Chapter 456 — Seeking Shelter

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She made a steady, well-practiced curtsy and said with composed calm, "Madam, I'll go and have a look outside."

Dou Yan nodded.

Fuye slipped lightly out of the inner chamber.

In the space of a few breaths she was back.

"Madam." She leaned close to Dou Zhiwei's ear and softly told Dou Yan how Miao Zhi had bound Qixia.

Dou Yan frowned as she listened.

What mischief was Miao Zhi up to?

Even if Qixia had done something wrong, there was no need to make such a spectacle of it and drag everyone's name through the mud.

The thought flickered past, and something stirred in her heart.

Could it be that Miao Zhi's real aim was to leave no one with any dignity left?

She instructed Fuye, "Send the onlookers away and have the Second Madam bring Qixia inside."

Fuye answered and went off.

Ganlu came in to help Dou Yan change her clothes.

Yuan Heng waved his little arms and legs, demanding to be held by his mother.

Dou Yan was caught between laughter and exasperation. She tapped her son's forehead and said, "Your father is such a dull, solemn man—where do you get this habit of rushing toward any bit of excitement? I can't think who you take after."

Everyone serving in the room pressed their lips together and smiled.

Dou Yan handed Yuan Heng to his wet nurse and went to the hall.

Miao Zhi stood in the center of the room, looking both furious and ashamed, while a few coarse serving women pressed Qixia's head down and made her kneel at Miao Zhi's feet.

Dou Yan noticed that Qixia's hair was dripping wet, as though she had just washed it.

It was already the tenth month now, and the cold was setting in; no one washed their hair anymore.

Without any change of expression, Dou Yan settled into the armchair in the great hall, and before Miao Zhi could open her mouth, she spoke first, reprimanding Ganlu: "The Second Madam has only just arrived and does not know that the hall is not a place one may enter at will. You have served at my side for so many years—do you mean to tell me you did not know either?"

Ganlu hurriedly knelt to beg pardon for her fault.

Miao Zhi's face had gone so red it looked as though it might bleed.

She said quickly, "This is not Ganlu's fault; it was I who did not know the rules." Even as she spoke, she was darting looks at the coarse serving women. "Why are you still here? Withdraw at once."

The women retreated in a fluster.

Only then did Dou Yan say, "What has happened, that you could not keep your composure and made such a commotion?" She did not invite Miao Zhi to sit.

Miao Zhi shifted her feet uneasily and glanced at Ganlu.

Ganlu, quick to take the hint, withdrew with the maids and serving women.

Only then did Miao Zhi, full of indignation, recount the whole affair to Dou Yan, and add: "Tell me, what is the meaning of this? She is an old servant at the Second Master's side. If she had something of this sort to say, she should have come to me about it. Instead she had to press herself upon the masters. Where does that leave my face as his wife? In my anger I could not be bothered with propriety, and I had her bound. I have come before you, sister-in-law, to have the rights and wrongs of it judged. Now that you put it to me this way, I realize with a start how rash I have been..."

Dou Yan was greatly taken aback.

If Qixia had harbored such intentions, why would she have spent the private savings she had scraped together so painstakingly to plead with Ruozhu?

She fixed Qixia with a piercing stare, hoping to read something in her expression.

But Qixia kept her head lowered, motionless as a clay figurine.

Dou Chi gave a silent sigh and said in a low voice, "Qixia, lift your head."

Qixia raised her head.

Her jade-like face was already covered in tears.

Miao Zhi was much surprised.

Dou Yan asked Qixia, "Do you know your fault?"

Qixia's heart was full of resentment, but she knew better. Any defense of her own would only make her position more difficult, and might even bring trouble down upon her family.

She respectfully knocked her head three times before Dou Yan and said in a low voice, "This servant knows her fault."

Dou Yan nodded and said, "In that case, it is no longer fitting to keep you in this household. I will have Ganlu accompany you to gather your things. This afternoon you may leave the estate with the broker."

"Yes," Qixia answered, and as she kowtowed to Dou Yan, her tears fell like rain.

Ganlu, hearing the sound, came in and helped her withdraw.

Miao Zhi was somewhat stunned.

Cutting through the knot with a sharp blade—was it to end just like that?

There was so much she had left unsaid. So much she had not yet asked!

Miao Zhi looked toward Dou Yan.

She saw that Dou Yan was calmly sipping his tea, his face placid.

She wanted to speak, but the words died on her lips.

Dou Yan did not call out her little scheme. He only smiled and said, "Since you have handed this matter over to me to handle, rest easy. I will give you a proper accounting. I hear the Duke of Zhenguo has given you a residence—whitewashing it, packing the trunks, and getting the maids and serving women in order again must be keeping you busy, so I will not detain you." With that, he lifted his teacup.

Miao Zhi left, sheepish and awkward.

Dou Yan watched her retreating figure, smiled to himself, and went back into the inner chamber.

By the time Song Han learned that Miao Zhi had handed Qixia over to Dou Zhiwei, Qixia had already been led away by the broker.

Song Han went livid, his face the color of iron, and nearly slapped Miao Zhi across the face.

He seized Miao Zhi by the collar and demanded, "What was the broker's name? Which brokerage was he from? When did he come? When did he leave? Besides the clothes on her back and her trinkets, what else did Qixia take with her?"

From the look of him, he seemed ready to give chase.

Miao Zhi was furious, and answered him perfunctorily, "I do not know either. It was Elder Sister-in-law who called the broker, and the girl was taken from Yizhi Hall..."

Song Han shoved Miao Zhi aside and turned and left the inner chamber.

Miao Zhi staggered and nearly fell to the ground.

She spat after Song Han's receding figure, feeling utterly wretched.

Meanwhile, the wooden-faced Qixia suddenly noticed that the carriage had stopped.

She could not help but lift the curtain and look outside.

Dusk was closing over the wilds; all around were dense woods, making the place seem utterly desolate.

Was she to be silenced for good?

Qixia's heart turned to dead ashes.

The carriage curtain was flung open, revealing the broker's honest, simple face. "Miss Qixia, this is Steward Cui, from the lady's household. The lady knows you have been wronged, but a household has its rules, and if you were not dealt with, the household could not be kept in order. So the lady has sold you to this Steward Cui. From now on, you will follow him."

Qixia's tears gushed forth like a spring.

She did not even get a clear look at Steward Cui's face; she simply clutched her bundle and followed him away.

※※※※※

Song Han spent great effort and still could not find out where Qixia had gone.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. After two days of pacing about the house in frantic irritation, he went to Yizhi Hall.

But Dou Fan was not at home.

Nor were Yuan Heng and the Zhen Ding crowd.

He found it very strange, and asked the servants of Yizhi Hall, "Where has Sister-in-law gone?"

The servants of Yizhi Hall smiled and said, "The lady and the elder master went out with the heir; how would we know where the lady and the heir have gone?"

The words "elder master" pricked him like the tip of a needle.

He went back to his room with a cold face, but his mind would not stop turning it over: where had Song Yan taken Dou Yan and Yuan Heng? They were about to divide the family property—could they have gone to the Lu family? Or to the Dou family?