Aunt Cho fell ill and took to her bed. At first, Xiao Tai didn't even notice she was gone. Usually she was always somewhere nearby, knew everything that happened in the house, who went where, why and when they would return. She knew what would be for lunch and dinner, knew when the mats on the veranda would dry, knew who exactly spilled flour at the entrance and whose turn it was to take out the slops. And when she took to her bed, the entire complex household of the noble house seemed to list and crack.
First, Xiao Tai and Liling forgot to call for lunch. Nothing terrible, the girls got carried away with their studies, what nonsense. They ate later, found use for Minmin's old bronze pot, it was even fun. Then - somehow it turned out that the servants of the noble house washed all of Liling's clothing sets at once and she had to walk around in festive attire trimmed with pearls, which was actually only intended for holidays. Someone in the kitchen confused salt and sugar, as a result they had to prepare dinner completely anew. In two days already three poor souls were sent for re-education to Uncle Weidun, in short, chaos happened in the Kingdom of Denmark, but Prince Hamlet was nowhere to be found.
During lessons, Liling told her that Lady Mei had sent her personal physician, Master Wu, to Aunt Cho. However, she wasn't getting any better.
So the girls decided to visit Aunt Cho together, after all she was Lady Mei's friend, nothing shameful in that, and Xiao Tai was sick to death of how now every meal either had sand crunching on her teeth, or was oversalted, or had too many spices, and sometimes the food became completely bland.
So, having learned where exactly Aunt Mei's rooms were located - Xiao Tai resolutely set off to find out what was wrong. Of course, that clingy Liling immediately tagged along, regarding whom Xiao Tai had already understood that the girl was a closet masochist, needed authority nearby, adored physical pain if in moderation, but needed humiliation much more. And why do they keep her here, thinks Xiao Tai, here's who should really be married off to the heir of the Azure Phoenixes, if what she heard about him is even two percent true, then this Liling could get a heap of pleasure. Until she dies, of course. And how did she, the Head's daughter, get twisted in this direction? Most likely the presence of two opposite vectors in upbringing, on one hand, the servility of everyone who is lower in rank, whose social status is lower. She's still a princess after all, everyone tiptoes around her. On the other hand - a strong-willed father, symbol of courage, wisdom and strength. In her eyes he's almost a celestial being, since that same Lady Mei never punishes her daughter, places herself below her children. So the only stone her scythe found was Head Baoshu. And he really is like a celestial being in this house - all blessings come from him, all punishments and penalties - also from him. He has power over everything here. And, since Head Baoshu is restrained and controls himself - it's not surprising that an Electra complex was born in this Liling's head, no wonder she always tries to climb onto the Head's lap and arrange hugs, even though look what breasts she's grown. This is her subconscious passion for an authoritative male. Besides, if anyone in the whole house can lay a hand on her, it's precisely the Head, and he's restrained, but if you get under his hot hand... she probably did get under it. The Head probably spanked this fool, and she liked it. Why? Because she'd never been spanked before! And here everything's unexpected, you think you're the king of beasts here and grabbed god by the beard, and the next moment - bam - you're laid across knees and slapped on the bottom with a palm. Pain, confusion, feeling of helplessness, and also unexpected realization that right now you and papa are closer than ever, forbidden pleasure, endorphin release into the blood... and there you go. Master Baoshu doesn't understand this, so after punishment, after he lost control - he behaves pointedly distant, doesn't use physical force, only praises. And Liling behaves worse and worse, asking specifically for physical punishment and moral humiliation. Yeah, what complications in high society circles. With Minmin everything's simple - she wants to eat. Always. At first Xiao Tai worried about her, that she might burst, or get intestinal blockage, how can one person eat so much. But then she calmed down. Inside her servant it was like a nuclear reactor stood - her stomach processed everything quickly and without consequences for the organism. Maybe it's somehow connected to local qi, because a young girl can't eat almost a basin of stewed meat with vegetables, wash it all down with almost a liter of cold water and polish off ten pastries! And half an hour later want to eat again! Mental disorder from a hungry childhood, no doubt. Only in the normal world this girl would end up in a hospital from overeating, but here she didn't even gain much weight. Yeah.
"Lead us," orders Xiao Tai and Minmin leads. They walk through corridors in the inner chambers of the noble house, from time to time passing another servant bowing low.
