Electric Sky #4: Mid-Autumn Festival - Part 2/4 (Lin Moniao Series)

[ilthit]

Name: Mid-Autumn Festival - Part 2
Story: Lin Moniao Series (AO3 link)
Colors: Electric Sky #4 (Somnambulist)
Supplies and Styles: gesso; interactive art, mural
Word Count: 20K
Rating: teen (this part)
Warnings: Graphic violence, mention of abuse and slavery. In future parts: Murder, poison, body horror, allusions to child abuse, suicide, blackmail, betrayal.
Summary: Lin Moniao and his allies have captured an assassin. Now what?
Note: Co-written with minutia_r . Also available in full and with illustrations on AO3 here. This part includes chapters 5-7. I had some formatting issues here, so alas, italics have been lost.

-

Chapter Five: House Arrest

Note: This chapter contains violence, mention of abuse, and mild despair.

-

They make it to Madame Zhu's nice but unostentatious house by and by, all of them accounted for. The achapterssassin tried to escape once, when they were still at the inn, a spark of defiance that ended with Mu Liqiang sitting on his legs until he gave up. He did not try again, and the healers put him safely to sleep while the others arranged renting a cart from the inn, which Mu Liqiang pulled through the streets, looking like any particularly large laborer with goods to deliver, the assassin sleeping soundly under canvas. Madame Zhu's housekeeper, also, was forewarned not to come to the house, and will be able to claim no knowledge of any of this, and so they have the house to themselves.

After showing the others where to find whatever they might need, Lin Moniao leaves the girls with the assassin. Between their individual skills, they should have no trouble keeping their prisoner safe until someone figures out what to do with him.

Night has fallen by the time Lin Moniao and Mu Liqiang make their way back to Master Wu's house, and only a few extravagant lamps remain lit. In the darkness, they are strips of blacker darkness.

In fact, had anyone been at the door, they might have startled to see them. Dressed all in black, without their identifying red belts or collars, and even their hair done differently, no-one could have identified them by description alone. Yi Zifan had turned out to be talented at constructing disguises at a short notice.

"It's not too late for shifu," says Mu Liqiang, who knows Master Wu's routines well. "I'm not sure about the sect leader. "

Lin Moniao reaches up to fix his hair, only to not quite be sure what to do with the unfamiliar style. "Who does know about the sect leader? Besides the masters, and the God. Well. I suppose we'll see," he says, preceding Mu Liqiang into the house. There may not be quite enough of him for Mu-shidi to hide behind, but he'll do what he can.

"...Shixiong. " Mu Liqiang follows for a few steps, closing the door behind him, then stops and hangs back. His hair has not been put up and forced into smoothness like this since the Liu Manor incident, and it makes him look more like his old self. He droops, the shadows hiding his face. "Shixiong doesn't need this shidi's help to give the report, does he? "

"You were there," Lin Moniao starts, but, well. Maybe he is big enough for Mu Liqiang to hide behind after all. And if he doesn't want to face Master Wu again so soon, that's understandable too. "But I can handle it. Shidi should rest. I may have to wake you up and send you out again soon. "

Because he did promise Master Wu he'd stay tonight, so it may have to be Mu Liqiang and Yu Long to relieve Heng Wanxue and Yi Zifan.

Mu Liqiang's shoulders fall in relief, and he stands up tall again. "I'll be happy to. " He puts his hands together, even though they are far beyond such formalities, then comes up to drop a kiss on Lin Moniao's cheek before going off in the direction of his own room.

The inner courtyard is quiet and dark, but someone is sitting on the porch fence on the right side, not trying to hide her shadow. The silhouette doesn't match the sect leader, and you wouldn't expect a servant to loiter out here at night. That doesn't leave many other possible conclusions.

"Ah. Shijie? " Lin Moniao says with a bow. It feels strange to use the title for anyone besides Yuwen Duyi, although there may be others who deserve it--though not this woman.

She hops off the fence and comes up the moonlight. Round-faced, with hair swept back from her face and tied into a pair of buns at the back of her neck, she must be a decade his elder. She's dressed in Qilin Villa's colors, and even has a Beauty Dagger hanging at her belt.

"Zeng Xiaohui," she introduces herself. Her voice is lilting and flirtatious, and her intonations lack finesse--not someone who spends her time speaking to fine gentlemen. "From the Nanjing house. Let yourself in, did you? Successful mission, I hope? What's your name, shidi? "

"Not as successful as I would have liked," Lin Moniao admits ruefully, with perfect honesty. "This shidi is Lin Moniao. I imagine you've heard of me. "

"Ah! Yes, I have. " She moves up a little closer and examines his face. "Lucky Master Wu! Yes, I have been informed of several things regarding Lin Moniao. You were out chasing after muggers, yes? Catch any? "

He gives a complacent smile and a little toss of his head, brought up short by the strange way his hair moves in a ponytail. "Well... " He had rather not admit anything he doesn't have to, but so many people saw them staggering through the streets with the assassin on their way to the Ancient Willow Sect. "One caught us, anyway. "

"A thrilling story, I'm sure. Now, go on, you don't want your lover burning lamp oil all night for you. Shijie has the place secured, don't worry. " She gives him a wink and steps out of the way.

"A mutual pleasure," Lin Moniao laughs. "I look forward to seeing more of shijie in the coming days. " Though he makes a note to bring Mu Liqiang and Yu Long around a different way, if they have to leave through Master Wu's rooms.

Master Wu's rooms do indeed show a faint light under the door as Lin Moniao approaches, and a soft knock brings up the man himself. Wu Zhenghao is dressed in just his inner robe with his hair held up with a simple tie instead of the usual hairpiece--ready for bed.

He startles at Lin Moniao's looks but draws him into the light, to look him up and down for signs of injuries. "I expected you, yet I nearly didn't recognize you. "

"Do you like the hair? I could keep it this way, if you like," says Lin Moniao with another experimental toss of his head.

Master Wu reaches to tug affectionately on the ponytail. "Well done. How did it go, is everyone well? Where is Mu Liqiang? "

"Mu-shidi, ah--I sent him to bed. The good news is, we are both back, and unharmed. The bad news is, nearly everything else. Things are more complicated than we realized. It isn't so urgent that we need to disturb the sect leader if she's resting, but she will want to hear this. And--is Shi Jia here?"

"Shi Jia is here. He wants to go back to his father, but we convinced him to stay with us for a few days, at least. Let me guess, they were after the dagger? "

"Oh, good. " Lin Moniao gives a deep sigh of relief. If Shi Minhua is sending assassins after people; if he knows what Shi Jia has done--then Lin Moniao is very glad that Shi Jia isn't too proud to accept the Qilin Villa's protection, however he feels about the sect and about Lin Moniao now. "The dagger--I thought that might be it. And then, after we were attacked, I thought they might be after me--or at least, after whoever came to follow up. In any case, we haven't yet tracked down the original attackers, and I'm not sure it would help much if we did. Besides avenging Ran Ah's honor, that is. I doubt they knew who they were working for, or they would have delivered the dagger directly to his representatives, rather than selling it to a fence. They may have believed they were doing it on their own initiative. I wonder if someone has been spreading rumors that the Leng-Piaos were going to send us a treasure, or something of that nature. "

"Slow down, tell me everything that happened, as it happened. "

"Ah--before I tell you the whole story--it's up to shifu, of course, but I think we ought to include Shi Jia in the conversation, if he's willing. It concerns Shi Minhua, and he may know things that will help. "

"Really. " Master Wu rears back and sighs. "That is fine, but allow me one question: Are you saying that Shi Minhua, of Bureau Four and the Imperial Treasury, has one of our Curved Beauty Daggers? "

"It seems very likely," says Lin Moniao apologetically.

Master Wu rests a hand on Lin Moniao's arm. "The sect leader has retired. I will not wake her for this, let at least one of us have a night's rest. We will see Shi Jia-- Just let me put my hair up properly. "

It's the work of a moment to retie his hair, pull on an outer robe and smooth it out, and then Master Wu leads Lin Moniao down the hallway, to the third room of the back of the house. This room is really rather too fine--Master Wu is staying in its mirror image on the other side of the rooms the sect leader now occupies. Here, too, there is a light under the door. "It could be more secure," Wu Zhenghao says quietly, "but with Zeng Xiaohui staking out the yard, he really should be fine. You met her, I assume. "

A knock brings Shi Jia out, looking tired and worn, but fully dressed, and they are let in.

"I do apologize for disturbing you so late," says Master Wu.

"There is no need, I was reading. " Shi Jia bows in acknowledgment. "Master Wu has been very kind. A-Niao? "

"A-Jia. " Something inside Lin Moniao's chest loosens at the familiar nickname--surely Shi Jia wouldn't be using it if he was really finished with Lin Moniao? God, Lin Moniao wants to hold him, but he wouldn't like it here and now. "I'm sorry. I have been unforgivably selfish. But I also have news of your uncle, and you should know what happened today. "

"Don't blame yourself for choices I made. " Shi Jia may look tired to death, but he smiles and takes a step towards Lin Moniao, before thinking better of it. "Uncle Minhua came to see this Shi Jia two days ago. I should have told you then, or--or told my superior. But I thought I knew better, so here we are. It's Shi Jia who apologizes. " He wipes his sleeve across his face. "What did A-Niao learn? "

Lin Moniao tells them about the scribes' report and how Heng Wanxue's tip led them to Blind Shang the Fence, and the assassin who had staked out Blind Shang's backyard and attacked them as they left. Shi Jia interrupts. "Do you think the assassin was also one of the original three attackers? I understand Ran Ah said one of them had training while the other two did not. "

"Well--it's possible. We didn't get a good description of the third one. Though if so, Ran Ah only came back alive because he meant him to. And he could have easily brought the dagger to Shi Minhua himself. Even if it was part of the plan to lure us out to Blind Shang's, there would still be no need to involve Sha Zhengtian or his secretary. " Lin Moniao shakes his head. "I don't know. I feel like I'm missing some pieces. Every theory that seems to explain some of the facts, others make no sense with it. "

They all fall silent to consider the facts.

"It does seem overly complicated," Shi Jia says at last, sighing.

"That may be on purpose," Master Wu remarks. "Involving Sha Zhengtian, the fence, the youths--it could all be misdirection. We should investigate where Sha Zhengtian falls in all this, but time is tight. "

"What happened then? " Shi Jia asks.

Lin Moniao describes the fight and their visit to the Ancient Willow Sect. "I'm afraid the whole thing was rather conspicuous. And so I've told Zeng Xiaohui that we were attacked. She hasn't inquired further--yet--but our official story is that some random thug jumped us while we were visiting a dangerous part of town in pursuit of our lost property, and after we subdued the attacker we took him to the Ancient Willow Sect because we are not monsters, after all. By the way, I apologize, but shifu should expect a rather large bill from the Ancient Willow. In any case--officially--we then left him there, and we don't know anything about him or what happened to him afterwards, nor do we care, we only hope he's learned his lesson about messing with the Qilin Villa. Actually, he's at my mother's house. Heng Wanxue and Yi Zifan are guarding him now. "

Master Wu nods. "That is an uncomfortable number of outsiders in the know, but--we haven't really done anything dishonorable here, anything to violate the laws of the Jianghu or the Dragon Throne. We were stolen from; we pursued vengeance. What troubles me is that someone who clearly means the sect harm is in possession of our weapon, at a delicate time like this. We protect the Curved Beauty Daggers to prevent outsiders learning our technique, but as a consequence they identify us. Between sect houses, it would be convincing in lieu of a token--which I assume they also took. If found at the site of a violent death, it would convincingly link it to us. That must have been what Shi Minhua is after. He targeted Shen Shanwei... Shen Shanwei fled, so he needed another means of getting it. "

Shi Jia says, "I agree. He did not know about the Immortal Sword Manor or Xie Lijuan, but he had figured out that I helped Shen Shanwei leave the city secretly. "

Lin Moniao sighs glumly. "And here I thought we had been so clever with that... maybe I should have stayed home that night after all. Well. Nevertheless. Though I still don't quite see... if he had wanted Shen Shanwei's dagger and token, he could have demanded them at their meeting... though then that would have given us time to plan for what it meant, or even to steal them back. On the other hand, if he had only-- " Lin Moniao's shoulders pull in instinctively as he continues-- "killed Shen-shidi then, he could have taken them and we never would have known who had done it. "

"Your actions that night were clever," Master Wu says. "It's due to that cleverness that Shi Minhua didn't cotton on until now. You bought your shidi a good head-start. But you're right, they must have wanted him for more than that. So what was the other part? "

"Uncle Minhua would have sought leverage," Shi Jia said quietly, "to force Shen Shanwei to comply. If he couldn't find any, he would grow angry, seek revenge, and then start over with a different plan. He asked this Shi Jia to betray the Villa. When he sensed that this one would not comply... he... may have gone for Lin Moniao for that reason. " He ducks his head, ashamed. "Lin Moniao is the only one I love who isn't family. "

"A-Jia. " Lin Moniao reaches out and covers Shi Jia's hand with his own--he shouldn't do more, but he can't do less. "Maybe Shi Jia is right, but it doesn't matter. If Shi Minhua is at all clever, he should try to kill me, because I will certainly kill him if I can. "

Shi Jia twines his fingers with Lin Moniao's, his voice a little fevered when he says, "Yes. Let's. "

"It is officially a sect grudge," Master Wu says, rubbing his chin absent-mindedly. "Not to mention a threat. But can we... could we... would it change anything? Worth doing, all the same... " He claps his hands together. "I'll have to get the sect leader's approval, but I think it's time to start making up a murder plan. If putting that man down deserves the name. Shi Jia, since you approve, we could certainly use your insight. But perhaps a rest, first. "

"But how could... hmm. Yes, of course. "

Master Wu pats Lin Moniao's shoulder. "I'll let you say goodnight. " He leaves quietly by the door and pads back to his bedroom at the end of the hallway.

