Chapter 481 — The Elevation

Song Cen, struck by sudden inspiration, put on a worried face. "Still idle at home!" Then he said, "Thanks to Her Majesty's kindness, last year she found the boy a good match, and this year I had him set up his own household. But he has never had a suitable post, so he sits at home doing nothing. It worries me to death."

The Empress smiled. "What sort of post would you like for him?"

Song Cen said with a smile, "The Imperial Guard and the Embroidered Uniform Guard would be best, but my eldest is already in the Imperial Guard and also oversees the garrison of Xuanshuo City. So we must settle for second best—waiting for a vacancy in the Standard-Bearer Guard, the firearms battalion, or the Five Camps. He has a gentle nature, and I fear that if he is too far from home, he will be bullied."

Hearing this, Song Han cooperatively put on a bashful look.

The Empress nodded with a smile. "Lady Jiang was as close to me as a sister. Her children are as my own nephews. I will keep this matter in mind."

Song Cen and Song Han were overjoyed and thanked her again and again.

Within a few days, the Empress secured Song Han a post as a squad commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Song Cen and Song Han were beside themselves with delight. They ordered official robes, greased the palms of superiors, and called on old connections; Song Cen personally took Song Han around on a round of visits.

When Chen Jia learned that Song Han had come to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he went to see Song Yan. "Should I invite Song Han to my home for a meal?"

Song Han might not know that Chen Jia was in on it.

Song Yan thought this a good idea and said with a smile, "If he is willing to visit you, so much the better."

Chen Jia understood. The very next day after Song Han reported for duty at the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he paid him a visit, bringing costly gifts and inviting him to his home, his manner exceedingly attentive.

Song Han knew he was one of Song Yan's men and could not help showing his scorn. "I would not presume! You are the honorary son-in-law of the Yingzhenguo Estate and a vice commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

Chen Jia fawned with a smile. "A distant connection three thousand li off—how can it compare with you, the rightful second master of the Yingzhenguo Estate, recommended by the Empress herself? To say such a thing shames me to death."

This was the husband Song Yan had chosen for Jiang Yan.

A creature who calls any woman with milk his mother.

So much for Song Yan's judgment.

Song Han was in high spirits.

The Empress's card really was the one that worked!

If Song Yan could see Chen Jia fawning over him like this, what expression would he wear?

The very thought thrilled him.

"Very well!" Song Han said magnanimously. "You set the day, and I will surely come."

"No time like the present—how about tomorrow?" Chen Jia seemed unable to wait.

Song Han nodded in agreement.

The next day, Chen Jia not only hired actors to perform and sing and prostitutes to pour the wine, but also invited several colleagues from the Embroidered Uniform Guard who were adept at flattery.

Fine wine, beautiful women, and endless words of praise—Song Han felt this was how a man ought to live.

Before he knew it, he had drunk a little too much. "Where is my cousin A'yan? Her cousin has come—why does she not appear to drink with me?"

Chen Jia's colleagues exchanged glances and set down their chopsticks.

To have a respectable wife drink alongside actors and prostitutes—what would that make her?

Chen Jia, however, looked unconcerned and said with a smile, "You may not know, but my wife spends most of her time at a farmstead the heir gave her as dowry, attended by the maids and old women she brought from the Yingzhenguo Estate. Shall I send someone to fetch her back?"

At these words Song Han sobered halfway and forced a smile. "No need for such trouble. Another time."

Chen Jia smiled at this and poured Song Han another cup.

The colleagues invited to keep Song Han company also came to their senses and raised their cups one after another to toast him.

A paving stone beneath Chen Jia's feet shattered into several pieces.

Song Han, still oblivious, drank himself into a stupor and, clutching the thousand-tael silver draft Chen Jia had given him, returned to the Fourth Lane.

Miao Zhi fetched water and attended him while he washed, but he seized her and demanded that she and Liu Hong serve him together. Miao Zhi trembled with fury, ran off weeping to the eastern wing, and did not return to the inner chamber of the main house all night.

Song Han, seizing the courage of wine, kept Liu Hong and Ji Hong in the inner chamber and frolicked with them until dawn.

Brothers and sisters, this chapter was also written in the middle of the night and posted on a timer.

Right now I feel as though I am being torn in two, held together only by the constant kindness you have all shown me.