In the central courtyard of the inner palace, a young eunuch stood motionless before an ornamental pillar. He wore the standard uniform of low-ranking eunuchs, but carried it with uncommon elegance, as if it were a suit designed specifically for him. His face, with delicate but masculine features, showed absolute concentration.
His forest-green hair was pinned back with a bone hairpin carved with delicate motifs of poisonous flowers. The pin gleamed softly under the afternoon sun.
"He's been staring at that post for ten minutes now," whispered one concubine to another. "He's very handsome, but clearly insane."
"They say he's new," replied her companion. "He arrived before the others because he had to 'inspect the terrain,' according to him."
"How strange. Inspect what? The pillars?"
The young eunuch seemed oblivious to the murmurs. His eyes followed an invisible line from the base of the pillar to its top. He crouched slightly, running his fingers over an almost imperceptible crack at the base. He brought his fingers to his nose and smelled.
"Dust with an acidic smell. Termite excrement," he thought with a small smile.
He ran his finger over the crack again, this time with more pressure, and observed the interior. The wood fiber was gnawed, eaten away from within. He calculated mentally: the weight of the pillar, the erosion of the base, the natural angle of inclination, the tension of the decorative rope that held a ceremonial parasol three meters away, and what caught his attention most, a small cut so slight it was practically imperceptible, almost imagined.
He straightened up and looked toward the luxurious massage table located exactly four and a half meters from the pillar. The trajectory of the fall was perfect. Or rather, tragic.
"Wood sings before it dies," he murmured to himself. "You just have to listen to its hollow chorus."
A servant girl, braver than the others, approached him.
"Excuse me, sir," she said in a timid voice. "Can I help you with something? You've been standing here for a long time."
The eunuch, without taking his gaze from the pillar, responded:
"Tell me, who usually receives massages on that table?" He pointed toward the luxurious sandalwood structure.
The servant girl blinked, confused by the question.
"It's Concubine Lihua's personal table, sir. No one else can use it. It was a gift from the emperor himself. She has her massage scheduled in five minutes."
A smile formed on the eunuch's lips.
"Five minutes," he murmured. "Just the time this pillar has left."
He turned toward the servant girl.
"I need you to move everyone at least four meters away from this place. Quickly. Include the wet nurses, the concubines, the guards. Everyone."
"But, sir, I can't simply..."
"Concubine Lihua's life is in danger!" he exclaimed. "Do you want to be remembered as the servant who could have prevented a tragedy and didn't?"
The servant girl, impressed by his intensity and genuinely frightened, nodded and began to shout:
"Everyone back! Move away from the pillar! Orders from... from imperial inspection!"
While the small crowd retreated in confusion, murmuring among themselves, the eunuch approached the pillar with measured steps. He studied its surface for a few seconds, his fingers tracing invisible patterns over the decorative stone at the base.
Then, with an almost imperceptible movement, he touched a specific stone with the tip of his index finger. The pressure was minimal, barely a touch.
Nothing seemed to happen.
The concubines and servant girls began to murmur, some laughing quietly at the apparent failure of the strange eunuch.
"I knew he was crazy."
"How embarrassing. And he seemed so handsome."
But he simply stepped back three exact paces, crossed his arms, and began counting in a low voice:
"Ten... nine... eight..."
"What are you saying, crazy eunuch?!" shouted a concubine, giggling.
"Three... two... one..."
A subtle creak, barely audible, emanated from the pillar.
The world seemed to stop. A cherry blossom petal fell slowly in front of the pillar. The dust suspended in the air gleamed like gold under the sun. Absolute silence.
Then another creak, louder, like the groan of a dying giant.
And suddenly, as if an invisible hand had pushed it, the pillar tilted. The decorative rope tensed, creating the exact torque the eunuch had calculated. The pillar collapsed with a deafening crash, falling in a perfect, precise, inevitable trajectory.
CRASH
The impact was so violent that the sandalwood of the table splintered completely. The entire structure disintegrated under the weight of the stone and wood pillar. Fragments flew in all directions. The exact spot where the head of whoever received the massage would have been was completely crushed, reduced to splinters and dust.
