"Enjoy your meal, little miss—and yes, you can call me whenever you want to. I'll be just waiting outside in the dining area!"
Madam Nie said this as her red figure walked out closing the wooden sliding door behind her with a click. Just before the door fully closed, for a split second, their eyes met in the air and Wei Zhiruo glimpsed something complicated flicker inside them.
Left alone in silence, Wei Zhiruo blankly scanned the room. Its empty wooden shelves were covered in a layer of dust, the chairs and table had wood chipping out and scratches covering its surface— she walked up to one of the chairs, climbed up and leaned back with her hands resting over the armrest while watching the few candles flickering inside. One, two, five—she counted seven of them. Each burning so weakly that there was hardly any light despite their numbers. On the table, food laid served, giving a tempting smell. Warm and appetizing.
She felt her eyes mist in the warmth, and she heard the buzzing voices of laughter and chatter that was coming from outside, seducing her to let go of her vigilance— but safety here was an illusion. She straightened her back a little, picked up her chopsticks with grim attention, and hit her ankle bones against the leg of her chair, reopening her wounds. She winced—it did hurt but it somewhat woke up her feverish mind.
"So much trouble to get a stepchild out of the way. Sometimes I fail to understand these rich women, tsch!" Someone outside was leaning close and whispering. Madam Nie and her maid.
"But they paid us well, didn't they mistress Nie?"
"Yes, good enough to keep our mouths shut. It's just a matter of time though," Madam Nie didn't shrink from admitting, "They'll come for us. They never fail in cutting down bridges after crossing it, you know."
"But…why would you accept this offer if there is so much danger in it?"
"It pays too well, I am greedy for this profit and because," Madam Nie lowered her voice further as she whispered, "Things are changing in the court too quickly. The crown prince has been dethroned. A new heir is going to be selected and ministers are busy changing camps. This is the time the Imperial court is in turmoil—if we want to gain a foothold there, we cannot miss this opportunity. And who can speak for the future? Maybe we will gain enough strength to not fear a second mistress of Wei House!"
Maybe they thought they were whispering softly and there was no chance of a child listening to them, they didn't chew on their words. But Wei Zhiruo heard the whispers clearly.
It was another matter that the growing irritation within her chest which felt like a bulging ache or an unresolvable itch, throbbing and thriving to crush everything and to be smitten to dust— made it impossible to think and plan ahead.
Her palms were sweating furiously, she was feeling dry and parched and uncomfortable. She knew this was because of the burning grade fever she had, the illness that had flared all too suddenly tonight. She also knew this was the impact of burning her body's vitality—each ritual sucked the bones dry and left the body aching, but at times it was a small price to pay. Not this time, though. The sickness flaring at this moment could cost her her life.
To distract herself, Wei Zhiruo once again started counting suspicious figures in the Pingan Inn.
'Three on the roof, three dining here. Four lurking on the second-floor corridor and five back in the alley behind the inn. All men. Tsk! What is going on in this Wei Mansion?'
She scanned the whole inn again.
Outside, there was a tavern-style bustling hall decorated with chairs and tables, full of human adults. There were commoners and young noblemen and drifting merchants and all sorts of people mixed together, sitting, eating and making merry. There was wine, there was music and laughter and smoke. A mouthwatering aroma of roasted meat quietly lurked in each corner, almost covering that dust-soaked odor clinging to the whole wooden building. But she briskly looked past it all, then keenly focused on what was happening in the adjacent private room.
Of course, she had her reasons for that. Amongst the several suspicious figures filling this place, those three over there stood out the most.
At that instant, a servant suddenly barged inside without announcing himself and burst out saying, "Madam Nie agreed."
"Alright then, our preparations here are done as well." A burly looking man looked deeply at the servant boy. His face was covered beneath a bush of mustache and an unkempt beard, and when he spoke, it sounded rough and grating. "Rest assured we'll compensate Madam Nie well after we succeed tonight."
