p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"GU XIANG's MODEST CONTRIBUTION TO THE RISE OF THE NEW CHIEF OF GHOST VALLEY/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Xiang-Xiang?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang was woken by a gentle shaking. Blinking, she sat up. The bed was unfamiliarly big until she remembered that Wen Kexing, now known as Lunatic Wen, had generously offered her his own room when he'd taken over the Leader's quarters. She had slept in a little nest beneath the bed before. "Aunt Luo?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I need you to come with me," the older woman said. She was holding a lantern, and the dimmed light cast strange shadows on her face, making her bloodred lips almost look black./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What's wrong?" Gu Xiang asked as she climbed out of bed, stamped into her boots and hastily tied her outer robes. Outside, she heard the faint sound of boisterous laughter and shouting. "Have they started fighting again?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Hush. No. Come along now." She slipped out of the room and into the hallway, walking quickly without actually hurrying. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What time is it? Is my Zhǔrén alright?" Gu Xiang asked, jogging after her. His fight with the chief…the emformer/em chief had not come without injury, although he had taken great pains to keep his white robes clean./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Tragicomic Ghost made a sound that might have been a sniff and also might have been a huff of laughter. She did not answer, so Gu Xiang simply followed her until they came to the chief's quarters. To her surprise, Aunt Luo did not knock on the door but simply opened it, gesturing for Gu Xiang to enter as well. She closed the door behind her. The room was lavishly ornamented, as befitted the Chief of the Ghost Valley. Much of it was not at all Wen Kexing's style and some of it he had already moved to a corner to be discarded, but it wasn't as if he'd had a lot of time to redecorate. The bed was a large, four posted monstrosity with silk sheets and extraordinarily beautifully embroidered quilts, and on top of those quilts, still fully dressed, Lunatic Wen, the new Chief of Ghost Valley, lay motionless with the pillow clutched over his eyes and covering most of his face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The room reeked of alcohol./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang looked up at Aunt Luo questioningly. "Is he hurt?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aunt Luo's lip curled, but there was a softness in her eyes. "No. Not badly, in any case. He's just very, very drunk and exhausted." She gestured to the bed. "Stay with him. I have some things to get." She pointed. "There's a bucket, in case you need it. You might want to boil some water. I'll be back soon. Bar the door behind me; I'll knock when I get back."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang nodded and bowed. "Yes."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Good girl." She turned on her heel and left. Gu Xiang dropped the bar into the hinges on the door and made her way back to the bed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing muttered something in his sleep, pushed the pillow away. Xian, sitting on the edge of the bed, didn't think he looked much like a chief. Or insane, for that matter. At the moment, he looked very young and not very healthy. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang yawned. The celebrations for the new chief had been going on for a full two days and three nights, and with the stronghold filled with drunk ghosts, she hadn't been getting much rest. Aunt Luo and her women offered some protection, but for a young girl it was best to stay out of sight and hide until a semblance of normalcy returned. The boy on the bed had told her as much when he found her: 'A-Xiang, I succeeded' (as if he needed to tell her, since he was still alive and the former chief lay in the middle of the courtyard, resembling nothing as much as a skinned hog) 'Get your things, find something to eat and a flask of water and hide in my room. It's yours now. Don't enter the main hall.' And, with a strange expression that was both cold and soft, 'Stay away from the gate, too. There are things not suitable for your eyes there.' /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Later on, she'd found out the things that were not suitable were the severed heads of seven of the top ten ghosts, whose execution Wen Kexing had ordered (or carried out himself, she didn't know) only moments after being recognized Chief of Ghost Valley. Of course she'd gone out to see what he'd been talking about. The heads, already eyeless by the time she snuck outside, had not frightened her much. She appreciated her master trying to protect her innocence, but she had been living in Ghost Valley for more than a year now and dead bodies no longer fazed her quite as much as they had when she had lived in Jiangnan. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing, who might very well have become one of those dead bodies if he hadn't been the greatest pugilist in the whole world, swallowed audibly, twisted and abruptly sat up, clasping a hand to his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang knew how drunk men acted when they couldn't handle their liquor. She suspected barely grown men, even her beautiful master, were pretty much the same, and darted away to grab the bucket auntie had pointed out to her. She shoved it next to the bed beneath Wen Kexing's head and swiftly gathered his hair as he pitched forward and proceeded to throw up what looked like the contents of about twelve flagons of wine./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"So this is why Aunt Luo needed me, /span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"she thought, crinkling her nose and looking away when her master vomited again. emNot to protect him, but to clean up after him./em She couldn't even be mad about it; Luo Fumeng, the Tragicomic Ghost held some power among the ghosts with her Department of the Unfaithful and she was kind to girls and children, but she couldn't boil water for her own tea if her life depended on it. As a high born lady, she knew the etiquette of her clan and the martial arts its women practiced, but for the rest, she was actually pretty useless. Not that Gu Xiang would ever, if she valued her life, say that aloud. Besides, she worshipped the ground Wen Kexing walked on. He had saved her life and made it so much better, even here in this terrible place. For the past twenty months he had been her mother, her father, her brother and her master, and if she had to lie down her life for him she would do so happily, let alone take care of his drunken ass. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"When Wen Kexing flopped onto his back, panting and miserable, she nudged the vile bucket away with her toe and whipped her handkerchief out of her sleeve to dab at his mouth. He caught her hand./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xian? What are you doing here?" he slurred, wiping his lips. His eyes went wide and glassy, the pupils so dilated it was as if he had two water-filled holes in his head. "Wait, where's here? Why am I here?" He jerked upright again. "I have to go back." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Back where?" asked Gu Xiang. She observed her master's arm snake around his stomach and picked up the bucket to empty it in the privy behind the screen on the other side of the room. Such luxury! A private toilet. And a bath, too. Wen Kexing would love that; he had snuck out of Ghost valley to the nearest town several times simply to have a bath in a guest house as he thought the communal bath house in Ghost valley left much to be desired—mainly privacy./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""The feast," Wen Kexing said. He tried to pull himself up on the bedpost, but only managed to get to an awkward crouch before dropping back, one hand on his stomach, the other flying to his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang threw the empty bucket through the room and even dead drunk he plucked it out of the air, plunked it down between his knees and puked into it again. She hurried back to his side to keep his hair from falling into the bucket. As she pulled it back, intending to braid it and keep it out of the way better, she noticed that close to the scalp it was soaked through with sweat. His robes as well were damp all the way to the upper layer, and when she touched the back of his neck with her fingers, his skin was slick and hot like a boiled frog's./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén," she began, alarmed, but then there was a soft knock on the door and both she and Wen Kexing froze, she in mid-braid and he in mid-heave, until Gu Xiang realized it must be Aunt Luo. She quickly pulled the leather tongue from one of her own narrow braids and used it to fasten Wen Kexing's hair, jumped off the bed and opened the door. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The woman entered, sniffed and grimaced. "I see you're awake," she said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing only nodded. Compared to the sophisticated woman with her flawless red lips and impeccable white hair, he looked like a vagabond in rich clothing. The bucket and its questionable contents were set aside and he made an effort to draw himself up to a semblance of authority, but everything about him was drooping and dishevelled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang casually strolled away from the door, scooping up the bucket on her way and carrying it to the privy. There wasn't much in it, this time, and a quick rinse with water cleaned it well enough./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes, boil some water for tea," Aunt Luo said, intentionally mistaking her actions and thereby salvaging Wen Kexing's pride. