Chapter 273 — Heading Out (Extra Update — Begging for Pink Votes)

Dou Yan was caught between laughter and tears.

Song Yan was simply making a mountain out of a molehill!

She rather disapproved.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, a faint joy surfaced in her heart as well.

She was instantly somewhat dazed.

Why was it that the very same thing, when Wei Fan did it, annoyed her, but when Song Yan did it, made her happy?

Dou Yan thought back to her previous life: the very day after her miscarriage, she had sat up in bed to oversee the household affairs of the Jining Marquisate. Wei Fan had urged her, "You are not yet recovered; set these matters aside for now." Then he had driven away all the stewards who had come to report.

At the time she had seemed rather pleased, and had done as Wei Fan said, lying down to rest.

But she had barely lain down when an old matron came to seek her instructions, saying that the Dowager Countess of Donglin had passed away, and asking what funeral offerings should be sent.

She had not been managing the household long then, and did not know how the Jining Marquisate had handled such things in the past, so she had no choice but to get up and consult the old account books. Wei Fan saw this, snatched the books from her hands, and insisted that she rest.

She did lie down as Wei Fan wished, but no one attended to the funeral offerings for the Dowager Countess of Donglin. Had the Count of Donglin not summoned a geomancer at the time to survey the feng shui, and had the Dowager Countess's coffin not been required to remain in the house for six days, the Jining Marquisate would very nearly have missed the deadline for sending its offerings.

The Donglin Count's household had sent the Jining Marquisate a mourning notice; if the Jining Marquisate failed to pay its respects, the Donglin Count's household would think the Jining Marquisate meant to sever all ties with them!

Several similar incidents occurred afterward.

Only then did Dou Yan understand that Wei Fan's concern was like willow catkins in spring—it could not withstand the wind. He would not do anything to help her; those matters simply piled up there, waiting for her to deal with them. She even had a feeling that if she had truly acted on Wei Fan's words, she might well have been misunderstood.

As time went on, she could not be bothered with Wei Fan's concern, and seeing her unmoved, Wei Fan could not be bothered to care for her either.

She learned to bear everything herself, to resolve everything herself.

Song Yan was different.

Last night she had been utterly exhausted, too spent to care about the stickiness all over her body. She had curled up naked on the bed with her eyes closed, panting, and said, "Wait a moment—I will go fetch some water for you."

Suxin and the others were all unwed girls, and she had no intention of making them concubines, so naturally she could not call them in to attend her.

Perhaps seeing how utterly worn out she was, Song Yan had leaned down and gently stroked her forehead, softly telling her to rest well: "...Leave everything to me!"

She remembered that she had merely smiled at the time.

But to her surprise, Song Yan not only brought water in to clean her, but also changed the bedding, and said through the lattice screen to Sujuan, who was on night duty: "Do not take these to the laundry. Just wash them clean among yourselves."

Although afterward he had seemed to blunder into some strange illusion, exploring her body without end, she had slept peacefully; even when she was briefly startled awake as he got out of bed, she had merely turned over and sunk back into deep sleep.

Was it because of this that such concern had come to seem so very sweet to her?

Dou Yan ate her breakfast in a thoughtful mood. Outside Yizhi Hall there was Master Yan, inside there was Chen He, and among the maids and matrons there was Suxin—she had nothing much to do. She considered whether to go and see Song Han, but her waist truly ached terribly, and she fell asleep again.

When she woke, it was already lamp-lighting time.

Dou Yan was greatly startled; she had not expected to sleep so deeply.

Suxin brought in the evening meal and said with a smile, "Seeing that you were sleeping so soundly, I did not wake you." Then she helped her out of bed. "We are having squab soup today—I will go and ladle you a bowl."

It was all highly nourishing fare.

Dou Yan nodded and settled herself on the kang.

Wuyi came in and said, "My lady, the Heir has sent someone to bring you a letter."

Dou Yan was very surprised.

She opened the letter; a packet of medicinal powder was tucked inside, and the letter contained nothing but instructions for its use.

Dou Yan's face burned hot.

That powder was what the palace matrons who instructed young ladies gave to women injured in the marital bed.

That damned Song Yan—surely he had not let everyone in the palace know?

Despite her vexation, she remained utterly certain that Song Yan would not go around blabbing.

This contradictory state of mind made Dou Yan wish she could see Song Yan at once.

She wondered what Song Yan was doing at this very moment.

As she thought of Song Yan, Song Yan was thinking of her too.

He had slept on the hard plank bed in the duty room for seven or eight years, yet never before today had it felt so painfully hard.

He thought of Dou Zhiwei's body.

So soft and warm.

And her face flushed with color... her eyes moist and glistening, as if about to drip... her disheveled black hair, damp with sweat, clinging to her forehead...

He felt all the blood in his body surge downward again, so hard that it hurt.

Last night he should not have treated Dou Yan that way.

But he wanted her too much.

He wanted her to be his.

He wondered whether she was angry.

Tomorrow night he would still have to stay in the palace, and would not be able to leave until the hour of the Rooster the day after. Should he buy something for Dou Yan on his way back, as an apology?

Song Yan could not quite make up his mind.

A guard came in and announced, "My lord, the Third Master Zhang of the Jingguo Duke's residence wishes to see you."

Those who could serve as guards all came from no low birth; most of them knew one another.

Song Yan went to Xizhimen.

Zhang Xuming came up to meet him and said in a low voice, "This morning, the document from the Ministry of Personnel arrived." He shot Song Yan a meaningful look. "That matter is settled."

They certainly moved quickly!

Song Yan gave a cold laugh, exchanged a few idle words with Zhang Xuming, and then they each went their own way.

He walked slowly toward the Palace of Heavenly Purity, pondering whom he should send to incite the family of the former Qiu Lingwei chiliarch to lodge a complaint with the Grand Court of Revision.

To fail to obtain something is no more than disappointment.

To have it and then lose it—that hurts far more.

Especially when it drags one into a lawsuit, costing not only one's official post but perhaps one's very life; the impression would surely be all the deeper.

It was at this moment that Dou Fan was summoned by Song Cen to the Osmanthus Fragrance Garden.

"I am accompanying His Majesty on an inspection tour of Xuantong and will be gone for half a month." He looked at his daughter-in-law, who was dressed with dignity and propriety and bore herself neither haughtily nor humbly, and felt a surge of irritation. "You are young and understand nothing. I have asked your elder uncle's wife to come and assist in managing the household affairs of the Yingguo Duke's residence. You are to treat your elder uncle's wife as you would your mother-in-law, obeying her in all things and never acting on your own judgment."

Dou Yan respectfully answered "Yes" and withdrew.