Chapter 118 — Making a Move

Seeing that the Dou guards advanced and withdrew in good order, Song Yan could not help showing a flicker of admiration.

"Miss Dou, the wind is fierce and the rain is heavy," he said with a smile. "I merely wish Miss Dou to return to her room." His voice was gentle, but the words he spoke chilled to the bone.

Dou Yan seemed beside herself with fury. "Young Master Mei, I gave you lodging out of the kindness of my heart, and you repay kindness with enmity, seeking to put me to death—is that the conduct of a gentleman?"

Song Ke smiled coldly.

This Fourth Young Lady Dou looked quite lovely. Who would have thought she could say something so foolish? What he intended was plain enough for anyone to see. What a pity such a fine face should be wasted.

"Fourth Young Lady Dou, you are mistaken!" A sudden weariness came over him. "I merely ask Fourth Young Lady Dou to return to her room—where is this talk of life and death? I beg Fourth Young Lady Dou not to misunderstand." So saying, he made a gesture, and a shrill tearing sound split the sky; several arrows thudded one after another into the ground at the feet of the guards nearest the gate, startling them into stumbling backward again and again, jostling those behind them into retreat as well, and the formation surrounding Dou Zhiwei was broken apart as they crowded together. The scene grew somewhat chaotic, and but for Duan Bing's protection, Dou Yan would nearly have been knocked off her feet.

"Young Master Mei, you go too far!" Dou Yan's cheeks flushed with rage. "How can you slaughter the innocent at will?" Her voice had already taken on a note of choking.

Song Yan could not be bothered to look at her again. He said coldly, "Since Fourth Young Lady Dou has such a bodhisattva's heart, why drag more innocents into it and let those guards throw their lives away for nothing? I beg Fourth Young Lady Dou to return to her room!"

"You—" Dou Yan stamped her foot in fury.

Song Sui was unmoved.

In the standoff, a baby's cry suddenly rose from the courtyard.

"Young Lady!" Su Lan darted out from behind a holly tree at the side, streaking to the covered walkway of the main house. "Your servant has not failed her charge!"

She held a child in her arms and smiled at Dou Yan with pursed lips.

Song Yan and the others turned pale with shock and rushed out from the walkway of the eastern wing, but the Dou guards had already set themselves like range upon range of peaks between them and the main house, and Dou Yan, under the escort of Duan Bing and Chen Yanzhou, ran back to the walkway of the main house.

She took the child, rocked her gently, and crooned soft, bright sounds that meant nothing at all, and the child soon quieted.

Song Yan stood in the rain and let it beat against his face, his expression ashen, and the faces of Yan Che and the others behind him were still more deathly pale.

The wet nurse came rushing out of the house.

"Young Master, someone has snatched the child—" she screamed herself hoarse, her face streaming with tears.

Song Yan made a gesture for silence.

The wet nurse shut her mouth and wept without a sound, but lifting her head she caught sight of Dou Yan across the way in the walkway of the main house, soothing the child, and her eyes flew wide with horror.

"Fourth Young Lady Dou," Song Yan said, fixing his eyes on Dou Yan, his voice as gentle as before, tinged with a trace of languor, "why don't we sit down and have a proper talk? What do you say?"

Dou Yan smiled faintly, and her eyes seemed to sparkle a shade more brightly than before. "Young Master Mei, I think we should indeed sit down and have a proper talk."

* * * * *

Lily incense burned in the hall, floating faintly in the air and mingling with the dampness, giving off a stifling feeling.

Song Yan had changed into a clean plain straight-hemmed robe of lotus-green, and came in unhurriedly with Yan Che and Lu Ming.

Dou Yan sat in the master's chair at the head of the hall with the child in her arms, Chen Yanzhou and Duan Bing standing to either side behind her.

Dou Yan nodded to the newcomers and said with a courteous smile, "Young Master Mei, please be seated."

Song Yan glanced at the child.

The child seemed to have fallen asleep, and was very quiet.

He took the seat below Dou Zhiwei, with Yan Che and Lu Ming standing behind him.

Su Xin moved briskly to serve them tea.

Song Ke cast a glance at Su Xin.

It was this maidservant who had entered the house and snatched the child.

He had never imagined that there should be such a person at the side of the Fourth Young Lady of the Dou family.

He raised his head and, for the first time, looked carefully at the girl seated across from him.

*

Sisters, brothers, I know it is a little late, but I did not want to post it and then have to overhaul it again, so I got up early and read the manuscript through once more, and then revised a great many places. Please understand! ...o(n_n)_o... And then, I continue to beg for pink tickets... pink tickets, ah...

*