Chapter 122 — Seeing Them Off

The moment Shi An stepped into the manor, he saw his own men crouched on the roof ridge, crossbows in hand.

Dou Juan's guards, meanwhile, had ringed the main house in close formation, a wall of flesh blocking every path to the principal rooms.

They looked every bit as tense as he felt; one fellow nervously shifted the grip on his staff, yet not a single man flinched.

Catching sight of Shi An, Chen Lanxu strode forward a few paces and barked, "Halt." Chin lifted, he eyed the newcomer with a sidelong, faintly mocking stare. "One of Young Master Mei's people?"

Shi An could not help cursing under his breath.

Whether he was cursing the men of Tan Manor for turning coat at the last moment, or cursing the sheer ignominy of it all—that he had been beaten without even getting to raise a hand—was anyone's guess. Yet he still had to clasp his hands and bow respectfully to Dou Juan's guard. "This humble one is Mei An. Might I trouble you, brother, to pass word inside that I have urgent business to report to Young Master Mei?"

Mei An was the name he went by abroad.

Chen Lanxu sized him up.

This was surely the fellow who had gone to fetch reinforcements.

From the look of him, he already knew what had happened inside.

He had not charged in hot-headedly, but come alone to ask Young Master Mei for instructions—a man of loyal heart and gallant spirit, by the look of it.

Shi An had made a good impression on Chen Lanxu, and so Chen Lanxu's manner toward him softened considerably. Reflecting that Dou Yan had no wish to make an enemy of Young Master Mei, he thought for a moment and said, "Wait here. I'll go in and announce you."

Shi An hastily thanked him.

Chen Lanxu did not approach the hall doors; he stood on the steps and made his report from there.

Before long, Sulan lifted the door curtain. "The young lady says, bid Mei An enter."

Shi An's heart gave a lurch at the words.

Had the young master lost his freedom?

He recalled how, on the way here, one of the men from Tan Manor had torn the black scarf from a guard beside him and wrapped it over his own face, muttering something about how "our family and the Dou family have been neighbors for generations, and even a rabbit won't eat the grass by its own burrow—I truly have no wish to come face to face with the Fourth Miss Dou's people." The memory set his nerves jangling, and he entered the room with rather too much force—which promptly earned him a glare from the little maid.

What the hell was all this supposed to be?

He thought back to the old days. Once he had ranked among the top hundred in the jianghu—no, the top fifty! Later, though he had taken service under the Duke of Dingzhen as a personal guard, he had still been a full-fledged company commander. And now a slip of a girl looked down on him, took him for a thief!

At that thought he swallowed his nameless fury and halted outside the study door, and through the pale green Hangzhou silk curtain with its sapphire-blue border he called out respectfully, "Young Master."

"Come in." The young master's voice was as it had always been—gentle, with a touch of cool detachment. But instead of soothing Shi An, it only made him more uneasy.

The graver the crisis, the more composed the young master became.

The situation must be truly desperate.

Shi An gathered himself, answered "Yes," and strode in with his back straight.

The young master sat in the armchair by the window; Mr. Yan sat below him, and opposite them was an urbane old man past sixty. There was also a girl in the room, fourteen or fifteen, with skin fairer than snow and long brows sweeping to her temples. Her gaze was clear and bright, and she held a child in her arms. She sat there with a smile at the corners of her lips, a soft beauty about her touched with a certain dignity, and her expression so composed that it carried an indefinable solemnity—which gave him quite a start.

This must be the Fourth Miss Dou.

No wonder the men of Tan Manor had not wanted to meet her.

Were it himself, he supposed he would be ashamed to raise a hand against a girl like this too.

The thought had no sooner crossed his mind than he heard the young master call his name softly, as though in reminder.

He hastily composed himself, stepped forward, and murmured into the young master's ear, recounting how the men of Tan Manor had reacted.

Song Yan could hardly conceal his astonishment.

Tan Manor was no ordinary household—stubborn, untamed, a faction unto itself. If not for the generations of friendship between the Jiang family and theirs, and for the fact that the Fifth Uncle was both on good terms with Tan the Licentiate and favored by Old Master Tan, and if not that the child might be the Jiang family's only blood, Tan Manor would never have lifted a finger to help him. That the Fourth Miss Dou could command Tan Manor's respect—surely it could not be so simple as relieving the distressed and sheltering orphans?

He gazed at Dou Zhiwei, and a light like a shooting star streaked across his eyes.

"Fourth Miss Dou," Song Yan suddenly rose to his feet, left hand clasped behind his back, right fist closed and elbow bent at his waist—a posture casual yet elegant. His ever-cool features broke into a trace of a smile, warm as ice and snow thawing and spring returning to the earth. "That being so, I must trouble Old Chen to come with us. Lu Ming," he called to the slight, wiry man, "you will stay with the Dou household for the time being, in charge of guarding the Fourth Miss Dou."

What on earth had happened over at Tan Manor?

Why had the young master changed his position so abruptly?

Yan Che and Lu Ming were both taken aback, but each quickly masked his inner turmoil. Lu Ming, for his part, answered "Yes" with all due deference and stepped forward to kowtow to Dou Yan in proper ceremony.

I tell you to leave a man to keep watch on me, and what do you do? You leave behind the ablest fighter in your whole retinue. Is this to protect me, or to be ready to silence me at any moment?

Dou Yan cursed Song Yan a thousand times over in his heart, yet his face betrayed nothing. Smiling, he bade Lu Ming rise and called Duan Bing in, instructing him to take Lu Ming away and see to his board and lodging and his duties.

You won't have him protect me, will you? Well, he can't eat my grain and do no work. Whatever Dou Juan's guards do, he'll do the same for me.

Grumbling inwardly, Dou Yan smiled and handed the child to Song Yan. "This child is really lovely! I've held him only a little while, and my arms have gone weak."

Song Yan looked at her, eyes bright, and smiled with a double meaning. "The child is a bit heavy on the arm—no wonder the Fourth Miss Dou can't hold him."

Dou Yan very much wanted to retort, but recalling his nature—one that never let a slight go unreturned—she swiftly changed tack to flattery, and said with a beaming smile, "Which is why this child is better off in Young Master Mei's arms."

A flicker passed through Song Yan's eyes. He handed the child to Yan Che and walked out with a light, brisk step.

Yan Che and the others hurried to salute Dou Yan, then hastily took their leave.

Only then did Dou Ci let out a long breath.

Sulang could not understand Dou Zhiwei's fear, and said, eyes wide, "And to think I took him for a good man! Who would have guessed he would go so far as to kill even the young lady? You never know a man's heart from his face--fair gold on the outside, rotten brass within, a pious fraud... Who knows how many more will be taken in by that handsome shell of his..."