Chapter 354 — The First Sign

But Tao Jun stepped forward and planted himself in front of Song Cen, politely bowed to Dou Huaide and to Dou Yan, whose nose was fairly pointing at the sky, introduced himself, and said with a smile, "It takes a hundred years of karma for two to share a boat. The heir and the heir's wife were fated for each other—otherwise, with the two families so far apart, how should they have become kin? As the saying goes, better to tear down a temple than break up a marriage. Both of you are still young, and you do not know that in a great household, tongue and teeth are bound to knock against each other now and then. How can a trifling quarrel be cause to shout about taking her home? I see the Dou uncle-in-law and the young master nephew have come in anger; better to cool your temper first and go see our heir's wife before saying more."

Then, smiling, he made a gesture of "please," while swiftly whispering into Song Cen's ear, "These old women who have been widowed for decades—not one of them listens to reason. I daresay even Elder Dou cannot defy his mother's command; otherwise the Dou family would never have sent these two. Pray do not stoop to their level."

Was he simply to let it go?

Song Cen's hands clenched into fists, his face white with fury.

But the visitors would not give Tao Jun the slightest heed.

Dou Huaide shook his head with a smile. "There's no need. My Seventh Uncle had no sons; to give his daughter a firm footing in her husband's house, he gave Fourth Aunt half the property of the Western Dou. Chixiao has instructed us that today, no matter what, we are to bring Fourth Aunt home. We have even brought the carts for her dowry along with us. Pray, Lord of the Manor, call the heir out and have him write a bill of divorce, so that we may go home and drink a cup of hot tea."

Half the property of the Western Dou?

So that was it!

Song Cen and Tao Jun wore identical looks of sudden enlightenment and exchanged a glance.

So they truly were not merely putting on a show!

He grew excited.

By what right should silver that had come into our house be disgorged?

But then he recalled that all that silver now lay in Song Zhi's hands... and his spirits deflated at once. He thought bitterly: if Dou is sent back to her family, with what will Song Yan contend against me?

If I could cut down Song's two wings, what would reputation matter?

He barked, "Attendants!" then said, "Take the Dou family's uncle and young master to Yizhi Hall and inventory the madam's dowry!"

Not a word of urging them to stay.

Dou Huaide and Dou Yan felt their hearts tighten.

Anyone else, hearing that a daughter-in-law had brought such a fortune, would keep her with them for the time being; Song Cen went the opposite way.

There was something wrong with this Song family!

As boys they had pulled this sort of trick who knew how many times; their understanding was long since perfect, and without so much as a glance exchanged, one began to play the red face and the other the white.

"I'll go see Fourth Aunt," Dou Huaide said calmly to Dou Yan. "You stay here and get the letter of divorce." With that he strode out of the flower hall beside Zeng Wu.

Dou Yan sat down carelessly in the armchair and said with a sneer, "Then I must ask the Lord of Zhenguo to call the Heir back and write me a letter of divorce—since our Fourth Aunt is to be sent home, she can't simply follow us back with everything left in the dark."

Song Yan would certainly never agree to divorce his wife!

Song Cen said, "The Heir has gone to attend his duties at the palace. When he returns, I'll have him write the letter and send it to your esteemed house."

Dou Yan gave a cold snort. "Do you take me for a fool? No letter of divorce, yet you'd have Fourth Aunt go back with us and leave her dowry behind... Your Song family goes too far! If the Heir writes the letter today, well and good; if not, I'll go straight to the Shuntian Prefecture and see whether, since the founding of this dynasty, there has ever been such a case!"

In any case, it meant poking a hornet's nest for Song Yan, and Song Cen was more than willing.

"Set your mind at ease—a daughter-in-law like that I wouldn't take if she were given to me! Take her home and welcome; I'll have the letter sent round after you."

"Very well!" Dou Yan said cheerfully, though he did not believe him in the least. "Merchants settle goods and coin on both sides at once. If I take the woman back and you hold on to Fourth Aunt's dowry, what then? I say we do it this way: Lord of Zhenguo, you write me a voucher first, saying that from this day the two houses have nothing to do with each other, and affix your private seal. I'll take it back and keep it with the Xuanming Sect, and when we come to move the goods later, we'll have right on our side."

Have him write out a document for the Dou family to hold over him?

Song Cen sensed the danger by instinct and did not want to write it. "Since when does a son's divorce require the father to draw up the papers?"

※

Finally got this posted before eleven!

O(∩_∩)O~

Tomorrow's bonus update will be around three in the afternoon.

PS: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone!

※(To be continued.)

Note on the September 18 update

My apologies to everyone reading!

I've been careless lately; from now on I'll check carefully before posting, and this kind of problem won't happen again.

Once again, I apologize to you all!

Ye Chen pressed him at once, and his manner was somewhat urgent; he knew that these two identical pieces of jade, each bearing a single red blood character, were very likely bound by some close connection—the characters within were different, but apart from that the two were almost exactly alike.

After Ye Shengming and Ye Siyuan left, Song Donghai immediately took men to pursue Wen Ningyu and his son, but the two had already vanished without a trace.

Though I knew that what Fatty had told me at the time had many unclear points, I still sorted through my thoughts and laid out everything I knew.

This phantom warrior that had appeared had long earth-yellow hair on his arms and thighs, and looked for all the world like a man-shaped monkey—only the face was different; the face looked truly human.

Chen Mo turned to leave when a commotion suddenly came from outside the door; I could vaguely make out Song Muzhi's voice, shouting over and over, Let me in, let me in.

Julian could not understand, but Su Zhou could—and even if Julian did not know Chinese, he could guess what these people were saying.

I looked at the display of the Heiming mecha; the figures shown had surpassed anything I had imagined. This fusion was higher than the last, and more stable afterward; my steps no longer swayed, and my proficiency in operating the mecha had clearly improved.

He really does climb any pole you hold out for him. I could only think up more praise—anything that sounded good, whether it suited Li Yi or not, I said it all, until things like "you have a good temper" and "you're warm-hearted" came popping out. He accepted the lot, utterly shameless; I was embarrassed for him.

Xu Min had never meant to have anything to do with Su Bo, so the two had never met; they only poured out their hearts to each other online and aired their grievances.

As soon as they got home, Kaisa grabbed Kude by the ear, gave him a thorough scolding, and made him kneel on the washboard.

How could it be explained? That she had been brought here by force? Or that she had now lost the ability to look after herself? Or that all of it was his doing? Even if she told them, they probably would not believe it.

Even to Wang Huan'er he would not speak a harsh word, much less rely on his own clear understanding to say something that would put Li Juan to shame.