As soon as the door is shut, Lin Moniao wraps his arms around Shi Jia and pulls him close. "A-Jia is more forgiving than this A-Niao deserves. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. "

Shi Jia squeezes him back, hiding his face in Lin Moniao's shoulder. "I love you. No regrets. I love you. " He's never really said it before, and having said it once, it seems he wants to say it again.

Lin Moniao has to swallow back the impulse to apologize for that, too. "You are so dear. So good," he murmurs, not letting go, wishing he never had to. He squeezes his eyes shut, and though he managed not to cry last night while Mu Liqiang was crying on him, he doesn't quite succeed now.

Shi Jia hums, pleased, and pulls back to kiss him, and sees the tears. "Oh, no. Oh, A-Niao. " He wipes the tears with his thumbs and then does kiss him. "It will all be well. I'm happy. I love you. You should go. "

"Yes," says Lin Moniao breathlessly, but he doesn't. He lingers another moment, then says, "Second-to-last," and lunges at Shi Jia to kiss him again. Then he breaks off as abruptly as he began and practically runs out of the room.

It's a bit like it was with the Shadow Moon Crown. He has to stop himself, or else he will never stop for anything. Leaning against the wall in the hallway, he covers his face with his hands, trying to compose himself.

Finally, he wipes his eyes once more and heads softly for the kitchens, hoping to avoid drawing the attention of Zeng Xiaohui and her fellow constable as he makes his way to Yu Long's room.

Yu Long, for his part, was fully asleep, and somewhat disoriented at first, but wakes up more as Lin Moniao explains. They collect Mu Liqiang, whose room is just down the hall, and who had not even gone to bed yet. The trip back through the kitchens is somewhat more nerve-wracking than the other way. Lin Moniao's comings and goings are more easily explained away than the three of them, and neither Yu Long nor Mu Liqiang is particularly quiet, as martial artists go, though they try their best, tiptoeing and maneuvering around tables stacked with kitchenware and barrels rolled harrowingly close to narrow doorways. As they get to the hallway, they can hear two female voices conversing. "Alright, goodnight," says a voice lower than Zeng Xiaohui's. The constables are changing guard.

Even so, neither of them is coming in their direction. The way is clear, and Master Wu, perhaps having heard their footfalls, opens his door quietly.

It is now well past midnight, and dark clouds have rolled in to obscure the moon.

"Well. Good luck. Take care of each other," says Lin Moniao, wishing he were in at least four different places at once. He gives Mu Liqiang a long hug, and then Yu Long, adding, "You're the kindest person I know, shixiong. I hope... I hope it helps. "

"I'll try," Yu Long promises, though he doesn't exactly know what his kindness is meant to fix.

"Yes, good luck, you two. " Master Wu slides open the secret passage, and the two slip into the night.

"So, here we are," Master Wu says when they are alone. "We have a week, a prisoner, Shi Minhua's clever nephew, and all the connections I have made in the past few years to work with. We'll think of something tomorrow. " He steps up and drops a kiss on Lin Moniao's temple, for all they are nearly of a height. "Sleep now. "

--

Yi Zifan sits at the bedside of her patient--the assassin, but for now he's her patient--the wooden shutters on the windows of the room shut tight so no trace of lamplight will shine onto the streets below. This is Lin Moniao's room in his mother's house, though it bears few traces of his personality: a calligraphy set on the low desk, a few old student essays and basic martial manuals on the shelves above, a spare Qilin Villa uniform and a fancier set of robes in shades of red and pink hanging in the closet, a round mirror mounted on one wall. It doesn't seem that he spends much time here. The furniture is all very fine and shows evidence of an elegant taste, but from what Yi Zifan has understood, that taste is probably his mother's. Everything, too, has been kept meticulously dusted and polished in her absence, at least until they turned out her housekeeper.

Heng Wanxue, Lin Moniao's lady friend, sits on a plush seating pillow opposite. It's not hard to see why he likes her. Though he's breathtakingly beautiful, and an ugly scar mars half of her face--Yi Zifan wonders how she got it; if only she herself had been there at the time, it wouldn't have healed nearly so badly--they're otherwise very alike: fearless and outgoing, quick to smile and to laugh, reluctant to show their hurts. She's wearing a spare robe of Yi Zifan's, and it fits her poorly; Yi Zifan's robes had never had to be cut quite so generously in the breast and hip.

She called Yi Zifan brave for volunteering for this duty, but it's Yi Zifan's life's work to care for the suffering, of which the man in the bad is certainly one. Heng Wanxue, as far as Yi Zifan understands the situation, has no reason to be here at all. None except Lin Moniao, and yet she acted as though there was no question at all that she would stay, the most natural thing in the world that she had taken a potentially fatal wound in his defense.

Yi Zifan fingers the beads at her wrist, wondering if she can get away with reciting sutras as an excuse not to talk. It isn't that she wants to be rude to Heng Wanxue. She just doesn't know what to say.

The injured man is awake and, for the lack of a better word, sulking. He's shut his mouth tight and is facing the wall with his arms crossed. It's hard to think this man had been so deadly earlier in the day.

Heng Wanxue yawns. "Ahh, I'm not even tired. I'm hungry! I should have thought of getting something on the way. " She digs around in her pockets and finds a small paper bag, folded several times, with a few sticky sweets squashed at the bottom. She eats one and offers the bag to Yi Zifan, shaking it up and down.

Yi Zifan accepts the bag and spends a little time picking out the smallest one. She isn't hungry--fetching food from the inn kitchen at mealtimes for Master Xuan also reminded her to eat herself--but she knows she should accept the friendly gesture. She pops the sweet in her mouth. Her chewing sounds unnaturally loud in her ears.

"I don't have anything," she says. "Only my medical kit. Some of the preparations in it do have recreational uses, but that seems like a bad idea right now. "

Heng Wanxue blows out a puff of air. "Yeah, no kidding. He doesn't look like much, but he was springy before. Hey, you want a sweet? " She shakes the bag at the assassin, who turns suspicious eyes to her, then curious ones at the bag.

Yi Zifan looks up at him. She can feel the block in his qi, the wrongness of it, and beneath that, his strength. Heng Wanxue is right. He's stronger than she is. Without his weapons, they can hope to keep him contained between the two of them, but only if they don't let down their guard. The stain of death rides alongside his strength, and the taste of the sweet she's chewing on turns in her mouth, as if she'd eaten an entire bag of them. She swallows determinedly rather than spit it back out. It's as if she's swallowing a still-wriggling bug, something that is not food. It's a few more moments before she's sure she's not going to be sick.

"If you let me treat you," she says, "you'll be able to think more clearly soon. "

It's dangerous. But if they want to have a chance of communicating with him, it has to be done. It can't be right to leave him like this. But can he even understand what she's offering?

He pushes himself up into a sitting position slowly, wincing as he does, frowns slightly, and cautiously reaches for Heng Wanxue's bag. She puts it into his hand and he rummages in it for a sweet, ignoring Yi Zifan. He finds two and eats both, then hands the bag back and opens his hand to her, palm up.

She looks at the hand, then at him, and back at the hand. "I don't have any more. Sorry, wish I did. I'm hungry too. "

He draws back, sullen, and turns towards the window.

"I don't think you should unblock him just now," Heng Wanxue says. "I'd rather have a toddler than a teenager. "

"He isn't a child," says Yi Zifan.

Heng Wanxue shrugs. "I won't stop you. "

The assassin turns his head half-way towards Yi Zifan, then curls up, chin on his knees.

Is that agreement? Yi Zifan opens her medical kit and takes out her case of needles, holding them close to her body in case he tries to grab them. "I will need to insert one at the base of your neck," she says, tapping the acupoint on her own body. "It might hurt, because of your injury. "

He makes a quiet sound at the back of his throat and hugs his knees, offering his neck despite her warning.

She slides the needle in, being as careful of his cut as she can. The block is stubborn. How did Lin Moniao do this, with a dagger? She matches her breath to his, in and out, concentrating--it's done.

He sighs, sits up straighter. It must have hurt a little; his muscles tensed as the needle went in; but he made no sound of complaint. He turns and eyes her, calculating.

"Hi there," Heng Wanxue tells him, stealing his attention. "I'm sorry I hit you so hard. I really didn't mean to hurt you that badly. I just wanted to stop you. And we got you help afterwards, didn't we? " She rubs her neck pointedly, where his needle had stung her.

He opens his lips and lets out a little annoyed breath. He crawls backwards, putting his back against the wall.

"You're still hurt. You should rest. You need time to recover," says Yi Zifan, all the things she would say to any stubborn patient. It sounds so strange now.

He shakes his head and glares at Yi Zifan, then points to the door and gestures with his chin.

"Well, that isn't going to happen," she says. "You know why. "

He looks to the side, distressed, and repeats the motion, then puts his hands together and bows until his forehead touches the bed.

Yi Zifan tilts her head at him curiously. "Why do you want to? "

He frowns and squints at her, but he can't mime this. He drops his eyes and puts his hands over the back of his head, face twisted in displeasure.

"It's okay," Heng Wanxue says. "They just want to ask you some questions, and make sure you don't attack us again, alright? We're not going to hurt you anymore. "

He shoots her a frustrated look.

"I don't think he's afraid of us. Or of the young men," Yi Zifan tells Heng Wanxue. She crosses her arms on her knees and tilts her head back, thinking about what she just said. "The three of you nearly killed him. Shouldn't he be afraid? "

He makes a dismissive gesture towards Heng Wanxue and tilts his head imperiously. She starts back, offended.

Yi Zifan gives a sharp crack of laughter. "That's a lie. Aren't you ashamed? "

He shakes his head.

"We can go again, if you like," Heng Wanxue says, sour. But she nods at Yi Zifan to keep going.

"Don't," Yi Zifan says shortly. "My master isn't here now to-- " She cuts herself off, choking on her words and the memory of her failure.

The prisoner rolls up on his knees and crawls to the edge of the bed and points to the door emphatically. He then puts a foot on the floor.

Heng Wanxue's hand goes to her whip. "Ah-ah! "

He puts his other foot on the floor and points to himself, then the door.

With a sinking feeling, Yi Zifan pushes herself to her feet and stands over her patient, a thing she can only do since he's still sitting on the bed. If it comes to simple physical strength she thinks she has the edge, but will he need that proven to him? "Please don't," she says.

They all know he's going to move, and it still seems like a surprise when he does. Heng Wanxue jumps to her feet and launches herself at the assassin, but he's already on his feet and sprinting at Yi Zifan. Maybe it's due to trying to avoid Heng Wanxue, maybe it's grogginess from his injuries, but instead of managing to grab her and toss her aside, he just stumbles right into her lap.

As the assassin comes barreling towards her, Yi Zifan grabs her staff, but the close quarters make it awkward to swing it. She misses the man entirely and sweeps the calligraphy set off the desk instead, with a noise that sounds unfortunately like an ink-stone cracking.

Heng Wanxue has yanked the handle of her whip in her hand, and now she snaps it out. The assassin freezes at the sound of the crack, and Wanxue sends the whip out to wrap around him. She pulls him off his feet, and he lands on the floor on his back. The whip has gouged new lines in his back and cracked open the old. His cries rend the room before they turn into whimpers.

