Chapter 417 — Tracing the Source

Song Yan lay with his eyes open, staring at the dark canopy above the bed.

His eyes gradually grew moist.

If only time could stop forever at this moment!

Doubt he might, but without evidence there was no choice he need make.

Yet time never bends to human will.

The light in the room slowly brightened.

Song Yan sat up quietly. Looking at Dou Yan's flushed cheeks and peaceful sleeping face, he could not help gently stroking her forehead.

Dou Yan mumbled and turned her head away.

Song Yan laughed silently.

He still had this sweet child in his arms—why grieve over fading spring and coming autumn?

Song Yan rose and practiced swordplay in the courtyard for a while. Only after word came that Dou Yan was up did he return to the inner chamber.

Dou Yan was dressing before the mirror. Seeing him still at home, she asked in surprise, "Don't you have to go to the yamen today?"

"I do!" Song Yan let the little maid help him change clothes, and smiled. "Today it's the Five Cities Military Command yamen, not the Jinwu Guard yamen, so I can go a little later."

Dou Yan asked, "Has something happened at the Five Cities Military Command yamen?"

"Nothing." Song Yan helped Dou Yan sit down on the kang. "Just a routine visit."

Ganlu directed the little maids to serve breakfast.

Song Ji said, "How much longer until you give birth? I was thinking of asking Old Madam Lu to come and help look after you when the time comes."

If Song Han and Jiang Yan really had been swapped all those years ago, then the trouble must have arisen at the birth. He felt that having a few more people keeping watch would set his mind at ease.

"Around the end of this month or the start of next," Dou Xin said. "Aunt Six said she'll come with Aunt Five. Old Madam Lu is advanced in years—best not to trouble the old lady."

Song Ran nodded and lowered his head to begin his breakfast.

Seeing how hearty his appetite was, Dou Yan could not help worrying.

A man as clever as Song Yan had never once dwelt on the matter of Song Han—which showed how deeply he trusted and cherished him. And now Song Han had utterly destroyed that trust and affection; Song Yan's feelings could not possibly remain untouched. The more calm and composed he appeared, the greater the hatred in his heart was likely to be.

Dou Yan personally helped him change into his court robes and walked him all the way to the Chuihua Gate before returning to Yizhi Hall.

By the hour of You, when Song Yan returned from the yamen, Lu Ming requested an audience.

Song Yan dismissed the maids and old women from the room and received Lu Ming in the banquet room of the main house.

Lu Ming kept his head lowered and murmured, "By order of the heir, I concealed myself on the roof of the Second Young Master's quarters from last night onward. Whatever the Second Young Master eats, he always gives the cat a taste first. Only after the cat has eaten does he eat. At noon I hid the two cats. When the Second Young Master could not find them, his face went pale, and he had the maids and old women search all noon. Seeing that it was nearly time to go to the tutor for his lute lessons, he finally had the kitchen woman cook a bowl of plain noodles in water. But while eating, the Second Young Master said his appetite was poor and gave a small half of it to Qixia. Only after Qixia had eaten did he begin on the noodles. As he left, he instructed Qixia and the others that the two cats must be found before he returned from his lessons."

Song Yan lowered his eyelids without expression. Faintly he said, "Feed those two cats some arsenic—a larger dose for one, a smaller dose for the other—and drop them in a corner where they can be found."

Lu Ming answered "Yes" respectfully and withdrew.

Dou Yan opened her mouth as if to speak, then said nothing.

That evening there was a great commotion in the Upper Court, loud enough to be heard all the way in Yizhi Hall.

Jiang Yan, who had come to pay her respects to Dou Yan, looked frightened. She tugged at Dou Zhiwei's sleeve and asked what had happened.

Though no one in the household had told her outright, she understood in her heart: if she and Song Yan were full siblings, then Song Han was either the son of Li Yaoniang or a child brought in from somewhere by the Song family. Either way, once Song Yan acknowledged her, Song Han's status would become extremely awkward. No matter what was said, Song Han had been a son of the Song family for more than ten years, and she did not want his position made difficult on her account. That was why, several times when the maids told her Song Han was pacing outside Bishui Pavilion, she had pretended not to know.

Dou Yan took her hand and said, "I don't know either. I'll have Ganlu go and find out."

Jiang Yan nodded.

She was somewhat afraid to face Song Han—afraid he would become bitter and cynical because of her arrival.

Ganlu soon returned and said in a low voice, "Both cats in the Second Young Master's quarters were poisoned. One is already dead; the other is alive but can't walk. The Second Young Master was terrified—crying and carrying on, shouting that someone meant to harm him, and dragging Guard Chang along, insisting he search the entire Ying Ducal Estate. Guard Chang had no such authority, so he reported it to the Duke. The Duke was also stunned at the sight of the two cats. It took him quite a while to recover, and then he urgently ordered Guard Chang to search the estate thoroughly. The heir heard of it and hurried over as well, saying the Duke and the Second Young Master were making a mountain out of a molehill—that they would search the whole ducal estate over a mere pet. Those who knew them said the Duke was simply doting on his son; those who did not said the Second Young Master was so obsessed with frivolous things that he had lost all ambition. Then the heir summoned a coroner from the Shuntian Prefecture to examine the cause of the cats' deaths.

"The coroner from Shuntian Prefecture said the cats died from eating rat poison.

"The heir then gave the Second Young Master a severe dressing-down, saying he made a fuss over nothing, acted rashly, and was cowardly and weak... He scolded the Second Young Master until he cried. The Duke left with a stern face as well."

Jiang Yan could not help pressing her palms together and murmuring, "Amituofo." Then she said, "Who would do such a thing? Knowing the Second Young Master keeps two cats, and still putting out rat poison? I think this courtyard needs a thorough cleaning. If any other cat or dog eats a rat that died of this poison, won't there be more trouble?"

Dou Xin said, "Then go and tell the old women who sweep the courtyard."

Ganlu smiled and left the main house.

Song Sui entered Song Han's inner chamber with his hands behind his back and a cold face.

Song Han was sobbing uncontrollably, his eyes swollen like walnuts. Seeing Song Yan enter the inner chamber, he wiped his tears and followed him inside.

Song Yan got up onto the kang and dismissed Qixia and the others. Then he asked Song Han, who stood before him with his head hanging: "When Father and Mother quarreled, what did they say? You truly didn't hear anything?"

Song Han raised his head, his expression one of extreme astonishment, but Song Yan, whose heart had already turned to ice, still caught the flicker of unease that passed through it in an instant.

"I had someone put arsenic in the food of those two cats in your room—a heavier dose for one, a lighter dose for the other. You see, the coroner from Shuntian Prefecture came, but he said the two cats you kept died from eating rats that had been poisoned with rat poison." He gazed at Song Han with a faint smile, his expression gentle and kind. "Song Han, I will ask you one more time. When Father and Mother quarreled, what did they say?"

"Brother, you—how could you..." Fine beads of sweat broke out on Song Han's forehead, and true panic surfaced in the depths of his eyes.