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't have time for tea." The Chief of Ghost Valley pushed himself to his feet and stood swaying and pasty white, clutching the bed post for support. "I have to get back to the feast. How will they respect me if I…if I…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Turn out to be a seventeen year old with no experience drinking, and keel over in a stupor?" Tragicomic Ghost finished for him. "Peh! I've just been to have a look, and let me tell you, there are maybe seven ghosts still awake, and that is pushing the definition 'awake' to its limits. The rest are all passed out or have retreated back to their rooms. They haven't even noticed you've left."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""How did I get here?" Wen Kexing asked. At the woman's words, he slowly let his hand slide down the bed post until he was seated again. He leaned his head against his arm, staring up at her from below heavy eyelids./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I found you." She did not elaborate on where or in what state. "I failed you once, I wasn't going to leave you to fend for yourself when you're barely able to see straight. So I brought you here. Like I said, nobody cares—and even if they did, you scared them enough to keep a safe distance for now."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang perked up her ears. When did Tragicomic Ghost fail her master? But Aunt Luo's self-recriminations tended to be a short-lived as her bouts of sympathy for men, and the guilt left her voice as she snapped, "How do you expect to survive if you don't use moderation, emChief/em?" The bow she made, arms bent in front of her, was close to insulting. "The fact that your schemes have paid off and your martial skills are a match only to your ruthlessness does not change what you are, and that is eminexperienced/em. What were you thinking? How much did you eat, these last few days? Anything? Or did you just answer every single toast they made at you? How much did you drink? How much spiritual energy did you spend during the war and failed to replenish out of fear to appear weak?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As she mentioned emqi/em, Gu Xiang felt another shiver of worry down her back. When he'd accompanied her back to his room, now her room, shortly after he had won the civil war he himself had instigated, he had already been so exhausted. Manic, near vibrating with triumph, but physically and mentally spent. While she had been stuffing the food she'd stolen from the kitchens beneath the bed in her old hiding place, he had been stuffing kerchiefs beneath his clothes so the blood of his wounds wouldn't stain his outer robes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén?" she asked in a small voice, and inched, crablike, away from the almost boiling water towards the bed. "Are you alright?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing attempted his old haughty smile, but he was looking so awfully vulnerable that it did the opposite of reassuring her. Panicked, she turned to Tragicomic Ghost. "He's soaked through with sweat, and his skin feels so hot, I think he's running a fever. He…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Don't overreact," Aunt Luo said curtly. "He'll be fine. Here." She reached inside her belt and held out a small package wrapped in paper. "Use this for tea, Xiang-Xiang. It will replenish his emqi/em, cleanse his blood and soothe his stomach. If I'm to believe." She smiled wryly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang accepted the herbs, bowed and hastened to make the medicinal tea. From the corner of her eye, she saw Tragicomic Ghost turn towards her master, hesitate, then approach him and lay a slender hand on his forehead. His eyes widened in surprise, then closed as he leaned into her touch. Luo Fumeng sighed and stroked a loose strand of hair out of his face. Her voice was so soft Gu Xiang had to strain her hearing to hear her over the bubbling of the water./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm sorry, A-Yan. There is preciously little I can do to help Wen Kexing. It's become harder now that you've turned into a man. I know how to rule and I know how to serve, but caring…is beyond me. You have my loyalty and that of my girls, but that is all I can offer."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She couldn't hear Wen Kexing's reply, but suspected it was something along the lines of 'I knew that, woman, or you'd have cooked for me more often, like, ever,' but possibly worded more politely. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Thank you," he said, a little more loudly. "You've already helped me today by not stabbing me in the back and throwing me down the mountain."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It wouldn't have been difficult, no," Luo Fumeng said with a sharp little smile. She patted his face. "Be more careful in the future." Absentmindedly she wiped her hand on her robe. "And with this final admonishment, and I do mean final, for how would I presume to advise the Chief of Ghost valley, I'm leaving. A-Xian, stay with him. Let him drink as much of the tea as he can stand, and feed him if he wakes up later. Should his fever persist, come find me." She pursed her lips. "Come find me tomorrow in any case."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xian belongs with me," Wen Kexing said, and the casual possessiveness in his tone made Gu Xiang's cheeks prickle with joy. "I'll give her leave to visit you if I can spare her company."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aunt Luo bowed. "Of course, Chief."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You may leave first," Wen Kexing dismissed her formally. When she had left the room he slumped against the post and muttered, "A-Xian, where's that bucket? I may need it again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She quietly placed it next to his feet. Then she poured him a cup of herbal tea. It smelled both bitter and fragrant, and after he'd taken a sip, Wen Kexing pressed his lips together to a thin line./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén, is it good?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No." He shivered and tossed back the entire cup. Drops of sweat were popping up on his nose and forehead. "Pour me another one. Have some yourself, if you're thirsty. I doubt it'll do you harm."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I wouldn't dare drink Zhǔrén's special tea," Gu Xiang said, and poured him a new cup. He smiled wanly, braving the bitter infusion in small sips, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the headboard in between swallows. She found a bowl decorated with plum blossoms and a plain white cotton towel, ladled some water into the bowl and put it down next to the bed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You dare disobey your zhǔrén's word," Wen Kexing admonished, but by now the sweat was pouring off of him, driven out of his pores by the hot brew, and he was too sick and exhausted to be either menacing or mocking. Long shivers passed through his body, making his teeth chatter. He wiped his face, first with his palm, then with his sleeve, and made another face as he regarded the wet fabric. "This is disgusting. Find me some sleep wear." Feebly, he plucked at the ties that kept his outer robes closed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang, unwilling to leave him to return to his old room and collect his sleeping clothes, opened the closet in the corner of the room and peeked inside. It smelled of pressed flowers, and showed her a number of rich empao/em and emshi/em—most of which she remembered the former Chief wearing—but also undergarments and neatly folded sleeping clothes. emHe was the most powerful man I knew, /emshe thought, pulling out white zhongyi and bringing them to the bed. emBut it turns out he had the same sachets to scent his clothes as me./em By the time she'd reached the bed, Wen Kexing had struggled out of his belt and the first two layers of clothing but was now halted by bouts of intense shivers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I emsmell/em," he spat, as Gu Xiang reached out to undo the ties that kept the next robe fastened, and for a moment she thought he was going to cry. He did smell, of sweat and blood and fear. The white outer robe, still relatively clean and dry, still held a touch of camellia and sage, but the further she undressed him, the more he reeked. The shirt and middle robes were damp with sweat and stained with blood, and once they were loose, Wen Kexing flung them away from him in a fit of petulant rage. Gu Xiang let them lie were they landed and instead went to find another bowl, this one to fill with warm leftover tea water and fragrant crushed dried flowers she found in a pot in the corner. She hoped he wouldn't ask her to draw a bath right now, if only because there was no way she'd be able to get him out if he fell asleep in it, but apparently Wen Kexing was too far gone for baths at the moment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He sniffed and surreptitiously wiped his eyes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Pretending not to notice her master crying tears of pure alcohol and physical misery, she began to wash the sweat and dried blood off his torso. He'd been hit three times: a nick, almost closed, right over his heart; a slightly deeper and longer cut on his right shoulder blade that wept a bit of clear pink fluid after she'd cleaned it; and the one she left for last: a still bleeding wound just above the jut of his left hipbone. That wound was covered by a folded handkerchief that was now glued to the wound with congealed blood. Wen Kexing growled low in his throat when she tugged at it, both his body and his lip curling up, like an animal retreating from a punishing hand./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang pulled back, horrified she'd hurt him, and hastily bowed. "I'm sorry, Zhǔrén! Please forgive your stupid servant!