13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Xiao Wen
Iflick my fan shut and let out a bored sigh. Court politics, smuggling, investigations, they’re all far too tiresome for me. I’m going to need to convince my cousin to find a different hobby.
If he likes making money, then maybe he can go into a legitimate business.
If he likes feeling like he is pulling the wool over someone’s eyes and getting away with something, then he could become a gambler.
I don’t care what he does, so long as it isn’t this blasted smuggling business where I have to always put on an artful show and make myself seem incompetent simply because I cannot find one smuggler.
I snap my fan open and wave it in front of myself. “How bothersome,” I grumble to myself.
If I get a next life, may it not be spent having to babysit my last remaining cousin and keeping him safe by creating a masterful ruse to fool the whole imperial court.
I glance at my partner out of the corner of my eye.
Ren Shang is usually completely put together.
Prim, proper, and boring as a dry piece of wood.
In the years I have worked with him on this case, I have learned nearly nothing about him save for the fact that he is a stickler for pretty much every rule that was ever created, that he doesn’t have a dishonest bone in his body, and that he has a girl back home that he has been pining for since our assignment.
The only thing interesting about him is that he is smart, I have to think seven steps ahead to be able to fool him. It’s a nice exercise for my mind so I don’t actually mind keeping him around. At least he isn’t a talkative and overbearing partner. I certainly could have done worse.
However today, Ren Shang is missing his usual composure.
He keeps tugging on his robes and reaching up to adjust his hair.
In spite of years traveling the road, following both my cousin’s trail and false trails I have set up, I have never seen Ren Shang exhibit emotions that prove that he’s actually human and not some spirit.
He doesn’t seem to get tired or even dirty. Always flitting around in his loose flowy white robes, with half his hair pulled up in a neat topknot while the rest of it cascades down his back. Never a strand out of place.
I’m convinced he uses his magic to keep it from becoming tangled, but I haven’t been able to prove it yet.
The only visible flaw that Ren Shang has ever born is his ink-stained fingers that come from him cultivating his calligraphy.
So why would he be so concerned now, standing indoors where there is no wind to even flutter his hair out of place and not while we were riding the great east road?
We are currently standing in the Ministry of Justice’s building. This early in the morning it is largely empty save for a clerk here and there. I continue fanning as my eyes focused on the door. I release another sigh. “Her first day on the job and she is late.”
“She is likely putting together some final affairs. It is far more work for a young lady to travel than for just you and me,” Ren Shang says simply. His voice is simple and clear, lyrical like a song.
I once again glance at Ren Shang, making a clicking sound with my tongue to let him know that I’m not buying the excuse that he set up for her.
Suddenly the door bursts open, letting in the first rays of dawn into this dimly candlelit room. A small silhouette fills the doorway and a girl rushes through.
Mu Ehuang steps lightly, practically running as if the Ministry of Justice is her playground.
She reaches us, huffing for breath as she clutches the satchel at her side.
I faintly remember hearing something about her being an alchemist, a useless skill that makes a person far too obsessed with plants.
Ehuang draws to a halt, her skirts sweeping out in front of her, unable to keep up with her sudden moments.
She is smiling widely as she drops into a quick bow.
“I’m so sorry that I’m late, but I am ready to set out now.
” Her voice is a bit like a songbird in the morning, chirping, incessant, and far too loud.
I grimace slightly, raising my fan to hide the expression. She puts me in mind of Zhan Quanyu in all the worst ways possible.
No person has any right to be this energetic first thing in the morning. It’s downright disrespectful to the people who had to wake up early and are still sore over it.
So, this is Shu’s sister-in-law that I’m supposed to keep an eye on? This is my new partner who I must also now lead on a wild chase to keep my cousin’s secret? Honestly, Shu asks too much of me.
Would it have been too much to ask that Ehuang be quiet and reserved like Ren Shang?
“Ehuang,” Ren Shang says with an easy smile. I pause, calculating in my head, trying to figure out how many times I have seen him smile in our time together. The number is scant if not nonexistent.
