Chapter 331 — Coping

Song Yan rubbed his nose sheepishly.

It was not that he could not control himself; he simply loved watching Dou Yan lose control beneath him.

Still, at the thought of Dou Yan's red, swollen flower, he felt a little guilty, and did not dare say more, obediently going to rest on the kang.

Dou Yan's heart melted at the sight, and she prepared tea for him herself. Moving a lamp over, she sat by his kang and murmured, "I will be fine after resting a couple of days."

Song Yan took her hand: "Then sleep with me on the kang. I promise I will not let my hands wander."

How was that any different from the bed?

Dou Yan was speechless with anger. "So you do know your hands wander."

She paid Song Yan no further heed, and turned to climb straight into bed.

Waking in the middle of the night thirsty, she found that Song Yan had at some point climbed into bed and was curled up beside her, sleeping soundly.

Dou Yan could not help laughing.

She gently tucked the quilt around Song Yan.

The next day she again ordered Ganlu to put the two sets of bedding back into the chest.

Song Yan pretended not to know, and rested in the bed as usual, though he was much more well-behaved.

Dou Zhiwei's mind had turned to Suxin's marriage.

The dowry house, the farmland, the shopfronts, the jewelry, the vessels and utensils... not one could be spared. Every last detail she must inquire into herself.

The Lu family's Second and Third Young Madams, who had come calling, laughed till they could not straighten up, and teased her: "Are you marrying off a maid, or marrying off your own daughter?"

Dou Yan truly did feel as though she were marrying off a daughter.

But to these young madams, whose lives had run smooth to this very day, there was no explaining it.

She simply sidestepped the subject and said with a smile, "What wind blows my two sisters-in-law here today?" Then she instructed Ganlu, "Go tell the cooks in the kitchen that I am keeping the two young madams for a meal."

Ganlu answered and went off.

The Lu family's Second Young Madam was the wife of Lu Han, eldest grandson of Princess Ninghuai; the Third Young Madam was the wife of Lu Qin, her second grandson. Neither stood on ceremony with Dou Yan; they thanked her generously and said together, "Today we must taste the cooking of your kitchen, cousin's wife."

Dou Yan wondered privately.

Both young madams came of illustrious houses, and she had only just married into the Yingzhenguo Estate; there was no friendship between them, so why were they so warm toward her, plainly bent on cultivating her acquaintance?

She received them without betraying a thing.

The Third Young Madam then brought up the birthday of the lady of the Jingzhenguo Estate, on the sixth of next month: "Shall we go together when the day comes?"

In her former life she had often gone in and out of the Jingzhenguo Estate, and never once had it left her with a pleasant memory; in this life she had truly no interest in the place.

"We shall see when the time comes!" Dou Yan explained with a smile. "The Lord of the Estate is still ill."

Both young madams looked utterly astonished: "The Lord of the Estate is not yet recovered?"

Surely Song Cen could not tell outsiders that the old man had fallen ill from rage because the Dou family had given his daughter-in-law too lavish a dowry? So the Yingzhenguo Estate gave out everywhere that Song Cen was suffering from a chill.

Dou Yan answered vaguely, and turned the talk to anecdotes of the capital with the two young madams of the Lu family.

Both were quick and perceptive women; since Dou Yan was unwilling to say more, they did not press her. They chatted of household matters and were soon merry enough, a room full of laughter and talk.

Only in the afternoon did a maid come in to announce: "Madam, a woman from the household of a certain Commissioner Chen of the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Zhenfu Office has come to see you. She says that on official business in Tianjin some days ago he obtained several baskets of pomegranates, and has sent some especially for you to taste while they are fresh."

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Supplementing the update of August 27.