◎The Great Recluse◎

After that cut, Qu You’s mind hovered between waking and blackness. She pressed hard against her own wound, straining to hold on to consciousness, and only when the carriage finally rolled to a stop did she manage to let out a breath.

The carriage had traveled for roughly two hours, pausing once partway through — she thought she heard voices outside, and guessed they had left the city. Going east from the Bian River and taking a roundabout route, less than two hours would bring one to the city gate — most likely this meant the east gate, in the direction of Jinghua Mountain.

With that thought, she finally could hold on no longer and slipped into unconsciousness again within that faint lingering fragrance. When she woke once more, she opened her eyes to see the blazing colors of sunset burning through a small window.

So it was already dusk.

Her outer robe had apparently been removed while they searched her for hidden items, but fortunately her lined jacket was thick enough to hide the wound at her sleeve. Her wrists were bound before her with coarse hemp rope; aside from being chilled through, she seemed otherwise unharmed.

Still muddled, Qu You had not even had the chance to take stock of where she was when a voice came from behind her: “Lady Zhou…”

She started and turned sharply.

After dragging her out of the city, the group had found a dilapidated house — this, it seemed, was a woodshed. Though it was fairly large, the floor beneath her was covered in dry straw, with only a single small, high window.

By the light of the setting sun, Qu You saw Bo Ying, bound just as she was, thrown into a corner of the room, his medicine box overturned on the ground beside him, its contents scattered everywhere.

After calling out to her once, Bo Ying saw Qu You staring at him deeply, as though frightened, saying nothing for a long moment.

He coughed. “Lady Zhou, what are you thinking about! Look at the state we’re in now… ow, ow—”

Before he could finish, he began groaning in pain, explaining that he’d been sitting against the wheel rail for a while and somehow fallen asleep, only to wake up here. The bandits, it seemed, hadn’t handled him too gently, and he’d likely wrenched his shoulder when they’d thrown him in, and so on and so forth.

Qu You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Physician Bo, perhaps you should think first about who took us…”

Only then did Bo Ying seem to register the situation. “Right! We were traveling perfectly peacefully — how dare anyone be so bold as to abduct a court official and a titled lady! It’s outrageous… Where is everyone? Is it money or is it revenge — someone ought to give us a straight answer.”

They called out for a good while with no response. Qu You edged closer to him and worked at freeing his hands from the rope first, then had him untie hers in turn.

The two of them pounded on the door, but no one answered — only the heavy sound of chains beyond it. Qu You stepped up onto Bo Ying’s shoulders to peer out through the small window, but night had already fallen, and nothing could be made out.

The woodshed was completely empty, with no tools of any kind, and the door, though it looked as though it had been recently replaced, would not budge no matter how hard they threw themselves against it. After exhausting themselves, they gave up for the time being and slumped against the wall.

Bo Ying picked through the contents of his medicine box, his face falling. “These people took my scalpels and needles — otherwise we might have been able to pick the lock somehow. All that’s left is gauze and herbs — what good is that…”

Qu You said, “Don’t worry. Someone will come for us.”

Bo Ying chimed in, “Right, right — though I’m alone in this world with no family to speak of, Lord Zhou will certainly come to save you… I just wonder where we actually are, and whether he’ll be able to find us.”

Qu You said nothing, sitting with her arms wrapped around herself in the corner, lost in thought. Bo Ying, apparently noticing she was shivering with cold, gritted his teeth and took off his own outer robe, draping it over her shoulders.

As he tied the sash for her, he grumbled, “Look at you, always sickly — you ought to dress warmer. Taking off this robe now counts as repaying you for footing the bill this morning. Of course, once we’re out of here, if you want to thank me with a generous sum on top of that, I certainly won’t refuse…”

Qu You had meant to decline, but before she could, Bo Ying — talkative as ever but nimble with his hands — had already wrapped the robe securely around her.

Bo Ying was on familiar terms with Song Shixuan and didn’t always bother with official dress even when entering the palace. Today he wore silvered satin — the fabric currently in fashion among the young men of the capital, its sheen restrained and its weave immaculate — not at all the sort of thing one would expect him to favor.

Qu You clutched the robe tighter, her gaze brushing over his face. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

Perhaps sensing the distance in her mood, Bo Ying paused. “You don’t seem particularly panicked.”

“There’s nothing to go on right now — panicking wouldn’t help,” Qu You answered calmly. “However frightened I might be, it’s nothing compared to when I was in the hands of the deposed crown prince… If no one’s come for us yet, it means we still have some value. Someone will come. Don’t be afraid, Physician Bo.”

Hearing this, Bo Ying fell into an uncharacteristic silence. He lifted the hem of his robe and sat down beside her. “Give me your hand — let me take your pulse.”

Since joining the Imperial Academy of Medicine, Bo Ying had rarely treated anyone besides Song Shixuan and Zhou Tan. By rights, he shouldn’t be examining Zhou Tan without Song Shixuan’s explicit permission, but ever since the assassination attempt, he had been the one overseeing Zhou Tan’s health, and he simply didn’t trust anyone else to take over.

