Chapter 342 — A Demand

Song Yan sat bolt upright on the kang by the window in the inner chamber, his face cold, and said to Dou Yan, "Go make me some gourd cakes!"

How could he be this petulant, like a child throwing a tantrum?

Dou Yan could not help but press her lips together and smile.

Song Yan shot her a glare.

Dou Yan stepped forward and took his hand, coaxing him as she would a child: "I was wrong, all right? I know you were worried about me. I won't say that kind of thing again." Then she took the hot tea from the maid's hands and pressed it into his. "I'll go make you gourd cakes!"

Song Yan wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "The kitchen is thick with smoke and grease. Just let the kitchen women make them."

His voice had softened, and there was even a faint note of amusement in it.

"You rascal!" Dou Yan did not know whether to laugh or cry, and gave him a sidelong glare.

Song Yan smiled faintly and pressed his face to Dou Zhiwei's chest, saying in a low voice, "Shouyuan, don't say things like that anymore. It hurts me to hear it."

Dou Yan's heart instantly softened until it could have dripped water.

She embraced him tenderly.

"It's my fault, not yours," Song Yan apologized, his voice sounding somewhat sullen. "I don't know why either. Ordinarily I can tolerate a great deal, but the moment I think of my good intentions going unappreciated by you, I lose a bit of control over my temper... If I'm ever like this again, don't pay me any mind. Just let me sit alone in the small study for a while and it'll pass."

Dou Yan's eyes were on the verge of brimming over as she listened.

Song Cen had wanted to kill Song Yan. Song Yan had once confronted Song Cen about it, but Song Cen would not speak, and Song Yan never asked again. From then on they were as strangers to each other—when had he ever explained himself to Song Cen? That was Song Yan's nature. Yet now, afraid she might misunderstand, he laid his heart bare for her to see, utterly unguarded before her...

Dou Yan kissed the top of Song Yan's head and laughed softly. "How could I bear to!"

Song Yan looked up, his face full of astonishment.

Dou Yan crouched down and pressed her cheek to his palm, her voice low and unhurried yet firm as she smiled again: "How could I bear to leave you in the small study."

"Shouyuan!" Song Yan was stunned, but the astonishment quickly turned to wild joy.

He scooped Dou Yan up in one motion, lifting her as though she were a child: "Shouyuan, Shouyuan!"

Dou Yan was truly afraid he might toss her into the air, and quickly clung to his neck: "Don't, don't, don't—I'm still carrying a child in my belly!"

"Oh!" Song Yan's brows and eyes bloomed with delight. He carefully set Dou Yan down on the kang, gazed at her with deep affection, called out "Shouyuan," and kissed her lips.

It seemed getting along with Song Yan was not so difficult after all!

Dou Yan closed her eyes and responded to Song Yan with lingering tenderness.

Leaving aside for now the springtime warmth behind the closed doors of the Song couple—let us speak instead of the Jingzhen Estate. Though it had invited only close branches of the family and in-laws, it still laid out fifteen tables, and across the water pavilion a stage was erected for a hall performance, bustling and festive.

Dou Ming stepped forward to toast the Duchess of Jingguo, then rose to take her leave: "My mother-in-law is slightly unwell and at home alone. I cannot drink and watch the opera here in peace. Another day I shall come keep Your Grace company at cards."

The Duchess of Jingguo was somewhat displeased, but since the girl had used her mother-in-law as a shield, refusing to let her go would make it seem as though she cared nothing for her in-law's health.

"Oh!" she said quickly with concern. "Your mother-in-law is ill? Why didn't you say so earlier? I could have gone to visit her. Hurry back and take good care of her. Once I'm through this busy stretch, I'll go see her." Then she instructed Wei Wan to see Dou Ming out.

"It's nothing more than a bit of stomach upset. She'll be fine once it settles. I wouldn't dream of troubling the relatives over it." Dou Ming exchanged a few gracious and proper pleasantries with the Duke of Jingguo, then followed Wei Wan out of the water pavilion.

Wei Wan said anxiously, "How is Mother, really? There wasn't the slightest hint of this before. Go back and tell Mother that I'll return first thing tomorrow morning to nurse her." She asked Dou Ming again, "Is there anything the household needs? I'll bring it all tomorrow."

"There's really nothing," Dou Ming said flatly. "Just indigestion."

Wei Wan was not worried that she was hiding the severity of the illness—she would see Wei Fan shortly anyway and could ask him then.

The two passed through the second gate, where the Wei family carriage waited quietly beneath the locust tree before the entrance.

Wei Wan did not see Wei Fan and asked in surprise, "Where is my brother?"

Dou Ming said, "He still has social obligations. As for Mother, I'll be there to look after her."

Wei Wan nodded with satisfaction, feeling that Dou Ming had finally begun to seem like a daughter-in-law of the Wei family. Much of her earlier anger dissipated.

She watched Dou Ming climb into the carriage, then turned and went back to the water pavilion.

Dou Ming, however, instructed the driver: "Longhua Temple Lane."

Though her dowry could not compare to Dou Yan's in richness, it far surpassed that of ordinary officials' daughters—by more than a little. She had always been clever. Within mere days of marrying in, she had used silver to dazzle everyone in the Wei household from top to bottom, and there was not a soul who did not curry favor with her.

The driver answered loudly, "Yes, ma'am," and with a shake of the reins, the carriage turned a corner and headed for Yandang Temple Lane.

Dou Huaiying did not much care for socializing. After leaving his office he went straight home, but upon entering he saw his younger daughter Dou Ming sitting stiff-faced in the armchair of the main hall.

He could not help but freeze, thinking for a moment that it was Wang Ying sitting there, that he had returned to many years ago—coming home each day to find Wang Shuying waiting for him like this, followed by a quarrel.

Dou Huaiying shook his head, let out a long breath, and walked in.

"Why are you sitting there?" He handed his official cap to the page boy attending him. "Why have you come back? Where is Jinyu? Did he not come back with you..."

Before he could finish, Dou Ming had already leapt to her feet: "Father, I am your daughter too. Why is there only Dou Chu in your heart? Do you know that people outside are saying you gave Dou Yan over two hundred thousand taels of silver as a dowry supplement... I know that was what Dou Yan deserved, but have you ever thought of me? What will the Wei family think when they hear? When the Wei family asks, how am I supposed to answer? Do you expect me to say that I am the child of a concubine, and that the properties under Dou Yan's name were the price you paid to have my mother elevated to wife? When the two families exchanged betrothal gifts, you didn't list those properties on the gift register. Why couldn't you have done a good deed thoroughly and quietly returned those properties to Dou Ji? Why make such a grand display of it and leave me unable to hold my head up!"

As she spoke, she began to sob: "You don't even know—when I went to the Jingzhen Estate today for the banquet, everyone was fawning over Dou Yan, and it's all because they know she has silver..."

Dou Huaiying was taken aback, and then his heart ached for Dou Ming.