Heng Wanxue curses. "What did you think would happen? Idiot! I didn't want to hurt you! "

"Maybe you were right. About the block," Yi Zifan says, as she crosses to the closet and finds a couple of sashes to bind the man's hands and feet. It's only once this is done that she cleans and bandages the fresh wounds on his back. "That's all I can do for you for now," she tells him. "Except give you something for the pain. "

"I think you should," Heng Wanxue says. She looks down at the bound man, and away, her face scrunched up in a complicated expression. She runs a hand along her braid, tugs on it. "Yi Zifan. I think he's... he's got some problems... more than we can help with right now. I don't think he's going to tell us anything. Maybe we should just... let him go? "

She's interrupted by a knock on the door below. "You stay here with him, I'll go see," Wanxue offers.

Yi Zifan makes a shooing gesture, and finds a small long-handled spoon and her opium preparation among her things, offering it warily to the man.

He's barely conscious, but when she pushes the spoon against his mouth he opens his lips automatically, though he makes a face at the taste. But he must know what it is, because he wakes up enough to accept the rest of the preparation. It doesn't act fast enough, and he still makes pained sounds every time his torn flesh moves.

Soon there are voices downstairs--not a messenger or an enemy, then--followed by footsteps up the stairs. "It's our change of guard," Heng Wanxue declares as she returns, shadowed by Mu Liqiang and another young man, just as tall, whose gentle aura is shadowed with heartsickness. Together they frame little Wanxue like a pair of tree trunks. The stranger gasps softly at the sight of the ruined prisoner, and Wanxue starts guiltily. Even Mu Liqiang frowns and glances down at her.

"I, I'm, I didn't--he tried to escape. Yi Zifan will testify. "

"It's alright," says the stranger, putting a hand on Heng Wanxue's shoulder briefly before bowing to Yi Zifan. "Yu Yanlong. I've heard of Yi Zifan's generosity. Thank you. " He touches the red collar of his uniform; quite obviously, another of Lin Moniao's sect brothers.

The idea is sudden, startling, shamefully tempting--Yi Zifan could get Heng Wanxue in trouble.

"Heng Wanxue acted appropriately," she says instead, starting to collect her things. She sees the spilled calligraphy set and cleans that up, too. The inkstone is indeed in two pieces. She holds one in each hand for a long moment before setting them down on the desk.

Then she levers herself to her feet with her staff, her medical kit resting against her hip, and puts her hands together. "Thank you for coming. " Her eyes flick over to Yu Yanlong. "Are you also Lin Moniao's lover? "

Yu Yanlong shifts on his feet, embarrassed. Mu Liqiang, who'd gone over to the prisoner, looks back at him curiously. "No, it's not like that," Yu Yanlong says. "We were juniors together. "

Heng Wanxue barks a short laugh. "One of the few! " Having been cleared of wrongdoing, and the arrival of new guards, has apparently assuaged her guilt. She touches Yi Zifan's shoulder. "Come on, we should go get some sleep. I'll walk with you. "

"I think I'll sleep here, and return to my master in the morning. In case I'm needed. There's the housekeeper's room, downstairs," says Yi Zifan.

"Then walk me to the door? " Heng Wanxue smiles. "I need to check in with my roommates, anyway, or they'll worry. "

Yi Zifan ducks her head and falls wordlessly into step with Heng Wanxue.

If one lowers one’s voice, what one says cannot be heard upstairs, even by someone with keen hearing, so by the door, they have privacy. Heng Wanxue turns and looks like she wants to take Yi Zifan's hands, but holds back and joins her own in front of her waist instead. "I don't really know how to say what I want to say, Yi Zifan. Thank you again. And don't be too hard on Lin Moniao. He just likes a lot of people. It doesn't mean he likes you any less. "

A smile touches Yi Zifan's lips. "He's... large-hearted. Maybe I'm not. I knew from the start I wouldn't be able to keep him. If I let myself hope otherwise--that's my fault, not his and not yours. Or Mu Liqiang's," she adds, almost as an afterthought. She tucks her staff into the crook of her elbow and offers her hands awkwardly, unable to meet Heng Wanxue's eyes as she does. "You're brave and compassionate. Of course he likes you. "

"Yi Zifan is describing herself. " Heng Wanxue takes her hands with a fond smile and gives them a little squeeze. "I think we can keep him a little. So long as we share. " She sighs and lets her go. "The man upstairs… it's not right to keep him. But let's sleep on it, I guess. "

With a last wave, she opens the door and slips out into the night.

--

The Ancient Willow Sect disciple has retired; the wounded man on the bed is stable, as far as Yu Long can tell, but those wounds will need to be seen to again tomorrow. He has already examined him, seen the signs of abuse, the old scars. As deadly as Heng Wanxue's whip is, she wasn't the first to brutalize him.

Yu Long shifts uncomfortably on the spot he'd selected to keep guard. Mu Liqiang is meditating, while Yu Long has been trying his best to think clearly. He remembers the taste of a whip, and how it terrified him as a youth. Be good, he had thought then. Just always be good and it will never happen to you again.

Sometimes it's easy to be good, when everything is clear and simple, and the complexities don't pile up until his heart and head both hurt trying to figure out how any of this is good, how good can have anything to do with what is happening.

He had had a kind father once, and a kind master. Lord Xu had picked him out of the rank of servants and let him sit in on his son's lessons, to be his son's friend and support in studying the ancient texts. For a master to only whip his servant once--was a kindness. And Yu Long had betrayed that kindness by flunking his exams.

Hua-shidi said he was an idiot, that Lord Xu had just wanted a puppet in the bureaucracy, and would have paid for him to train until he was forty so long as he could secure a post in Lord Xu's precinct by the end of it. Maybe. But kindness is kindness. It would be only right to expect to get something back. And he couldn't face his old master again after failing him. So... he found another.

The man on the bed is about his own age. And it looks like he could never be good enough for his master.

"Stop," a voice says gently from the other end of the room. Yu Long looks up at Mu Liqiang, who is no longer meditating.

Yu Long draws a deep breath and snaps himself out of his slumped pose. He didn't even notice drooping forward. He has no idea what his face looked like just now.

"Yi Zifan will heal him," Mu Liqiang continues. "But he's not one of us. Don't--shixiong is very kind. Too much kindness, and all the evil in the world will tear your heart apart. "

"What helps, then, shidi? "

Mu Liqiang thinks for a moment, then rolls forward onto his knees and crawls over to sit side by side with Yu Long. He nudges his shoulder with his own. "Not having to be the one to make the decisions. "

He's right, says a voice at the back of Yu Long's head.

It doesn't make it the right thing. It doesn't make it good.

Yu Long draws up his knees and buries his face in them. Mu Liqiang, affectionate creature, rests his head on Yu Long's shoulder and hums comfortingly.


Chapter Six: Xiao Erha

The morning light is white and muted, offering little comfort after a troubled night.

Wu Zhenghao fell asleep with exhausted relief, but a few hours later was tossing and turning, mumbling in his sleep before settling. Then after another few hours, he startled Lin Moniao awake by sitting up suddenly, breath ragged and fast.

"Just a dream," he said with a shaky laugh, wiped his forehead, and lay back down, pulling his lover into his arms, and went back to sleep.

Master Wu's mornings are hardly ever hurried, if he gets the chance to plan for them, so even the disciple's knock on the door at breakfast time doesn't pull him from bed. He turns over and pulls the covers higher. "Later! " he calls out when the disciple knocks again.

Today, Sect Leader Niu and Master Wu are to meet with the Shandong Phoenix--a more subdued term for the lady who, when in Shandong or among her own sect, styles herself the Phoenix Empress of Mingshui. In the capital, that would be a little too much of a provocation. Although there is time, it is no occasion to neglect one's appearance or manners, so, although the disciple goes away, Wu Zhenghao does slowly and reluctantly peel himself off the bed and sit on the side, yawning.

There are two objectives to the meeting, as he explained to Lin Moniao earlier: to win some good will, as always, and if the opportunity to push one's luck appears, to trade for useful secrets. After all, as Lin Moniao had discovered, the virtuous mistresses had their own special method of gathering information.

Once Lin Moniao is awake, he can't sleep any more, regardless of his own preference for lazy mornings, or how little rest he got in the night. He doesn't regret staying, especially since Master Wu really did need him, but the fact remains that he has spent the night sleeping in the safety of his master's house, while his friends, on his orders, have spent it awake with a Bureau Four assassin. He can't be comfortable, not until he knows how they are, at the very least.

"I know shifu wished for me to accompany him to his meetings," he says, checking over his weapons, both openly-worn and concealed, once again. "But does anyone else know it? Besides Gong Weiyu, of course. There are more urgent things I ought to be taking care of, but we can't let outsiders--including those two elder sisters--know that anything unusual is going on. "

"Gong Weiyu knows, and so does anyone else he may have happened to mention it to. That young man is not very discreet. " Master Wu yawns again. "I thought to reassign you to an errand, something suitably dull, which you can ignore to pursue your urgent issues, and make sure the ladies have more suspicious avenues to follow that will lead nowhere. What do you think of commissioning new flower paintings to give out as gifts? You'd have to find a suitable artist and review their work, and if none can be found whose quality and price point meet our requirements, that is hardly your fault.” He scratches his hair and combs it out with his fingers, and gets up with a sigh. "It sounds like you have an idea of what you want to do with that assassin? You do have my blessing to do whatever you find necessary. I won't tell you to take a life in this case. He doesn't have any information about us that his master didn't already have, nor is he the only threat Shi Minhua could launch at us. If we cannot use him, we can just let him go. "

"Yes, but-- " Lin Moniao bites his lip. "It may be necessary. But I hate to give anyone to Shi Minhua. Flower paintings, then--oh! Speaking of paintings and gifts, I had some I meant to give you, but I suppose it will have to wait. Why does everything happen at once? " He gives his robe a tug and his hair an adjustment it doesn't need, dithering at the door. "And since you are going to meet with the ladies of Five Phoenix Manor... this isn't the time to keep secrets, is it? I had some dealings with an agent of theirs, though I didn't quite realize it at the time... "

And he quickly summarizes what he knows of Wang Xiaonan and her connections, concluding, "The last I heard she was continuing on to the south, on a mission from her mistress, but I have no idea what it was. "

Wu Zhenghao listens while putting himself into some semblance of order for breakfast. When Lin Moniao finishes, he crosses over and messes up his hair all over again. "Lin Moniao, you do keep rather a lot of secrets from me, don't you? But this master finds it difficult to chastise his disciple, when it invariably turns out it is done out of some desire to shield others. How can I not trust you? If you will protect a girl you met on the road and knew for less than a week, you will protect your sect brothers and sisters as well. But, well--it is good to know the Shandong Phoenix will likely have some information regarding the recent adventures of the Obsidian Bat, as well. "

"Yes, shifu. Thank you for understanding. " Lin Moniao dips his head and adds, "But as far as protecting my sect brothers--I don't suppose some sort of fake task could be found for Yu Long and Mu Liqiang as well? Just for a few hours this morning--I don't believe Mu Liqiang slept at all last night. "

"Mm, you're right. It will be done. Just remember to tell them to use the concealed doorway when they return. "

They have slept through the morning exercises and breakfast is currently being arranged at the inner courtyard, as the day is overcast but not downright drizzling. In the chaos of disciples going back and forth, Lin Moniao is just one of many, but the two 'Nanjing House shijies' stand out, perched above the courtyard on the porch like a pair of watchful house gods. A word to Gong Weiyu sends that harried hero to Master Wu, who follows at a decent interval, and no-one stops Lin Moniao, though one shidi runs after him and pushes a pair of baos in his hands with expressions of sympathy. Shifu drives his favorite so hard!

Lin Moniao barely pauses to take the baos and bow his thanks as he rushes out the door. Devouring one as he makes his way towards his mother's house, it occurs to him that if he's hungry, Mu Liqiang and Yu Long must have it worse, and the prisoner will have to eat as well, so he stops on the way at a food cart to pick up breakfast.

The house is quiet and calm, and from the outside, in daylight, looks as lifeless as it did before. At the sound of Lin Moniao's arrival, Yu Long appears at the top of the staircase.He comes down to greet him, looking tired but smiling. "He has been asleep all morning," he tells him. "Just had a little water--shidi, you brought food! " His expression turns grateful, and he lifts the end of one of the packets to see what they got.

