Chapter 165 — The Back Hill

"You know my mother hanged herself, don't you?" In her last life she had often stood here gazing at the two villages; in this one she had rarely had the chance. "I've often wondered why she had to hang herself. Was I not worth staying for? In this world, who would hold me in their heart? Who would protect me at the risk of their life? Am I not even the equal of Lai San at the head of the village? Bullied by everyone out in the world every day, and still his mother treats him like a treasure..." A flicker of bewilderment crossed her eyes. "Sometimes I'd think myself half mad, and I'd go tearing about the hills... One Mid-Autumn Festival, my third uncle brought me a box of capital-style mooncakes. I don't know why, but my heart was in turmoil, and the moment Third Uncle left I ran up the hill. I lifted my head and saw these three wild peach trees... I was wearing new clothes that day... I climbed the tree just like the village children, and my clothes got torn on the branches, and then I saw the Langs' old bailiff being chased and beaten by his wife..." Perhaps at the memory of it, Dou Yan's lips curved up in a smile, and then she pointed to a household at the far western end of the Lang estate. "There are two daughters in that house. Every slack season their father would shoulder his peddler's pole and go from village to village, and whenever he came home he'd bring them back two baked sesame cakes." Then she pointed to another household. "The mother-in-law there is a terror. If the daughter-in-law is the least bit slow she'll stand under the eaves and curse her up and down, but once the daughter-in-law fell ill, and she went straight into the city for a doctor and even brewed her medicine for her..." Dou Yan gazed at Song Yan, her eyes burning bright. "You see, there's bad in this world, but there's good too. If you see a little more of people and things, you'll find there's still more good than bad!"

Was she telling him not to take his father's scheming to heart?

Song Yan's vision blurred a little.

He did not know whether it was because of what Dou Yan had said, or because of the care she was showing him.

"It's only that I don't quite trust my own father," Dou Zhiwei's voice came to his ears, rising and falling. "So when I heard that Mr. Yan and Xu Qing had been hunted down, I took note of it and had Duan Bing and Chen Lanxu go to the capital to find out what they could. If you really have been framed by your father as I suspected, then I'd lend a hand; if not... better safe than sorry. Just take it as me borrowing trouble for nothing!"

Song Yan gave a bitter smile. "Thank goodness you did borrow trouble. Otherwise I'm afraid I'd have been long since dead and gone."

Dou Yan said nothing. She looked out at the two estates below the hill.

It was near noon, and cooking smoke was curling up from the village chimneys.

Song Yan followed Dou Zhiwei's gaze.

Women bringing meals greeted one another in twos and threes, laughing and chatting as they walked to the fields together.

The quiet village took on a touch of liveliness from that laughter, and what it stirred in a person was not clamor or din, but brimming vitality.

Song Yan felt his own heart grow calm and light, like the village itself.

He turned his head to the Dou Yan beside him and softly said, "Thank you."

"Think nothing of it," Dou Yan said. "You'll find that time flies like an arrow. The thing that made you wish you were dead a moment ago, once that moment has passed, you'll soon forget it, and the pain will be forgotten along with it."

Hidden behind the trees, watching Song Yan and Dou Zhiwei from afar, Xia Lian was full of worry. "What on earth can the heir and Fourth Miss Dou have to say? Why climb up a tree for it?"

Chen He thought of Dou Yan's warning to him—"not again"—and could not help pursing his lips.

Fourth Miss Dou must be telling the heir how she came to discover that the Duke of Yingguo had designs on him.

His mind wandered a little because of it, and he said, "Or perhaps there's something urgent, and they're talking up in the tree precisely because they don't want to be overheard."

"Is that so?" Xia Lian was skeptical. "Not even a mosquito could fly into these back hills. Who could possibly eavesdrop on the heir and Fourth Miss talking?"

Ever since the "robbery by thieves" at the Yingguo ducal residence, both the Duke of Yingguo and the heir had had many highly skilled guards added around them. Even coming to Zhending, the heir had still brought enough men.

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To all the sisters and brothers reading this: yesterday's chapter went through a major revision, which may affect your reading. You can go back and flip through it before reading this chapter.

o(n_n)o~

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