Fate's Attendant 1.39

Hong Fei had already reported to the steward and the duchess on his return to the estate, but if people were spreading lies, he needed to take action before those rumors took root.

“Walk with me,” he told Sun Han and Auntie Ling, exiting the salon.

The lack of a hot bath turned out to be a case of good fortune disguised as bad. Auntie Ling’s and his bandages would be put proudly on display. The mud caking his clothes would testify to the lengths they’d gone through to successfully retrieve the Young Master.

Truly, he wanted nothing more than to rest, but battles weren’t always fought at the timing of one’s choosing.

“Go on,” Hong Fei told Sun Han, finding the energy to stride. “Continue your report.”

The scholar took a stutter step to catch up. “To be clear, there are two camps,” he said. “Most of the people I spoke to called you a hero for bringing Yu Yong back alive. They heard about the rescue either directly from or through the people closest to Chen Wenbin.”

Hong Fei turned in surprise. “The xiàowèi?”

“Yes,” the scholar replied. “He was overheard talking about it in the main courtyard. The gossip’s already spread to everyone on staff as near as I can tell.”

“Then who’s speaking against me?”

Sun Han frowned. “It’s uncertain. Since people know I’m your secretary, they’re hesitant to speak plainly in my presence. But there are questions about the incident that reflect poorly on you; that much is obvious. Perhaps they were innocently framed at first but then took a life of their own or were helped along by your enemies.”

Hong Fei clenched his fists. “Let me guess: Why did the Young Master run off in the first place? Would he have done so without the dūtóu’s exaggerated stories to spur him on?”

“Those are the ones,” Sun Han replied. He adjusted his hat, which was starting to fall askew. “People seem fond of the boy. They want to blame something other than his own foolishness.”

“Mmm,” Hong Fei said, and left it at that.

He aimed for a general tour of the estate, and the trio soon entered the garden where the gambling ring had met in the past. A pair of servants spotted them and whispered to each other. The same was true as they approached the main kitchen, the storerooms, and every other space they walked through.

No one seemed to be resting, with people sharing their experiences of searching for the Young Master and wondering about his condition. There was relief he’d been found yet also anxiety since he’d been sequestered with a doctor ever since. The people of the Yu household hadn’t had good experiences with doctors.

Auntie Ling bumped Hong Fei to get his attention, then gestured with her wounded paw to her heart. He nodded to show he’d understood. A visit to check on Yu Yong would be appropriate.

Hong Fei changed directions to head to the Young Master’s courtyard. He found it crowded with concerned family, friends, and servants. Their murmurs died when Hong Fei was seen approaching.

A guard blocked passage into the salon and the living quarters beyond it. Striding toward him, Hong Fei gazed at the soldier until the man found the good sense to let him and his entourage inside.

For a moment, Hong Fei thought he’d entered the wrong room. The salon’s interior was a near duplicate of Mei Hua’s. The individual pieces of art and the designs on the larger ones were different, but the overall layout and impact were similar. The two rooms exhibited a level of wealth that wasn’t present elsewhere in the house—a house that the steward had constantly reminded Hong Fei was short on funds.

Three people sat in the salon’s comfortable chairs: Yu Ning, Mei Hua, and Chen Zhengyi.

Yu Ning looked up first. The Young Mistress ran to Hong Fei to take his hands and kiss them, then she put her forehead into his palms and bowed—an old, old gesture of gratitude. She must’ve read about it in a book. Hong Fei only recognized it because of a painting at his family house.

“No, no,” he objected, feeling embarrassed. “Stop this nonsense. It’s too much for man like me.”

“You saved my brother’s life,” Yu Ning said, her voice thick with emotion. “How else can I show my sincerity?”

Hong Fei’s hands became wet as tears fell onto them. “Please,” he said, wanting to withdraw them yet not daring. The disrespect implied would’ve been tremendous.

Mei Hua came to pull Yu Ning away. The Young Mistress’s companion nodded her thanks to Hong Fei, before leaning to whisper comfort to Yu Ning who’d begun sobbing in earnest.

Chen Zhengyi shifted in his chair, looking uncomfortable. Hong Fei eyed him in passing on the way to the living quarters beyond.

The boy was sweating as he said, “You’re not supposed to go in there.”

Hong Fei nodded, yet kept going.

“The beast—” the boy started, then shut his mouth when Auntie Ling glanced at him.

