Chapter 472 — You Have Come

Song Cen was still wrestling with what post might be found for Song Han when the palace sent down the Laba Festival porridge of a hundred treasures.

Song Yan kept Chen Jia behind to drink porridge, while Dou Yan and Jiang Yan withdrew to the inner chamber of the main house to talk.

Gazing at Jiang Yan, fresh and luminous as a blossoming spring flower, Dou Xin said, "Didn't your sister-in-law tell you so?"

Jiang Yan lowered her head shyly.

Dou Yan laughed softly and cautioned her: "Don't let your thoughts wander here and there. What's past is past. Live well with your husband. Who wants to spend their days looking at a worried, woebegone face?"

Blushing, Jiang Yan murmured her assent.

Jiang Ling and Wu Zijie arrived.

Jiang Yan was startled.

"I invited them," Dou Xin said. "Today is your first visit home after the wedding, so I asked the two of them to keep you company."

By name, Jiang Yan was a daughter of the Jiang family, and when she married, First Madam Jiang and the others had all sent congratulatory gifts.

Jiang Yan was very fond of Jiang Ling; at the sight of her, delight bloomed across her face, and once Jiang Ling came over, the two of them drew close together and whispered.

Out in the flower hall, a different scene altogether was unfolding.

Wu Zijie was tall and handsome, and just now his face was grave, a stern righteousness showing at the corners of his eyes and the line of his brows.

"Cousin," he said, following Jiang Ling in addressing Song Yan so as to show his closeness, "this business has been talked of far and wide outside. Might there be some misunderstanding in it?"

Of late, the freshest gossip in the capital was the dispute between Song Yan and Jiang Bosun over property.

It was said the two would not yield to each other; of those who had once attached themselves to Song, some had stayed on, and some had left Yizhi Hall.

Wu Zijie did not believe Jiang Bosun was that sort of man, and when the talk had turned to the New Year gifts being sent to Haozhou, he had not been able to keep from bringing the matter up.

Chen Jia kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, all the while cursing Wu Zijie inwardly for a fool—you are here as a guest, so why bring up things that displease your host? Your brains must have gone to water.

Because the Wu family had been willing to keep to the original agreement and marry Jiang Ling, Song Yan held them in higher regard. Besides, it was he himself who had had this matter spread abroad; since Wu Zijie had raised it, he did not think much of it, and explained: "It is no misunderstanding. My fifth uncle did indeed ask me to return certain things my eldest uncle had given me. From the time I was small I followed Fifth Uncle into the hills to hunt and down to the river to catch fish; his temper I know better than anyone. In the past, Fifth Uncle never set any store by such worldly goods. I feared there might be some misunderstanding too, and sent men especially to ask him, but Fifth Uncle's words were plain enough—that I should return what I had received to the Jiang family. I suppose perhaps the circumstances have changed, and a man's heart changes with them..."

Wu Zijie was silent, though a faint disappointment flickered across his brow.

Song Yan sighed inwardly.

Once this matter got out, there was no telling how many men like Wu Zijie would be disappointed in Jiang Bosun.

.

Was what he was doing right, or was it wrong?

That evening, after seeing off the guests, he brought the matter up with Dou Yan.

"Do you have any better way?" Dou Yan asked.

"No!" Song Yan said, and his resolve gradually hardened once more.

He could not help taking Dou Zhiwei's hand and murmuring, "Thank heaven I have you beside me." Only so was he spared having his eyes clouded by a moment's confusion.

But this matter, after all, carried far-reaching consequences; not only did the Emperor know of it, but the Crown Prince had heard of it as well.

The Crown Prince asked Song Yan about it with much concern.

Song Yan said, with no little helplessness: "You know my fifth uncle as well as I do—he has a rare hand for food and drink and pleasure, and cares for nothing else. If Haozhou were of the same mind as Fifth Uncle, I would say nothing more; I would return at once whatever my eldest uncle gave me to Fifth Uncle. But my eldest aunt's wishes run clean contrary to Fifth Uncle's. Those things were left behind by my eldest uncle—how could I set my eldest aunt's wishes at naught?"

The Crown Prince nodded again and again. "When your fifth uncle was in the capital, he was indeed somewhat reckless, so no wonder you are uneasy about returning to him what your eldest uncle gave you." He could not help sighing over the Duke of Dingguo. "Such a hero of a man, and to come to such an end."

Song Yan's heart stirred at these words, and he put on a sorrowful look, lowering his head and dabbing at his eyes.

The Crown Prince gave a long sigh and took up his tea.

Xuan Ying had sent men to inquire into the matter, but no progress had ever been made. It happened that the Crown Princess had sent several new clothes for the New Year to Yuan Heng, and Dou Yan, needing to enter the palace to give thanks for the favor, made trial of the subject of the Duke of Dingguo: "Though my husband was sore grieved for a long while after he returned, he is nonetheless grateful for Your Highness's concern. He wished to enter the palace to give thanks, but feared to bring trouble upon Your Highness, and so charged me especially to ask the Crown Princess to convey our gratitude to Your Highness."

The Crown Prince and his advisers were not wholly blind to the movements of the Prince of Liao. The Crown Prince's settled policy was to meet ten thousand changes with no change at all—to be a filial, obedient son who set the Emperor's mind at ease and left no handle for anyone to grasp. If he moved against the Prince of Liao, it would only alarm the Emperor, who would think him wanting in brotherly feeling, already beginning to settle scores with his brothers before ever mounting the throne; and then his position as heir would be hard to hold.

From ancient times to the present, no one knew how many crown princes had perished through rash action.

Yet watching the Prince of Liao stir restlessly while Empress Wan shielded him in a thousand ways, the Crown Prince felt like a man seated at the edge of a cliff, sure that at any moment he might fall, and powerless to prevent it.

This anxiety of his he could hide from others, but he could not hide it from the wife of his youth, who shared his counsels with one heart.

It was for this reason that the Crown Princess had labored so assiduously before the Empress Dowager, and so won her support.

Song Yan was the chief commander of the Jinwu Guard, guarding the safety of the forbidden palace, and also oversaw the garrison command of Xuanshuo City. If Song Yan stood on their side, then no matter what means the Prince of Liao employed, with Song's abilities he could hold him off for a time at least. And with that time, the Shenji Battalion and the Five Armies Battalion could come to the rescue.