Chapter 327 — Thoughts
Purple Streets of Chang'an Page 2 of 2
Song Yan's breath grew increasingly uneven, and his hand slipped inside her collar.
Dou Yan seized the moment to catch her breath and reminded him, "You promised me you would never fool around outside the inner chamber again."
That day they had spent the whole night in the study, clothes, calligraphy, paintings, brushes, and inkstones scattered across the floor. When the maids came to tidy up, none of them dared lift their heads.
Song Yan nibbled at her ear. "I promised I would never fool around outside the inner chamber again. But if you fool around with me, that does not count as breaking my word, does it?"
"What?" Dou Yan did not understand for a moment.
Song Yan had already taken her ear into his mouth with a smile, biting and gnawing gently.
Dou Yan's mind went blank with a buzzing sound, and her body softened like water.
"Song Yan, you. You..." Could she call him despicable? That accusation was too much of a mood killer. Could she call him cunning? Yet if she steeled her heart, it was not as though she could not push him away.
It was as though a warm current flowed out from within her body. Dou Yan could not suppress her soft moans and clung tightly to Song Yan.
The springtime radiance that filled the room made Suxin and the others retreat from the hall with flushed faces.
Outside, the cold wind howled past, piercing to the bone.
Sulan gathered her sleeves and whispered thoughtlessly to her sister, "The Heir will take quite a while to settle down. We might as well go back to the side room and sleep first, leaving one person to keep watch here. We can come back when it is nearly dawn."
Suxin was mortified and pinched her sister's cheek. "Say such shameless things again and I will send you back to Zhending."
Sulan rubbed her face and muttered under her breath, unconvinced, "I was not saying anything wrong..."
Suxin covered Sulan's mouth and could not help glancing around. Seeing that the other maids all stood with their heads lowered in embarrassment, she was furious at her sister's lack of restraint. With a cold expression, she said to the maids, "You may all go back and rest. Sulan and I will be enough here."
The maids, as though fearing Suxin might change her mind, scampered off in a flash.
Only then did Suxin scold Sulan in a low voice. "We are both nearing the age of leaving the household. Madam will choose several from among the current maids to promote to senior maids in close attendance. If you keep talking nonsense like this, and Madam dotes on you and never punishes you, those maids will see it and follow your example, and the rules of these rooms will be ruined." She went on, "You are not young anymore. Madam and I can protect you for a time, but can we protect you for a lifetime? When you marry in the future and stir up gossip, people will not say you are brainless. They will say the maid Madam raised has no virtue, and it will only ruin Madam's reputation. You must remember: whatever you do from now on, you carry Madam's reputation on your back."
Sulan grew frantic at these words, tears nearly falling. "I, I will never say such things again."
Yet she still did not know what she had done wrong.
Suxin's head ached. She knew that saying more would not necessarily make her sister understand, and she could only let out a helpless sigh.
She could only hope that Sulan would marry into a good family that could tolerate her loose tongue.
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In the blink of an eye it was mid-October. The Dou family finally handed over the properties under Dou Yan's name to Dou Yan, and Dou Heng and Dou Xiuchang were about to hurry back to Zhending.
On the day they left, Song Yan personally saw them off outside the Chaoyang Gate.
On his way back, he encountered Chen Jia.
"Heir!" Chen Jia hurriedly jumped down from his horse and bowed to Song Yan.
Song Yan nodded and brushed past Chen Jia.
Chen Jia, with a fawning smile, asked one of Song Yan's attendants, "Where has the Heir been?"
There were plenty of people in the capital who wanted to curry favor with the Heir.
The attendant, somewhat arrogant but unconcerned, said, "Madam's uncle and cousin are returning to Zhending. The Heir made a special trip to see the two gentlemen off."
Chen Jia uttered an "oh" and turned to discuss with one of his brothers. "I think it is best to add someone to my household as soon as possible. I am not particular about anything else, but she must be clever and quick-witted, able to move about among the great households."
"Such a woman is not easy to find!" His brother scratched his head. "Would you want a personal maid of a young lady or madam from a great family?"
"I would." Chen Jia said without hesitation. "If it were a senior personal maid who had come from some old madam's side, that would be even better."
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Sisters and brothers, apologies for posting so late.
I finished writing in the middle of the night yesterday, but then my computer had problems. It would not read the USB drive, and I could not get online either. I ran to an internet cafe and fiddled around for ages without finding the problem, so I had to come back and borrow a neighbor's laptop to retype the text I had written on the neighbor's laptop, then copy it out with a USB drive. By then the internet cafe had closed, so I had to wait until dawn to go back and post.
Today I have to get the computer repaired, and I also need to ask the telecom technician to come and check whether the network is working properly. I cannot say for certain when the update will be, so please bear with me. I will sort out these trivial matters as quickly as I can. And to all the sisters and brothers who see this message, please pass the word to one another.
Thank you, everyone!
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