"Would I leave you to starve? " Lin Moniao says, passing over a container of sticky rice balls in broth, a bundle of fried breadsticks wrapped in a large napkin, and a basket of persimmons. "He didn't... give you any trouble, then? "

"Not us," Yu Long admits, "but he wasn't in a state to. He tried to attack the girls and Heng Wanxue had to subdue him. He's in a bad way. "

"Are they all right? " Lin Moniao asks in sudden alarm. Surely Yu Long would have led with that if they weren't, but--

"Perfectly. " Yu Long holds his hands out soothingly. "He is badly injured, shidi. Heng Wanxue could have killed him, and nearly did, just defending herself. "

"I know. I-- " Lin Moniao sighs, running a hand along his hair. "He--it's what Shi Minhua would have done to Hu-shidi and Yang-shidi. You realize that, yes? So--you can be proud of yourself for that, at least. "

Yu Long must have realized that already, but even so he blanches. "Please don't say that. They're fine. It's-- " He looks a little ill. "I'll try to talk to him. "

"They are. I'm sorry, shixiong, I only meant--yes. Try. Let me borrow Mu-shidi for a bit in the meantime. "

Back upstairs, Yi Zifan and Mu Liqiang look up at their entrance. The prisoner, or patient, is bandaged and cared for, and though he is lying down curled up in a ball, his breathing changes when the smell of food enters the room. Mu Liqiang is sitting stoic and cross-legged on the floor, not far from the bed, and perks up at the sight of Lin Moniao--and the food. They had in fact scrounged up some food already--there is tea, nuts, and dried strips of meat--but it's nothing to the temptation of fresh sticky rice balls and broth.

Even so, he follows Lin Moniao outside without complaint, leaving Yu Long to unpack the treasures and keep an eye on the prisoner, who is pretending not to stir.

--

They linger in the hallway; Yu Long eats a rice ball, and dips another in broth to offer to the prisoner silently, his sect brothers' voices muffled behind the wall.

Not long after, Mu Liqiang suddenly yanks open the door to the bedroom, startling Yu Long with his fierce expression. "Shidi, are you alright? " Yu Long inquires cautiously.

"Fine! " Mu Liqiang snaps and crosses his arms. "Why shouldn't this shidi be fine? "

"Why indeed? " says Lin Moniao with a careless shrug, following Mu Liqiang in and snagging one of the breadsticks. "Why should shidi make such a fuss over a simple assignment? It's not as though you have anything better to do with your nights nowadays. "

Mu Liqiang's breath catches, and he presses his lips together, his face taking on a pink hue.

Yi Zifan, in the middle of packing up her supplies, looks between them, her face clouding up. "Moniao-- " she starts, looks away, and continues, "I was able to help the patient a little more this morning, but he's still far from recovered. I can come back after work this evening. "

"Maybe I'll find something to do! " Mu Liqiang retorts, ignoring Yi Zifan. "The next time I see Shen-shixiong, maybe he'll have some ideas! Or-- " He looks around the room. "Or this one. " He points at Yi Zifan. "Or Heng Wanxue. Which one do you think? Shixiong has so many lovers, won't he share at least one? "

Yu Long is on his feet now, arms held out placatingly. "Shidi, this isn't the time-- "

It's then that, as if summoned, Heng Wanxue peeks in at the door, eyes wide as saucers. With her thief's gait, no-one heard her on the stairs; it was likely thief skills that let her in through the locked door in the first place. In her arms is a straw basket covered in cloth. "What on earth are you boys brawling for? Settle down or take it outside! "

The prisoner has given up pretense at sleep and has crawled back towards the wall, and is sitting with the solid wood behind his back, looking at the scene warily.

"What, can't you find your own? " Lin Moniao lets out a little amused puff of breath, looking Mu Liqiang up and down. "You can't, can you? You can't do anything without me. Nobody even came to say goodbye to you when we left the Villa--you remember, shixiong. And that was even before shidi's qi deviation. Now look at you. "

Mu Liqiang's face has gone from pink to red. "So, so--nobody likes me, what do I care? I'll make them listen. I'll show shixiong what I can do. Just fucking wait, Lin Moniao. "

With that, he turns around and storms out of the room.

"Shidi! " Yu Long reprimands Lin Moniao.

Yi Zifan stands up, her face set and her hand white-knuckled on her staff. "I'm going," she announces.

--

Lin Moniao watches Mu Liqiang and Yi Zifan go, then breathes out a long sigh, and tugs on the lapel of his robe, though it hardly needs straightening. "Sorry, shixiong. "

Heng Wanxue's eyes drop to Lin Moniao's collar, then back up, her expression stern.

"Lin-shidi, I know it's not my business, but-- " Yu Long is also coloring now, though even with his wide open face it's difficult to say if he is angry or just disappointed. "It isn't any of my business, is it? I should be back at the Villa. I'll talk to you later. " With a last worried glance at the prisoner, and another at Heng Wanxue clutching her basket, he heads out the door after the others.

"Oh, don't be like that, Peony," Lin Moniao says with his most winsome smile. He sits near the window and pats the space next to him, holding out his breadstick invitingly. "I see you brought breakfast too. Will you show me yours, if I show you mine? "

"Gladly. " She comes over and cuddles up to his side, setting her basket down. "So that's that for Mu-shidi, hmm? More for the rest of us, I guess, and I don't just mean breakfast. " Her tone is flirtatious, though she gives him a questioning look.

The prisoner stares at them for a moment, then drops his eyes and curls up his knees, scowling.

"Oh, he'll be back. " Lin Moniao kisses Heng Wanxue on the nose, then on the ear. "Maybe. Eventually. "

He wraps an arm around her waist and buries his face in her neck, breakfast forgotten. He doesn't even seem to notice the hushed sounds of conversation coming from the hallway.

The prisoner leans away from the couple and towards the hallway. He glances back at the couple, then quietly shifts closer to the door.

--

"Shidi," Yu Long says to Mu Liqiang, who is hanging out by the staircase, as he catches up to him. "Please calm yourself. Give Lin Moniao the chance to explain himself, anyway, once he's had a chance to think it through. "

"He's explained himself already," Mu Liqiang says stiffly. "Shixiong needs to get back to the house--go on! I would like to talk to Yi Zifan, please. Privately. "

Yi Zifan, who had been heading to the stairs, looking straight ahead and not meeting anyone's eyes, stops in her tracks. Her look at Mu Liqiang isn't very friendly, but she waits until Yu Long is downstairs before she speaks.

"He isn't usually--I don't know why--it hasn't been an easy day for any of us. But you shouldn't have yelled at your shixiong. " With one hand on her staff and the other on her hip, she glares up at him. "And you shouldn't have said what you said about me and Heng Wanxue. "

"Yi Zifan is right. I apologize. It was very wrong. Especially what I said about you two. " He curls down on himself, embarrassed. "I only said it to hurt shixiong. Please, Physician Yi, I need--help. Please forgive me. There is something I haven't told anyone. "

She softens at his obvious distress. It's been a difficult time for all of them, after all, and he looks exhausted. She touches his arm. "Tell me. I'll help you if I can. "

"I suffered from excessive Yang recently and had a qi deviation. " Mu Liqiang tells her briefly of the Liu Manor curse, leaving out most of his own heroics. "Only, I think it wasn't just a qi deviation. I think... the old yao lord is me, somehow. Or I'm like him. I feel different. Physician Yi, please examine this one to see if he is human, or if he is possessed by a demon. "

"Mu Liqiang, what-- " She can tell that his distress is real, and that he believes the story he's telling her. She thinks he's telling the truth when he says that he hasn't told anyone else, and he requested privacy--but he also seems to have a reason to have this conversation so near the room where the others are, and to speak louder than is strictly necessary. Why is everyone acting so strangely? Did she miss something--is she expected to understand--

She closes her eyes for a moment, fingering the beads at her wrist until her breath comes calmly again. It isn't important. Only helping her patient is.

She takes his hands, feeling the flow of energy through his body. He's roughly her equal in martial skill, but despite his size and fierceness, she senses that his spirit is innocent--at least, when it comes to killing. She also senses that he's fully human, with no trace of demonic nature or possession.

But she's dealt with patients who have delusions as a result of qi deviations before, and she knows that while he might accept it if she tells him so, it will only give him momentary relief, if that. He won't truly believe it. Even so, it takes her a few seconds to compose her words. Lying doesn't come easily to her.

"If--if there is some part of the old Lord Liu's spirit in you," she says. "I don't sense any of his violent nature. Your actions that lifted the curse on the manor brought him peace as well. You only have your own impulses to contend with, just as you always have. "

He had been bracing for her answer, and blinks in surprise. He grasps her hands. "Really? You promise? " He glances at the door. "Please, Physician Yi, keep this between us. I don't know what shifu or my sect brothers would do if they knew. "

"I wouldn't--reveal anything about a patient," Yi Zifan stammers, wrong-footed again.

--

Whether or not he intended to be actually distracted by Heng Wanxue, the fact is that it takes some time before Lin Moniao lifts his head and realizes that everyone else has gone. He gets up, pulling his collar back into place, and says, "I suppose I'd better go lock up. Keep an eye on him-- " jerking his head towards the prisoner-- "and don't let him get away. "

Heng Wanxue lifts her eyebrows and nods. "Magpie, have a little faith," she grumbles as she rolls up on her feet and smooths down her clothes. She disarranges his collar again by yanking him close for a little nuzzle before pushing him towards the door. "Go, and go have a look in the kitchen for a little wine, while you're at it? There must be some. "

--

Xiao Erha watches the leader leave. The woman, Heng Wanxue, gives him a thoughtful look. He can't get past her, that's been proven, so there's no point in trying. He'll do better to wait until they make a mistake he can exploit.

She takes a couple of steps towards him and he tenses. She must have noticed, because she stops, looking--embarrassed? It is not Xiao Erha's job to know what other people's expressions mean. "He's a dick, but he's pretty, you know? " she says, bracing er hands on her thighs to lean forward. "Look, this has gone on long enough. If you go out the window now, he won't know until he gets back here, and I can tell everyone you overpowered me. "

He stares at her. She looks back, then drops to her haunches by the bed. "I mean it, okay? I'm not going to spend another day sitting around here holding you down and I'm not about to murder anybody. If I was going to, I could have done it already. So go on, get out. Otherwise he will eventually kill you. Just, take it as an apology, for, you know. " She gestures at him. "All this. No hard feelings? "

Won't the leader kill her too? Won't he flog her? Is the stupid woman's compassion greater than her sense of self-preservation? Maybe it is. He had been barely conscious at the time, but hadn't she said something like that to the healer, that she wanted to let him go, in defiance of the leader's orders? Either way, he can't afford to miss the opportunity. He nods slowly, and she smiles and steps back to let him pass.

Door or window? The leader could be coming back up at any moment. Window, then.

With many glances back, Xiao Erha walks to the window. Even with the healing he's received, his body is in pain. He can handle pain. He unlatches the window and hops on to the windowsill, missing his staff; but he can make it from here. He scans the streets below, then swings himself over and climbs down, spider-like, finding footholds in the wall. He just needs to get down and run. Every minute shaved off of his tardiness is worth it.

His feet hit the ground, but a glance up shows a head poking out above, over the rooftop of the house where he had been kept prisoner, and a tremor of terror goes down his spine. He's faced more terrible things before, would gladly meet this man in battle again, but something about being caught in the act awakens primal fear in his gut, and he sprints off down the street at top speed.

It was the leader--not so stupid after all! He must have suspected the woman. Xiao Erha ducks into side alleys and under awnings to keep out of sight, and keeps looking over his shoulder, scanning the rooftops. He's sure he's lost him.

Where to go? Master's house would be the fastest way to appear and make his apologies, but what if he barges in at a difficult time, looking the way he does, bloodied and bandaged? Clean up first, you dumb mutt. But his brain is screaming at him to get away.

In the end, he's only a dumb dog, after all. Xiao Erha pelts it to the servants' entrance at Shi Minhua's house and is let in by the cook's assistant, who nearly topples over under her basket of groceries to see him.

--

Shi Minhua's house in Kaifeng is lavish, larger than Master Wu's and somewhat more ostentatiously appointed, with a second floor and gilded roof-decorations that glint in the sun, including dragons guarding each corner of the house. This close to the imperial guard's headquarters, it barely needs any additional protection, but still there are likely guards within that gate-house, if not deeper in the house. Yet these city houses are often built in much the same proportions, size allowing; there is an inner courtyard, with kitchens on one side and women's quarters at the back. Not that Shi Minhua's household includes any women.

