Chapter 336 — The Warning

"What's wrong?" Song Yan asked, somewhat flustered as he put his arm around Dou Yan. "Are you unwell? Shall I call your aunt over?"

"No need," Dou Yan said. She bent over and retched a few more times before taking the plain silk handkerchief and wiping her mouth. "I'll be uncomfortable sooner or later. My aunt says this is normal."

"Oh!" Song Yan was slightly reassured. He took the tea Ganlu handed him and served Dou Yan himself so she could rinse her mouth. Then he carried Dou Yan onto the kang and only then laughed. "No wonder they say filial piety comes first of all virtues—raising a child is truly no simple matter!"

Dou Yan said with a coy pout, "So you're only learning that now—you'd better treat me well!"

The moment the words left her mouth, she was overcome with embarrassment.

How had she come to say such a thing?

She was no girl of seventeen or eighteen; could she not tell sincerity from falsehood, that she must have someone fussing and cooing over her before it counted as kindness?

Song Sui loved the spoiled, coquettish way she showed herself before him without meaning to; it meant only that Dou Yan trusted and relied on him, and that was why she held nothing back in his presence.

"Haven't I treated you well enough?" he said, knitting his brows in feigned distress. "Then tell me, how should I treat you before it counts as well?"

Dou Yan was embarrassed, and somewhat stiffly changed the subject. "Oh, yes. Chen Jia came to see me today. He said the Emperor is going to stay at the Western Garden for a few days, and that Dong Qi is to go along with the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Will it be all right when you stay behind at home?"

"The Emperor and the Empress had a quarrel at the mouth, and in a fit of pique he wants to go and stay at the Western Garden for a few days. The itinerary hasn't been fixed yet. It's not even certain he'll go." Song Yan laughed softly at her ear. "Don't go shouting it about!"

Dou Yan was dumbstruck.

Song Yan was already breathing hot air at her ear and asking, "Tell me, how should I treat you before it counts as well?"

The suggestive tone made Dou Yan's face and ears burn red.

"Go and wash up," she said, flustered as she pushed him away. "Let's retire early."

Song Yan chuckled. But he seized the chance to press himself against her, insisting that Dou Yan explain just how he should treat her well. She could not pull him off.

The servants in the room had gradually grown used to the way their noble and refined young heir, once he met his lady, liked to banter and tease like a different man altogether; all of them pretended not to see, lowered their eyes, and withdrew.

Little by little, Song Yan was losing control of himself.

Dou Qu pressed his hand down, and her voice grew somewhat hoarse. "You promised me you wouldn't take liberties."

Song Yan's body stiffened, and only after a long while did he draw back his hand.

Dou Yan retreated to the window and sat down.

Song Yan turned his face away, thoroughly ill at ease. "I'll go wash up," he said in a low voice.

Only then did Dou Ci realize that her manner must have seemed like a dislike of Song Yan, as if she meant to avoid him.

She tugged at Song Zhi's sleeve, lowered her eyes, and said, her voice as faint as a mosquito's: "I'm afraid I won't be able to hold myself back, and will give in to you..." As she spoke, her face was already flushed crimson.

Song Yan thought of her beneath him, going from stiff to soft, from soft to a state where, so long as it was him, the slightest touch would stir her passion... In an instant his chest felt as though a pool of spring water were flowing there, gentle and soft, as if it were rippling and about to overflow; he could not help but bend down and embrace Dou Yan, kissing her temples and the corners of her hair with exquisite tenderness.

Dou Yan sighed.

The sound was faint, but Song Yan heard it all the same.

He lifted his head and gazed at Dou Yan with clear, bright eyes. "What is it?"

Dou Yan saw her own figure reflected in his eyes.

Did this count as "you within me, and I within you"?

Entranced, she reached out and gently stroked the corner of his eye, murmuring, "Don't go drinking with singsong girls anymore..."

Song Yan was taken aback, then burst out laughing. "All right, I won't go drinking with singsong girls anymore!"

He gathered Dou Yan into his arms.

Dou Yan's face burned, and she buried it in Song Zhi's chest, unable to lift her head.

Beneath the eaves, the great red lanterns swayed merrily in the wind, shedding a wash of ruddy light.

Yet within the Osmanthus Fragrance Courtyard, rumors were sprouting on every side: "Have you heard? The Duke of Jingzhen has not long to live?"

"Is that the sort of thing one may say lightly?"

"I am not deceiving you. His Majesty is to reside at the Western Park for some days, and had meant to take the heir with him, but the Duke is ill, and the heir feared the Young Gentleman might at any moment... so he begged an imperial decree to remain at home and nurse the sick."

"Impossible, surely? The Duke looks ruddy-faced enough; he hardly seems like a man at death's door!"

"What do you know of it? This is the last flare of a guttering lamp! Else why would the Imperial Medical Academy prescribe nothing but tonics to nourish the qi and enrich the blood?"

"That is so! The Academy's physicians say the Duke has caught a chill, yet he neither coughs nor runs a fever, which is hardly like a chill at all... Could it be you have guessed rightly after all?"

The speaker's voice dropped even lower: "I hear that over at the Yizhi Hall they have lately bought up quantities of incense candles and white cloth..."

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Brothers and sisters, post the chapter first, then fix the typos.

o(∩_∩)o~

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