Kayla’s secretive conversation with Sun Ruhui lasted almost an hour longer. Chen Caichun left in the meantime with her brother. From Kayla’s office window, the two of them watched with amusement as Chen Jian effortlessly crossed the rooftops with Caichun comfortably sitting on his shoulders before turning back to their morbid topic. They eventually decided to cut the discussion short so that both of them could get at least a little sleep before morning, Kayla feeling both greatly assured and deeply unsettled as she walked away from it.
Guess I've finally gotten to this point, Kayla lamented to herself. She was almost glad that Wenyuan was electing to completely ignore her, afraid of how he would react otherwise.
Sun Ruhui took his leave after seeing Kayla onto the carriage, his etiquette impeccable as always. By the time she arrived at the Zhao household, Kayla was already half-asleep.
She groggily entered her room, which was completely dark by now. Kayla sighed and lit the lamp, jumping in surprise as Hu Qing waved at her.
“What the fuck?!” Kayla yelped. She glared at him as Hu Qing laughed jovially from where he was sprawled on a couch.
Hu Qing threw his head back, shaking with laughter. “The look on your face!”
“You little shit,” Kayla said with annoyance. “Are you that bored?! Do you want more work?”
She moved closer, stilling at the sight of his ripped clothes.
“What the fuck happened?” Kayla demanded. Hu Qing smiled cheerfully, removing his feet from the cushions.
“I ran into an Imperial Investigator and fought him,” he said innocently. “I would’ve won, but the Night Watch started noticing.”
Kayla frowned, leaning closer to check his condition. “Why didn’t you go to a healer?!”
“I’m a healer,” Hu Qing said, sounding affronted. “Kind of. Even if I’m not that good, it’s more than enough! Look, the wounds are all healed up!”
“You call that healed?! What kind of–” Kayla threw her hands up in exasperation. “Here, use these!” Kayla reached into her sleeve and pulled out a stack of several dozen healing talismans. Hu Qing obediently used them as Kayla watched with her arms crossed.
“Any other injuries? Twisted tendons? Broken bones? Dislocated joints?” Kayla asked. Hu Qing shook his head.
"Tell me about the Imperial Investigator, do I need to be sending out any messages to clean up?" Kayla asked him.
“Nothing you need to worry about, my lord. He wasn’t that good, I only got injured because I wanted to kill him in as short a time as possible,” Hu Qing explained. “I fought with him a bit, so I could tell, that was Qu Boyong’s man in the Bureau.”
Kayla drew in a sharp breath. “Are you sure?”
“They have a similar air to them, and both of them use standard fighting styles, but everyone has small tics and variations. Two people who have trained together over several years would have similar habits. He and Qu Boyong differ a bit in how they use their strength, but the way they throw their knife and the way they resheathe their sword, it’s almost a mirror image,” Hu Qing explained. “I didn’t catch his name, but I did see his face. I also stabbed him in the shoulder, but that's less important.”
Kayla gave him an impressed nod. “As expected of you, did you rile him up into a temper? No, don’t answer that, of course you did.”
Hu Qing grinned broadly in response. “I drew his face, do you want to take a look?”
Kayla didn’t expect much but nodded anyways. She nearly did a double-take at the incredibly realistic drawing Hu Qing proceeded to pull out.
“Were you trained in art?” Kayla asked.
Hu Qing nodded. “A good subordinate should be able to capture unfamiliar faces that his employer might recognize,” he explained. Kayla carefully peered at the drawing. It was familiar, but she couldn’t immediately place her finger on it. Suddenly, it clicked into place.
“I know this man, he worked with me during the re-investigation of Governor Yue’s case!” Kayla exclaimed. “I remember him quite clearly because he questioned why I arrested the people I did, shit, what was his name again?”
Hu Qing leaned forward, looking intrigued. Kayla closed her eyes, trying to recall it.
“Something…something related to the Chu region, I remember thinking that it was quite coincidental that there were so many Chu-related names around me,” Kayla muttered.
“Of course they’d choose something Chu-related,” Hu Qing scoffed.
“Something from the Chu Poems,” Kayla continued.
Hu Qing rolled his eyes. “Of course. Are they even trying to be creative?”
“I’ll ask Li Que for a roster,” Kayla concluded. “I’m sure I’ll remember once I see his name.”
She turned her attention back to Hu Qing. “Great work, now go and get some rest. Make sure to disinfect properly and eat some blood-replenishing foods.”
