Chapter 296 — A Proposal

This was Dou Yan's first time attending a council in the study at Song Yan's side, and she had resolved to listen and say nothing. Song Yan had suddenly named her, though—and she was not a stubborn woman. Since circumstances had shifted, she would not hide her thoughts away; after a moment's reflection, she set them out plainly and without embarrassment.

"Whether Chen Jia is angling for a future or acting on someone's orders, the terms the heir has offered him are deeply tempting to him. That being so, why not hear him out before we decide? If what he says is true, then even if he was put up to it, we need not necessarily fall into the trap; and if what he says is pure fabrication, then even if he is angling for a future, we need not necessarily help him."

"The crux now is this: how do we judge whether his words are true or false?"

Song Yan, Yan Che, and the others nodded slightly.

Zi Aifeng could not help sighing inwardly.

No wonder the heir held his lady in such esteem. Beyond her quick wit, she was skilled at strategy.

A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

If one day some mishap befell the heir, then under the lady's leadership, men like them would not be like a great tree once felled, turned in an instant into fish flesh for others to carve.

In that moment, he felt for the first time a sense of belonging to Yizhi Hall.

And he was filled with hope for its future.

If the lady could bear a child soon, Yizhi Hall would have no internal troubles left, and men like them would have no more misgivings.

At that thought, he rose and, with great respect, symbolically topped up Dou Yan's already full cup with a little more water.

Zhu Yicheng, however, had none of Zi Aifeng's calculations. Hearing Dou Zhiwei's words, he was full of doubt and badly wanted to put a few questions to Dou Yan, but constrained by the difference in rank, he dared not speak, and a trace of anxiety showed on his brow.

Song Yan, thinking Zhu Yicheng had views of his own on the matter, smiled and said, "Guard Zhu, what do you make of this?"

Zhu Yicheng was not a man skilled in strategy. At past councils in the study he had only listened and never spoken. Now, seeing every eye turned on him, his face flushed a deep red, his lips worked soundlessly, and only after a long while did he say, "I think what Mr. Yan and Mr. Liao say makes sense, and what the lady says makes sense too. I only want to ask: if this Chen Jia was put up to it, and we go poking into the Duke's affairs, might the people behind him seize on something against us and lay a complaint before the Emperor? I keep feeling that a man who can plan ahead and leave himself a way out like that is no simple character—and he's a good fighter too, a match for any scholar in both letters and arms. With a man like that, best to be careful."

He thinks my proposal too risky, does he?

That was Dou Yan's reading.

In her former life, Song Yan had been moody and unpredictable, yet Chen Jia had become one of his trusted intimates—plainly no one to be taken lightly. But Song Yan's conduct now told her that Chen Jia's words and deeds had already roused his keenest interest; otherwise Song Yan could simply have sent a note to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, had them give him an accounting, and put Chen Jia to death—no need at all to summon Yan Che and the others to a council.

She had always held that damming is worse than diverting.

And the Duke of Dingguo's death was bound up not only with the Jiang family's wrongful case but with the demise of Lady Jiang as well. Song Cen and Song Zhi were at odds... The Prince of Liao had already begun to show his claws. If Song Yan could set the Yingzhenguo Manor's affairs in order before the Prince of Liao bared his fangs, then no one would ever again be able to make an issue of the deaths of Song Yan's kin. Given Song Zhi's cool reason, they could pass safely through the palace coup four years hence.

If they judged wrongly now, they would still have a chance to correct it.

But when the Prince of Liao's intent was finally laid bare and court and country fell into chaos, right and wrong would long since be beyond telling; even saying nothing at all might draw a charge of trumped-up guilt—how much less could one hope to clear oneself?

"The heir enjoys the Emperor's favor and has not yet come of age. Since the Duchess passed away, the Duke has left all household matters to his personal stewards and advisors, and it is only natural that the heir should sometimes take a misstep—the very occasion to receive the Emperor's guidance." Dou Yan hinted, "Everything depends on what the world says, how the world sees it, and what the world believes!"

Song Yan smiled faintly.

Yan Che, though, grew excited and said to Song Yan, "My lord, the lady has hit on a fine plan—let us carry word of the discord between the Duke and yourself to the Emperor's ear at once. The Emperor has always loved fathers kind and sons dutiful, and you are one of the noble scions he holds dearest. If someone brings a suit before the throne, you need only turn it to account, contrive to stir the Emperor's pity, and let the Emperor 'discipline' you. For us that kills two birds with one stone: it quashes their attacks on you and draws you closer to the Emperor—I... we might even, through the Emperor, strip the Duke of his power..."

Zi Aifeng could not help clapping his hands. "I say we act on the lady's plan!"

Zhu Yicheng murmured, "That would work too?"

Song Yan laughed aloud. "It seems the lady has set me a hard problem!" He gazed at Dou Zhiwei, and in his eyes there was unmistakable admiration and delight. "Then let it be so! The business with the Emperor I will see to myself. As for Chen Jia—ten to one he will come to us again—I leave him to Mr. Yan!"

All rose together and answered in respectful chorus.

※※※※※

In a lane of the Shuntian Prefecture not far from the Yingzhenguo Manor stood an inn called Gaosheng.

Hua Tang, commander of the Weizhou Guard, his face dark as deep water, paced the upper room of the inn with his hands clasped behind his back, frantic with impatience.

His personal attendant stood with hands hanging respectfully in a corner of the room, hardly daring to breathe.

Presently came a few cautious knocks at the door.

The attendant breathed a sigh of relief, hurried forward, and opened it.

A scholar in blue robes, some thirty years old, stepped in.

At the sight of him Hua Tang went to meet him, unable to contain himself: "Well? What does the Wang family say?"

The blue-robed scholar lowered his voice at once. "I did not see the Marquis of Yan'an, but the Marquis's heir had his personal attendant bring you a message: he wishes to call on you at the inn a little later." As he spoke he drew a card from his sleeve. "This is the heir's card." Then he paused, and his voice dropped lower still. "As for the gifts we sent—the Wang family would not take them."

Hua Tang's brows knit tight.

His eldest son's lawsuit had come out of nowhere. For this affair he had already enlisted no fewer than seven or eight men, the Marquis of Changxing and the Marquis of Anlu among them, and spent over ten thousand taels of silver, yet the other side met his every move with a counter and showed not the least fear. Only then had he felt that this lawsuit was no simple matter, and dimly he had heard that the old woman had been put up to it by someone. But he had no footing to speak of in the capital, and the Marquis of Anlu was himself caught up in the Yingzhenguo Manor fire through a trusted servant—harried on every side. He had written to the Duke of Yingguo, but no reply had come. How could he trouble the Marquis of Anlu now with his own lawsuit?