And then there was the matter of the prince’s transmission jade and the golden stamp. The first could be interpreted as a “get out of jail free” card, if it wasn’t for the golden stamp. The mystical golden device was something he hadn’t known existed. It behaved much like the previous talisman Wang Jun had given him to obscure a great deal of karma. Instead of being generic in its application, however, this Royal Seal of Notwithstanding, as it was called, was specifically crafted to dissolve terms of Spirit Temple contracts. Even high-level employment contracts like Cha Ming’s could easily be dissolved by the single-use item.
The combination of the two items was effectively an invitation. Done right, Pai Xiao could take what he knew and take it to the royal family, should the Blackthorn Conglomerate prove a disappointment. This naïve invitation could now be used as one more plot point in the play he was orchestrating.
“Don’t you agree?” Pan Su said, yanking Cha Ming from his thoughts. He looked at her blankly. “Even if I’m slightly his senior, at least I’m not as grumpy as he is, right?”
Cha Ming chuckled. “Right you are. And the most amazing part is that, at his age, he hasn’t learned the most important lesson of all: that ladies are always right.”
Pan Su and Shao Qiang burst out laughing, and even a few customers eavesdropping on their conversation joined in their laughter.
“Youngsters,” He Yin muttered under his breath. He lifted his hand to ask for the check and paid for their table. As per their tradition, the one who wanted to leave first had to pay. That had him paying for the bill half the time. It had become a game for them, seeing who could get under whose skin fastest.
If only it wouldn’t end. If only he didn’t have to leave it all behind. If only there wasn’t a war to be fought.
The imperfections of life and the twisted tangle of obligations in this world made everything resemble a tangled knot of gray. He knew which side he was on, but it didn’t make him feel better about what needed to be done.
If you don’t ruin Zhou Li’s plan, Cha Ming thought, and if you don’t sow chaos in the South, they’ll hit the North that much harder.
Telling himself that same story over and over didn’t make it any easier.
Chapter 29: Change
“I wonder what inspired her to make snacks like these,” Hong Xin said, picking up a small white ball from a plate on the table. She bit into the soft but sticky dough of the ball, whose surface was covered in a dusting of something light gold. As she got to the center, a red paste gushed out of the soft dessert, filling her mouth with a gritty but sweet surprise.
In front of her, Ji Bingxue was inspecting her own dessert, spinning it and pinching it as if to test its limitations. The two of them hadn’t spent much time together lately, a situation she was looking to remedy. Whereas before, the tall beautiful woman was one of her closest confidants, she now seemed almost uncomfortable sitting beside her.
“She just misses home, I think,” Ji Bingxue said, taking a bite. “She’s from the Quicksilver Empire, and snacks like these are popular there. She doesn’t talk about it, but she must have been the daughter of a baker. I myself was a weaver’s daughter. My talents have nothing to do with where I was raised. I just took an interest in singing at an early age. My mother encouraged it while we weaved, as it didn’t interfere with our work and helped us pass the time.”
“I see,” Hong Xin said, taking a sip of tea from the cup beside the desserts. “I didn’t discover dance until much later in life.”
“But you dance so well,” Ji Bingxue said in surprise. “Surely you received lessons in your childhood.”
“No,” Hong Xin said. “My father was a guard captain. All he wanted for his children was for them to become cultivators, so they could have a good life and help support the family. At least, that’s what he wanted for my second brother. My first brother couldn’t cultivate, so my father encouraged him to do business.
“It wasn’t until I ran away from home that I started dancing. Terrible things happened to me, and I ran until I had nowhere else to run to. I even spent some time farming with an older couple with no children of their own just to hide from trouble.” A little redness came to her eyes. “It wasn’t till life finally started looking a little bit brighter that I started dancing. It helped keep a fire going in my heart, a small spark that grew slowly but surely.”
“And Headmistress Yinyue?” Ji Bingxue asked.
“She found me as I was recovering,” Hong Xin said. “She helped me channel those feelings, helped me use them to inspire others. I followed her when she left, and she taught me on the way to the Red Dust Pavilion. The rest is history.”
She moved her teacup to her lips and noticed it had grown cold. A wisp of fire qi remedied the situation, and she did so for Ji Bingxue’s cup as well.
“My mother wanted me to have a better life than she did,” Ji Bingxue said. “I’d spent some time at a local cultivation academy, but all they did was teach us to kill and maim. A lady deserved a peaceful life, she told me.
“Her dying wish was for me to go to the Red Dust Pavilion, where she’d heard women could have a good future. I pray her spirit never discovers the result. I’d wager I have more blood on my hands now, directly or indirectly, than I ever would have as an adventurer or guard.”
That was a common feature all of them shared. They came from different backgrounds with different inspirations, but none