Hu Qing nodded obediently, getting up from the couch. He took a step towards the door before exaggeratedly acting as though he remembered something important. Kayla watched his antics warily, not sure what he was up to now.
“Oh, wait! I nearly forgot, I brought someone for you,” Hu Qing said with a sweet smile.
Kayla leveled him with a look of disbelief. “You what?! We’ve talked about this!”
Hu Qing gave her an innocent look. Kayla groaned, shaking her head in exasperation.
“Where?” Kayla demanded. Hu Qing circled around her to Kayla’s desk, reaching underneath to drag out a bound and gagged man in servant’s robes. There was a talisman on the man’s robes that Kayla recognized as having an effect of temporarily inducing a state of blindness and deafness. Hu Qing carelessly plucked it off.
Kayla stared at the terrified man, then Hu Qing, then back at the man again.
“You’ve trussed him like a pig!” Kayla said in outrage. Hu Qing shrugged, unsheathing his sword and cutting the bounds open before yanking off the gag.
“Caught this little rat snooping around outside your quarters on my way back,” Hu Qing said disdainfully, dropping the man before Kayla like a sack. “One of the little…inconveniences who joined the household recently.”
The man paled even further, trembling as he tried to stand on wobbly legs, only to be shoved onto his knees again by Hu Qing.
Kayla frowned, looking the man over. He was of average weight and height, with an unremarkable appearance. Kayla glanced at Hu Qing, who shrugged.
“He’s not very well-trained,” Hu Qing said.
Something clicked in Kayla’s head. “Who sent you?” Kayla asked.
The man shrunk in on himself. “I-I don’t…know what you’re talking about.” He stumbled over the weak excuse.
Kayla sighed. “Do you know who I am?”
He nodded, shrinking even smaller.
“Then do you know what situation you’re in?” Kayla asked him.
The man looked veritably miserable as he nodded reluctantly.
“It is in your best interests to tell me what I want to know, at least that way you’ll be treated leniently. If you insist on holding your tongue, then there’s no reason for me to be merciful either,” Kayla warned him. “Even if I were to beat you to death right here and now, who would say anything of it? Do the smart thing, what need have you to die a dog’s death?”
The man cowered, before finally opening his mouth. “M-my lord, please have mercy, but I really don’t know!”
Kayla leaned forward, watching him with an unreadable look. “What do you mean?”
“I-I was out of money, and a masked man offered me a large amount of money if I could spy on you for him, but I don’t know who he was! Please believe me, I know it sounds ridiculous, but that’s the truth!” The man pleaded.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Kayla maintained her neutral expression. “Where did you meet him?”
The man lowered his head. “Outside the market. I had no money, the business I invested my savings in went completely bankrupt while going through the desert on their way back from the Western Regions, and even my stall was forced to close because I couldn't make the fees. He called to me from an alleyway and I went over.”
“You went over to a masked man in an alleyway? Alone?” Kayla asked.
The man flushed slightly. “When a man is down on luck, he’d try anything that gives him hope. I just thought that I might as well take my chances, even if it were a robber, there wouldn’t be anything for them to take from me.”
Kayla nodded. “How tall was he? Was he fat? Skinny?”
“I couldn't tell. H-he was…he was sitting,” the man said, flushing even further as the story grew more ridiculous. “Behind a curtain.”
“A curtain in an alleyway?” Hu Qing jumped in, an eyebrow raised.
The man’s face was now bright red. “I-I swear it’s the truth!”
“What did his voice sound like then?” Hu Qing asked. The man hesitated.
“It was smooth, and…mysterious sounding. Youngish, I think,” he said. Hu Qing carefully swept his eyes over the man’s face, observing every twitch of the muscle.
“My lord,” the man pleaded. “Please have mercy! That really is the truth, I was wrong for accepting and doing such a thing, but I didn’t mean any harm, I was just desperate!”
So he’s the canary in the mine.
Kayla evaluated him for a moment. “I believe you.”
The man jolted in surprise, evidently not expecting his frankly ridiculous story to be accepted so easily. Kayla exchanged a small glance with Hu Qing before turning her gaze back to the man kneeling before her.
“Did you know there were other spies like you in this household?” Kayla asked.
The man froze, his brows creasing in confusion. “What?”
Kayla nodded. “Spies. Highly trained ones. People who wouldn’t be nabbed snooping around so blatantly. Tell me, Mister–what was your name again?”
“Feng Yi,” the man replied.
“Tell me, Feng Yi, do you realize that you’re just bait?” Kayla asked him. “You were never expected to leave this place alive, you were literally meant to be caught.”
