Chapter 498 — Warning

.

Roused by Song Yan, she simply threw a robe over her shoulders and sat up against the headboard, waiting for him to settle in for the night.

Song Yan washed and climbed into bed, then said, "Twelfth Brother and Miss Ji are at Puji Temple!"

"Puji Temple?" Dou Yan's mouth fell open.

The Dou family had all but turned the capital upside down searching for Dou Huaide, and now it turned out he had been right under their noses.

Puji Temple was the most heavily attended temple in the capital—was the man not afraid of being recognized?

Dou Yan cursed him inwardly; Song Yan laughed and said, "Twelfth Brother has learned his Sun Tzu well. The greatest hermit hides in the marketplace—no one would ever think to look for them in Puji Temple. And even if they were spotted, a single line about 'each of us going to pray on his own' would answer any questions. Puji Temple, fearing for its reputation, would be only too eager to prove the two of them have no connection at all. Twelfth Brother has played this cleverly!"

No wonder they had become husband and wife in her last life—plainly Dou Huaide did not act rashly.

Dou Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "When shall we go and report to Father and Sixth Uncle?"

The sooner the Dou family knew, the better—while Dou Huaide and Ji Lingze's elopement was still unknown to anyone, the Dou and Ji families could join forces and smother the whole affair in the bud; given time, paper would not hold the fire in.

Song Yan said, "I will go to Jiming Temple Lane first thing tomorrow morning. Say what one will, this is, after all, a Dou family matter. Even if Twelfth Brother means to take Miss Ji as his wife, he cannot hide away like this, shrinking out of sight. Since he dared carry Miss Ji off to Puji Temple to stay for the time being, he ought to be able to face the difficulties ahead of him. Besides, his place at the Shujishi Hall is Twelfth Brother's greatest safeguard—if he loses it over this, then Miss Ji and his marriage will have not a shred of hope left!"

In her last life, Dou Huaide had not given up his office either, which showed he understood perfectly well: with no income, when a man must depend on others for his very meals, how could he have any say in his own marriage?

She nodded slightly, and she and Song Yan settled down to sleep, and nothing more was said of it.

Song Yan closed his eyes, yet at his ear it seemed he could still hear the sound of the pinwheel turning.

He forced himself to lie motionless, and only when the third watch drum sounded did he manage to drift off, barely.

To carry the news to Yunqi Temple Lane before going to the office, he rose the next day before dawn, kissed the still-sleeping Dou Yan, and left the inner chamber.

The Dou household was thrown into chaos.

On one side her own niece, on the other her own son—Madame Ji was so furious that she fainted dead away.

Madame Han, for her part, was certain that Ji Lingze had seduced Dou Huaide. To Fifth Madam, who hurried over at the uproar, she said, "Twelfth Uncle is still a boy—what does he know? If Ji Lingze had not used some trick, how could Twelfth Uncle have thrown away his whole future and the whole West Dou estate besides?"

Fifth Madam, however, knew this was no matter to be shouted about. In any family, bringing forth a metropolitan graduate was no small feat.

Setting all propriety of rank aside, she gave Madame Han a dressing-down: "What is all this racket? All that has been discovered is that Zixian and Miss Ji are both at Puji Temple. Must you be the one to wish your own house ill?"

Madame Han flushed to the ears with shame and could not get out a single word.

Madame Ji, having come round, wept without a sound. "What is to be done? Shouyuan has always gone about things steadily, and it was Yantang who found Zixian. Ordinarily there is no one better suited than Shouyuan to step forward in this matter—but Shouyuan is with child. She must not be allowed to fret..."

Fifth Madam was of the same mind as Madame Ji.

Both decided not to disturb Dou Yan.

Fifth Madam comforted Madame Ji: "Let us first hear what the men say. West Dou will have to depend on Zixian to hold up the household hereafter."

It was no longer for them to decide.

Madame Ji nodded with reddened eyes, not knowing whom to blame.

In the end Dou Bingheng made the call: they would simply "fetch" Dou Huaide home and have done with it, and if anyone asked, they would say he had been kidnapped by ruffians and that Song Yan had come forward and rescued him. As for Ji Lingze, she would go on being treated as a cousin from the maternal side.

Madame Ji was sick at heart.

After this, nothing but death could await Ji Lingze.

But at the juncture of life and death, she could only steel her heart and save her son.

Song Yan knew this was not so simple as the Dou family imagined, and besides, he counted on Dou Huaide to stand up for Dou Yan in the days to come. When the Dou family begged him to go and fetch the man, he declined: "I am only the son-in-law, after all. I will arrange the men for the fetching, but the fetching itself is not mine to meddle in."

Dou Bingheng thought it over and agreed that Song Yan's stepping forward would not do; but the affair was still being hushed up, and sending anyone else would be worse still.

Dou Bingheng exploded with fury: "That degenerate! I will go fetch him myself!"

Seeing Dou Huaiying left to one side, Song Yan caught his eye and said, "I think it would be better if my father-in-law went."

After all, Dou Huaiying was now Dou Huaide's father.

Dou Bingheng and Dou Shi looked embarrassed and nodded again and again.

Dou Huaiying had always been good to his nephews and nieces; when Dou Huaide had been adopted over, he had simply taken it as a nephew coming to live alongside him, and had never made the shift to thinking of Dou Huaide as a son. It was not until Song Yan spoke up for him that he even caught on; but since it was Song Yan's idea, and he trusted Song Yan utterly, he went along with Song Yan to "fetch" Dou Huaide despite feeling it improper. Yet the moment they were out of Mao'er Lane, he said quietly to Song Yan, "Are you afraid Sixth Brother will beat Zixian? Sixth Brother is not that sort of man!"

Song Yan did not know whether to laugh or cry, and offered no explanation, only asking with a smile, "What do you make of this business?"

"Me?" Dou Huaiying said, astonished. "I make nothing of it at all!"

Song Yan was struck speechless, and only after a good while said, "If Twelfth Brother insists on taking Miss Ji as his wife, would you be willing to have Miss Ji for a daughter-in-law?"

Dou Huaiying laughed. "The life is his own. If he thinks Miss Ji suits him, what can I say? It is Sixth Brother I would worry about—I doubt he will agree."

Song Yan said, "It is enough that you agree. Miss Ji will one day be the matriarch of West Dou."

Dou Huaiying had even split the family property in half with Dou Yan, and had little enthusiasm for so-called family legacies; so he laughed and said, "West Dou is a fine muddle as it is—there is nothing there worth anyone's envy."

With a stepmother-in-law like Wang Shuying in the house, things were bound to be messy enough.

Song Yan's gaze flickered faintly, and he smiled. "Since it makes no difference to you, I know what must be done!"

Dou Huaiying was still looking bewildered when Song Yan pulled him down out of the carriage.

Dou Huaide had long since been kept under watch by Song Yan's men, and they went straight to him.

Seeing Dou Huaiying and Song Yan arrive together, Dou Huaide's face filled with astonishment; but at once he dropped to his knees before Dou Huaiying. "Whatever the fault, every bit of it is mine. I only beg you, Father, to take Lingze back to the Dou household with us."