The Candle Burns Red - Chapter 6

If the Western Depot was the emperor’s eyes, watching every movement at court and beyond, the Embroidered Guard Pavilion was the sharpest blade in his hand. It answered to the emperor alone. It carried out assassinations and never missed.

My true identity was Qingluan, its master. I had not gained the position by slaughtering indiscriminately. I had presented the previous master’s head to the emperor. I had discovered his conspiracy with court officials, killed only him, and taken his place.

I did not mind Zhao Xiangyu learning my name. Everyone who had seen the true faces of the Pavilion’s people was dead.

Baize, who was supporting me, asked, “How would you like them killed, Pavilion Master?”

“They’re filthy. Do as you see fit.”

I went into the inner room, sat on the couch, and regulated my breathing. Zhao Xiangyu and the old eunuchs screamed without pause. About the time it took to drink a cup of tea later, Baize came in to tell me they were finished.

They had fed Zhao Xiangyu a drug that took her voice. Barely alive, she hung from a roof beam by a single strand of embroidered thread. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. I waved a hand. Baize understood at once. The thread sliced through her throat without leaving a drop of blood. The old eunuchs had also been tortured to death. Their corpses were a terrible sight.

I covered my nose in disgust. Through the window I saw Pei Xiuwen hurrying up the street and told Baize and the others to leave. The room was spotless; they had left no trace of blood. I released my acupoints and made a show of collapsing by the door.

In a haze, I saw Pei Xiuwen break in and scoop me into his arms. “A-Yao!”

A natural hot spring in the Pei residence’s rear courtyard was said to heal injuries. That night I soaked there, trying to steady my breathing. A nameless heat raged inside me. The more I fought it, the hotter my chest became. Mist gathered before my eyes into a human shape, forming Pei Xiuwen’s likeness. My breathing faltered, and I coughed up blood. It ran from the corner of my mouth.

Pei Xiuwen arrived just in time to see it. He rushed over. “I’ll fetch a physician.”

“It’s no use.” I wiped my mouth. “My cultivation isn’t strong enough. A hundred ghosts cling to me. Only something of pure yang can dispel them.”

The lie nearly made me laugh. But when he asked, “Wh-what happens if you can’t dispel them?” he was utterly serious.

I thought a moment. “The evil enters my body. I die suddenly.”

That part was true. I was planning to send Baize to a male pleasure house for a young man to help me clear the poison. Pei Xiuwen’s presence made that difficult.

Clothes rustled behind me. I turned in surprise. He braced himself with one hand and leapt into the spring. I hurried toward the bank, but he pulled me back into the water. Warm breath brushed my ear. Holding my hands down, he made me meet his eyes.

“Why were you there today?”

He was far too close. I could barely restrain myself. “Zhao Xiangyu tricked me. She wanted to hurt me.”

“Where is she?”

“She heard you were coming and ran.”

Only a Western Depot man would interrogate someone at her most vulnerable. Watching his lips move was driving me mad. I seized him and stopped them with mine.

Then there was no stopping us. The spring surged and splashed around us. When I touched something burning hot, my mind went blank.

“But you’re not…”

“Mm.”

Pei Xiuwen held the back of my neck and kissed me again.

After that night, he said no more about ending our engagement. The palace sent my dowry, and our wedding was fixed for the sixth day of the following month. Neither of us had parents or elders to arrange it, so we had to do everything ourselves.

One day as he returned from duty, I stopped him in the courtyard. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

He turned his face away. “I haven’t.”

“Could my dear Pei be embarrassed? That night…” He was plainly no eunuch, though he had claimed to be one to make me give him up.

His face reddened, the blush racing to his ears. I had thought the decisive, ruthless Director of the Western Depot a formidable man. How easily he could be teased. I let him off. “Take a few days’ leave and come to Niutou Town with me to buy red wedding candles.”

The steward in charge of purchases had told me the best dragon-and-phoenix candles in the capital were sold out. A supplier in Niutou Town specialized in them. I intended to take Pei Xiuwen with me. I could hardly do all the wedding work while he sat back.

He was about to refuse, but met my eyes and blinked guiltily. “All right. I’ll arrange it.”

Niutou Town was near the capital and full of merchants who supplied weddings and funerals. The Wu family did the best business. Their exquisitely made dragon-and-phoenix candles were favorites among wealthy officials.

We found the Wu shop closed. A nearby vendor said the family had run into trouble. Beside the river, a woman washing clothes kindly warned me, “Young lady, buy your candles elsewhere. The Wu family is haunted. Their goods are unclean.”

As it happened, ghosts were the last thing I feared. “Why do you say that?” I asked.

The woman lowered her voice. “The head of the family is a young woman. She’s taken seven men as prospective husbands. Every one of them died suddenly before the wedding.”

“What a strange thing…”

Seeing how eagerly I listened, Pei Xiuwen drew me aside. “We came for red candles. We can buy them elsewhere.”

“But I want the Wu family’s candles, my dear Pei.” I swung our joined hands, deliberately enjoying how shy and flustered he looked.