一刀两断 (yī dāo liǎng duàn) - cut in two with one stroke of the knife; i.e. to be finished with someone.

“It's funny watching you act like an old man,” Gong Lau Yan said.

“It's funny watching you pretend to be a responsible member of royalty,” Yuān Mù replied.

They both broke into grins. Zéyì, watching them behave like children, sighed and looked for patience on the ceiling.

Yuān Mù had returned to visit Chūn. The respectful look on Shǔ Kuí's face when she had first met him had now disappeared, and she, Cheng Guk Lung and Zéyì wore matching expressions of mild exasperation as Yuān Mù and Gong Lau Yan bantered. Only Wù Māo, standing in for the still-recovering Yáng Jìn, watched them with enthusiasm.

“Who do you think will win?” she whispered eagerly to Cheng Guk Lung, seated next to her.

“Me,” Gong Lau Yan announced immediately, hearing every word.

“You wouldn't be able to say that so easily if Yuk Ying was here,” Yuān Mù retorted, with a smile that faded quickly. Gong Lau Yan sobered quickly too.

“You're right, you're right... Anyway, what news do you have?”

Yuān Mù had plenty of news, it seemed. He had just lost contact with his disciple Yuān Yì Fēng, who was still travelling west, looking for evidence of Tsaam Lei's poaching and smuggling.

“He's been busy,” Yuān Mù said heavily. “Yì Fēng has almost reached the westernmost point of the Jade Road and is still finding incidents. They say there's evidence of even more, further west. They're planning to cross the sea to their companion's home country.”

“What's the deal with their 'companion'?” Gong Lau Yan asked, a hint of a grin coming back to her face.

Yuān Mù shrugged, but a small smile curled his lips. “You tell me, Lady Gong. You saw Yì Fēng more recently than I.”

“Sure... On a more serious note, I'm interested in their companion's powers. Zéyì learnt a little about them, but it would be good to know more. Especially since it seems that there are some similarities with Tsaam Lei's.”

“Yì Fēng's companion is what is called a necromancer in the Common Tongue. In essence, someone who has certain powers over the dead.”

Zéyì recalled her unusual unease around the pale-skinned person who followed her Junior Sibling.

“Tsaam Lei's powers, on the other hand, seem like one of the Hēibái Wúcháng, leading the dead to the underworld.” Yuān Mù looked at his hands. “Yì Fēng said he also still has his Wood powers.” He looked directly at Gong Lau Yan. “Are you sure he didn't recognise you at the auction?”

“Positive. I was half out of my mind, but with his personality, he would have said something to me. The whole thing's weird.”

“I'm interested to know more about his association with the other two people I met at the auction – the divine cat Eitsu and her companion,” Zéyì said. “There seemed to be something there. It's a pity we didn't stay in contact.”

“Things were a little chaotic,” Gong Lau Yan understated.

“Divine cat?” Cheng Guk Lung looked surprised. “You're not referring to Eitsubyou no Mikoto, the Heavenly Cat Demon?”

“Maybe?” Gong Lau Yan returned him an equally surprised look. “Zéyì, did you hear that name?”

“No, she only ever referred to herself as 'Eitsu'. A small woman, dark sort of skin, black hair, gold eyes?”

“She stayed at Mount Huā. I've been told she only left a few weeks ago, while I was here.” He began to talk almost to himself, a look of satisfaction growing on his face as information slotted together. “So the hú li jīng she referred to as Rei is the same Tsaam Lei...”

“Would you care to fill us in?” Shǔ Kuí asked.

“Eitsubyou no Mikoto is a thousand-year old divine cat. Or potentially demonic. The understandings of divine and demonic are somewhat... different... in Yamato, compared to the Four Kingdoms. Tsaam Lei, or Rei, as she knows him, has been causing trouble for her across eight previous lives.”

“So cats really do have nine lives?” Shǔ Kuí's eyes shone with interest.

“Divine or demonic ones do, at least.”

“Yì Fēng said that they found a box at the auction house,” Yuān Mù added heavily. “It had the pelts of eight cats within it, all of which seemed to contain remnants of spiritual power.”

Gong Lau Yan's fingers crushed the wooden table. She only let go when Zéyì laid a gentle hand on her arm.

“Sorry... That's... Not only my dze dze...”

“Do you have Yuān Yì Fēng's correspondence with you, Master?”

