Chapter 452 — Hard to Be the One

He had done what he could, and his conscience was clear—he had been true to his own heart. Let Song Yantang do as he pleased.

At worst, he would go home and farm!

And then he thought of the faces of his uncles.

For a moment his heart went numb.

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Dou Shidao told her that Chen Jia had sent someone to seek an audience with Song Yan, and she asked Song Yan, "What does Chen Jia want with you?"

"It's about Shao Wenji." At the thought of Shao Wenji, Song Yan could not help sighing, and he told Dou Yan about Shao Wenji's suicide.

Dou Yan's face went pale.

She pointed toward the north.

Song Yan gave a slight nod, stepped forward, and put an arm around Dou Zhiwei's shoulders. Smiling, he said, "Don't worry! If he wants to see me, he'll have to wait until the case between me and my fifth uncle is settled. We'll see then whether he sides with me or with my fifth uncle."

If the Prince of Liao sided with Song Yan, he would have to persuade Jiang Baisun to give ground; and since Jiang Baisun had quarreled with Song Yan in the first place over the Prince of Liao's affairs, how could he not feel wronged by such treatment? It would be only natural for a rift to open between him and the Prince of Liao. But if the Prince of Liao sided with Jiang Baisun, then on what grounds would Song Yan attach himself to the Prince of Liao?

Dou Yan immediately grasped the brilliance of Song Yan's move.

She gave him a thumbs-up, and her gaze held a measure of admiration: "You really are formidable!"

"It's merely making use of the circumstances," Song Yan said lightly. Yet he could not quite hide the satisfaction in his eyes.

Dou Yan could not help pursing her lips in a smile, and asked him, "Did Chen Jia come to you about nothing else?"

"No!" Song Yan said, puzzled. "Has he gotten himself into some trouble?"

Best not let Song Shidao know about this for now.

Dou Yan thought it over, then smiled. "What trouble could he be in? I was only asking."

Song Yan did not read anything into it. Just then the wet nurse came in carrying Yuanheng, and the matter was set aside.

Over at Chen Jia's end, no response came from the Yingzhenguo household for a long while, and suspicion began to stir in his heart.

Had he misread the situation after all?

Wanting to probe for news, he had Tao Er's wife deliver a basket of lucky oranges—a tribute sent up by his subordinates a few days earlier—to the Yingguo Duke's residence.

Dou Chi accepted them without a flicker of expression.

Relieved, Chen Jia asked Tao Er's wife, "What did Lady Dou say?"

"This servant did not see Lady Dou," Tao Er's wife replied respectfully. "Lady Dou's father is about to return to Zhending and had come to take his leave of her. Lady Dou had no time to see me."

Chen Jia was rather surprised.

It was neither a festival nor a holiday—what business did Dou Huaiying have going back to Zhending?

It did not take him long to learn that Dou Huaiying intended to adopt an heir.

Miao Zhi, however, had no such well-informed network as Chen Jia.

Ji Hong inquired for several days and still could not discover what Dou Huaiying was going back to Zhending for.

Somewhat disheartened, Miao Zhi said, "Forget it. Even if I knew, it would be of no use to me! It has nothing to do with me anyway." Yet inwardly she was secretly alarmed: Yizhi Hall was run as tight as an iron barrel—she could pry out nothing she wished to know. By contrast, in Guixiang Court, she had learned who Song Cen's bedchamber maid was not long after her marriage.

No wonder her father-in-law could not best his elder brother!

On this point alone, her father-in-law had already lost.

She began to fret over the relationship between Song Han and Song Zhi.

A young maid came in and announced, "Two of your maternal uncles have come to visit you!"

Miao Zhi was taken aback. "Which two uncles?"

The maid was her accompanying servant and knew the Miao family well. She smiled and said, "The Fifth and Sixth Masters."

The Fifth Master was her full brother, Miao Anping; the Sixth was the youngest son of her father's elder brother.

"Show them in!" Miao Zhi changed her clothes and went to the small reception hall.

Miao Anping wore a brocade robe in the current fashion—sapphire blue woven with deep purple roundels of five bats bearing the character for longevity—and a gold hairpin styled "step by step rising high." Her sixth cousin, meanwhile, wore a brocade robe of dark red woven with the pattern of "peace throughout the four seasons," and a gold hairpin of "surplus year after year." Both were dressed so brightly they dazzled the eye.

Miao Zhi thought of the jade bonsai displayed in the Dou family's hall, and could not help knitting her brows slightly. She gestured mildly toward the armchairs in the hall. "Please, sit down and talk, both of you."

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Sisters and brothers, have a wonderful weekend! Begging for pink votes...

ps: Tomorrow's bonus update is set for around five in the afternoon.

o(n_n)o~