兵者诡道也 (bīng zhě guǐ dào yě) – For an army, the Way is deceit, i.e. All warfare is based on deception. From The Art of War.
Qiānbàn was in chaos.
The general public talked non-stop about the reappearance of the Divine Lotus. She was real! She was fake! She appeared in the sky like a goddess with a divine aura around her. She ran away from the royal guards like a criminal. She was going to attack the palace and take the throne.
Matters weren't helped by the fact that suddenly the city was swarming with soldiers. Soldiers, in the city, during peacetime! Not only that, they were accosting everyone, young or old, male, female, or other, short and tall, big and small, and demanding identification.
Could the Divine Lotus change her appearance? Did she have accomplices?
The streets hummed with excitement.
The Divine Lotus had come home. The tyrant Chūn Yīlì would be overthrown!
Shǔ Kuí, exhausted but unable to rest, sat with Zeng Guk Lung in the hidden underground rooms, churning out story after story to keep the furore going. She had brought with her dozens of documents, sewn into the lining of her robes, and stitched into the soles of her boots.
“Your Highness, there is one more. I will need your assistance.”
“What do you need?”
Shǔ Kuí tapped the left side of her chest with shaking fingers. “It's here.”
“... I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you-”
“Take this knife.”
“Miss Shǔ Kuí, if you're suggesting-”
“I rolled it up tightly and placed it in a small bamboo tube. The safest place to store it was inside my body, Your Highness. Please cut it out of me. It's only breast tissue here, it will heal quickly.”
Zeng Guk Lung hurriedly left the room, looking green. Zéyì hastily boiled water to sterilise the small knife that Shǔ Kuí offered her, as the other woman undid her robe and let the left side slip down. There was a small wound, neatly stitched, along the outside of her breast.
Raising the knife with one hand, Zéyì covered Shǔ Kuí's eyes with the other.
“Ha... Thank you.” Shǔ Kuí gritted her teeth and flinched as the stitches were sliced along with the upper layer of flesh. The instant that the bloodied bamboo tube poked free, Zéyì plucked it out and pressed a cloth to the gaping wound. She closed her eyes and drove her shén into the blood, willing her Water attribute to try and control the water in Shǔ Kuí's blood to speed up the healing process. It didn't work; she only succeeded in separating the water out and bringing it to the mouth of the wound.
“What were you trying to do?” Shǔ Kuí asked interestedly, despite being very pale and sweating profusely.
“I was trying to help you heal, but I can only control the water part of your blood. Here, my shi fu left some medicines... Drink this.”
As Shǔ Kuí drank, Zéyì built a poultice of herbs and salve and bandaged the wound. “Zeng Guk Lung, get back in here! We need to hurry!”
The scholar nervously poked his head around the door and noted that Shǔ Kuí was dressed and alive. He still looked a little queasy when he saw the bloodied bamboo tube, but he reached for it gamely.
“What was so important that you had to hide it in such a way?”
“Wait. Her Highness should see it first.”
Zéyì felt the blood leave her extremities. There was no particular reason for such a fearful response, and yet the tone of Shǔ Kuí's voice sent a ripple of anxiety through her. With a nod, she took the tube and left the room, while Shǔ Kuí and Zeng Guk Lung applied themselves to the remaining documents, preparing to spread the news across the city. Shǔ Kuí sent messages to the many soldiers who were loyal to Yang Jin. Zeng Guk Lung strolled idly through the merchants quarter to gossip with those who recognised him as Mei Gui's boyfriend.
Chūn Yili tortured his palace retainers. He had ordered the murder of numerous exorcists who had only been performing their civic duty. He had plotted the painful execution of his great aunt under the false pretence of curing her of demonic possession. Here were a list of names of people who had been imprisoned or executed, that anxious families had thought missing.
The Divine Lotus, on the other hand, had only the best interests of the people in mind. She regularly visited those who lived on the street, providing food and comfort, helping the merchants of the city as she did. Not only this, but she had great spiritual powers, and links to the the cultivators of Mount Hua. Above all she was the direct disciple of the Black Tortoise of the North, Zhí Míng.
"I wonder if anyone will know that she's never met him, though," Shǔ Kuí pondered.
"Unlikely," Zeng Guk Lung said. "There are few alive today who would know such a thing, and even if they did, those types of people usually keep to themselves and don't bother with worldly matters."
“You sound like you know a few of them personally.” Shǔ Kuí rubbed her stomach, wincing.
"You need to rest, Miss Shǔ Kuí." Zeng Guk Lung rubbed his own dry and dark eyes, before picking up a small charcoal stick. "It can't be good for the child."
"But if I do nothing, I'll go mad."
“That will make two of us,” said Zéyì, re-entering. The irises of her eyes swirled fiercely, white and black battling for dominance.
Staring with open curiosity, Shǔ Kuí said, “What do you wish to do with that information, Your Highness?”
“Nothing... Nothing. This...” The small bamboo tube had been repackaged, and sat in Zéyì's now bloody palm. “This has cleared up many things for me. But I don't believe we can use it as part of the rumour mill. Thank you, Miss Shǔ Kuí.”
“It is my honour, Your Highness.”
“Zeng Guk Lung, are you leaving soon?”
“Very soon. We need to ensure the city is completely in chaos before we make a move.”
“What would you have me do now, Your Highness?”
"Take a break," Zéyì ordered, offering her some of her own herbal tea. "Shi Fu said this is good for calming the nerves, and I'm certain in his explanation of the side effects he said that a little is alright for pregnant people."
