"Can you believe it, they woke me up with drums this morning!" Xiao Tai complains indignantly, shaking her fist: "Ugh, the scoundrels! My heart nearly burst from fright!"
"Seriously?" oldun raises an eyebrow: "Actually with drums?"
"May I fall through the earth! They dragged in that enormous red drum that stands in the great hall, the one that announces the beginning of feasts. And as soon as they brought it in, did they try to wake me? Of course not, they dragged it in and BOOM - thump! Right over my ear, curse them! And remember how they made me run with stones on my shoulders for three days straight?! This morning they were poking me with needles! Long contraptions with dragon heads and some smoking thing on the end! They'll kill me here, I can feel it in my gut." The girl speaks while deftly picking up a piece of roasted meat from the bowl with chopsticks, chewing it and savoring the sweet juice. She squints with pleasure. She enjoyed visiting old Weidun. Here, behind the stables, few people came except on business. It was a gloomy place anyway, and the wooden sawhorses with whips on the wall under the shed put one in mind of unpleasant thoughts. Besides, old Weidun often roasted meat, so to speak, taking advantage of his official position. After all, he was not only the family executioner of the Won Mi house, but also a butcher. The local cuisine was diverse and elaborate, only there wasn't much meat in it - you'd eat all those vegetables and pickles, spicy, sour and sweet, and twenty minutes later you'd be hungry again. Of course she very much liked steamed baozi, delicious huge things that were part dumpling, part pastry, but even these local delicacies were sometimes made with red beans instead of meat. So in Weidun's nook there was everything she needed - peace and quiet, hardly anyone from management or even regular servants would come here, and nobody needed extra gossip. Then - old Weidun was simply an amazing and grateful listener, he could listen without interrupting and nodding or grunting in the right places, he could do this for hours. At the same time, there was no feeling that he was letting it all go in one ear and out the other, no, he listened.
After that incident with the flogging - they had somehow imperceptibly switched to such a rather familiar way of addressing each other. She could call him simply "old man" or even "old geezer." He could address her as little "Silver Bell" or Yinling - if he was in a good mood. If he was in a bad mood, then he called her "beast," "daughter of a nine-tailed fox" and "red spawn" and many other words, half of which young Xiao Tai didn't even know. Which, of course, testified to the developed intellect and broad outlook of the family executioner. However, while you're flogging people - you can't help but hear things.
"They wrapped me in wet sheets!" Xiao Tai continues complaining, having barely chewed the piece of meat and already reaching for the next one: "And I still can't feel those meridians! I don't have any qi at all!"
"There's no such thing as having no qi at all. Qi is everything around us and within us," old Weidun replies: "Everything is qi. You eat too much meat, Little Bell, you might get intestinal blockage."
"You're just stingy, old man, that's all. The meat is government property anyway, and look how skinny I am. I need to bulk up if I want to amount to anything. Especially if I can't awaken this 'qi' in myself," she grumbles with her mouth full: "And this teacher has given me nothing but stress! How can you wake a sleeping person with drums!"
"You're not listening. You can't awaken qi in yourself. There's no such thing as not having qi. Qi is everywhere - in you, in me, in this piece of juicy meat with herbs..."
"But I can't feel it!"
"That's a completely different matter, Little Bell," Weidun sighs: "Sensitivity to qi is a completely different matter. Not everyone has it. Those who do can learn to use this energy. However, cultivation is a long, complex and expensive path. For a commoner without a teacher, without ingredients, without technical guidance - it would be very difficult to rise even one level. Practically impossible. If only because he'd need to earn a living, not meditate by a tree. Besides, there are further limitations, having qi sensitivity isn't enough. The body's capabilities for opening meridians, the volume and speed of qi movement through meridians..." he waves his hand: "Common mortals shouldn't even bother. We had one such person in the village where I was born, crazy old man Tun. He sincerely decided to achieve the level of Immortal Daoist in cultivation and went into meditation for fifty years. Well, he'd come out of the cave sometimes to nourish his body so he wouldn't die of hunger."
"And what happened to him?" this cunning girl asks curiously and Weidun grins.
"He aged and died," he replies, deftly snatching a piece of meat from the pan right in front of Xiao Tai's nose: "Never really lived properly, spent all his youth in meditation like an owl."
"Well yes, a stupid story," the girl admits: "So I don't have sensitivity to this qi of yours, so what. I won't perish. That means I need to take a different approach."
"You won't perish, that's for sure," Weidun nods, but something seems to flicker in his eyes. It flickers and goes deep, like a sea monster that had recklessly come too close to the surface and immediately, striking with its mighty tail - went down into the darkness. Xiao Tai squints.