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"At another moment he would have grabbed her ear to twist it, but that, as well, seemed to cost him too much energy. "Stop bowing, xiao meimei," he sighed. "Just soak it through. Give it here." He pressed the wet cloth against the kerchief to wet it through and through, waited a few moments, then gritted his teeth and slowly peeled it away. His already pale face lost all remaining colour and he slumped against the headboard in a half faint. Blood welled up from the cut and lazily inched down his belly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang fluttered about in a panic for a few seconds, but then Wen Kexing gagged, and priorities assorted themselves. She grabbed the bucket and thrust it into his arms, flew to the closet once more to grab a few more pieces of folded cloth to staunch the flow, and waited until he came up for air. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You're so badly injured," she said accusingly, pressing one cloth on top of the other and noticing anxiously that the red stain kept appearing. "Why didn't you come to me sooner? I could have helped you. Instead, you sat up all night and day drinking with those horrible men!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I used my vital energy to heal myself," Wen Kexing entrusted to the bucket. He'd retched into it emptily once, and was now using it as a pillow. The edge was digging into his chin. "I didn't think it was…this bad." He shivered. "It isn't, really. But I'm so cold, A-Xiang. And I'm so tired."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"That explained this uncharacteristic weakness, then, Gu Xiang thought. Wen Kexing was well known for his uncommonly strong emqi/em, which protected him from most diseases the other ghosts suffered from, enabled him to heal others by transferring his own vitality into them, as he'd done with her when he found her, to use pretty much any object he chose with lethal force and to defy gravity itself. Healing oneself was more difficult than transferring energy, as it had to be directed specifically, and instructions how to do so could only be given by those from the Healer valley. emQi/em could be depleted. It would be, after the battle, and then by him staying up making a show of strength while trying to heal himself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang fussed with the bandage until it was more or less secure, which was made more difficult by her master's incessant shaking. He blindly thrust his arms into the sleeves of the former Chief's zhongyi but was unhelpful otherwise as she wrapped the garment around him. Wen Kexing wasn't much shorter than his predecessor, but he had the lanky build of a teenager, and the shirt hung around him like a tent. Gu Xiang had to tie a sash around his waist to keep it from falling open. But finally he was dressed again, and by then, hardly cognizant, so she refrained from trying to get him into the clean trousers, even though the pair he was wearing at the moment were stained red brown at the waist./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Would you like some more tea?" she asked, and he muttered a yes, but when she returned with a fresh cup, his eyes had closed and his breathing was deep and slow. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang took a big gulp of tea -emyuck/em-and gently pushed at his shoulders until he was reclining fully. She removed his boots, covered him up with a quilt and placed the bucket on the floor, right below his head./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Sleep well, Zhǔrén," she whispered, and stretched out at his feet. Just like old times, when she'd been small./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"*/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang was pulled out of her sleep when the bed's other occupant bolted upright with a half-uttered challenge on his lips, fell back with a moan of pain and proceeded to hold a monologue that was part one-sided conversation, part recited poetry, and part delirious raving. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""'Go then!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanYou'll ask of the world no more,'" was what woke her up, and she blinked sleepily awake, listening to the disjointed sentences spilling from her master's lips./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""…But you know," she heard him mutter, "it's done, it's done, he is no more and you can rest." His fingers combed the air in front of him. "I'll find your remains. I'll erect a shrine. I'll make him into a pair of boots. You'd think…bleed more." He slept fitfully for a few seconds, then reached out again. "No, stay! Please, stay! I promise…" his voice trailed off into incomprehensible mumbling, and he seemed to fall asleep again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang slid from the bed and gingerly studied his face. She'd learned from experience not to touch Wen Kexing when he was dreaming as he had the tendency to lash out in defence. His eyes were moving behind his closed eyelids but the rest of his body was still. Even from a distance, she could feel the heat radiate off his skin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aiya, my zhǔrén, you're such an idiot! Why'd you go and get yourself in such a state? I'm no good at taking care of you, that's your task!/span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" Never taking her eyes from his face, she felt for the decorated bowl with the cloth on it, dipped it into the water and wrung it, used it to cool his brow. Wen Kexing drew in a shuddering breath and whispered, "Mother?" in a very high, very small, painfully emfamiliar/em voice, and Gu Xiang dunked the cloth into the water without wringing it out, to wipe and drip on his face and hopefully wake him up fully./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing gasped, looked around in confusion and finally noticed her squatting beside the bed, brandishing the wet fabric like a parrying sword. "A-Xiang?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You were having a nightmare, Zhǔrén." She fussed over him with the cloth, eyes demurely cast down. Wen Kexing wasn't buying any of it, but he let her dab at his temples until he remarked that her efforts seemed to leave him wetter instead of dryer, and she flopped the cloth back into the bowl with a sheepish grin. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What time is it?" her master asked, pushing himself up painfully to squint at the candles burning here and there in the room. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A burned out incense from sunrise, I think," Gu Xiang said, hiding a yawn. "Maybe two."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Then why did you wake me up, stinky girl?" He grumbled. "Now I have to take a piss, and if I fall head-first into the privy emyou/em can tell 3000 ghosts how I died." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm sorry, Zhǔrén." She lent him her shoulder to get out of bed, but when she moved along to be his crutch he told her to go back to bed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm not an invalid." He still weaved like a drunk, but when he returned and poured himself some more of Tragicomic Ghost's tea, his hands were steady enough. "Aah, this doesn't get any better cold." He still drank another cup before getting back into bed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What's it now?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Why the white clothes? Why wear white? Why not red?" Wen Kexing looked much, much better in red than in white./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""To show them I did not bleed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""But you did," Gu Xiang argued. "That's a pretty deep wound."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You should see the other man. It'll heal," Wen Kexing muttered, and when she took a breath to ask him how he was feeling, he said, "A-Xiang, I'm tired. Shut up. I need my sleep. And so do you." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He was right, and so Gu Xiang shut up and curled up to go back to sleep while Wen Kexing put his head on the pillow and folded his hands over his chest. The next time she woke up, it was at least one shi later and although her mind felt slow and sluggish after the broken night, she felt awake enough not to want to go back to sleep again. Besides, she was starving./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing was still asleep but stirred when she crawled from the bed. There was a chimeless water clock next to the desk near the window. The sky was bright, and the clock showed that it the morning was already halfway done. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Time?" Wen Kexing inquired hoarsely from the bed. She relayed the information to him, and he sat up with a groan of displeasure. "I need a bath."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Of course he did, Gu Xiang thought. "I'm hungry," she protested, even as she walked to the bath. Fortunately, filling it wasn't going to be as much trouble as she'd expected it to be: water could be warmed on the four braziers around it, and a reservoir outside took care of the cold water. She lit the braziers, making sure all the copper kettles on top were filled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing rubbed his face. He jumped a little when Gu Xiang rested her fingers on his forehead, but didn't pull away, only scoffed when she remarked he was still warm. "Enough already," he said finally, took her hand and lifted it off his head. "I'm feeling much better. Aunt Luo's tea really did work. You should go and see her—after you've run some errands for me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Can I find something to eat first?" she whined. "I'm starving."