Chapter 469 — Taking Sides
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 2 of 4
The Empress Dowager waved her hand to stop them. "Children ought to tussle with those of their own age. In my day, before I entered the palace, which child in the village did not scuffle a few rounds, one pinning the other down? And every one of them sturdy as a calf. The children of the palace, now—they are raised so delicately that few of them can even stand steady on their feet." Here she sighed softly and instructed the two wet nurses, "Leave them be. Let them play a while."
A few days earlier, Consort Liu, who enjoyed the Emperor's favor, had at long last borne a prince—and before the child was a month old, he had died.
The wet nurses quietly withdrew. Dou Yan and the Crown Princess stood before the kang keeping watch over the children.
The two little ones tugged at each other's hems and each other's sashes, playing in utter delight and giggling without cease, until the air in the room turned warm and sweet.
In the blink of an eye an hour had passed, and both children were carried off to be nursed. Then the Empress Dowager asked about Song Han: "I hear they have set up separate households?"
Dou Yan understood what the Empress Dowager was after, but she had no wish to be drawn into it; with a respectful smile she answered, "Yes."
The Empress Dowager smiled. "As it should be. When a child is grown, he must establish a household of his own. And you, as his sister-in-law, must not dote on them too much. Let them manage their own affairs; in time they will learn how to get on in the world—that is how children grow up."
Dou Yan felt her brow break out in sweat.
Fortunately the Empress Dowager did not pursue the subject. She told Aunt Lan to keep Dou Yan for the meal, then dismissed them.
The Crown Princess then invited Dou Yan out to the outer room to talk.
Dou Yan knew this was the real business of the day, and smilingly followed the Crown Princess out of the warm chamber.
The palace maids served tea and cakes, then quietly withdrew.
Only then did the Crown Princess smile and say, "For yesterday's affair, I thank the heir. Had it not been for him, His Highness would never have known that anyone could dare such effrontery. His Highness wished to thank him in person, but feared that ill-disposed eyes might make trouble of it, and so he asked me to convey his thanks to you, Madam."
The great ones of the palace carry many thoughts in their hearts; anyone with a shred of standing knows how to bend low when the moment demands it—and they all like to settle accounts afterward.
Dou Yan rose to her feet, a trace of alarm in her expression. "For the Crown Princess to speak so quite overwhelms our heir. His Highness is the heir to the realm; to serve His Highness is the duty of a subject. This concubine is filled with trepidation."
A flicker of gratification passed through the Crown Princess's eyes.
She quickly drew Dou Yan down to sit and said with a smile, "I tell you these things only so that you will not mistake my meaning. If it has instead set your heart at unease, then I have only overreached and made a mess of it."
Dou Yan understood: the Crown Princess was using her to put a question to Song Yan.
She seated herself half-perched on a brocade stool and said humbly, "It was this consort's own stupidity; I failed to grasp Your Highness's good intentions."
The Crown Princess nodded with a smile, invited Dou Yan to sit, and fell to talking of children, never again mentioning the Heir Apparent's summons to Song Yan.
Dou Yan conversed with her a while, took the midday meal in the Palace of Compassionate Tranquility, and only then carried Yuan Heng out of the palace.
Song Yan had made his arrangements well in advance.
He had no notion of what the Crown Princess had said to Dou Yan, though he knew every step of her passage through the palace; even so, when he saw his wife and son emerge, he let out a breath of relief.