A Maiden's Strange Voyage

With the same a.s.surance that it might have turned out the same way before; she did not think that she could have changed it. And she made her choice back then, thus it was too late to look back. Might as well go on with the path she had in mind.

Even when it was still early, and dark outside. She lit a candle and continued to work, even if this was unusual for her. She had never got up this early since a child, and this was something that she did on her own accord rather than anything else. But she begin to write, the book required a long long time to be copied. As much as this was a copy, cheaper copy since the printing press was made cheaper.

That most towns had one, even if it was still expensive to print paper. But made it more affordable among the middle cla.s.ses and for important records or legal doc.u.ments. And this was a recently made copy, as she noticed. Perhaps commissioned no longer than a decade ago. As she slowly continued to copy, careful not to get her sleeves stained. Or to smudge the paper, since it was precious.

After a couple of pages, a knock was on her door. She opened it to find herself looking at Feiyu. "You probably didn"t sleep well."

"Yes, I did not." Admitting that rather readily, even if it was strange to have been read so well. As much she was expecting something else. All about whether this was present in her from the beginning, the sense that she never had managed to notice anything. Back then, she knew that staying there and finding a normal life was not her intention from the very beginning.

Neither had it been her ideal either. But whether this was something that was fated or not had been anything but possible. And with what went around last night, it was a matter of many many factors which decided it rather than in the hands of a single person though she was one of the most important of them all.

"They don"t, at least with what happened." And she looked at the paper laid out on the table, knowing what she was doing for the time being. "You should eat something."

She was hungry and she was rather sick of looking at the papers after hours of doing nothing but stare at them. By this point, she was keen to eat something as well. Feiyu went down the steps, and she followed her. Onto a small table, where she ordered some food for breakfast.

"So, I suppose we are leaving after this?"

"Yes, we are." She did not need another guess why, given what happened last night. She did not even need anything else to suggest that this was a wholly bad idea. "But I need to ask her first." Before she slided a small paper charm to her.

"Do these actually work?"

"They don"t. But I can"t get you something that is actually working until we head to Chang"an."

"Is it the headquarters?"

"Not really, although we meet there often alternating between there or Luoyang. However we mostly go there because it is one of the only places where the forgers are active." She gave a nod, clear that she was going to follow Feiyu. Now that she knew that she was a target regardless, and after last night she will trust her on issues such as this.

And why their destination will have been Chang"an at the end of the day. It seemed that Feiyu did plan on introducing her.

"Did you know that fate will play against me?"

"Yes. I knew that, when you made that choice." And she knew that she walked away from the fate that they had laid out for her. If she was treading it from the very beginning, then she strayed off it.

"It won"t change if you go back now."

"No, it won"t. I made that choice and it has left a consequence as a result. I already strayed from it in the beginning." Feiyu nodded her own head, knowing that Dianyu was bright to have guessed that. Andshe needed some answers but nothing quite like this.

When they finished, they went out to the brothel. It was the same as before, except that it was almost abandoned in the morning. Like most, since men often worked in the day. While the night was the only meant for others. She had mostly went in as well, seeing that most of the women were not yet up apart from the servants. Not entirely strange given the nature of their work, often going into the late hours of the night.

Feiyu had asked her to remain here, which was something she could understand from any viewpoint. Even as they remained silent, with some of girls being a little pale faced. Finding it strange to be so, she asked one of them. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Someone just died here, early this morning." It was not a wonder why it was wrong, because such things do not just happen.

"Is there any trace?"

"It was a rather popular courtesan who happens to have gained much popularity, and she played a song last night." A little strange, although she did not notice who did. Apart from Feiyu and no one else had done so. Either way, they were planning on leaving and it could not have been better. These were all good reasons why leaving will not have gotten them suspicion.

"The body was on the bottom of the floor, her eyes were open and gazing upon me. I was never more afraid, and I don"t dare to burn any incense in the first place." In fear that she was thought the culprit and to be guilty. A rather smart move, since she neither offended her. Merely saw her dead body.

