Chapter 523 — Finality

In Song Yan's study, Lu Ming was speaking to Song Yan in a low voice: "...I only let go those few who usually swept the floors and watered the flowers in the Cassia Fragrance Courtyard. In particular, Guard Chang and Zeng Wu—I tossed their bodies into the river with my own hands, the silver notes and bundles still on their backs. Even if someone found them, they would take it for a drowning by mischance and would never suspect a thing. As for Tao Jun, the fatigue of the journey brought on illness, and he died of sickness on the road home."

Song Yan had always trusted Lu Ming with a task.

He nodded slightly and smiled. "There's nothing left on my end either. What are your plans? If you wanted the Embroidered Uniform Guard or the Divine Engine Camp, neither would be any trouble. Wu Yi has gone off to trade with Zhao Liangbi, though from the look of your temperament, you're no merchant."

Lu Ming gave a sheepish laugh. "I'd rather stay in the household, like Master Duan."

The heir apparent could never do without someone to handle his dirty work, and he had grown used to this life; he had no wish to go to a garrison and be answerable to others.

Song Yan truly could not do without him either. Since Lu Ming had spoken thus, Song Yan did not press him and said no more of it.

A few days later, the imperial decree came down.

Gu Yu was to marry Princess Jingtai.

The Duke of Xingguo sought the hand of Princess Jingyi for his third son.

When the news arrived, Dou Yan smiled faintly.

No wonder the Duke of Xingguo had become the foremost of the noble houses after the fall of the Yingzhen ducal household.

It seemed the Yingzhen ducal household had also caught wind of the matter of the Prince of Liao; otherwise they would not have refused their own son's marriage to Princess Jingyi in the first place.

Now that the Prince of Liao's scheme had failed, the Emperor still cherished the memory of Empress Wan and doted on Princess Jingyi, and the Crown Prince was still troubled by the whole affair. For the Duke of Xingguo to step forward at such a moment and seek Princess Jingyi's hand made him a man who shared his sovereign's burdens.

Recalling that Princess Jingyi's wedding was set for the tenth of the ninth month and Gu Yu's for the twelfth, she took counsel with Song Yan. "For our congratulatory gifts to the Yingzhen ducal household, shall we add a few tenths beyond the usual?"

Song Yan, too, had by now seen the formidable cunning of the Yingzhen ducal household. He thought it over and said, "Then let it be three tenths more."

Dou Yan gave the order.

Song Yan inquired about Gu Yu's marriage. "Any word from the Yunyang Earl's household?"

Gu Yu was still on the road hurrying back to the capital from Tianjin, but the Yunyang Earl's household had already received the decree, and all the connections by marriage had come flocking to offer congratulations. Dou Yan had been to the Yunyang Earl's household only that morning.

"Ever since Cui Yijun went to the Yunyang Earl's household and delivered his message, Gu Yu's stepmother has been like an eggplant nipped by frost—utterly wilted, keeping to her bed and feigning illness all this while." She laughed. "The one managing the Yunyang Earl's household now is Gu Yu's second aunt, and a shrewd one she looks to be. Everything bought for Gu Yu's wedding is of the finest."

After all, the expenses of Gu Yu's marriage came out of the public purse; spend too much and not a coin of it came from her own pocket, spend too little and not a coin of it would reach her either. Better to bring it out freely and do the thing handsomely, winning herself a reputation for virtue.

Song Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "I was just thinking that if they made a poor showing of it over there, I'd find some way to save him face."

Dou Yan knew that what weighed most on Song Yan's mind now was Gu Yu. She consoled him: "It only shows Gu Yu is a fortunate one—at the crucial moment, good things always come his way."

Song Yan nodded with a smile.

When Gu Yu returned to the capital, he did not go back to the Yunyang Earl's household first but came straight to the Yingzhen ducal household.

At the sight of Song Yan he dropped to his knees, clutched at Song Yan's leg, and burst into loud weeping.

Song Yan vowed, "Empress Wan truly was not murdered by His Highness Zhaohua!"

Gu Yu nodded, weeping. "I know. She was so proud and unyielding—how could she have let herself spend the rest of her life watching others' faces... I only grieve for her, that she came to such an end."

Dou Yan suddenly, dimly, began to understand the Gu Yu of the past life.

Had Empress Wan and the Prince of Liao succeeded, he would have been just as unhappy.

She could not help her eyes growing moist. Thinking of how proud a man he was, how his marriage in the past life had never gone smoothly, and how in this life he was again to marry a princess—she did not know whether he would take it as a humiliation. She wanted to say a word or two of comfort to him, yet did not know where to begin, and could only give a faint sigh, turn, and have a little maid brew a pot of jasmine tea, which Gu Yu was very fond of.

After Gu Yu was married, Dou Yan and Song Yan held a feast at home to entertain him and Princess Jingtai.

Princess Jingtai had an oval face, apricot-shaped eyes, and a slender, graceful figure—a beauty. Sitting in the flower hall drinking tea with Dou Yan, she would from time to time lift her head to glance at Gu Yu, who was talking with Song Yan outside the hall.

Only then did Dou Yan's anxious heart settle.

Princess Jingtai laughed. "You were afraid I'd put on airs as a princess before my cousin, weren't you?"

Dou Yan had not expected Princess Jingtai to call Gu Yu cousin, following Princess Jingyi's lead, and still less had she expected Princess Jingtai to be so clear-sighted and forthright. Her face flushed slightly.

Princess Jingtai, however, thought nothing of it, and gazing at Gu Yu beyond the hall, she said with a low laugh, "You may not know, but my cousin often went to play in the palace when he was young, and we have known each other since childhood. His tongue is sharp, but his heart is good. If I eat almonds, a rash breaks out on my skin. Empress Wan, being mother of the realm, would hardly remember such trifles. My mother, though she was deft at navigating every situation, was in the end only a concubine of no powerful family and no son of her own, and in the Palace of Earthly Tranquility she was ever the one wearing a smile to please. Once, when my mother took me to pay respects to Empress Wan, Empress Wan had someone bring the newly made almond milk for me to drink, and I dared not refuse. But my cousin snatched the almond milk from my hand and said he happened to be thirsty, and had the palace maid serve me Longjing tea instead. After that, whenever I went to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, the almond milk Empress Wan bestowed on me turned into soy milk..." As she spoke, she lowered her eyelids, and her voice grew softer still. "For that, I shall be grateful to him all my life, and respect him all my life..."

There was one thing no one knew.

When her mother had begun to worry over her marriage, she had secretly prayed to the Old Man Under the Moon, hoping that Empress Wan might show great mercy and bestow her upon Gu Yu... She would surely be as virtuous as Princess Yongping of the Yongcheng Earl's household.

Dou Yan was dumbstruck.

Could this be counted as a lucky accident?

After seeing off Gu Yu and his wife, she told Song Yan of the matter and asked curiously, "Do you think Gu Yu remembers it?"