Chapter 438 — Amusing

Dou Yan was startled awake and sat up smiling. "You are back! There is sobering soup kept warm on the stove. Will you have a little?"

Song Yan nodded.

Dou Yan instructed the night-duty maid to bring some sobering soup.

And so the husband and wife sat there, one at the bedside, the other propped against the headboard, and fell to talking.

"Today Gu Yu came to see Yuan Heng, and he brought him several exquisite toys." Dou Yan then told Song Yan, in full and exact detail, everything that had passed between her and Gu Yu.

Song Yan smiled bitterly. "It is true that I should have told him long ago. I simply could not bring myself to say it. It is just as well that you took the chance to tell him." With that, he let out a long breath.

Dou Yan changed the subject. "Gu Yu said the house feels very cold and quiet."

Song Yan nodded. "It must be the quietest wedding and funeral the Yingzhenguo Estate has seen in all these years. Father could not even invite a presentable officiant, and the men sent to urge the bride's toilette were of very low rank. Even Song Duo was dragged in to make up the numbers, to say nothing of the rest."

"Some things are simply like that," Dou Yan said. "When the officiant's rank is low, guests of high station will weigh the matter again and again before deciding whether to attend."

She was still speaking when the maid came in with the sobering soup.

Yuan Heng woke, his little hands curled into orchid-finger poses and propped beside his cheeks.

Song Yan drank the soup in a few gulps, then clapped his hands to tease Yuan Heng.

Dou Yan pushed him. "Careful you do not wake him up properly. If you do, none of us will get near a pillow tonight."

"Then we shall just play with him!" Song Yan thought nothing of it. "With so many people in this house, are we not all here to play with him?" He held Yuan Heng upright and talked to him. "Is it because you knew Father had come home that you woke up? What did you do today? Did you mind Mother? Uncle Gu came to see you. He even brought you a big pinwheel..." He had the pinwheel brought in and blew on it to amuse Yuan Heng, patient through and through.

Song Yan—he would make a good father!

Dou Yan gazed at father and son, and the corners of her eyes grew moist.

The next day, Dou Yan climbed into the carriage yawning.

Yuan Heng, by contrast, slept soundly the whole way back to the Yingzhenguo Estate.

Few guests had stayed overnight at the Yingzhenguo Estate, and most of those who did were Song Cen's fellow students from his examination days. The stewards, maids, pages, and old women of the estate all stood at the main gate to welcome them.

Dou Yan nodded to the senior stewards and the stewardesses, then rode a soft sedan back to Yizhi Hall.

After nearly a month away, even the air in the rooms had turned cold and still.

Gan Lu and the others swiftly and methodically set out the things Dou Yan and Yuan Heng were accustomed to.

Jiang Yan came over with her personal maid Ying Hong.

She looked at Dou Yan, her eyes shining. "Sister-in-law! You are finally back!"

Dou Yan had meant to take Jiang Yan along to the Guimeng Temple alley, but Jiang Yan was unwilling, so Dou Yan left Jin Gui behind in the estate.

Seeing the healthy color in Jiang Yan's face, she nodded to herself in approval, then smiled and had Ruo Tong open the chests and brought out the bolts of cloth she had bought for Jiang Yan. "I hear these are the fashion in Jiangnan. They cannot compare with what the palace bestows, but their strength lies in their novel patterns. Have a few autumn dresses made, and when the Double Ninth comes, we shall go climbing the hills together."

The bolts were of bean green, madder red, and the like, scattered with cherries or small blossoms—livelier and fresher than the ten-color brocades.

Jiang Yan knew Dou Yan had chosen them for her with care. She mumbled, at a loss for words, and after a long while managed only, "Sister-in-law, let me help you look after our nephew."

Dou Yan could not suppress a smile, and found Jiang Yan all the more endearing. She had Gan Lu take Jiang Yan to the small side room where Yuan Heng rested.

Su Xin and Su Lan led the womenfolk of the eastern courtyard to pay their respects to Dou Yan.

Dou Yan chatted with them a while.

By the time the room fell quiet, it was already time for the midday meal.

Yet from the Osmanthus Fragrance Court there came no stir at all.

Ruo Zhu, who had stayed behind in the estate, said in a low voice, "Only a dozen or so guests came to witness the ceremony, fewer than yesterday. The Zhenguo Lord is in a fury!"

"And the womenfolk?" Dou Yan asked.

"Only a few wives of xiucai and the like, and a few wives of clerks from the Five Armies Command."

Dou Yan thought a moment. "Then we shall take our midday meal here in Yizhi Hall!"

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Sisters and brothers, I am back!

o(n_n)o~

Too tired. I shall rest a day tomorrow and resume updates the day after.

ps: Begging for pink votes...