Chapter 314 — Acceptance

"What has Yantang to do with any of this?" Dou Huaiying was astonished.

His aunt then told him how Dou Yan and Song Yan had come the day before to discuss with her the matter of Zhao Zhangru's marriage.

Dou Huaiying was struck dumb, and at last understood why Song Yan had set out to test Song Yan.

He could not keep the grin from his face, and told his aunt what had happened in the flower hall the day before: "...I ask you, that boy—not only is he steady in all he does, he is careful and thorough besides, and what matters most, he has risen young. And he puts on no airs. Tell me, how did our Shouyuan ever come by such a fine son-in-law!" Then, reflecting that Zhao Zhangru and Dou Chu both had marriages that had twisted and turned, delayed and deferred, until they had been left at home to grow into old maids, he consoled his aunt, "There is a saying: those kept for later still get their soup. If our Shouyuan can marry so well, then our Zhangru can marry just as well!"

His aunt nodded again and again, and with a beaming smile kept saying, "May your auspicious words come true."

This was the first time since Zhao Guqiu's death that his aunt had spoken to Dou Huaiying so calmly and reasonably. Dou Huaiying could not help taking a little more heart, and said, "Do you think we should write a letter to my cousin? Ask him what he thinks?"

"Of course!" his aunt said. "But if we are to make this match with the Song family, I fear we shall have to stay a while longer in the Yunqi Temple lane..."

"Stay as long as you please! Stay as long as you please!" Dou Huaiying said several polite things in quick succession, went off to the flower hall, kept Zheng Jiuyan at home for supper, and tactfully conveyed to him the Zhao family's willingness to make the match.

This was a case of the blind man eating his dumplings—everyone knew perfectly well what was in it; the formalities were only for the sake of the Zhao family's face, so that the proposal might be seen to come from the Song family first.

Zheng Jiuyan and Dou Huaiying, with Dou Yong attending on them, passed the cups back and forth and found each other's conversation very much to their taste.

His aunt at once sent someone to tell Dou Yan.

Dou Yan took Song Yan's face in her hands and kissed him several times: "You really are something!" Then she called the maids in to dress and make her up afresh, and made ready to go to the Longhua Temple lane.

Song Yan, touching his own face, sat smiling to one side and watched Dou Yan dress, saying, "The bride has not even been carried through the door, and already this matchmaker has been tossed over the wall. You are too cruel!"

Dou Yan gave him a smile radiant with beauty, and putting on an air of looking down at him from on high, said, "You are permitted to come home with me to my mother's!"

Song Yan roared with laughter.

And he really did go with Dou Yan to the Heming Temple lane.

At the sight of them, Gao Sheng saw that the Fourth Young Mistress and the Fourth Young Master had come home, and at once went off to announce them—and moreover hurried to instruct the kitchen: "Quick, lay out a fresh banquet—the Fourth Young Master is here."

The serving women all sprang into motion.

Dou Huaiying, having had a little wine, would hear no refusal but pulled Song Yan down into a seat in the flower hall, and told Dou Yan, "Go on, off with you—go and amuse your aunt!"

Dou Yan pursed her lips and smiled, and went to their aunt's rooms.

"My child!" His aunt took Dou Yan's hands, her eyes glistening with moisture. "It is you who have a heart for your cousin." Then she questioned her closely about Song Yan.

Dou Yan had known that Cousin Zhangru's marriage was of great importance to the Zhao family, but she had never imagined that her aunt—whom she remembered as one who could face even Mount Tai crashing down upon her with composure—could be under such pressure.

Had she known, she should have stepped in long ago.

What did it matter how things had gone in her last life? If in this one she could make her uncle, her aunt, and her cousins happy, would that not be enough?

Dou Yan felt a flush of shame, and answered her aunt's questions earnestly and in detail.

A young maid came in and said, "Madam, I have given the letter to Steward Gao. Steward Gao says it is a little late today, and he will send someone to the post station first thing tomorrow morning."

"What letter?" Dou Yan asked, puzzled.

"The letter your uncle wrote," her aunt said with a smile. "A matter this great—one has to tell him of it."

"The northwest is a thousand li from here. There and back, it will be after the New Year," Dou Yan said. "Shall I have the Heir help you find a way? If it goes through the Ministry of War, it will arrive in twenty days at most."

"Good!" Her aunt did not stand on ceremony. Without definite word from her husband, they could not exchange the betrothal cards here, and the New Year was coming on fast; the Song uncle and nephew were still lodging with friends, and they could hardly drag everyone along in the capital. "Speak to Yantang about it."

A trifling matter like this, of course Song Yan would see done properly.

That very night he had the Ministry of War tuck the letter in with the urgent dispatches for the Gansu garrison headquarters, to be sent on to Qingyang.

And so the whole northwest came to know that the husband of Zhao Si's niece was the Heir of the Ying Duke's household!

But that is a later tale.

Now that the Zhao and Song families had a mind to join in marriage, Song Yumin could hardly fail to write home and tell his family.

Quzhou lay on the water routes, so letters went back and forth quickly. Song Yumin's wife soon wrote back, asking where the wedding was to be held and whether help was wanted, and enclosed a draft for fifty taels of silver, saying it had been pooled by the clan for Song Yan's marriage.

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Sisters, brothers, here is the update for July 11, made up to you!

o(n_n)o~

ps: tonight's update will be around midnight.