Lin Moniao stops on an adjacent rooftop, as close as he dares to get; there are bound to be watchers in the house, and probably hidden spikes or worse on the roof. He's only just settled in to watch when Heng Wanxue catches up, settling her butt down on the tiles next to him. "Damn, I almost wished he'd led us somewhere surprising. "

"At least we've had our guess confirmed. " Lin Moniao reaches for the half of the breadstick she offers him, as she devours the second half herself. "In any case, what I'm really interested in is what Shi Minhua does with the line that Mu Liqiang fed to his pet assassin. He cannot keep all his blackmail material to himself, or someone would have already murdered him by now. And I doubt he trusts his superiors in Bureau Four enough to hand everything over to them. No, a man like that will have a personal insurance policy--so let's see who comes out next, and where they go. "

The sun climbs higher in the sky. The square that the house faces becomes host to a poetry reading under the few trees planted there; a supply boat slips by in the nearby canal. Once the breadstick is nothing but crumbs and a memory, Heng Wanxue takes out a bag of sugared bamboo roots and offers them to Lin Moniao.

"Ah, Peony, I can always count on you to have snacks concealed somewhere on your person. " He kisses her cheek before popping one into his mouth. "And in every other way as well. That was deftly done, back at the house. "

She nuzzles him and tugs his collar askew. "It hasn't been so long that I've forgotten your signal for 'I mean the opposite of what I'm saying.' Looks like you didn't teach it to your new friends, though. For shame! "

"Why would I have to," he laughs, "now that I've become a respectable young gentleman? And in truth, it's just as well. Yi Zifan and Yu Long are both such honest people, they may well have given up the game if they had caught on. I do feel a little ashamed. Yi Zifan had such a sheltered upbringing. It's why her hair is so short, you know. " He makes a chopping motion with one hand around his jawline. "She grew up in a nunnery, and it's only been growing out for a couple of years now. And Yu Long is just like that. I have always felt that if Yu Long is angry with you, you've gone terribly wrong somewhere. " He sighs, the levity of the moment gone. "Have I gone terribly wrong, Peony? "

She eats one last candy, hides the bag in her pockets again, and shakes her head. "What else could we do? It's not like he-- "

She breaks off, suddenly silent and all business, and points. A man is leaving by the front gate. Dressed in black, with golden decorations about his sleeves and a bag by his side, he has the high, hunched shoulders of a scholar and a neat, long mustache, still inky black, though he must be around or past fifty. By his cap and the relative simplicity of his dress, he cannot be Shi Minhua. He starts off down the street, taking short, brisk steps. Sharing a glance, Heng Wanxue and Lin Moniao take off across the rooftops after him. They don't have to go far, which is good, because they run out of connecting rooftops when the man crosses a bridge over the canal, and they must follow discreetly in a crowd of people instead. The house the man goes into is just as large as Shi Minhua's, and only a little less fine. Though Lin Moniao has never been here, he knows whose it is, from directions that he's been given before.

"Well! Here we are, about to rob Sha Zhengtian's house. If only I'd listened to my Peony, we could have done this yesterday already, without all the intervening steps. " Lin Moniao laughs, but there's an unhappy edge to it, and rather than approach right away, he looks around for a hiding spot where they can watch the house unseen for a while.

There are only so many places they can loiter around in this area. Even as they stop to plan quietly while pretending to look for fish in the rippling waters of the canal, they see a group of imperial guards pass by towards the main street. No-one else interesting seems to be going in or coming out of Sha Zhengtian's house, anyway.

"I do hope our mustachioed friend doesn't linger too long," Lin Moniao says softly, swinging his feet over the water. "If he reports to Shi Minhua that he saw us at Sha Zhengtian's, I'm afraid that would give the game away earlier than necessary. But once he's gone--I do have a standing invitation to Sha Zhengtian's house. What do you say to being my servant? I could run distraction while you snoop around. There are a limited number of places where he would hide something he wished to keep safe. And if you happen to come across the dagger and token as well, so much the better. You will only have to avoid whatever servants happen to be around, and... " he sets his jaw unhappily. "His daughters. "

"They'll be in the women's quarters," Heng Wanxue says in a placating tone, with a curious look aside at him. "I doubt that's where the gentleman will be hiding his valuables. You know, there is a possibility that the man we saw is not Shi Minshan's man, but Sha Zhengtian's. The book-keeper did say he had dealt with Sha Zhengtian's secretary, didn't he? "

"Yes, but--why would he have been waiting at Shi Minhua's house, waiting for news from the assassin-- " Lin Moniao frowns, thinking it over. "I find it difficult to imagine Sha Zhengtian as the mastermind behind all of this. If he is, well--we can deal with him, but--I suppose it's possible that his secretary is there to keep an eye on him for Shi Minhua, the same way that the assassin was left behind in the shop. But he didn't look like he has any martial training either, so... we can wait a little longer for him to leave, anyway, and if he doesn't, we can just go in. Or we can give up now and try again tonight. But if Sha Zhengtian is just an underling of Shi Minhua's who had the bad fortune of Shi Minhua finding some leverage on him... Shi Minhua tried to kill me when Shi Jia defied him. What do you think he'll do when he finds out that Sha Zhengtian has failed him, wittingly or unwittingly? I was--I thought he wanted me to marry one of those girls. "

"You may be overthinking this," Heng Wanxue says with a shrug and a smile, and ruffles his hair. "Let me tidy you up and make you presentable. You're just visiting a potential father-in-law, isn't that right? You should look like you at least tried. And in the meanwhile, little A-Xue, here to run and fetch for gongzi, will see what she can find. "

"I'm always presentable! " Lin Moniao says indignantly. Then he laughs. "Oh--very well. I suppose A-Xue likes to feel useful, after all. "

"Anything for gongzi. " She gives him a saucy look from under her lashes, but gets to tidying him up. She fixes the hair she just messed up, at least, and gets the red roof dust off his boots and trouser-legs.

They wait a little longer, but the mystery man does not leave Sha Zhengtian's house, and so the decision is made, and they approach. Heng Wanxue has hidden her bracelet and pulled her new tunic forward in a less flattering way, and adopted a meek and bent posture, walking several steps behind Lin Moniao. He gives his name at the gatehouse, and after a while, they are let in by a pair of men in padded armor with short swords by their sides. Once there, they are greeted by an elderly servant with a long beard.

"Please follow this servant. My master will be delighted to receive Lin Moniao. "

The entrance hall is larger than Master Wu's, and appointed in darker colors, the narrow windows giving less light. It is also, as far as Lin Moniao can tell, a decade or so out of date, unlike the freshly painted interior of Master Wu's house.

Lin Moniao lifts his chin and follows the servant, trying to look like he's on a visit to his prospective father-in-law, and not sizing up his guards--which has the unfortunate side-effect of him not being able to size up the guards very well. He wants to give Sha Zhengtian a chance to cooperate, doesn't want to get his family killed--but he also doesn't want to run the risk of those guards being called on him and Heng Wanxue. He'll just have to play it by ear.

The servant leads him, with Heng Wanxue trailing behind, through the interior of the house into a long and beautifully appointed room with long silk curtains hung at tall windows to block out the sun. If they were drawn, the light in the room would be beautiful, but they do block out the cold as well, and perhaps Sha Zhengtian prefers some shadow. There's a table for tea, but it is empty, and by the windows, cast in half-light, a writing table with the brushes still out. The scent of incense hangs in the air. The man himself is here, standing with robes rumpled at the knees and his fingers stained with ink, and he smiles at Lin Moniao in a fatherly way. "You've come. I cannot imagine it is in an official capacity, but I'm glad to see you either way. Have a seat, and old Kwan and your servant can go get us tea. Or would Lin Moniao prefer wine? "

Heng Wanxue drops into a bow in such august company, and the old servant does the same, waiting for instructions.

"Wine would be excellent, thank you," Lin Moniao says with a bow, his nerves singing. Old Kwan and Wanxue bow and leave together.

Maybe it's just the stifling dimness of the room, or the suggestions Heng Wanxue made before they came in, but he has to fight the urge to grab her by the arm and not let her out of his sight.

"Sha Zhengtian is right, I haven't come in any official capacity, it's only that my master sent me into town on errands today, and so I had an opportunity--I really haven't had much time recently, with the banquet coming up. Do you know of any good flower painters, incidentally? Apparently the ones we have won't do at all. "

"Flower paintings, mm... I haven't paid attention to which artists have the most praised work in Kaifeng these days, I'm afraid. My eldest might know, and my youngest is an artist herself, but for that we might have to set up a more official occasion. I'll ask my secretary to look into it. " Sha Zhengtian takes out a handkerchief and wipes his fingers. He wears rings, usually--now there are none, as he has just been writing. He gestures for Lin Moniao to take a seat. "Any news of Madame Zhu? "

"Nothing certain. You've heard she went to the south, I assume. We've been hoping she'll return by the festival, but of course travel is so unpredictable. " Lin Moniao sits, but his gaze drifts to the paintings on the wall. "Are any of these your daughter's work? They're very fine. "

"Ah. " He follows Lin Moniao's line of sight. "Not these. My youngest daughter is particular about where and which of her works she allows to be displayed. Besides, I must say, try as she might, she is hardly the best artist in Kaifeng. There is a master who works outside the city, to the east, but he is not easily persuaded into the city... oh, I believe I have some of his works in a portfolio; they would certainly please Wu Zhenghao. " He taps his own elbow thoughtfully. "I should get some for... hmm, yes. If you'll excuse me, just a moment, I'll go get Mo Henshui. He should be able to help. "

"Sha Zhengtian is very considerate," Lin Moniao says, with a pleasant smile that he hopes doesn't reveal his racing heart. Will it be enough time to make a search of the room? He certainly isn't likely to get a better chance.

The door closes behind Sha Zhengtian.

A glance at the writing table reveals that Sha Zhengtian has been writing a letter of recommendation for someone--no-one whose name Lin Moniao recognizes--for a position in the country. His secretary must have been busy, since this might otherwise have been dictated. Sha Zhengtian has a strong hand, if not exams-precise. A quick search of the writing table finds nibs, pens, ink, paper--everything one might expect, kept in clean and meticulous order.

Further searches in the cabinet at the end of the room, behind the hanging paintings and behind curtains and in the long low chest of drawers under the windows shows this is uniform: Sha Zhengtian does not seem to renew his furniture very often, and some are beginning to show notches and wear, but everything is of high quality, clean, and orderly.

In the low cabinet, he finds several years' worth of budget books. On one wall is propped an imperial sabre, sheathed and very old, from Sha Zhengtian's father's generation rather than this one. One portion of the cabinet at the back of the room is locked, but the lock is simple enough to pick; here, he finds a hand-written book of poor quality poetry, a few well-thumbed erotic novels, a jewelry-box, and a few portfolios of art. The rest of the cabinet is devoted mainly to pottery, with another stack of papers and ink waiting to be transferred to the writing table.

He does not find weapons, poisons, or books of blackmail--though perhaps Sha Zhengtian himself could be blackmailed with some of these findings, and who knows what one could find if one had time to pore over the budget books?

Well! It's disappointing, but at least he's fairly confident that he didn't miss anything. The temptation to pocket the book of poetry as a gift for his mother is a fleeting one. It doesn't seem like the office of a nefarious mastermind. Every revelation that Lin Moniao has learned about Shi Minhua has made it clearer that he's been allowed to live too long already; every revelation about Sha Zhengtian has only made him seem rather likable. Still, there's no knowing; Lin Moniao has been building everything on an edifice of guesses, and perhaps there's nothing to find at all. Or perhaps the reason he's had enough time to make such a thorough search is because Mo Henshui has been stabbing Sha Zhengtian with Ran-shidi's stolen dagger and Lin Moniao simply didn't hear. Once he's sure everything is in place, he crosses to the door and looks anxiously down the passage.

He can hear footsteps approaching around a corner, and Sha Zhengtian saying in a terse voice, "Really, Mo Henshui, you are becoming ridiculous. I don't have all day to waste. "

Not stabbed yet, anyway. Lin Moniao ducks back inside and quickly resumes his seat, arranging his face in a bored expression.

