Chapter 459 — The Pie

Duan Bing caught Chen Jia by the arm, a faint smile hovering at the corners of his mouth. "Master Chen, since you have come all the way to the Yingzhen Estate, ought you not pay your respects to the Madam?"

.

He had lost his father in childhood, and his mother was a timid, yielding woman. When he was small he had endured every kind of humiliation within the clan, and after he grew up he had struggled bitterly on his own—yet never before had he known fear like this. He forced a smile onto his face and, steeling himself, said, "Naturally. I must go and pay my respects to the Madam."

Duan Bing gave him a smiling glance. "Then please, Master Chen, follow me."

Chen Jia trailed after Duan Bing, his heart knocking with dread.

Jiang Yan, meanwhile, walked with her head lowered, heading straight for the Bishui Pavilion.

She burned with shame and mortification; she did not know how she could ever face Chen Jia again.

Had it not been for her timid, fearful nature, why would she have gone to Jiang Ling for advice? And had she not gone to Jiang Ling for advice, why would she have held her hand and done nothing? And yet Chen Jia said she was much more sensible than before—how could she possibly deserve such praise?

Had it not been for Jiang Ling, she would very likely have ruined his great enterprise.

Jiang Ling truly was a fine person.

Beautiful, and clever besides.

And she treated people with such sincerity.

Just like her sister-in-law.

Which was why her brother held his wife in such high esteem.

The Wu family respected Jiang Ling as well.

If only she were half as good as Jiang Ling, how could she have come to such an end?

At this thought, her tears began to fall without cease.

Did she not long to be a woman whom others loved? But she truly did not know what she must do to become like her sister-in-law, or like Jiang Ling.

Jiang Yan shut herself away in the inner chamber.

Yinghong turned pale with fright and hastily sent her most trusted little maid to carry word to Dou Yan, while she herself kept watch outside the door of the inner room.

In the main hall of the Yizhi residence, Dou Yan sat upon the luohan bed and smilingly invited Chen Jia to be seated. She instructed a little maid to bring in some of the crystal pears and Fujian oranges bestowed by the palace a few days past, and said to Chen Jia, "They are tribute goods, it is true—though they may not be any better than what you find in the markets. Pray make do and taste them."

Chen Jia had been working in the Yingzhen Estate for more than a year, yet he had never once been offered so much as a cup of tea.

Now he was not only given a seat, but treated to fruit, cakes, and tea as well.

Somehow, Chen Jia was reminded of the prisoners in the jail: before execution, the guards would politely let them eat and drink their fill so they might go to their deaths content.

His back was drenched in sweat.

Yet Dou Yan asked him nothing at all. She spoke of the weather in the capital, of the price of vegetables these days—and then took up her tea.

Chen Jia had entered trembling and left utterly bewildered. In his heart, his fear only deepened.

He wanted to send word to Jiang Yan, to warn her to be careful, but there was no one he could trust with a message. And he feared all the more that he might blunder and make Jiang Yan's position even more difficult. For a time he had no idea what to do.

After seeing Chen Jia off, Dou Yan questioned Duan Bing closely about everything Chen Jia and Jiang Yan had said to each other, and gave a silent nod of approval. When Song Yan returned that evening, she brought up the matter of Chen Jia.

Before Dou Yan had even finished, Song Yan leapt to his feet. "The toad lusting after swan's flesh! How dare he set his eyes on A-Yan! Has he taken my favor these past days as license to forget the height of the heavens and the depth of the earth? Tell him at once to put this fancy out of his head!"

Dou Yan had known it would come to this.

In Jiang Yan's eyes, Song Yan was as good as a father to her, and all parents under heaven share one common failing: they believe their own child to be the most lovable, the most obedient, the most well-behaved in all the world; and even if the child has faults, why, they must have been wrought by the influence of others.

She said nothing, only sat quietly and went on with her needlework.

Song Yan sat down beside her, sheepish, and said gently, "I am not reproaching you. I know you have always been strict in managing the household. I am only angry at Chen Jia... the man is simply insufferable!"

Dou Yan thought for a moment, then asked Song Yan, "Have you ever regretted marrying me?"

Song Yan's eyes went wide. "Of course not."

"But everyone outside thinks I am unworthy of you," Dou Yan said. "Which only goes to show that when a husband and wife make their life together, it is like putting on shoes: only the wearer knows whether they fit. We have no need of Sister Yan to add flowers to the brocade, nor any need of her support to prop us up—so why do you set such store by a man's birth and family standing?"

Song Yan understood this well enough, but Chen Jia... in his heart was simply a good, useful blade. How could a man like that be his brother-in-law?

Dou Yan could understand Song Yan's feelings; at the very beginning, had she not found Chen Jia unacceptable as well? So she did not press him. Smiling, she fetched water and helped Song Yan wash and change.

Song Yan let Dou Yan attend to him in silence.

In the middle of the night he suddenly sat up in bed, nudged Dou Yan awake with his elbow, and said, "I have been thinking it over, and I still say this man will not do."

Dou Yan was sleeping soundly. At his words she mumbled, "Your own father still takes me for a shrew. If you object but Sister Yan thinks him good, what can you do about it?" With that, she turned over and went back to sleep.

Song Yan started wide awake and could not get back to sleep again. He leaned close to Dou Yan's ear and called her by her style name, "Shouyuan—don't sleep. A-Yan thinks Chen Jia is good, but what exactly is going on?" He shook her until he had thoroughly woken her.

Now that Dou Yan was awake, she could not sleep either, so she simply threw a robe over her shoulders and sat up, and told Song Yan the whole story from beginning to end.

Song Yan listened and for a long while said nothing.

Dou E persuaded him: "This is a life one has to live for oneself. However much you dislike Chen Jia, if Sister Yan feels at ease with him, we should let her be. She is so young, yet she has already endured all the suffering most people face in a lifetime. You should not force her any further." Then she told him a story she had heard in her past life: "...He had seen her only once, at a temple fair, and was so struck by her beauty that he insisted on marrying her, paying no heed to the fact that she came from a humble family. In the end, the girl did not even know how to carry herself, and she lived every day in trembling fear. Within two years, she was gone. The Xuanming Sect's insistence on 'matching doors and equal households' is not without reason. Sister Yan grew up in the streets and alleys. If you insist on marrying her into some great household to become the wife of a clan heir, she must be capable of bearing it!"

Song Yan was silent for a long while, then said, "You are speaking of Guo Haiqing's nephew, are you not—the Marquis of Xuanning's nephew?"

"Oh!" Dou Yan exclaimed in surprise. "How did you know?"

Song Dan said, "I should be asking how you know! That nephew's wife of Guo Haiqing's passed away less than two months ago."

Dou Ji was somewhat lost in thought.

In her past life, she had helped Lady Guo with the funeral arrangements; in this life, she and Lady Guo had remained strangers to each other throughout.

She could not help but heave a long sigh.