Page 20 of The Wind Dancer
This was... abnormal.
I knew perfectly well how quickly my body regenerated. Wounds like these weren’t uncommon for me. No treatment, no medicine could speed up the process that much. Unless...
I smelled the faint scent of jasmine again and thought of Mei Lin.
She had done something. I was sure of it. The way her touch felt, how she knew how to handle the wounds, how she hinted at things. Perhaps she had special medicine. I had heard the resources of the Secret Chancellery were vast. The otheroption was... that she could use magic. Was she a dragonblood? Maybe it was best to leave that train of thought alone for now.
It didn’t matter how I recovered. What mattered was that I had my strength back and could get moving.
I took a few deep breaths, exhaling them slowly, focusing on my current situation.
The Secret Chancellery had clearly taken an interest in me, but Mei Lin had her own plans. She made it clear that, besides them, someone else was hunting for my mentor’s legacy, and they wouldn’t hesitate to kill for it. Feng Shen was, practically speaking, my father, since he had raised me. I felt an obligation to avenge him so that he could be at peace. I also had a deal, which I had only completed two out of three parts of and couldn’t leave unfinished. And there was the cult I had slighted last night. They would certainly want theirs.
I chuckled. And my biggest worry yesterday was whether the elders would approve of me becoming a master Shadow Walker. To the Demons, I was so oblivious.
I decided to go over my current resources. For a moment, I wondered if Mei Lin or her people had gotten into my belongings, but after thinking about it a bit longer, I dismissed it. She wasn’t certain who I was before meeting me, and robbing a random person in the Garden of the Nine Gates was a very bad idea, even for the Chancellery.
When I went on the job, I had only taken the necessary equipment with me and, of course, my wits, agility, and nerves. What lay on the small table now showed what luck and risk had given me. Despite the losses, it still looked impressive.
I remembered taking at least five cords of coins from the safe. In the end, only two remained, both partially full, still they made up a respectable sum. One was nearly fully strung with silver. The other had less than half its original amount of gold. And most importantly, by a stroke of luck, there were three jade coins among them.
I quickly counted the coins and grinned. Twenty silver liangs, ten gold liangs, and three jade liangs. A well-off peasant could earn about ten silver liangs in a year, while a fifth rank official could earn about forty, not counting various allowances. A single jade liang was worth ten gold, and in turn, a single gold liang was worth ten silver. So I had four hundred and twenty liang worth of silver here.
There were also two more bags of precious stones, and I hoped they would add up to just as impressive a sum.
I opened the first bag. Snow-white pearls rolled across the fabric, reflecting the soft candlelight. Each one was absolutely flawless. They weren’t the largest, but they had clearly been hand-picked for their near-perfect quality. In the hands of a jeweler, they could become a necklace for noble ladies or a symbol of power for someone from the great clans. In the hands of an alchemist, they could be used to brew rare potions. In my hands, though, they were an asset worth at least fifty silver liang.
But there was a catch — pearls like these were difficult to sell without leaving a trail.
I re-tied the bag, put it aside, and picked up the other one. When I poured out the contents, the table burst into multicolored sparkles of precious stones. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires, a few pieces of amethyst, and even a couple of rare yellow topaz.
The stones weren’t very large, but their value wasn’t in their size, rather it lay in the fact that they could hold energy. These were used as power storage in automatons, magic tools, and even weapons, including siege weapons. What I saw made my eye twitch.
Now this was a proper reward worth risking your life for. Even in my amateurish estimate, there were some stones worth five thousand silver here. If anyone found out that I had these, I’d be hunted down.
I squeezed one of the jade coins, feeling its cool surface. I had to figure out how to keep both myself and the money safe.
What was I supposed to report to the guild? If I told anyone about the second bag, I’d get a dagger to the liver and end up a nameless body in the gutter. And the report would say I had never completed the job.
I couldn’t give them the amulet and the documents;a Deal is a Deal. So the guild should only know about the coins and pearls. A solid catch even for a seasoned master Shadow.
Now that I had tallied everything, I had to act, and fast.
When I went back to the tavern, I sensed a change before I saw it. Instead of the bartender,shewas standing at the bar — the old hostess of the establishment. Her face was kind, her wrinkles gentle, and her smile welcoming. Any outsider would mistake her for a caring granny who ran a tavern for travelers. But I knew the truth.
Only a few people knew the three largest Tongs of the Lower City — The Moonface Tong, the Shadow of the Autumn Leaf Tong, and the Crimson Fists Tong were all ruled by her iron fist. She didn’t openly exercise her authority, but anyonewho knew anything about the local affairs knew that nothing happened in the city without her knowledge. My mentor respected her, and she invited him to tea every week.
I bowed politely to her. Her smile widened, and a warm light flashed in her eyes.
“Ah, Feng Lao.” She shook her head slightly, looking me up and down. “You’re still alive, that’s a good sign. The heavens favor you.”
“Thank you for your hospitality, honored one,” I replied, keeping a respectful tone.
She nodded, lifting a cup of tea to her lips.
“Your mentor would be pleased to see you now. He always said that you know when it is best to talk and when to be silent. A good quality. Useful.”
And now I chose to be silent, it spoke more than enough.
