Chapter 339 — The Eastern Palace

Above the Crown Princess Consort there still stood the Empress Dowager and the Empress. Dou Yan was with child, and neither the Empress Dowager nor the Empress had yet made any gesture; for the Crown Princess Consort to send attendants to look after her would be rather overstepping her station and seizing an initiative not rightly hers.

The Crown Princess Consort mused a moment, then smiled. "Very well. Better that than have you feel ill at ease."

And so the matter was glossed over.

Word of the good news reached the front hall. It gladdened Song Yan, and the Crown Prince as well; he sent someone over to inquire after her and told the Crown Princess Consort to bestow herbs for calming the womb.

The side hall was thick with rejoicing.

The eldest imperial grandson was a small body with a grown man's cunning. Fixing his eyes on Dou Yan's belly, he asked her, "Is Lady Dou going to have a little sister too?"

Before Dou Yan could answer, the Crown Princess Consort had already rebuked him softly. "Lady Dou is going to have a little brother." Then she instructed the palace maid at her side, "Fetch a few of the old clothes Shou'er has outgrown and give them to Lady Dou." To Dou Yan she said, "They say that if a boy's old baby clothes are pressed under the pillow, one gets one's wish and bears a big, bonny boy. When I was carrying Shou'er, I slept on old clothes belonging to Shi Yan, the eldest son of the Marquis of Changxing. You might try it too."

The House of Changxing again!

Dou Yan smiled her thanks.

The eldest imperial grandson, curious, asked the Crown Princess Consort, "Why is Mother going to have a little sister, but Lady Dou is going to have a little brother?"

The Crown Princess Consort explained patiently, "Because Mother already has Shou'er and Fu'er. Lady Dou has no son yet as docile and filial as Shou'er and Fu'er."

The eldest imperial grandson was like a man who has drunk a bowl of hot soup on a bitter winter's day — smiling, both pleased and content.

Dou Yan pressed her lips together and smiled.

The Crown Princess Consort said modestly, "This child is simply mischievous. Lady Dou, pray do not take him to heart."

Dou Yan praised the eldest imperial grandson. "The eldest imperial grandson has the heart of a newborn babe, innocent and artless. How could one call that mischievous?"

The Crown Princess Consort gazed at her son and smiled faintly, her smile brimming with doting affection.

The eldest imperial grandson, clinging to his mother's arm, curved his lips in a smile.

Dou Yan thought of her two sons from her former life.

When her two sons had been the age of this eldest imperial grandson, she seemed never to have treated them so gently. Each time they came to pay their respects, she was either busy reckoning accounts with the stewards or busy giving orders to the housekeepers; she had no heart at all to speak softly to her sons. She was always stern, inquiring after their lessons, scolding them a few words, and then dismissing them to their nurses.

The thought flashed past, and Dou Yan's heart faltered.

Why had she thought again of those unhappy memories from her former life?

In this life she had married Song Yan. Surely her future would be different!

She could not help touching her own belly, and laughing in a tone of envy she herself did not notice. "I only hope my child will be as clever and lively as the eldest imperial grandson."

The heartfelt sigh took the Crown Princess Consort by surprise, and she broke into a pleased smile. "Lady Dou flatters him. The eldest grandson of the Yingzhenguo Manor is certain to be a clever, lively child."

The praised eldest imperial grandson at once looked on Dou Yan with a shade more warmth in his eyes.

Dou Yan asked, "Does Your Highness hope for a little commandery princess this time?"

"I do!" The Crown Princess Consort's smile was full of a mother's radiance. "A daughter is the padded jacket that hugs her mother close. How glad the Crown Prince and I would be to have a little commandery princess!"

But Dou Yan knew she would bear another son.

The eunuchs and maids escorted the eldest imperial grandson away.

Dou Yan and the Crown Princess Consort chatted on, and before they knew it noon was near.

The palace rules for granting a meal were exacting; not everyone could bear them.

The Crown Princess Consort had two mothers-in-law above her — how could she not understand that?

She raised her teacup to signal the visit's end, sparing Dou Yan the need to kneel in farewell.

Dou Yan breathed a sigh of relief, yet insisted on kneeling in farewell; a palace maid helped her up and out of the side hall.

Song Yan had come out of the front hall as well and was talking with Cui Yijun at the gate of the Eastern Palace, waiting for Dou Yan.

Only when Dou Yan drew near did Cui Yijun break off. But she had still caught his last words: "I leave this matter to you, Heir Apparent."

She could not well ask what it was. She and Song Yan took their leave of Cui Yijun, and an Eastern Palace eunuch led them toward the Xizhi Gate.

On the way, Song Yan asked her softly, "Are you tired? If you are, we'll find a place to rest our feet."

Dou Yan laughed quietly. "You can find a place to rest in the palace?"

"Of course." Song Yan spoke in a whisper to Dou Yan. "I don't hold the post of Assistant Commissioner of the Imperial Insignia Guard for nothing!"

Dou Yan looked at Song Yan with a smile and said in a low voice, "I'm fine. I only want to hurry home."

Song Yan said no more, only held her hand and gave it a squeeze.

The two followed the eunuch slowly out of the palace and climbed into their own carriage.

At once Song Yan gathered her into his arms. "Mind you don't knock yourself against anything."

A carriage is not a sedan chair; hit a rut or a pothole and the jolting is most uncomfortable.

Dou Yan had walked a good half-day and was rather tired, so she let Song Yan carry her.

Song Yan laid his hand on Dou Yan's belly and sighed with feeling: "I never thought we would truly have a child!"

It was the first time Dou Yan had seen him so overcome, and her playful spirit stirred; she teased him: "What? You don't like it?"

Song Yan suddenly smacked her backside. "There you go again, spinning tales to make a fool of me!"

Startled out of her wits by his impudence, Dou Yan gave a cry of "Aiyo" and glared at him.

Song Yan smiled with narrowed eyes, his face glowing with a quiet elegance like polished jade.

Dou Yan could not help leaning closer, until his warm breath fell upon her face — and only then did she realize what she had done.

She hastily drew back and nestled into the hollow of his shoulder, hoping to cover her lapse and turn his attention: "What did Cui Yijun want with you just now?"

Song Yan looked at her crimson ears, the corners of his mouth lifting gently, though his voice was as calm as ever: "Nothing of consequence — he said winter is nearly here and his old cold-leg ailment has flared up again, and asked whether I might find him a few pieces of better fur; he wants to make himself a pair of knee guards."

Dou Yan was struck dumb, and only after a long while said: "Is that why everyone calls him 'Cui the Cheap'? His horizons are so narrow. He truly does the Crown Prince no credit."

She could not imagine how Cui Yijun of her former life had shielded the Crown Princess Consort and the three imperial grandsons in their flight from the Eastern Palace — just as she could not imagine when Wang Yuan of her former life had taken up with the Prince of Liao, and still contrived to come away unscathed in the end.

It seemed she would have to think long and hard about the palace coup.

Dou Yan clutched at Song Yan's lapel and drew it tight.

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