Chapter 316 — Arrival

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Apart from two or three guards she had taken a liking to who were unwilling to leave their native place and had stayed on in Zhending as retainers for the Western Dou, Duan Bing, Chen Lanxu, and the rest had all come along. More than that, they had brought seven or eight tall, sturdy young fellows from Zhending—lithe and powerful in every movement, plainly trained hands.

Duan Bing explained with a smile, "A few juniors, introduced by relatives and friends. They looked decent enough to me, so I brought them for you to look over."

After this, Dou Yan and the Eastern Dou would have to take stock of the half of the Western Dou properties that had long since been registered under her name—there would be no shortage of places needing hands.

"Since Master Duan has taken a liking to them, take them all on!" she said with a smile, instructing Suxin, "Today we shall hold a welcome feast for Old Chen and Master Duan. Send word to invite Steward Fan of the stationery shop, along with Stewards Cui and Tian—this is a good chance for everyone to gather."

Suxin answered and went off.

Dou Yan asked after her grandmother: "...Her last letter said the eggplants had grown splendidly this year, more than the household could eat, and a great many were given away to the neighbors. Is she keeping well?"

"Hale and hearty!" Chen Yanzhou said with a laugh, drawing a letter from his breast. "Aunt Cui told me to bring it to you."

Dou Yan took the letter and glanced toward the hanging-flower gate beneath the dripping eaves, checking her eagerness to read it. "You have only just arrived—this is no time to talk of such things. Places have been prepared for you to rest. Once you are settled, we shall talk in detail."

Chen Yanzhou smiled and said, "Yes."

Dou Ji called for Wuyi.

Wuyi was staring wide-eyed at Chen Yanzhou as though he had seen a ghost.

Chen Yanzhou could not help but smile slightly and nodded to him.

Had he not been so well drilled these past years under Chen He, Wuyi would long since have jumped out of his skin.

He mumbled, "Old Chen, this way, please!" and led Chen Yanzhou, Duan Bing, and the others to the western side-houses, already swept clean and new.

Gazing at the freshly whitewashed little courtyard and the side rooms, Duan Bing could not help saying to Old Chen, "This is the Yingzhenguo Estate for you! Look at these quarters—plain and unassuming, yet with a certain grandeur about them."

Chen Yanzhou smiled and said nothing.

This was something Dou Yan and Song Yan had arranged long ago.

Men like Chen Yanzhou and Duan Bing each received a small compound of three rooms, with a reverse-facing building and a rear annex; those unmarried, and those who had come later, each received a single side room.

Inside, the ordinary furnishings had all been provided.

Duan Bing, Chen Xiaodong, and the others could not help clicking their tongues in admiration.

Chen Yanzhou, however, ran his hand over the window lattice pasted with Korean paper and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

It seemed the heir had great respect for his lady. Not only had he yielded up the western cross-courtyard, but he had had it furnished with care.

They would, no doubt, soon fit in at Yizhi Hall!

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Someone asked, "Old Chen, can we bring our wives and children to live here?"

"That we shall have to discuss with the lady first," Chen Yanzhou said with a laugh, then instructed the rough fellows, who were eagerly looking this way and that, "Hurry and wash up—there is a banquet to attend."

With laughter and chatter, they went back to their own rooms.

Chen Yanzhou turned around. He saw Wuyi.

The boy was staring at him without blinking!

After all, he had served Chen Yanzhou for more than half a year.

Chen Yanzhou thought for a moment, then walked toward Wuyi.

But Wuyi gave a shudder and came to his senses. "Old Chen, the lady said that as for maids, servants, and the like, we shall speak of them once you are settled in. If you need anything now, you may instruct Xiao Jiu—he will attend you from now on." So saying, he pushed forward a handsome servant boy of about fifteen or sixteen and fled as fast as his legs could carry him.

Elder Brother Chen had said: there are things one must pretend not to know even when one knows them; and there are things one must pretend to know even when one does not.

This was a matter he must pretend not to know.

Mulling it over, Wuyi ran all the faster.

At noon, Song Yan himself played host, giving the men from Zhending a welcome feast, with Mr. Yan, Xia Lian, and several others in attendance.

This took Old Chen and the rest by surprise and added a good measure of gratitude.

Tian Fugui, however, dragged in at the last moment, was trembling with excitement. His hands shook without cease, the wine in his cup nearly spilling over, and he muttered, "Worth it. Worth it! To drink the wine of the heir of the Duke of Ying—this life of mine is worth it!"

Cui Min shot him a fierce glare and whispered, "Sit up straight, you—don't shame the lady."

"I know, I know," Tian Fugui murmured in reply, yet his limbs would not obey him, and his hands went on shaking.

At last, after several rounds of wine, the banquet broke up—but he and Cui Min, together with Old Chen and Guard Duan, were summoned to the study for tea.

He was in a daze, hardly knowing how he got into the study; he knew only that it was very large and full of books; that he sat in a carved chair of chicken-wing wood, sixteen taels of silver apiece; that the tea was this spring's West Lake Longjing, five taels of silver a packet; and that the little maid serving it was barely twelve or thirteen, yet dignified and pretty, with tiny earrings of pure gold at her earlobes or a silver hairpin newly come from Jiangnan in her hair, looking both proper and refined.

How could a little maid have the right to wear gold and silver? They must have been gifts from the household.

If only the nephews and nieces at home could get a post in the Yingzhenguo Estate—they would have fallen into a nest of blessings. How wonderful that would be!

He was still lost in these wild fancies when Song Yan suddenly asked him, "When did you first come to serve the lady?"

Was the young heir really speaking to him?

Tian Fugui's jaw dropped. Only when he saw Song Yan smiling faintly at him did he dare believe the voice he had just heard was no hallucination.

He gulped and blurted out hastily, "It was the day of the lady's coming-of-age ceremony. Everyone was offering her congratulations, and I figured I had to come up with something different—when the Emperor celebrates his birthday, don't all those officials present auspicious omens? So I thought I'd bring the lady an auspicious omen too. After asking around, I heard that someone over in Baoding Prefecture was raising a pair of golden pheasants, so I set out for Baoding that very night..." Flustered, his mind a complete blank, he poured it all out like beans spilling from a bamboo tube—how he had coaxed and cajoled and swindled his way into buying those two pheasants, how he had hidden behind the rockery beside the flower hall of the Dou residence waiting for Dou Yan to pass by...

Cui Min could have swallowed Tian Fugui whole.

Song Yan and the others, however, burst into hearty laughter.

Only then did Tian Fugui realize he had said the wrong thing.

He stared at Song Yan in terror, great beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"Good, good," Song Sui said genially. "From now on, that is the kind of devotion you should show the lady."

"Thank you, young heir!" Tian Fugui came back to himself and tried to rise and make his bow, but his legs had turned to jelly; twice he tried and twice he failed to stand, and he was growing frantic when Song Yan's gaze had already fallen on Cui Min. "You are one of the Cui family, are you not?"

Cui Min rose and bowed respectfully, answering, "Yes."

His manners were impeccable, neither servile nor overbearing.