's household would surely be whispering about how lazy she was.

It seemed Song Cen did not fix his gaze on the imperial court merely because he was a man; his eyes remained fixed on the inner quarters...

This affair, while it laid bare Song Cen's limitations, also served as a warning to Dou Yan.

From now on, she would have to be more vigilant!

"The Grand Princess Ninghuai and Old Madam Lu were meeting me for the first time; if they like me, it must surely be because of you," said Dou Xin. "Have you been in the good graces of the Grand Princess Ninghuai and Old Madam Lu since you were small?" As she spoke, she suddenly realized that with the Jiang family in decline, the Lu family had become the only ones who could, in matters of principle, hold Song Cen in check!

Her eyes lit up at once, and suppressing her excitement, she said, "My lord, do you know what the Grand Princess Ninghuai and Old Madam Lu are fond of? Since we are to visit the Lu family, we ought to choose a few things they would like as gifts! This time the Grand Princess Ninghuai gave me a pair of jeweled bracelets as a first-meeting gift, and Old Madam Lu gave me a pair of gem-inlaid necklaces; both are exceedingly precious. We must not be remiss toward the two old ladies!"

The education Song Yan had received from childhood and the station he occupied had taught him that only the struggles of the imperial court could decide life and death. He had never taken his father's petty machinations seriously; at times he found them tiresome, yet could not be bothered to quarrel over them, and so had never thought to reckon much with his father—let alone use the Grand Princess Ningde and Old Madam Sun to check him. If he wished to check his father, he would only ask Lu Fuli to step forward.

He had assumed that Dou Yan, newly married into the Song family, wished to cultivate good relations with the Song relatives.