Chapter 506 — Holding Out

Fragrant Hills Villa.

Song Han's scream made Dou Yan and the others freeze, and the room fell so silent that not a sound could be heard.

"Mother!" Yuan Heng, who had been fast asleep, rubbed his drowsy eyes and sat up. "I need to pee!"

He stood on the kang and stretched out his small hands toward Dou Yan.

Dou Yan groaned inwardly.

Why did this little ancestor have to wake up now, of all times?

She wondered if he would be frightened.

Grandmother hurried to lift Yuan Heng and soothed him gently: "There, there, your mother has business to attend to. Great-grandmother will hold the pot for you!"

Children are keenly perceptive. On any other day he would have thrown himself laughing into his great-grandmother's arms, but now he twisted his little body and stubbornly demanded Dou Yan's embrace: "I want my mother! I want my mother!"

Dou Xin stepped over with a gentle smile, kissed Yuan Heng's little cheek, and said, "If you want something, use your words. Making such a fuss is not what a good boy does!"

Yuan Heng nestled tightly into Dou Zhiwei's arms.

The others in the room turned their backs, and Grandmother found a chamber pot—she had no idea whose—to catch the urine.

Dou Yan carried Yuan Heng back to the kang and said with a smile, "Go to sleep now! When you wake up, Father will be home from the office!"

Yuan Heng clung to Dou Zhiwei's hand and would not let go: "Mother, stay with me!"

"All right!" Dou Yan was frantic with anxiety, yet she dared not show a trace of it.

She had assumed the Prince of Liao would behave as he had in her previous life—waiting until the Emperor's health failed before making his move. Never had she imagined he would be so bold as to snatch chestnuts from the fire, utterly heedless of the consequences.

Was it because the longer he delayed, the worse his position became?

A thief can be watched for a thousand days, but no one can guard against one for a thousand. Though Song Yan was much on his guard against the Prince of Liao, he could not withstand a sudden strike. She wondered whether he had discovered the Prince of Liao's treacherous scheme.

Dou Yan forced down the turmoil in her heart, drew a deep breath, and patted Yuan Heng gently as she always did, coaxing him to sleep.

But Yuan Heng's eyes were wide open, his gaze drifting now to Dou Zhiwei, now to Duan Bing, who stood guard before their bed.

Dou Xin gave his little nose a soft tweak and said, "Hurry and close your eyes."

Yuan Heng giggled, his face full of curiosity: "Where has my wet nurse gone? Why isn't she watching over me? Why is Master Duan watching over me?"

This child was truly sharp as a needle.

Dou Xin said, "Tonight Mother is watching over you, so I sent your wet nurse to rest!"

Hardly had she spoken when the courtyard, which had just fallen quiet, once again rang with the whistle of arrows and Song Han's hysterical shrieking.

Duan Bing and the others tensed.

Yuan Heng, terrified, burrowed into his mother's arms, trembling and crying "Mother."

Dou Yan's heart twisted with pain, and she would have given anything to slap Song Han dead with one blow.

She covered Yuan Heng's ears and kissed his soft black hair: "It's all right. Mother is here, Master Duan is here. Don't be afraid!"

Yuan Heng slowly grew calm.

The courtyard, too, gradually fell quiet.

Then came a faint, intermittent moaning, and the other side began to call out: "Madam Dou, your people are still alive. You cherish your subordinates so—how could you bear to watch them die for nothing? You are a lady of high station; we would never dare treat you with disrespect. Only agree to come with us, and we will not only send men at once to tend your guards' wounds, but escort you courteously to the Prince of Liao's residence. Dawn is nearly upon us. When I came, my master instructed me that I must bring you back before daybreak. If we have not persuaded you by then, we are to burn the house. Even now firewood has been piled around the villa and doused with vegetable oil; we need only wait for the sky to pale, and we will set the torch."

Dou Yan and the others paled.

Chen Lanxu drew his blade: "I will go and see whether this is true."

"No need!" Several were already dead or wounded; now they must save whoever they could. Dou Yan said bleakly, "They would not stoop to such petty tricks to deceive us." As she spoke, she looked at Yuan Heng in her arms, tears brimming in her eyes.

Duan Bing turned his face away.

Grandmother, trembling, took Dou Zhiwei's hand.

The voice outside pressed on: "If Madam Dou does not believe us, by all means send someone to look. When two nations war, envoys are not slain. So long as your scout does not leave the courtyard, we will not strike."

Dou Yan acted as though she had not heard.

She steadied her heart, smiled, and drew her son out from her embrace. "Yuan Heng, let us play a game—in a moment Master Duan will carry you over the wall and out of this courtyard to find your father. If you can keep utterly silent, Mother will tell Father to take you riding at the villa. Can you do that?"

"My lady!" Duan Bing and the others, eyes red-rimmed, dropped to their knees.

Yuan Heng looked at Duan Bing and the rest, at a loss.

"Get up, all of you!" Dou Yan said calmly. "Yuan Heng is the heir's eldest son, and now his only son. If he falls into the Prince of Liao's hands, then even if the heir submits to him, I fear Yuan Heng will never be returned to us. If he does not go, he is in far greater danger here!"

The world has always valued sons above women.

In the Prince of Liao's eyes, Yuan Heng mattered more.

In the eyes of Duan Bing and the others, Dou Yan was restored to their regard.

"If we go, what will become of you?" He shook his head like a rattle drum.

"At worst I'll pay a visit to their residence as a guest." Dou Chi smiled without a care and patted his son's head. "In a little while I'll go out and parley with them; the rest of you take Yuan Heng and charge out. They'll have their hands full and no time to bother with Grandmother." Turning her head, she said to Grandmother, "Hide yourself as best you can when the moment comes. You're sure to turn danger into safety."

Yuan Heng understood nothing of his mother's decision, but the solemn air made him burrow back into Dou Zhiwei's arms of his own accord.

"You had better leave with Yuan Heng and the others!" Grandmother said gravely. "I'll stay here and hold them off. Through the window they'll never be able to tell the difference between you and me."

Grandmother meant to substitute herself for another.

Dou Yan looked at the silver threads at Grandmother's temples and shook his head with a smile. "You had best do as I arrange."

Did she truly think the other side would be so easily fooled?

Grandmother was about to say more when a clamor rose from outside, as though something had happened among the besiegers.

Everyone in the room roused. Duan Bing hurriedly lifted the thick felt over the window and peered out.

"Madam!" In a moment he turned back, elated. "It seems someone has fallen into a quarrel with them!"

The reason the Prince of Liao's men could surround them at all was that no one had discovered them. If anyone noticed something amiss at the side residence, word would surely be sent to the authorities, and the Prince of Liao's siege would dissolve of itself. That was precisely why they had to carry off Dou Yan and her son to the Prince of Liao's estate before daybreak.

Every heart in the room grew lighter at once. Dou Yan handed Yuan Heng to Grandmother and walked to the window.

The men guarding the gate were plainly flustered, their crossbows in their hands but aimed at nothing in particular; clearly the newcomer had put them in a very awkward position.

Dou Yan frowned in puzzlement.

Then she saw a young gentleman—fairer of face than any girl—come walking in alone, a saber in his hand.