Chương 49: Chapter 47

Lianhua stands firmly in the center of the room, and I watch her closely as her eyes, serene as always, fix on my mother, who sits in the chair waiting for her to begin. And as I wait for her to begin, I can't help but hold my breath, not only out of curiosity to hear the changes she claimed to have made to the story we'd agreed to tell, but also to hear my story as told by Lianhua.

"Guifei Xiang", Lianhua says to my mother with a formal bow of the head.

"I beg you to allow this humble maid to give you an account of what happened in the Celestial Fragment of the Sands." My mother nods as I watch one of her feet begin to shift, a reflection of her barely contained impatience. Without further ado, Lianhua begins in a firm, measured tone of voice that I think I might start calling her narrative mode.

"It all began in one of the ruins of the Celestial Fragment that Zhāohuán Wen had tasked me with surveying, in fulfillment of the conditions she herself had imposed to grant me access to the Celestial Fragment", she begins, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on my mother.

"While I was examining some minor ruins, a small group of individuals, members of the Fifteenth Imperial Prince's entourage, came upon me." I make a small nod, almost imperceptible even to myself, since so far everything is going according to plan.

"I tried to explain my presence there, but they gave me no chance", she continues.

"For as soon as they saw me, they attacked me." A shiver runs down my spine as I hear it spoken aloud, even though I already knew the story, and I look at my mother, whose lips have tightened into a thin line of disapproval.

"I was forced to defend myself", Lianhua continues without raising her voice.

"And in the confrontation, I ended their lives. It wasn't the best outcome given their families' standing, but I had no alternative given the situation." And after a brief, perfectly calculated pause, she lets the weight of her next words fall upon the room "And in the final moments of one of them, I managed to extract a confession that the Fifteenth Prince himself had given orders to capture me the moment he saw me, so their attack was not a spontaneous act by a few undisciplined members, but a direct order."

Just as Lianhua seems ready to continue, my mother's voice interrupts her, sharp and precise, while the look of disapproval she adopted earlier still seems to linger on her face.

"Before you continue", my mother says to Lianhua "I have a few questions for you." Lianhua bows slightly without losing her composure as she replies "Of course, Guifei Xiang. I will answer any questions you wish."

"First of all", my mother asks, narrowing her eyes.

"Why were you searching those ruins in the first place?" Without hesitation, Lianhua replied clearly, "Zhāohuán made it a condition that I must survey the ruins for her in exchange for her permission to enter the Celestial Fragment." My mother shoots me a look that pierces me like a spear, so, alarmed, I mentally review all the conversations I've had with her recently and realize with horror that I never mentioned that small condition I imposed on Lianhua.

I feel an uncomfortable heat rising to my cheeks, and in a reflexive act to break the oppressive silence, I cough softly a couple of times while trying to pretend it's a natural reflex. My mother holds my gaze for a moment longer with a strange gleam in her eyes, before turning back to Lianhua.

"Did you recognize anyone important among those nobles?" she then asks Lianhua, but this time her voice is sharp as a sword's edge.

"No, Guifei Xiang", Lianhua replies with absolute certainty.

"And none of the attackers wore high-ranking insignia. Furthermore, judging by their demeanor and equipment, I suppose they were the sons of minor officials or members of lesser branches of noble houses." After hearing Lianhua's reply, my mother nods slowly, as if processing every word while weighing it in some context I don't understand and which I suppose has to do with the currents of the court.

"Very well", she finally says.

"Continue." Lianhua straightens up again, and her expression grows even more solemn.

"Now I beg Guifei Xiang to allow me to recount the second part without interruption so that you may have a complete picture of what happened", she requests with a slight bow.

"When I am finished, I will answer any questions or concerns you may have." My mother narrows her eyes, but grants permission with a brief wave of her hand.

"All right, I grant your request", she says impatiently.

"Proceed."

"Thank you, Guifei Xiang", Lianhua replies, taking a brief breath before continuing. And after those words, I hear Lianhua begin to tell my mother the story I made up, but to my surprise, the part she decided to change is the ending, where she says that when it was all over and before leaving, she decided to carry the bodies down from the second floor and take them outside before leaving the building.

But as Lianhua recounts her story, I watch my mother out of the corner of my eye, and although she is visibly striving to maintain a neutral expression, small changes in her features, small gestures like an arched eyebrow or a slight twitch at the corner of her lips, betray her growing dismay.

Finally, Lianhua concludes her report as her last word hangs in the tension-filled air, and I watch her stand firm and unflappable in the center of the room, her hands clasped in front of her in a posture of respect, as she seems to await the inevitable questions I know my mother will not fail to ask her.

