Chapter 310 — Playing Matchmaker

The registrar smiled. "Lord Quan did! Lord Quan said you would be entertaining the men from the Ministry of Personnel today, and told us not to trouble you."

Zheng An felt as though a breath had lodged itself in his chest, yet he could not say a word in front of the registrar.

He gave a slight nod and slowly walked out of the storehouse.

Behind him drifted the registrar's voice, whether deliberately or not: "Hurry up, all of you! The heir of the Duke of Yingguo said he wants them tonight!"

When he had finished entertaining the men from the Ministry of Personnel, he returned home with his mind in turmoil.

Madam Zheng asked him anxiously, "What happened?"

"Nothing, nothing." Zheng An waved a hand, yet a shadow seemed to lie over his heart; he could not shake the feeling that something about the day's events had left him uneasy.

After Song Yan finished his evening meal, the roster from the Military Appointments Office of the Ministry of War was delivered to him.

He and Dou Yan sat beneath the lamp and went through them one by one.

"How about this one?" Dou Yan consulted him. "Third in his family, with two elder brothers and two younger. His grandfather once served as an assistant commissioner of the Henan Regional Military Commission."

"Set him aside for now." Song Yan glanced at it and said, "We will go through them twice more in a while."

"Mm!" Dou Yan picked up another register. "A company commander of the Divine Pivot Camp, twenty years old, handsome in appearance, a fourth-rank vice commissioner by inheritance..." Those who inherited their posts were usually the ones who carried on the family line, so surely they would never consent to marry into another household. She could not help giving a long sigh and set the list aside, muttering, "I wonder who copied out this register. Quite clever of them, one sheet per man—if they had all been copied into one book, we would have had to find someone to recopy the ones we selected."

Song Yan also thought this person had handled the matter with care and thoroughness, and smiled. "It was the registrar of the Military Appointments Office!"

Dou Yan gave it no further thought.

Only two days later, when Song Yan went to the Ministry of War, he praised that registrar warmly before Quan Ziyi, then produced the list he and Dou Yan had settled on. "I am in a hurry. Please, Lord Quan, have these men come to the Yingguo Duke's estate at noon tomorrow."

Quan Ziyi smiled and handed the list to a clerk beside him, while he himself chatted with Song Yan. "I never imagined the heir was on such good terms with Lord Mu as well."

Song Yan said, "Lord Mu and I are no more than nodding acquaintances; it is with the Earl of Jiading that I am rather well acquainted."

Through the Earl of Jiading he had put Mu Chuan up to greeting him. And the result was the same either way!

Quan Ziyi felt a twinge of acid in his teeth.

The two men chuckled and exchanged the usual polite pleasantries.

The clerk came in to report, "Men have already been sent to notify each of them one by one; they will certainly arrive by tomorrow afternoon."

Song Yan took his leave with a smile.

Quan Ziyi, however, was somewhat worried. "I saw that two of them are from the Tianjin Guard. Can they make it in time?"

"Six hundred li by express courier—how could they not make it?" said the clerk. "Besides, I made it clear to the messengers that it is the heir of the Yingguo Duke who wants them. Who would dare not come?"

Quan Ziyi was, after all, a man of standing. Though he had heard rumors of Song Yan's recent doings, he had not taken them to heart. At these words he said in surprise, "Is the heir of the Yingguo Duke so renowned now?"

The clerk, one of Quan Ziyi's trusted men, spoke bluntly: "Just look at how he caught those thieves who set the fire at the Yingguo Duke's estate. Whether he meant to or not, a stroke on such a scale makes a man regard him with new respect."

Quan Ziyi nodded slightly. At noon the next day he sent the clerk to the Yingguo Duke's estate to make inquiries: "See whether they have all arrived."

There were more than twenty of them!

Among them were several from collateral branches of noble houses.

An hour later the clerk came scurrying back, all aglow. "My lord, every last one of them is here—not a single one missing."

Quan Ziyi was left with mixed feelings, an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

Song Yan was meeting the arrivals one by one and speaking with each in turn.

Some outside grew impatient and whispered to those they knew: "Do you know what we have been called here for?"

"No idea. Even the several seal-holding commanders of the Five Army Command have no notion what this is about!"

Someone leaned in. "It must be a private matter, surely? Otherwise why would he meet us at the Yingguo Duke's estate?"

"That is not certain either. Meeting in a private residence is less formal; even if one is not chosen, no one loses face."

Those who had met with Song Yan felt even more at a loss.

Why was it that all the heir of the Yingguo Duke asked about were matters of households and courtyards?

The strange atmosphere lingered long after Song Yan had seen every last one of them.

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Sisters and brothers, first let me make up for the update of July 9.

o(n_n)o~

ps: Begging for pink votes!