Chapter Eighteen
Two days later, therising sun woke Leander despite the dimness of their small room.Even with the bed tucked into an alcove and the wooden shutters closed tight, Leander always felt when daylight first fell on the leaves outside.There was far less foliage here than he was used to, but the trees in the courtyard welcomed the sun’s rays, as did the potted plants lining the courtyard and the water lilies floating in the koi pond.
They all whispered to Leander, telling him it was time for life to resume.Of course, the plants hadn’t been awake until the wee hours of the morning having an elaborate family celebration.
The plants were lucky.
Leander feared he’d left a rather poor impression on the hundreds and hundreds of people who had appeared to celebrate his adoption and the presentation of his son.
When Mother Huiling had mentioned a family feast, Leander had envisioned an awkward dinner complete with their eldest son, whose glares were cold enough to freeze Leander’s soul, and several cousins and aunties and uncles.Instead, he’d gotten an elaborate celebration with important guests crowding the interior courtyards and an ever-rotating cast of townspeople sitting at outdoor tables set up in the street.
The whole damn city seemed to have made an appearance, which revealed how deeply Leander was now enmeshed with power in this city.That felt dangerous.
Father Xiaobo had escorted him to all the tables, introducing him to everyone.Each table insisted Leander should take a celebratory toast with them.If Leander had not learned to remove the intoxicating properties from alcohol using magic, he would’ve been dead from alcohol poisoning halfway through the night.
And guests had gifted Shanlin so many scrolls and books and games and statues and small pieces of jade and lucky coins and golden or silver taels that it didn’t all fit in his room.Mother Huiling had told him they would choose a display case and arrange the most valuable pieces in a communal area.
Shanlin had never lived in an orphanage, so he accepted that with polite grace.At his age, Leander would have thrown a fit if even one object he valued was outside his line of sight for a minute.Of course, that was hard to do when Shanlin now owned a shop’s worth of valuables.A small, uncharitable part of Leander’s soul was jealous.
Xi shifted in his sleep, his body turning so that he pressed against Leander’s back.
Leander froze.Two nights of sharing a bed were not enough for him to get comfortable with the arrangement.Leander knew it would be awkward if they were both awake, so he scooted toward the foot of the bed and escaped the silk and satin covers.
Leander felt Mother Huiling’s presence, a bright spot brushing against the leaves of one of the two trees in the inner courtyard.Leander pulled on his loose pants and tied the string waist before fitting a utilitarian robe over them.
Ironically, when Leander had first received a new wardrobe, he had feared such support would strain Heng’s finances, but Heng could have bought a hundred wardrobes without noticing.His parents’ wealth exceeded anything Leander had expected.
After slipping his feet into embroidered slippers, Leander walked into the inner courtyard.Mother Huiling was there watering the tree and humming softly.She smiled when she saw him.“Peaceful mornings to you, qidi of my second son.I’m impressed that you are awake so early.”
“Good morning, mother of my qixiong.I usually wake with the sun,” he said.“It’s part of my plant magic.”
“Given how much you drank last night, that is most unfortunate.”Mother Huiling chuckled with a touch of malice.She had supervised servants who carried Father Xiaobo to his bed, so she probably thought Leander had earned a headache.“Come, join me for tea.”She turned and walked into the main house, and Leander followed.
“I thank you again for such a warm welcome last night,” Leander said with a bow before he took his seat in the chair opposite her.She flicked her hand, and a tea service floated across the room.This time, she did not ask Leander to serve.She set it on a low table between them and poured two cups before passing one to him.
“You are most welcome in the family.Heng has chosen well to take you for his qidi,” Mother Huiling said.
“I am lucky to have the esteem of someone as talented and generous as Heng.Have we received any word about when he will return?”
“Not yet.In fact, he may be gone longer than anticipated.The government authorities have shown some interest in these outsiders he is following.”
“‘Government authorities’?”Leander’s stomach soured, and his magic reached for weapons before he made a conscious choice.In the outside village, he would have found many.There were trees and vines that offered poisons in abundance.But the lack of plants in Ring City added another layer to the claustrophobia already choking him.
“You are quite safe,” Mother Huiling reassured him.“The authorities only know that the qidi of a member of the Nie family was poisoned.They are far more concerned about the death of Pill Master Xiangren.”
Leander blinked, his tired brain struggling to catch up.“Excuse me.Perhaps my Chinese has failed me, but I thought you said that Pill Master Xiangre was dead.”
“Indeed, he is.He was poisoned with heartbreak grass, but as he lived so much of his life in solitude, no one found him in time to render aid.He passed away last night, and Elder Daiyu informed Father and me an hour after the feast ended.”
Leander opened his mouth, but could not find words for several seconds while Mother Huiling sipped her tea as though all were well.“Why didn’t you tell me?”Leander finally asked.
“It is very possible that the poisoning of your qidi had nothing to do with the political machinations of your home country.Pill Master Xiangren had many enemies, and the poison was on one of his baskets.”
“They believe he was the target and Xi was an accident?”Leander asked.He doubted it.