"Brother, is it really the Second Mistress who ordered this?" The servant boy seemed hesitant to ask as he gave a nervous look towards the other two solemn men. "She didn't appear to be a lunatic the last time we met. What is going on? Are you sure you want to do this? It was difficult for me to persuade Madam Nie to sacrifice this ancestral shop at first, but she agreed because I promised she could move to the Imperial capital immediately—brother, is that true or is it just to coax her—?"
"For this one job, Yin'er, we will get fifty thousand gold coins each, and a contract to be included within the Zhang shops in the capital. A single kidnapping will get us our slave-binding certificates back and free us all from bondage. Madam Nie will get what's been promised to her and we will too. Why shouldn't we do it?"
The servant boy considered this silently for some time, then nodding reluctantly he said, "That sounds persuasive enough. But be careful, this Wei House seems like a dangerous place. The water there is too deep. Master Wei Houyu has sent his own personal guards as did the old lady Wei, we have already counted twenty on each side! There are more people coming tonight —I will recommend you take action only after the fire has caught up in there. Wait, if you have to."
"Hmm. Not surprising that," Another one of the three spoke hoarsely, "Of course there will be more people this time! His two sisters died on the journey to Qianshui a few decades ago, he has to be careful this round. Is it done?"
"Soup must have been served by now." The boy nodded at him, and started picking up the empty plates and bowls on the table, while he explained, "Mistress Nie assured me she will send it herself."
"Okay, we know. Keep an eye over that Rong, and that Tan for us," The one with the beard took a last sip from his wine jar and put it down with a loud clanking sound and stood up saying, "They might be assisting us right now, but I've a gut feeling they cannot be trusted anymore than Madam Nie. Especially with what happens tonight."
"Enough talking. Get busy." The third one coughed, gave a curt nod to the servant boy and then stood up, throwing a couple copper coins on the table. "We will come to meet you after we've settled down this business. Take care."
"You too, third brother. I will be waiting for your good news."
Wei Zhiruo frowned at the bowl of soup served by Madam Nie. She kept stirring it with her chopsticks identifying the 'extra' ingredient within it. She got tired of the process, so she leaned back on her chair and stared blankly up at the ceiling. This wasn't sudden, this thought, but suddenly she felt it become more intense. This life —this identity of 'Wei Zhiruo's seemed shrouded in endless mysteries, and each one seemed fatal to her. A bad reputation, a mother who wants to kill her and her sister for some unknown cause—and those mentions of Gods and blasphemy and sacrifices; all of these sounded too linked to not be a deeper conspiracy. What she feared was that she couldn't escape from this despite leaving Jinghai.
'But it isn't time to be lost in such worthless ponderings,' she thought and looked down at the milky white broth served with floating chunks of meat and cilantro. 'How appetizing.'
At first glance, it did look quite delicious; oil had risen up and put a film which was glistening in the dim light. Wei Zhiruo finally succeeded in discerning that sweet smell of herbs inside — it was Femgrim's Mandrake. An inconspicuous weed growing in the shadows of Silver Gall Birch in shallow marshes. If properly utilized, one could treat arrhythmia and several other small diseases with it, but there was another folk usage of this herb in her lands —doctors used this thing before euthanizing patients. One just had to get a few crushed leaves of these and feed it to the person concerned, and watch them faint to oblivion.
Her chopsticks stirred the soup, then she picked up the bowl. She felt the broth soak into her sleeves, little by little, running down in small rivulets down from the corner of lips to her shoulder; not a drop of it was allowed to stray into her mouth. It took some effort to not wet the booklet she'd tied underneath her dudou, but she did trick those ogling eyes looking intensely at her from the roof.
"Clink—!"
Putting down the bowl, she picked up a thick black cloak sitting on the opposite seat, and hurriedly put it on herself. She tucked on the hood covering most of her face and especially her striking eyes, then walked out to find Xiaorui.