Sun Han smiled apologetically, then hurried to catch up to the others.

###

The salon opened onto a foyer. The furnishings weren’t as fine as the salon’s, but they didn’t have to be—the space was more a waystation to Hong Fei’s eyes, a place to gather and organize before heading out or in. It was organized around a polished mirror on the wall. A pitcher of water and cups sat on a small table underneath it and plush chairs to the side. Doors to the right led to a study and an office, and on the left was a corridor to multiple bedrooms, the largest of which was at the end.

A raised voice came from that direction. The tone was anguished and plaintive. He recognized it as belonging to Yu Yong: “Why won’t my father come see me? Will the duke and duchess ignore me, too? They would have an answer. They must!”

A steady murmur answered him, the words spoken to softly to be heard.

“No! No! No!” Yu Yong roared in replied. “That can’t be! Bring another doctor! Summon them all—”

Murmuring interrupted him, then came the sound of pottery smashing against the wall. “Fools! Cowards!” Yu Yong yelled.

Chen Wenbin and Zhang Dehua ducked out of the room, closing the door behind them, and the sound of things breaking continued, as did the tantrum.

The two men came to the foyer where Hong Fei had remained standing. They wore troubled expressions.

“The doctor’s report was not good then,” Hong Fei said.

Zhang Dehua sighed and shook his head.

“We’ll need to investigate the source of the life-saving pill,” Chen Wenbin said to the steward, his thoughts still on the Young Master’s condition. “By your leave, I’d like to begin the investigation immediately.”

Zhang Dehua waved a hand in dismissal, and Chen Wenbin offered a distracted nod to the others present before leaving.

“What’s going on?” Hong Fei asked the steward, then when he saw Zhang Dehua hesitate to answer, he gestured toward Sun Han and explained, “I plan to include my secretary in all my investigations. He acts on my behalf while I’m away, and you can trust him to be discrete.”

“In that case…” Zhang Dehua went to pour himself a cup of water. He didn’t continue until he drank it down. “In that case, you should know that the Young Master used the Life’s Bounty pill we’d given him before your rescue.”

Hong Fei blinked in surprise. “That medicine is known to me. It shouldn’t have healed an injury as severe as the one he’d taken.”

“No, that was something else,” Zhang Dehua said, pouring another cup of water. “Because he’d used Life’s Bounty on a previous adventure in the city—in a confrontation with some thugs in the low city. Embarrassed to come to me afterward, he’d procured his own replacement.”

“What was it?” Hong Fei asked, growing alarmed.

The steward’s jaw tensed. The cup in his hand cracked, spilling water on the table. “We don’t know, but it was powerful enough to knit bones, muscles, and organs… at the cost of his cultivation.”

“What?” Hong Fei exclaimed.

“His lower cauldron remains, damaged but intact.” Zhang Dehua put the ceramic shards remaining in his hand on the table. “With effort, he will remain at the Qi-Gathering mid-realm, yet the fields where the middle and upper cauldrons would form in the future are scorched, the structures consumed by the supposed life-saving pill. He has reached his limit and can ascend no farther.”

Hong Fei had been angry at the boy, but this was a heavy blow to the house. “How can the heir of Duke Yu remain at Qi Gathering?” he whispered.

Zhang Dehua’s face was complicated as he answered, “He can’t.”

A silence descended on the foyer. The two men gazed into their thoughts, each wondering at the impact the Young Master’s injury would have on the family.

Sun Han watched his summoner. The family’s survival was clearly at stake. There was only one inheritor left—that slip of a girl out in the salon, Yu Ning. He swallowed in unaccustomed nervousness and said, “Sir, if you’d like, I can examine the boy.”

Hong Fei roused from his thoughts. “Hmm?”

“I… ah… I have some experience working with damaged cauldrons and meridians.” The scholar said. He cleared his throat. “It is… was my chosen field of study.”

“You can help him?” Zhang Dehua jumped at the idea.

“Probably not,” Sun Han answered truthfully, “but I can confirm or deny the doctor’s prognosis.”

Hong Fei glanced a question at the steward, who nodded in reply.

“Go ahead,” the dūtóu said, giving Sun Han permission.

Zhang Dehua added, “Explain you’re a doctor, and he’ll calm enough to let you see him.”

