Chapter 326 — Nursing the Sick (Extra Update, Begging for Pink Votes)

"Eldest Brother is older and conducts himself more steadily," he consoled his younger brother. "When you are older, Father will gradually entrust important matters to you."

Song Han nodded obediently.

In the tea room, Dou Yan learned at once what had happened in the inner chamber.

She sat there brooding over her thoughts.

Song Cen feared Song Yan would harm him, guarded against Song Yan—this was only to be expected. But why did he not even trust Song Han?

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In no more than two days, everyone knew that Song Cen had fallen ill, and relatives and friends could hardly fail to call and inquire.

Song Yan stayed in the banquet room the whole time. Several times, in front of the guests, Song Cen ordered him to hand Yizhi Hall over to Tao Jun to help receive visitors. In front of the guests, Song Yan answered "yes, yes" to everything, but once the guests had been seen off, he did exactly as before. Song Cen was so enraged that on one occasion he flung a cup straight at Song Yan's head; Song Yan dodged aside, and when more guests arrived, he went on receiving them as though nothing had happened.

And when the guests faced Song Yan and Tao Jun, who among them would be so muddled as to take Tao Jun for the master?

Yet the guests came in batch after batch. However dissatisfied Song Cen might be with Song Yan, he could not tell every visitor at the door to pay Song Yan no heed. So Song Cen continued to lose his temper, Song Yan continued to receive the visitors who came to inquire after the sick, and Tao Jun continued to trail behind Song Yan like a servant; the situation did not improve in the least.

On the contrary, guests who fancied themselves on close terms with Song Cen gently advised him: "Yantang is, after all, a high official of the third rank. Even if he has done something to displease you for the moment, you cannot disregard his dignity like this." Some went further and shook their heads at Song Qin: "You are the elder brother—at a time like this you should be advising your Second Uncle. How is it that you join in and muddle things up instead? You are a child who usually seems so mature in your conduct—how is it you turn foolish at the crucial moment?"

Song Qin was deeply vexed, yet dared not say a single word.

Those who were not close to Song Cen, meanwhile, praised Song Yan endlessly for his filial piety: "Ordinarily he seems such a cold, aloof person, yet no matter how Lord Zhenguo loses his temper, he answers in gentle, soft tones. In the word 'filial,' the hardest thing is not obedience but the countenance. Is it not, is it not!"

When these words reached Song Cen's ears, he vomited a mouthful of blood, and his illness, which had just begun to show some improvement, grew worse.

Dou Yan snickered in the tea room. When no guests were about, she set the old women to gossiping beneath Song Cen's window: "...Have you heard? The Dou family added more than a hundred thousand taels of silver to the madam's dowry, and the madam handed the whole of it to the heir to manage. That is why Steward Zhong of the Thirteen Houses came to settle accounts with the Dou lady."

When Song Yiren heard this, she cursed Song Yan roundly as an unfilial son.

Only then did Dou Ci send word to the Dou family that Song Cen was ill.

Some in the Dou family had heard that Song Cen was ill, but since Dou Chu had never sent word, they could not tell whether it was true or false, and so had remained quiet all along. Now that they knew Song Cen was ill, out of regard for Dou Yan, not only did Dou Huaiying and Dou Heng come to inquire after Song Cen, but even Dou Bingheng came along.

Song Cen, however, was beside himself with fury.

He had been ill for so long, and only now, as his in-laws, did the Dou family send anyone—was it out of mere courtesy? Or were they telling him that the relations between the two families were no more than this?

Yet he did not show the Dou lady a sour face.

After all, they had been scrupulous in courtesy and courteous in speech. You could hardly say the Dou family had slighted him merely because the Dou lady had come to inquire after his illness later than others.

Song Cen's face was ashen.

Dou Huaiying, assuming Song Cen was simply ill, urged him: "Yantang is more than capable. Whatever needs doing, just hand it to him. I know my daughter—she is an obedient, sensible girl. These past days she has kept to the tea room, personally brewing your medicine for her father-in-law... Rest well and you should be on your feet again soon enough!"

At those words, the hair on Song Cen's body stood on end.

The moment Dou Juanren left, he pounded the bed and summoned Tao Jun. "Has my wife been brewing my medicine all this time?"

"Yes, of course!" There was no way Tao Jun could say that it was Luoyan who did the boiling, while the madam merely sat nearby watching.

Forgetful of his dizziness and blurred vision, he sprang up. "How could you let her brew my medicine? Do you want me dead that badly? Quick, quick, send her packing! You brew the medicine yourself—no, throw out every last herb and buy fresh ones!"

The wise man, in a thousand calculations, is bound to miss one.

He had been so busy guarding against Song Yan that he forgot this wife of his who always sat before him mute and silent as though she did not exist.

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Brothers and sisters, here is today's bonus chapter!

o(n_n)o~