"Miss, do you need something? Where are you going?"
"I'll be standing outside, you can come along if you want to. The heat here is stifling me." Wei Zhiruo replied half truthfully. Her mind was restlessly thinking about how she could use this opportunity to escape— the only possibility of cutting ties with Wei House was today, and if she were to use the future chaos—
"Aah—shouldn't we go tell steward Tan about this?"
"He wouldn't mind." Wei Zhiruo waved her hands at Xiaorui, and regardless kept walking in long strides towards the door, "I am not going far away for one and I will be just standing outside. I just need some…fresh air."
"Okay, wait miss! Miss, slow down!!"
The night sky outside was pretty clear. She huffed in a little as she looked around while descending down the steps going past the huge double doors. Her shadow looked distorted in the red light falling on her back casted down from lanterns hanging around on this street. People came and went, horses and carriages and palanquins were rushing even at this late hour —it was nine in the evening, yet the town felt alive.
Breathing in the cold air, Wei Zhiruo tucked her hands inside her sleeves and stood silently beside the pillar of the storefront. She watched a man climb up his horse and ride out of the narrow alley. Wind whistled behind him and hooves of the horse clip-clopped as it hit the cobblestone glistening like crystal under the colorful lanterns. She chased that cold back fading away in the darkness blankly, when suddenly she heard the sound of a carriage rolling down.
"Are we going to stay here tonight, brother Gu?"
"This is the best Inn in this town, Chen Hua! We cannot do anything about it. Just deal with this for tonight, and we will set out by midnight anyways. Why are you grumbling, it's not like you haven't stayed in worse places than this."
A young stable boy rushed in to attend the guests. Five young men and women came walking up the stairs, wearing clean white clothes. Each one of them walked as if they were gliding in the air, their steps having no sound whatsoever.
Wei Zhiruo's eyes fell on the swords and whips, each of them clutched in their hands—she felt one of them look back at her as if he'd noticed her stare. Wei Zhiruo, surprised, quickly looked down at her feet.
"Brother Haiming, what are you looking at?"
"Nothing —keep walking." The young man gave a curt reply to his companion, then walked right past Wei Zhiruo.
A gust of wind blew, and she watched astonished as an unmistakable surge occurred in the energy surrounding her. Something was agitating them, brushing them to move and rage.
"Miss —shouldn't we go back now? How long are you going to stand here?" Xiaorui suddenly asked.
"Wait a few more minutes."
Wei Zhiruo counted twenty breaths before she started tracking. She wanted to follow them, but before that she had to consider the girl watching her every move. Thinking about a measure, she stopped and looked at Xiaorui.
"Xiaorui, go and bring some tea cakes." Wei Zhiruo ordered, "You help me restock it, I think my stock is almost used up. I want dried roses and some chamomile petals okay. There must be some in this Inn, if not here go to a somewhat famous store around here and ask. I know restaurants do sell them and you can ask Madam Nie if she can recommend some places to you. Be quick."
"What if those shops are closed, miss?"
"You can look around for other shops. Just inquire and see which places sell these and you can go buy it tomorrow morning if it is too late tonight."
"Is that all, then…I'll be quick. Just, please don't go outside alone, okay?" She looked fearful, as if she was worried that Wei Zhiruo would use her absence to run around wildly. "You will get lost, miss. Promise me, alright?"
"I promise. Now, go."
Wei Zhiruo watched Xiaorui walk out of the inn. Then she walked into the public dining area. She found a seat and sat down. A moment later, a maid approached her to take her order.
"What do you wish to order, miss?"
"Can you get me some freshly brewed tea?"
"That will take me some time…are you okay with waiting for it? We usually don't get requests for it this late in the night—"
"It's okay, I can wait —you can bring some pastries too. Tell Madam Nie to collect the money for these two orders from steward Tan. Thank you."