Mo Henshui is indeed the man he and Heng Wanxue followed here--Heng Wanxue was right, once again. He has a sour expression on his face, and is carrying two large art portfolios. Sha Zhengtian throws him an irritated look when he hangs back by the door, but turns to smile at Lin Moniao. "This artist really should do for Wu Zhenghao. You may borrow my pieces to convince him, if you like. However, getting to the artist would take half a day on horseback, and he lives nowhere near a good road. Mo Henshui, stop loitering and bring them around, now. "

Mo Henshui obeys, stepping reluctantly into the low light, and lays the portfolio open on the table before Lin Moniao. The works are exquisite, delicate and detailed, with vibrant colors. Mo Henshui watches Lin Moniao from under his brows as if expecting a challenge. Why does he think Lin Moniao will recognize him, though he's never seen the man before today? Did he spot Lin Moniao and Heng Wanxue following him? Or has he simply worked out that he must have been followed, and if so, has he worked out why? Or is he only expecting to be asked about the Beauty Dagger?

In any case, he knows that Lin Moniao is here now, and so will Shi Minhua, unless Mo Henshui can somehow be prevented from delivering his report.

Putting all that aside for the moment, Lin Moniao turns his attention to the paintings. "They really are lovely," he says regretfully. "If only I had thought to consult with Sha Zhengtian earlier! But it's hard to see how we could manage to have them ready in time for the festival. Still, I'll show these to Master Wu, and he can decide what to do. "

Sha Zhengtian nods. "The artist may well have unsold pieces that would fit the bill. "

There is a knock, and Heng Wanxue arrives with a tray including two bottles of wine and two bowls. She bows as low as possible while still holding the tray upright. "This one is worthless! She lost her way on the way back from the kitchen. Please forgive this lowly one. "

"It is a big house, isn't it? Well, at least you found your way back. " Lin Moniao gives her an inquisitive look.

She meets his eye and then flicks his gaze to Mo Henshui, and back to Lin Moniao with a frown before lowering her eyes again. Sha Zhengtian beckons her closer, so she walks swiftly over and lays the tray on the table beside the portfolio, retreating backwards with more bows.

If it isn't yes and it isn't no, then--has she found something, but not what he thought she would find? Something to do with Mo Henshui.

If they don't have what they came for, at least he doesn't have to worry that Shi Minhua will punish Sha Zhengtian for losing it. Especially if it was only Mo Henshui involved in Shi Minhua's intrigues, under Sha Zhengtian's nose and using his name, but without his knowledge at all.

Maybe they should go now without arousing further suspicion. But if Mo Henshui is expecting Lin Moniao to bring up the dagger, will it be more suspicious if he doesn't? In any case, their reactions might help him figure out exactly who knows what.

"Perhaps I'd better not stay, since I have these pictures to bring back to Master Wu now," Lin Moniao says, picking up the portfolio and standing. "Thank you very much for the loan. I had also meant to ask--what has become of the dagger that Mo Henshui picked up from that pawn shop? I assume that Sha Zhengtian had him pick it up so he could give it back, but everyone has been so busy, he must have forgotten. "

Sha Zhengtian looks at Mo Henshui. "What dagger? "

The secretary's face screws up tighter, as if tensing all the muscles in his face could somehow conceal his reaction. Sha Zhengtian frowns and demands louder, "What dagger, Mo Henshui? "

The secretary takes a step back. "No dagger, sir. "

"Is that why you were refusing to come and see our guest? Do you have something that belongs to the Illustrious Qilin Villa Sect? " His brow clears. "One of their sect daggers. "

The secretary makes a break for it, but Sha Zhengtian's arms have reach, and he catches the man by his collar. He has no training, but he has the advantage of size and a certain sedate strength, and Mo Henshui is not going anywhere despite a feeble struggle.

Sha Zhengtian turns to Lin Moniao and Heng Wanxue with dangerous calm. "Could I trouble Lin-gongzi to explain? I suspect Mo Henshui would just lie and waste our time. "

"Sha Zhengtian may not have heard that one of our young men was attacked by a group of ruffians yesterday morning. When I was asking around in places where the thieves might have disposed of their ill-gotten gains, the proprietor of one shop told me that she had had the dagger, but had sold it to Sha Zhengtian's secretary. Naturally I assumed-- " Lin Moniao walks up to stand right in front of Mo Henshui. "I'm afraid it's rather impertinent, but I would like to search your secretary. "

"By all means. " Sha Zhengtian shoves Mo Henshui towards Lin Moniao.

The man scrambles around in his grasp. "I don't have it! "

"Mo Henshui, I would really prefer if you didn't make any sudden moves. " Saying this, Lin Moniao yanks open the collar of the man's robes and taps him three times, quickly, in the center of the chest. He crumbles backwards into Sha Zhengtian's arms, acupoint blocked. "Apologies," Lin Moniao adds to Sha Zhengtian, now holding Mo Henshui's limp body. "I realize this may seem excessive, but somebody tried to kill me yesterday and it's possible that I'm still a little twitchy. "

Behind Lin Moniao, Heng Wanxue purses her lips and looks to the side. Perhaps she agrees. But little A-Xue is a servant and so must not put herself forward, and Lin Moniao is already methodically searching Mo Henshui for anything of interest he may be carrying on his person.

"It is only practical," Sha Zhengtian agrees. The secretary glares at Lin Moniao, then his eyes water, but there isn't anything he can do now.

"Mo Henshui has been with me for two years," Sha Zhengtian tells Lin Moniao. "He came highly recommended. I would be lying if I said there hadn't been signs of something going on... but everything seemed in order, and he has served me well. But he knows I am friendly with Wu Zhenghao, and he should know those daggers aren't supposed to be milling about the black market. So why wouldn't you tell me? " He shakes the man, though Mo Henshui cannot possibly reply.

A quick pat-down reveals that Mo Henshui has no dagger or any kind of a weapon on him. He does have a pair of rings on his fingers, too bulky to be purely decorative, if one were to be of a suspicious mind and think of poisons hidden inside, and a protective amulet stitched inside his coat--much good it did him. He is also carrying a string of coins and a notebook in his inner pocket, and in a pouch by his side, a bottle of some kind of tincture, two tokens Lin Moniao does not recognize, a tube with numbers, and a set of keys.

Lin Moniao is definitely of a suspicious mind right now, so he takes the rings and examines them before putting them in a pile with the other items. He has no particular reason to take the man's money, but everything else--it might not be the present he was hoping to bring back to Shi Jia, but perhaps he can make something of them anyway. "What sort of signs? " Lin Moniao asks. "The difficulty is, if he didn't retrieve that dagger at your orders, then he did it at someone else's, and I would rather that person not learn of what has happened just now. "

"We can keep him in the house, or send him out to the country, until we get to the bottom of this. As for signs, Mo Henshui has been going on errands that I never sent him on. A previous employer of his that I ran into didn't recognize him. He may or may not be a widower with an adult son, this seems to be changing from one day to another; and he has been found lurking in doorways where he doesn't belong. And just look at him--he got so twitchy just at the idea of coming to show my portfolios to Lin Moniao of the Illustrious Qilin Villa. " Sha Zhengtian sets Mo Henshui down on the floor, kneels beside him and pats his chest. "He isn't a very good spy, poor fellow, but I just thought he might have had a good reason to invent a backstory, and the recommendation came from on high. Well! Shall we look in his office, then? Will you keep an eye on him? "

This last was directed to Wanxue, who bowed comically low, accepting the order. With her joined hands, she wrapped her thumbs together in a signal to Lin Moniao: 'yes'.

Lin Moniao nods to Heng Wanxue, and, in the process of gathering Mo Henshui's gathered things, returns her signal. Mo Henshui can't do anything like this; there isn't any danger; and that's what he tells himself as he follows Sha Zhengtian out.

Sha Zhengtian's secretary has his own small room in the house. Unlike the rest of the house, it isn't tidy, but that may be simply due to the number of items forced into the space. Apart from the narrow bed, the writing-table under the window, and the washing cabinet, there is a treasure shelf that houses mostly books and notes, and an incongruous child's wooden toy in the shape of a horse and carriage.

A quick search finds a pillow roll covered in embroidered silk with stitches undone on one side and the straw spilling out stowed out of sight under the writing-table, and inside, among the straw, is Ran-shidi's lost Curved Beauty Dagger.

"Oh, well! That's good to have, anyway. " Lin Moniao picks the dagger up, tosses it in the air and catches it before making it disappear into one of his inner pockets. "I suppose we'd better see if he'll tell us anything else he knows, now. We might as well bring him in here; it seems as good a place to keep him as any. "

They find Mo Henshui still prone on the floor, with Heng Wanxue sitting innocently beside him with a look that suggests only to Lin Moniao that she has almost certainly stolen something. The acupoint undone, the secretary gasps for air and holds his head. "This is the end, this is the end... "

"You'll have time for that in just a moment, man," Sha Zhengtian says brusquely and hauls him up. They march the secretary back to his room, Heng Wanxue at their heel. Mo Henshui does not resist, and when there, he sits down on the edge of his bed, still holding his head, his breath coming fast.

"Mo Henshui," Lin Moniao says gently. He almost puts a hand on the man's shoulder, but given what happened the last time he touched him, perhaps he wouldn't find that very reassuring. "I truly would like to help you, but I need you to tell me how. What do you expect Shi Minhua will do, when he discovers you've failed him? "

"He'll kill my son. " Mo Henshui shakes his head over and over, and covers his face with his hands. "He'll kill my son! "

"Not if I can prevent it," says Lin Moniao. Sha Zhengtian mentioned an adult son, possibly fictitious, but Lin Moniao's eyes drift to the wooden horse and carriage. It may be an old toy, outgrown long ago. "Is he in Kaifeng? "

Mo Henshui nods. "He is one of Shi Minhua's household slaves. I haven't been allowed to speak to him in years, but I have been promised he will be released when he turns twenty-five. That's next year. Until then, I must do whatever I'm told. He has-- " Mo Henshui casts an embarrassed look at the stern Sha Zhengtian-- "asked me to make purchases in Sha Zhengtian's name and stow them at his house. "

"There are more? " Sha Zhengtian demands.

"Yes," Mo Henshui says, and covers his face again.

Privately, Lin Moniao doubts that Shi Minhua ever meant to release Mo Henshui or his son; there's no knowing if the son is even still alive. Or if he--it can't be the assassin they let go this morning, can it? "It's alright, we only need to know what they are, and where," he says. "As for yourself--when are you expected to report back? When will he know that something has gone wrong, if you don't? "

Mo Henshui shakes his head. "He will signal if he wants me, and expect to be told if something changes. "

"Where are the items? " Sha Zhengtian asks.

There are several; Mo Henshui agrees to write down the items and locations. Some, shockingly, are in the women's quarters, hidden at the bottom of vases or stitched on the underside of carpets, though Mo Henshui swears he never set foot in the back rooms--he only tinkered with the items before they were carried there. Most are for blackmail: love letters, financial documents, or identity papers. There are two more unique weapons, rare poisons, and a fine necklace that Mo Henshui bought from Blind Shang three months ago. Some items, he says, have already been moved out of the house after being kept safe there for some time.

"If they're found at my house, then Shi Minhua's in the clear. " Sha Zhengtian is furious, but he is holding on to his calm with an iron grip. "It's audacious! If he thinks I will not pursue this for that reason, he is sorely mistaken. "

"Please," Mo Henshui grabs at Sha Zhengtian's robe and bows his head low. "Please, please don't. My son! "

"Have a heart, Sha Zhengtian; you'd have done the same if it was your son. Or your brother," Lin Moniao adds with a sidelong glance. Maybe Shi Minhua doesn't know Sha Zhengtian's secret after all; certainly, he doesn't seem to have employed it yet. But that doesn't mean he won't.

"Well, no, I don't want the young man killed. Mo Henshui, control yourself. " Sha Zhengtian shakes his secretary off his hem.

"But... forgive me, Mo Henshui, but when was the last time you saw your son? Are you sure he's still alive? "

"I see him sometimes going in and out of the house," Mo Henshui says, "but I have been told never to approach or they will punish him for it, so I stay back and watch. Sometimes Shi Minhua will agree to give him messages from me. But this is how I know that he is alive and not being abused. He looks strong and healthy, and they've taught him martial arts. He must be too honorable to escape, or unwilling to become a fugitive. Or... or he doesn't want to. "

"You would not have happened. To see him return to the house this morning. Shortly before you left? "

"He came in while I was in conference with Shi Minhua. Such a cold look for his own father. I turned my face and fled, so he wouldn't be punished, and waited in the anteroom until Shi Minhua came to finish our conversation and dismiss me. I don't know what he thinks of me now. He was taken from us by slavers when he was only twelve. I failed to protect him then, so I have to save him now. "

Lin Moniao hangs his head, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He'd thought he was being so clever, and he'd gained nothing--nothing that he couldn't have gotten simply by paying a visit to Sha Zhengtian in the first place. And he'd lost Mo Henshui his son. "I am truly sorry, Mo Henshui," he says.