"Uncle Weidun," she says: "You know something, don't you? Come on, tell me..."
"It's not my business, Little Bell," the old man replies after a pause: "You're already warmed, clothed and fed. They're even teaching you cultivation paths, trying to raise you a level, what's there to complain about? Your future... nobody knows the future."
"And why do I get the feeling that one stubborn old man knows more than he's saying?" Xiao Tai says thoughtfully, pressing her finger to her chin: "Where does such a premonition come from? However - fine. I don't have much time before evening training. How about this - I'll talk, and you nod. Or - don't nod. That doesn't count, does it?"
"I won't nod. Or not nod," Weidun replies, tensing: "What nonsense."
"I heard that they want to marry off young lady Liling," Xiao Tai begins recitatively and the old man freezes upon hearing this. Well yes, you can't hide a snake in a bag, it'll crawl out anyway and bite someone. The servants in the yard and kitchen staff are always wagging their tongues like brooms, gossip spreads at the speed of an arrow shot, and it's not a secret anyway. Everyone knows. So she knows too. It's just... he doesn't like where she's leading. What she's hinting at.
"To the Azure Phoenix clan," Miss Xiao continues thoughtfully: "At first I thought - well fine, honest feast and wedding, advice and love and a red dress to the floor. But Aunt Cho... every time she remembers this - she looks away and becomes gloomier than a storm cloud. And her face is like she pities the young lady beyond measure, even though this girl drove one of her maids to death and crippled the second one badly. Aunt Cho - she's kind, pities everyone, but if the marriage to this Phoenix would be sweet honey - why would she walk around so gloomy at the thought of it?" Xiao Tai looks straight into old Weidun's eyes and he barely restrains himself from nodding. His face hardens. He's not going to reveal the secrets of the Won Mi family, especially since these aren't secrets at all, but his idle speculations. Maybe everything is actually different?
"It would seem, what does this have to do with me?" Xiao Tai asks herself and puts the chopsticks on the edge of the pan, moves closer, fidgeting on the bench and puts her head on her little fists, firmly establishing her elbows on the table: "But questions, questions, questions... why does such a beautiful me need Master Baoshu. When he looked at my face there on the square - he immediately bought me. I didn't even have to ask much. No, I'm confident in myself, of course, but not so much as to suppose that the Head fell in love with me right there and decided to make me his wife, then hired a teacher to raise me as a virtuous spouse. And I would immediately become the young wife and friend of Lady Mei. Oh, and also the adoptive mother of young lady Liling. I can imagine how her face would stretch!"
"What are you babbling about,Little Bell!" Weidun frowns with displeasure.
"Indeed. What am I babbling about. However, look - I don't do housework or kitchen work. I don't wash clothes or sweep the yard. All my duties are studying. And what does my teacher teach me? Only how to behave in decent society so as not to disgrace the Won Mi family, and what kind of sweet and obedient wife I should be. Oh, and cultivation too, to open the first two levels by harvest festival. What would cultivation be for? However... I heard that young lady Liling is a cultivator and already at a decent level."
"Spiritual level of cultivation. Lady Liling has reached the spiritual level, fourth rank," old Weidun looks away.
"And I suppose those around her know about this. Tell me, old man - do you think the Head intends to replace me at the wedding and present me instead of his daughter?" She looks straight into his eyes and he - for the second time - barely restrains himself from nodding. She chuckles smugly.
"So that's how it is. Is he crazy? Nobody would mistake me for Liling! I have neither tits nor ass, and we're even different heights!"
"What makes you think that I..." Weidun began, but suddenly - understood. She had deliberately focused his attention on nodding. So that he would try to track his head movement, concentrate on not nodding, but his eyes... his eyes gave him away.
"Oh, you understood," Xiao Tai smiles: "You're very smart, Uncle Wei. It's just that I'm a little hurt. I come to you with all my heart, and you hide such important things from me. You know that not one wife of the Azure Phoenix heir has lasted longer than a year, right? And to hell with it, I understand that you worry about the young lady and the family Head, it's all clear. But they'll expose my disguise as soon as he takes off the red cloth, they'll definitely expose it! We don't even look alike." She angrily blew away a hanging strand from her face: "Anyway, I'm offended at you, old man. I'm not stupid, I can see that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. If I'm going to die anyway, well so be it. Did I ask for mercy? I also want nobody to get hurt, but this plan is shitty. The Phoenixes will figure it out and then... oh my, how bad it will be for the Won Mi house. Me, of course, they'll cut to ribbons immediately, but the Head and everyone else won't have it easy either. If you want to do something, then you should fill me in on the details, maybe I can help somehow." She falls silent. For some time an awkward silence reigns over the table. Finally old Weidun sighs, deciding to say what he thinks about this after all. Anyway, this strange and too smart for her own good girl already knows most of it. She figured it out herself, with her own head. Truly it's correctly said that woman and intellect should not share the same vessel. Nothing good will come of such a combination.
