Chapter 154 — The Envoy

Then was there any connection between that affair and the plot against him?

What could possibly drive his father to scheme against the eldest son he had so carefully raised?

If only he could learn why his mother and father had quarreled.

Now Matron Xie was gone. Those few senior maids had become the key.

When his mother and father quarreled, the maids had stood in the courtyard, and Song Han said the quarrel had been a violent one. They must have caught a phrase here and there. And it was those same senior maids who had framed him for the attempted rape. To claim there was no connection between the two would persuade no one.

For now, he had put on the air of a man ready to risk everything and had written several letters to the Third Princess and others, asking them to help smooth the way for him. To see the Emperor sooner rather than later—if his father had no defensible reason to offer, the audience at court might not go smoothly. His father surely understood this as well; otherwise, having failed to force his hand, he would never have summoned Tao Jun in such haste.

Once his father decided to yield, he would certainly silence those "witnesses" who had attached themselves to him or been bought by him for the purpose of framing Song Yan, lest they be seized upon as evidence.

When that time came, all Song Yan need do was have his men keep a close watch on his father's underlings, and the whereabouts of those senior maids could be found.

At this thought, Song Yan felt it necessary to say a few more words to his subordinates.

After comforting Song Han at some length, he called several guards to escort Song Han and Li Bai to the mourning hall. Then he summoned Xia Lian and instructed him to assign men specifically to search for the senior maids who had served Lady Jiang.

Xia Lian answered with a respectful "Yes." A guard came in and announced, "Master Tao requests an audience!"

Song Yan did not even lift his eyelids. "I will not see him," he said indifferently.

Outside the room, Tao Jun seemed to have known the answer already. Before the guard could turn around, he raised his voice and said, "Young Heir, there is no parent in this world who is always in the wrong. Those guards—if you killed them, you killed them, and your anger should be somewhat abated by now. In a few days it will be the third seventh-day observance of the Lady's passing. The dead are held in reverence. Surely you cannot let the Lady go to her rest uneasy? I have come this time on the Duke's orders, to discuss the rites for the Lady's third seventh-day with you. However angry and resentful you may be, for the Lady's sake, let these few days pass first. What say you?"

Song Yan felt as though his heart were being carved out.

Even now, his father meant to exploit his reverence for his mother.

He drew several deep breaths before he could steady his voice and keep it from breaking.

"Come in," Song Yan said calmly to the figure outside the window.

Tao Jun hastily bowed toward the inner chamber, then stepped inside.

"Please be seated, Master Tao." Song Yan had already recovered his former air of serene detachment and told a guard to serve tea. "The servants of Yizhi Hall are all nursing injuries, so I must ask you to make do, sir."

"Not at all, not at all!" Tao Jun hastened to incline his body, saying deferentially, "When all is said, this whole affair was the work of petty men. The Duke was deceived, and you, too, were wronged..."

"So then, Father has already concluded that he was in the wrong?" Song Yan cut him off calmly, his gaze fixed intently on Tao Jun's eyes.

Tao Jun had not expected Song Yan to be so incisive, and could not help a bitter smile.

If he admitted that the Duke of Ying had been in the wrong, then they would have to cede territory and pay indemnity to Song Yan; but if he did not admit that the Duke had erred... He thought of the guards posted at every few steps along the road as he came, thought of the letters Song Yan had sent out, thought of the corpses heaped in the center of the courtyard the day before, thought of the guards surrounding Song Han on every side...

He gave an uncomfortable little cough and could only murmur, "Yes."

"In that case," Song Yan said, regarding Tao Jun with a smile that was not quite a smile, "I ask Father to uphold my dignity as the Young Heir, and cut off the heads of those petty men to serve as a warning to others!"

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To all the sisters and brothers who read this—today, at last, a normal update!

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