The old man in the blue-green robe had hair and beard gone entirely white, yet he stood tall and his stride was steady, and his eyes were clear as spring water. He must have been a handsome man in his youth.
Meeting Li Fei's warm greeting, the old man cupped his hands in return.
"So this would be the young friend Hero Nie has taken up with? Truly a beauty to shame the nation."
His voice came unhurried, and he kept a distance from Li Fei that was neither near nor far — much like his manner of holding office, dimming his own brilliance to settle in with the dust of the world.
Thanks to the intelligence she had squeezed out of the City Lord of Luyuan County, Li Fei knew something about this Liu Gongming, Chancellor of the realm. At court he was famous as everyone's kindly uncle, forever eager to promote fresh talent, and after outlasting three emperors by sheer endurance his students and former subordinates filled every office in the capital.
Yet this leader of the civil officials never showed an edge. He was all mild looks and pleasant words to civil and military alike, and his talent for smoothing quarrels into mush was polished to perfection. He was also one of the very few who had kept friendly relations with Nie Yunyi and still escaped the purges after Lu Qianfan rose to power.
"Chancellor Liu certainly has an eye for things."
Li Fei smiled bashfully, traded a few more pleasantries with him, and climbed into the carriage.
When the hooves came to a stop, a quiet residence rose into view. A light rain had fallen at midday, and drops still fell in fits and starts from the eaves. Inside the walls, apricot blossoms cast thin shadows and the willows stood fresh after the shower — a picture of harmony and ease.
Li Fei tossed a can of cola straight to Nie Yunyi and laughed.
"Hero Nie, run an errand for me? My two sprites are still waiting outside the city with a few female ghosts guarding them. I can't bring them in myself…"
Nie Yunyi was momentarily speechless. How many years had it been since anyone sent him on an errand?
He raised the can in his hand. "You want this one to run errands, one bottle won't cover it."
"Relax, there's plenty more."
Li Fei watched Nie Yunyi go, then followed Chancellor Liu into the hall.
While an old servant poured tea for them, she offered a few more polite nothings. Only once the outsiders had withdrawn did she turn the conversation and come straight to the point.
"I've long heard that Chancellor Liu holds the common people in his heart, which fills me with admiration… but demons run wild within the four seas, and at court a powerful minister deludes the sovereign. The multitudes suffer, and the people can hardly live at all…"
"I intend to uphold righteousness across the realm and pull the common folk out of the mire. Will Chancellor Liu help me?"
Li Fei knew exactly how much she weighed. Trading veiled barbs and playing mind games with a politician who had aged into a fox was asking for trouble, so she simply laid out her purpose.
That style of negotiation — showing her whole hand before her seat had even warmed — nearly made Chancellor Liu choke on his tea. His old face creased with difficulty.
"A matter of such gravity requires long deliberation…"
— Are you kidding me? I'm hoping to be back in Loxibrook for New Year's.
Li Fei, who would kill the hen for the egg at the slightest provocation, had no habit of wasting time. Her expression turned earnest, her voice heavy with grief.
"Lord Liu, I can wait, but the people drowning in fire and flood cannot! I came from Luyuan County, and all along the road there was nothing but bleached bones. The people were trading children to eat. It was more than the eye could bear!"
"If you ask me, we ought to cut the tangle with a sharp knife. Tonight, let Hero Nie take the head off Lu the Eunuch-Dog and purge the villain at the sovereign's side. Then you step forward and take charge of the situation, sir — with your prestige, the court should hold steady…"
— Is that purging the sovereign's side, or is that rebellion?
Chancellor Liu's brows knotted in misery. He drank another mouthful of tea and smoothed out his thoughts.
He had risen and sunk in officialdom for most of a lifetime. He had watched high-spirited scholars degenerate into sinecure-warming bureaucrats, and he had seen with his own eyes a censor who would break before he bent dash his head to death before the throne hall, trying to wake an old dragon rotten past the physicians' reach with nothing but the blood in his chest… Chancellor Liu had believed he was weathered by every storm, that there was no scene he had not seen.
But this brand of sheer, sky-defying audacity — that really was a first.
He paused, then reached for a reason that could hardly be argued with, hoping to soothe her.
"Since the founding of the dynasty, the Great Song has never had a precedent of a woman holding office…"
"The Chancellor worries too much."