Wei Zhiruo distracted herself by picking up nuts from the plate as she tried to eavesdrop. But soon, her busied hands started shaking furiously. She had to clutch it hard for them to stop shivering and attracting attention.
"Brother, is it true?" One of the two girls asked cautiously. "Has sister Yue's engagement really been called off? Elder Shen arranged for us to go on this expedition—why does this incident seem like a huge conspiracy? Is that why we are in a hurry to go back?"
"It's not just that, Hua'er," the person called Haiming replied. He looked over at the place where Wei Zhiruo was sitting, and then calmly looked away. Wei Zhiruo heard him add, "Be careful with your words, we're outside."
"Oh, I forgot."
The girl immediately looked around and then noticed so many people's eyes on their backs, she took out something from her sleeves — she burned a piece of paper and instantly a barrier cocooning the table formed. It was solid, yet flexible —almost impenetrable and a rage of energy stifled the sound inside. If Wei Zhiruo didn't have a stronger spiritual consciousness, eavesdropping would've been next to impossible. She became more careful.
"—he's sick! He just looks down upon all of us, like we're some kind of scum and only he can be the most worthy of —"
"Gu Zhengwei!"
"But brother, isn't this great injustice?"
One of the other two boys threw his fist at the table, while he kept furiously whispering with clenched teeth, "Sister Yue isn't the one at fault so why should she become the one who suffers? They are taking advantage of your absence, it's so clear that I feel angry just thinking about this! How many times did you help that Xie boy solve his troublesome tasks? Just because they couldn't fall on the head of that Xie Shi, how many hard tasks fell on your shoulder, brother Haiming? How else do you think he would've kept his cherished reputation as the eldest disciple of Sect Master? And that boy? What did he do to your younger sister—he didn't even repay you for saving his life! Why can he be such a white eyed wolf —but of course, they are the Xie's! Every sin is forgivable for them."
"Gu Zhengwei. Calm down. Do you think your anger can solve the trouble?" Haiming stopped Gu Zhengwei as if he didn't want to pursue this topic. "I know my sister, she'll be fine."
"Brother Wen is right." The other girl who hadn't spoken till now, spoke gently. "This is not the time to be selfish. The engagement isn't a matter we can deal with in a day or two's time; we might even be unable to do anything. Xie Shi has the whole Xie family of Western Black Regions behind his back, that's not changing. He is adamant on something and no one can persuade him otherwise. And how judicious would it be to talk to such a person who clearly doesn't want to keep his words? But sister Yue is alone and she needs us now. I agree with brother Haiming that she is strong, but we must go back. Let's go to Xicheng first. This way we can join the entourage coming to select new disciples there and we won't have to retrace our previous route by going back to Daxia, or by walking through Yong Empire. The journey through Western Tower of the Great Barrier was nightmarish enough."
"But sister Wenli —doesn't this feel like a slap on our faces? Elder Shen intervened and forced us to go beyond the Great Barrier at such a sensitive time, it's already an abuse of his official duty to the sect! It is a fact that none of us had any obligation to carry out such a Task assignment from the Law Enforcement Hall but we did get it. For heaven sake, none of us has even established our Foundation yet, and we are forced to come here to solve such bizarre cases—this is just bullying! Moreover, he went through all this trouble to get what—? For finding a few scattered bones here in that Shen House?! If Elder Shen was more concerned about the exterminated family which he claimed belonged to the Shen clan's offshoot, he would have sent more experienced sect members. But he said the task was appropriate for us, in fact even mortals could easily investigate it! Now, we are going to look like fools, with nothing on our hands. What about us? What did we get in the end? Doesn't this make us look like idiots?!"