"Tai Dajie?" says Liling from behind and Xiao Tai sighs. She even feels a bit sorry for this girl with her psychological distortion, but she doesn't understand what's wrong with her yet. Why she can't live peacefully, but needs to definitely get into trouble. Behave disgustingly until she's punished. If she were in servant status - such hockey would have stopped appealing to her long ago. What is a real whip on a bare back compared to papa's kicks in the butt and her, Xiao Tai's, cuffs and bamboo stick strikes? After the very first whip her brains would fall into place. Real torture and real corporal punishment isn't a BDSM session for you, there's no safe word here. However, the princess of the Won Mi family will hardly ever get a real whip... though in this world anything is possible. Here they can generally execute all relatives for one person's sins, up to the fifth generation. Let Head Baoshu get caught in a conspiracy against the Emperor - and please, not only will they drag him to the chopping block, but all the household members too. Justice here looks exactly like that.
"What do you want?" asks Xiao Tai.
"Tai Dajie, how do you manage to maintain such a level of qi all the time?" Liling asks the question and she even stumbles for a moment.
"What do you mean? What level?" she asks her adopted younger sister. "I don't even feel meridians, what's wrong with you, younger Li?"
"You have a very, very high level of concentrated qi," says Liling. "I thought you deliberately maintain it at such a level, for training. I can..." she covers her eyes and concentrates, moving her lips. Raises her right hand and demonstrates that her index and middle fingers, extended forward like a sword - glow slightly.
"Visual effect from qi concentration," she says. "But yours is invisible, but throughout your whole body and all the time. I can feel it."
"So you're a sensor? You feel qi in other people?" Xiao Tai raises an eyebrow. "Circulation through meridians and all that?"
"N-no, I just feel when a person is strong and when they're not," Liling shrinks. "In the whole house only you have such a volume of qi, you and papa."
"Seriously?" Here's another reason why this little Liling accepts me as the elder, thinks Xiao Tai, but where do I get so much qi from, I don't feel any meridians and circulations, what's wrong with me? And Uncle Weidun that time just scratched his head, said he'd never encountered such a thing, like there's qi but no meridians. And he explained how exactly to strengthen skin and internal organs with this very mystical energy in thirty-two steps. In the girl's view, more than half of these thirty-two steps were unnecessary, just ritual phrases and prayers. Of the remaining - a dozen actions aimed at collecting energy scattered in air, earth and water. And only four - actually for strengthening. Such a session of exposing street magic. And she learned to strengthen skin and internal organs anyway - you just drive internal heat into skin and fists and voila - you can crush bricks, even with such thin and fragile knuckles as hers. And in general, smaller area - more energy per unit area, more penetrating power. Where Uncle Weidun would hit and throw back, she would simply pierce a person through with her little fist... if he's without strengthening, of course. But the most important discovery Xiao Tai made was that if you direct this internal heat to an injured part of the body like this, then bruises, scratches and even fractures - heal instantly. Heresy, nonsense, but it works! Where did fractures come from? She got carried away and without strengthening skin and bones with tendons - smashed into a stone wall with all her might and under body acceleration. What sensations those were, sparks flew from her eyes, her breath was taken away. Getting scared, she immediately instinctively threw internal heat to the injured part of the body and... instant regeneration! Wow. She later asked Uncle Weidun, even adepts can't heal themselves like this, at least not until the fifth rank, what's beyond the fifth rank - generally legends of autumn and spring. They say those who rose above the Heavenly level can fly through the sky on their sword, or even without a sword, on anything at all. Adepts don't even speak minor spells, but simply wish, and it immediately comes true - acceleration, strengthening, enhancement are generally with them constantly, even in sleep. High-rank spellcasters summon spirits of elements and terrain, communicate as equals with gods and demons, can create a cinnabar pill of immortality just by snapping their fingers, turn lead and mercury into gold and cultivation materials, forge a Lotus Pearl, and the cognition of the boundaries of the knowable and unknowable generally shifts somewhere into infinity for them. For example. Wu Ling Wang, the Immortal Lonely Dragon in his cultivation reached such a level that he could bring down the firmament on enemies with one thought! Bam and everyone's pancakes, because the firmament here is such a solid transparent dome, it's like crushing ants with a microscope slide. What nonsense. Still, you need to divide local folklore and color by two and subtract a hundred, especially when it comes to rumors or legends, thinks this Xiao Tai and shakes her head. She's wrong. She doesn't feel any channels, but knows how to strengthen and reinforce herself with concentration alone. And also restore. You can't call this healing, it's more like accelerated regeneration, and accelerated to such a degree that it becomes creepy.
