"You know, when I said use them as you see fit I didn't mean for you to eat half a box of pills in one night." Bright blue eyes fluttered open as Qing Shen heard a voice nearby.
She groaned in pain as tingles of intangible fire raced up and down her form. The results of the previous night were a dull memory after she let her body run on instinct. All that stood out to her was the constant warmth that traveled through her veins from all those pills she took.
Slowly, Qing Shen tried to sit up only for a firm hand to push her back to the soft bed that she found herself in. Her glossy vision finally subsided, but even then she felt as if she could barely see a grainy outline of blue dots every now and then. A throb pulsed through her head as she felt something press against her face, and she couldn't help but stifle a gasp. Finally, she could see the concerned gaze of her mysterious young master looming over her.
"You honestly should have stopped the first time." He sighed, long and exhausted, before continuing, "You're suffering from mild muscle atrophy as your body is severely starved from your stunt last night; leading your muscles to now cannibalize themselves just to keep your main organs running. I thought I told you that those healing pills practically destroyed whatever nutrients you saved up?"
"Here is the food you asked me to fetch for Miss Qing." Qing Shen winced hard as she heard the clear disappointment in the tone. She didn't even need to turn her head to know that head maid Li had entered the room.
Instead she watched as her young master nodded before speaking, "Thank you, Miss Li. I'm going to go and try to make a talisman to hopefully help. In the meantime, can you watch over Miss Qing and make sure she eats and not attempt another insane training regime?"
"Of course, I shall carry out your orders." Qing Shen could practically hear the grinding of teeth nearby.
However, her young master was a different story, and he just thanked her before running off to try and fix everything with a talisman. Qing Shen wanted to scream for him to come back as she was fairly sure that an assassination was about to happen. Her mouth would open, but only a scratchy garble would ever escape. Letting her know that her throat was as equally damaged as the rest of her.
"Here, eat quickly. The food will go cold if you don't." Head maid Li, instead of raining insult after insult or trying to kill her, sat down in the spot their young master had vacated and held a spoonful of glistening soup in front of her.
Qing Shen was hesitant at first, but, seeing no immediate threat and realizing that she was horribly hungry, quickly took the offered mouthful. Head maid Li said nothing about her conduct and professionally continued her task of feeding the still prone Qing Shen. The injured servant placidly felt that maybe she was warming up to the cold and strict maid.
"You are the most stupid and irresponsible child I have ever had the displeasure to see. You only had one job, and you still messed up more than everyone here combined." Well, Qing Shen threw her previous thought out the window and blew it to oblivion several times over.
She tried to silently convey that she never even wanted to be here in the first place, and the calm black eyes of her superior bore into her before she nodded as if she understood before speaking, "Yes, I realize that. It could have been any other village girl who had the ability to wield Spiritual Essence, but it was not. The person who was randomly found was you, and, whether you like it or not, you cannot leave this employment. Sure, Young Master never said that whenever he speaks to you, but he cannot lose you. You dying or running away means his death. I don't care what little desires and dreams you may have, but I would kill you myself here and now if it wasn't for Young Master's life being held in the balance."
Qing Shen's eyes widened at the sudden confession before her, and she couldn't help but try and fit this new information into everything. Her imagination whirled into all sorts of possible scenarios. However, the many rumors that clouded her reasoning further stymied her attempts to divine a reasoning behind why someone would die if she wasn't taken away from her village and turned into a servant.
"Don't try to learn why now. You'll probably be told by the Young Master sooner or later, but I just want you to know that your life holds much more weight than you think it does." Qing Shen's superior sighed. "Young Master is not like those so called rumors you hear; they are spread around by false mouths and glib tongues."
Qing Shen internally commented how she knew that now, but the head maid didn't seem to notice. Instead the woman continued speaking as if she had heard an answer, "My daughter told me yesterday that you seemed like a nice girl. I sincerely hope she is right. You have been here for two days so far, and your efforts so far speak otherwise."
Qing Shen really had nothing to say. She just sat there in slight shock at how much the woman had to say. Here she was listening to the woman berate her for the offense she had no idea of until now, and the worst thing was that Qing Shen couldn't even talk back. She could only hope that her young master could come in right now and save her from the older woman's sharp tongue.
