15. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen
Mu Fanqing
My sleep is brief and restless. I try to keep enough consciousness to make certain that I don’t start snoring, however it only serves to make sure that I don’t fall into a deep sleep.
So, I wake almost immediately when Shu pushes to a sitting position. I crack an eye open as he slips off the bed and moves across the room. He throws on an outer robe and puts on his shoes before sliding open the door and slipping from view.
I sit up, frowning, scooting to the end of the bed. Where could he be going at this hour?
I quickly pull on some boots and tiptoe over to the window, pushing it open just wide enough to peer out of it. I spot Shu’s dark form as he slips through the courtyard, silently and quickly like a shadow.
I narrow my eyes as he exits the gate before I grab a pole and prop the window open, sitting on the edge and swinging my legs over before quickly lowering myself down. I race across the courtyard after Shu.
I’m not sure why I follow him into the night.
If it were anyone else, I would wait for them to return and confront them, but there’s a part of me that must know where he is going.
A certain curious urge that I’ve never felt so strongly before.
What would he possibly have to keep a secret from me?
Have things not been going as well as I assumed they were.
I had thought we were adjusting well to cohabitation.
So, what reason would he have to fake being asleep just to slip off into the night under my nose?
We signed a contract; it isn’t as if I would stop him anyway. Which only makes me grab my skirts and run faster.
Outside the inn is a thick bamboo forest. It’s nearly impossible to keep up with Shu, but I persist, moving as quietly as I can while not falling behind and chasing the moving shadows that I hope to be him.
Until I’m not even sure if I’m following him.
What if it’s a spirit here in this thick bamboo forest? Or a wild animal?
I swipe my sweaty hands against my silk nightclothes.
I’m about to turn around and head back. I will just confront Shu in the morning. However, just as I make up my mind, the bamboo clears enough to reveal a cave. I see a dark form slip into the cave.
I stare after him, breathing hard. I count to twenty before I also step up to the cave’s entrance.
From first glance it appears to be a fairly deep cave, Shu is no longer by the entrance, so I risk ducking my head and stepping through.
I tiptoe, forward, holding my skirt up high enough that I can try to see my pale boots and make sure I’m not going to step on a large stone and hurt myself.
I dare not pull out a talisman to illuminate this room for fear that Shu is just ahead and will see me.
After the first antechamber I spot the glimmer of torchlight, so I follow that.
It leads me to a cavern that is wider than the opening of the cave.
Shelves made of bamboo line the interior of the cave.
They are filled with all sorts of things.
From armor to vases there is a huge range of household items as though someone set up everything from their manor inside.
I even see some furniture shoved against the wall.
Through the gaps in the shelves, I can see the source of the light. There is a torch mounted on the wall near another passage leading out of the cavern. One thing is glaringly apparent, this place is not abandoned in the slightest, indeed it looks as though it has been in use for some time.
Two figures stand in the center of the room, perusing one of the shelves that is fortunately opposite where I am. One is Shu, standing there with his arms folded, looking almost bored. The other is Quanyu as he paces in front of Shu.
“I know that while we are in Yanzhou we will have a lot of eyes on us, but it would also be the perfect opportunity to finally start moving these goods.”
Shu holds up a finger as he points to the shelves. “Remind me, these came from…”
“Lord Gu’s holdings.”
Shu nods. “Ah, Lord Gu. He was actually a spirit in disguise, right?”
“As if you don’t remember.”
“I deal with a lot of spirits, and I deal with a lot of stolen goods. I can’t be expected to remember every one of them that I come across.”
Quanyu sighs heavily. “After you killed him and before you reported his crimes to his majesty you took everything from his main residence that looked of value. Lord Gu enjoyed dealing in magical antiques, so these are all worth a small fortune. And then you made it look like he had been planning to flee the country and had sent his belongings on ahead of him so that no one would suspect their disappearance. Very clever of you.”
Shu purses his lips. “So, what does that have to do with now?”
