Chapter 359 — Her Family

Dai Jian and Wang Yuan were close friends in private, yet Mu Chuan belonged to the Empress's circle. These two men—

who exactly were they?

Song Yan thought it over, then said, "I'll go ask Wang Ge directly. First, let's get the Kuang family out of this."

For a matter of only twenty or thirty thousand taels a year, Wang Ge would surely grant him that much face.

Dou Yan, however, was thinking along different lines.

In her past life, after the Prince of Liao ascended the throne, Dai Jian had served for a time as Senior Grand Secretary. Unlike the peaceful reign of the present Emperor, the political situation after the Prince of Liao took the throne had been rather tangled; his abilities were limited, and in the end he was forced to retire. Later he became entangled in a case of embezzled military pay, had his property confiscated and was exiled, dying along the way.

Both of these men were bound to the Prince of Liao by countless threads.

She cautioned Song Yan: "The eunuchs never forget a grudge. Be careful, and don't offend Eunuch Wang over this."

"I know," Song Yan said, kissing her cheek and urging her, "Hurry and get dressed. I'll go with you to pay New Year's calls on the old lady and Princess Ninghuai."

Today was the second day of the New Year, the day for visiting the maternal uncles.

Song Yan's uncles were all away from the capital, so they would visit the old maternal grand-uncle's household, the Lu family.

Dou Yan laughed merrily and put on a festive robe of bright red silk with a lantern pattern worked in kesi, its sleeves cut in the full-width style, and a hair ornament of clustered pearls and filigree. Because of her pregnancy, her skin—already so delicate it seemed it might bruise at a touch—was not only white as frost and snow but glowing with a rosy warmth; she looked radiant and dazzling, and the sight of her lifted anyone's spirits.

Princess Ninghuai beamed at the sight of her. Taking her hand, the Princess said to the roomful of relatives who had come to pay New Year's calls, "This child—no wonder even the Empress's circle has to praise her for 'looking so lovely.'"

Everyone burst out laughing.

Princess Ninghuai's granddaughter, the Third Madam Feng of the Jing Founding Duke's household, chimed in playfully, "When has Grandmother ever looked at our cousin's wife without beaming? It rather makes the rest of us look like so many roof tiles."

The Lu family's Third Young Madam had always dreaded her sister-in-law's sharp tongue. She quickly tugged at her: "The Empress's circle sent over two baskets of tribute tangerines from Fujian. Come help me peel a few for the elders."

Princess Ninghuai liked people who were neat and brisk, and those who attended her could not be the slightest bit dilatory either. Peeling tangerines was the sort of task that ordinary people were never allowed to take up.

Third Madam Zhang knew her own grandmother's temperament well. Rising to follow the Lu family's Third Young Madam toward the tea room, she pretended to complain with a wounded air, "You only ever set me to work. Have you no thought that I'm a married daughter here? Is this how a married daughter is treated when she comes home?"

The Lu family's Second Young Madam retorted, "Today is your brother and sister-in-law's day. If you will tag along, what can we do about it?"

This set them all laughing.

The younger members of the Lu family seized the chance to step forward and pay New Year's calls to Princess Ninghuai and the Lu matriarch, angling for red envelopes.

Third Madam Zhang's sister-in-law—that is, Feng Shao's wife—fell to chatting quietly with Dou Yan: "I heard your younger sister miscarried because the Dowager of the Jining Marquis household was setting rules for her. Is it true?"

Dou Ming's miscarriage—

She was startled.

Fortunately she had lived two lives and seen a great deal; the surprise merely flickered across her face before she recovered her composure.

"I've been at home these days, resting to protect the pregnancy," Dou Yan said. "No one tells me much about outside matters, so I don't know whether it's true or not."

This Eleventh Madam Feng was rather displeased. She felt Dou Yan's words were too high-minded and proper, as though she did not count her as one of the family.

So she turned to the Lu family's Second Young Madam beside her and began gossiping about the imperial house: "...Princess Yuanfu is already married. I wonder which families Princess Jingyi and Princess Jingtai will marry into? Princess Jingyi, at least, was raised by the Empress's circle, but Princess Jingtai is merely the daughter of Consort Shu, who never bore a prince. Where does she get the nerve to pick and choose and refuse to marry?"

The Lu family's Second Young Madam laughed. "The Emperor's daughters needn't worry about finding husbands. How would I know?"

Dou Yan knew.

Though this Consort Shu had borne no prince, one could not withstand her talent for playing every side and charming everyone.

That character "Shu"—it had been the title of the former Empress Wan. Not only was it bestowed upon her, but after the Prince of Liao ascended the throne, she was the only consort who lived with Empress Wan in the Palace of Compassionate Tranquility.

She sat there smiling, listening to the chatter in the room, while her mind was fixed on Dou Ming's affair.

By rights, when Dou Ming miscarried, no matter how poor their relations, someone should have told her. Yet neither the Xiangshan Temple Lane household nor the Huai Shu Lane household had sent her a word. Could what Eleventh Madam Feng said be true? Because she was with child, everyone had feared the news would upset her, and so had kept it from her?

Back home, she asked Song Yan.

Song Yan had clearly known all along.

He said, "Both the Sixth Madam and your aunt told me not to tell you, and the Jining Marquis household said nothing when the New Year gifts were sent, so I kept it from you too."

In truth, he also did not wish Dou Yan to pay too much attention to the affairs of the Jining Marquis household.

Dou Yan asked him, "So it's true, then—that Dou Ming miscarried because her mother-in-law was setting rules for her?"

Song Yan nodded. "That's what the Sixth Madam and your aunt both said."

Dou Yan sighed with emotion.

In her past life, when she married into the Wei family, her first child had also miscarried.

But that miscarriage had been her own fault.

When you came down to it, Madam Tian was a woman with no opinions of her own and no head on her shoulders. For Madam Tian to torment Dou Ming in such a fashion, there could be no one behind it but Wei Wan.

In Dou Yan's eyes, Madam Tian was easy enough to get along with: so long as you humored her a little and lowered your posture, she would fuss over you and ache for you, treating you as someone in need of her protection. In her past life, she had found a way to win Madam Tian's approval, and then through Madam Tian she had gotten a grip on Wei Wan.

It had been less than half a year since Dou Ming married into the family, and she had already set herself against her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law. There were doubtless plenty of "good" days still ahead of her.

Was this the "benefit" she had schemed so hard to obtain by marrying into that house?

Dou Yan smiled sardonically.

Since neither her Sixth Aunt nor her aunt-in-law wished her to fret over Dou Ming's affairs, she pretended ignorance as well. The next day she changed into a sapphire-blue zhuanghua jacket woven with the Ten Kinds of Brocade, a sapphire-blue plain-faced horse-face skirt embroidered with rose-red lotus patterns, and a set of kingfisher-feather filigree head ornaments, then returned to her natal home glittering with pearls and jewels, with Song Yan at her side.