The Phoenix and the Sword (The Crane Moon Cycle Book 1) by J.C. Snow

Author:J.C. Snow [Snow, J.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

ATTACK

For several days, Hong Deming stayed at home with the Peaceful River sect. When Mo Xiang invited him to the brothel again, he didn’t go. He focused on his qin cultivation, and sometimes sat quietly at the gate of peonies, looking towards Gunan. When the air was clear, he thought he could see the roofs of the Imperial Palace.

At last he decided he had to do something. Who knew when Zhu Guiren would take him away again? He needed to know; he couldn’t just spend the rest of his life not sleeping unless he was drunk.

He asked Mo Xiang where to find the best jadeworkers, and went out to visit the market with some of the money he’d earned from guarding the convoys to Gunan. Then he went towards the Palace, and told the guards at the gate that he had a message for Liu Chenguang, Zhu Guiren’s apprentice.

Of course he wasn’t allowed into the imperial compound; he didn’t expect to be let in the gates. He waited impatiently outside, but it was less than an hour later that he saw Liu Chenguang’s form come through the gates, looking around for a messenger.

Hong Deming swallowed, and stood up. “Taine,” he called.

Liu Chenguang’s face lit up when he saw him. “Tainu!” he said, and nearly ran over, completely forgetting his own dignity, his heavy silk court robes swinging around him wildly. Hong Deming had to smile; it was so like him. “Tainu, you’re here,” he said breathlessly. “Are you here to see me, or do you really have a message?”

“To see you,” he said. “I brought you something, a thank you gift.” He handed it over, a package smaller than the palm of his hand, wrapped in silk.

Curious, Liu Chenguang carefully unwrapped it, and held it up: a jade circle, carved with a crane with outspread wings. “It’s beautiful,” he said. “It’s the Crane Moon, isn’t it?”

“I saw you aren’t wearing any sect symbols…I thought this might be a good thing for you, to help you remember us when you’re away for so long. And I wanted to give you something to say thank you…”

Liu Chenguang held it up to see more closely. “I could never forget,” he said. “And you don’t need to say thank you to me, not for anything, not ever.”

His words sounded so serious, not what he had been expecting at all. “Taine,” Hong Deming asked, “are you all right?”

Liu Chenguang smiled, more genuinely this time, and found a silk cord in the package to attached the ornament to his sash, hanging the jade circle down as a decoration along with the gourd. “It’s beautiful,” he said again. “I’ll wear it when we go…wherever we’re going next. Teacher Zhu said we’ll be leaving in a day or so. Somewhere up north this time, across the Sorrowful River.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” he asked immediately. “Why is Zhu Guiren taking you across the border? Can’t you stay here?”

“Do you want me to stay here?” Liu Chenguang asked at the same time.

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