10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
Xiao Shu
Fanqing takes forever to fall asleep. Which is partially my fault I suppose since I kept asking her questions about her family.
I chalk it up to trying to be prepared for tomorrow’s operation: meeting her parents.
Or should I call it today’s operation since it’s now the wee hours of the morning.
I fold my arms and blink against my own drowsiness, calling on my practice of sleepless nights to get through this wave of exhaustion as I count Fanqing’s breaths.
They’re slow and steady. She seems to have finally fallen into a deep sleep.
A slight snore escapes her mouth as she rolls onto her side.
Meaning that’s she’s really out. I’m glad that she warned me that she snored because truthfully it would have taken me quite by surprise to hear it in the night.
She seems so prim and proper, I never would have imagined that she could make such noises whilst sleeping.
I release a slow exhale and push myself up onto my elbow to peek over the pillows to check on her. Having a wife definitely makes sneaking around in the middle of the night more difficult, but then that may have been the emperor’s intention all along.
Technically with our contract nestled safely in my desk, there’s really no need to sneak around. She agreed to stay out of my affairs. But I suppose a force of habit dies hard.
Why have the conversation when I can ignore it entirely? As far as Fanqing is concerned, her husband is a lord of Da Xian, the great last spirit catcher, and a taciturn fellow. I won’t add anything else for her to worry about.
The silver beams of dying moonlight filter through the window, illuminating the room just enough that I can make out Fanqing’s features. Asleep, she is missing the scowl that she usually has plastered across her face. She looks so peaceful and blissful.
I feel the corner of my mouth pull up before Fanqing mumbles something and rolls over again. As she moves, her hand smacks me in the nose.
I hiss, pulling back, and press my hand over my nose to make sure that I’m not bleeding.
Dratted woman, causing me problems in her sleep just as much as she does when awake.
“How bothersome,” I mutter as I straighten. I carefully climb out of the bed, making sure not to jostle her at all. Even with the contract I cannot be too careful.
For all I know, she could be a plant by the emperor. She very likely may be.
Even if she wasn’t directly sent by him to spy on me, she is in the very least sent by him to hinder me. To keep me in line.
As if one woman is capable of doing that.
I land deftly on the floor, my decades of practice in martial arts, helping me to move quietly and gracefully.
I straighten, throwing a smirk toward Fanqing. Perhaps I have found one good thing about having a wife, there’s a certain sense of smug satisfaction and superiority I get when I manage to do something that she is unaware of.
That probably says more about me than the institute of marriage, but I’ve never been one to follow any moral order. The way I see it, the world owes me for all the good I do and the people I save. I have to balance it out by being a little reprehensible every now and then.
I wouldn’t want to be a living saint, now, would I?
I step out of the bedchamber, making certain to slide it shut quietly to not wake Fanqing.
There is an adjoining room that is sparsely decorated with shelves and valuable items that likely cost more than my father-in-law’s salary, and then on the other end of the chamber is my study.
Yan Yi, my manservant is waiting for me there.
He is a highly capable man skilled in martial arts who has been serving me since shortly after I became a lord.
I rely on him for almost everything in my day-to-day activities.
He straightens when he sees me. He steps forward, passing me a small bamboo tube that has a message inside. “This arrived shortly after dusk from the second lord.”
I purse my lips as I open the tube and pull out the scroll, pausing as my eyes scan over the contents.
It’s an address for the western side of the city.
I place the piece of paper against the candle flame until it catches favor and then drop it into the incense bowl.
I turn to Yan Yi. “I will be going out now.”
Yan Yi nods, stepping toward the table against the far wall.
He turns the vase resting on it and there is a click.
The false panel falls out revealing black robes.
Yan Yi takes them and shakes them out before sliding them on over my bedclothes.
I begin working on the straps of my gauntlets, before I accept the small black mask and tying it around my face.
I used to keep this getup in the bedroom, but since Fanqing moved in there I had to relocate them to the study. I don’t think that the false bottom of the table is big enough for them, the robes are a bit wrinkled.
I sigh as I rub my hand over my sleeve but then decide that’s a non-issue. We’re leaving after tomorrow, so it doesn’t matter.