“What? I don’t understand!” Feng Yi protested.
Kayla heaved a sigh. “Let’s say it like this. I’m suspicious there are spies. The Grand Duke is suspicious there are spies. We both think there’s someone afoot but we don’t know who it is and we can’t relax until we’ve caught them. And then there you are, snooping around so obviously. If we catch you and hear that story, we think you're just good at holding your tongue. This convinces us that you're the spy we're looking for, we kill you, we feel reassured that we’ve found the rat and let down our guards, and the other spies know to either stop their activities or to be more discreet. You’re just an alarm bell for them.”
Feng Yi looked at her with wide eyes, a wronged expression on his face. “But why would they do that to me?! I never offended anyone! I mean, I’ve angered a few people in my youth, but-but not so much that–If I had known, I wouldn’t have accepted!”
“Of course you wouldn’t have. They wouldn’t choose someone who could tell what situation they were in to begin with,” Kayla explained patiently. She leaned back, letting out another sigh.
“Forget it, you were just taken advantage of. How much money were you promised?” Kayla asked.
The man lowered his head. “100 bronze.”
Kayla reached into her robes, pulling out one of the pouches of money she kept in store and tossing it to him. Feng Yi caught it in shaky hands, nearly dropping it before steadying his grip.
“There’s 300 bronze and 10 silver in that, take it and go. Live honestly from now on. You’re not suited for illicit activities in the slightest, it’ll only be the death of you,” Kayla said.
Feng Yi glanced between the money and Kayla in disbelief. “My lord, you mean it?!”
“Are you sure?” Hu Qing demanded.
Kayla nodded. “Let him leave. He doesn’t know anything, and he was just sent here to die. Why help out his master?”
Her mind flashed to the night with the assassin under the moonlight, the golden plaque vibrating with magic, and the belated arrival of the Imperial Guard, a leaden weight growing inside her chest.
“Thank you so much! Thank you!” Feng Yi stumbled to his feet, bowing his head repeatedly as he scurried out, Hu Qing watching him disdainfully.
Kayla took a deep breath to relieve the heaviness nestling around her lungs. There was the sound of footsteps, and Feng Yi re-entered the room to the incredulous looks of Kayla and Hu Qing. Feng Yi hesitated at the doorstep for a moment before stepping through and crossing the distance to stop before Kayla.
Wordlessly, Feng Yi met Kayla’s eyes with a look she couldn’t make sense of, before kneeling and bowing his head to the floor. He got to his feet and bowed again, before leaving the room for good. Kayla and Hu Qing both watched him leave, shocked into silence.
“What was that?” Kayla asked after a moment of staring at the empty doorway.
Hu Qing smiled. “Don’t worry about it, it’s of no harm to you. By the way, do you actually want him to live?”
“Yes,” Kayla replied.
“Then I must take my leave,” Hu Qing said smoothly. “There was a talisman on his body that activated once he was caught, it burned itself away before I could take a better look. Even if he leaves this place, someone will be waiting to kill him.”
Kayla reared back. “That is a meticulous person behind this.”
“Indeed, brings to mind some people I’ve worked with before,” Hu Qing chuckled.
“Liu Boyue,” Kayla muttered.
“Most likely. I’ll go and keep that poor little fool alive now, shall I?” Hu Qing said.
“Go ahead,” Kayla waved him off.
----------------------------------------
Feng Yi shuffled down the street dejectedly in his threadbare outer robes. The pouch of money over his chest seemed to be both scorching hot and ice cold at the same time. He felt incredibly foolish and ashamed, like a scolded child who knew he was in the wrong but couldn't help feeling aggrieved regardless.
He was dragged out of his thoughts by a soft swooshing overhead. Feng Yi squinted, his night vision failing him as it always did.
“A bird?” Feng Yi muttered uncertainly. He made to continue, freezing as something dropped lightly to the ground behind him with barely a thud. Almost afraid to see what it was, Feng Yi whirled around.
“Who is it?!” Feng Yi cried in alarm. An unfamiliar figure dressed in all black loomed over him, face covered. The man didn’t reply, but Feng Yi immediately realized who it was.
“It’s you! You bastard, you threw me in there as bait! I could’ve died!” Feng Yi accused him.
“If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for having been a fool,” the masked man replied, in the same smooth and mysterious voice that had lured Feng Yi into the Zhao household. “Should it be of any comfort, know that you’re dying for a greater cause.”
