Red Maple is a simple man surrounded by hopeful idiots. It would be nice if they were even half as clever as they believed themselves to be, but they’re not bad. Just… Very hopeful. They make him hopeful for them. He hopes they don’t get anyone killed. He hopes they don’t get fired. He hopes they bring shame to their families or the one person who had allowed them to advance financially, even if they were unknown cultivators.

“I’ve got so many ideas on how to increase profits.”

“Oh?” Red Maple tries to school his expression as he sees Striking Monkey’s glassy-eyed stare. The poor man is stumbling around, but at last he’s keeping his voice down.

“Listen!” Striking Monkey hisses in a whisper, then stumbles as he tries to lean against a table that isn’t there. “Listen.”

“I am,” Red Maple chuckles, barely smothering his laughter.

The rest of the night is spent by Red Maple keeping an eye on his drunk co-worker as the man wanders around the town sipping from a liquor pot. He’s amazed that someone can find so much change from one liquor pot. He’s a bit of a lightweight and can barely handle more than one himself, but it doesn’t take him hours to finish it. Even with food and company. Striking Monkey is truly impressive.

Red Maple and Striking Monkey aren’t friends, they’re not family, the only tie they have is that they live together in one of the Thousand Valleys workforce barracks on one of the compounds run by the Tarnished Daughter. Red Maple is thankful that their boss is so peculiar, or else they wouldn’t have a job, but her high ambition and low status made it to where everyone had to work together to stop themselves and others from just being replaced by bad actors. If anything happened they’d all be affected.

Hence why this odd pairing. All workers were to move in groups, in or out of the compound, and they couldn’t work with the same person they were roaming with. Red Maple can go to town with Striking Monkey, but then they’d have to work with other people to make sure neither of them was a plant. If one was lost the other was accountable, and if they didn’t show up for their predetermined, then an investigation would be conducted immediately. Shimmering Steel was lenient about many things, but effort and responsibility were things no one was allowed to shirk.

So while Red Maple isn’t overly fond of Striking Monkey, he doesn’t mind doing his best to make sure he and his coworker get to the barracks safely. The sun is setting and the town is far from the Thousand Valleys holding where they are stationed. Time for Red Maple to show Striking Monkey some tricks.

“Hey, brother, did you hear that there’s a new woman seamstress?” Red Maple says after they’re on the main road after following Striking Monkey’s mindless wandering. When Striking Monkey stops swaying long enough to stumble to him, he knows he has his attention. “She’s quite a beauty. They say her hair shines like silk and her skin is smooth and bright. Have you had a chance to say hello to her before she leaves to the silk farms?”

“What? She’s leaving?” Striking Monkey exclaims, eyes wide and posture tipping from forward to upright as he slowly arches backwards trying to maintain his balance. “How could I not greet our new sister! Quickly! Let’s head back!”

Red Maple helps Striking Monkey rapidly stumble home. They’re not waylaid by bandits, as such, just intercepted time and time again by different shouters trying to get them to try various services and goods. It’s easy enough to dissuade them by claiming to have emptied their purses, but it gets harder to stop Striking Monkey from taking an interest in nearly every woman they pass on the way. Old, young, slim as a shoot or curved as a bow. Doesn’t matter. The drunk man even hits on a few rather beautiful men.

They finally get back to the compound in the early hours of the morning. Red Maple is displeased, seeing how he has to be ready in a few hours, but he doesn’t fault Striking Monkey. If he’d wanted to he could have easily disabled the man earlier or insisted they leave before sunset. He drops off Striking Monkey and then heads to bed, making sure his uniform is ready for tomorrow. He’ll be on Nursery duty, which just means walking around and making sure no one unfamiliar is roaming around while lending a hand where asked. At the end of his shift he’ll help clean up, but generally it’s just walk around when not dropping off food or relaying messages.He cycles for an hour then has a quick nap, gets dressed, then it’s off to join the others for their shift schedule.

“Those on house duty will be cycling through the family residences, the only family here are Lady Shimmering Steel, Lady Dragon’s Resounding Shout, Lord Shining Rays, and today, Lord Golden Blade God! Try not to embarrass yourselves, hmm?” The shift manager hands out tokens, writing down who gets what identifying token and where they were sent before moving on. “Those on Nursery duty will be cycling through the Nursery. We may or may not have a new creature to tend to, a greater insect, so make sure when you check on it that it’s not chewing holes through the floor or walls.”