A sepulchral silence followed the crash.
All eyes moved from the destroyed pillar to the mysterious eunuch, who now bowed, like an actor at the end of a performance.
"And this is how you prevent a tragedy before it occurs," he announced in a clear voice. "The pillar had been weakening from termites for years. Today fate was kind and allowed me to intercept its plan."
The servant girls and concubines burst into applause and exclamations of amazement. Some even approached to touch the sleeve of his tunic, as if it were a good luck charm.
"He saved Concubine Lihua!"
"He's a hero!"
"What an extraordinary man!"
But the celebration was short-lived.
"WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED HERE?!"
The voice cut through the air like a whip. A group of guards and higher-ranking eunuchs appeared, attracted by the crash. And behind them, with his face contorted by fury, came Concubine Lihua herself, surrounded by her entourage.
Lihua was a beautiful woman, about twenty-five years old, known as much for her beauty as for her volatile temperament. Her eyes immediately settled on the remains of her precious table.
"MY TABLE!" she shrieked, pointing at the rubble. "That was a personal gift from the emperor! Who is responsible for this... this atrocity?!"
All eyes turned to the young eunuch, who maintained his imperturbable smile.
"Allow me to explain, noble concubine. Your table gave its life so that you could keep yours."
"You speak to me like this when you've destroyed imperial property?!"
"Prefer broken tables to broken skulls, Concubine Lihua," said a cold, clear voice.
Everyone turned. Mao Mao had arrived, with Jinshi at her side. The apothecary observed the scene with her usual analytical expression, but her eyes moved quickly, evaluating the rubble, the fallen pillar, the trajectory.
"The apothecary is right," Jinshi intervened with authority. "If that pillar had fallen during your massage, Concubine Lihua, we wouldn't be discussing a table. We'd be preparing a funeral."
Lihua paled slightly, but her pride wouldn't allow her to yield so easily.
"And how do we know this... this eunuch didn't simply knock down the pillar himself? Where's the proof that there was really any danger?"
The young eunuch smiled.
"If you want proof, allow me to show you."
He approached the remains of the pillar and pointed to the eaten-away base.
"Observe the interior of the wood. Decades of termite damage. See how the fiber is completely gnawed. Smell the dust: it has that characteristic acidic smell of insect excrement. The structure has been compromised for years."
Mao Mao approached, crouching to examine the base of the pillar. Indeed, the damage was extensive. But something else caught her attention: microscopic residue on the stone the eunuch had touched. And when she looked at his hands, she noticed an almost imperceptible splinter under the nail of his index finger.
"You're right about the structural damage," said Mao Mao, straightening up. "But how did you know exactly when and how it would fall?"
The eunuch looked at her directly for the first time. Their eyes met briefly.
"Mathematics and intuition," he answered. "Facts are the skeleton," he responded. "Theater only dresses them so everyone can see them. But the skeleton is still there, solid and true."
Mao Mao narrowed her eyes and pointed to his hand.
"Then explain the splinter under your nail."
The eunuch looked at his own hand, surprised for a moment. Then he smiled with genuine admiration.
"How observant, freckles," he said simply, while removing it. "Very observant."
"And can you explain it?"
He laughed at her insistence. "It was the only support holding the pillar. It was a guess, but my intuition didn't fail."
Before Mao Mao could respond, shouts and hurried footsteps echoed from another courtyard.
"There he is! The eunuch who destroyed Concubine Lihua's table!"
"Stop him before he escapes!"
The eunuch looked at Mao Mao one last time, with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. There was something in his eyes... recognition? Gratitude?
"Thank you, freckles," he said with a quick bow. "For understanding that sometimes you have to break something to save something more valuable."
And with that, he ran off with surprising agility, his tunic flowing behind him as he disappeared among the gardens, pursued by furious guards and eunuchs.
Jinshi observed the scene with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
"I suppose I should intervene before they tear him apart," he murmured. "Although I must admit this is entertaining."
He turned toward Mao Mao, who continued looking in the direction where the eunuch had disappeared, with a thoughtful expression.
"The new eunuch... is a nuisance."