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He clacked his tongue against his teeth. "A-Xiang, you forget you're talking to the Chief of the Ghost valley now. Don't emfind/em anything to eat, go to the kitchen and demand it. At least ten dishes."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang brightened. "Really? What would you like to eat?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Me? I don't care. Just order what you want. No, order beef and mushrooms. And chicken and leek dumplings. And fried eggs."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Rice cakes? Candy-coated haws? Porridge with honey, berries and almonds?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He grinned, and for a moment everything felt just like normal. "Everything you want." The grin dwindled to a smile. "Once you've ordered breakfast, and let them bring it here, not to the great hall, I need you to go and get my robes. Middle and upper. The red one, I think." He sighed, then smiled again. "I'll have to buy new ones. More costlier ones. I'm not wearing a dead man's clothes." He rubbed his forehead again, eyes falling closed, but looked up at her through his lashes only a few counts later. "Why are you still here?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Leaving, Zhǔrén!" She practiced another bow and skipped off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aunt Luo had been right: most of the ghosts must still be asleep in the great hall or in their own quarters. The stronghold was strangely deserted apart from the regular masked ghosts standing guard. Some of them waved at her and one of them, who had carved a horse from wood for her when she'd just arrived, congratulated her on her promotion from nothing to the Chief's confidant. She stuck out her tongue at him, but she couldn't help a delighted expression from forming at the thought. Chief of Ghost Valley's confidant. It did have a nice ring to it. Maid was more like it, but hey, it was better than adopted daughter of the Chief's chosen fighter./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The closer she got to the kitchens, the more people she saw. While the ghosts slept, the cooks were already preparing to serve 3000 hungover idiots breakfast. Cheng Ping, the master chef, grew bloodred in the face when he saw her and opened his mouth to scream at her to scram, but she cut him off by loudly demanding breakfast for the Chief, and once she'd placed the order, the entire kitchen staff tookspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spana precious two seconds to bow to her as she left./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Now this was the life! By the time she returned to the Chief's quarters with a neatly folded pack of clothing in her arms, she was singing aloud./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing, who had fallen asleep again, blearily opened his eyes when she barged in. "What's that awful sound?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Just me singing, Zhǔrén," Gu Xiang said, not taking offence. "It's a beautiful morning. Let me see if your bath's ready." She kept humming as the steaming water streamed into the tub. A few handfuls of salts and flowers created a fragrant bath. "All set!" She laid out the clothes on the bed while Wen Kexing undressed, waited until he was immersed in the water to his chest and drifted back to the screen that separated the bathroom from the rest of the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén? How's your wound?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's fine," Wen Kexing said sleepily. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She peeked behind the screen. He lay with his head against the edge of the tub, as deep in the water as was physically possible, and his knees stuck up out of the water like underwater growth in a swamp. The braid she had made of his hair trailed all the way to the ground./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You can't fall asleep, Zhǔrén," she admonished. "I'll never get you out if you do."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Better reason: I have to make a speech. Talk to them. Make sure they understand I'm not to be trifled with." He sighed, trailed dripping fingers over his face. "Help me wash my hair, A-Xiang."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It was strange, Gu Xiang thought. When she'd just arrived here, it had been Wen Kexing who washed emher/em hair in the bath, and brushed it afterwards, and helped her braid it. When she had recovered enough to want to play, they had bathed in the river when it was hot, chasing one another in soaked zhongyi. He had been a child then. Now…It had only been two years. Less. How had he managed to suddenly grow up so fast? How had she missed him becoming not just a man but the most powerful man in Ghost valley?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You're quiet," Wen Kexing said accusingly, when he was seated, clean and dressed, in front of the vanity. He caught her eye in the mirror, wincing as she tugged the comb a little harder through his half dry hair than she had before. "Ow! You little demon! I don't trust you when you're quiet. What's going on inside that empty head of yours?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang doubted her master was as nostalgic for the old days as she was./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Nothing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Well, that's as it should be, then." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She shrugged. Her lack of upbringing was a comfortable subject for the both of them. She knew she was neither smart nor sophisticated; calligraphy bored her and she thought poems were a waste of words, but she also knew that Wen Kexing valued her for other things, like her budding martial arts skills, her wit, and her impunity, even though he pretended to be continuously scandalized by her. At the moment he should admire her skills creating a perfectly balanced bun, she thought, as she wrapped his hair into a perfect twist./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xiang, you really needn't be afraid," he spoke up again, misinterpreting her silence. "You know that, right? I will protect you. Sure, I've gained a few enemies, but they won't dare lift a finger at you." He hesitated. "But if… if you'd rather join the Department of the Unfaithful, I can arrange that, too."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'd rather stay with you," Gu Xiang said quickly. She stuck the white jade hairpin Wen Kexing favoured through the bun, hoping it wouldn't slide out. Allowed herself a grin of satisfaction. Not a strand out of place. Perfect./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""This won't do," Wen Kexing sighed. "It just won't."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang looked up from her work, ready to defend the ji she'd painstakingly made with her life, and realised he wasn't talking about his hair. It looked fine; neat, really, pulled away from his face apart from two elegant whisps that tickled his temples and fell down his back in a straight, dark brown fall./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I look like I'm dead," Wen Kexing complained, and unfortunately, she had to agree with him. The fever had left him pallid, exhaustion still showed in the circles beneath his eyes and his lips had lost the redness that came with drinking alcohol and were now colourless. If he'd put his white robe back on, they could just lay him out and hold a funeral for a beautiful corpse./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing pinched his cheeks, which caused them to redden momentarily, but it didn't really improve matters. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""The old chief used face paint…" Gu Xiang said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing vehemently shook his head. "No." Then he pursed his lips, staring at the little jars holding said paint, and Mm-d. He picked up a red kohl stick and tapped it against his finger. It left a thin, bright red smear. "Why not, I guess."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He brought it to his face and drew a thin line, first beneath his right eye, then below his left, just touching his lower eyelashes. Then a dot at the outer corner of each eye. He added another line with orange, and smeared it together until it was like an echo of a courtesan's makeup. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"And somehow, Gu Xiang thought, it worked. The pallor and the red eyeliner, reflecting the bloodred robes on his body. He looked fucking amazing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing caught her eye in the mirror and smirked. Amazing and terrifying, as if he'd suddenly turned into someone else entirely. And then he turned into someone else yet again, as a knock at the door proclaimed the arrival of breakfast and a bright grin made him look his age again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Finally! I'm starving." He got up, one hand briefly touching his wounded side, only to brush imaginary lint from his robes. "Let them in, A-Xiang."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang flung open the door and welcomed ten dishes of food. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The end/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"So…I wrote another part in this series called An Outing in the Jianghu, which is also about Pre-series WKX and A-Xiang, and published it on AO3. It's almost finished. I'd like to post it here as well but I noticed that now no longer supports Mature ratings…and that fic is very much mature. I'm going to take out the porn and post an M-rated version here./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Xiang-Xiang?