Chapter 336 — The Warning
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Chen Jia walked out of the Ying Zhenguo household and could not help glancing back at its side gate.
Two gatekeepers were watching him and murmuring to each other.
His face darkened at once.
Hu Zi, who had been waiting outside, came running up and asked anxiously, "Elder Brother, did it work?"
"We will talk when we are back," Chen Jia said with a sullen expression, and quickly left the lane of the Ying Zhenguo household.
Did it work?
More likely he had outsmarted himself this time.
The New Year was approaching, yet the Emperor had suddenly decided to spend some days at the Western Garden, and each of the imperial guards had been ordered to accompany him with one of their battalions. The heir of the Guang'en Count had fought for that opportunity—but that did not mean that a few days at the Western Garden with the Emperor would somehow brainwash the sovereign into loathing the heir of the Duke of Yingguo and withdrawing his favor forever. The heir of the Duke of Yingguo had likely long since made up his mind. His warning would be like the antics of a clown, not merely too petty for the stage, but certain to make him look like a man scrambling after quick gains—and to ruin the good impression he had already made on the heir of the Duke of Yingguo and his wife.
Yet he had no choice but to take this path.
For so many days now, he had truly been unable to think of anything that the wife of the heir of the Ying Zhenguo household might need. He could not simply stand by and watch a connection he had worked so hard to build wither away, could he?
So he had been left with no choice but to make an issue of the heir of the Duke of Yingguo's safety.
And the heir's wife had indeed received him at once...
He clenched his fist without meaning to.
If only he had thought it through more carefully.
He had been too reckless this time.
Thinking of Dou Yan's face, calm as still water, Chen Jia was filled with deep regret.
Dou Yan left the small flower hall, but instead of returning straight to the inner chamber, she turned a corner and climbed the Taihu-rock grotto not far behind it.
She sat in the pavilion atop the rock and gazed out at the Osmanthus Court.
The Osmanthus Court had terraces and waterside pavilions, and trees growing thick upon one another; as the maids walked along the winding covered corridors, one could glimpse only the hems of their red or green skirts through the gaps in the foliage. It had all the secluded depth of a courtyard folded within courtyards, deep beyond fathoming.
Dou Yan gave a cold smile.
She leaned close to Suxin's ear and gave her instructions.
Suxin was aghast. "Is that—is that all right?"
"If he plays the first move, he had better not blame me for making the fifteenth," Dou Yan said, her eyes icy. "You know as well as I do what he did to the heir."
Suxin answered respectfully and helped Dou Yan down from the rockery.
Back in the inner chamber, Dou Yan's brows and eyes carried a smile, and her manner was gentle.
Zhao Zhangru asked, "What did that man surnamed Chen want with you?"
The aunt—who had been unpicking an old garment with Ganlu—also set down her work and looked at Dou Yan.
Dou Yan smiled bitterly to herself and said, "A friend of Lord Chen's holds a post in the Five Wards Commandery. He wanted to meet with the heir, and so he came to me with the request."
Zhao Zhangru said scornfully, "So he was asking the heir for a promotion, to get rich!"