Chapter 492 — Rumors

Ji Hong went pale at these words, and inwardly she counted herself lucky that she had long since handed Miao Zhi's valuables over to the Jin Gui and Yin Gui sisters for safekeeping.

"The Second Madam's things are all here," she said, trembling, afraid that Miao Anping might see through her, "Those trinkets and jewels you mentioned—we never laid eyes on any of them." As she spoke she cast a pleading glance at the maids and old women who had gone with her to Four Lane Alley. "If you do not believe me, Uncle, you may ask them."

How could the Dou Zhiwei servants think anything of Miao Anping? And they despised that greedy face of his besides. Every one of them stood with eyes down and nose to heart, and no one said a word.

Miao Anping did not believe it.

His eyes rolled, and he laughed. "I've no intention of keeping my sister's things for myself. I only want to get to the bottom of it—I'm afraid all those fine things have been swallowed up by the Second Master of the Song family, and then my sister will be the one to lose out!"

If Miao Anping could be made to believe that Song Han had kept the things, so much the better.

Miao Anping's words put Ji Hong in mind of something, and she swore she had not hidden away any of those gold and silver trinkets: "...If I took so much as a single piece, may Heaven strike me dead and the five thunders blast me!"

That was a curse of considerable force.

Miao Anping hesitated at once.

Could it really be that Song Han had swallowed up his own sister's valuables?

He gave a few instructions to one of the hangers-on at his side, then turned to go back into the city.

The hanger-on seized him by the arm and said in a low voice, "Didn't you say you meant to squeeze a few good sums out of your brother-in-law? If that's so, why the hurry? You'd do far better to wait a few days before going to see the Second Master of the Song family—debts don't spoil with keeping. Are you afraid he won't hand the things over?"

Miao Anping thought it over, and the man had a point—he had only just collected his hush money and medicine fees from Song Han. If he went rushing off to demand those valuables again and happened to provoke Song Han into breaking with him altogether, he would be the one to lose out badly.

He said to Ji Hong and the others, "When the time comes, you must all bear witness for me—that we never received the Elder Aunt's valuables at all, and that Song Yan pocketed the lot."

Ji Hong nodded again and again.

The Dou Zhiwei servants said nothing.

Miao Anping looked at them and was displeased.

Ji Hong, however, feared fresh trouble. She said hurriedly, "Uncle, you have had a hard day! Our Second Madam most likely does not even know yet that you went to Four Lane Alley, does she? I shall send someone at once to tell the Second Madam, so that the women in the kitchen may prepare good wine and dishes to entertain you..."

Miao Anping and Miao Zhi had agreed beforehand that the silver he squeezed out of Song Han would be split between them. If he went with Ji Hong and the others to the country estate, would he not have to share the silver he had just obtained with Miao Zhi? But if he did not go, how was he to get his hands on the contents of those chests?

He turned it over and over in his mind, and at last decided to hide the silver he already had before doing anything else. "Tell your Second Madam that I still have friends here to entertain. Once I have seen my friends off, it will not be too late to go and pay her my respects."

Ji Hong breathed a sigh of relief. Feigning complete ignorance, she respectfully saw Miao Anping and his crowd of friends on their way, and only then did she bend her knee and bow to the Jin Gui and Yin Gui sisters. "It was not that I meant to drag the two of you into this. You saw for yourselves—if I had handed the Second Madam's valuables over to the Uncle, I fear not a single piece of them would have ended up in our Second Madam's hands." Her voice choked as she went on, "The Second Master is not to be relied upon. The Second Madam has no son or daughter at her knee, and if these dowry valuables were to be searched out by the Uncle as well, how is our Second Madam to live from now on?"

Jin Gui was the elder, and since the family's downfall she was not so easily moved to softness; but Yin Gui had always been sheltered by Jin Gui, and hearing this she could not help being touched. She hastened to comfort her: "Set your mind at ease. When we left home, the Madam instructed us to follow your lead in everything. We are only helping you carry a few things—there is no need for such ceremony."

Ji Hong was reassured, and thanked the Jin Gui and Yin Gui sisters again and again. Escorted by the Dou Zhiwei servants, she returned to the country estate.

When Miao Zhi learned that her brother had squeezed four hundred taels of silver out of Four Lane Alley, she was dumbstruck.

Miao Zhi's mother, who was keeping her company at the estate, said hurriedly, "Your brother did it for your sake. He asked so many people to come forward and fight your case for you—friendship is friendship, but they cannot be expected to run about for your brother for nothing. If he does not stand them a feast of thanks and reward each with a few taels of silver, then when your brother has need of them in future, who will go trotting off to do his bidding? Do not imagine your brother went to demand that silver for himself alone."

Miao Zhi's heart only grew colder at this, and she did not even wish to make the effort of humoring her mother. She had the wet nurse carry the chests into the western room, which served for the time being as a storeroom, and then, with great solemnity, she rewarded the Dou Zhiwei servants and summoned Ji Hong to her inner chamber to talk.

Knowing that her valuables had been preserved entirely through the efforts of Jin Gui and Yin Gui, she could not keep the tears from her lashes, and instructed Ji Hong: "Put yourself to a little more trouble and make another trip to Yizhi Hall for me—give these things to the Madam to keep for me. I know what my brother is like. If he cannot get these valuables out of Song Han, he may well bring men to search my rooms. True, the Heir's people are here to protect me, but the Heir's men are guarding against the Second Master—surely we cannot ask them to meddle in a quarrel between my brother and me? Besides, I still want my brother's help in ruining Song Han's name. This is no time to tear all pretense of civility between us."

Ji Hong assented. Without so much as a sip of water, she went with the Dou Zhiwei servants to the Ying Zhenguo residence.

Dou Yan judged Miao Zhi's misgivings not unreasonable. He had Ruo Zhu and Ji Hong check the things over, draw up an inventory, pack them into a chest, seal it, and hand it to Ruo Zhu for safekeeping.

Ji Hong kowtowed to Dou Yan on Miao Zhi's behalf, and only then returned to the country estate.

Dou Yan summoned Liu Zhang and questioned him: "What are the people over at Four Lane Alley saying?"

Liu Zhang laughed. "A little of everything. That the Miao family has come to extort silver from the Ying Zhenguo residence again; that the Second Master has committed adultery with the Zhenguo Lord's bedchamber maid; that the Second Madam has been beaten out of all semblance of herself and cannot show her face; that the Zhenguo Lord is so enraged at the Second Master that his mouth is twisted and his hands shake and he cannot speak... No one knows how such talk got about, but it would make you laugh and cry at once to hear it!"