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang was woken by a gentle shaking. Blinking, she sat up. The bed was unfamiliarly big until she remembered that Wen Kexing, now known as Lunatic Wen, had generously offered her his own room when he'd taken over the Leader's quarters. She had slept in a little nest beneath the bed before. "Aunt Luo?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I need you to come with me," the older woman said. She was holding a lantern, and the dimmed light cast strange shadows on her face, making her bloodred lips almost look black./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What's wrong?" Gu Xiang asked as she climbed out of bed, stamped into her boots and hastily tied her outer robes. Outside, she heard the faint sound of boisterous laughter and shouting. "Have they started fighting again?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Hush. No. Come along now." She slipped out of the room and into the hallway, walking quickly without actually hurrying. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What time is it? Is my Zhǔrén alright?" Gu Xiang asked, jogging after her. His fight with the chief…the emformer/em chief had not come without injury, although he had taken great pains to keep his white robes clean./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Tragicomic Ghost made a sound that might have been a sniff and also might have been a huff of laughter. She did not answer, so Gu Xiang simply followed her until they came to the chief's quarters. To her surprise, Aunt Luo did not knock on the door but simply opened it, gesturing for Gu Xiang to enter as well. She closed the door behind her. The room was lavishly ornamented, as befitted the Chief of the Ghost Valley. Much of it was not at all Wen Kexing's style and some of it he had already moved to a corner to be discarded, but it wasn't as if he'd had a lot of time to redecorate. The bed was a large, four posted monstrosity with silk sheets and extraordinarily beautifully embroidered quilts, and on top of those quilts, still fully dressed, Lunatic Wen, the new Chief of Ghost Valley, lay motionless with the pillow clutched over his eyes and covering most of his face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The room reeked of alcohol./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang looked up at Aunt Luo questioningly. "Is he hurt?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aunt Luo's lip curled, but there was a softness in her eyes. "No. Not badly, in any case. He's just very, very drunk and exhausted." She gestured to the bed. "Stay with him. I have some things to get." She pointed. "There's a bucket, in case you need it. You might want to boil some water. I'll be back soon. Bar the door behind me; I'll knock when I get back."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang nodded and bowed. "Yes."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Good girl." She turned on her heel and left. Gu Xiang dropped the bar into the hinges on the door and made her way back to the bed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing muttered something in his sleep, pushed the pillow away. Xian, sitting on the edge of the bed, didn't think he looked much like a chief. Or insane, for that matter. At the moment, he looked very young and not very healthy. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang yawned. The celebrations for the new chief had been going on for a full two days and three nights, and with the stronghold filled with drunk ghosts, she hadn't been getting much rest. Aunt Luo and her women offered some protection, but for a young girl it was best to stay out of sight and hide until a semblance of normalcy returned. The boy on the bed had told her as much when he found her: 'A-Xiang, I succeeded' (as if he needed to tell her, since he was still alive and the former chief lay in the middle of the courtyard, resembling nothing as much as a skinned hog) 'Get your things, find something to eat and a flask of water and hide in my room. It's yours now. Don't enter the main hall.' And, with a strange expression that was both cold and soft, 'Stay away from the gate, too. There are things not suitable for your eyes there.' /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Later on, she'd found out the things that were not suitable were the severed heads of seven of the top ten ghosts, whose execution Wen Kexing had ordered (or carried out himself, she didn't know) only moments after being recognized Chief of Ghost Valley. Of course she'd gone out to see what he'd been talking about. The heads, already eyeless by the time she snuck outside, had not frightened her much. She appreciated her master trying to protect her innocence, but she had been living in Ghost Valley for more than a year now and dead bodies no longer fazed her quite as much as they had when she had lived in Jiangnan. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing, who might very well have become one of those dead bodies if he hadn't been the greatest pugilist in the whole world, swallowed audibly, twisted and abruptly sat up, clasping a hand to his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang knew how drunk men acted when they couldn't handle their liquor. She suspected barely grown men, even her beautiful master, were pretty much the same, and darted away to grab the bucket auntie had pointed out to her. She shoved it next to the bed beneath Wen Kexing's head and swiftly gathered his hair as he pitched forward and proceeded to throw up what looked like the contents of about twelve flagons of wine./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"So this is why Aunt Luo needed me, /span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"she thought, crinkling her nose and looking away when her master vomited again. emNot to protect him, but to clean up after him./em She couldn't even be mad about it; Luo Fumeng, the Tragicomic Ghost held some power among the ghosts with her Department of the Unfaithful and she was kind to girls and children, but she couldn't boil water for her own tea if her life depended on it. As a high born lady, she knew the etiquette of her clan and the martial arts its women practiced, but for the rest, she was actually pretty useless. Not that Gu Xiang would ever, if she valued her life, say that aloud. Besides, she worshipped the ground Wen Kexing walked on. He had saved her life and made it so much better, even here in this terrible place. For the past twenty months he had been her mother, her father, her brother and her master, and if she had to lie down her life for him she would do so happily, let alone take care of his drunken ass. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"When Wen Kexing flopped onto his back, panting and miserable, she nudged the vile bucket away with her toe and whipped her handkerchief out of her sleeve to dab at his mouth. He caught her hand./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xian? What are you doing here?" he slurred, wiping his lips. His eyes went wide and glassy, the pupils so dilated it was as if he had two water-filled holes in his head. "Wait, where's here? Why am I here?" He jerked upright again. "I have to go back." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Back where?" asked Gu Xiang. She observed her master's arm snake around his stomach and picked up the bucket to empty it in the privy behind the screen on the other side of the room. Such luxury! A private toilet. And a bath, too. Wen Kexing would love that; he had snuck out of Ghost valley to the nearest town several times simply to have a bath in a guest house as he thought the communal bath house in Ghost valley left much to be desired—mainly privacy./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""The feast," Wen Kexing said. He tried to pull himself up on the bedpost, but only managed to get to an awkward crouch before dropping back, one hand on his stomach, the other flying to his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang threw the empty bucket through the room and even dead drunk he plucked it out of the air, plunked it down between his knees and puked into it again. She hurried back to his side to keep his hair from falling into the bucket. As she pulled it back, intending to braid it and keep it out of the way better, she noticed that close to the scalp it was soaked through with sweat. His robes as well were damp all the way to the upper layer, and when she touched the back of his neck with her fingers, his skin was slick and hot like a boiled frog's./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén," she began, alarmed, but then there was a soft knock on the door and both she and Wen Kexing froze, she in mid-braid and he in mid-heave, until Gu Xiang realized it must be Aunt Luo. She quickly pulled the leather tongue from one of her own narrow braids and used it to fasten Wen Kexing's hair, jumped off the bed and opened the door. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The woman entered, sniffed and grimaced. "I see you're awake," she said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing only nodded. Compared to the sophisticated woman with her flawless red lips and impeccable white hair, he looked like a vagabond in rich clothing. The bucket and its questionable contents were set aside and he made an effort to draw himself up to a semblance of authority, but everything about him was drooping and dishevelled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang casually strolled away from the door, scooping up the bucket on her way and carrying it to the privy. There wasn't much in it, this time, and a quick rinse with water cleaned it well enough./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes, boil some water for tea," Aunt Luo said, intentionally mistaking her actions and thereby salvaging Wen Kexing's pride. