Chapter 334 — Repaying a Debt

The second half of Chapter 333 has undergone major revisions.

o(n_n)o~

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After seeing off the people from Tan Family Manor, Dou Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Song Yan did not return until the hour of the Rooster in the afternoon.

She told him why the Tan family had come, and asked him teasingly, "What have you done now? To make the Tan family travel all the way from Zhending to the capital just to declare their position to you."

Song Yan looked rather helpless. "The Tan family worries too much. Quite apart from the fact that they once sent coal in the snow, their transcendent standing in the jianghu alone would keep me from provoking them for no reason."

Dou Chiyou glanced around, and seeing that the maids and servants had all withdrawn, said in a low voice, "Child, what are Fifth Uncle's intentions?"

That was his only son—was the boy to be raised at Tan Family Manor forever?

A trace of reluctance showed in Song Yan's eyes. He said quietly, "This is Fifth Uncle's wish. He says that even if the Jiang family enjoys calm waters for a time, there will surely come a day of towering waves, and no one knows what the future holds. Since the child could turn danger into safety, that is his fate; best not to drag him into it. It also leaves the Jiang family a thread of blood."

Dou Yan fell silent.

From what Jiang Baisun had said, he did have plans for the Jiang family's future. She only hoped he was not a man of empty talk, and could lead the Jiang family up out of its valley.

A woman with a child is especially quick to feel for other children. Song Yan thought Dou Yan was worrying over the boy's rough road, and comforted her gently. "A loss may turn out to be a gain—who can say what is fortune and what is misfortune? The Jiang family's circumstances are still very difficult; the child is safer staying there." He added, "Didn't you say you must not be too joyous or too sorrowful just now? Let us not think on these things. After supper, I will play chess with you."

At that, Dou Yan's mood improved a great deal. She smiled and said, "Gu Yu has gone?"

"Yes!" Song Yan answered, and led Dou Zhiwei into the inner chamber with an arm about her shoulders. "I saw him off at Anding Gate; he will be back before the Little New Year." Then he described the farewell to amuse her.

Du Wei sent a young servant over to report to Song Yan: "...Those five pomegranate ornaments were heirlooms of Chen Jia's late godfather, Chen Zuxun. After Chen Zuxun died, the Chen family lost its hereditary post, and his son, frightened, fell ill and died as well. Only Chen Zuxun's old wife was left, keeping house with her daughter-in-law and a small grandson, and there were still people from the old Embroidered Uniform Guard coming round to cadge off them. The family grew poorer by the day. After Chen Jia was promoted to Assistant Commissioner of the Zhenfu Division, he stood up for the Chen family. Later, when he needed gifts and could not scrape together the silver, Chen Zuxun's old wife heard of it and gave him these pomegranate ornaments."

Any man in the Guard who could hold authority was a man of no small wealth.

These past years Chen Jia had fared poorly in the Guard, nearly stripped of his post, and the bribes he had spread up and down had long since drained the little he had earned in Chen Zuxun's day. Later, though Song Yan had put in a word for him before Wang Yuan, the silver needed for such things as cultivating colleagues still had to come out of his own purse; he was now poor as a church mouse. It was only to be expected.

Dou Yan mused, "I wonder whether the Chen family gave them up willingly or under duress?"

"Willingly, I should think," the young servant said with a smile. "The Chen family now counts on Chen Jia's son—they are counting on him to hold up the family and support the grandson!"

Song Yan was silent for a moment. Then he said, "How much silver does Chen Jia owe?"

The young servant started, blurting out, "How does the Young Marquis know that Chen Jia owes a great deal of silver outside?"

Ever since Song Yan had learned that Dou Yan might be with child, his spirits had been excellent. He did not take offense, but said, "That much is plain enough. The Chen family may have declined, but Chen Zuxun was, after all, a Chiliarch of the Zhenfu Division. Even if former colleagues have kicked a man when he was down, under the Son of Heaven's own walls, in a time of peace and prosperity, they could not have gone too far. The Chen family must still have some old foundation. Since the Chen family is counting on Chen Jia to hold up the household and support the grandson, they rise and fall together—if Chen Jia can make good, the Chen family keeps its estate; if Chen Jia falls, the Chen family will sooner or later decline with him. So of course they would support him with all their strength, and the only support they can give him now is silver. Chen Jia has been eating away his capital these past years; even the place he lives in is rented, and one look tells you the state of the family fortunes. How could the Chen family not help him with a little silver? Yet he could not even produce silver for gifts—plainly the hole is too big for the Chen family to fill." At this he gave a slight curl of the lip, a faint smile. "In that case, I shall pay his debt for him. Call it the purchase price for these five pomegranate ornaments."

The young servant's mouth fell open.

Dou Chiyou said with fond reproach, "You like these pomegranate ornaments that much?"

Song Yan looked at Dou Yan and smiled faintly. "These pomegranate ornaments have come at just the right time—how could I not like them!"

Dou Yan's face flushed scarlet on the spot.

Song Yan had already called Chen He in. "Go to the counting house, draw the silver, and pay off all Chen Jia's debts."

Chen He answered, "Yes."

The young servant could not help muttering under his breath, "Chen Jia owes more than twenty thousand taels..."

Dou Yan was greatly startled. "How could he owe so much?"

Song Yan did not even knit his brows. His expression unchanged, he instructed Chen He, "Go to the counting house and draw the silver."

The young servant shivered, hastily made a respectful bow to Song Yan, and withdrew with Chen He.

Only then did Song Yan come forward, draw Dou Yan down onto the great backrest cushion, and say in a low voice, "This Chen Jia knows how to work things. A debt of twenty or thirty thousand taels is only to be expected." Then he teased her, grinning. "By my reckoning he ought to owe fifty or sixty thousand at least. Who would have thought only twenty thousand? Plainly his foundation is still too thin—even the moneylenders dared not lend him much. I wonder whether, now that I have paid off his debt, his credit will be better, and borrowing will come easier to him in future?"

Dou Yan could not suppress a smile. "It's all your doing—who can say whether you are helping him or harming him?"

"Let him be," Song Yan said carelessly. "Even parents cannot shadow their children's every step all their lives. If he meets trouble hereafter and does not think for himself how to solve it, what business is that of mine?"

That was true enough.

Dou Yan pressed her lips together and smiled.

Song Yan went on, "First thing tomorrow I shall go to Puji Temple and ask the abbot of Daxiang Temple to consecrate these pomegranate ornaments, and then we shall set them at the head of our bed. They say it brings many sons and abundant blessings." As he spoke, his hand slipped inside Dou Zhiwei's garments and came to rest on her belly, stroking it gently. "When will there be certain word? Then I can invite your aunt to come and look after you." He was fairly itching with impatience, which set Dou Yan laughing again.

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Chen Jia stared at the twenty thousand taels in silver drafts that Chen He had brought, his face dark as a sky about to rain.