Chapter 297 — Pleading for Mercy
Purple Streets of Chang'an Page 2 of 2
The Deputy Prefect cast Gu Yu a look of gratitude and instinctively clasped his hands, saying, "Many thanks."
But the words had scarcely left his mouth when he realized that Gu Yu had been the one to stir up the whole affair. Had it not been for him, how would the Marquess of Anlu ever have thought of appealing to the Emperor? On what grounds should he thank him?
The breath caught in his chest.
Gu Yu had already swaggered off with his guards.
The Deputy Prefect, however, had no choice but to send men at full gallop to inform Huang Qi.
When they reached the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Earl of Donglin, Huang Qi, and the Marquess of Anlu each held to his own account, and each side had its reasons. Meanwhile Gu Yu stood to one side muttering under his breath, "Can it be that noblemen of merit may disregard the court's laws and do as they please? Then the princes might as well order the Six Ministries and Three Commissions about at will!"
The Emperor, who had been sitting with eyes half-closed and no inclination to heed the Earl of Donglin and the rest, suddenly flashed a gleam of sharp light in his eyes.
"Fine the Marquess of Anlu a year's stipend," he said mildly, and the clamor in the hall ceased as though cut off by a knife, leaving utter silence. "Fine the Earl of Donglin and Huang Qi a month's stipend." Then his gaze fell upon Gu Yu. "And you—two months' confinement to your residence!"
"What?!" Gu Yu's face fell, and he mumbled with a pout, "What did I do?"
The Emperor gave him a stern glance.
He dropped to his knees at once and kowtowed.
"Then it is settled!"
The Earl of Donglin and the others hurriedly knelt as well, paid their respects with great deference, and filed out one after another.
The Marquis of Anlu shot Gu Yu a savage glare, then swept off in a fury, his sleeves flying.
Gu Yu could not help rubbing his nose, and said to the Earl of Donglin in an injured tone, "Tell me, whom did I ever provoke?"
Looking at that handsome face of his, the Earl of Donglin and Huang Qi could not hold back their laughter.
When Gu Yu saw Song Zhi, he was exceedingly pleased with himself. "Brother Tianci, how about that? Wasn't what I said to His Majesty just splendid? Now the Marquis of Anlu's face has been dragged right down into the mud!"
Song Yan was speechless.
If not for those few words of yours, why would you have been confined to the house?!
He would simply have to teach him slowly, in time.
He swallowed the words and said instead, "In two months' time. It will be right around the New Year. Spend these days practicing your calligraphy well, and when the time comes, write a few 'fortune' characters for the Empress. Once His Majesty sees that your handwriting has improved, his anger will naturally subside."
Gu Yu nodded and said with a smile, "Brother Tianci, don't worry about me. If you get the business done properly, then my two months of confinement will not have been in vain."
Song Yan clapped Gu Yu on the shoulder.
The Marquis of Anlu was in a towering rage at home.
Hua Tang, who had come to sound out the news, was silent for a long while after hearing it. He went back and wrote a letter, which he sent by messenger to the Yingzhen Estate.
Song Yan opened the letter and saw that it was a refusal of marriage on the grounds that their horoscopes were incompatible.
He handed the letter to Yan Che.
Yan Che laughed. "We ought to help Lord Hua by delivering this letter to the Duke, oughtn't we?"
"Leave that to Mr. Liao!" said Song Dan. "You still have to busy yourself with sifting true from false among those thieves."
Zi Aifeng accepted the task gladly. Within a few days, the lawsuit against Hua Tang's eldest son was settled out of court, but he also lost his post as the Qianhu of Qiuling Guard.
Hua Tang hastily took his leave of the Marquis of Anlu, and then slunk back to Weilan with his son, tail between his legs.
The Marquis of Anlu said nothing.
After thinking it over all night, he went to the Yingzhen Estate.
Song Yan received the Marquis of Anlu with every courtesy, declaring that it had all been a misunderstanding and that he would go in person to explain the circumstances to the Earl of Donglin, and begging him to set his mind at ease.
The Marquis of Anlu left the Yingzhen Estate with a dark face.
The next day, his personal attendant was released.
Within a few days, word had spread through every noble house in the capital.
Some clicked their tongues in amazement, some sighed with feeling, but most counted themselves lucky: "Thank goodness we didn't cross the heir of the Duke of Ying."
Chen Jia, who had taken leave and gone into hiding in the outskirts of the capital for fear that Song Yan would come looking for him, could sit still no longer.
He summoned a brother who had shared life and death with him: "Whatever it takes, you must find out for me where the heir of the Duke of Ying is. I must see him!"
Before long, he had his answer: "The heir of the Duke of Ying has not set foot outside these past two days. The servants at the Yingzhen Estate say he is helping his lady turn over the soil, getting the little garden ready for autumn planting."
Chen Jia was dumbstruck.
Song Yan, a man of such ruthless methods—helping a woman plant flowers and grass?
He could not help recalling the rumors about Song Zhi in the capital, and the shock he had felt upon first setting eyes on Song Yan.
Song Yan, Song Yantang—just what sort of man was he?
Chen Jia gazed at the leaden noonday sky and sank into thought.
Dou Fan, her heart aching to see Song Yan covered in dirt, fetched water herself and washed his hands for him. "If you have business to attend to, go and see to it. I have a few maids and serving women here to help me; that is quite enough."
These past few days Song Yan had been very busy, often not returning to his rooms until the middle of the night.
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It seems the residential compound where my family lives may have a power outage, so I'm posting the draft first and will hunt for bugs later.
o(n_n)o~
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