Chapter 12

Wei Tong walked out of the courtyard in a daze, the head matron’s words still ringing in his ears. “Wei Ning? Someone already took her out of here yesterday. This time the Laundry Bureau had three young palace maids chosen out. Wherever they’re assigned hardly matters; it’s all fortune.”

In the Laundry Bureau, beyond the palace maids sent in from outside, many were the families of disgraced officials, condemned to never take a single step out of the place for the rest of their lives. That the selection of palace maids would draw from here this time had left the head matron deeply puzzled. But she knew the unwritten rules well enough; she asked not a single question she shouldn’t, and let the girl be taken.

And Wei Ning, after all, was only a lowly palace maid. What was she worth the effort of pondering?

Wei Tong sat down abruptly on the path, his heart drowning in regret. Wei Ning’s timid voice from that day still echoed in his ears; that trusting look, remembered now, was a knife in the chest. Why hadn’t he come a day sooner! Why hadn’t he come sooner!

Liu! Cheng!!!!

Wenxi noticed that Wei Tong had changed, grown quieter still. Not that the old Wei Tong had been lively; taciturn had always been his nature. But when he spoke with them, there had always been a light in his eyes, a kind of… Wenxi didn’t know how to describe it, but he liked it. Ever since that day he went out, the whole man had dimmed. Wenxi asked several times and got no real answer.

Toward evening, Wenxi looked up at the sun, then at Wei Tong heading off for supper, and hurriedly caught his arm. “Wei Tong, Zhang Jiu and the others said they’d come by today. Let’s all gather properly.” At the words, a flicker moved through Wei Tong’s eyes, and he agreed.

“Hahahaha, getting together with you two is rare indeed. I brought plenty of good things.” Zhang Jiu was laughing the moment he entered the room. The bonds among them had always been good, and Zhang Jiu had never once put on airs before them. But today, no sooner had he opened his mouth than Wenxi rolled his eyes at him repeatedly, winking and gesturing meaningfully, and even Fugui poked Zhang Jiu in the back. Zhang Jiu stood there blankly, food box in one hand, jug of wine in the other, staring at Wenxi, who dearly wanted to smack the back of his head.

Wei Tong had long since noticed the byplay among them. Pulling his spirits together, he said with a smile, “What did you bring, Zhang Jiu? If it’s not good enough, we’ll toss you out the window later.” The rare bit of playfulness set Zhang Jiu laughing again, and he laid everything out on the table. “Since when do you talk like that? Come to think of it, you haven’t come to see us in ages.”

Wei Tong went up to help as Zhang Jiu laid out the things one by one. “You haven’t come over yourself, have you?”

“Heh, true, true.”

Meanwhile, behind him, Fugui walked over to Wenxi and, seeing the worry still in his eyes, gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and said in a low voice, “Since Wei Tong doesn’t want to talk, just keep an eye on him, that’s all.” From the very start he’d felt Wei Tong was a man with his own plans, and a man like that, if he truly ran into something, bearing it alone was only natural. Fugui didn’t believe he wouldn’t get through it.

The gathering broke up in the early evening.

Through the talk, Wei Tong learned that Zhang Jiu now enjoyed Liu Jinzhong’s favor even more than before, and his standing in Qingning Palace had improved considerably. Fugui was as ever unchanged, but he and Wenxi both seemed indifferent to such things, their expressions calm throughout.

Wei Tong knew Wenxi worried for him, and knew too that these past days his behavior had been visibly off. However silent he usually was, with something weighing on his heart, traces of it inevitably leaked out.

The day he discovered Wei Ning gone, he had gone straight to Liu Cheng, only to be thrown out by Liu Yu without so much as seeing the man’s face. “Oh, your sister? How would I know? Grandpa Liu is buried in affairs; where would he find time to listen to you? Serve obediently, and of course your sister will come to no harm.”

Liu Cheng’s meaning reached Wei Tong through Liu Yu’s words, and Wei Tong understood perfectly.

He had once imagined that after the struggle between Kangxi and Oboi ended, he would find a chance to take Wei Ning out of the palace. To be trapped in this tiny Forbidden City for life was something Wei Tong could not bear to imagine. But now, surviving or dying hardly mattered anymore. Unless he saw Oboi brought down, he would never rest!

For days Wei Tong was sunk low, and mercifully Kangxi did not come; only the study companions practiced, and the attendants took it easy. But that afternoon, just as Wei Tong was about to rotate off his shift, Kangxi arrived.

Kangxi wore his court robes, his clear, handsome face carrying no expression at all. His black eyes swept over the kneeling attendants and eunuchs, rested a moment on one direction, then he uttered a flat “rise” and walked into the training ground.

