I spend my next few days on a very strict bed rest. One of the gossipiest maids worms her way onto my personal staff, so I’m never out of the loop. She tells me about how Jun has sent some sort of official packet of paperwork off to an Imperial Magistrate and from her description, I think Tai is the courier.

I also briefly meet Jun’s last squad member, Zhen, but I didn’t stay awake long enough to have an actual conversation. He and Ming are somewhere in the manor. But only Luan and Jun visit me. Luan is incredibly suspicious of me, but it’s a lot of wasted effort. I don’t get up to much besides sleeping.

My grand plan is to try to pass myself off as a Lady in front of the staff based solely off the memories of a maid. After I’m healed, I hope to find some sort of gainful employment in a safe city. But if gossip maid is to be believed, nowhere in the White Fang territory is particularly safe, nor any of the surrounding territories.

Those not being dragged into Jun’s inheritance war are all finding other reasons to kill each other. Such is the wonderful world of cultivation.

The good news is that Jun has opened the coffers and is hiring everyone to make weapons, which is conveniently the major industry of place and the original purpose of his visit. Money is flowing and the good times are rolling according to her.

Apparently none of the people in that mound of corpses earlier this week is publicly missed or mourned. I haven’t heard a word about it.

Jun is also raising an army, which means many attractive and employed young men will be available to flirt with in large numbers. Such an event might as well be the biggest thing in the maids’ social calendars since the history of time.

*********

After three days, I start going a bit stir crazy with no one but the maids to keep me company. Since propriety demands I treat them more like furniture than people, I might as well be in solitary. Over half the news I hear from the gossipy maid is when I fake being asleep.

Luan comes by on the forth morning and decides my stitches can come out early. I’m trying to sit as still as humanly possible. He carefully removes them from a scrape on my side. In my impatience, I ask him, “If my stiches can come out early, does that mean the casts can come off early as well?”

He sighs in frustration at my movement from talking. “Ordinarily, I would say no way could a mortal get her casts off early. But your rate of recovery is holding if not speeding up. What’s the rush?”

“This room, though luxurious and beautiful, gets very boring very quickly now that I’m awake during the day.” I try not to wince as he removes another stich.

“Then read a book.” He starts plucking them out faster.

“I can’t read the crazy characters you call writing. Unless you’re willing to teach me?”

This gets a raised eyebrow. “And why would I do that?”

He puts down his tools and I hope that means all the stitches are out. “To keep an eye on me? As a reward for good behavior? It can’t be that hard to find a reason.”

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“You would need to memorize hundreds of symbols. Ignoring the fact that you can’t even write them out right now, are you sure you are up to such a challenge?” He pulls out one of his crystal measuring devices and starts to scan me.

“I think you’ll find me up to the task. I can be quiet studious, and it’s got to be more interesting than the ceiling.” Every day, he seems to find another thing to measure. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve seen this blue one. “Heck, you could even consider it payment for willingly subjecting myself to all your extra measurements.”

He freezes. “What do you mean? I’m just checking you like I’ve been doing every day since you’ve come under my care.” Uh oh, did I catch him doing something he’s not supposed to without permission.

I laugh at him. “I really don’t mind your scanning stones, but you don’t need to lie about it. If you’re nice about it, I’m open to letting you take even more measurements.”

He thinks it over for a moment. “And why do you think I would want those?”

“Because you want to replicate my healing rate.” If he could duplicate my freak accident, he would be set for life.

He sighs and I know I’ve got him. He rubs his temples for a moment and says, “Alright, but I’m going to want some pretty detailed diagnostics.”

“Deal as long as you make me flash cards.” He groans but agrees.

That afternoon he measures everything he can think of from qi mapping (spoiler alert, I have a mortal’s worth of qi) to anthropometry where he measured the length of my parts with weird clamp looking devices.

But he does make me the flashcards after I explain what they are. He tries and fails to pry out where I learned such a study technique.

Jun comes and joins me for a quiet cup of tea for like five minutes every afternoon. But he never brings up my crazy deal with Luan. In fact, we don’t talk much beyond celebrating the first time I can drink from a cup on my own, a major achievement.

*********

By the end of the week, I’ve learned enough characters to read simple books, and Luan has conclusively proven that not only have I never cultivated a day in my life but there is nothing detectable helping me heal. However, I was able to talk him into letting me rejuvenate outside instead of keeping me cooped up in the bedroom.

But I’m only allowed outside with supervision and the maids apparently won’t cut it. In case I get up to something more suspicious than healing even though the best I can do is sit up on the second try nowadays.

Jun’s too busy being a Lord, so the other three take turns watching me. Ming must have drawn the short straw, because he gets first watch.

I get to sit out on the patio from execution day, while Ming goes through his very rigorous exercise routine. There are hardly any scorch marks left from the pyre of executed bodies.

I mostly sit, study my flashcards and let the maids wait on me hand and foot. The only downside is that I’m back in the veil, because it might as well be a law around here that no Lady is allowed to be as ugly as my beaten face.

It’s healing surprisingly slowly. Luan thinks this is because it wasn’t as injured as the rest of me, as if the mystery healing force can do triage.

Ming is by far the most interesting thing I’ve seen in days, so I might have watched him a bit too closely.

He started the day reorganizing the training ground like a Type A stockroom clerk preparing for the battle of the shining metal dummies. That took him at least an hour and I lost interest pretty quickly. But I did manage to learn my new flashcards.

Then he started a series of warmups and stretches where he systematically warmed up his muscles one group at a time, which was only marginally more interesting than equipment arrangement. So, I took a nap.

By the time I woke up he was properly warmed and had started drilling. Now his drills are impressive. Sure, Lin gave me memories of the feats of strength of cultivators, but it’s not like she ever got to sit and watch one drill magic for hours.

He cut into the dummies several feet away from his sword tip, which looked like crazy magic to me. But then he suddenly ignited his sword and there was fire all over the training field. I was mesmerized until he stopped for lunch.

After and awkwardly silent lunch, where I could only eat a figure out how to eat a few bites under the veil, he meditated a few feet away from my lounge chair for the rest of the afternoon.

I spend the rest of my first day out trying to soak up as much sunlight as I can with every inch of my skin covered. It wasn’t very effective, but I do feel better for getting out of that room for a bit.