“Well, after Lord Gu’s death these items would have brought too much attention to us, so we hid them in this cave.
But now it’s been long enough since Lord Gu’s death, these items aren’t so hot anymore.
I think we can now begin selling them. Yanzhou would be the perfect place for it due to the proximity, but now that we are heading there, we have eyes on us. ”
Shu reaches up, rubbing at his chin as his eyes flick over the shelves. “I knew you wouldn’t agree with Wen’er that easily.”
“Hear me out. Yanzhou is known for its prominent ghost market,” Quanyu says tucking his hands behind his back.
“I know that we haven’t gone there for reasons.
However, I’ve been dying to set up some leads there, and you always insist on personally setting up all contacts before sending the Midnight Runners in. ”
Shu stiffens, looking offended. “What sort of boss would I be if I left the crucial details to an underling? You can only tell if someone is planning to stab you in the back if you are able to look them in the eyes. I’d never leave the fate of this business on someone else, or risk one of my Midnight Runners that way. ”
“And that is admirable, but we have truly been missing out on a goldmine of investment since you refuse to step foot in Yanzhou. So, since you’re already going to be in town why don’t you just set up some connections?
Find some buyers and then later on I can send the boys to move these things into the city, and you never have to worry about stepping foot in Yanzhou again. ”
“How much do you suppose this is worth?” Shu asks as he starts toward the back tunnel.
“It’s worth nothing if it keeps rotting in this cave,” Quanyu quips as he follows him.
I stare at the passage for a long while after they both disappear down there before I straighten. I grip the edges of one of the shelves so tightly that I might bruise. My mind is whirring trying to process what I just heard, however in my confusion and shock one thing is glaringly apparent.
I married a smuggler. A dealer in stolen and illegal goods.
“That lying son of a snake,” I hiss as I reach up, running my hand through my hair as it hangs loosely around my shoulders.
What is Shu thinking? He seems too levelheaded to do such a foolish thing and yet… and yet here I am standing in the midst of all the evidence to the contrary.
My Mu’s family reputation is going to be ruined forever.
I gasp, my hand flying to my throat as I realize that’s the least that could happen to me. If the emperor ever finds out, could I be executed for this? Or exiled? Smuggling is a grave crime although I don’t know just how the emperor would react given how important Shu’s duty as a spirit catcher is.
Still, I do not intend to stake my life on that assumption.
Suddenly Shu mentioning the clause that we stay out of each other’s affairs makes sense. I had been too happy to be free to cultivate in peace that I hadn’t thought to ask myself what sort of secrets that Shu might be hiding but now it’s apparent that I was na?ve.
I don’t care what I signed, I did not agree to this. I will not be dragged down by Shu’s crimes. There’s only one way I see out of this and that is to tell the emperor what I saw, declare my innocence by turning him in.
Contract or no, this is the only way.
I feel horrible at the thought. Liar or no, Shu has always treated me well with his actions even if I cannot trust anything he has ever said. I don’t want to be the reason for his downfall, but I also cannot allow him to be the reason for my downfall.
I grit my teeth, kicking at the shelf. How could Shu put me in this situation? Did he even consider me?
Oh, he considered me, he considered how to continue to keep this from me. No wonder he was so tired on the carriage ride, he has probably been out every night sneaking around preforming illegal deeds. And I lent my shoulder to him too! This is how I have my good deed turned against me.
Was he even asleep tonight or just trying to trick me so that I could fall asleep?
“Curse him!” I hiss. “Curse him and the entire Xiao clan.”
He’s turned me into a liar myself. Now I’m someone who goes against my word. And here I thought he was trying to be a kind husband, all he was trying to do was keep me complacent.
“He will see how complacent I am when I turn him over to the emperor.” Let him be punished for his own crimes, I will not bear the brunt of them.
I have my own family to consider.
I pause as the gravity of my situation finally settles in. Is this perhaps why the emperor married me to Shu though? Because Shu was too reckless and also too important to do anything about his actions?
