Chapter 164 — Late Arrival
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
Ji Qi had already hurried through the letter, and sighed at his words, "There is nothing for it but that!" His tone was rather dejected.
Ji Song thought of how Ji Yong had seemed like a different person these days, and could not shake a vague unease. He conferred with Ji Qi, then wrote another letter to Old Master Ji, and had men watch Ji Yong's comings and goings. When he learned that Dou Yan had come to take leave of Ji Yong, and that Ji Yong, because of his posting at the Hanlin Academy, was unable to keep his earlier promise to return to Zhending with Dou Yan, Ji Song let out a long breath of relief after all, and said with feeling to Ji Qi, "Old ginger is the hotter for its age. No wonder only Grandfather can keep Jianming in hand."
Ji Qi nodded without cease.
Ji Yong, however, wrote to Dou Yan to complain: "...I meant to come find you and have some fun, but it turns out I cannot go after all. I wonder when this business will ever end."
Dou Xin was beside herself with glee. She wrote back: "I hear the greater the official, the harder it is to retire. You had better find some amusement, or you really will be bored to death."
Ji Yong replied quickly: "The Hanlin Academy has no shortage of men who sit idle drawing their salaries, but neither does it lack true learning. Lately I have been learning to make guqins from Du Jianian. I will send you one when it is done."
Du Jianian, whose given name was Lun, excelled at the qin and was the reigning master of qin-making; and because he came from the Hanlin Academy, the instruments he made were worth their weight in gold and hard to obtain.
Dou Yan said, "Why don't you ask him to make me a guqin with his own hands!"
Ji Yong flew into a rage: "I will make you regret today's wild words!"
Yet within a few days, Ji Yong sent her a guqin made by Du Jianian from the capital, and at the tail of the instrument he had inscribed the mark "Sanglin."
Dou Yan adored it, and engaged a celebrated Jiangnan master to teach her to play at home.
Ji Yong also found her several old scores for the guqin.
The two exchanged letters, and before long it was autumn.
Xu Qing, recuperating from his injuries at the manor, came to ask for an audience: "The heir is staying at the Gaosheng Inn by the east city gate. He wishes to call on the young lady, and would like to know when it would be convenient for you."
Dou Yan was greatly startled and blurted out, "Has something happened?"
More than half a year had passed since the case of the slander against the Songs. By rights, Song Yan should have been locked in fierce struggle with Song Cen—so why would he come running to her?
Xu Qing, for his part, was badly frightened by the alarm in Dou Yan's eyes.
He hastened to say, "Nothing has happened! The heir has the situation firmly in hand now. This time he has come expressly to thank you. The reason he did not come before was that he feared Lord Zhenguo might discover your connection to that affair and that it would implicate you..."
Dou Yan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "So long as your heir is safe and sound, that is what matters. Tell him there is no need for thanks. We merely happened to be there at the right time. As a woman of the inner chambers, it is truly inconvenient for me to receive guests; I am grateful for his kind intent." She added, "All who come are guests. I will speak to Duan Bing and Chen Lanxu at once, and have them entertain the heir on my behalf!"
Xu Qing's eyes went wide, and he stared at Dou Yan in utter disbelief.
The heir had come to thank her, and she had shut the door in his face!