The Last Concubine

all about her.
    The other wives apparently had as well. Ning had gathered the gossip they missed while they were gone and brought her the news.
    “Fen and Huan now live together within the third house,” he began.
    “Did Huan allow the servants back in or are they doing the housework themselves?” Lan asked, although she really didn’t care.
    “The servants are back,” Ning said. “And Bai has taken Alute’s and Ci’an’s sons into her house, because she said Mei Ju is too busy caring for her own children.”
    “I am sure the boys must love her,” Lan said in a lifeless voice. She knew that she should pay a courtesy call upon Bai at least, considering Bai had come when she was ill, but she didn’t wish to inflict her sadness upon Fifth Wife.
    “Apparently. And Mei Ju has been indisposed,” Ning continued. “There have been no parties for the wives since before we left.”
    “I should send her a note,” Lan said absently. “I hope she is well.”
    “I have had a basket of oranges sent to her in your name,” Ning said.
    “Thank you, Ning. That was thoughtful of you,” Lan said guiltily. “And what of your Captain Wen?”
    “He is watching us even now, to ensure your safety. Remember his oath?” Ning said. “Honestly, Lan’xiu, you have been walking about as if you were asleep since we returned. What is wrong with you?”
    Lan’xiu hesitated. Could she confide even in Ning when her heart was so wounded by Hüi’s absence? After he had told her he couldn’t bear not to see her face, he had simply vanished. “I have been… thinking,” Lan said finally.
    “Thinking!” Ning scoffed. He led her back to the seventh house and opened the door, putting his hand on her back and propelling her up the stairs to her bedchamber without stopping to let her remove her cloak. He shut the door behind them. “I suppose while you were thinking , it didn’t occur to you that perhaps the general might be occupied with other things?”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to say ‘like another concubine?’, but something about the suppressed excitement evident in Ning’s face stopped her. “What do you know? You little troll, spit it out!” Her heart was pounding as her mind raced with all sorts of dangers threatening her beloved.
    “Ah, so you are still alive,” Ning said, smiling with satisfaction.
    “Was that a trick to get a rise out of me?”
    “No, it was not. However, I don’t know what’s going on. I only know that something is.”
    Clenching her fists, Lan’xiu strode back and forth in her room. “Something is wrong. I can feel it.”

Chapter 18

    S HE had been unable to eat. Her lantern remained dark, as had all the others within the square, but a feeling of hushed anticipation kept her from reading a book or occupying herself in some other way.
    When she heard Ning’s footsteps echo upon the stairs, she turned her head toward the door.
    “My Lord General and Lord Jiang wish to speak with you,” Ning said. “Downstairs in the sitting room.”
    Lan’xiu grew pale, wondering what matter was so serious as to demand the formality of a meeting in the sitting room. She never sat there herself, finding it too dark and gloomy. Her pretty yellow bedroom was much more comfortable to her, but Hüi Wei might feel now that she was well that it was not proper to admit Jiang there.
    She checked her makeup and picked up a fan before going downstairs, Ning at her heels. When she entered the sitting room, Lan’xiu sank to her knees and made the proper prostration in front of Hüi Wei and then rose to her knees to bow deeply to Jiang. “Greetings, my Lords. May I offer you tea?”
    “You may get up and sit—with us,” Hüi said, as if barely stopping himself from telling Lan’xiu to sit next to him. He seemed mesmerized to see her again. “I always forget how beautiful—” Hüi stopped short and glanced at Jiang, who seemed to be very preoccupied with a thorough examination of the embroidery on his sleeve.
    Modestly, Lan kept her eyes cast down and seated herself on the very edge of a chair, holding her fan to shield her face from Jiang’s gaze. She had never entertained a man other than Hüi Wei in her house and was unsure what this visit portended and how she should act, despite the fact Jiang had seen her at her worst. The oracles had seemed to desert her ever since she had been forced to come to this strange land, but now she felt the familiar internal tugging. She knew not what it