Chapter 457 — Open Promotion

The Zhenfu Division was the core of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. A Vice Commissioner might oversee the Guard's internal affairs, but could managing housekeeping ever compare to holding judicial authority?

Song Yan smiled faintly. "A Vice Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Commissioner of the Zhenfu Division are both of the fourth rank, are they not?"

Shi Chuan had known Song Yan would not agree so readily. He smiled and said, "The Zhenfu Division has enjoyed a peaceful few years under Chen Zanzhi, without a single mishap. I have been thinking of requesting a hereditary Centurion title for him, to reward his merits these past years."

A hereditary Centurion!

Shi Chuan was truly willing to spend generously in order to seize the Embroidered Uniform Guard for himself!

Some matters could not be rushed.

Song Dan raised his cup. "For Chen Zanzhi to have a superior like Lord Shi is truly his good fortune!"

Shi Chuan chuckled and clinked his cup lightly against Song Yan's.

And so the matter was settled.

Yet Shi Chuan felt not the slightest ease in his heart.

What on earth did Song Yantang know?

And how much did he know?

He gazed at Song Yan, whose smile was elegant and composed, and felt a hollow uncertainty.

Meanwhile, at Aunt Cui's lodgings in the alley behind the temple, Yuan Heng was already asleep. Dou Yan was patting her son with lazy, desultory strokes, but her ears were pricked, listening with full attention to the sounds from the main hall.

Her father Dou Huaiying's voice was bitter. "...Why must you do this, Mother? The Yunqi Temple alley house is so large, and the Wang woman is always at her maiden home. If you went there, the inner courtyard would have a proper mistress. If you stay here, what is Yantang to think of me? What are our relatives and friends to think?"

But Grandmother's voice was as brisk as ever. "You are a man who loves empty reputation! Yantang is our family's grandson-in-law. He honors me of his own accord—why should I hold him to account? Besides, the way this house is arranged suits my taste exactly, and I am very happy living here. If I moved to your place, then at New Year and festivals, when the fifth and sixth branch families come to visit you, would they come to pay their respects to me or not? If they are all high officials of weight, I would not put them in a difficult position. I live here. Each side pretends not to know, and everyone has peace. What could be better? Do not turn a simple matter into a complicated one. This is quite good. Say no more. I have decided. I will live here."

"But..." Dou Huaiying murmured, still wanting to persuade her.

Dou Fan breathed a sigh of relief.

The reason Song Yantang had waited until Yuan Heng's hundred-day celebration before bringing Grandmother to the capital was that he did not want the old lady, at her age, to receive only half-courtesies from the fifth and sixth madams and be slighted. This was good. She sat here in perfect quiet, served inside and out by her own people, while the Huai Tree Alley and Cat Alley households pretended not to know she had come to the capital. They need not come to pay respects, and Grandmother need not return courtesies. Everyone was at ease.

Dou Ji handed Yuan Heng to the wet nurse and slipped out of the inner room through the curtain.

"Father, we all know how filial you are," she urged Dou Huaiying. "But Aunt Cui is old. Let her live as she pleases!"

Grandmother nodded repeatedly, laughing. "Shouyuan is the only one who understands me!"

Dou Huaiying could not persist. He said awkwardly, "Then if you lack anything, or need anything bought..." He trailed off and nodded to Hong Gu, who had accompanied Grandmother to the capital.

Hong Gu hastily bent her knee in a curtsy and said respectfully, "Rest assured, Lord Seventh. I will take good care of Aunt Cui."

Grandmother waved her hand. "Enough, enough, none of this nonsense from you all. Now that I am in the capital, there will be plenty of time for talk later! I heard the kitchen woman say Yantang had a basket of crabs sent up from the south. Shouyuan cannot eat them, and I have not touched such cold-natured things much these past years. But you loved them since you were a boy. I had Hong Gu find a jar of Huadiao wine. You will take your evening meal here today!"

A flicker of astonishment crossed Dou Huaiying's face.

He had not expected Grandmother to know his eating habits... He had thought she was merely the woman who had given him birth...

For a moment, the corners of his eyes grew moist.

He quickly lowered his head and softly answered, "Yes."

Hong Gu at once ordered the meal laid out.

Soon the octagonal table in the main hall was crowded with bowls and dishes.

The kitchen woman said ingratiatingly, "This is crisp-skinned squab—the Heir Apparent specially ordered it made for the Old Matriarch. This is braised pork knuckle. The Heir Apparent said the Old Matriarch is advanced in years and should eat less sweet food and more things easy to digest, so this servant made this dish. Old Matriarch, please taste it and see if it suits you. And this is steamed twin vegetables—this servant arranged them in the pattern of the taiji, wishing the Old Matriarch blessings as deep as the Eastern Sea and a lifespan as long as the Southern Mountains..."

Grandmother and Dou Yan both burst out laughing. Grandmother said, "This is not even my birthday—blessings as deep as the Eastern Sea, a lifespan as long as the Southern Mountains!"

The kitchen woman's face went crimson. She dropped to her knees. "This servant has no learning and does not know how to speak. Old Matriarch, forgive me!"

Grandmother laughed. "We keep no such strict rules here. Get up, quickly!" Then she instructed Hong Gu, who had gone to help the woman up, "Give her a red packet." She added, "You have worked hard today. Go and eat. You need not wait on us here."

Seeing that Grandmother was easy to talk to, the kitchen woman happily accepted the red packet, thanked her again and again, and withdrew.

Dou Huaiying lowered his head and resolved to say no more about moving his birth mother to the Longhua Temple alley house.

How was it that the servants of the Yunqi Temple alley house fawned over her so?

Who did not want to live in comfort and cheer? Since she liked it here, so be it.

Dou Huaiying ate in silence.

Dou Fan had two more fine red packets sent to the kitchen woman, with Gan Lu to convey the message: "Serve the Old Matriarch well, and there will be further rewards."

Dou Huaiying was even more generous.

Ten taels of silver!

The other servant women in the household were consumed with envy and jealousy. They seized every chance to hover about Grandmother, teasing her into smiles every day.

Of course, all of that comes later.

That night, after Song Yan had brought Dou Yan and the child back to the residence, Dou Yan caught him while he was changing his clothes and wrapped her arms tightly around him from behind.

She held on so tightly that Song Yan could scarcely breathe, and some faint understanding stirred in his heart: Dou Yan had been moved by what he had done.

He felt rather pleased with himself, and a strange satisfaction besides. Gently stroking the back of her hand, white and smooth as mutton-fat jade, he smiled and said, "As long as you like it!"

"I love it!" Dou Yan leaned against his shoulder and kissed his neck fiercely.

Song Yan drew a sharp breath, and his whole body came alive in an instant.

Dou Yan gave a soft laugh, and her hand slipped nimbly inside his collar.

"Shouyuan!" Song Yan's voice dropped low, a little hoarse.

They had been together again once the child was a month old.

But every time, Dou Yan was either fretting over the child or worried about her milk leaking, and her interest was half-hearted at best, so that he could never quite have his fill.