Chapter 421 — Needle and Thread

Song Yan gave a cold laugh and told Wu Yi to summon Cuiwei Peak, while he himself went to the study to fetch the ledger.

"Take a few men to the Upper Court," he said, handing the list to Zi'ai Peak. "Check every item in the Upper Court against this ledger and make sure nothing is missing. Even a needle or a thread—Song Han is to hand it all over."

Zi'ai Peak had already heard what had happened at the Upper Court. He did not know why Song Yan and Song Han had fallen out so badly, but he was Song Yan's retainer and of course had to look out for Song Yan and obey his orders. Hearing this, he said nothing, only bowed his head and assented respectfully, then set off for the Upper Court in grand procession with several guards and more than twenty maids and serving women.

That night was destined to be a sleepless one.

Zi'ai Peak and the others inventoried the contents until the middle of the night. The Xiangxi Courtyard got word of it on short notice and had to ready rooms, boil water, and serve tea, bustling about in utter confusion until the small hours as well.

Lady Jiang had had no sisters-in-law, and Song Cen and the other cadet-branch cousins had long since set up their own households. What belonged to the Yingzhen Ducal House was hers to use as she pleased; her dowry and the ducal house's property had ceased to be distinguished from each other long ago, and she used whatever she wanted. After Lady Jiang's death, Song Han had lived at the Upper Court all along. When Song Yan first proposed splitting Lady Jiang's dowry evenly with Song Han, it was not to haggle with his brother, but because he did not want their dead mother's keepsakes left in the Yingzhen Ducal House to be ruined by Song Cen. He had also considered that if Song Cen remarried and produced a legitimate son, Song Han's position in the household would become awkward; better that he establish his own household after marriage. What Song Yan allotted to Song Han was all of Lady Jiang's estates, shops, furniture, and curios; for himself he took only her jewelry, some small personal items, manuscripts, and paintings and calligraphy.

Since Song Han had received the lion's share, Lu Fuli had praised Song Yan at the time for his kindness and brotherly feeling.

And so the Upper Court remained as it had been in Lady Jiang's lifetime. In spring, Huang Quan's Peony Painting would be hung in the central hall; in summer, a large blue-and-white porcelain vat would be set out indoors with lotuses growing in it; in autumn, the screen of chicken-wing wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl would be brought out for use; and in winter, a Jun-ware vase would hold plum blossoms—nothing could be more elegant.

The ledger Song Yan gave Zi'ai Peak was precisely the inventory of the Upper Court's contents from Lady Jiang's lifetime.

It included, among other things, a pair of peace-knot pendants made of jadeite that the Empress had bestowed on Lady Jiang in the spring of the fourth year of Chengping.

And since Song Han was moving to the Xiangxi Courtyard, the things he habitually used would naturally move with him—surely he could not be left without so much as a teacup to drink from, forced to beg Zeng Wu in the dead of night to open Song Cen's storerooms!

When Zi'ai Peak checked the items, what went missing was no longer just needles and thread.

A set of famille-rose teacups painted with blossoming flowers, a purple-sand bamboo-joint pot, a glass teacup in the shape of a lotus, a pair of crystal dishes shaped like chrysanthemums and peaches... ten pairs of nanmu chopsticks, ten pairs of ebony chopsticks inlaid with ivory, ten carved-lacquer fruit dishes with bird-and-flower patterns... six curtain weights of mutton-fat jade carved with lions playing with an embroidered ball, a shallow green jade brush washer shaped like a tree root, a Hetian jade water pot carved with a dragonfly skimming the water... and so on and so forth, no fewer than two or three hundred pieces in all.

Songluo, who had come along, was beading with sweat at the temples. "What do we do?" she asked Zi'ai Peak.

"What do we do?" Zi'ai Peak smiled bitterly. "Naturally, we go ask the Second Young Master for them."

"But the Second Young Master is at the Xiangxi Courtyard..." Songluo murmured.

"Why else do you think the Heir specially instructed that even a needle or a thread be handed over by the Second Young Master?" Zi'ai Peak shot Songluo a disdainful glance. He picked several guards and, list in hand, went to the Xiangxi Courtyard.

Song Han was lying in bed, clutching his throat and moaning. The physician summoned in the middle of the night kept wiping his cold sweat as he assured Song Cen, standing at the bedside, that "the Second Young Master is in no danger; two doses of medicine will set him right." When he heard the purpose of Cuiwei Peak's visit, both Song Cen and Song Han were dumbfounded.

Song Yan—this was tearing off all pretense and coming to exterminate them root and branch!

The physician was even more miserable, hunching his shoulders and bending his back, wishing he could turn into a speck of dust in the corner that no one would notice.

Song Cen's face flushed purple. He bellowed at Song Han, "You little beast! How petty can you be? They're just cups and chopsticks, bowls and dishes—used and done with. And you had to cart them off to the Xiangxi Courtyard? Do you think the household's belongings are unaccounted for? You may not be ashamed, but I am! Take these things back this instant!"

Qixia opened her mouth but said nothing.

Song Han could not hold back any longer and said aggrievedly, "They're all things I use every day. My brother would begrudge me even these—am I supposed to use Father's things instead?"

Song Cen was struck speechless.

Song Han lowered his eyes and began to sob.

Song Cen had no choice but to say to Songluo, who had brought in the list, "Go tell the Heir that these things all belong to the household. Have Steward Huang just record them under the Xiangxi Courtyard."

If Songluo were not quick-witted, he would never have served in Yizhi Hall.

Smiling, he bowed to Song Cen and said, "Then I'll send the list on to Steward Huang. But some of these items are from Lady Jiang's dowry. Shall we draw up another list, so the Second Young Master can give the Heir a receipt, and we servants can square the accounts?"

Song Cen was taken aback, and could not help glaring fiercely at Song Han, who had brought this trouble on him.

Song Han knew Lady Jiang's dowry well enough. He might have inadvertently carried off some of it, but there could not possibly be this much.

Thinking that Song Yan now regarded him as an enemy, he could not help saying, "Let me see that list!"

Songluo hastily handed it over.

Song Han pointed to the entry "six curtain weights of mutton-fat jade carved with lions playing with an embroidered ball" and said, "I have a copy of Mother's dowry list as well. Why have I never seen this on it?"