"That's why I immediately understood that you're my real sister! And papa just put things in order before Heaven, that's all," Liling declares, quite pleased with herself and her conclusions. Well, everything points to it, sister has such a powerful background of her qi, even a bit more than papa's. But she won't tell her about this, because it's impolite to acknowledge the advantage of younger over older. Although the older sister says that norms and morality are just crutches hindering growth and development, Liling herself still couldn't overcome this threshold. But she believes that the older sister knows what she's talking about, otherwise why would she have such powerful qi? It's precisely by practicing rejecting all frameworks and norms of ordinary people that she became so strong!
"Now, stop making up facts," Xiao Tai immediately puts her in her place. "You're a smart girl, but sometimes you start spouting such heresy that ears dry up."
"But Tai Dajie! Everything points to it! You yourself said you don't remember your mother, and my papa was quite attractive in his youth! Probably your mother and my papa met somewhere and then you appeared! And your mother was a noble girl from a high family, probably even included in the 'Register of One Hundred Families,' and here's an illegitimate child, exile, shame! Poor your mother! Poor you! It must be unbearable, being formerly noble - to end up on the street in poverty. And then you ended up in stocks, and papa recognized you! And..." here Liling lowers her gaze and shyly hides her hands in long and wide sleeves. Locals generally use these sleeves as both pocket and purse, they pull everything out of there - from trinkets to large scrolls with messages.
"And... that's why you couldn't hide your gaze," she finishes.
"Your imagination sometimes frightens me," Xiao Tai sighs. "Just don't tell your papa about this, okay? Otherwise anything could happen."
"I won't tell. Why tell, he knows everything himself."
"Fine then. Minmin, you don't listen to this nonsense either, okay? And don't you dare spread this among the servants," adds Xiao Tai. Just what she needed - gossip that she's the illegitimate daughter of Head Baoshu. She's already here on bird's rights, until the first trouble, so to speak the least valuable crew member, the weakest link. Who gets thrown overboard first? Of course some Xiao Tai, she's become too smart and brazen. And here's this too... Lady Mei will strangle me like a kitten at night and throw me in a well with a stone around my neck - she thinks, we don't need such hockey.
"I won't say anything," Minmin replies. "Only they've known about this for a long time already."
"What?!"
"Well, how else to explain it?" the servant shrugs. "Sorry, young Lady Xiao Tai, but you can't put bridles on every mouth."
"Yes, yes. And how could I think that gossip wouldn't spread in the servants' common rooms," she rolls her eyes. "It's against nature itself."
"In our first week we only talked about the young lady!" Minmin nods. "And what they didn't come up with! That the master decided to get himself a new concubine and such a young one! Also that you, young lady - are actually a boy and heir of the Azure Phoenix clan, and now you're hiding from assassins, but soon you'll be given back, supposedly concluding a marriage with them. And also that you're actually a fox shapeshifter who bewitched the Head and made him shelter you until your ninth tail grows. And also..."
"Please, have mercy on me, Minmin. When will we finally arrive?"
"We've already arrived. This door here." Minmin points to an unremarkable door, no different from others like it in the corridor. She waits for a permitting nod and knocks on it. Opens the door and steps aside. Generally entering like this, without waiting for permission into someone else's chambers - is impolite and god forbid entering a master's room like this. But now behind Minmin are two daughters of the Head, and the room belongs to a servant, albeit a high-ranking one, so she feels no doubt. This is how this mechanism of social evaluation of surroundings works in her subconscious, automatically.
Stepping into the room, Xiao Tai first looks around, getting used to the semi-darkness reigning in the room. Stale air, sourish smell of a sick body... dim lamp at the head of the bed. In front of the bed is a small table, on the table - some bowls, cups and something else. A young servant sits by the bed, she looks back at them and hurriedly jumps up and bows.
"Young Lady Xiao Tai! Young Lady Liling!" she says and Xiao Tai waves her hand, enough. She approaches the bed and looks at Aunt Cho lying in bed. For the first time she sees her like this - with sunken cheeks and shadows under her eyes. Aunt Cho breathes heavily, she has a compress on her forehead.
"Have you lost your minds?" Xiao Tai asks the young servant. "Why is it stuffy in the room, and a lamp is burning too? There's practically no oxygen here, even a healthy person would feel unwell here. Ventilate immediately, extinguish the lamp, better open the curtains. And what is this? Why is her food so fatty and sweet? How will she eat this? Remove everything, prepare light broth and unsweetened drink. And step away from the bed."
"As you say, young lady!" the servant gets out of the way, and she sits down next to the patient and places her hand on her forehead. She has one thought...