"I already know, Chen Hua —"
"It was not for nothing." Suddenly, the only boy who'd kept silent for all this time spoke. "It was not for nothing. You remember the rooms in that mansion? There were blood traces everywhere in there scattered around. It was all underneath the fire too, as if the fire had just been a cover up— and as appalling as it might sound, if we bunch those scenes together, the night of supposed massacre wouldn't have been nothing less than a purgatory. Blood flowing everywhere…somebody or something, drained those people's blood before killing them. Doesn't that appear abnormal? I have reported to my senior brother, brother Wen, please inform the sect leader. I think all of us should report these anomalies immediately. I hope I've guessed wrong, but perhaps it wasn't just a simple homicide but rather…done by Demonic cultivators. Or did you already guess, brother Wen?"
"Wen clan did a survey here a year ago, they didn't find any anomaly. But those dirty things are too many to brush under the rugs. I have sent a message to senior brother Pei, if something happens to us…," Wen Haiming didn't elaborate further.
Everyone fell silent.
Wei Zhiruo started tapping the table surface.
"Miss, your tea is here."
The maid placed a kettle and a porcelain cup on the tabletop, then slowly started pouring boiled water over the tea leaves and placed it in front of Wei Zhiruo. "Do you need something else?"
"No, this is it."
The cup was emptied soon.
She estimated that it was time for those men to take action—the dose of Femgrim Mandrake wasn't strong, and had she really drunk all that soup, she'd have been feeling stuffy, and nauseous and faint inside, sitting like a good puppet—pliantly waiting to be carried away.
Xiaorui didn't return. Shaoyao was never seen again after coming down from the carriage —perhaps she was too offended by her, or maybe she knew something was happening here. Other familiar faces too seemed to be slipping away unnoticeably.
Wei Zhiruo squinted her eyes as she smelled the smoke coming.
"It's fire—Fire! The Inn's on fire, run!!"
"Get water, hurry! Hurry! Don't stand in the way, quick."
"The building's on fire! Everyone, get out!!"
The shouts for help were harsh.
Sitting there over her chair, watching the stampede across the floor as people came down like ants rushing heedlessly from the second floor —she felt the scene too discordant with her senses. She knew someone would soon sneak up to her, assured of the fact that she'll be too numb and frozen to struggle; he'll clutch her waist, pretend that he was rushing outside with his own daughter and throw her into a carriage and be off with his target in no time —wouldn't it be the perfect time to kidnap?
A fight broke out amidst the flames on the second floor and she saw two camps lunging at each other's throat, each adept at stealth and cold weapons, adamant on reaching her first.
"Brother Wen, should we lend a hand?"
"It doesn't matter whether we do or not," Wen Haiming shook his head at his companion. "The fire is contained and no one is in mortal danger. If you want to help, go."
"Creak—!"
Wei Zhiruo pushed the chair back. She didn't wait anymore.
Before the crowd could fully clear, she used the men and women shouting and running as her shield. In that rush, she stumbled out in the open air, slipping past the many gazes that were hungrily looking for her. Before any of them could realize that she was missing she made her way towards the parked carriages. She'd already marked which one she had to climb, so she quietly ducked behind a quaint looking one, climbing its rear and secured herself in its makeshift boards extending at the back, then covered herself in her cloak.
She knew this would be dangerous. Travelling like this would be full of perils, as debris will fly up and perhaps, the cold air will choke her to death instead. But this was the only way she could find those cultivators—there was no way she'd give up on such a heaven sent opportunity.
"I'll be driving for the first half. Get some rest."
"Okay, brother Haiming. Wake me up when it's my turn."
Wei Zhiruo endured the wind rushing at her. They were out of Towns Gate, so cobblestone paths became rougher, pitted earthen one's. She was gritting her teeth and readying herself to face being swarmed in dust and debris but things changed. She noticed a strange force covering and assisting her. It enveloped her like a thin film, sheltering her from wind and dust.
The horses whinnied, the carriage wheels rolled on, yet, no dust flew up into her eyes. She'd been found —she thought as she eased her nerves, leaning back a little more comfortably. Her feverish, sleep laden eyes finally couldn't wait anymore, and she fainted.