Wei Tong gathered himself and followed obediently. Today Liang Jiugong gave him no instructions, and Kangxi seemed in no mood for tea; after sitting down he simply watched the study companions train. The training instructor watched them finish a round, then came and bent to Kangxi’s side murmuring something, and Kangxi’s expression stirred, the chill about him finally thawing a good deal.

Looked like good news.

Though Kangxi’s face had been unreadable when he entered, it was certainly no good mood.

The seventh year of Kangxi’s reign was an exquisitely delicate time. Kangxi had ruled in his own name for less than a year, his authority no match for Oboi’s. Oboi ran wild, planting his own men throughout the Six Ministries and the Eight Banners, colluding with local officials across the land, taking bribes and tribute beyond counting. Kangxi’s repeated warnings he treated as so much wind, and he had never once held the Emperor in awe.

This year was precisely the hardest year of Kangxi’s life. Sonin was already dead; no one stood in front of him anymore, and every burden had to be borne by him alone, this green, untested Emperor. Fortunately, behind him stood a Xiaozhuang. This woman had, almost from the very start, held Kangxi up as he forced open a new situation, laying the foundation for him to become master of this empire.

But for that very reason he was fettered at every turn.

Wei Tong kept his head lowered, doing his level best to imitate the stillness of a pillar. Because the Emperor was quiet, the entire training ground held no sound but the crack of flesh against flesh and the training instructor’s rebukes.

Liang Jiugong’s station was naturally farther forward than Wei Tong’s. Though he too stood with eyes lowered and thoughts stilled, the corners of his gaze never left Kangxi, lest some command come and he be slow to answer. But watching long enough, Liang Jiugong noticed that Kangxi’s gaze was not resting on the study companions at all, but drifting lightly toward… Wei Tong?

Though His Majesty quickly withdrew his eyes and returned to watching the mat, a faint ripple stirred in Liang Jiugong’s heart. He remembered that last time, too, the Emperor had shown an unusual interest in this junior attendant. Could there truly be something special about this Wei Tong?

When the time came, Wei Tong respectfully saw Kangxi’s party off. Kangxi’s gaze swept over him once more, and looking at his placid, unruffled face, the Emperor seemed to remember something and suddenly laughed. The laugh made Liang Jiugong shiver inwardly. Your Majesty, oh Your Majesty, you were in a towering rage just before you came.

That night, asleep, Wei Tong appeared in the dreamscape once more. Little Ke scampered a few laps around him, then tucked itself back into Wei Tong’s consciousness to rest. Wei Tong glanced at the quiet other side and knew Xuan hadn’t fallen asleep yet. Standing, he took a book from the shelf. Though he’d read here before, he had never matched Xuan’s diligence; thinking of it now, he had wasted many a day.

He was barely a third of the way through the book in his hands when he heard movement from across. “Xuan, why are you sleeping so late tonight?” Once one could enter, it was basically upon falling asleep. Tonight Xuan must have drifted off in the dead of night.

“Some things came up. A quarrel of sorts.” Only after a while did Xuan’s voice come through. Wei Tong marked his page and closed the book. “Trouble on your side?” Considering Xuan’s situation, Wei Tong asked softly.

“Nothing but a slightly thorny matter.” Xuan’s tone was flat; it really seemed to be nothing? Wei Tong breathed easier. His own plate was piled high with troubles, but for a friend one could only wish things smoother.

“And you? You rarely speak of your own affairs.” Xuan’s counterquestion left Wei Tong momentarily at a loss. True enough; even in the dreamscape, he seldom spoke of himself.

“My sister is gone.” Once the first words were out, Wei Tong found that speaking was not so hard after all.

“I always believed I could protect her. But the truth is, it was precisely my existence that made her life so hard. And now I’ve lost her. I don’t even know if I’ll ever see her again.”

Wei Tong’s voice was unhurried as he spoke, no heart-rending grief, no screaming despair, and yet Xuan felt that sorrow of helplessness, of being swept along by forces beyond one’s control.

He had known that feeling himself.

“Hard as life was, I had planned, once things settled, to find some way to take her away from where we are. But now, unless I see the end, I won’t rest! Unless I watch them die, one by one, I won’t rest! Unless I find her, I won’t rest!” Wei Tong’s hand covered his eyes, as if only so could he hold down the edges of a breaking composure.

He had thought it all far too simple.

Eunuchs and palace maids were nothing more than ants, with no power over their own fates whatsoever.

“You mean to leave the place where you are now?” Xuan’s voice sounded strange, as if startled into it, but Wei Tong’s own heart was in too much turmoil to notice.

“If I live through this, of course I’ll leave.” Wei Tong opened his eyes and looked at the folding screen, as if gazing at Xuan seated beyond it. “You may laugh at me for a fool, but this vast and splendid land, I would still like to see it with my own eyes.”