Chapter 289 — Perfunctory

Song Zhi's voice was like a warm spring breeze, like drifting willow catkins, settling lightly upon the tip of her heart.

"All right then!" She gazed up into his clear eyes and called out teasingly, "Young Master Mei!"

Her brows and eyes unfurled like rippling spring water.

Into Song Yan's mind there suddenly surfaced the verse: "Bright as the sun rising through morning clouds, radiant as a lotus emerging from the clear waves."

"Shouyuan!" He stroked her temples, lowered his head, and pressed a gentle kiss to the center of her brow.

As though she were a treasure cradled in his palm—cherished, and sweet.

Dou Yan was briefly taken aback.

Perhaps, after Song Ke's ceaseless demands, she too knew that her body was alluring. And this kiss, free of any carnal intent, seemed to prove that between them there existed, beyond the most primal attraction of man and woman, certain other feelings—enough to stir a flicker of tenderness in her heart.

Only that tenderness lasted less than a quarter hour before Song Yan had kissed his way down the bridge of her nose and landed upon her red lips, his tongue invading nimbly, teasing ardently, brimming with aggressive desire, leaving Dou Yan caught between laughter and tears, yet dizzy and dazzled, a blurred heat surging through her body; she rose on tiptoe and could not help but dance along with him, light as a winged thing…

"Young Master, Madam," came the little maid's voice from beyond the door—clear, yet betraying its youth, "Young Master Gu has come. He says he has business to see the Young Master about."

Dou Yan gave a start and came to her senses, wanting to push him away.

Song Sui held her firmly by the waist, his lips and tongue only growing fiercer, tinged with a certain imperiousness.

Dou Yan could only lean helplessly in his embrace.

Not until time had lost all meaning in her mind did he slowly release her.

Her lips, fiercely kissed, glistened with moisture, extraordinarily red and dewy, like a spring blossom just watered by rain and dew.

Song Yan's heart stirred at the sight; not yet sated, he lowered his head again to kiss her red lips.

"Mind that Young Master Gu doesn't barge in," Dou Yan said with a coquettish glare at Song Yan.

Gu Yu's nickname as the little tyrant of the capital was no empty reputation. In her last life, he had stormed straight into Song Yan's inner chambers and caught Song Yan in dalliance with a concubine; the concubine, to prove her chastity, attempted suicide by hanging but failed, and Song Sui thought nothing of it. After the affair spread, many came to regard Song Yan as lewd, shameless, and a defier of all propriety.

Hearing Dou Yan say this, Song Yan thought it over carefully—and this really was the sort of thing Gu Yu would do.

He laughed and kissed her cheek again before turning and heading for the study.

Dou Yan watched his retreating figure as he left the inner chamber; then she turned, and there in the Western mirror upon the dressing table she saw reflected a beauty in a peach-pink jacket, laughter brimming in the corners of her eyes and brows, a flush of crimson upon her cheeks lending her the delicate vividness of a rose.

Was this woman in the mirror herself?

When had she come to possess such coloring?

Was it because she was now with Song Yan?

Dou Yan walked over and let her fingers drift lightly across the mirror, which reflected every detail without the slightest concealment.

The woman in the mirror tilted her head, her eyes full of bewilderment.

※※※※※

Song Yan smiled faintly, bright as a clear breeze and the morning moon.

Gu Yu scratched his head in puzzlement. "What did you and sister-in-law go out and do so early in the morning? Why are you in such good spirits?"

"Is that so?" Song Yan countered, and could not help touching his own cheek. "Does my complexion really look that good?"

From yesterday until today, he had spent most of his time dallying with Dou Yan.

Gu Yu studied him carefully once more, then nodded. "Your color really is excellent!" His gaze was utterly earnest.

Song Yan recalled how, last night, in the throes of passion, Dou Yan had bitten him hard on the shoulder—the wound still marked his body. Fearing Gu Yu might notice something, he lightly changed the subject. "What did you want to see me about?"

In his heart, though, he was thinking of Dou Yan.

After she had discovered the wound on his shoulder, that look of vexation and regret… even at the height of passion, she had only bitten her lip and moaned softly… those eyes, limpid and shimmering like lake water… those exquisite memories flooded his mind… and his body seemed once more wrapped in her tight, flowered passage…

He felt his body grow hot again.

Song Yan hastily reined in his thoughts, cleared his throat with a touch of awkwardness, and made his expression rather more grave.

Gu Yu looked at him in bewilderment. "Brother Tianci, what's the matter? Did you catch a chill going out this morning? Shall I fetch a physician to have a look?"

"No need." Song Yan broke into a sweat. He had no choice but to clear his throat twice more and remind him again, "What did you want to see me about?"

"Oh!" Gu Yu never doubted a word Song Yan said; since Song Yan said there was nothing wrong, then surely there was nothing wrong. That tiny seed of doubt drifted across his mind like a fleeting shadow and was quickly cast from his thoughts.

"Brother Tianci, didn't you say you wanted me to get back all the contracts Lord Dou left in the Risheng Tower?" he asked Song Yan, his tone full of excitement. "Brother Tianci, guess what happened?" And without waiting for Song Yan to speak, he went on: "Zhang Zhiqi, the head manager of the Risheng Silver House, turns out to be one of the Prince of Liao's men!"

Song Yan was greatly astonished.

Gu Yu was already laughing. "I went to the Risheng Silver House on the pretext of investigating the break-in and theft at the Yingzhenguo Estate. At first that Zhang Zhiqi kept circling around me with evasions, but once he learned who I was, he immediately turned honest. Not only did he lay out his own background in perfect detail, he even told me all about how the Prince of Liao had sent him to the capital to rake in money. Tell sister-in-law to set her mind at ease and leave her silver with the Risheng Silver House—since Zhang Zhiqi has the Prince of Liao's tiger skin draped over him, he'd dare swallow anyone's silver but never sister-in-law's, or he'll see how I deal with him!" By the end, his tone had turned quite savage.

Which was to say, Gu Yu had not brought back the contracts her father-in-law had left with the Risheng Silver House!

Song Yan's brows drew together slightly as he thought of Dou Zhiwei's worries: "…If all he wanted was a patron, going to Lord Guo would have been quite enough—why drag in my father, a poor Hanlin scholar? I suspect this Zhang Zhiqi was aiming at my fifth uncle. You know as well as I do that these past two years, on matters of household management, my father has often disagreed with my fifth uncle. I, too, feel it isn't good to keep relying on my fifth uncle this way. If we can loosen the bonds with him even a little, then loosen them we should—otherwise, in the long run, how will my father have any ground left to oppose my fifth uncle's ways?"

He thought for a moment, then said, "Gu Yu, it's not a matter of money. It's the feud between the two branches of your sister-in-law's family..." And he told Gu Yu a few things about Dou Juan.

Gu Yu listened with his mouth hanging open for a long while.

"So the Dou family is split into the East Dous and the West Dous," he said with feeling. "Truly, every family has its own sutra that's hard to recite. I never imagined your sister-in-law had such a pitiful childhood—her mother forced to her death, and she herself made to call her mother's murderer 'mother'... No wonder she's so reluctant to come to the capital."