Chapter 220 — What Met the Eye

Dou Huaiying paced back and forth in his study all morning.

"Setting aside the matter of the killing you mentioned, was there anything else in what Tao Jun said that was untrue?" he asked Gao Sheng gravely.

"Nothing!" Gao Sheng shook his head. "Everyone says the heir of the Duke of Ying is as handsome as Song Yu and as comely as Pan An, and accomplished in both letters and arms."

"Is that so!" Dou Huaiying was all the more unwilling to give up so easily. He thought it over and decided to go to the Summer Retreat himself. "Seeing is believing; hearing is not. What a man is really like, one must see with one's own eyes to know!"

Gao Sheng agreed wholeheartedly, thinking that this was the right thing for Dou Huaiying to do for Dou Yan's sake, and said eagerly, "I'll go to the Huai Shu Alley right away."

To enter or leave the Summer Retreat without an imperial summons was, given Dou Huaiying's rank, utterly impossible; he could only turn to Dou Bingheng for help.

"No need!" Dou Huaiying's expression turned cold in an instant. In the eyes of those in Huai Shu Alley, Dou was merely a commodity: with the He family gone there was the Wei family, with the Wei family gone there was the Ji family—always scheming how to sell her for a good price, never once considering or caring about Dou Zhiwei's feelings. Even a cat or a dog, kept long enough, grows dear to one; how much more so when Dou Yan and Wei Fan had been betrothed since childhood, and yet they had let Dou Dai take Dou Yan's place and marry into the Jining Marquisate...

Compared with the Yingzhenguo Estate, it was naturally the Ji family that could bring the Dou family more substantial gain. If Huai Shu Alley were to learn of the Song family's business, there was no telling what schemes they would hatch!

This time, no one would be allowed to dictate Dou Zhiwei's marriage—he would make the decision himself!

Dou Huaiying lowered his voice and instructed Gao Sheng: "About the Fourth Miss's affair, you must on no account tell anyone in Huai Shu Alley." Then, after a moment's thought, "Not a soul!"

Gao Sheng nodded again and again.

It was a matter not even begun, so of course he would not go around shouting about it. Besides, the Fourth Miss had just had her betrothed snatched away by the Fifth Miss—say what you would, any discerning eye could see at once what had happened. If the match with the Song family came to nothing and word of it got out, how would the Fourth Miss ever hold up her head again? Best, as the Seventh Master said, to wait until the two families had formally exchanged betrothal gifts, and then tell those who wished to laugh at the Fourth Miss, to clear her name—that was the proper way.

He assured Dou Huaiying: "Not even my own wife will I tell."

Dou Huaiying gave a quite satisfied "Mm."

Gao Sheng hurried to harness the carriage and drove Dou Huaiying himself to the Summer Retreat beside the Taiye Pool in the Western Park.

One of Dou Shi's fellow examination graduates served as a bureau director in the Reception Bureau, and had this time accompanied the Emperor to the Summer Retreat. He decided to use this colleague to draw Song Yan out, so that he might quietly take the man's measure.

Gao Sheng therefore left the carriage beside the little grove opposite the side gate of the Summer Retreat, and taking Dou Huaiying's name card, sent someone to carry word to the colleague, while Dou Huaiying sat waiting in the carriage.

The afternoon sun of autumn was warm and lazy, half of it falling on the treetops, half upon the carriage.

Dou Huaiying, who had scarcely slept well since discovering the matter of the sisters' exchanged marriages, closed his eyes in exhaustion.

Perhaps it was the better part of an hour, perhaps only a moment.

This was close by the Summer Retreat; any sound at all would put one on guard.

Dou Huaiying lifted the carriage curtain and looked out. He saw several men in the uniforms of the Five Military Commissions, with a man in the uniform of the Imperial Bodyguard at their center, galloping toward them.

He could not help uttering a startled "Eh?" and leaned out.

The Five Military Commissions were garrisoned outside the city, charged with the defense of the capital, while the Imperial Bodyguard were the Emperor's own close guards. Though both were personal guards, there was a world of difference between them; yet the men of the Five Military Commissions had their own pride, and were not the sort to be ordered about at will by the Imperial Bodyguard—much less to be seen escorting one of them like this. Plainly this Imperial Bodyguard was acting on a superior's command, which was why the Five Military Commissions men were attending him.

A lone carriage stood before the side gate of the Summer Retreat—impossible not to notice.

Song Yan on horseback and the others with him could not help glancing at it.

Song Yan nearly fell from his horse.

It was actually the Dou family's Seventh Master!

What was he doing here?

The Dou family's Fifth Master had stayed in the imperial palace with Liang Jifen.

Should he go up and greet him? Setting all else aside, if he wanted to find someone, he would be better placed to do so than Dou Huaiying!

The thought flashed through his mind, and in the next instant he was on his guard.

Could it be that he was... here to inspect him as a prospective match?

The moment the thought arose, he realized he was about to pass right by Dou Huaiying's carriage. Without hesitation he tore the jade pendant from his waist, crushed it into several pieces with a surge of hidden force, and flicked them at the horse harnessed to the Dou family carriage.

The horse took fright and bolted out with a shrill whinny.

Dou Huaiying was flung by the sudden jolt into the carriage box, knocked half senseless—yet his mind was clear as a mirror.

This time he was in trouble!

The Emperor's personal guards were always overbearing; they did not even regard the vice ministers of the Six Ministries, let alone a petty Hanlin scholar of the fourth rank!

What was more, he was on the very road that led to the Summer Retreat. If they chose to make an issue of it, he would not escape the charge of "spying upon the forbidden palace"!

As he floundered in bewilderment, he heard a voice, clear as water, cry out urgently and loudly: "Quick! Quick, stop the carriage! There's someone inside!"

There was a great clattering, and the carriage came to a halt amid a man's ringing "Whoa!"

Dou Huaiying, dazed, tried to sit up.

The carriage curtain was pulled aside and someone peered in. "Sir, are you all right?" Then a hand reached out to steady him.

That voice was gentle and pleasing as a spring of water.

Dou Huaiying could not help lifting his head.

And there he beheld a face as radiant as a clear breeze and a bright moon, especially those eyes, which seemed to gather the very essence of the stars, their brilliance rivaling the moonlight itself.

Looking closely, he realized the figure before him was a youth of no more than sixteen or seventeen, with a warm smile, a steady bearing, and graceful manners. He possessed both the ease of old aristocratic stock and the dignity of noble lineage, leaving an unforgettable impression.

So this was what the books meant by "a face to rival Pan An, a countenance like Song Yu"?

Dou Huaiying thought to himself as he climbed down from the carriage with the youth's help.

Only then did he realize the carriage had merely lurched forward a short distance and was none the worse for it.

As Dou Huaiying breathed a sigh of relief, he worried how to explain to these imperial guards why he had been lingering here, when several men from the Five Barracks Army came crowding over, all smiling as they addressed the youth as "Lord Song," praising him: "We had long heard of the heir's skill in horsemanship, and now we have seen it for ourselves. Setting all else aside, that trick of reining in a horse alone would take us a lifetime to learn."