Cheng Guk Lung and Shǔ Kuí examined the pages that Yuān Mù passed over. “A code?”

“Just in case. I'll explain how to decrypt it following the meeting.”

“But no word of Dzue Yi-sang in any of this?”

Everyone gathered shook their heads.

Gong Lau Yan sighed, resigned. “Then I... Somehow I think it's what I thought all along. That the demons are responsible for Little Wan's disappearance this time.”

It was Yuān Mù's turned to look agitated. “Lady Gong, you're not...”

“If I have to go to the demon realm, I will. It's not that bad of a place, these days.”

“That's not what I mean.”

The eyes of Cheng Guk Lung, Shǔ Kuí and Wù Māo were almost bulging out of their heads with curiosity, but neither Gong Lau Yan nor Yuān Mù said anything else.

“Is it anything like what I imagined?” Zéyì joked privately to Gong Lau Yan, thinking of her previous delusion where they had followed the false Fàn Bì'ān to a demon place.

“Not really. It look more like a distorted version of this palace here.”

“I thought so. Where did we actually go, by the way?”

“Quite a nice teahouse, actually. We should go back there some time.”

“What are you two muttering about?”

“Nothing... So does anyone know where Tsaam Lei is now?”

Again, no one seemed to know.

“As Ming Dzue's family, my Aunt and I should be the ones to bring him to justice,” Gong Lau Yan announced quietly. She looked very, very tired. “I'll need to speak with her soon. But I'm concerned about Dzue Yi-sang. Her rescue takes priority, and Zéyì should come with me.”

“Lady Gong, the Regent of Chūn can't just disappear on an adventure within a few months of succeeding the throne,” Cheng Guk Lung groaned. “Especially not with the state of the country right now. There's infrastructural works that need to be done that were ignored by the previous Regent, investigations into and compensation for those who have gone missing or died under the previous reign-”

“Oh, so you are well across everything that needs doing!” Zéyì said brightly.

“I'm not going to play acting Regent!”

“Shǔ Kuí, how have your investigations into the Cheng Family been going?”

“I haven't found much yet, Your Majesty, but there are hints that some of the family did live within Chūn and may have potentially married nobility. We're still looking into it.”

“That's positive.”

“UGH! Why do you even need to go, Your Majesty?” Cheng Guk Lung asked despairingly, his voice a little muffled as he had driven his head into the stack of papers before him.

“Debt collecting,” Gong Lau Yan replied.

“What?”

“The Eastern Demonic Palace owes me.” She shrugged. “And I requested assistance from Prince Fàn Bì'ān to assist Zéyì.”

Zéyì was about to laugh at this cheeky lie when she remembered meeting the demonic delegation before the auction. She had been so confused then that the memory was somewhat blurry, but she finally recalled that Gong Lau Yan had asked for their help to manage Zéyì's demonic powers.

“You remembered.”

“Of course.”

“Assist? With what?”

“That's not important.”

“Yes, it is! It's the reason why you're dumping this job on me!”

“Cheng Guk Lung, I will explain, in time.” Zéyì looked so grave that the gathered participants of the meeting sat up straighter and tried to behave like respectable adults. “But right now, all I can say is that there is something I very much need assistance with, and the demons will provide that assistance.”

“So, to summarise,” Shǔ Kuí said, stepping in to bring the meeting back to the matters at hand. “We have the management of Chūn, which is proposed to be left to Cheng Guk Lung-”

“With your assistance,” he added pointedly.

“- with my assistance, until Her Majesty's return. We need to find some kind of basis for choosing him, especially given he is a citizen of Shísuàn, at present.

“Then the matter of the criminal Tsaam Lei. His location needs to be identified. Given his abilities, I would imagine that his apprehension would be carried out by your family, Lady Gong?”

“My Aunt, Tin Yeung Wong. Although she doesn't engage with the mortal realm as much these days, her palace is still located a few hundred lǐ off the coast of what was Dzue.”

“Forgive me for asking.” Shǔ Kuí frowned. “Why has the Palace of Tin Yeung Wong not already been mobilised to search for and detain Tsaam Lei?”

“Politics,” Gong Lau Yan said off-handedly.

“Is... that all, Lady Gong?”

“For now.”

“I once again beg your pardon, but... how are we supposed to do our jobs as intelligence officers if you don't provide us with information?”