Red Maple accepts his token along with the others in his group, making sure to remember that he’s with Red Orange Yellow Leaves and Dancing Lute Strings. Before he leaves he asks for the Staff Manager to describe the young Lord, the Staff Manager quickly describing the young boy that might be found wandering around with an escort as he moves through the grounds. He’s not on an official tour, and will rarely be accompanied by his aunt, so if they do see a woman and child running around, they should verify their identities.

As those with a Nursery shift go to join up with those already stationed in the Nursery, Red Orange Yellow Leaves and Dancing Lute Strings gossip about the latest acquisition.

“It’ll be difficult if we have to tend to it,” Red Orange Yellow Leaves reiterates, Dancing Lute Strings sucking their teeth and shaking their head.

“What difficulties could we face?” Red Maple inquires politely. The two are walking ahead of them, and apparently have access to information he somehow missed out on tending to Striking Monkey.

“It’s not an official acquisition, is it?” Dancing Lute Strings snaps, pausing briefly to turn on Red Maple before shaking his head and sucking his teeth as they continue onward.

“I was in town yesterday,” Red Maple says, his two co-workers turning to look at him before exchanging a look. They’d made it to the Nursery and were immediately sent out to deliver supplies to various rooms. “Was it something given as another test?”

Shimmering Steel’s family “tested” her ability to manage things by giving sour prospects over to her and waiting for her to spin them into gold. She was already managing several farms and compounds, but none of them had been given to her, so at most she could maintain them and watch as others took the profits.

“They haven’t given her enough time to turn the Tonin Farm around yet,” Red Orange Yellow Leaves waves Red Maple off after dropping off a large basket of leaves. “Shimmering Steel had an old scholar help her test the grounds for toxins and miasma to be purified, and bought him a gift as compensation. A treasure from the old man that appears in the markets sometimes.”

“His wares are always off-putting,” Red Maple shakes his head, making a warding sign and spitting. They’d barely left the room of the leaf delivery before they’d been requested to pick up an herbal remedy for one of the strange creatures that apparently had a reaction to the food it was meant to be eating. “It’s like he snuck into the heavens or crawled through the hells and snatched up things that don’t belong in this world.”

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“Even so,” Dancing Lute Strings agrees somberly, as they march to the in-resident veterinarian. “This time he found a Greater Wimble grub the size of an infant --.”

“That big!” Red Maple exclaims in surprise. He holds his arms out while the other two stack packages that the veterinarian wanted them to distribute among the many rooms.

Usually Greater Wimbles would spawn eggs smaller than a hummingbird’s, and no more than ten at a time. The larva from these eggs would grow to about the size of a small falcon before developing into their dancing sky flower form.

“Well, the family picked an heir, and when he came to visit he was enamored with such a strange sight. What could she do but gift it to him?” Red Orange Yellow Leaves says, shaking his head mournfully.

“But surely it’s some demon masquerading as a grub at that size,” Red Maple insists, totally caught up in this bizarre story. A fresh grub the size of an infant will surely hatch into a monster! “And to reclaim and redistribute a purchased gift? A gift purchased with the root of their fortunes, no less!”

“It’s all the same, isn’t it?” Red Orange Yellow Leaves insists, shaking his sleeve at them. “If the young lord wants to keep it, Lady Shimmering Steel will have to raise it to maturity, helping it grow into whatever monster it is, but we’ll have to assist.”

“But what about the Karma for revoking the payment and a gift to someone as integral to her success,” Red Maple whines as the others grab various food additives that need to be delivered to the in-house kitchen.

“Hopefully we’re not in the same umbrella when the task is due to be repaid,” Red Orange Yellow Leaves says knowingly, nodding slowly.

“Mm, it is good that she does handle the more dangerous aspects of tending to the holdings,” Dancing Lute Strings says before all men stop to share a look before shuddering.

They each look inward at the various things they’d seen Shimmering Steel have to take on due to the fact that she was the manager and an excellent cultivator. Her talent was very good, and she should have been married off, but with the work the family kept putting on her they didn’t want her distracted or to have her run off to raise a family of her own.

“Is it no wonder that we’ve got an unfamiliar lord who was just made heir to the Thousand Valleys fortunes, has taken a gift meant for a scholar who helped Thousand Valleys with said fortunes, and now we’re set to watch over the nursery where the creature will be raised?” Red Maple grumbles. “Surely tragedies come in threes. She’s paying for her family’s karma. Maybe she’ll spin this misfortune to gold as well?”

“An ill fortune,” Red Orange Yellow Leaves pouts. They all stop and verify their clothing is set properly before a blood chilling shriek is heard.

