- Chapter Start –
Li LianHua's shoulders hunch under the weight of the shocked gazes around him.
"Less than a week. Are you sure?" Di FeiSheng demands, his body tensing beside Li LianHua's.
"There must be something we can do." Fang DuoBing states, his voice shaking. "I'll get more tonics."
Su XiaoYong just shakes her head, teary eyed, while Yun BiQiu's lips move with no words emerging. Meanwhile, Guan HeMeng continues to stare at Li LianHua who finally nods.
"Fine, I'll take one a day."
"Good. Start with this." Guan HeMeng sets down the tiny bottle of blood tonic in front of him.
Li LianHua senses rather than sees Di FeiSheng's approving nod. He sighs and tries to unstopper the bottle, but his fingers prove clumsy with such an avid audience. Taking the bottle from him, Di FeiSheng works the stopper off.
Everyone recoils back in unison, eyes widening in shock and hands covering noses and mouths. Yun BiQiu turns a light shade of green.
"The signature of a Drug Demon tonic." Li LianHua reluctantly accepts the bottle, nose wrinkling in distaste.
Without a word, Di FeiSheng unwraps a sweet and holds it ready.
"I have more too if you need," Fang DuoBing says, his words muffled behind his hand.
"Pampered," Guan HeMeng mutters.
Ignoring him, Li LianHua lifts the bottle to his lips and downs it in one. His tongue curls and his throat constricts. When his stomach rebels, he swallows again and again to keep the contents down, dropping the bottle on the table and fisting his hands in his robes
A rare, magnificent bird was sacrificed for this, he tells himself. Although it's just as likely that the Drug Demon had simply stumbled upon the carcass of one and used it. That makes Li LianHua's stomach heave even more, bile reaching his throat. His eyes are watering.
"Here." Di FeiSheng presses the sweet against his lips. Trying not to gag, Li LianHua closes his lips around the sweet… and part of a thumb.
An involuntary sound leaves Di FeiSheng's mouth. He pulls his hand back and their gazes meet just as a blessed sweetness fills Li LianHua's mouth, chasing away the foul taste of the tonic. His stomach slowly settles, still grumbling at him.
"Better?" Di FeiSheng's voice is deeper than usual.
Li LianHua nods and clears his throat, turning back to Guan HeMeng.
"Fine. I've taken it."
"Good. Go and lie down." Guan HeMeng produces a familiar rolled bundle from his sleeve.
"I don't need any needles-"
"You just drank a priceless tonic. I'm going to make sure your body absorbs it."
"I'm sure it – hey!" Li LianHua's arms are grabbed by Di FeiSheng and Fang DuoBing who stand up, hauling him to his feet as well. "Fine, fine."
"Yun-yuanzhu, finish your breakfast," Guan HeMeng says calmly.
"… I'm not hungry."
"XiaoYong, make sure he eats it all."
"Yes, Guan-dage!"
- o –
Two hours later…
Guan HeMeng and Su XiaoYong take their leave after promising to drop by Lotus Tower again tomorrow. The blood tonic should buy Li LianHua an extra day, but with how weak his body is, Guan HeMeng doesn't dare bet on anything more. He's also somewhat annoyed that Yun BiQiu somehow managed to slip away even with Di FeiSheng standing at the foot of Li LianHua's bed with a clear view of the main doors.
No matter, Guan HeMeng will drop by Chayin Tower where Yun BiQiu's office is later. Just to assuage his conscience, he tells himself.
As soon as they're back home, he and Su XiaoYong go through his stock of medicines and herbs. His needles helped Li LianHua's body to absorb the tonic quicker, but a herbal tea will help to neutralise the more heaty aspects of taking so many tonics.
After making a list of the ingeredients needed, Guan HeMeng sets off again, this time to the apothecary in town. The main road is crowded and noisy with everyone celebrating Li XiangYi's triumphant return – idiots, none of them even know he's dying! – so he detours to the smaller paths that run parallel to the back of the older buildings.
He's nearing Chayin Tower when the soft strains of guzhin music catches his attention. The melody is haunting and the player skilled, flying through the the intricate ups and downs of the more difficult passages without pause nor error. But the music itself feels oddly flat though as if the player is simply playing by rote.
There's an off note followed by another and the music abruptly stops. Curious despite himself, Guan HeMeng looks at the windows and spies the back of someone in light purple robes. He hears a series of jangled notes, loud and discordant before that person jumps up with a long black guzhin in his arms. Pivoting on one heel, he throws it at the wall with a loud cracking sound.
Guan HeMeng's eyes widen as Yun BiQiu utters a wordless cry, almost a shriek, and sweeps everything from his desk. Then he goes to the packed bookshelves along the wall and starts attacking those.
Before he can second guess himself, Guan HeMeng vaults over the low wall and rushes to the side entrance. He's prepared to argue his way in, but the two employees there are already running to the back, no doubt alerted by the ruckus. Guan HeMeng follows them down a long corridor.
"Yun-yuanzhu! Are you alright?" The two men stop at an open doorway so Guan HeMeng simply pushes past them and enters.
"Close the door," he orders.
By now, Yun BiQiu has emptied half a bookcase onto the floor, hair falling loose from his clasp.
"Yun-yuanzhu, stop."
Yun BiQiu doesn't seem to hear him. A sob escapes his lips as he grabs another handful of books and flings them down. Books that are no doubt well cared for and treasured, only to land on the floor with some pages torn.
"Yun BiQiu!" Guan HeMeng approaches him and grabs his wrists tightly from the back. They feel thin in his grasp. Fragile.
Yun BiQiu starts struggling at once.
"Who – let go of me!" He's stronger than he looks, but Guan HeMeng isn't a stranger to wrestling patients bigger and heavier than the second court master.
"Calm down," he orders. A distant part of him notes they're around the same height.
"Who-" Yun BiQiu tries to turn his head. "How dare – release me at once!"
"Not until you calm down. You're creating a scene."
Yun BiQiu stops struggling at that, panting and shaking.
"Guan-shengyi." There's a deep, shuddering breath as he tries to pull himself together. "Li XiangYi - Li LianHua is dying."
"I know."
"There's nothing - he's dying and there's nothing I can do." Yun BiQiu's voice breaks.
"I know."
With a sob, Yun BiQiu's legs give out. He slumps to the floor, taking Guan HeMeng down with him. Caught by surprise, Guan HeMeng releases him to break their fall.
"Ahh. My apologies."
"Why?" Guan HeMeng asks. "You thrashed your office, not mine."
Yun BiQiu just shakes his head, head down.
"Look at me," Guan HeMeng says, keeping his voice low, feeling a sense of déjà vu. He spies a tear sliding down a pale cheek and reaches out before he even realises what he's doing.
Yun BiQiu's head snaps up in surprise, eyes wet and lips trembling.
Something in Guan HeMeng's chesttwists. He's always distanced himself from his patients. He treats them and cures them, but he doesn't care for any of them. There's only Su XiaoYong, his younger sworn sister and her grandfather. And maybe Li LianHua, that talented and stubborn idiot.
But Guan HeMeng finds he can't ignore Yun BiQiu's palpable guilt and pain and helplessness. He's not used to giving comfort, but he pulls Yun BiQiu into his arms as they sit on the floor, surrounded by fallen books.
- Chapter End –
