Chapter 321 — Entrusted

Song Cen turned the matter over and over in his mind, and at last resolved to begin with Dou Yan's personal maids.

Ever since Lady Jiang's death, when everyone in the Yingzhen Ducal household had been swept clean, Lü Zheng's wife had, at his arrangement, taken over the duties of the upper courtyard. She was not only clever and capable but also tactful in handling people, and within a few days she had set the affairs of the upper courtyard in order. Song Cen therefore handed her the management of Song Han's rooms as well; from then on, the stewarding woman in Song Han's quarters had to report to Lü Zheng's wife before anything could be done.

With Lü Zheng's wife in place, he had not had to worry himself over the upper courtyard for years.

This both comforted Song Cen and made him rather proud.

Who said the household would fall into chaos without the Jiang woman?

It was only that in those days, when the Jiang woman held the reins, those she could not abide had simply been given no chance.

Now that he had handed everything to Lü Zheng's wife, was the upper courtyard not just as orderly as before?

Since the approach must be made through those around Dou Yan, the matter would have to be handled by a woman. Lü Zheng's wife was utterly loyal to him and knew a little of what had happened in those years; no one was better suited to the task.

Song Yan wore an expression of complacent satisfaction.

Lü Zheng assented respectfully, and when he went home he told his wife of the matter.

Lü Zheng's wife flew into a temper on the spot. "How could you agree to such a thing?" she cried, and pointed at the whip scar that crawled red as a centipede across his face. "Is this not lesson enough?"

After her husband had been wounded by the heir, the Lord Defender of the State had done nothing on his return but reward them with fifty taels of silver, without a word more; whereas the guards of Yizhi Hall who had been hurt fighting the thieves during the fire—the heir had not only given each of them fifty taels, but had gone in person to call on them, so that the guards who had escaped injury looked on with envy, regretting they had not taken a scratch at the time, so that the heir might have sat awhile in their homes.

That was true dignity.

Lü Zheng's face swelled to a purple red, and he said in a muffled voice, "Would I dare say a word of no?"

"I did not bid you argue with the Lord Defender of the State!" said Lü Zheng's wife in displeasure. "I bid you keep your wits about you! The Yingzhen Ducal household has Master Tao for letters and Guard Chang for arms—when was it ever for us to go thrust our heads out and make a show of ourselves?"

Even when the whip cut on his face healed, it would leave a scar most frightful to look on.

A man who served close at hand as he did, accompanying the Lord Defender of the State to all manner of occasions—if he frightened even one person of rank, it would be trouble indeed. The Lord Defender of the State would never keep him in attendance again.

Lü Zheng had long nursed a secret regret in his heart.

Had he been possessed by a ghost that day, to go up and block the way without knowing what manner of man the heir was?

He could not help but clasp his head in his hands and sit down on the kang.

How could Lü Zheng's wife not know her husband's fears? She comforted him gently: "The Lady may have presided over the household accounts only a few days, but one look shows she has every matter clear in her mind. Her two most trusted maids, Suxin and Sulan, the one quiet, the other lively, are both hard to deal with; to coax words out of those about her is utterly impossible. Rather than beat the grass and startle the snake, and be found out by the Lady, better to close one eye and open the other. When the Lord Defender of the State asks, say only that you could learn nothing. And if by this means the task is given to others to investigate—would that not be better still?"

Lü Zheng hesitated.

"Set your mind at ease," said Lü Zheng's wife. "I shall never let the Lord Defender of the State grow suspicious."

The next day she had a little maid pick several camellias in the garden, and carried them herself to Yizhi Hall.

"The camellias in the back garden are blooming beautifully—I have brought a few for the ladies about the Lady to wear!" she explained to the old women of Yizhi Hall, and as she spoke she gave several of them a few blooms apiece.

The Lady did not forbid the maids and women of the Yingzhen Ducal household to visit one another, but she would not suffer them to come and go through Yizhi Hall as they pleased, still less to wander about at will within it.

The old women took Lü Zheng's wife's flowers and led her toward the main rooms. "The plants and flowers the Lady raised at Zhending have arrived, and the several aunties about the Lady are all in the small garden tending them!"

Lü Zheng's wife was much surprised. "The plants the Lady raised at her parents' home?"

"Yes indeed!" the old woman laughed. "A great many of them! Seven or eight great carts full. Flowers of every kind. The small garden is packed to the brim. If the heir had not had men help put up sheds through the night, most of them would have frozen to death."

Lü Zheng's wife's heart gave a leap, and she smiled. "The heir troubles himself with such things too?"

She remembered that Song Yan had never concerned himself with such matters before.

"They are the Lady's, so how could the heir not concern himself?" the old woman said, laughing; and as the two turned the narrow lane past the side rooms of the main house, Lü Zheng's wife caught sight at a glance of Song Yan standing in the covered gallery, talking with Dou Yan.

Song Yan was gazing at Dou Yan with smiling eyes, listening most earnestly, as though there were nothing in this world more important than what Dou Yan was saying.

Lü Zheng's wife's eyelid twitched.

A maid was already pointing her out to Dou Yan and announcing her.

Dou Yan looked over, her gaze clear and bright, her expression gentle.

Lü Zheng's wife hastened forward and made a respectful curtsey, addressing them as "Heir" and "Lady."

Dou Xin glanced at the flowers in her hands and said, "It is rare to find you so thoughtful. Ganlu, give Lü Zheng's wife a red envelope."

Lü Zheng's wife thanked her again and again.

Song Yan reached out and took Dou Yan's arm. "It is too cold out here—best go inside! If you are uneasy, I will keep watch here."

"Come inside with me!" Her hand warmer had gone cold after standing here so long, and Dou Xin said, "With Suxin here, I am quite at ease."

Song Ji asked, "Are all the things for my aunt's household ready? Looking at this weather, I fear it will snow. You should not be running about everywhere either; whatever you need, have the shopkeepers bring it to the house to choose from."

Dou Xin answered sweetly, "Very well," and went out of the small garden side by side with Song Yan.

Ganlu took the camellias from Lü Zheng's wife's hands with a smile and invited her warmly: "Come to my room and have a cup of hot tea, auntie!"

Lü Zheng's wife smiled and thanked her again and again, but as she raised her head she saw piled in a corner of the garden a whole hill of camellias, of every kind—some tender and luscious, some rich and elaborate, some pure and noble—and then she looked at the few she held, red with double petals and yellow hearts, so plain as to seem thin and bare.

She could not help blushing, and privately cursed the little maids who had been sent to pick flowers for their half-heartedness.

Ganlu, however, seemed not to notice, and entertained her with great assiduity, showing her this and introducing her to that, and in the end saw her out of Yizhi Hall with her own eyes.

Sujuan covered her mouth and laughed. "What did she come for?"

"I have no idea!" Ganlu let out a long breath. "Humoring that sort of person—it wears you to death!" Then she asked, "Is the heir still in the Lady's rooms?"