The men look between each other, standing outside after having disposed of the contents of one rooms shit pen, and turned to head back inside to continue their duties. As they move indoors Red Maple casts one look back to see a group of people, other workers, racing out with their hands around their ears. He calls for the others who wave him off and say the people assigned to the house would handle it, neither of them turning back to look at the house, although Dancing Lute Strings turns to Red Maple, concerned about his interest.

“The house men are fleeing!” Red Maple lightly stomps his foot, annoyed that his companions are dismissing an issue which could easily overtake them.

“The people in the house are fleeing, and you want to go in there?” Red Orange Yellow Leaves points at the three one at a time, scoffing loudly after pointing outside. “What good will that do?”

“If there’s an evacuation, someone will sound the alarms,” Dancing Lute strings says quietly in an effort to reassure Red Maple that they’re not in danger.

“You think --,” Red Maple begins.

“You think they’ll be tolerant of you shirking out on your own duties to go have a look?” Red Orange Yellow Leaves snaps, interrupting Red Maple and pinning him with a glare as he points in his face. “If the house can’t handle it, you think they’ll tolerate you going in and running away when you have your own tasks to finish?”

Red Maple keeps his silence as the other two look at him with disappointed frowns, Red Orange Yellow Leaves narrowing his eyes in distrust at this continued interest. If Red Maple thinks there’s going to be a reward when things are going wrong after Lady Shimmering Steel is continuing to lose face, he might drag them into getting punished as well. Better to keep an eye on Red Maple to ensure he doesn’t do anything.

Before Red Orange Yellow Leaves can voice his displeasure someone outside of the house rings a bell before collapsing. The shrieking had continued on and off during the entire argument but none of the men appeared to be affected like those closer to the calamity. Red Maple glares triumphantly, lips pressed together, vindicated in his concern.

“They’re calling for assistance!” he shouts while racing to the house.

“What assistance can we offer against an angry saint or an enraged demon,” Dancing Lute Strings mocks, Red Orange Yellow Leaves nodding and smirking in agreement.

Red Maple makes it to the bell bearer, unaffected by the screaming as he drags the man further from the house. When the man doesn’t respond to his inquiries and the screams from inside continue he races in to find two other men carrying people out.

“What’s going on?” he asks, helping Striking Monkey and Rising Stork take people outside.

“The weird bug is screaming,” Striking Monkey says in awe.

“It’s a cultivating insect of some kind! We need to get it to stop,” Rising Stork glares at Striking Monkey before racing inside, Striking Monkey and Red Maple in tow.

As they close in on the screeches they see a boy with scattered syrup covered treats rolling on the ground, screaming in pain. Striking Monkey and Rising Stork attempt to lift the boy, who cries out, pulling his hands from his ears in order to press his hands to his stomach. A quick check and it looks like he’s suffering from core destabilization. They exchange a look before straightening his back, Striking Monkey using pressure points to temporarily still his Qi flow before they hurry him away.

Red Maple, for his part, was trying to pinpoint the sound. Just because there are rumors of a new beast in the compound doesn’t mean there’s actually a new beast. There have been several times in the past where someone mistakes some new fashion for a spirit beast or artifact. When he finally registers what he’s looking at he feels his will to help shrivel up.

He thought there was a tray with a split dumpling on it, a discarded meal that the young lord had foregone in pursuit of desert, until the strange creature had turned to regard him. He’d nearly been sick with the sheer size of it. The creature continues shrieking, the split on its back slowly widening as it stares at him, and he realizes it’s in pain. Perhaps it wasn’t supposed to be as large as it had become and it’s body was tearing itself apart? He goes to find Shimmering Steel, to report what he’s seen, stopping as he nearly crashes into her as she storms past with a retinue of secondary managers from various other branches.

Red Maple stares after the group wondering how to explain what had happened without getting into trouble for not being at his station when Striking Monkey and Rising Stork race back. They grab onto his arms, telling him that there were very few people capable of cultivation, and the old man in the forest had found a truly terrifying treasure before they all wait to see if they’re needed.

The people that had gone with Lady Shimmering Steel come out, giving them different tasks before leaving to complete their own. To the veterinarian for an antibacterial healing crème that would keep the skin moist. Red Maple races away.

The man issuing the order is annoyed and impressed that the servant had left quickly to find his objective, but is beyond irritated that the man had left without checking that he was finished talking. He demands the other two stay put until he finishes speaking, sending one out to the Nursery to retrieve a way to wrap the creature’s wound, and the other to go to the gardens, find a pot or a gardener who can fill the pot with cool, moist soil.

They’ve got a burrowing grub they need to rehabilitate.