Chapter 473 — Where I Go

Dou Shi knew this was the Crown Princess showing her goodwill. If she refused with firm words, who knew what the Prince and the Crown Princess would think of her?

Beaming, she thanked the Crown Princess and had the wet nurse take the child away to rest.

The two of them sat in the reception room and fell to talking of the concubines' clothes and ornaments for the New Year season.

A palace maid came in looking slightly flustered and whispered a few words into the Crown Princess's ear.

The Crown Princess's expression tightened, and her lips pressed firmly together. She fixed her gaze on Dou Zhiwei and said bitterly, "A censor has impeached the heir. He says the heir is overbearing and arrogant, using public office for private ends, and that he ordered the men of the Five Wards Garrison to seize the rich man's guards who had wronged the heir's cousin."

Dou Yan was stunned. "Now? Before the Emperor?"

The Crown Princess nodded.

Dou Yan wanted to send that palace maid to find out what was really going on, but her position did not permit her to command the maid. Her brows knitted tight, and she grew restless and agitated.

Was the Prince of Liao behind this? Or had someone who truly could not stomach Song Yan's ways seized the moment to make trouble?

Or had someone seen how close they had grown to the Crown Prince these days and meant to give them a warning?

Whichever it was, to impeach Song Yan at such a moment showed a resolve to stake everything on a desperate throw. Who knew how the Emperor would handle the matter?

As she worried in silence, the Crown Princess had already rebuked the palace maid sharply: "Go and listen at once. If anything unusual happens, report to us immediately."

The maid answered "Yes" in fear and trembling and hurried away.

A flicker of guilt passed through the Crown Princess's eyes, and she consoled Dou Yan: "Nothing will come of it. Today is the Lantern Festival. The Emperor will not punish a subject at such a time."

Dou Yan nodded, a trace of anxiety showing between her brows.

She hoped with all her heart that the Crown Princess was right.

Unable to help herself, she pressed her palms together again and murmured "Amitabha" a few times toward the west.

The two waited quietly in the warm chamber.

After about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the palace maid came in beaming.

"Your Highness, Madam," she said, curtsying with admiration all over her face, "the heir said that in recommending the worthy one does not avoid one's kin. The Five Wards Garrison has always kept the peace of the capital, and it could hardly stand by and do nothing simply because the man seized happened to be the heir's cousin. The Emperor thought this very reasonable. He laughingly fined the censor three cups of wine and meant to let the matter drop there. But the censor would not let go and kept prattling on. In a rage the Emperor had the man dragged out. He even lost his temper and said, 'Am I a tyrant, that one after another they must scramble to make a name for themselves as remonstrating ministers?' The whole hall of officials was too frightened to speak, until the Empress had a matron carry the Fifteenth Imperial Prince into the great hall, and only then did the Emperor's anger subside."

The Fifteenth Imperial Prince was only three this year, the youngest of the princes, and the Emperor doted on him as though he were his own grandson.

Dou Yan and the Crown Princess breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

The affair seemed to have passed just like that, yet it had put Song Yan and Dou Zhiwei on their guard.

Xuanying had men keep watch on the censor's every move.

Dou Yan, for her part, sent men to bring Jiang Yan home to her natal family for the month-long post-wedding visit.

Chen Jia escorted Jiang Yan back.

Dou Yan invited Jiang Ling to keep her company.

Seeing Jiang Yan's rosy complexion and high spirits, Jiang Ling teased her: "Are you still afraid Chen Zanzhi will find fault with you?"

Jiang Yan flushed crimson. She hugged Dou Zhiwei's arm and nestled close to her, then asked Dou Yan quietly, "Sister-in-law, when you first married in, did you not manage the household either?"

Hearing the meaning beneath her words, Dou Yan laughed. "What, are you not managing yours?"

Jiang Yan shook her head, then nodded.

Dou Shi was baffled.

Jiang Ling pricked up her ears as well.

Only then did Jiang Yan say sheepishly, "Zanzhi did hand all the household affairs over to me, but then he told that Tao Er's wife to help me run the household accounts. There are only the two of us and a dozen or so servants at home, and that Tao Er's wife is a capable sort. Every day, apart from hearing her report the accounts, I have nothing at all to do... I eat and sleep, and sleep and eat..."

She was most uneasy about it.

Dou Yan and Jiang Ling exchanged a glance and could not suppress their smiles.

Jiang Ling said outright, "You don't know when you're well off! Do you think running a household is easy? One moment it's oil, the next it's rice—you've no idea how exhausting it is. Since Chen Zanzhi has found someone to help you, just let go and rest. What is there to worry about?"

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Brothers and sisters, my apologies. The eldest and the second had a quarrel, and the third took the bullet. I was called in to work overtime today and had no draft saved, so I have only just got back. I will post this chapter first, correct the typos later, and write today's update.

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