So, he forced him to marry lower as a punishment and then he tied him to the Mu family to try to temper him and his wildness?
But what can we do against the Fourth Lord of Da Xian?
How would his majesty react if I turned in Shu?
He wouldn’t be happy. So far, it is likely that if he suspects Shu of anything, he is turning a blind eye to it.
After all, Shu is too important to remove from his position.
He is the only spirit catcher there is. If anything were to happen to him, well Da Xian would be at the mercy of the spirits who walk among us.
And yet… if I were to turn him in with proof, the emperor would no longer be able to ignore it. He would have to punish Shu, and he might just be furious if my actions force him to go against his original intents.
I stifle a shudder as I begin pacing. I feel cold and clammy and a little sick to my stomach.
So, I cannot turn in Shu without earning the emperor’s ire, and yet the second Shu is no longer useful he could very well be caught and tried for his crimes in which case I and perhaps the whole Mu family will be held accountable with him.
I’m truly trapped.
I pause, trying to draw in a slow steadying breath. I never had this sort of problem when I was studying to be a scribe. Then only my own actions affected me—and my family’s as well, but I could always trust the Mu’s to be levelheaded.
I resent Shu for this. I lost the chance to ever be an imperial scribe and now I can’t even live peacefully as Lady Xiao.
He’s playing with my life as if I’m just a piece on a go board.
I wrap my arms around myself as I glance in the direction of the passage, but I pause when I see a vase sitting on the shelf directly in front of me.
I don’t know why it draws my attention so fully when nothing else in this room does.
It’s a marble vase and is almost entirely a spotless white save for one lone dragon painted across the lid.
It is twisted around itself, claws raised as if it is trying to escape.
It is strange to see a dragon depicted in this manner rather than painted in a serene pose like most depictions of dragons are.
Something about this vase snaps me out of my panic. It transfixes me as if it is silently whispering my name and calling me to touch it. I raise my hand, extending my finger slowly until I rest it against the red paint of the dragon’s body.
Suddenly there is a flash of light and a burning pain to my fingertips. I yank my hand back with a gasp, only just remembering that I cannot cry out.
I hiss as I look at my fingertips. They’re slightly red but otherwise they appear unharmed. My eyes flick back up to the vase, and I step closer studying it closely, wondering what on it hurt my hand. The vase could not have been hot, could it? Marble is usually cool.
But then Quanyu had said that a lot of these were magical artifacts. Could this vase be a heater of some sort? To be kept by a person’s bed on a chilly winter night.
I don’t feel any heat coming off the vase, and I don’t fancy the idea of touching it a second time and seeing if I get burned this time.
I don’t know why I’m even bothering with this vase. I have much larger problems to deal with.
I’m about to turn away, but then some movement catches my eye. Did the dragon’s tail move?
Impossible, that’s quite impossible. How could it have?
However, just as I convince myself of that. The painted dragon’s eyes close. And then they open again.
I leap back, almost tripping on the hem of my nightgown as the dragon begins climbing around the vase, stretching across its center before it moved back up to the lip.
Then it levitates, finally breaking away from the marble and taking on a solid shape, it continues to rise until there is a small dragon free from the vase.
“You—” I gasp out in shock.
The dragon’s lips move up as if it is smirking at me and then it quickly whips through the air above my head.
It flies faster and faster, lower and lower until it seems to have completely encircled me.
Then there is a rush of wind. I stumble to the side as the dragon shrinks back, giving me time to take in my surroundings.
I’m not in the cavern anymore. Overhead I can see the moon and dozens of stars dotting the sky.
Sweet smelling air brushes past me, gently lifting some strands of my hair.
Mountains stain the horizon around me, visible only by the way they block the light of the stars.
I’m standing in a field of tall grass with a still, still pool sitting there some feet away.
It reflects the sky perfectly. It also bears the reflection of the dragon as it hovers above it and studies me closely.