Li Fei restrained the feminist-icon spirit stirring inside her and smiled as lightly as drifting cloud.
"Once the yel— once the red robes are draped over my shoulders and I'm sitting in the Commander's seat, there'll be great scholars enough to reinterpret the classics on my behalf."
Liu Gongming's snow-white brows twitched. He sighed.
"The Demon Suppression Bureau is an instrument of the state. Its Commander must be appointed by His Majesty in person… Three days from now is the Emperor's birthday banquet. If the young lady is set on this, she might put herself forward then."
Clearly he wanted no part in provoking this lawless, unfathomable enchantress, and still less did he want to be dragged deep into a contest between two — perhaps three — Commanders of the Demon Suppression Bureau. So he kicked the ball to the Emperor.
"I'll trouble you for a few kind words on the day, sir."
Li Fei spoke respectfully.
"His Majesty discerns the finest hair. He will reach his own judgment."
Liu Gongming still committed to nothing.
— He won't even fall out with me over this…
Light flickered in Li Fei's eyes. She said no more, picked up a pastry, and started chatting about household matters with the old man.
In truth, she knew perfectly well that when it came to playing at power and politics, her own depth was nothing beside a professional politician's. Never mind this Chancellor Liu she had never laid eyes on before — even Nie Yunyi held reservations about her and would never serve her with his whole heart.
So from the very start, Li Fei had never expected to gather many allies at court.
And as for force, unless she went back to Loxibrook for reinforcements, she had nothing like enough to run wild.
Which meant that if she wanted results in a short span of time, she had to play to her strengths and around her weaknesses. Miss Top Courtesan had thrived in Loxibrook like a fish in water, and she had always taken the high road — straight to the top.
The very top of the Great Song was, naturally, the old man on the throne. Li Fei intended to throw everything into winning the Song Emperor's trust. As for the rest — Nie Yunyi, Chancellor Liu, whoever — she'd win them over where she could, and where she couldn't, it was enough that they didn't get in her way. The truly stubborn ones she would find some means of removing.
From that brief exchange she could roughly judge that this Chancellor was much as rumor painted him: a man who drifted with the current, cultivating goodwill everywhere and joining no struggle. Otherwise, on the strength of that single slipped word alone, he should have shown her the door.
Clearly Liu Gongming's whole manner was also, in its way, a statement to Li Fei: food and lodging, no problem — but keep your other troubles away from this old man.
The probing done, the rest of the evening passed in perfect harmony. Nie Yunyi brought back the sprites and the female ghosts, and Liu Gongming, chuckling all the while, arranged guest rooms and supper for his visitors — eight dishes, no more, no less. Host and guests were thoroughly pleased with one another.
After the meal, Li Fei enjoyed her stepdaughter's lap as a pillow and watched the stars a while. Once the girl had gone back to her room, Li Fei slipped quietly into Qiao'er's.
The quiet, delicate little thing was sitting at the desk reading. The dim candlelight spilled over her porcelain-white skin with the texture of an oil painting — except that her posture was poor and her eyes sat far too close to the page. Li Fei estimated a good six or seven hundred degrees of myopia.
"Say, Qiao'er dear, something on your mind? You were miles away all through supper."
Li Fei dragged a chair over beside her, and the two of them sat pressed close together.
As Qiao'er caught that beguiling scent of tea, Li Fei lifted a strand of the girl's hair, narrowed her eyes, and drank in the faint clean smell of soap-pod — like a cat that had just found the catnip.
"It's only… I never imagined there'd come a day I'd return to Lin'an…"
Knowing that with Li Fei here she would take in nothing more of the book, Qiao'er simply closed it.
"Since you've come, settle in and be at ease."
Li Fei propped her chin on her hand and smiled. "Why not go see your parents?"
At that, Qiao'er's long lashes trembled, and sealed-away memories rose to the surface.
Her childhood had been full of sunlight. Every autumn her mother sewed the winter clothes for father and daughter with her own hands. And that father, so unshakably grave in the eyes of outsiders, would hoist her onto his shoulders whenever he had a free hour and carry her up and down the streets for beef pan-fried buns, brown-sugar jelly, squirrel mandarin fish…
Her parents hadn't even planned to give her a few younger brothers. Instead they taught her to read and write — and only later did Qiao'er understand how precious that attitude was in an age that prized sons and scorned daughters.