Chapter Seven: Plans and Prophecies

Heng Wanxue is still holding her tongue while the gentlemen speak, but nudges Lin Moniao's foot with her own, and hopes he understands it as a gesture of sympathy. Magpie is as likely as not to blame himself, when she was the one who whipped the youth half to death. Twice!No, the two of them are alike, aren't they? Most rules are for breaking, but when a thing is wrong, it's just wrong, and should be righted. They're in it now.

What follows is a quick back-and-forth, where Sha Zhengtian suggests going to the magistrates and seeing Shi Minhua before a judge. Magpie talks him out of that madness, at least, but the option of pursuing it discreetly through imperial channels remains. In the end, nothing is decided except that Mo Henshui should act as if nothing is amiss, and a plan of action will be drawn with the input of the elders of the Qilin Villa Sect.

Ah, if only she could speak! When she can--when she and Lin Moniao finally leave--she has too many things to say, and ends up saying none of them, just holding tight onto him, where no-one can see them in the shadow between the houses.

She is tempted--oh, she's so tempted. "Magpie," she says, catching him again as he's about to leave, "tell me to sit tight and not go into that house on my own tonight, or I don't think I'll be able to stop myself. Just tell me not to. "

His grip on her tightens, and he buries his face in her hair. "Don't you dare, Peony. "

He bites his lip and manages not to tell her that they'll go together. Just the two of them, like old times--if it hadn't been for the way it ended, he might have said that today was fun, which only makes it worse.

He'll keep it in mind. As a backup plan. If they can't come up with something better.

"Will you go home? " he asks, finally letting go. "Or--I know you were worried about bringing anything down on your roommates. Shi Minhua will think twice, anyway, before making a move on the Ancient Willow Sect. Perhaps you should make sure Yi Zifan knows--well, that she knows not to go back to my mother's, at least. "

"Heaven preserve me, I hadn't even thought of my roommates! " She slaps her forehead. "You're right, I can't go straight home. I'll make it hard for them to follow, Magpie, don't worry, and I'll let Yi Zifan know. "

It's something to do, and Yi Zifan had seemed so centered and sensible, just thinking about that serious face made Heng Wanxue feel less like climbing the back wall of Shi Minhua's house and shimmying a window open. They part ways, and Wanxue makes sure to duck into buildings and come out from a different exit, pass under awnings and into alleys, through crowds and between carriages.

Who knows how many others Shi Minhua is keeping--locked up, or on a leash, parents and children--no, she won't think about it.

She almost has second thoughts when she gets to the inn, but she'll just be in and out, it won't take any time off Yi Zifan's busy day. It's almost lunchtime again, and she spent more time necking than eating, so she picks a pocket to buy a dumpling for herself and a box of noodle soup to bring up to Yi Zifan and her master as a goodwill gesture.

As she goes up the stairs, though, it seems others have had the same idea. Though a young man in the Ancient Willow Sect disciples' colors tells him they're not seeing patients now since it's about time for lunch, there are hopefuls waiting, lounging around the stairs, many of them carrying baskets of food as presents.

"But my soup will get cold! And I'm not a patient. "

"No can do," says the youth firmly, so Heng Wanxue waits until he turns his back and sneaks past. She's up the stairs and knocking before he even notices.

"Oh--just a moment-- " Yi Zifan's voice on the other side of the door sounds confused and flustered, and when she opens it, she has a tray with a steaming tureen of soup and a couple of bowls and spoons stacked on it in her other hand. "Oh! Heng Wanxue! Is there--is everyone alright? "

"Yes! That's why I'm here. " She tries to peer over Yi Zifan's shoulder. "Can I come in? Oh--that smells so good-- Look, I brought my own, you won't have to feed me. " She holds up the box of noodle soup.

"You came because everyone is alright? " Yi Zifan stands in the doorway, blinking, for another moment, before she collects herself and steps aside. "Yes. Come in. You can put it-- "

She pushes some powders and bottles to one side of a low table as she speaks, making room for her own tray. "People don't usually come to us because everyone is alright," she adds with a small smile. "Unless it's someone they don't want to be all right. Then sometimes they come to buy poison. "

"There's a thought! But I can't afford any of your poisons, and how would I make sure only the right person drinks it? Oh. "

Master Xuan is sitting cross-legged by the other table--it's easier on her knees--and is putting things away in labeled boxes. Heng Wanxue drops into a bow. "Master. Apologies for interrupting. "

"Zifan, wipe your hands before you serve," Master Xuan says. "I was hoping for a little peace and quiet, but I suppose you're in now. Have a seat. " Then she wipes her own hands carefully and comes to join them.

Heng Wanxue sits, her hands on her knees. Yi Zifan wipes her hands and ladles out a bowl of soup for Master Xuan, then looks uncertainly at Heng Wanxue. But there are only two bowls, and Heng Wanxue says she brought her own, and there seems to be plenty in her box, so in the end, she only serves a second bowl for herself.

Heng Wanxue unpacks her lunch, really just opening it up, and hangs her head. "I didn't mean to stay long. Really, just to say--everyone is alright, the house is empty. We let him go. So it's alright now. "

"Yes, Mu Liqiang told me-- " A flash of irritation crosses Yi Zifan's face, and then she shakes her head. "Well. He should have stayed in bed. But some people won't be told. "

"We're making it right. Really. I hope Yi Zifan doesn't think too badly of this Heng Wanxue, or Lin Moniao. We'll fix it, you'll see. "

"You haven't done anything to make me think badly of you. " Yi Zifan looks at Heng Wanxue in honest surprise. "You did what you had to do. I know you didn't mean to hurt him. As for Lin Moniao--well. I don't like being made a fool of, and I don't like having my work wasted. But I shouldn't put so much importance on myself. You're trying to stop the person who did--all that--to that unfortunate young man. Good. "

Heng Wanxue wilts in relief. She just needed to hear someone good to say it. "Thank you. "

She got what she came for, and having promised to be quick, and not having anything more to say, she drinks her soup too quickly and ends up coughing and her tongue lightly burned, and she has to wipe her mouth on her sleeve. Even in the sorry excuse for a brothel she worked in, that would probably have got her demoted for bad manners, but she gains in speed what she has lost in accuracy.

She stands and bows, taking her box. "Yi Zifan is very good, and Master Xuan is very kind to have let us borrow her. This Heng Wanxue is in both your debt. "

Master Xuan accepts the thanks and the debt; she has gathered enough not to mind another.

"You can come back," Yi Zifan blurts out. "If anyone is hurt. Or if that young man comes back. Or if--you need anything. "

She can't invite Heng Wanxue to come back just to bring more soup. Master Xuan likes to eat lunch in peace and quiet. Anyway, why would Heng Wanxue want to?

Heng Wanxue smiles wide and drops into another bow. "Understood. "

--

When Lin Moniao returns to Master Wu's house, he is greeted with the sight of disciples in their shirtsleeves playing at catching ants in the inner courtyard, and the sound of laughter and shouts and the thwacking of practice swords from the back, clear signs that the proverbial cat is away.

So is Zeng Xiaohui, the agent Lin Moniao spoke to, but her tall and broad-shouldered companion is sitting silently on the fence of the courtyard finishing off a persimmon. Bureau Eight is, after all, here to observe, not to babysit. She locks eyes with him as he comes in, and taps the fence thoughtfully. Shi Jia is nowhere in sight, but may well be hiding in his very fine room. Neither is Mu Liqiang, who ought to be sleeping still, anyway.

But Yu Long is there, observing the antics, and he comes half-running up to Lin Moniao and grasps his elbows. "Mu Liqiang told me. "

The agent cocks her head, but her face remains stony.

"Shixiong was right. I shouldn't have-- " Lin Moniao shouldn't have done any of it, but he can't discuss it in front of the Bureau Eight agent, not to mention everyone else. He grips the portfolio borrowed from Sha Zhengtian, shakes his head, and says the smallest, safest true thing that he thinks he can get away with: "I shouldn't have put you in the middle of it. "

"Lin-shidi! I'm sorry I misunderstood. I know you better than that. " Yu Long squeezes his elbows again and smiles. "Did you miss lunch? Come to the kitchen. Even Gong Weiyu is out and it's only us shixiongs keeping order. " Which means there is no order being kept whatsoever.

"Is shifu still at his meeting, then? He asked me to bring back examples of flower paintings, but if he's not here, then I have time. " Lin Moniao has not, in fact, eaten lunch, and he hasn't explained--but Yu Long was angry with him without knowing everything, and now he has forgiven him without knowing everything, so maybe it balances out.

"You'd better leave them in his room, then. " Which is an excuse to walk away from the 'Nanjing shijie'. "What happened? "

Once they're away from anyone who might overhear, Lin Moniao drops his voice and says, "I don't know how much Mu-shidi told you about the plan, but... I let him go. Mo Yun. That's the assassin's name. Oh, I was clever about that, too, I let him think Heng Wanxue was doing it against my orders, but... I knew it was wrong. I knew I shouldn't give anyone to Shi Minhua and I wish to Heaven I hadn't done it. " He quickly fills Yu Long in on the rest of the day's events, concluding, "If only I hadn't assumed Sha Zhengtian was at fault--if I'd just gone to talk to him like a sensible person--I could have reunited Mo Yun with his father. Instead, I have probably gotten him killed. "

"He wouldn't kill him for being captured," Yu Long says automatically, then modifies, "He won't kill him if he thinks he can still use the leverage. And the news are good, really, shidi, aren't they? If this means an end to Shi Minhua, it will all be worth it. You didn't know how it would go and made choices based on the information you had. Therefore you acted correctly. Shifu will say so too. "

"Shifu may say so--but shixiong would never have done it. "

They've come to the hallway leading to Master Wu's room. Yu Long neither agrees nor disagrees, but nods in the direction of the sect leader's rooms. "The God did not go with the sect leader today. He's supposed to be sleeping. I wonder what He would say? "

Conferences with the God are few and far between for most of his servants; Lin Moniao is lucky to have had several audiences. Even so, his eyes go wide, and he grabs Yu Long's arm with both hands. "Do you think we should... ask? We could. "

"Sh-shidi! We haven't been granted an audience! " Yu Long looks genuinely shocked, but then he thinks about it. "...We could request an audience. He can say no. At most we'll be punished. "

"That's the spirit. " Lin Moniao grins and practically drags Yu Long to the sect leader's door. "Venerable one? " he calls softly. "The God's servants have need of his wisdom, if He has any to offer. "

There's a rattle and a shuffle, and then a harsh voice calls, "Come in, then. "

Lin Moniao tries the door, and it opens easily. Once he's inside, he drops to his knees and touches his forehead to the floor, waiting, not even daring to breathe. Yu Long closes the door behind them and follows suit. It's dim in the room, with the curtains pulled and incense still hanging in the air; at least it's a room that Lin Moniao knows well, even if it’s now filled with the sect leader and the God's things.

The golden cage is there, with its door open and the covering cloth pulled aside. The God is clasping a perch attached to it. He moves from side to side on it and clicks his beak. "This venerable one is bored. You may stand. " Yu Long climbs on his feet but keeps bowing, hands clasped. "Has Lin Moniao found out his destiny yet? I know Yu Long has not. "

"I don't... think so? " says Lin Moniao, scrambling to his feet as well. "How will I know? "

The God lets out a high-pitched croak that bears no resemblance to human speech. "Not, then. Maybe you are the one. Go on. Ask. "

"Well, I-- " Lin Moniao breaks off. Yu Long said they could ask the God if Lin Moniao had acted correctly, but Lin Moniao already knows the answer to that, and besides, it's not important. "How can I make it right? With Mo Henshui and his son? "

The God hops again and cocks his head. "That's not your job. Your job is to decide the fate of the sect. "

For a long moment, Lin Moniao is struck silent. "As the God says," he says faintly, finally. "What should this one ask, then? "

The God nods low as if about to take off from his perch, but ends up just walking from one end to the other again. "He asks me what he should ask! " He clicks his beak. "How are things at the Villa? How quickly can you get there? What safe ways are there to get out of the city? Who are your allies at the palace? Who can you trust? Where would your people be safe if they needed to run? How best to destroy your enemies? What weapons are at your command? War is coming. Are you prepared? "

Next to Lin Moniao, Yu Long shudders, but sets his jaw and turns his head away. "He knows," the God croaks.