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't have time for tea." The Chief of Ghost Valley pushed himself to his feet and stood swaying and pasty white, clutching the bed post for support. "I have to get back to the feast. How will they respect me if I…if I…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Turn out to be a seventeen year old with no experience drinking, and keel over in a stupor?" Tragicomic Ghost finished for him. "Peh! I've just been to have a look, and let me tell you, there are maybe seven ghosts still awake, and that is pushing the definition 'awake' to its limits. The rest are all passed out or have retreated back to their rooms. They haven't even noticed you've left."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""How did I get here?" Wen Kexing asked. At the woman's words, he slowly let his hand slide down the bed post until he was seated again. He leaned his head against his arm, staring up at her from below heavy eyelids./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I found you." She did not elaborate on where or in what state. "I failed you once, I wasn't going to leave you to fend for yourself when you're barely able to see straight. So I brought you here. Like I said, nobody cares—and even if they did, you scared them enough to keep a safe distance for now."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang perked up her ears. When did Tragicomic Ghost fail her master? But Aunt Luo's self-recriminations tended to be a short-lived as her bouts of sympathy for men, and the guilt left her voice as she snapped, "How do you expect to survive if you don't use moderation, emChief/em?" The bow she made, arms bent in front of her, was close to insulting. "The fact that your schemes have paid off and your martial skills are a match only to your ruthlessness does not change what you are, and that is eminexperienced/em. What were you thinking? How much did you eat, these last few days? Anything? Or did you just answer every single toast they made at you? How much did you drink? How much spiritual energy did you spend during the war and failed to replenish out of fear to appear weak?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As she mentioned emqi/em, Gu Xiang felt another shiver of worry down her back. When he'd accompanied her back to his room, now her room, shortly after he had won the civil war he himself had instigated, he had already been so exhausted. Manic, near vibrating with triumph, but physically and mentally spent. While she had been stuffing the food she'd stolen from the kitchens beneath the bed in her old hiding place, he had been stuffing kerchiefs beneath his clothes so the blood of his wounds wouldn't stain his outer robes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén?" she asked in a small voice, and inched, crablike, away from the almost boiling water towards the bed. "Are you alright?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing attempted his old haughty smile, but he was looking so awfully vulnerable that it did the opposite of reassuring her. Panicked, she turned to Tragicomic Ghost. "He's soaked through with sweat, and his skin feels so hot, I think he's running a fever. He…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Don't overreact," Aunt Luo said curtly. "He'll be fine. Here." She reached inside her belt and held out a small package wrapped in paper. "Use this for tea, Xiang-Xiang. It will replenish his emqi/em, cleanse his blood and soothe his stomach. If I'm to believe." She smiled wryly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang accepted the herbs, bowed and hastened to make the medicinal tea. From the corner of her eye, she saw Tragicomic Ghost turn towards her master, hesitate, then approach him and lay a slender hand on his forehead. His eyes widened in surprise, then closed as he leaned into her touch. Luo Fumeng sighed and stroked a loose strand of hair out of his face. Her voice was so soft Gu Xiang had to strain her hearing to hear her over the bubbling of the water./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm sorry, A-Yan. There is preciously little I can do to help Wen Kexing. It's become harder now that you've turned into a man. I know how to rule and I know how to serve, but caring…is beyond me. You have my loyalty and that of my girls, but that is all I can offer."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She couldn't hear Wen Kexing's reply, but suspected it was something along the lines of 'I knew that, woman, or you'd have cooked for me more often, like, ever,' but possibly worded more politely. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Thank you," he said, a little more loudly. "You've already helped me today by not stabbing me in the back and throwing me down the mountain."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It wouldn't have been difficult, no," Luo Fumeng said with a sharp little smile. She patted his face. "Be more careful in the future." Absentmindedly she wiped her hand on her robe. "And with this final admonishment, and I do mean final, for how would I presume to advise the Chief of Ghost valley, I'm leaving. A-Xian, stay with him. Let him drink as much of the tea as he can stand, and feed him if he wakes up later. Should his fever persist, come find me." She pursed her lips. "Come find me tomorrow in any case."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xian belongs with me," Wen Kexing said, and the casual possessiveness in his tone made Gu Xiang's cheeks prickle with joy. "I'll give her leave to visit you if I can spare her company."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aunt Luo bowed. "Of course, Chief."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You may leave first," Wen Kexing dismissed her formally. When she had left the room he slumped against the post and muttered, "A-Xian, where's that bucket? I may need it again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She quietly placed it next to his feet. Then she poured him a cup of herbal tea. It smelled both bitter and fragrant, and after he'd taken a sip, Wen Kexing pressed his lips together to a thin line./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén, is it good?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No." He shivered and tossed back the entire cup. Drops of sweat were popping up on his nose and forehead. "Pour me another one. Have some yourself, if you're thirsty. I doubt it'll do you harm."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I wouldn't dare drink Zhǔrén's special tea," Gu Xiang said, and poured him a new cup. He smiled wanly, braving the bitter infusion in small sips, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the headboard in between swallows. She found a bowl decorated with plum blossoms and a plain white cotton towel, ladled some water into the bowl and put it down next to the bed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You dare disobey your zhǔrén's word," Wen Kexing admonished, but by now the sweat was pouring off of him, driven out of his pores by the hot brew, and he was too sick and exhausted to be either menacing or mocking. Long shivers passed through his body, making his teeth chatter. He wiped his face, first with his palm, then with his sleeve, and made another face as he regarded the wet fabric. "This is disgusting. Find me some sleep wear." Feebly, he plucked at the ties that kept his outer robes closed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang, unwilling to leave him to return to his old room and collect his sleeping clothes, opened the closet in the corner of the room and peeked inside. It smelled of pressed flowers, and showed her a number of rich empao/em and emshi/em—most of which she remembered the former Chief wearing—but also undergarments and neatly folded sleeping clothes. emHe was the most powerful man I knew, /emshe thought, pulling out white zhongyi and bringing them to the bed. emBut it turns out he had the same sachets to scent his clothes as me./em By the time she'd reached the bed, Wen Kexing had struggled out of his belt and the first two layers of clothing but was now halted by bouts of intense shivers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I emsmell/em," he spat, as Gu Xiang reached out to undo the ties that kept the next robe fastened, and for a moment she thought he was going to cry. He did smell, of sweat and blood and fear. The white outer robe, still relatively clean and dry, still held a touch of camellia and sage, but the further she undressed him, the more he reeked. The shirt and middle robes were damp with sweat and stained with blood, and once they were loose, Wen Kexing flung them away from him in a fit of petulant rage. Gu Xiang let them lie were they landed and instead went to find another bowl, this one to fill with warm leftover tea water and fragrant crushed dried flowers she found in a pot in the corner. She hoped he wouldn't ask her to draw a bath right now, if only because there was no way she'd be able to get him out if he fell asleep in it, but apparently Wen Kexing was too far gone for baths at the moment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He sniffed and surreptitiously wiped his eyes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Pretending not to notice her master crying tears of pure alcohol and physical misery, she began to wash the sweat and dried blood off his torso. He'd been hit three times: a nick, almost closed, right over his heart; a slightly deeper and longer cut on his right shoulder blade that wept a bit of clear pink fluid after she'd cleaned it; and the one she left for last: a still bleeding wound just above the jut of his left hipbone. That wound was covered by a folded handkerchief that was now glued to the wound with congealed blood. Wen Kexing growled low in his throat when she tugged at it, both his body and his lip curling up, like an animal retreating from a punishing hand./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang pulled back, horrified she'd hurt him, and hastily bowed. "I'm sorry, Zhǔrén! Please forgive your stupid servant!