Chapter 244 — Entering the Door

By this time the Yingzhen Ducal Residence was crowded with guests.

Song Cen stood in the main hall exchanging pleasantries with the friends and relatives who had come to witness the ceremony, his face aching from smiling so much.

Seizing a spare moment, he asked Li Xian, the steward of the household office who was attending him in his rounds of courtesy, in a low voice, "Has Master Tao not returned yet?"

How the Dou family's Fourth Miss had suddenly come to have an extra chest of silver drafts as her dowry—Song Cen had not even needed to give the order before Tao Jun went off on his own to make inquiries. Yet from yesterday to today no definite word had come, and Song Cen was deeply uneasy, feeling as though he had overlooked something, though try as he might he could not think what it was. It left him as though standing at the edge of a cliff, with no firm ground beneath his feet.

Li Xian hastened to say, "Master Tao has not returned. But I have already set a man to wait in Master Tao's rooms, so that the moment he comes back he may be brought to see you."

Song Cen gave a slight nod, and caught sight of Lu Fuli approaching, his hair and beard wholly white.

He readjusted his spirits, went forward with a warm smile, called out "Second Uncle," and made his bow.

Although Lu Fuli was second in seniority, the elder brother above him had died young at the age of eight, so he was in truth the eldest son of the Lu family. When he heard that Song Cen had taken a wife of very substantial means for Song Yan, Lu Fuli was not nearly as pleased as his grandson Lu Zhan had supposed.

He drew Song Cen out to a quiet side corridor and asked him in a low voice, "What sort of person is the Dou family's Fourth Miss—have you gone to inquire into it yourself?"

Song Cen was somewhat impatient.

This was already the third time Lu Fuli had asked him so.

The first time was when the Lu family heard that he was seeking the Dou family's Fourth Miss as a wife for Song Yan, and had come over especially to ask for the details; the second was when he went to deliver the wedding invitations to the Lu household.

"Second Uncle," Song Cen said with faint indignation, "Yantang is my son—would I do him harm?"

At this Lu Fuli frowned and said, "Do you take me for an uncle who meddles too far? I only see so great a house as the Yingzhen Ducal Residence with no one to preside over its household affairs, and I fear you may in a moment of folly have chosen the wrong person..."

Displeasure showed at the corners of Song Cen's eyes and brows.

Lu Fuli could not help sighing inwardly. It came to him that Song Cen too was taking a daughter-in-law and was about to become a father-in-law himself; he could not forever be watching over him as though he were a child. So he swallowed the words he had not finished and turned to his own misgivings: "Has no word come from the Qianqing Palace, the Kunning Palace, or the Cining Palace?"

In former times, when the heir of the Yingzhen Ducal Residence, or his eldest son by the wife, or his eldest grandson by the wife, took a wife, the palace would always send down gifts.

"None!" Speaking of this, Song Cen too grew uneasy, and said in a low voice, "I hear the Emperor's health is not good; perhaps the palace has no heart for such things?" But in his heart he was wondering whether the Emperor, angered that he had so suddenly arranged a match for Song Yan, meant to take this occasion to give him a stern lesson.

Lu Fuli said, "Can you guess why?"

"How could one presume to fathom the Sovereign's mind at will!" Song Cen's words were spoken most high-mindedly, and they left Lu Fuli deeply uncomfortable.

Once the Dou family's Fourth Miss entered the house, the Song and Lu families would likely drift further apart.

Had he known it would come to this,

Lu Fuli sighed and returned to the main hall.

Song Cen, however, had no wish to force any more smiles and pleasantries upon the guests.

He instructed Li Xian, "When the bridal sedan arrives, come and call me." Then he went back to the Xixiang Courtyard.

Yet he had barely lain down when Song Yan's bridal sedan returned.

Grumbling to himself, he went to the main hall.

Crossing over the basin of coins and grain, and shooting the sedan curtain, the bride came down from the sedan chair, the jeweled vase clasped in her arms.

Only then did everyone discover that the bride was rather tall.

Meekness was the virtue of a woman; one who was tall was naturally not so readily thought gentle as one who was small and delicate.

Ma Youming and the others could not help opening their eyes wide.

Shen Qing went further and remarked in a low voice to Zhang Xuming, "When Young Master Song lifts the veil, do you think he'll get a great fright?"

Teasing the bridal chamber—that was a thing only humble families did.

They would have to wait until the bride's third-day return visit to her parents, and then, under the pretext of families on intimate terms, force their way into the Yingzhen Ducal Residence before they might have a chance to see what the bride looked like.

Zhang Xuming was in no hurry. His wife was one of the bridal attendants; in a little while he need only ask her.

Hearing these remarks, Song Cen smiled and said nothing.

After the bows to Heaven and Earth, the newlyweds, supported on either side by the wife of Wang Yu the bridal attendant and by Zhang Xuming's wife, entered the bridal chamber.

By now the bride's party from her own family had been shown to other places to rest. Only the bride's "lady of complete blessings" had come along; together with the groom's own, she followed the newlyweds into the bridal chamber.

The lapel weights were pressed down, the bed strewn with coins and grain, and the veil lifted. Only then did Song Yan and Dou Yan see each other again.

Song Ke let out a breath of relief.

When the bride's family sends the dowry, the groom's family must certainly offer thanks. But this rite of thanks sometimes took place on the day the trousseau was delivered, when the groom would go with those who came to urge on the trousseau to the bride's house, and there bow his head to his father- and mother-in-law, signifying "thanks for the sending of the trousseau to welcome the bride." Sometimes it was arranged for the wedding day itself: once the bridal sedan had entered the gate, the groom, accompanied by the matchmaker, would go straight to the main hall and bow his head to his father- and mother-in-law. If thanks had been given on the day the trousseau was urged, then on the wedding day no thanks were given—the two rites could not be performed together. And since in the former case the groom went to the bride's house with those who urged on the trousseau, he could bring a great quantity of gifts, and on the wedding day could simply lift the bridal sedan and go, which looked both dignified and clean; thus most families in the capital, when taking a daughter-in-law, chose the former. He had deliberately chosen to give thanks on the wedding day precisely so that he might with his own eyes see Dou Yan enter the sedan... He had no wish to be wise in his own conceit and repeat the mistake Wei Fan had made!

Dou Yan—at last she had smoothly bowed to Heaven and Earth with him and become his wife!

Yet before his heart could settle, Mrs. Zhao suddenly cried out at the top of her voice, "Promoted! Promoted!"

Song Chu was stunned.

He knew that his father-in-law's most trusted steward was named Gao Sheng—but what had his own marriage to do with Gao Sheng?

Song Ji watched as Mrs. Zhao, quick as a flash, snatched the red bridal veil from his hand.

He could not help glancing toward Dou Yan.

Dou Yan was struggling to hold back a smile and turned her face away.

Mrs. Zhao was telling Song Yan not to sit down...

Song Yan looked utterly bewildered.

Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Lu the Elder saw this and burst out laughing as well.