"Your Highness, how can I accept a drink made by yourself? I'm unworthy."
Zéyì looked at the bamboo tube in her hand, and then at Shǔ Kuí. “Unworthy, you say?”
“An ordinary person such as me cannot treat a daughter of heaven like a serving girl.”
With a wry laugh, Zéyì set a tea cup firmly in front of Shǔ Kuí. “Is that what my... My great-niece told you? We all move with the will of the universe, Miss Shǔ Kuí, and you just risked your life for this country to change. If you aren't worthy, nobody is.” She sat down next to Shǔ Kuí with a sweet smile. "Besides, this is how I am. Those stories you spread about me aren't entirely lies."
"I would say they're mostly truth, actually." Zeng Guk Lung raised an eyebrow as he retied his hair. "That's the beauty of it. Mostly fact with some embellishments." He stood up. "I'm heading out again. I need to check how things are progressing."
"We'll move to the southern storehouse. Be back by the hour of the rooster1Hour of the Rooster – 5-7pm.."
Zeng Guk Lung pressed his lips to a piece of red paper, staining them, and stood. Suddenly, there was a third woman in the room, a shy and quiet-looking town girl. The illusion was broken when Zeng Guk Lung's voice came out of her red lips.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Shǔ Kuí shook her head in admiration. "Amazing skill. I wish I could have worked with him earlier."
"You'll have many more chances, Miss Shǔ Kuí."
Once Zeng Guk Lung had left, Shǔ Kuí hesitated.
“Do you want to ask me about what the document says, Miss Shǔ Kuí?”
“Excuse me, Your Highness, I have become too familiar with you.”
“Not at all. No please, don't try and bow. Drink the tea and stay seated.” She turned the tube in her hand, slowly at first, then suddenly spun it so fast that it was a blur and snatched it to a stop with a harsh laugh. “It makes sense, it makes so much sense... Wait until I tell Gong jiě...”
“Who is this Miss Gong, Your Highness?”
“Ah, just someone who has... Someone important. You'll meet her too, someday. Soon. Maybe. I hope.”
“You do not seem particularly surprised.”
“Oh I am... but it's just too... Like I said, too many things make sense to me now... Miss Shǔ Kuí?”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“Do you remember your mother? Is she still alive? Did you grow up with her around?”
“Unfortunately not, Your Highness. She died in childbirth with one of my younger siblings, and we all turned to the streets.”
“I think you'll make a very fierce mother,” Zéyì laughed. “Strict, but you'll stand by your child to the death. I wonder if it was ever possible for me to have an ordinary relationship with my mother... Does anybody in a position like mine have the luxury of a normal family?”
“You could always because that example, Your Highness.”
“That's not possible. I became so sick while I was cursed, I cannot have children. Even if I could, I'm afraid I'm not much interested in men.”
“If only you were a loong, You Highness.”
“.. a loong? Why?”
“Legend says that there are very few male dragons, and females seem to be able to reproduce without them. No one know exactly how that works, of course.”
Shǔ Kuí was interested to see that the look on Zéyì's face was far more stunned than when she had been given the document in the bamboo tube.
"Do you have a lover, Your Highness?"
"I don't."
"That tone of voice suggests that there is a special someone, though?"
Zéyì smiled wearily. "It's only on my part. I don't believe she has any such feelings towards me."
"And you say that I was degrading myself earlier. Your Highness, I've only know you a day and I even I can see that you're honest and considerate but also decisive. You're intelligent and skilled, so why would you think she has no interest in you?"
"I can tell," Zéyì said simply.
Shǔ Kuí meditatively rubbed her stomach for a moment. Then she said, "Is it Miss Fén?"
Zéyì couldn't help staring.
Shǔ Kuí laughed at her expression, the lines of worry smoothing away and revealing a younger woman below. "Your Highness, that woman marched into the palace and snatched you away from right in front of the Regent and all the palace guards. And you say she has no feelings for you?"
"Something like that is easy for Miss Fen," Zéyì protested. "Like scratching her ear, that easy."
"She could have left you there. Why did she bother to do something so easy?"
"Stop, stop. Don't... Damn it..." Zéyì glared at Shǔ Kuí from between her fingers. "Be quiet, you. You're too smart for your own good."
"Apologies, Your Highness."
"You don't sound sorry at all."
"I will try harder."
"What time is it? Where's Zeng Guk Lung gone?"
The hour of the rooster had begun, and Zeng Guk Lung was nowhere in sight. Zéyì anxiously drummed her fingers on the table.
"Your Highness, remember the plan. If one of us doesn't return..." Shǔ Kuí seemed to be speaking as if to reassure herself. The two woman gripped each others' hands for comfort.
"We wait an eighth of a shi. If they still don't return, you'll send a message to Yáng Jìn's Second-in-Command, Wù Māo2雾猫 (Wù Māo) – 'fog' and 'cat'., and she will... Zeng Guk Lung's back!”
A moment later, Shǔ Kuí could hear him too, then the man himself rushed into the room, scrubbing the makeup from his face and pulling off the feminine outer robe. “Your Highness! Vice-Commander Wù Māo is ready to meet you. She can be ready to move in the last quarter of the hour of the dog3Hour of the Dog – 7-9pm..”
Zéyì helped Shǔ Kuí upright. There was no question of trying to convince the woman to stay behind, in spite of her injuries and exhaustion.
“Is he safe? Did they rescue him?”
“I don't know, Miss Shǔ Kuí. I only exchanged a few words. You will have to ask yourself.”
“I'll carry you,” Zéyì said. “Zeng Guk Lung, lead the way.”
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