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"At another moment he would have grabbed her ear to twist it, but that, as well, seemed to cost him too much energy. "Stop bowing, xiao meimei," he sighed. "Just soak it through. Give it here." He pressed the wet cloth against the kerchief to wet it through and through, waited a few moments, then gritted his teeth and slowly peeled it away. His already pale face lost all remaining colour and he slumped against the headboard in a half faint. Blood welled up from the cut and lazily inched down his belly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang fluttered about in a panic for a few seconds, but then Wen Kexing gagged, and priorities assorted themselves. She grabbed the bucket and thrust it into his arms, flew to the closet once more to grab a few more pieces of folded cloth to staunch the flow, and waited until he came up for air. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You're so badly injured," she said accusingly, pressing one cloth on top of the other and noticing anxiously that the red stain kept appearing. "Why didn't you come to me sooner? I could have helped you. Instead, you sat up all night and day drinking with those horrible men!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I used my vital energy to heal myself," Wen Kexing entrusted to the bucket. He'd retched into it emptily once, and was now using it as a pillow. The edge was digging into his chin. "I didn't think it was…this bad." He shivered. "It isn't, really. But I'm so cold, A-Xiang. And I'm so tired."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"That explained this uncharacteristic weakness, then, Gu Xiang thought. Wen Kexing was well known for his uncommonly strong emqi/em, which protected him from most diseases the other ghosts suffered from, enabled him to heal others by transferring his own vitality into them, as he'd done with her when he found her, to use pretty much any object he chose with lethal force and to defy gravity itself. Healing oneself was more difficult than transferring energy, as it had to be directed specifically, and instructions how to do so could only be given by those from the Healer valley. emQi/em could be depleted. It would be, after the battle, and then by him staying up making a show of strength while trying to heal himself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang fussed with the bandage until it was more or less secure, which was made more difficult by her master's incessant shaking. He blindly thrust his arms into the sleeves of the former Chief's zhongyi but was unhelpful otherwise as she wrapped the garment around him. Wen Kexing wasn't much shorter than his predecessor, but he had the lanky build of a teenager, and the shirt hung around him like a tent. Gu Xiang had to tie a sash around his waist to keep it from falling open. But finally he was dressed again, and by then, hardly cognizant, so she refrained from trying to get him into the clean trousers, even though the pair he was wearing at the moment were stained red brown at the waist./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Would you like some more tea?" she asked, and he muttered a yes, but when she returned with a fresh cup, his eyes had closed and his breathing was deep and slow. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang took a big gulp of tea -emyuck/em-and gently pushed at his shoulders until he was reclining fully. She removed his boots, covered him up with a quilt and placed the bucket on the floor, right below his head./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Sleep well, Zhǔrén," she whispered, and stretched out at his feet. Just like old times, when she'd been small./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"*/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang was pulled out of her sleep when the bed's other occupant bolted upright with a half-uttered challenge on his lips, fell back with a moan of pain and proceeded to hold a monologue that was part one-sided conversation, part recited poetry, and part delirious raving. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""'Go then!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanYou'll ask of the world no more,'" was what woke her up, and she blinked sleepily awake, listening to the disjointed sentences spilling from her master's lips./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""…But you know," she heard him mutter, "it's done, it's done, he is no more and you can rest." His fingers combed the air in front of him. "I'll find your remains. I'll erect a shrine. I'll make him into a pair of boots. You'd think…bleed more." He slept fitfully for a few seconds, then reached out again. "No, stay! Please, stay! I promise…" his voice trailed off into incomprehensible mumbling, and he seemed to fall asleep again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang slid from the bed and gingerly studied his face. She'd learned from experience not to touch Wen Kexing when he was dreaming as he had the tendency to lash out in defence. His eyes were moving behind his closed eyelids but the rest of his body was still. Even from a distance, she could feel the heat radiate off his skin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aiya, my zhǔrén, you're such an idiot! Why'd you go and get yourself in such a state? I'm no good at taking care of you, that's your task!/span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" Never taking her eyes from his face, she felt for the decorated bowl with the cloth on it, dipped it into the water and wrung it, used it to cool his brow. Wen Kexing drew in a shuddering breath and whispered, "Mother?" in a very high, very small, painfully emfamiliar/em voice, and Gu Xiang dunked the cloth into the water without wringing it out, to wipe and drip on his face and hopefully wake him up fully./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing gasped, looked around in confusion and finally noticed her squatting beside the bed, brandishing the wet fabric like a parrying sword. "A-Xiang?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You were having a nightmare, Zhǔrén." She fussed over him with the cloth, eyes demurely cast down. Wen Kexing wasn't buying any of it, but he let her dab at his temples until he remarked that her efforts seemed to leave him wetter instead of dryer, and she flopped the cloth back into the bowl with a sheepish grin. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What time is it?" her master asked, pushing himself up painfully to squint at the candles burning here and there in the room. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A burned out incense from sunrise, I think," Gu Xiang said, hiding a yawn. "Maybe two."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Then why did you wake me up, stinky girl?" He grumbled. "Now I have to take a piss, and if I fall head-first into the privy emyou/em can tell 3000 ghosts how I died." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm sorry, Zhǔrén." She lent him her shoulder to get out of bed, but when she moved along to be his crutch he told her to go back to bed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm not an invalid." He still weaved like a drunk, but when he returned and poured himself some more of Tragicomic Ghost's tea, his hands were steady enough. "Aah, this doesn't get any better cold." He still drank another cup before getting back into bed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What's it now?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Why the white clothes? Why wear white? Why not red?" Wen Kexing looked much, much better in red than in white./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""To show them I did not bleed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""But you did," Gu Xiang argued. "That's a pretty deep wound."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You should see the other man. It'll heal," Wen Kexing muttered, and when she took a breath to ask him how he was feeling, he said, "A-Xiang, I'm tired. Shut up. I need my sleep. And so do you." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He was right, and so Gu Xiang shut up and curled up to go back to sleep while Wen Kexing put his head on the pillow and folded his hands over his chest. The next time she woke up, it was at least one shi later and although her mind felt slow and sluggish after the broken night, she felt awake enough not to want to go back to sleep again. Besides, she was starving./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing was still asleep but stirred when she crawled from the bed. There was a chimeless water clock next to the desk near the window. The sky was bright, and the clock showed that it the morning was already halfway done. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Time?" Wen Kexing inquired hoarsely from the bed. She relayed the information to him, and he sat up with a groan of displeasure. "I need a bath."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Of course he did, Gu Xiang thought. "I'm hungry," she protested, even as she walked to the bath. Fortunately, filling it wasn't going to be as much trouble as she'd expected it to be: water could be warmed on the four braziers around it, and a reservoir outside took care of the cold water. She lit the braziers, making sure all the copper kettles on top were filled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing rubbed his face. He jumped a little when Gu Xiang rested her fingers on his forehead, but didn't pull away, only scoffed when she remarked he was still warm. "Enough already," he said finally, took her hand and lifted it off his head. "I'm feeling much better. Aunt Luo's tea really did work. You should go and see her—after you've run some errands for me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Can I find something to eat first?" she whined. "I'm starving."