“Shang Shang!” she cries, bouncing on her feet. “It is you.” She steps forward as if she is about to hug him but seems to remember herself last second and simply grips his arm. “It has been so long, how have you been?”
I feel my eyebrow rise in my surprise. My hand that is moving my fan stills. Ren Shang has always been one to strictly stick to the proper decorum of things. To this day he will not call me by my given name; he insists on calling me Xiao Wen, hence why I also call him by his full name.
I thought that he was just incapable of addressing anyone by their given name. And yet, one first glance at Mu Ehuang and he is already calling her just Ehuang.
And her calling him Shang Shang? Well, to be frank that utterly boggles my mind. I’m not sure how anyone could call stiff and proper Ren Shang Shang Shang with a straight face. The cutesy nickname just doesn’t fit him.
And yet Ren Shang smiles even more widely at this and lets out a little chuckle. He reaches up, patting Ehuang on the top of the head. A very fond and intimate gesture. As an unmarried man it breaks all sorts of etiquette rules for him to touch Ehuang who is an unmarried woman.
“I see you two know each other,” I drawl out slowly as I work to come to terms with what I am seeing.
Ehuang turns to me; a large smile still plastered across her face.
I resume fanning again, slowly as she takes me in.
She clears her throat slightly, straightening as she takes in my stony expression.
She quickly steps away from Ren Shang and clasps her hands, dropping into a quick bow.
“Hello, I am Mu Ehuang, second daughter of the Mu family. You must be Mr. Xiao. I apologize for not greeting you properly earlier. It is only that Shang Shang was our neighbor for so many years and it has been some time since I have last seen him.”
“Miss Mu…” I pause, pursing my lips at the name.
“Ehuang,” I correct to, ignoring her slight widening of her eyes at my using her given name.
After all, if it’s good enough for Stickler Ren Shang then it should be good enough for me.
“Please dispense with the formalities, after all, we are practically family. You may call me—”
“Wen Wen?” she suggests grinning widely.
I snap my fan shut. “Xiao Wen.”
Ehuang sulks and I release a heavy sigh. “Although my friends know me as Wen’er.”
Like a wilting flower that is given water, she immediately straightens. “Wen’er?”
“If we ever reach the point of friendship.” I tap my fan against my palm. Which is unlikely, I don’t actually have any friends. “Until then, Xiao Wen is fine.”
She seems to consider that for a second before nodding. “All right, Xiao Wen. Any friend of Fanqing’s is a friend of mine so we’re already halfway there.”
Friend is a generous term for my sister-in-law.
Ren Shang turns to me, his brows furrowing. “You know Fanqing? Mu Fanqing?”
I glance over at him, puzzling over his reaction, but then I remember that we were on the road at the time of Shu’s wedding. Even I hadn’t known until I made it back. Ren Shang is likely even less informed in the happenings of the Xiao family.
I nod once. “I only recently had the pleasure of making her acquaintance. When she married my cousin.”
Ehuang nods enthusiastically. “You’re basically my brother-in-law.”
I purse my lips. “Not at all. Shu is your brother-in-law. I am simply his cousin. Please don’t exaggerate.”
Ren Shang chokes slightly on his breath. “Wh—what? Fanqing married?”
Ehuang nods with a little grunt. “It was a surprise to all of us. But I do like brother-in-law, he seems a decent fellow. And I’m not just saying so because his cousin is right there.”
I hold out my arm. “I believe we have spent enough time exchanging pleasantries. Come, the horses are already saddled and waiting.”
Ehuang turns on her heel and skips toward the door, however Ren Shang stands there locked in place, his face has gone to a sickly pallor as though he has seen a ghoul or some other spirit.
I frown as I take him in, wondering what happened to make him react like this. Would it have anything to do with the conversation we just had? We only discussed Fanqing.
Unless…dear heavens, I hope that it isn’t the case.
Unless Fanqing is the woman that Ren Shang has been pining for and waiting to see again.
I always knew that he had a sweetheart back home, but that she would wind up being my sister-in-law?
No, that cannot be.
It would be the worst of luck if that were true. And yet I cannot ignore his undoubted connection to the Mu girls. Or his reaction to finding out that Fanqing is now married.