“I’m no doctor,” Sun Han said, “but not to worry, I’ve dealt with unruly subjects before.”

“Subjects?” Zhang Dehua asked Hong Fei.

“I believe he meant patients,” was the dūtóu’s reply.

 ###

A handspan of the sun passed with no word from Yu Yong’s bedroom. A servant came by with a bowl of porridge and cup of wine, but he was turned away at the door and sent back to the kitchen.

It wasn’t until another handspan passed that Sun Han emerged looking grim. The hopes that both Zhang Dehua and Hong Fei nurtured were dashed upon seeing him so.

“It’s as the doctor said,” Sun Han told them, “he won’t go any farther in his cultivation. With treatment, he’ll keep his current tier in the realm, but no more than that.” He glanced back down the corridor. “The Young Master is sleeping now. The bed rest will do him good. It’ll give the energetic structures of his body time to recover. Don’t let him train or practice for at least ten days.”

Zhang Dehua closed his eyes and sighed. “As if the family’s situation wasn’t already hard enough.”

“What could you tell about the pill used?” Hong Fei asked Sun Han.

The scholar straightened his robe as he organized his thoughts. “The remnants in his meridians were remarkably like Life’s Bounty. The pill formula has been around for nearly four hundred years, and many variations have been developed since then.”

“And this particular pill?” Hong Fei pressed.

“Is a version I’ve never encountered before, though that may be because I… ah… have been in seclusion.” Sun Han smiled wryly.

“The pill’s creation would’ve required a skilled alchemist?” Zhang Dehua asked.

“Not for a pill this well studied,” Sun Han replied. “Any hack with a pestle and an alchemy cauldron can make one, assuming they have the formula.”

“That doesn’t help us identify the source,” Hong Fei said.

Zhang Dehua sighed. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Do you think it could’ve been the Rock Knives?” Hong Fei asked him.

The steward made surprised choking sound. “No, of course not.” With more poise, he added, “They don’t do that sort of thing. And they’d be afraid of our retaliation.”

Hong Fei rubbed at his beard. “We’re sure?”

Zhang Dehua glanced sideways at him. “Don’t let your enmity distract you. Our intelligence on the Knives’ capabilities is good, and there are other enemies to pursue, assuming it was the family’s enemies acting.”

“And what of Chen Zhengyi?” Hong Fei asked.

“What about him?” the steward replied, eyes narrowing.

“He was the one who purchased the pill, wasn’t he?” Hong Fei shifted, so that he could watch the steward in turn. “Yu Yong’s companion is his connection to the wider city. Chen Zhengyi is the only one among the youths who goes out regularly. It was also him who snuck Yu Yong out and got him involved in a brawl in the low city, too. Am I wrong?”

Zhang Dehua sighed, sounding tired. “You’re not, but the situation is complicated.” He took a moment to consider how much to tell the dūtóu, then sighed again before speaking. “Above all else, the duke values loyalty. The things Chen Zhengyi did were all at the orders of our Young Master. Young Zhengyi was disciplined then, and he will be disciplined now, but only lightly.”

“Because he’s the xiàowèi’s nephew,” Hong Fei said.

Zhang Dehua’s expression became stern. “Because he was following orders, and we don’t punish our people for actions in the line of duty. It’s a principle that benefits you, as well. Remember that.” He stood to look toward where Yu Yong rested. “Fear not. Whether the pill was simply poorly made or intentionally malicious, the family will have its revenge.” Seemingly coming to a decision, he nodded to Hong Fei and the others before departing.

Hong Fei sat a while longer, his own thoughts of vengeance brewing. The situation was becoming murky. The pieces on the board were moving in unexpected directions. Eventually, he asked Sun Han, “There’s no way to learn more about the pill’s origins?”

The scholar shook his head. “Not until the boy dies, and I get the chance to cut him open.”

The dark humor surprised a “Hah” from Hong Fei. With a shake of his own head, he muttered, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

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Characters Mentioned in this Chapter 

• Auntie Ling, a summons 

• Scholar Sun Han, a summons 

• Chen Wenbin, the commander of Duke Yu's household troops 

• Chen Zhengyi, companion to Yu Yong 

• Mei Hua, companion to Yu Ning 

• Yu Ning, granddaughter to Duke and Duchess Yu 

• Yu Yong, grandson to Duke and Duchess Yu 

• Zhang Dehua, the Yu steward