Chapter 404 — Rage

The sun, risen high, beat down fiercely on the bluestone flags of the little courtyard, throwing back a glare of blinding white.

Li Liang stood alone in the middle of the yard. He looked at the guards scattered in orderly fashion about him, and his heart kept sinking, while his mind grew clearer than it had ever been.

"You — you're one of the Songs?" In that sweltering heat his face was white as snow. "The heir of the Yingzhen ducal house? Or... the Second Lord?"

Song Han?

Why would he take him for Song Han?

Song Yan's heart turned colder still.

"What difference does it make?" he asked Li Liang, hands clasped behind his back, walking slowly to the steps to look down at the man trembling with fear in the middle of the yard. "If Song Han had come instead, would anything be different?"

Li Liang raised his head and saw the contempt deep in Song Yan's eyes.

The events of years ago rose before him one by one, and the humiliation buried in his heart for over a decade erupted like a volcano.

"And Yigui? Was it you who carried her off from the lantern market?" He clenched his fists and glared at Song Yan, his eyes bloodshot. "Back then you flung her at us like so much trash... and now? Now it suddenly comes to you that the Song family has a daughter loose in the world — so a governess is sent to drill her in a few years' worth of manners, and she can be married off to suit your house! Bah! Her surname is Li. She has nothing to do with your Song family. You'll not harm her again! This is not fifteen years ago. That beast Song Cen is head of the house now, and he could not even hold on to the post of Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent — all he got was the seal of the Five Armies Military Commission. And our Li family is not what it was either. The barefoot fears not the shod. If you don't hand Yigui over, I'll go to Chang'an Avenue and cry out for justice, and let the whole world know what your Song family did back then!" With that he charged toward the wing room. "Yigui! Yigui! Are you in there? Your uncle is here. Don't be afraid — I'll get you out..."

How could Duan Bing and the others let him get near Song Yan? In two or three moves they had him pinned to the ground.

But inside, Yigui, hearing it, came running out like a calf: "Uncle! Uncle! I'm here!"

Dou Chi made to stop her, but luckily Jin Gui and Yin Gui were posted at the door. It creaked open, and the two sisters caught Yigui and held her on the threshold.

"Uncle! Uncle!" Seeing Li Liang pinned to the ground, Yigui wept like a woman made of tears, struggling to get to him.

Li Liang, craning his neck, shouted "Yigui!" back at her and asked, "Have they done anything to you?"

Yigui shook her head through her tears.

It was as though Song Yan and his men were bandits, and they a law-abiding family waylaid by bandits.

What in the world was this?

Dou Yan, who had followed them out, could only shake his head, and could not help glancing at Song Yan.

Song Yan's face was indeed black as the bottom of a pot.

Dou Yan had no choice but to pat Yigui's shoulder lightly and say gently, "If you stop crying and making a fuss and do as you're told, I'll have them release your uncle. How about that?"

Yigui was ready to drop to her knees and kowtow to Dou Yan: "I'll be good. I'll do whatever you tell me. Only don't hurt my uncle!"

Dou Yan was about to nod when a crack rang out from the courtyard.

Everyone turned at the sound.

They saw that Song Yan had kicked clean through one of the railing benches in the side corridor.

Dou Yan and the others could not help smiling wryly.

Yigui, though, was shaking with fright; she did not even dare to cry.

Dou Yan sighed. Fearing that Yigui might suddenly struggle and hurt the child in her belly, he signaled Jin Gui and Yin Gui to help her back into the wing room and sit down. He poured a cup of tea for her himself and comforted her in a low voice: "The heir's temper is usually quite good. Crying like this only vexes him. Do stop crying. After he has a few words with your uncle, he'll let him go."

"I won't cry, I won't cry!" Yigui hastened to assure him, though her tears fell thicker than before.

What a watering pot of a beauty she was!

Dou Yan was helpless; he wiped her tears gently.

Li Liang had always been fierce of face and faint of heart; Song Yan's kick had burst the last of his courage.

Lying on the ground, he wept without a sound: "Lord Heir, I beg you — it was all my sister's fault in the past; it has nothing to do with Yigui. Be magnanimous, let Yigui go. She knows nothing; we told her nothing. She is a girl, and already married. They may not live in silks and delicacies, but they want for nothing. Spare her, I beg you, and leave her a way to live..."

Li Liang would have done better not to mention Yigui's marriage; at that, Song Yan's face went green.

He walked over, dark-faced, and set the tip of his boot on Li Liang's shoulder with an air of lightness.

Li Liang felt a searing pain in his shoulder; he let out a cry of "Aiyo," and then the shoulder went numb — and he heard a crackle of breaking bone.

His face turned ashen.

Song Yan had stepped on his right shoulder; he feared he would not be able to hold a brush for some time to come. He was a bookkeeper. If he could not write, how was he to earn his living?

"Lord Heir, Lord Heir!" he begged in a low voice, tears streaming down, his heart twisting as if under a knife.

Chen Jia had interrogated countless prisoners in his time. Others might not see it, but one look at how Song Yan set his foot and at Li Liang's injury told him the shoulder was ruined; and from the look on Song Yan's face, it would not end with merely crippling the man. Of course, even if Song Yan truly did away with this fellow named Li, he himself, an officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Pacification Office, would smooth it over. But he had seen clearly a moment ago that Yigui and her uncle truly loved one another; if Li Liang died just like that, and Yigui knew nothing, it would take a great deal of talking to persuade her.

He stepped forward and clasped Song Yan's foot, saying in a low voice, "Lord Heir, Miss Yigui matters more. Whatever displeasure you feel, wait until this fellow Li has finished speaking, lest Miss Yigui misunderstand."

Song Yan ground his foot down on Li Liang twice more before lifting it.

Chen Jia breathed a sigh of relief.

Only then did Li Liang feel the pain; beads of sweat the size of peas instantly covered his forehead.

Chen Jia quickly stuffed a pill into his mouth and said, "For the pain. Bear with it a while. I'll go fetch a physician for you; once I've reported to the Lord Heir, I'll have the doctor come and take your pulse."

Li Liang shook all over with the pain, groaning low in spite of himself.

Chen Jia threw Duan Bing a look.

Duan Bing nodded, and he and Xia Lian took Li Liang under the arms, one on either side, and hauled him into the tea room nearby.

Without a nod from Song Yan, how would Chen Jia dare send for a physician for Li Liang? What he had said just now was only to coax Li Liang into answering Song Yan's questions properly.

He had no wish to sink any deeper into this, and made haste to bow to Song Yan, saying deferentially, "I'll go and see whether the lady of the house has any orders..." — hoping to slip away on that pretext.

But Song Yan, seeing that the man went about things with some method, only said, "If there's anything on the lady's side, she will tell Jin'gui and Yin'gui soon enough. Come with me." And with that he walked toward the tea room.

Chen Jia had no choice but to step forward and go ahead of Song Yan, holding back the curtain for him.