Chapter 386 — An Errand

Could it be that Gu Yu, in this life as in the last, would take the eleventh young lady of the Yong'en Earl's household as his first wife?

Dou Yan was silent for a moment.

Gu Yu was more than merely displeased with Lady Feng—one might fairly call it loathing.

Lady Feng was the granddaughter of the Yong'en Earl's younger brother. Dou Yan had never met her in his previous life; he had only heard it said that she was plain of face, timid of temperament, and dull of manner.

In the second year after the Prince of Liao ascended the throne, Gu Yu divorced Lady Feng on the grounds that she had borne him no children.

Lady Feng hanged herself in the Feng family shrine.

It was only when the Fengs came to lay her out that they discovered she was still a virgin.

For this the Feng family dragged the Gus before the throne in dispute.

The Prince of Liao naturally took Gu Yu's side, declaring that Lady Feng was mediocre and wholly unfit to be the wife of the Yunyang Earl. Not only did the Fengs gain nothing—the Yong'en Earl was fined two years' stipend. Within days, the old Earl fell ill and died, and the Feng family thereby lost the favor of the throne, never to recover, plunging in short order from the first rank of the nobility to the third.

Gu Yu, by contrast, received a marriage granted by Empress Wan and soon took to wife the legitimate eldest daughter of the Marquis of Anlu, Zhou Chao.

Dou Yan had seen this Lady Zhou. Beyond her beauty, she was skilled in writing and painting. After the Yunyang Earl died and Gu Yu's father was exposed in a scandal of debauchery during the mourning period, Gu Yu bypassed his father and inherited the Yunyang title directly. The Gu household was thrown into disorder for a time, yet Lady Zhou managed the inner quarters with perfect order, and throughout the noble circles of the capital it was said that the Yunyang Earl had married a virtuous and gentle wife.

Strange to say, Gu Yu's relations with this Lady Zhou were likewise exceedingly cold.

He moved out of the Yunyang Earl's residence and took up residence next door to Song Yan. Song Yan's household was a very cloud of beauties, and his own was crowded with concubines. Song Yan had no offspring; Gu Yu, every few days, produced a bastard son or daughter and sent the child back to the Yunyang Earl's residence for Lady Zhou to raise. It was said that, having too many children, when he returned at New Year to sacrifice at the ancestral hall, he failed even to recognize his own eldest bastard son.

For a time, he and Song Yan became a spectacle of the capital.

In this life, was he to walk the same old road as the last?

Dou Yan thought it over, then said, "Since Gu Yu is not well pleased, why not give him a hand? Don't let him be too hard-pressed."

Song Yan gave a startled "Eh?" and laughed. "Did you not say you would never play the matchmaker again? How is it you are meddling in Gu Yu's affairs?"

Dou Yan protested, abashed, "His uncles care nothing for him and his aunts dote on him not—am I not simply pitying him for having no one to look after him? Marriage is a matter for a lifetime; to force two people together is never good in the end..."

Song Yan brightened and leaned close to ask her, "You think marriage is a matter for a lifetime?" As he spoke, he stroked her cheek lightly, as though unable to help himself—a scene of the most flagrant ambiguity, so much so that Ganlu, serving in the room, blushed and withdrew.

Dou Yan brushed his hand aside and scolded, "What nonsense is this? After a night in the palace, are you not aching in the back and the waist? Go wash and dress at once, and I will rub your shoulders for you!"

Song Yan beamed and answered in a loud voice.

Dou Yan could not help shaking her head with a smile.

At times Song Yan was steadier than she, who had lived two lives; at others he was as childish as a boy.

Ever since the time she had come home from night duty at the palace and complained to him that the bed in the duty room was too hard and left him uncomfortable, she had known full well he was playing the spoiled child—yet she still ached for him, and after massaging away his fatigue, he took to claiming backaches and waist pains after every night duty.

Song Yan soon came in wearing only his inner garment, lay down on the kang, and let Dou Yan massage his back.

As on the previous occasions, after a few strokes Song Yan would not let her continue. "This takes strength. Once you have borne a child, you may rub it properly for me. We have not seen each other for two days. Let us talk."

Dou Yan, recalling that he had been in low spirits when he returned, smiled and said, "I know my own strength. If I tire, I will stop." She went on massaging his back.

Song Yan, somewhat uneasy, turned over and pulled Dou Yan down to lie beside him.

Seeing that he was truly in no mood, Dou Yan nestled into his arms as he wished.

Song Yan said nothing, idly twisting a strand of her hair around his finger, until her neat bun was in complete disarray.

So something truly had happened!

Dou Yan grew all the gentler and more solicitous, and obliquely asked him what he had encountered in the palace these two days.

Song Yan, fearing Dou Yan would worry, thought for a moment and told her about Dou Ming.

"A child of adultery?" Dou Yan was somewhat surprised. "After they went to the Wei household, Sixth Sister-in-law brought Jing to visit and told me the whole course of events. But she did not mention this. Perhaps she feared I would be embarrassed. Though this matter damages Dou Ming's reputation, Father can hardly escape blame either." Anxiously she said, "I wonder how Father is now. Tomorrow, go and look in on Father, will you? He listens to you. If I were to go, I fear we would only part in anger again."

Song Yan said, "Set your mind at ease. In this affair both you and my father-in-law have become victims. It is your Fifth Uncle who has been attacked by the Hanlin academicians, who say he was blinded by greed and would scheme even against his own kinsman. Others have spread it about that the matter was decided by your Second Great-Aunt and that your Fifth Uncle, being then in the capital, knew nothing of it at all. Still others say your Second Great-Aunt was far too muddled—how could she agree to elevate such a woman to the status of wife? The one most shamed now is the Wang family. Some have even dug up the tale that Wang Yousheng in his youth drank himself into a stupor in a brothel and, lacking the money to pay, was rescued by a fellow graduate of his year—so that people now say Wang Yousheng is a hypocrite and a lecher, a man of base character, and that this is why his daughter would rather be another man's concubine. The flames have turned upon Wang Yousheng himself."

Hearing this, why did Dou Yan feel so pleased?

The corners of her mouth curved upward.

Song Yan said, marveling, "Oh ho! So you dislike Wang Yousheng!"

"Is that not obvious?" Dou Yan retorted. "My mother's suicide was certainly bound up with her own temper, but if Wang Yingxun had not been Wang Yousheng's daughter, would my mother have come to such an end? That their family should fall on hard times—of course I am glad."

Song Yan at once had an idea. "Tell me—what say we put a pebble in Wang Yousheng's shoe?"

Dou Yan was startled and said hurriedly, "He is, after all, one of the handful of great frontier officials. You have more pressing matters. Do not drag yourself down over a Wang Yousheng."

"Rest easy," Song Yan said, more delighted than Dou Yan herself. "I mean to grow old with someone. I have no wish to waste my years on him."

Dou Yan thought of his arrogance in his previous life and could not feel at ease; she insisted that Song Yan give her his word.

Song Yan hooked his little finger around Dou Zhiwei's and said, "We will link fingers—agreed?"

Dou Yan truly did link fingers with him.