An envelope was placed on Madam Lin's desk. She looks up at Mister Song with her lips slightly curved upwards, but not the slightest bit of the smile entered her eyes. The room was suffocating, and Mister Song could feel it too.
"Was that her request?" Madam Lin asked. Her eyes trained on the letter that was within the thin envelope. The words on the envelope were written to: My Sister. The words were written beautifully, from the hands of a noblewoman. It was such a pity though. Madam Lin did not reach for the letter though. Her eyelids half-closed as though on the verge of sleep.
"Yes, here is the letter addressed to you." Mister Song answered serenely. He knew well enough that she would not fall asleep at this time.
After some time, she took up the letter, turning to Mister Song, she says "I would like to have some privacy."
Mister Song looked at her, with a touch of understanding in his eyes. After that, he quietly left the room, leaving the place to herself. The shadow that guarded her room also disappeared from the usual spot.
With all gone, Madam Lin had the place all to herself. No matter what was to happen within this room was to remain a secret that only she would know, and no one else. Thinking about this, she reached for the envelope.
~
A gray falcon flew above the dense gray clouds. The air was nothing but gray, as though the day and night had melted together to form this mess. But this was above the rolling clouds so there was nothing to be seen. In one quick swoop, the falcon flaps its wings and plunged headfirst into the sea of gray below. The gray so dense that one wondered if it was something that could easily breakthrough, and not some impenetrable wall that prevented passage.
Within a spacious room, Feng Yun was sitting at a small table reading a novel that she bought at the night market place, where all sorts of local goods were sold. She enjoyed reading the local novels as they allowed her to get familiar with what stories were being circulated among the common people. She found that no matter what time it was, there were two types that were always popular amongst the youth.
One was the tales of romance between two lovers, braving through all types of hardships and finally reaching their goal, living happily ever after in the end. The other type was the tales of heroism and brotherhood amongst people. With the fights for justice, and the corrupt official being executed in the end.
But in what world would there be such perfectly fitted endings? In what world would goodness always prevail? What classified a person as good? Feng Yun found herself asking all sorts of questions and looked up at Feng Rong who was sitting by the open window, looking lazily at the passerbys walking below.
They had decided to stay at an inn within the city. It was not on the busiest main street of the city, but they could still see many people walking by, going about their day.
"Ah Rong, close the window." Feng Yun who was reading her book called out. Her eyes not leaving the book.
Feng Rong nodded as he looked at the sky. It was sunny right now, but the weather in the south was always unpredictable. There would be times when it rained for a while, then the skies were clear again. As though the weather was predicted by the mere toss of a die every few minutes.
Just as he was about to reach for the windows, he saw a bird diving towards the window at full speed.
"Eh, there's a falcon coming towards us, do I let it in?" Feng Rong looked up in surprise and asked. How interesting it would be to close the window as the falcon dove at full speed. Of course, it would be more interesting to watch from the other side of the closed window.
"Yes."
Feng Rong could only sigh in regret. It seemed the good show of a dizzy bird could only be enjoyed another time.
The falcon was well trained and had good control over its body. It is unknown if it would truly slam into the window should Feng Rong decide to close slam the shutters shut.
The falcon soon flew past Feng Rong and landed by Feng Yun. The windows quickly closed afterward and Feng Rong looked at the falcon with indignant eyes as though wondering why it chose to land next to Feng Yun and not next to him.
Feng Yun marked her page and closed the book with a smile. She picked up some leftover meatballs from the plate and tossing them over to the falcon. To which the meat was gobbled up instantly. Her delicate hands caressed the gray feathers, as she carefully removed the bamboo tube attached to the falcon's claw.
She checked the seal on the tube to make sure it had not been tampered with and removed the slip of paper within. Her expression was stern while reading it. It was an expression that did not match up with her youthful face. A strange combination it was.
Feng Rong watched silently on the side. Unable to disturb that stern expression of hers' "What is it about?" After a while, he couldn't continue waiting and asked impatiently.
"The imperial capital will be in chaos soon." Feng Yun said nonchalantly. Her expression was no longer stern, changing back to the carefree young lady who had gone on an outing with her beloved. However, the words she said were quite frightening. Such words would be spoken of behind closed doors, if overheard by anyone, they would most likely be arrested and brought in for questioning.
"Oh." Feng Rong did not seem to care too much. He thought about it for a while and asked, "Do you want to return to see if Madam needs your help?" He perhaps thought that the chaos that would be able to stir up the imperial capital would be of Madam Lin's doing, and if she were to do it, perhaps she could use some help.
Feng Yun smiled and asked: "Ah Rong, do you think the chaos in the capital needs to be done by Madam alone? Or are you underestimating the ability of those people to stir up trouble? Isn't the capital already perfectly capable of collapsing by itself with all those powerful families and the sickly emperor?"
"Yun'er is right." Feng Rong said dejectedly. As he went over and massaged Feng Yun's shoulders, the way a good husband would do after a small banter with his wife.
"Feng Yun had a proud face on as though to say 'Aren't I always right?' She then closed her eyes and her body relaxed.