Chapter 328 — Matrimonial Bonds

Chen Jia's calculations were sound enough, but given the circles he moved in, finding a matchmaker capable of moving freely through the great households was no easy matter. This became especially urgent after the secretary of the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Zhenfu Bureau was transferred to the forward camp of the Divine Mechanism Battalion as a squad commander, leaving the secretary's post vacant. Shi Chuan, the Guard's commander-in-chief, had personally summoned Chen Jia and hinted that if the British Duke's heir, Song Yantang, would only speak a word on his behalf, the secretary's position would be his. Suddenly it had become all the more vital to find a clever, well-connected woman who could talk her way into the confidence of the heir's wife, Lady Dou.

He was so frantic that his mouth broke out in blisters.

He had already traded what he knew for Wang Yuan's forbearance; he was lucky Song Yan had not silenced him for good. How dared he go before Song Yan again?

To say nothing of asking Song Yan to plead his case.

But if he could not prevail upon Song Yan this time, the tale of how he had been trading on Song Yan's name these past days would be exposed—and what awaited him then was a life worse than death.

What was he to do?

Chen Jia paced his room in a fever of anxiety.

Huzi offered a suggestion: "Why not find a way to make the acquaintance of His Excellency Dou at the Yunqi Temple Lane? The heir seems to hold his father-in-law in great respect."

These past days, in hopes of eventually gaining a word with the heir's wife, they had spared no effort in investigating her affairs.

"I fear that won't work." Chen Jia rejected Huzi's proposal. "When that woman Wang entered the household, the Dou and Zhao families fell out over it. Otherwise the Western Dou could never have handed over half their silver as her dowry. All these years Lady Dou has lived in Zhending, exchanging letters with her uncle and aunt every month, yet she and her stepsister Dou Ming were like fire and water. And the moment she entered the capital came the business of the sisters swapping marriages—so you can see how things stand between Lady Dou and His Excellency Dou. Even if filial piety forbids her to blame him openly, she could never truly respect him. Drawing close to the Yunqi Temple Lane house would hardly be a good thing for us." At this point, thinking of the properties registered under Dou Yan's name, his teeth ached.

A woman like that—with power, position, wealth, and people at her command, and a heart more resolute than any man's. Even if they contrived a single meeting with her, on what grounds could they hope to move her?

Chen Jia could not help but press his brow and sigh, murmuring, "What on earth does the heir's wife lack?"

Huzi could not resist complaining, "Quite so! A woman from generations of officials, and she hires herself a provincial graduate as an advisor and keeps a pack of skilled guards besides—even the masters of the great houses don't put on such airs. She's fiercer than a man! How does the heir put up with it, letting her advisor and guards move into the Yizhi Hall..."

"Wait—hold on!" Chen Jia's expression shifted, and his gaze fell on Huzi like a torch. "What did you just say? The heir's wife's people have moved into the Yizhi Hall?"

"Yes!" said Huzi. "Didn't you know? The Third Master Dou and the Third Young Master have returned to Zhending, but the men who escorted them stayed behind. I went and had a quiet look—they're the very same lot who used to follow the heir's wife back in Zhending..."

"No, no." Chen Jia rubbed his hands in excitement, his face glowing, "I knew about this—I'm only scolding myself for not having thought of it before." He sat down in the armchair beside Huzi. "Think about it. She's a woman who married into the Yingzhenguo Estate, and the heir respects her so. One word from her and the heir's men are at her disposal. So why doesn't she dismiss her old advisor and guards? She must be after something! And what she's after must be tied to the heir's interests! I said it before: the heir had no dealings with her at all, so why should he suddenly value her so highly? Huzi, in this world, whatever the enterprise, whoever gets ahead of the others reaps double the reward for half the effort. That's exactly why so many frontier governors curry favor with petty court officials—even eunuchs. Now tell me: if I, as secretary of the Zhenfu Bureau, were to swear fealty to the heir's wife, and put the Embroidered Uniform Guard at her service—tell me, could the heir's wife refuse?"

"W-what?" Huzi leapt up in fright. "Th-that would never do! The Zhenfu Bureau is the Emperor's eyes and ears, watching over the hundred officials..."

Chen Jia waved his hand impatiently, cutting him off: "I'm not about to become the heir's wife's household slave. I'd merely be using the power of the Zhenfu Bureau to do her a few small favors within certain bounds—nothing that would harm the court. What captain or chiliarch of the Bureau hasn't done the like? Otherwise how would they dare swagger about the Bureau like sheep with big tails..."

Huzi still thought it unwise: "Then wouldn't it be better to throw in our lot with the British Duke's heir? However you look at it, we already hold a handle in the heir's grip—he'd find us easier and handier to use!"

"How muddled you are!" said Chen Jia. "With the British Duke's heir in his present station, Shi Chuan himself is probably hoping the heir will ask him to run a private errand or two. Who knows how many men are beating about for a way to attach themselves to him? What could we possibly offer to move the heir? We must find another path!"

Huzi gave a sheepish laugh.

Even to be a blade in the British Duke's heir's hand, one had to be sharp enough to please him!

Chen Jia instructed Huzi: "These next few days, do nothing else. Keep watch on the Yizhi Hall yourself. Whenever Lady Dou's carriage goes out and the heir is not at her side, send me word. I'll find a way to meet her once—I refuse to believe the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Zhenfu Bureau cannot move the heir's wife!"

Huzi nodded again and again.

Dou Yan had no idea that someone was scheming so desperately for a single sight of her.

Zhao Liangbi was with Zhong Bingxiang going over the account books, while she sat with Chen Yanzhou in Song Zhi's small study, discussing the marriages of Suxin and Sulan: "...what do you think? Would this be proper?"

Chen Yanzhou was, after all, an elder of the Bie sisters, and it was most fitting that Elder Chen sound out Suxin's wishes himself.

"I watched Liangbi grow up," said Elder Chen, much pleased. "These past two years, while Suxin and Sulan followed you to the capital, it was Liangbi who tended Master Bie's grave with his own hands and saw to the yearly offerings. His character is upright and he's willing to better himself. If these two young people can make a match of it, I don't think even Master Bie would have a word to say against it. And Sulan marrying Chen He is excellent too. It will bring us another step closer to the Yizhi Hall. It's only that Sulan is lively and Chen He is steady—I wonder whether the two of them can get on... If Suxin won't agree, why not consider Ganlu and Sujuan? Those two girls are not young anymore either, and it's time they were sent out."

Dou Xin said, "You have far more experience of the world and its ways than we do, Elder. This matter must be yours to handle."

In her former life she and Wei Fan could never get along, but a wife follows her husband, be he rooster or hound—she could only find a way to make their days prosper. However hard and weary, whatever grievances she swallowed, she had never thought to complain. But in this life, having followed Song Yan, she had learned what hope there was in a life shared with a man who held her in his heart. She wished the people around her to marry well also, and not become mismatched pairs.

Chen Yanzhou gladly agreed.