I watch as my mother sighs heavily, followed by that slow, deep gesture I've seen so many times, bringing two fingers to her brow and rubbing it gently, in that automatic motion she only makes when I bring her a problem of considerable magnitude. At this point, it's almost comforting because it feels so familiar. But she quickly regains her composure and elegantly lowers her hand as she looks up at Lianhua, who stands upright in the center of the room like a living statue, patiently awaiting the questioning.

"Does anyone else know what you just told me?" she asks in a firm voice, without a hint of hesitation. Lianhua answers her question clearly and without hesitation "Only Zhāohuán and I know what I just told you, Guifei Xiang." And the sigh that escapes my mother's lips after hearing Lianhua's answer is not one of exhaustion, but of relief. It is clear that this was her greatest concern, at least for the moment.

But I continue to watch the scene in silence, and after a few moments of reflection, my mother asks Lianhua her second question "That room you found, how large was the formation that, according to you, was for harvesting? I need a precise idea to assess how significant it was in order to evaluate what happened."

"Perhaps I didn't explain myself clearly enough, Guifei Xiang", Lianhua gently corrects my mother upon hearing her question.

"There wasn't a formation in the room, since the entire room was the formation. The runes and energy lines were engraved all over the walls, ceiling, and floor." If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. And I can see how those words have an immediate effect. My mother freezes as if something had short-circuited her mind and momentarily interrupted her ability to respond, her face going blank for just a few seconds, but long enough to notice.

But she quickly takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. Suddenly, Lingxi, who is in a corner of the room and hadn't been noticed until now, jumps at the implication of what Lianhua has just said.

"If what you say is true, and I have no reason to believe you're lying", my mother says to Lianhua.

"Then everything that happened afterward is self-explanatory, since no noble family could resist monopolizing and hoarding something like that." And here my mother pauses, I suppose to clarify her thoughts a little further.

"And the existence of that room makes it even more complicated to handle everything related to the prince's disappearance", my mother continues after the pause.

"Since something of such magnitude can only be mentioned to the emperor in person, as there may be people at court with similar ideas." I swallow silently as I listen to my mother's explanation of the room's importance, which is clearly intended for me, since I doubt she's offering it to Lianhua.

When I asked Lianhua if anyone would kill for it, she already hinted at how important it was, which was the basis of my story, but hearing my mother say that even within the court itself, people might betray my father for her sake, makes the significance of the room take on a whole new dimension. But after that brief moment of unease, my mother looks back at Lianhua.

"And this time, aside from the prince, did you recognize anyone else?" she asks, and it's clear that this time every word is carefully measured.

"Yes, Guifei Xiang", Lianhua replies bluntly.

"I recognized Wei Jian among them. Besides, one of the men was wearing the Zhang family symbols, and another bore the Gao family emblem, the rest seemed to be mere followers or minor officials." My mother closes her eyes as her expression shifts into a mosaic of resignation, calculation, and concern, despite her attempts to remain composed.

"Three members of prominent families", she murmurs as she counts them aloud.

"And two of them even have consorts in the imperial harem." The silence that follows is thick as my mother seems to try to decide what to do with that information. I see how, after a few long seconds, her face relaxes, she opens her eyes and fixes them on Lianhua again before asking her next question.

"Why did you carry the bodies out of the building?" she asks, and I listen closely to the answer, since that's something I want to know too, it's the part of the story she added herself.

"Understanding the importance of that room, I didn't want to leave any corpses behind that might attract scavengers or insects," she explained calmly, without losing her composure.

"I was afraid they might scratch the walls or build nests and end up damaging the formation over time, so I decided to move the bodies outside, where the risk of them affecting the chamber was lower during the years the Celestial Fragment was closed." Upon hearing her explanation, my mother nods slowly with an expression that blends recognition and approval. For my part, I watch her with a mixture of amazement and admiration.

In a simple, elegant, and perfectly credible way, she has turned the greatest weakness in our entire story, the fact that the bodies weren't where they should have been, into a reasonable and even commendable precaution, so I can't help but feel impressed.

"It's a shame you couldn't bring the prince's body", my mother then remarks with a hint of regret while I'm admiring Lianhua.

"I considered it", Lianhua replied to my mother.

"But carrying a corpse through the desert for a week was impractical. The risk of decomposition, of attracting the attention of other cultivators, or even of being attacked by spirit beasts was too high, so I had to give up on the idea." My mother closes her eyes briefly, as if pondering what she's just been told, and finally nods.

"Yes, it was too much to ask", my mother concedes without looking at anyone.

"And given the circumstances, you made the right decision." And then she sighs, a long sigh, deeper than the previous ones.

"But now we have the big question", she says as her gaze drifts for a moment into the void.

"And though I don't expect you to answer it, it is, what do we do now?" The silence left by my mother's last sentence seems to reverberate off the walls of the room like a note suspended in the air as her voice fades, but I know this is the moment to put into action the plan that's been on my mind, so I take a deep breath and raise my voice slightly from where I'm sitting.