He drew his sword, the blade making a soft whooshing noise as it emerged in a flash of silver, catching the refractions of moonlight amid the shadows.
Feng Yi paled, backing away. “Wait, hold on! Don’t kill me! I-I don’t even know who you are, it’s not like I could give you away, there’s no reason for you to do this!” He begged, holding out his hands as though they could fend off the cold steel of the stranger’s sword.
The masked man ignored his plead, moving so quickly Feng Yi could barely react. The sword plunged straight into his chest, making a strange clanging noise instead of plunging into soft flesh. Feng Yi gave a squeak, torn between pain and shock. There was a clear ringing sound as a bronze coin hit the ground, followed by a rain of coins that clattered across the street as they rolled in every direction.
The masked man stared at Feng Yi with genuine surprise, drawing back his sword only to see that there was indeed no blood on it. Feng Yi stared at him with wide eyes, just as shocked. From the tear in his rough cotton robes, a strip of high-quality brocade was visible.
“A money pouch?” The masked man said in disbelief. He quickly shook off his surprise, preparing to strike a second time as Feng Yi scurried backward.
“If he’s survived the first time, then it means he wasn’t meant to die tonight. Why not go along with the will of the heavens?” A voice called from the rooftop. Feng Yi whirled around at the familiar voice, relief blooming on his face.
Hu Qing jumped off the roof, landing between Feng Yi and the masked man. He raised an eyebrow, an amused smile on his face.
“Breaking into your savings to cancel out a disaster, isn’t this quite fitting?” Hu Qing asked, waving a hand at the masked man. “You can have the money if you want, but leave the man.”
He and the masked man stared each other out for a moment. The masked man finally gave a curt nod before jumping back onto the rooftop and disappearing into the night.
“Ah, really, he even came in person,” Hu Qing muttered. “He's such a paranoid bastard.”
Feng Yi finally came to his senses, bursting into tears of relief from the near-death experience.
“Thank you so much!” Feng Yi blubbered.
Hu Qing looked at him, thoroughly amused. “Thank the gods of fortune instead, who would’ve thought you could’ve survived that?”
Feng Yi stopped crying at that, still shaking as the shock wore off. “Ah, the coins!” He quickly bent down and started picking them up.
Hu Qing threw his head back, roaring with laughter. Feng Yi gave him an affronted glare, tearfully gathering up the scattered coins in between sniffles.
“Stop laughing!” Feng Yi protested in an aggrieved voice.
Hu Qing wiped at his eyes, giving Feng Yi a friendly smile. “I mean no harm, but who would’ve thought that this pouch of money would save your life?”
Feng Yi lowered his head, his movements slowing to a stop. “Indeed, who would’ve thought?” He looked down at the shining coins in his hand, letting out a deep sigh. “It seems I owe the Minister a life twice over, one for sparing me and one for saving me.”
Hu Qing regarded him with great interest. "You snuck in as a spy for a hundred bronze coins, but now you regard the Minister with gratitude. Who would’ve thought that you were a man of such loyalty?”
Feng Yi let out a sharp sigh. “What man with a better option would choose to do such a dishonest thing? I should’ve been beaten for it at the very least if not outright killed, but not only was I unharmed, I was given the money I needed. It makes me feel all the more ashamed.”
Hu Qing watched Feng Yi’s miserable expression for a moment before stepping over to pick up the last few coins, dropping them in Feng Yi’s hand.
“If you can feel that way, then the Minister was not kind to you for nothing. You won’t be bothered anymore, so don't get involved in shady things like this again,” Hu Qing advised him.
Feng Yi nodded. He got to his feet, thanking Hu Qing twice more for good measure before walking off into the night. Hu Qing turned away, ready to head back to Wenyuan’s rooms when Feng Yi scurried back into sight.
“Mister Guard!” Feng Yi called. Hu Qing gave him a curious look.
“What is it now?” Hu Qing asked. “Is there an ambush or something?”
Feng Yi shook his head. “That’s not it, please pass on a message to the Minister for me. If there’s ever anything this one can do to be of use to him, I will see it through no matter what!”
Hu Qing laughed, shaking his head. “Stop trying to throw yourself into danger, you fool! Go home!”
Feng Yi gave him an affronted look. “I’m serious!”
“Sure,” Hu Qing called over his shoulder as he jumped onto the roof.
“Pass it on for me!” Feng Yi insisted.
“Alright,” Hu Qing agreed. Feng Yi bowed his head in thanks and left a second time. Hu Qing chuckled softly before heading back.