Yan Yi holds up my sword, the tassel dangling just below his fingers. I swipe the sword and leap up onto the table at the same time. “I will be back before dawn,” I say as I lift the window open and slide out at the same time.
The drop on the other side is relatively short.
I take off in a low run toward the back wall of my courtyard.
There’s no knowing if my residence is being watched for any number of reasons so instead of exiting the main gate, I scale a stack of barrels and escape over the back wall like a thief in the night.
One thing about the Imperial City is that it has no lack of hidden corners to hide in and shadowed rooftops to pass over.
I make it to the address relatively quickly.
It’s clear from the derelict nature of the building that it is an abandoned building.
I step under the stooping eave and into the building.
My footsteps stir up piles of dust each step I take.
Once I’m through the door, I can make out a flickering of light from an interior room.
I tighten my fingers around my sword and stride forward, dancing around tattered curtains and cobwebs as I pass through a small door that is partially blocked off by rubble.
Inside the room I find a half-rotted crate set up like a table. There is a small candle sitting in the center of the crate. Two men are waiting inside the room. One is dressed all in black like I am and is nervously pacing back and forth.
The other is my cousin, dressed in robes that will probably be ruined by the dust, sitting on the floor next to the table, languidly fanning himself looking completely at his ease.
Wen spots me first and arches a brow. “I see you finally decided to join us.”
The black cad figure turns, resting his arm against a pillar, his body language echoing Wen’s sarcasm.
I stride forward, resting my sword against the crate and dropping to the ground across from my cousin. “I’m a married man now, I can’t just slip away whenever I want to.”
The black clad figure slips and has to quickly right himself. I feel myself smirk under my mask.
He strides forward, lowering himself into a crouch.
Now that he is in the circle of light, I can make out his expression better.
Zhan Quanyu. My right-hand man and sworn brother, he is as wild as the wind and everything about his sharp features accentuates that fact.
His hair is pulled up into a hasty ponytail; however, several strands escape it and fall down around his face, accentuating his quick dark eyes and half hiding his sly grin.
The grin is gone in a blink as he twists his face to frown at me. “Listen, boss, if you are going to get all sentimental on me, I’m looking for better employment.”
“As if anyone else would put up with your poor attitude other than Shu’er here,” Wen says with a wrinkle of his nose and a distasteful flick of his fan.
My cousin Wen may seem the more sociable of the two of us, but I know that is just a farce.
Under his charming smile he hides a hatred for pretty much everyone except for possibly me.
And there is no one that he hates more than Zhan Quanyu.
Quanyu snaps his gaze to Wen and opens his mouth, but I hold up a hand, cutting him off. “I haven’t got long. There’s a lot that I have to do tomorrow and I would dearly like to rest for at least a few hours. What was your reason for calling me here?”
“You say that and yet you were the one who was late,” Wen mutters in a tired tone. He opens his fan and begins moving it back and forth languidly as he watches me silently daring.
I hold his gaze as I pull my knee up, resting my arm against it. “As I stated previously, I have a wife now. I’m not at the same leisure you bachelors are.”
Wen smirks and chuckles while Quanyu drops his forehead against his forearm and groans.
“Speaking of your wife, you will have to extend my regards to her sister when you see her tomorrow. I hear that both of Official Mu’s daughters are quite beautiful to behold. I look forward to working with her,” Wen says.
I hold up a single finger. “That’s my sister-in-law you are speaking of like that. Watch your words.”
“You’re the one who told me to keep an eye on her. Well, I am a man of my word. I intend to keep a very close eye on this Mu Ehuang.”
I roll my eyes as Quanyu leaps to his feet. “If all you are going to insist on discussing are the women of the Mu family then I will be leaving. I’m not sacrificing a full night’s sleep for this.”
Almost in unison, Wen and I reach out grasping each of Quanyu’s arms and yank him down.
“You leave when I say you can leave,” I say at his sulk.
“And neither of you leave until you hear what I have to say. At least if you intend to keep your heads.” Wen taps his fan against the crate as he speaks.