As if answering her prayers, her savior did show up the second she thought of him. She then noticed that he was sweating slightly with clothes similar to hers the day prior. In his hands were a couple of talismans that looked like that had been freshly made as the ink still looked like it was drying.
"Sorry I took so long. I forgot that yesterday was a rest day, so I decided to work up a little sweat while working." He breathed harshly and something about how he spoke seemed to set off a few alarms in Qing Shen's head. Somehow she knew he was lying.
"Little Yong, how many Essence Refining pills did you take?" Qing Shen had to try and not react to how different the head maid seemed at the moment. She looked like she would break at any moment as she fretted over her master, and Qing Shen suddenly remembered the fragile smile of Li Ling yesterday.
However, the young master sighed instead of answering before sparing a glance in Qing Shen's direction. The bedridden girl felt that a silent conversation took place in the next seconds, but all that happened was just the head maid straightening her face into one of stern worry. Without another word, she nodded before sending a glance to Qing Shen with something of warning.
"Alright let's get you fixed up." Her young master's words were soft, as if afraid to hurt her more than she already was. "Just relax and try not to use your Spiritual Essence to fight it, okay? Your body may feel like it's getting stronger too, but try not to move to vigorously."
With his calm words, her brown haired young master placed a talisman onto her stomach, and suddenly she felt his words were unfit for what she went through. An unbearable itch encompassed her entire body like she had been rolling around in a patch of ivy. She felt her body swell as if it was being filled to the brim with water before it contracted, and the process repeated on endlessly till she felt herself settle down.
"Whew, there. Not too bad I hope." He laughed nervously beside her. Qing Shen's poisonous glace probably told him all he wanted to know as he coughed briefly. "So… How do you feel? Any other discomforts you might want to complain about?"
Qing Shen moved a hand to rub her throat slowly before trying to force some words out. Her voice came out into a scratchy approximation, but she could finally speak again, "Ahem, I'm sorry for disregarding your orders yesterday… and for not thinking about the consequences for my actions."
"Well, consider your apology accepted!" Her young master answered, with the most innocent of smiles, not a second after she finished. Then his expression slowly fell into a serious one, and Qing Shen could practically feel the mood of the conversation changing. "Now, let's talk about what Miss Li probably said while I was gone. First, I want to apologize if she offended you in any way. Also, could you please save any questions till I know what you know?"
Qing Shen blinked incredulously. "You want to apologize for her? How would you know what she said?"
"I guess you could say I know her well enough. She was the one to raise me, after all." He answered with an embarrassed laugh. He leaned back in his chair slowly with a look of feigned innocence before further explaining, "I could tell she didn't really like you, but she's normally distrustful to everyone till she gets to know them more. Don't let it bother you and keep doing what you've been doing… I mean, without the parts of almost dying… Anyways, let me know what she told you, so I can clarify anything."
Qing Shen forgot to reply for a second, trying to accept the new information when it came, and soon she went to gather her thoughts while pushing her worries for later, "Um, all she told me was a bit on why I was… employed here. How if I ran away or died so would… so would you."
She didn't know if she had explained it the right way, but she definitely left out the parts where head maid Li had absolutely torn into her. Qing Shen didn't know if she would have the face to explain all that. Her answers didn't seem to be wrong as her young master had changed his posture to drum his right hand fingers on his lips in his thinking pose.
"Yes, that sounds about right." He finally said after some deliberation. Then he sighed, as if an invisible weight had just been forced against him. "I will spare you the details as I am sure those would bore you to no end, if my ramblings were anything to go by. Just know that I am under constant scrutiny by my family because of some stupid, annoying noble politics, and any mistake I make would give my older brothers enough reason to kill me. I am sorry that I had to drag you into my troubles, but if I die then I have no idea what would happen to my retainers. That now includes you too if you didn't know."
Qing Shen watched as her young master bitterly laughed. He was so young and seemed to have to carry the weight of the world on his back. She felt like kicking her past self for thinking that this young master only cared for despicable things when all he wanted was to live and keep those around him safe. Now all she wanted to do was to find out more, and hope to help in some way.