Lin Moniao takes a step closer to Yu Long, links his arm through his, and squeezes. "Thanking the venerable one for his wisdom," he says, bowing his head.

The God clicks his beak. "Before you go, bring this venerable one seed. Over by the window. And the rag mouse. "

Lin Moniao hurries over to the window and fetches the God's things, bringing them over to the cage with another bow before pulling Yu Long out of the room.

"It'll be alright, shixiong," he says once the door is shut behind him. "I'll make sure of it. I won't mess up again. It's my job; you heard the God. "

"I'm sorry," Yu Long says. "I know you'll do well, Lin Moniao. You'll make it all right in the end. "

"Of course I will. " Lin Moniao lifts his chin. "Shall we go get lunch? Maybe we can persuade Shi Jia to come along. "

Shi Jia can, indeed, be easily tempted out of his very fine rooms; they just needed to ask. To explain why he hasn't joined the rowdy group of disciples out in the training ground just outside his room, he says, "It would not be appropriate for Shi Jia to push his company on them, given he is a guest of their master and none of us quite know where the ranks fall. " The youths no doubt started by training, but proper forms have dissolved into rough and tumble play. Perhaps that is another reason.

Lunch is scrounged up and had in the kitchen as the informality of the day allows, and conversation is somewhat constrained by the lack of privacy, but most of it had better wait until the master and sect leader are back. Which is not long; they have only just put down their chopsticks when there is a light shout from the yard, and suddenly everyone is scrambling to pull sleeves back down, dust off knees, and right archery targets.

Returning to the front of the house, Lin Moniao and his friends are in time to see the masters return, neat and official, with Zeng Xiaohui at their heel and another disciple carrying a large box. Beauty Niu declares she needs to see to the God, and to rest and meditate, and sails straight through to her room. The 'Nanjing shijie' goes right up to her companion and they huddle to compare notes.

"Go on," Yu Long says, pushing Lin Moniao towards Master Wu, who's catching up with Gong Weiyu. "Go get him. "

"We will wait in the left-hand room, if you need us. " Meaning his own room; but Shi Jia seems to feel it is finer than anything he deserves to call his own.

Wu Zhenghao is already looking up in their direction, a smile forming on his lips.

An answering smile spreads across Lin Moniao's face, which he hides by dropping into a bow as he hurries over.

It's good to see Master Wu; good that it seems nothing has gone disastrously wrong at the meeting with Five Phoenix Manor. There's so much Lin Moniao wants to tell him, to see if he can help think their way out of some of the tangles they've gotten into. But the overwhelming relief that Lin Moniao felt when he first saw his master at the White Cloud Bathhouse--that here was someone who he could pass his responsibilities to--isn't there. He can't anymore. The God said so.

"I've been recommended a promising artist," he says, straightening up. "I've left a portfolio of his work in shifu's room; perhaps we can discuss it? "

"Excellent. Let's. " They cross the yard and into Master Wu's rooms with no incident, the agents being busy with their notes. "I didn't think you'd actually find some, but if you really have, it might be useful to buy some for presents later. Well, how did it go? "

"A lot has happened, and I've learned a lot, but the sect leader will want to hear all of it, so I might as well wait until she's ready and not have to tell it twice. In the meantime-- " Lin Moniao opens the portfolio on the table. "These are on loan from Sha Zhengtian, and I thought shifu would like them, anyway. The artist lives outside Kaifeng, so it may not be practical to actually commission anything from him now... unless it dovetails with some of our other plans," he adds thoughtfully, considering what the God had to say about finding safe routes out of the capital.

"Oh... exquisite. " Wu Zhenghao is momentarily distracted by fine brush-work. "We can spare one man, surely... " He flips to another picture; clearly he wants them, if not as gifts, perhaps for himself. "Yes, quite. So I take it we did not lose a man, nor are we expecting any guards or assassins to descend upon us just yet. Sect Leader Niu will be available, I'm sure; she's just worried we left the God alone for too long. "

"We didn't lose--none of our own. And there shouldn't be any immediate danger. But you remember, shifu, I told you this morning--I didn't forget this time! " Triumphantly, Lin Moniao brings out Li Nin's sword and the painting from Immortal Sword Manor. "This one is from me, and this one is from Shen-shidi. I believe he wrote a note," he adds, and virtuously does not crane across the table to try to read it.

"This must be the sword of the Unrivaled Scholar, then. " Master Wu takes it up and admires it, then laughs. "I'd scold you for overspending if I didn't know how you got it. It's lovely, darling. Something to hang on the wall at the Villa, perhaps. " He holds it up to the light, and a wistful look passes over his eyes. He clears his throat. "What a shame Li Nin is no longer interested in the world outside the bottle. By all accounts he was remarkable. "

He puts it down and reads Shen Shanwei's note, nods and smiles, then rolls open the painting, and frowns. "Did Shen Shanwei say where he got this? "

"Didn't he say? " Lin Moniao bursts out, half indignant, half laughing. "Did he really leave me to tell you? "

"It's a very pretty note," Master Wu says, turning his head to the side in a motion that is suddenly oddly reminiscent of God Yu. "But yes, it seems he did. What is this? "

"That-- "

Lin Moniao will have to come up with some way to get Shen Shanwei back, next time he sees him--

How are things at the Villa? How quickly can you get there?

Lin Moniao will see Shen Shanwei again. And Hua Haoyu, and the juniors, and shijie, and everyone, even Kang Chenglin, who cannot fight. It's his job to decide the future of the sect, alright, he won't shirk from it. But how can he protect them if he's not there?

Later, Lin Moniao tells himself. But the humor and the indignation are both gone from his voice when he says, "Until recently, it used to hang in Liu Xiuling's personal sitting room. So--perhaps don't display it at the Villa. Or do, depending. "

"Depending, indeed. " Master Wu rolls it up and taps Lin Moniao's chest with it. "It's supposedly from Shen Shanwei, but this is your doing, isn't it, you rascal? You would think of hanging up pieces stolen from powerful enemies. If it becomes prudent to do so, it will be a lovely thing to gloat over in one's private rooms. I just wonder what that young man was thinking. Boasting of his part in the successful mission, perhaps, and knowing I'd forgive the cheek if it was you. You're a bad influence, darling. "

"I am," Lin Moniao says with a complacent smile. "Though Shen-shidi hardly needs influencing. The Shanghai mission was entirely his idea, and we're still dealing with the consequences of that--though it's certainly better than having a powerful enemy and not knowing. " He drums his fingers on the table. "There is something else. I wanted to ask for shifu's guidance about my cultivation. "

"Hm, yes. I don't think I even checked your energies last night. Ask away, but also give me your hand. " He sets the treasures aside and holds out his hand for Lin Moniao's wrist.

"I feel I'm ready for a breakthrough," Lin Moniao says, offering his hand to Master Wu, "but how can I go into seclusion, with the festival, and everything else? But I know Mu Liqiang ran into trouble putting it off, and Yuwen Duyi didn't go into seclusion at all for her breakthrough--she just did--but I'm not her, and besides-- " His free hand steals to his hair, and he jerks it back guiltily. "It isn't that! If it was just my hair, or, or, my looks, I would, for the sect's sake, for the God's sake, I wouldn't hesitate. But the sect leader says there's always a mental affliction, and some of the things I have seen and heard, I was just talking to Mu-shidi this morning--that can't be what the God needs from me. Can it? " If it weren't for Master Wu's fingers warm and solid on Lin Moniao's wrist, he would probably be up and pacing the room by now; instead, he looks at Master Wu in wide-eyed appeal. "He said--I will tell you everything when we speak to the sect leader, but the God said I need to be prepared. Shifu, what should I do? "

"The God, hm? Well, you are right not to risk a qi deviation. I believe Yuwen Duyi thought she was choosing between death and making herself useful. That isn't the case here. And if Mu-shidi's affliction is something that poses a potential threat, you must tell me. I rather think he would tell me himself. " He frowns down at Lin Moniao's wrist under his fingers, distracted. "You will need to cultivate, at least enough to dampen down the breakthrough. It isn't immediately dangerous, though-- I would like the sect leader's opinion. Yes, it's best we go to her. "

Lin Moniao nods. "Yes, alright. " After all, if it was an easy question, he would have answered it himself. It will be better to get the sect leader's opinion. "But as far as Mu-shidi--of course he would tell shifu if it was something dangerous. Of course I would. We were only talking--he says it's not, and he'll tell me later. "

"Good, I'll take both your word for it. Well, no time like the present. She'll have had a moment to recover. "

Master Wu leads Lin Moniao to the sect leader's door and enters when his knock and call are answered. The curtains have been parted to let in some light. Niu Liling is lounging on a sedan with her veil pulled aside, hiding a treat inside her hand while the God plays around looking for it in her sleeve. She sits up when they enter and pulls her veil back up. "Oh. Be more specific when you announce yourself, Wu Zhenghao. "

"My apologies. Lin Moniao needs guidance on a matter of cultivation. His breakthrough is close, but he cannot be spared for seclusion. "

"I see. Come here. " She waves at Lin Moniao to approach and stands.

Feeling a little awkward at having witnessed the unguarded moment between the sect leader and the God, Lin Moniao steps up to her and bows.

The God hops on to the handle of the sedan and watches. Beauty Niu lifts Lin Moniao up, and as Master Wu before her, checks his qi flow at his wrist, then at his temples. "He'll be fine with a little meditation. He will have to go into seclusion in the next few weeks, that's all. "

"Mm. He'd prefer to get it over with before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Could you...? "

She raises her eyebrows at Master Wu. "I could. " Then she looks back at the God, who cocks His head, then ducks and makes a cawing sound, as if he wasn't perfectly capable of speaking. "I can. The God did say Lin Moniao would have a part to play in Kaifeng. " She turns back to Lin Moniao and studies him over her veil. "It will require the two of us to cultivate together, and I suspect it will take all night. Would Lin Moniao be willing? "

"I wouldn't say no. " A grin flickers across Lin Moniao's face before he can stop himself. "Ah--that is--this one would be honored by the sect leader's instruction. But-- " He throws a worried glance at Master Wu. After last night, he doesn't want to spend the night apart if he can help it, and he doesn't know how much he should say in front of anyone else. "Will you--does shifu think it advisable? "

Master Wu gives his disciple a fond look. "If you touch her, I will break your legs. "

The sect leader makes a small disappointed noise, then they both break out laughing.

"It will be fine, Lin Moniao," Master Wu says. "Just make sure you go in well-rested. "

"Yes, shifu," Lin Moniao says with a duck of his head. "Then, I ought to tell you what I've heard from the God. He spoke to me the day you arrived... "

He keeps the description of that occasion, and the one from earlier today, brief and to the point, focusing on reporting the God's words as exactly as he can remember them, trying not to fill in the gaps with his own theories of what they might mean.

The sect leader says something under her breath, looking at the God, who has lost interest and gone to toss and peck at his rag mouse. He seems to be satisfied with his part in laying the scene. Master Wu looks at her as if he wants to take her hand, but doesn't. She turns away and crosses her arms, so he takes Lin Moniao's instead.

"Then it is clear," he says. "When it comes to deciding the future of the sect, the sect leader and I will not be available. It makes it imperative that you reach your breakthrough. "

"War is coming," the sect leader says. "The imperial family is dissolving. We will be mixed up in it, one way or another. The Leng-Piaos will help us; the Dragon Clan will owe us; Five Phoenix Manor will follow its own code as always. But any one of our allies would point to us as a scapegoat if their own survival was on the line. "

"I've tried to make friends with the Dragon Throne, and you see how far it's gotten me. " Master Wu shakes his head. "I'll share all the secrets from now on, Lin Moniao. If we have to run, you'll be able to organize everything without me. "

Lin Moniao squeezes Master Wu's hand. It isn't as though he hadn't thought of it himself, but--unavailable can mean many things. It doesn't have to mean the worst.

"I will. Shifu--and the sect leader, and the God--can count on me. "

To be continued.

Comments

[bookblather]

Gong Weiyu is the real hero of all this running around. I just did logistics for a thing and my god the shit he's putting up with here.

ANYWAY I kind of love Sha Zhengtian a lot; I hope good things happen to him. And yay, my girls are starting to like each other! I hope that builds up.

And this line made me laugh: The God clicks his beak. "Before you go, bring this venerable one seed. Over by the window. And the rag mouse." The rag mouse did it.

[minutia_r]

It's true, Gong Weiyu is the real MVP. And the God may be a god, but He's also still a parrot; I always enjoyed how Ilthit wrote Him.