by Kivutar » Sat May 05, 2018 10:18 pm
Dewang looks after Wenchang, horrified. He should have expected that; his friend is so painfully moral. At least he hadn’t asked for details – Dewang winces at the memory. And Junyou had thought it such a joke, too. “Well, I usually get names right, anyway,” he’d laughed, and bragged about Lady Zhou until Dewang had drifted off.
Another thought strikes him, and he puts his face in his hands. He hadn’t been the only one fooled by the man’s charms, and now it is all going to come out. Poor Lady Zhou. Captain Dang is a hard man, and he will be furious. As if Dewang isn’t responsible for enough deaths.
She is going to die, because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Unless… maybe he can do something to save her.
“Jingyi!”
She looks up from a circle of small heads.
“I need your help,” he says, and she follows him hastily. He explains Lady Zhou’s predicament as best he can.
“You want to save her,” Jingyi says quietly.
“I do. But I don’t want anyone to know. Her husband has to think she’s dead. Do you have a spare dress?”
She quickly stitches the dress’ openings shut, and they pack it with straw and set off to Captain Dang’s house as quickly as possible.
“The lady is ill,” her maid informs them, but Dewang nods at Jingyi, who pushes past the maid into the womens’ quarters.
Soon, Lady Zhou steps out, her face streaked with tears. Wenchang must have stopped by. Thank Heaven Captain Dang had not been at home.
“You must run,” he says abruptly. She is too distraught to ask how he knows. “Where would I go?” she sobs. “He would find me.”
Dewang shakes his head. “Walk up and down the room.”
“What?”
“Do it!”
She paces back and forth, as he watches carefully. “All right.” He sets the straw woman on its end, and it shivers. Then it stretches out its feet, and blinks. Lady Zhou stares as a perfect likeness of herself takes a step forward.
At that moment, there is a commotion outside. Wenchang and Captain Dang must be here.
“Outside, quickly!” he says, and Jingyi grabs the arm of the stunned Lady Zhou and hustles her out the back door. As they leave, they hear the maids screaming.
Lady Zhou sobs in the corner, as Jingyi ineffectually tries to comfort her. Dewang rests his head on his desk. Lin and He are standing at the entranceway, keeping an eye out and occasionally throwing nervous glances in.
“Sir, is there any chance you’d tell us what’s going on?” asks Jun. “Bitong!” whispers Kun, but Dewang shakes his head. “No, no, he’s right.” He beckons the two of them closer. “She was very, very foolish. Her husband will kill her if he sees her. I would rather she did not die.”
Jun frowns. “She can’t stay here long. Everyone will find out.”
“I know,” says Dewang. “I’ve disguised her face, but it’ll get round.” He looks at both of them. “I’m open to ideas.”
“Anyone you could send her to?” asks Kun.
Dewang considers. He has no family, and very few friends outside of the army. And it must be kept from Wenchang, too…
Suddenly he remembers. Ming. He hasn’t seen her in years, of course, not since she was married, but they’d had good times together. She would remember him. And she was a lady now.
“Yes. Yes, I know just the person.”
He writes a letter quickly.
”My dear, this girl has gotten herself into a spot of trouble. I thought of you right away. Could you take care of her, for old time’s sake?” He signs it with the name of Ming’s old madam, in case someone else sees it. She will recognize his handwriting.
Dewang kneels beside Lady Zhou. “Listen, you must flee this city.” She looks up at him and nods, and he gives her the letter.
“Go to Ye, to the household of Hou Delan. Give this letter to Fourth Wife Hu. Tell her Zhiteng sent you. And I’d tell her the whole story, if I were you. You can trust her.” Life as Ming’s maid wouldn’t be so bad, he thinks. At least, not nearly so bad as her other likely fates.
She agrees quietly, and Dewang calls He in. He’s seen the young man sparring with some of the soldiers, and he isn’t a bad fighter. At any rate, he’s the best escort Dewang can offer. He gives them both a few more instructions, mostly consisting of “Be careful” told half a dozen different ways, and sends them off. The illusion he has created to disguise Lady Zhou’s face should last until they are well out of the city.
“He’s out of his mind,” says Jun, looking after the pair as they leave with a few necessities hastily gathered together. “Well, Zaitian has something interesting to do, at least!”
Kun can only shake his head in agreement. “Fuli, are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she sighs. “There are worse ways to be insane than wanting to save lives, you know.”
Lin inclines his head towards her.
“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” says Jun.
Kun steps back into the tent.
“Master Du?”
Dewang looks up. He’s been trying to gather his hair together after tearing at it nervously all day. “Yes?”
“Why did you do that?”
“I told you, I didn’t want her to die.”
“Was she important to you?”
Dewang sighs. “I’d met her twice. I barely knew her. If that's what you're thinking.”
Kun swallows. “Then why –"
“Haven’t there been enough deaths already?”
Kun nods slowly.
Well, that is taken care of. It was over shockingly fast. But the business is not nearly finished. He has no doubt that Wenchang and Captain Dang are searching for Junyou, if they have not already found him. There will be more trouble.
For a moment, he considers letting them handle it. After all, there are two of them. But he knows how dangerous Junyou is.
Dewang heads out, looking for the two captains.
Last edited by
Kivutar on Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."
Hosea 3:1