Chapter 375 — Dismissal

Chen Yanzhou said solemnly, "Madam, set your mind at ease. Leave this matter to me."

Dou Yan personally saw Chen Yanzhou out of the study.

Then she called Ruozhu in.

Of the four little maids whose names carried the word 'Ruo', she was the quickest-witted.

Dou Yan beckoned her close and gave her instructions in a low voice. "You have some dealings with Qixia, the senior maid in the Second Master's rooms, do you not? Lord Zhenguo wants to transfer Chuan'er of the Osmanthus Court to the Second Master's rooms. Drop a word to Qixia and see how she takes it. And find a way to get talking with the maids of the Osmanthus Court as well."

Ruozhu's grandmother was surnamed Cui, and was a cousin of her own grandmother, within the five degrees of mourning.

That she had been able to come to Zhending with Dou Yan had to do with her grandmother.

Ruozhu smiled brightly, bent her knee in a curtsy, and withdrew.

Song Yan, for his part, had made no progress.

According to the information he had gathered, although the men of the Shenji Battalion were each of no ordinary background and split into a forest of factions, under the command of Chief Commissioner Wang Xu they were all like little mice, daring to resent but not to speak. In the whole battalion, only Wang Xu's word counted. Nor was that all. Wang Maming and Jiang Yi both stood on excellent terms with Wang Xu, Jiang Yi especially: being well versed in letters, he had for a time served as Wang Xu's clerk, and it was because Wang Xu wished to promote him that he was released to serve as a squad leader.

Then where exactly did the problem lie?

When Song Yan returned to the inner rooms, he found Dou Yan sitting under the lamp leafing through a thick ledger.

He never brought the vexations of the outside world into his home.

After washing and changing his clothes, his mood had already turned cheerful.

He asked Dou Yan, "What are you reading?"

"Seeing which maids have come and gone in this household and which have been replaced!" Dou Yan poured him a cup of tea as she answered, then asked, "Do you know whether any of the serving women here ever waited on your grandfather?"

Song Yan started. He thought for a moment and said, "I really have no recollection."

Dou Yan scolded him fondly. "How is it that you know nothing of your own household's affairs?"

Song Yan said apologetically, "At fifteen I bound up my hair. My mother felt that once I passed fifteen it would no longer do for me to keep running about with my eldest uncle so often. She hoped that before fifteen I would learn more about the Ding Zhenguo household, and after fifteen begin to familiarize myself with our own family's affairs, so that I might command the connections of both houses." His voice dropped, and his expression turned somewhat bitter. "I never imagined that plans could not keep pace with change..."

So Song Yan knew less about the Ying Zhenguo household than she did.

Dou Yan nearly fell over backward.

From this alone one could see what Madam Jiang had hoped for her eldest son.

Dou Yan said, "The people of the Ding Zhenguo household are, after all, the Ding Zhenguo household's people. If those Jiang cousins meet with a general amnesty and can return to Haozhou, what becomes of these people? How many will stay, and how many will go back?"

Song Yan had considered this question too.

Xu Qing was one example.

The Jiang family had come to such an end, yet Xu Qing would rather stand guard over the Jiang widows and orphans than follow him to the capital to seek a future.

But because he was locked in confrontation with Song Cen and desperately short of hands, he had not been able to afford such scruples.

Now that Dou Yan raised it, and Song Cen was pinned down so tightly he could not stir, he felt the time had come to recruit more men.

He laughed. "How about lending me Old Chen for a while? I am short-handed, am I not?"

Dou Yan said, "Are my people not your people? What is this talk of lending! If you have business, just give the orders. I am sure they will be glad to serve you."

Song Yan said, "I was just thinking of borrowing Duan Bing, to have him recruit some men for me."

Duan Bing had ties to the Tan Family Village; to borrow Duan Bing for recruiting meant drawing men from the jianghu.

Dou Yan said, "Guards and the like are easy enough. Even if the Jiang cousins come back, they can be borrowed for use. But loyal servants to whom one can safely turn one's back are hard to find. I think you should draw some hands from the farm estates to fill out Yizhi Hall."

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Sisters and brothers, here is today's bonus chapter. I beg for your pink votes...