Of course, in a childhood brimming with laughter, Qiao'er had made her mistakes too, and had her palm struck by her father.
The worst of those times was when she showed off her learning to a playmate her own age, crowing that the other girl didn't know a single character, and left the poor thing sobbing until her face was a mess.
Her father happened to walk in on the scene, and that gentle man's face went cold.
The ruler that had always come down lightly came down that day hard enough to leave Qiao'er in tears. But what he said then, she could never forget.
"I named you Zhang Qiaoqiao for two reasons. First, I hoped you'd be clever of mind and deft of hand, not a dull creature. Second, I hoped you'd understand that the greatest skill looks like clumsiness — that you must never lose yourself in your own triumph!"
"You are clever. Far cleverer than your father was at your age… but don't forget, this world is full of brilliant people, and there are more who are cleverer than you than you can count."
"Have you ever asked yourself why other girls can't read? Is it because every one of them is lazier than you, stupider than you?"
"It's because they don't have a father who holds office and is willing to teach them their letters!"
"Zhang Qiaoqiao, you may be born a daughter, but you are a scholar all the same. You should put your learning where it does some good, not use it to mock others…"
…
Later, that sunlit road stopped short in blinding red and darkness.
"Qiao'er, no matter what happens, you must live on, and live strong. Things always get better."
Her mother, her clothes torn to rags, had held Qiao'er's face in her hands with tears in her eyes and spoken her dying charge.
So Qiao'er had forced herself to forget that many-colored dream and buried the memories. Otherwise her constantly aching heart would begin to fill with the gurgling churn of black mud, and hatred would ferment along with it.
Wise before her years, Qiao'er understood that hatred would only destroy her — and would betray her mother's final hope.
But in this moment, staring blankly at the face right in front of her, radiant even in the dim lamplight, she suddenly understood.
She really had done it. And her mother hadn't lied to her. Things really had gotten better.
"Mm."
Qiao'er rubbed her eyes and nodded hard.
"Oh dear, that reminds me. Miss Assistant, under the terms of our labor contract, you're on duty thirty days a month, twelve hours of the clock a day, with no days off, you know."
Miss Philanthropist put on a syrupy, simpering voice. "So if you want leave for personal business, you'll have to get your boss in a good mood first."
Qiao'er's exquisite little face puffed out, barely perceptibly.
For one instant, she wanted to make this bewitching, blooming woman cry.
But somehow she lowered her head instead, and as if some spirit moved her tongue, she asked, "Then… what would put you in a good mood…"
Under those faint syllables, Qiao'er's hands tightened without her noticing on the hem of her skirt, her heart drumming wildly, a flush creeping up her tender white neck — the very picture of shy loveliness that begs to be pitied.
Li Fei licked her lips. But she went no further.
As everyone knows, when the fish bites you're meant to give the rod a shake. So long as the bait is delicious enough, the fish won't wriggle free — it will cling to the hook until skin tears and flesh splits, and never complain.
Prehistoric crocodiles like Madam Nicole, who could swallow the whole rod in one gulp, were a rare exception indeed.
Miss Top Courtesan fished out a gold ingot, her smile turning sly, showing a pointed little fang. "Over the next two days, go buy some blood. From different women, and packed separately."
Under Qiao'er's bewildered gaze, Li Fei sketched a measure with her fingers. "About… as much as a cola can holds, that's fine. Eight or ten cans' worth."
"The rest of the time is yours to spend as you like."
— That… that's all?
Qiao'er lowered her head, oddly hollow, and answered in a small voice, "I understand."
Morning. Birdsong and flower scent filled the courtyard, and the Mother of Fairies was disciplining her wayward daughters.
"Listen, Sister Yutong has a delicate constitution. Go easy on her."
With thumb and forefinger, Li Fei drew a soaking-wet stocking out of Wang Yutong's mouth — the young lady's eyes rolled back in an ahegao — and began scolding Eva.
Sasha was present too, but the chief culprit was certainly Eva. As the saying goes, no one knows a daughter like her mother, and in Li Fei's eyes her sweet little Eva was perfect in every way except for a slight sadistic streak — the girl even dared to sit on her mother's face and lord it over her. Unlike Sasha, that once proud and haughty queen of the sprites, whose sharp corners had long since been worn smooth.