Qu You hesitated, not yet extending her hand, when Bo Ying caught hold of her sleeve and pulled her arm toward him. He lowered his lashes, and after a moment let out a breath of surprise. “Not bad at all — probably from being well cared for. No lingering ailments to speak of. I’d heard that during that stretch of time Song Shiyan used to amuse himself by tormenting people at the Ministry of Justice… but it seems he did hold back some measure of feeling for you after all, and didn’t go too far.”

The night stretched on, long and silent, and neither of them felt any urge to sleep. Since she was a married woman, they could not share warmth, so Bo Ying instead piled up a nest of straw for himself and curled into it. “Who on earth took us, and why won’t they show themselves… I haven’t had a drop of water all day. I’m freezing and starving to death.”

Qu You gave a soft “mm” but said nothing more. Bo Ying, puzzled that she wasn’t her usual talkative self, turned to glance at her and brushed a hand across her forehead without thinking — only to find it covered in cold sweat.

She was wrapped in his robe. Why was she sweating so much, and so cold?

Bo Ying called out at once, “My lady?”

Qu You didn’t answer. Alarmed, Bo Ying fumbled around in the dark and, after some effort, actually managed to find a slightly damp fire-striker in his medicine box. It took him a long while to light a half-burnt candle stub, and when the flame finally caught, he saw that her face had gone frighteningly pale.

That wasn’t right. Cold alone shouldn’t have done this.

As he leaned closer, he suddenly caught a faint, coppery scent of blood, and his expression changed at once. His gaze fell to the arm she had been unconsciously cradling — now that he thought of it, she’d seemed to have no strength in that arm when he’d carried her earlier.

Bo Ying pushed up her sleeve and drew a sharp breath — beneath the outer robe and the lined jacket, everything was soaked red. The handkerchief someone had hastily wrapped around the wound was already drenched through with blood.

He stared at the wound, oddly caught in a stunned daze.

Not until Qu You spoke, her voice weak but teasing, did he come back to himself: “Physician Bo sees his patient and freezes up instead?”

Bo Ying snapped out of it and immediately began digging through his medicine box in a fluster for herbs, pulling her arm over to clean the wound. “You— you— how could— No wonder your pulse felt weak earlier, I thought it was just the cold! You’re injured and you didn’t tell me? The physician was right in front of you! What, were you afraid I’d charge you an outrageous fee afterward? Money’s worth nothing next to your life!”

“It’s just a small cut. How could it possibly be life-threatening,” Qu You replied faintly. “I was so exhausted just now, I honestly forgot about it.”

Bo Ying shot her a glare and set to work cleaning the wound with full attention. Once he’d wiped away the blood, he realized it wasn’t as serious as he’d feared — her pallor was more likely from hunger, cold, and sheer exhaustion.

Qu You watched him and suddenly said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Physician Bo. Let’s talk a while.”

Bo Ying didn’t even lift his eyes, asking irritably, “Talk about what? About how you suddenly got the bright idea to cut your own—”

He stopped short. Qu You smiled. “It wasn’t a sudden idea.”

By the dim candlelight, she watched a complex mix of expressions cross Bo Ying’s face. She waited a good while, but he said nothing further.

Not until he had finished binding her wound securely did Bo Ying suddenly speak up. “Actually, there’s something I’ve always been curious about…”

Qu You said, “Mm?”

“Back when Xiaobai was still a Vice Minister of Justice, you were sent to marry him under the guise of chongxi, and endured no small amount of humiliation from the Ren family,” Bo Ying said, thinking back. “You came to fetch me to treat his injury — out of pity for him, at death’s door. I remember you were quite wary of him at the time, but later, the two of you grew so close, so in tune with each other. Setting aside all suspicion… that’s such a difficult thing to do. I’ve always wondered what happened between you two.”

Not expecting this question, Qu You blinked in surprise, then quickly broke into a smile, her eyes curving as though he’d asked her the most delightful thing in the world. “Physician Bo… do you have any old friends from childhood?”

Bo Ying shook his head blankly. “I’ve always made friends by feeling alone — come and go as I please. Most of my old friends I can barely remember now.”

“Making a friend is certainly about feeling alone, but keeping that bond alive takes a very, very long time,” Qu You said, propping her chin on her uninjured hand, quite serious. “Hmm… perhaps it’s better put this way — before I meet someone, or just after I’ve first met them, I always form a thousand different guesses about who they might be. If every guess turns out exactly right, we become close friends. If every guess is just slightly off, we remain mere acquaintances and never grow closer after that.”

“So…” Bo Ying asked, unusually solemn, “was Xiaobai exactly what you’d guessed?”

“He wasn’t,” Qu You said, shaking her head at once, her smile deepening. “He was better than anything I could have guessed — in everything, he did far, far more than I ever imagined he would, and in some ways, better than I could have imagined at all. When you meet someone like that, how could you not respect him, love him, love him a little more each day than the day before?”