“She's fearless,” Gong Lau Yan said approvingly to no-one in particular.

“A little too much,” Zéyì said. “Shǔ Kuí, please maintain your respect.”

“I apologise, Your Majesty.”

“I understand your frustration.” Zéyì sighed deeply. “I truly do, but you understand we have reasons for not revealing everything.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I'll assist with researching the Cheng family,” Yuān Mù offered. “Cheng Baak-hap was a very important person to me. It was one of her regrets that she didn't know her family.”

“Then, Cheng Guk Lung, you will be working with Wù Māo, and Yáng Jìn, when he recovers, to manage the internal affairs of Chūn,” said Zéyì. “I will be involved for a month, but we cannot delay our journey to the demon realm any longer. We've already left it late, as it is.”

“I'll contact my Aunt to ask for her assistance with detaining Tsaam Lei,” Gong Lau Yan concluded. “And then prepare for our journey.”

The meeting broke up. For a month, the group worked on their separate jobs, slowly bringing the tumultuous Chūn back towards normality, alerting their networks to the activities of Tsaam Lei, researching deep into the night. Zéyì, as she had, many years ago, personally travelled Chūn, dealing with matters big and small, but making sure to bring Cheng Guk Lung with her to make him a familiar sight to the citizens. Yáng Jìn recovered and returned to his duties, while Shǔ Kuí's stomach grew larger and larger, although she insisted on continuing to work. A limit had to be placed on her work hours, along with constant reminders that her health was her child's health. Zéyì intended to return the lock of hair to her, to allow her to dispose of it safely, but threatened to reconsider if the intelligence officer didn't rest. Shǔ Kuí finally obeyed.

By the end of the month, they were no closer to finding Tsaam Lei. Like the fox he was, he had apparently gone to ground.

Acting Regency was officially handed to Cheng Guk Lung. There was remarkably little complaint; everyone simply seemed relieved that a more peaceful person than Chūn Yīlè was in charge. Cheng Guk Lung's strategic and diplomatic capabilities simply smoothed the process, despite there being no real connection between himself and the Chūn royal family. Zéyì spoke vaguely about him being a distant cousin through his grand-aunt, the Sage Star, and no-one batted an eyelid.

There was one last thing that needed to be done before they left.

The escort soldiers from the Palace of Tin Yeung Wong arrived early in Spring, arriving at the palace in human form. It was a quiet event, unofficial, no one there other than the soldiers, Zéyì, Gong Lau Yan, and Mǎn Jiāng, bound by paper talismans.

The soldiers were members of the Third Head. They were led by a beautiful loong, dressed more like a scholar than a soldier, with long black hair that swept the floor, and eyes as blue as the ocean depths.

“Maan Dzi King.” Gong Lau Yan nodded. Zéyì faintly remembered this name from Gong Lau Yan's story of the fall of Dzue.

“Your Highness,” the woman replied, but her beautiful eyes drifted over Zéyì. There seemed to be a faint contempt in them.

Gong Lau Yan flicked at the earring she wore, the long delicate lotus on a chain that had belonged to Zéyì. “Is there a problem, Maan Dzi King?”

“No, Your Highness.”

“Then why aren't you greeting the Regent Zéyì?”

“Maan Dzi King, Commander of the Third Head of the Palace of Tin Yeung Wong, greets the human Regent, Chūn Zéyì.”

“She's somewhat rude,” Zéyì remarked, not acknowledging the loong's bow.

“Sorry. Don't mind it, she's just a bitter person.”

The loong troops shuffled awkwardly while Maan Dzi King remained bowed, her face hidden. Zéyì was certain she was seething.

“Greetings to you too, Lady Maan. Travel safely.”

And that was it. With Mǎn Jiāng between them, the loong soldiers left. Zéyì did not say a single word to the woman they took away.

“Are you okay?” Gong Lau Yan gently rubbed the pearl that sat on Zéyì's earlobes. Her fingertips brushed Zéyì's skin.

“I'm okay. What was that with Maan Dzi King?”

“Ah.” Gong Lau Yan's expression became very uncomfortably. She muttered something under her breath that even Zéyì's supernatural hearing couldn't catch.

“What was that?”

The loong looked both apologetic and uneasy all at once. “She... Ugh. Maan Dzi King is, unfortunately, an ex-lover.”