"I think I have a solution for that", I tell her, letting my tone be firm enough to break the silence without sounding impertinent. My mother's reaction is almost comical in its strangeness, as she looks at me in surprise, as if she hadn't expected anyone to actually answer her question. After a few seconds in which she seems to be assessing whether she heard correctly, she raises an eyebrow.

"And what brilliant plan has my clever little girl come up with this time?" she asks me, with that tone that's somewhere between curiosity and caution she sometimes uses when she asks me questions.

"What should I tell them when they come asking about what happened between your maid and the prince in the Celestial Fragment?"

"Nothing", I tell her, smiling at her with the utmost brazenness and calmness in the world. My mother blinks, completely confused by my answer.

"What do you mean, nothing?" she exclaims, visibly bewildered.

"It's a little more complicated", I clarify, stifling a laugh.

"But the gist of it is basically, don't tell them anything." Before she can open her mouth again, I continue to explain the situation to my mother.

"When the prince's entourage comes asking for explanations, we'll tell them the truth straight up", I tell my mother with a smile.

"That we know what happened in the Celestial Fragment, but that there are elements involved that are classified at a level too high for people of their rank to be authorized to know." My mother watches me with growing interest, so I seize the momentum to continue "So we can't give them the report, and they'll have to wait for someone of sufficiently high rank to come and receive it."

I pause, then smile mischievously at her as I continue "And that's when we tell you that the only person with sufficient rank to receive that report is the emperor himself." Her eyes narrow, but I notice it's not out of disapproval, rather, she seems to be analyzing my proposal, so I wrap up my pitch by telling her "And if they consider retaliation, or accuse us of a cover-up, they can't do anything either, since we are the Guifei and the Zhāohuán, meaning only the emperor can judge us.

So in the end, it all comes down to the same person." Silence returns for a moment, but this time it's different, because in my mother's expression I can see how she's weighing my words and the feasibility of what I've proposed.

"Another time", she begins, choosing her words carefully.

"Your plan would be much riskier. They might try to appeal to the provincial governor or seek support from the factions that control the city."

"But now, with the chaos in the city, for whatever reason", my mother continues.

"And with his own skin on the line, since if the chaos drags on too long his own position would be in jeopardy, I don't think the governor will get involved." Hearing her words, I look at her expectantly, full of hope.

"If I can't think of anything better before they come asking, I'll go with your plan", she concludes, looking at me. A satisfied smile spreads across my face when I see that she has accepted my idea, but it doesn't last long because I know there's a crack, though that crack is what I've been looking for from the start and my true plan.

"But", I say, choosing my words carefully.

"There's a flaw in this whole business of hiding the truth." My mother frowns as she listens to me and asks "What is it?"

"It's Lianhua", I reply seriously.

"She's part of the Yushitai. If someone with enough influence figures it out, they can summon her to their offices and make her disappear inside them, after which they can make up whatever story they want about what happened inside the Celestial Fragment." After I speak, my mother and I slowly turn our heads toward the center of the room, where Lianhua continues to stand unperturbed, as if she were part of the furniture.

"Good heavens", my mother murmurs after a few seconds.

"I had completely forgotten that Lianhua was still part of the Yushitai."

"I never forget", I reply.

"And I think at this point we should ask her the question." I sit up a little in my seat and fix my gaze on Lianhua, who has not stopped watching us with that serene expression so characteristic of her.

"Lianhua", I ask her in a solemn tone "Are you willing to leave the Yushitai and become a permanent member of my staff as a Zhāohuán?" Lianhua kneels on one knee, clasps her hands in front of her, and bows her head toward me.

"I am willing to do so without hesitation, Zhāohuán Wen", she replies in a firm, clear voice, as serene as a windless night or as clear as a pond reflecting the moonlight. My smile becomes genuine and delighted, at last I can claim to be a princess with the loyalty of a ninja maid. But just as I'm savoring my triumph, a thought suddenly crosses my mind, and I turn my head toward my mother.

"I can do this, right?" I ask her, a little worried that I've gotten ahead of myself. She looks at me amused, a slight, satisfied smile on her face.

"It's actually very simple", she replies.

"Since our guard commander is a Nei Baihu, with her present as a witness, you just need to draft some documents in which, as Zhāohuán, you order the transfer of Lianhua from the Yushitai to your personal service, after which we'd just have to send a copy of those papers to the court." A sigh of relief escapes my lips as I listen to my mother.

"Then we'd better do it as soon as possible and send them with the fastest messenger we can find", I tell my mother with determination.

"That way, they'll arrive before any message from the prince's delegation, and Lianhua will be safe from any investigation or reprisal under my authority as Zhāohuán."