Bo Ying said nothing. Qu You’s fingers brushed over the smooth satin of the robe, and she turned the conversation to something else of her own accord. “A few days ago, my husband and I hosted Chancellor Su and Master Shisan for a banquet at Linfeng Pavilion.”

For a moment Bo Ying didn’t quite follow. “Oh? But don’t the two of you often host them? Boss Ai’s been terribly busy, and I’ve been out of the capital — otherwise I’d have had to find you two and beg for a few cups of wine myself.”

But Qu You asked instead, “Do you know why my husband has always opposed him, ever since His Majesty took the throne?”

Something flickered at Bo Ying’s brow.

Qu You said plainly, “My husband told Chancellor Su that he was willing to use his own reputation as a stepping stone, to help him rise to a position of true power over the court. The Chancellor comes from a noble family with an untarnished name to begin with; remove one more corrupt official the court despises, and he could achieve a reputation to rival Chancellor Gu’s — one who could put an end to factional strife and nurture the common people.”

The candle was burning low. Qu You lowered her eyes and saw Bo Ying’s hands — no longer hidden by wide sleeves — trembling violently.

He coughed twice, seeming almost unable to believe it, and asked hoarsely, “The whole world bustles about, all for the sake of profit… is there really such a person in this world, willing to give up everything, purely for the sake of a principle in his heart?”

“There is,” Qu You said, as though lost in thought. “In the end, to him, the reputation he’d leave behind always mattered less than the tangible good he could bring to others in the present. He himself doesn’t care about that. But I do — because I cherish him, the way I cherish my own body, my own flesh and blood. When they are wounded and cannot protect themselves, I am the one who protects them.”

As she spoke, she was overcome by an enormous grief, her eyes stinging, yet she pressed on. “…But before doing this, there was one more thing we couldn’t rest easy about — before she died, the crown princess let something slip that I caught hold of, and from it, some clues emerged. It turns out that beyond the deposed crown prince and princess, there was another such person.”

“He’s been lying in wait for a very long time, with great patience, coming to understand every one of us, living in the most dangerous place — which is also the safest — this is what’s called ‘the great recluse hides in the marketplace.’ He’s been manipulating the court, toying with every one of us in the palm of his hand. Even Song Shiyan, right before his death, only truly understood who this person was, and it was that realization that broke his will to fight, that let him go to his death so calmly.”

Bo Ying’s lips curved, though he didn’t quite smile. “What you’re saying is quite alarming. A person like that — what would his identity be?”

“Someone who plots so carefully for the world at large is certainly no ordinary person,” Qu You said, gripping the hem of her robe tightly, her words coming with difficulty. “…That old case of the Su family, back then — Song Shiyan, in his fury and haste, overlooked the most important thing. That woman from Xishao, back then — did she really kill the empress’s own son after leaving the household? She should have kept far, far away from Song Shiyan for the rest of her life. Why would she risk everything just to see him? If it wasn’t longing for family, then something must have happened — something beyond her control, something that threatened Song Shiyan — that made her willing to risk death itself to tell him.”

“Unfortunately, Song Shiyan was no kind soul. The moment he learned of the blood relation, he drew his sword and killed her before hearing her out. It wasn’t until the crown princess revealed her true colors that he finally understood what it was he’d failed to hear that day.”

Bo Ying echoed her. “What was it?”

“A few days ago, while Yunyue and I were helping Liuchun take stock of the Chunfenghua Establishment, we happened to find someone who knew the truth of it back then. She hadn’t heard much, just a few scattered words, but it suddenly made everything clear to me.”

The candle went out. In the pitch darkness, Qu You spoke slowly. “The empress’s own son — perhaps he never died at all. This person is the one who shares blood with Li Yuanjun and the Li family. They must have known this for a long time already — which is why, from the very beginning, Li Yuanjun worked her way carefully into Song Shiyan’s side and began drugging him, turning the sole heir to the throne into someone erratic and violently unstable. That way, when the late emperor passed, the court was bound to fall into chaos…”

“None of the other imperial princes would be fit to be entrusted with the throne, the dynasty left without an heir — and he would appear at just the right moment, able to take everything over as a matter of course. With the Li family helping to verify his identity, he might even win the support of the masses. But he never expected the late emperor to have left behind a will — forcing him to change his plans and continue lying low. Only now Li Yuanjun has been exposed, and his time is running short.”

Having finished, Qu You gave a soft laugh — whether mocking him or herself, it was hard to say. “Unless this person and what remains of the Li family’s power are eliminated, my husband has no way to continue doing what he wants to do. So we spent a long time discussing it, and decided to set a trap to draw this person out — he’s waited so many years already, he truly couldn’t wait any longer. Seeing an opportunity, he’d take a desperate gamble — that, too, was something we expected.”

She heard Bo Ying’s breathing grow heavy, one breath after another.

Her eyes gradually filled with the wetness of tears.

“But… until today, I even overlooked so many things I should have noticed, because I never once imagined…”

Though she couldn’t see his face clearly, she still lifted her head, and answered as calmly as she could manage.

“…that person would be you.”