And it meant that it was thrown from the second floor since there was a gap, and why there were so many servants scrubbing the floor as of now. Blood did not come out easy, and to ensure that it could even come out tonight meant a lot of scrubbing regardless.

"Does this happen often?"

She had to know more, given what the mistress of the brothel said. She knew that this was not only odd; it was something that needed to be investigated. And as long as no one told the town anything, this could have been kept hushed up until it was the right time.

"No, not really, most of the time it is when a courtesan gets too popular. Even as the magistrate do nothing because of lack of evidence. But it has been a regular occurrence for a while as it was." She was wondering whether she should even be here tonight. "The owner always said that it was something that fate wanted."

"How come you know so much about her?"

"I worked with her."

And she knew that this was someone that she could ask for more questions. "I"m Dianyu, Feiyu"s apprentice."

"Linglong." She gave a wide smile in return. Even as just now all she spoke of had been murder, and she was someone who did not even remotely fear it. It did not even seem strange to her, or all that terrifying. And she knew that these were not something that happened once in a long time, but on the occasion.

And courtesans were for most part ignored and treated as such because they often were looked down upon by society. In the sense that when they turned old, their options often relegated them to the streets or at best as concubines. Even then, once the husband died they were also in poor position.

"How is it working for her?"

"She"s a fine master, even if she is a little difficult to work with sometimes." Before she heard the town"s bells, knowing that it was time for her to do something else.

"I"m sorry, I need to make a leave first." She left off to deal with the other matters, which she knew were plenty given that someone did just die here. She will probably have to cleanse the place and give it a proper burial, keep the news from spreading since this was quite bad.

"It"s no worry."

Before she saw Feiyu coming down the stairs. As much as she knew that if they remain here tonight, something big was going to happen. Something was off about the owner from the start, something which as she knew now was going to affect things quite a bit. And that the best way out of this was to leave as she suggested in the beginning.

But with Feiyu looking more solemn, she had the feeling that it was not going to come true. At least from what she saw thus far. She knew when things were almost impossible to hope to come true.

"We have to stay for the night." She placed her hand on Dianyu"s shoulder. Even as Feiyu must have known that getting her to Chang"an was important. "Either way, you"re going to help so it means that it will be safe."

At least that was rea.s.suring given what happened the night before. She was the safest option if she was spooked and rather unwilling to do anything else. For the moment at the very least. And her master knew what she was worried about. Even more so than anyone else, because of what they encountered recently.

"I"ll be having my pipa with me." Could it be that she thought something was strange, but this was not a good place for something like this. It was not impossible, with it she was more than suspicious it was wise for her.

The moment they were out, they all headed back to the inn. Even as she continued to think that leaving was a far better, but they were out here. And she could not get into a large fight.

She entered inside and closed the door to her room. While she took in a deep breath, she knew that it was better to do so here. As Feiyu and her never had a relationship where Feiyu made the decision without any sort of word for her, it was mostly because she was willing to listen. And this was something that she found to be flying in the face of sensibility.

"Why are we staying?"

"Because I promised her to, she needs the facade of someone popular. Someone who can maintain that idea of nothing going wrong." And to cover that one of her star courtesans has just happened to pa.s.s away. It was not a wonder why she was here.

"There is something wrong with the owner. Our previous conversation ended rather strange." She admitted it now. Because she knew that this was very much the truth. Even as the contents didn"t to be discussed.

"There have been strange rumors swirling around, though she has always helped me in my early days." And she will have not abandoned the woman who trusted her in her early days. She expected something quite like this from the beginning.

"Are you certain?"

"Well, I am taking some precautions after last night." And that to her, was as good as it was. It was better than complete ignorance and she knew that her master will not budge by this time.

"All right." So she was not really wandering inside blind.

"If you"re worried, then how about I teach you a trick that can protect you." It was a more acceptable compromise than most thought and she figured that it could have been a whole lot worse.

"If you sense them, use the charm. It can be used for a short amount of time. Although it is not effective, just enough to distract them from anything." She figured that this was good for something after all. And perhaps she could agree to this. Grat.i.tude was important after all.