"I don't know the Head's plans," he says slowly and reluctantly: "But if we're playing intellectual games, then... the groom and bride don't see each other until they're alone for the mystery of the first night. You've seen the ceremonial wedding clothes, anyone could be under them. Besides, the Phoenix heir has never met young lady Liling personally, the difference in appearance doesn't matter. As for cultivation level... the first level will be enough. Those who control qi flows can sense organized energy in another user's body. You can't determine the level by sight, but the difference between a qi user and an ordinary person will be immediately felt. And also - there will be inspections."
"Inspections?"
"Of course. How could there not be inspections. Someone from the Azure Phoenix will come to look at the goods face to face. Certainly a woman. Probably some old hag. This same hag will receive the goods later - when you're leaving. The wedding will be at the Azure Phoenix stronghold, so..."
"So that's what it is. First they'll examine me here, acknowledge that I am Liling, that I'm a virgin and that I can use qi, and then, when it's time to go to the wedding - this same woman will make sure they're not passing off someone else. There won't be time to communicate with her enough for me to be exposed... but I probably won't reach the destination."
"What are you saying?! The Head would never..."
"That would be most convenient. Bandit attack and that's it. The Won Mi family is clean - did they give away their daughter? They did. When did she disappear? When she was under the responsibility of the Azure ones. I wouldn't be surprised if the Head extorts some preferences from them for this," Xiao Tai sighs.
"Preferences?"
"Uh-huh. And also contributions and reparations. He'll make them pay. Turn everything to the family's advantage. Eh, what a lousy thing life is, you just start living and you already need to die."
"I think you're wrong to decide that the Head has decided to kill you. He's not the type to throw lives away. Besides, he likes you. He plays xiangqi with you every other day."
"No, well there are of course options where I live long and happily with another name somewhere in the wilderness, it's just more reliable if they find a body. And that body should be exactly the body that the inspecting aunt examined. Maybe she'll put some mark on me, that's possible here, right? Like an authenticity seal. Watermarks for protection against counterfeiting."
"Damn," said Weidun. He had driven such thoughts away from himself, didn't believe that the Head had conceived such a thing, but indeed, if there's no body at the scene - suspicions will arise. And from suspicions to a special search team from the Azure ones arriving on site - it's two steps. And if such a team comes to the Won Mi family estate... anything could happen. Of course, it's better to hide the young lady, pretend she left, but still, still... a verbal description and portrait would immediately make it clear that they took the wrong one, that the Won Mi house pulled a scam. And what would start then... it would be better to openly spit in their face and refuse the marriage than to be caught on such a thing. This would definitely mean the end of the Won Mi family, simply because not only the Azure ones would come after them. This is deception, and vile deception at that. The Will of Heaven doesn't like such things. Still, the Head has a weak heart, paternal feeling has overshadowed everything in him, he can't give his daughter away to who knows where, so that in a year or two a letter of regret would come, saying so and so, she hanged herself, or drowned in a pond. But you can't declare open war on the Phoenixes now either, so he found a way. And if it's such a way, then this insufferable and too smart girl is right, nobody will pity her. They'll arrange an attack on the wedding escort, preferably on Azure territory, closer to the stronghold, but not too close. So as not to cross paths with the meeting delegation. They'll arrange it to look like bandits attacked. And the body... the body must definitely remain in place, otherwise it won't work. So there are no doubts. Weidun himself would have acted the same way. So they will act.
"Fine," he finally says: "Now you know. You still have two weeks until harvest festival. What will you do?" He expects tears and hysteria, expects the girl to try to run away, then he'll have to tie her up. He's sorry for her, of course, but duty to the Won Mi family... and still he pities this fool. She's not guilty of anything, but now there's nowhere for her to go. That's partly why he didn't tell her anything about his guesses, let her live a happy life and not think about why all her worries now are just studying. A little bird in the bush that sings, not knowing that the hunter has already nocked an arrow and drawn the bowstring - is also happy until the last moment. Why spoil a person's life. Also partly because he's so unusually kind to her. She will serve an important cause, she will save the Won Mi family, she deserves this. Even though she doesn't have much time left to live.
"Two weeks?" Miss Xiao Tai chuckles: "And what do people usually do with their life's? I'll live them."