Chapter 489 — Forced
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Song Yan gave a cold laugh.
Song Han staggered back several steps before he found his footing, his gaze darting about as he rubbed his wrist, red from the grip.
Miao Zhi bit her lip and shrank slightly behind Dou Yan.
Exposing Song Han was easy; the consequences of exposing him, however, were grave.
Was what she had done right, or was it wrong?
She felt at a loss.
Yet Song Cen muddied the waters, scolding Song Yan: "What do you think you're doing? You're brothers—how can you come to blows over a woman..."
Song Yan could not be bothered with him. He turned and said to Dou Yan in a gentle voice, "It's getting late, and my father's inner court is a mess, with not a decent soul to be found. You and our sister-in-law should go and rest first. Once I've finished dealing with matters here, I'll take my rest in the study in the outer court."
Dou Xin murmured her assent and signaled Ruotong to support Miao Zhi. Surrounded by a crowd of maids and serving women, they left Xixiang Court without so much as a glance at Song Cen.
Miao Zhi felt a little reassured. She said to Dou Yan, "I have a maid named Ji Hong, and I don't know where she is now. Might I ask sister-in-law to help me find her? Without her, I could never have warned the heir apparent..."
Dou Xin said, "Rest easy. I'll have someone look for her at once."
She gave the order, and once they had returned to Yizhi Hall, while the maids were tidying the guest rooms, she asked Miao Zhi, "Tell me—what exactly happened?"
She had been waiting anxiously in her room for word from Duan Bing when Liu Zhang suddenly arrived with Miao Zhi, saying, "This is the heir apparent's wish—that you keep the Second Madam safe and sound."
Only then did Dou Xin learn of Song Cen and Song Han's treacherous scheme.
She was frantic with worry. Fearing that Song Cen and Song Han, once their plot was exposed, might still refuse to let Song Yan be, she decided to take Miao Zhi to Xiangxi Court, so that whatever needed saying could be said face to face, and under no circumstances would Song Yan be dragged into such a scandal. She had not even had time to ask how it had all come about.
At these words Miao Zhi's tears fell. "Song Han is no man! To frame the heir apparent, he cast aside all regard for husband and wife and schemed against me as well..."
Choking back sobs, she told how she had noticed something amiss with Liu Hong, how she had sent Ji Hong to investigate and, finding nothing, refused to give up—not only setting watchers on Liu Hong but spending a great sum of silver to buy over the servants who attended Song Han. She had discovered that Song Han was secretly in league with the Prince of Liao's household, and that his manner and speech had grown imperious, as though he would soon show Yizhi Hall what was what.
Miao Zhi did not know what was afoot, but she knew that Song Yan greatly disliked Song Han.
She had thought to use Song Yan's hand to curb Song Han, yet was too ashamed to ask him a second time. So she sent someone to tell Song Yan of the matter.
In the end, Song Yan uncovered Song Han's plot against him.
Dou Yan was astonished.
She had never imagined that a matter so ordinary—a jealous squabble, no less, confined to the inner court—could give rise to such a monumental affair.
She could not help saying, "Thank goodness you were so careful and told the heir apparent. Otherwise he and you would have had no choice but to stand there and be beaten!"
"Be beaten, nothing," Miao Zhi said. At the mention of it, her heart felt as though it had been pierced through, blood streaming from the wound. "He meant to destroy me utterly—the heir apparent could always claim he had drunk too much and gone into the wrong room, but I would never have been able to clear my name, not even if I jumped into the Yellow River."
She thought of Liu Hong, beaten within an inch of her life, and of Du Ruo, ruined beyond repair.