Chapter 391 — Old Matters

"When the Duke of Zhenguo heard, he was so overjoyed he went round in circles, seized Lady Jiang's hand and thanked her again and again, put an arm about Old Lady Lu's shoulder and called her 'Mother' with great affection, and went out in high spirits.

"The old Duke of Zhenguo learned soon after that the young woman had been hiding in Wanming Temple all along.

"And the young woman was willing to abort the child, if only she might enter the Song household.

"The old Duke of Zhenguo kicked the Duke of Zhenguo on the spot, and glaring at him with reddened eyes, said: A woman like this, you still want to take into the house? Do you think your days are too idle, and you are looking for trouble?

"The Duke of Zhenguo clutched the place where the old Duke had kicked him, and asked in bewilderment: 'Was it not you who said that so long as she was willing to abort the child, she would be let into the house? So why, now that she is willing to abort the child, do you go back on your word?'

"And with that, as if something had dawned on him, the Duke of Zhenguo bolted for the door. As he ran he shouted: 'I knew it, you were deceiving me! Once you had tricked out the place where Tiaoniang was hiding, you meant to deal with us — you never intended to let her into the house at all...'

"The old Duke of Zhenguo was half dead with rage. He had his page boy pin the Duke of Zhenguo down and handed him over to me to watch, then took Steward Li and went to Wanming Temple himself.

"Before long the old Duke of Zhenguo returned.

"His face was worn with fatigue as he said the matter had been settled.

"The Duke of Zhenguo, who had been pacing the room all the while like a caged beast, suddenly shoved the old Duke of Zhenguo aside and ran out.

"I was worried, and with the old Duke of Zhenguo's tacit consent, I followed.

"The bedding on the kang was all blood. The young woman lay limp upon the kang, not a trace of color in her face, a look of terror still frozen on it.

"The Duke of Zhenguo held the young woman and wailed.

"I went up and felt for her breath. There seemed to be none left, so I withdrew.

"Before long, a maid attending the young woman brought the young woman's elder brother.

"He pushed the door open in a daze. He went into the room.

"Presently a sound of bitter grief came from within.

"After that, the young woman's elder brother and the Duke of Zhenguo came to blows.

"I watched the Duke of Zhenguo take the beating without resisting at all, so I dragged him out, and sat with him over a few cups at a small tavern beside Wanming Temple, and waited until he had drunk himself into a stupor before bringing him back to the mansion.

"The old Duke of Zhenguo sent me again to see to the aftermath.

"The young woman's elder brother was a man of stiff backbone; he flung back every ounce of silver the old Duke of Zhenguo had bestowed. His widowed mother, though, was a piece of work: the moment her son turned his back, she came out and gathered up all the silver the old Duke had bestowed, and even haggled with me, squeezing out two thousand taels more in silver notes.

"Afterward I went back to Baoding, and Steward Li was assigned to serve at the Duke of Zhenguo's side.

"I heard from Steward Li that from that time on the Duke of Zhenguo never strayed again.

"And because it was the old Duke of Zhenguo who had thought so little of the young woman's character that he would not let her into the mansion, Lady Jiang grew all the more confident of her ground. The Duke of Zhenguo, by contrast, seemed to feel a little guilty over the affair, and made himself small and meek before Lady Jiang. Especially after the Heir was born—when the Duke of Zhenguo was dragged down by the Earl of Guang'en, Lady Jiang was then carrying the Second Master, and she pled for the Duke of Zhenguo with her great belly before her; after that the Duke of Zhenguo was all the more obedient to Lady Jiang in every particular.

"The old Duke of Zhenguo watched and could only shake his head.

"But several attempts at persuasion came to nothing, and in the end there was no help for it: he entrusted the Ying Estate of Zhenguo to Lady Jiang, and left a few men behind for the Heir."

Dou Yan listened, dumbstruck.

He had not expected that Song Cen in his youth had done such a thing.

But what did this have to do with the rift between Song Cen and Song Yan?

Surely Song Cen would not, over one old affair, kill the wife who had shared his bed for more than ten years and the legitimate eldest son who would carry on the family line?

Was he capable of such depth of feeling?

It was far too unreasonable!

Even so, could Song Yan in his former life really have killed his father and his brother and cut off the line of the Ying Estate of Zhenguo, merely because Song Cen had caused Lady Jiang's death?

Dou Yan thought of those few maids in the Sixiang Court.

Could it be that Song Cen was by nature a lecher, who had all along been forcibly suppressing it because of Lady Jiang, until in time his mind had changed?

No, that was not right either!

By the old Duke of Zhenguo's own sound judgment, the Jiang family had always been in the habit of taking concubines freely, so Lady Jiang should hardly have minded such things. If Song Cen wished to take a beauty or two as concubines, Lady Jiang would not have stood in his way. What need had Song Cen to put on such an act?

Or was Lady Jiang unlike the rest, and having seen too much of the strife between wives and concubines, she particularly loathed the taking of concubines?

Dou Yan's head began to ache.

He had been better off not knowing; now that he knew, he only sank deeper into the old matters, and grew more bewildered still.

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Brothers and sisters, today is the Double Ninth Festival. Friends working away from home might do well to call and greet their parents.

o(n_n)o~