Chapter 145 — Bereavement

After seeing Duan Bing out and dismissing Suxin, Dou Yan pushed open the window of the study.

The great red lanterns lit the courtyard bright as day, and a piercing cold rushed in.

Dou Yan felt her spirits lift.

And when had Song Yan been driven from the family?

She could not help secretly regretting it.

Why had she not paid closer attention at the time?

Then she would not be so heavy with worry now.

Dou Yan sighed.

Just then she saw Su Lan hurrying across the courtyard toward her, a red gauze lantern in hand.

"What is it?" Dou Yan called out to her from the window before she had even drawn near.

Su Lan dropped her a perfunctory curtsy, gave no answer, and slipped through the door curtain.

Dou Chijin's heart sank; he dismissed all the servants in the room.

Su Lan waited until the two maids had gone out, then stepped to Dou Zhiwei's side and said in a low voice, "Lu Ming wants to see you! Now!"

At this hour the second gate was already locked, Dou Chujin received no outsiders, and Lu Ming had never once asked to see Dou Yan at such a time.

Dou Yan's heart began to pound. "Bring him in at once!" she said.

Su Lan gave a muted "Mm," went out with a grave face, and returned shortly with Lu Ming.

After greeting Dou Yan, Lu Ming stood in the hall and said nothing.

Su Lan at once dismissed the servants in the room, shut the latticed doors of the hall, and kept watch outside.

Lu Ming stepped forward and said quietly, "Third Master Jiang is dead. By the young master's command, Mr. Yan went to Haozhou to visit Madam Mei. Madam Mei feared the young master had no one to attend him, so she sent Xu Qing back to the capital with Mr. Yan. On the road they were set upon. Xu Qing is gravely wounded, and Mr. Yan took an arrow in the shoulder, yet they could never shake off their pursuers. Mr. Yan set a decoy to draw them off, and he and Xu Qing are hiding at your estate. He asks that you send word to the Yingzhenguo Mansion and have men come to their relief."

Dou Zhiwei had a very bad feeling.

First Lady Jiang's death, and then Yan Che and Xu Qing hunted down.

Was there some connection between the two?

"Do you know who is hunting them?" she asked, her face darkening despite herself.

"We don't know who they are." Lu Ming's face was grim as well. "They cling to us like maggots on bone; there is no shaking them off. Even when Xu Qing took one alive, the man crushed his own teeth and swallowed poison on the spot—they are kept dead men. Mr. Yan fears they have hidden heavy forces along the road to the capital and dares not go farther. He can only send word to the mansion and wait for relief."

Dou Yan did not answer at once. She sat there and lightly tapped her fingertips on the table.

Lu Ming hardly dared breathe.

Strictly speaking, the fourth young lady of the Dou family had neither kin nor acquaintance with the Yingzhenguo Mansion; she was at odds with the young master besides, and she was only a woman. Even to stand by and watch would have been perfectly reasonable. Their request was indeed a bit much.

But whoever had dared move against Mr. Yan and Xu Qing—who could wound Xu Qing and leave Mr. Yan unable to trace their origins—was plainly formidable. They had likely long since learned every detail of their circumstances.

He was the young master's attendant; anyone who cared to could recognize him easily enough.

Mr. Yan had feared he would be recognized, and so had been forced to seek help from the fourth young lady Dou.

As he was turning this over, Dou Yan's expression suddenly changed. "Su Lan!" she called out sharply. "Fetch Guard Duan at once!"

Duan Bing was the most skilled of the Dou family guards.

Lu Ming's face changed too. "Fourth Young Lady, what are you—"

Dou Yan paid him no heed. Hands clasped tight, she paced back and forth across the room, visibly agitated.

Duan Bing was brought in shortly.

His hair was still disheveled; clearly he had been roused from bed.

Dou Yan did not trouble herself over that. "Tell me," she said to Duan Bing, "you slipped into the Zhenguo Mansion by some opening. The outer courtyards, perhaps—but where Young Master Mei lodges ought to be heavily guarded, and Elder Chen's position is peculiar besides. How did you manage to reach Elder Chen so easily?"

Duan Bing looked a little bewildered. "The Zhenguo Mansion is enormous. I had meant from the start to slip in by the back gate disguised as a servant hauling vegetables and coal, and improvise from there, so I wore a set of clothes identical to the mansion servants'. When I saw people bringing offerings, I posed as one of the mansion's retainers and went up to help. There were so many mourners that the gatekeepers could not possibly keep track of them all, and the guards seemed to have been called away to help as well. Those I met were only ordinary patrols. The only trouble was a few old women at the ornamental gate. Fortunately Elder Chen was in the courtyard tending his flowers and plants, and I found him quickly enough..."

"Impossible!" Before Duan Bing could finish, Lu Ming cried out in a shrill voice. "The accounting office, the reception office, the stables—every one has its own duties in the mansion! The guards could never be called away to help! If they could be moved about at will, the whole household would have fallen into chaos long ago..."

At these words, everyone in the room except Duan Bing went ashen.

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Sisters, brothers, the pink votes are truly coming in strong!

Thank you all.

o(n_n)o~

It is only that my pace is a little slow...

But there will never be a missing chapter.

At the crucial moments I tend to mull things over and over, so I write with some care, and the updates are a bit slow...

ps: Chapter 144 has been revised, but the changes do not affect the reading of the plot; you are welcome to go back and flip through it.

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