Lon'qu tried to keep his face an impassive mask. Though he had years of practice at hiding his emotions from the outside world, for some reason, today, he was having a little bit of difficulty. Somehow, the girl had managed to get him to respond to her, and he wasn't sure how she had done it. One minute, he was saving her from a situation engineered by her own foolishness, and the next, she had him joking with her as though they were childhood friends.
No, he thought to himself. He came here to find out who she truly was, and that was all. He didn't need friends, especially one who looked at him as an object of pity.
He noted dryly that she used the front entrance of the mansion with no hesitation. So he had been right – she wasn't really a servant in the castle. Perhaps Shuo'li had two daughters? Or maybe she was a niece who had come to visit the Rayshin district and was staying in his mansion for the time being. Either way, he thought, dismissing his musings, he would find out soon. He followed her through the winding hallways which she navigated with ease, frantically trying to keep track of the paths that they were taking.
She stopped before an oaken door and turned the silver knob. Lon'qu hesitated at the doorway, unsure if he should enter. He had never been in a girl's room before.
Turning to him with smirk, she planted her hands on her hips. "Well? Are you coming in?"
Nodding silently, he steeled himself and crossed the threshold.
Striding quickly into the room, Lon'qu took in his surroundings. The room was simply adorned, with a bookcase in a corner, a music stand in another, and a fairly large bed that stood next to a dresser and a closest. Two square windows filled the room with light from the midday sun, and strangely, the scenes outside looked incredibly familiar to Lon'qu.
Surprised, he realized that his earlier hypothesis must have been correct – this must be Ke'ri, Shuo'li's beloved daughter. He tried to keep his expression from betraying any of the disbelief he felt as he followed her further into the room.
"Here. Sit," she said, moving the blankets aside to make room for him on the bed. He obliged, reveling at the softness of the mattress. He had gotten too used to the hard wooden floor of his home in the slums.
Taking a deep breath, Ke'ri steeled herself to tell the truth, and the whole truth. "I haven't been completely honest with you, and I'm sorry about that," she began. "I'm not actually a servant in this household, and my name isn't really Yu'lin. I'm Ke'ri."
Lon'qu nodded impassively. Ke'ri wondered if he had already suspected her. Probably, since he didn't look surprised at all. But then again, she had never seen Lon'qu surprised before. "I'm the daughter of Shuo'li, consulate of the Rayshin district. That's why I knew so much about General Guo'zhi."
The silence stretched on, and she felt the need to fill it. "Aren't you curious? Aren't you wondering why I lied to you? And don't you ever wonder why you still have running water in that house, even though you haven't paid for it in months?"
Lon'qu stayed quiet.
Ke'ri shook her head in exasperation. "Well, I lied to you because I thought my station would make you dislike me. I thought you'd be unwilling to talk to me because of the difference between our social statuses. Either way, it clearly hasn't helped me at all because you still refuse to talk to me anyways, so I guess it was a futile endeavor. And your landlord hasn't stopped your water yet because somebody else has been paying it for you." She finished her sentences in a breathless rush, nervous at how he would reply.
Still, Lon'qu did not speak. Was he angry? Was he annoyed with her? Ke'ri could not tell.
Lon'qu's mind whirled. Although he was angry that he had been an unknowing recipient of her charity for the past few years, he was also confused at why she had done so. He battled with himself for a short time, but in the end, curiosity won out.
As he opened his mouth to speak, he felt a wicked twinge of pleasure as he simultaneously saw the relief in her eyes. For a few seconds, he toyed with the idea of staying silent simply to keep her in suspense, but by now it was too late for that.
"So you already knew where I lived. How? And why did you care?"
"My father," Ke'ri replied. "He never forgot about Guo'zi and his contributions to Chon'sin. Even as the other consulate members moved on with their lives and turned their attention to other things, he did not. He continued trying to help you and your mother, at least, in a way that he hoped would not offend your dignities."
Lon'qu flinched, for it was true. Had he known he was receiving charity, he would have refused it outright. Instead, he had mistaken Shuo Li's kindness for a lucky break from the universe.
"I see," he said stiffly to her. "Thank you for answering my questions. I suppose I'll be leaving now." He slid off the bed, and waited for her to show him the way out.
"Wait! That's it?" Ke'ri exclaimed. "You can't just leave now! Don't you see? We can help you. Guo'zi's family deserves so much more than what you and your mother have now, and with a little bit of persuasion, I'm sure my father can get the other consulate members to see the same. Surely the importance of your mother's well-being ranks higher than some puffed-up old senator's statue."
For a moment, Lon'qu was tempted to stand on his dignity. After all, he didn't like being somebody's pity project. But it was true – his mother deserved better, and preserving his pride seemed like an insignificant qualm when Shuo'li could so easily save her from a miserable life of a hard labor.
And besides, he didn't know how to get out of the mansion on his own.