"But… Mama was the one who told us to keep the noise down."
Eva defended herself, the picture of injured innocence.
Clearly, to keep Qiao'er from discovering ahead of time that the goddess she had secretly adored for years had been reduced to this state, she had found a way to plug the young Miss Wang's mouth.
"That's no reason to keep it stopped up all night! What if she'd suffocated?"
Li Fei poked Eva's forehead with a fingertip, then drew out two more stockings. Orange juice ran across the floor.
Seeing Wang Yutong lying there with barely a breath left in her, Li Fei covered her face and sighed, then went pattering back to Lilith's room. She returned before long with a Serpent-woman scale and tossed it to Eva with visible reluctance.
"Here, build her back up."
This was premium Serpent-woman scale, far more nourishing than the cheap stuff — a gift from a relative of Daisha, the Serpent-woman hostess. Miss Top Courtesan didn't even eat it every day herself.
After a few more words of instruction to Eva, Li Fei left, still fretting over her troublesome darling, muttering under her breath, "I've never even tried that…"
A few steps on, her face changed as if by magic into a bright smile, and she waved.
"Morning, Hero Nie."
"Morning."
Nie Yunyi was still in coarse cloth, his hair somewhat disheveled. If not for that handsome face, he might have been taken for a beggar.
A sack of steamed buns dangled from his hand. He picked a rock by the pond at random, sat down, and started tearing into them.
Li Fei was not so lax about it. She handed a servant some silver with a smiling instruction to fetch her two bowls of soy milk, and only then sat down across from Nie Yunyi to share the sack.
The white-flour buns had plainly just come out of the steamer, still hot to the touch, the skin soft and fluffy with the faint sweetness only wheat has. One bite and the hot meat juice ran down her throat; the filling was seasoned just right, salty-sweet, the smell of pork everywhere.
With the soy milk to wash them down, a dozen buns vanished in minutes. Li Fei bent her willow waist, dipped her pale fingertips into the pond and swirled them to rinse off the juice, asking in an idle tone, "Hero Nie, how did His Majesty take it?"
"He's curious about this immortal maiden descended from the heavens. He wants to see you."
Nie Yunyi went on, "Arranging some post or title for you is no trouble. But Commander of the Demon Suppression Bureau — stop trying to reach heaven in a single step."
"Is there a possibility — I'm only saying, a possibility."
Li Fei suddenly floated a strange question, testing the water. "That His Majesty is actually a woman dressed as a man…"
"Don't talk nonsense."
Nie Yunyi frowned and spoke in a tone that left no room for argument. "His Majesty is the true dragon, Son of Heaven. Where do you come by such… wildly absurd notions?"
— So much for the shortcut.
Li Fei sighed in disappointment.
If the Song Emperor was a man, most of her core advantage was neutralized. Her peerless Art of Tea would have little room to show itself.
That did not shake her resolve to take the high road, though. She simply went on digging for information about the Song Emperor, hunting for an opening.
Wealth? Power? Long life? Anything would do.
Since none of her questions touched on court secrets, and since Li Fei's temperament suited Nie Yunyi's taste, and since he genuinely did hold hopes for this so-called visitor from the immortal realm, he hid nothing. He laid out everything he knew, in more detail than she had expected.
Before either of them noticed, the conversation had drifted to the fact that the sovereign still had no heir.
"Say — could His Majesty have a child out there somewhere beyond the palace walls…"
Li Fei mused, chin in hand.
"Utterly impossible."
Something seemed to stir in Nie Yunyi. His weathered eyes turned toward the palace, and he sighed softly, wistfully.
"It's Her Majesty the Empress I pity…"
"His Majesty and the Empress are not on good terms?"
Li Fei seized on the point at once.
"Mm."
Nie Yunyi paused, then nodded after all.
Li Fei studied his expression closely, then said suspiciously, "How is it that you even know His Majesty and the Empress aren't getting along? I've gathered a fair bit of information myself, and I've never heard of any trouble between them. Besides, the Su Clan behind the Empress has always supported the throne…"
Nie Yunyi's face stiffened. His gaze grew complicated, even a little awkward, as though a thousand words sat in his throat and none of them could come out.
"Ohh~ I see how it is."
Catching the scent of scandal, Li Fei raised her voice in delight, her expression exquisitely subtle.
An opening — and here it came.
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