"I do not pretend to understand the situation, but I will understand the seriousness of it." Qing Shen began before taking a deep breath. Sure, he seemed to be kind and understanding, but she didn't want to take advantage of his him by being impolite. So carefully, she asked, "However, why did you have to choose a girl from the villages with the ability to manipulate Spiritual Essence?"
Her young master looked bashful for a second then began to speak, "Well… I can't really manipulate more than a very small bit of my Spiritual Essence. Just enough to activate talismans actually, and since even people who haven't trained their Essence can use talismans, it's a rather pitiful amount. Luckily enough, I have some knowledge in talismans. However, I lack the ability to infuse even myself my Spiritual Essence, and couldn't even create the Essence infused ink needed to make talismans. My brothers had the wonderful solution to send someone who could do just that for me. Since they're always looking for ways to either kill me or cripple me, accepting would just invite all sorts of danger onto myself and those around me."
He sighed as if remembering some great ordeal while Qing Shen noticed he had rubbed his chest unknowingly. She chose to not bring it up as he continued, "This is where my selfish solution to recruit someone who could fulfill the requirements came in. It's also where you came in. With you here then my brothers have no reason to send whoever, and so long as you don't die or become indisposed then I can plan around whatever they might come up with."
"So you have a plan for them?" Qing Shen asked slowly as she realized that her young master was leading up to something.
He smiled deeply, feeling pleased that she caught on so quick, "Yes, it wasn't until recently that my so called natural talent with talismans was found out. Your involvement wasn't part of my original plans, and I'm doing my best to keep you separate from what I'm doing. So far it's not working since I'm telling you right now. For now, that's all I can tell you about why you're here. I'll try to answer any questions though as well as make your stay here as pleasant and rewarding for your troubles as possible."
Qing Shen was silent for awhile after he had finished. Firstly, she had no idea why his brothers were conspiring against him, or what plans he had come up with. She wasn't as stubborn as to press the issue, but she disliked being left out of things. However, as she tried to wrap her head around the situation, she couldn't help to grasp onto one thing he had said.
"Can I go home when whatever you are planning is finished?" She asked carefully.
"Of course," her young master smiled, assuaging most of her worries. "In fact, give me a year to plan around you, and I can personally take you home with gift for your parents who I have so suddenly stolen you from."
"That's… would that be a problem for you?" Qing Shen probed as hope began to well up in her eyes. She had not thought that she would ever see her loved ones when she was sent here. Now, she had unknowingly been drawn into some plot.
He smiled again with one that didn't belong on his young features. It made him seem much older. "It would be a simple task."
"Um, I also want to ask why taking Essence Refining pills would tire you. I can't remember, but I don't think something happened to me when I took them." Qing Shen said, slowly feeling more confident talking to the younger boy. It helped that he didn't seem to care how courteous she was.
"Ah, I was worrying that you had overheard that." He smiled wryly before pausing, trying to arrange his thoughts, "It doesn't really matter no that you know I can't really manipulate Spiritual Essence in the way you do. Well, to fully explain I need to know that you know what exactly the Essence Refining pills."
Qing Shen, hearing the unasked question, answered, "I was told that they just help in controlling more Spiritual Essence, but only the Essence which is used during meditation."
"Yeah, that's a good enough description." The young child nodded, flashing a calm smile. "It doesn't really explain the specific chemical inconsistencies that so many pills are rife with, but I certainly can't ask you that. Anyways, my condition doesn't really like when I try to manipulate more than I am able. Don't worry though, I'm used to the feeling. I used to do it all the time before you showed up."
"I see…" Qing Shen simply said. For some reason she was beginning dislike how everyone here hid what the wanted through a smile. Well, maybe not head maid Li, but Qing Shen disliked her regardless.
Qing Shen traced her eyes over the boy sitting next to her, and finally she came to a conclusion. Lack of strength got her into this situation, and the same applied to the brown haired child before her. She already knew the first step was confidence. Now all she needed was the strength to carry out everything.
Her resolve steeled, and internally made plans of her own while spinning a smile towards her trustworthy captor, "Thank you for telling me, Zhang Yong."
Zhang Yong smiled back, completely unaware he had gained the most unlikely of support, "You're welcome, Miss Qing."