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He clacked his tongue against his teeth. "A-Xiang, you forget you're talking to the Chief of the Ghost valley now. Don't emfind/em anything to eat, go to the kitchen and demand it. At least ten dishes."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang brightened. "Really? What would you like to eat?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Me? I don't care. Just order what you want. No, order beef and mushrooms. And chicken and leek dumplings. And fried eggs."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Rice cakes? Candy-coated haws? Porridge with honey, berries and almonds?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He grinned, and for a moment everything felt just like normal. "Everything you want." The grin dwindled to a smile. "Once you've ordered breakfast, and let them bring it here, not to the great hall, I need you to go and get my robes. Middle and upper. The red one, I think." He sighed, then smiled again. "I'll have to buy new ones. More costlier ones. I'm not wearing a dead man's clothes." He rubbed his forehead again, eyes falling closed, but looked up at her through his lashes only a few counts later. "Why are you still here?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Leaving, Zhǔrén!" She practiced another bow and skipped off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Aunt Luo had been right: most of the ghosts must still be asleep in the great hall or in their own quarters. The stronghold was strangely deserted apart from the regular masked ghosts standing guard. Some of them waved at her and one of them, who had carved a horse from wood for her when she'd just arrived, congratulated her on her promotion from nothing to the Chief's confidant. She stuck out her tongue at him, but she couldn't help a delighted expression from forming at the thought. Chief of Ghost Valley's confidant. It did have a nice ring to it. Maid was more like it, but hey, it was better than adopted daughter of the Chief's chosen fighter./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The closer she got to the kitchens, the more people she saw. While the ghosts slept, the cooks were already preparing to serve 3000 hungover idiots breakfast. Cheng Ping, the master chef, grew bloodred in the face when he saw her and opened his mouth to scream at her to scram, but she cut him off by loudly demanding breakfast for the Chief, and once she'd placed the order, the entire kitchen staff tookspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spana precious two seconds to bow to her as she left./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Now this was the life! By the time she returned to the Chief's quarters with a neatly folded pack of clothing in her arms, she was singing aloud./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing, who had fallen asleep again, blearily opened his eyes when she barged in. "What's that awful sound?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Just me singing, Zhǔrén," Gu Xiang said, not taking offence. "It's a beautiful morning. Let me see if your bath's ready." She kept humming as the steaming water streamed into the tub. A few handfuls of salts and flowers created a fragrant bath. "All set!" She laid out the clothes on the bed while Wen Kexing undressed, waited until he was immersed in the water to his chest and drifted back to the screen that separated the bathroom from the rest of the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Zhǔrén? How's your wound?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's fine," Wen Kexing said sleepily. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She peeked behind the screen. He lay with his head against the edge of the tub, as deep in the water as was physically possible, and his knees stuck up out of the water like underwater growth in a swamp. The braid she had made of his hair trailed all the way to the ground./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You can't fall asleep, Zhǔrén," she admonished. "I'll never get you out if you do."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Better reason: I have to make a speech. Talk to them. Make sure they understand I'm not to be trifled with." He sighed, trailed dripping fingers over his face. "Help me wash my hair, A-Xiang."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It was strange, Gu Xiang thought. When she'd just arrived here, it had been Wen Kexing who washed emher/em hair in the bath, and brushed it afterwards, and helped her braid it. When she had recovered enough to want to play, they had bathed in the river when it was hot, chasing one another in soaked zhongyi. He had been a child then. Now…It had only been two years. Less. How had he managed to suddenly grow up so fast? How had she missed him becoming not just a man but the most powerful man in Ghost valley?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You're quiet," Wen Kexing said accusingly, when he was seated, clean and dressed, in front of the vanity. He caught her eye in the mirror, wincing as she tugged the comb a little harder through his half dry hair than she had before. "Ow! You little demon! I don't trust you when you're quiet. What's going on inside that empty head of yours?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang doubted her master was as nostalgic for the old days as she was./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Nothing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Well, that's as it should be, then." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She shrugged. Her lack of upbringing was a comfortable subject for the both of them. She knew she was neither smart nor sophisticated; calligraphy bored her and she thought poems were a waste of words, but she also knew that Wen Kexing valued her for other things, like her budding martial arts skills, her wit, and her impunity, even though he pretended to be continuously scandalized by her. At the moment he should admire her skills creating a perfectly balanced bun, she thought, as she wrapped his hair into a perfect twist./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xiang, you really needn't be afraid," he spoke up again, misinterpreting her silence. "You know that, right? I will protect you. Sure, I've gained a few enemies, but they won't dare lift a finger at you." He hesitated. "But if… if you'd rather join the Department of the Unfaithful, I can arrange that, too."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'd rather stay with you," Gu Xiang said quickly. She stuck the white jade hairpin Wen Kexing favoured through the bun, hoping it wouldn't slide out. Allowed herself a grin of satisfaction. Not a strand out of place. Perfect./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""This won't do," Wen Kexing sighed. "It just won't."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang looked up from her work, ready to defend the ji she'd painstakingly made with her life, and realised he wasn't talking about his hair. It looked fine; neat, really, pulled away from his face apart from two elegant whisps that tickled his temples and fell down his back in a straight, dark brown fall./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I look like I'm dead," Wen Kexing complained, and unfortunately, she had to agree with him. The fever had left him pallid, exhaustion still showed in the circles beneath his eyes and his lips had lost the redness that came with drinking alcohol and were now colourless. If he'd put his white robe back on, they could just lay him out and hold a funeral for a beautiful corpse./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing pinched his cheeks, which caused them to redden momentarily, but it didn't really improve matters. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""The old chief used face paint…" Gu Xiang said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing vehemently shook his head. "No." Then he pursed his lips, staring at the little jars holding said paint, and Mm-d. He picked up a red kohl stick and tapped it against his finger. It left a thin, bright red smear. "Why not, I guess."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He brought it to his face and drew a thin line, first beneath his right eye, then below his left, just touching his lower eyelashes. Then a dot at the outer corner of each eye. He added another line with orange, and smeared it together until it was like an echo of a courtesan's makeup. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"And somehow, Gu Xiang thought, it worked. The pallor and the red eyeliner, reflecting the bloodred robes on his body. He looked fucking amazing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing caught her eye in the mirror and smirked. Amazing and terrifying, as if he'd suddenly turned into someone else entirely. And then he turned into someone else yet again, as a knock at the door proclaimed the arrival of breakfast and a bright grin made him look his age again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Finally! I'm starving." He got up, one hand briefly touching his wounded side, only to brush imaginary lint from his robes. "Let them in, A-Xiang."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gu Xiang flung open the door and welcomed ten dishes of food. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The end/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"So…I wrote another part in this series called An Outing in the Jianghu, which is also about Pre-series WKX and A-Xiang, and published it on AO3. It's almost finished. I'd like to post it here as well but I noticed that now no longer supports Mature ratings…and that fic is very much mature. I'm going to take out the porn and post an M-rated version here./span/p
