Chapter 37 37

Chapter 37 37
Lu Ren walked into the side courtyard of the estate, his boots damp from the morning dew that clung to the high grass near the outer walls. The sun was fully up now, casting long, sharp light across the stone brick path. He adjusted the wide, grey sleeves of his scholar robes, smoothing down the creased fabric with his palms.

As he turned the corner near the low wall of the pavilion, he stopped.

Xiao Ruyan was standing by the stone pillar. She was wrapped in a pale green outer cloak, her long hair tied back loosely with a simple wooden pin. Her face looked a bit pale in the bright daylight, and her fingers were dug into the fabric of her sleeves. She wasn't pacing. She was just standing perfectly still, watching the archway that led to the outer paths. She didn't look angry. Her jaw wasn't set in the way it usually was when the household was in trouble. She just looked tired and worried.

When she heard his footsteps against the stone, her head snapped up.

"Did you see her?" she asked immediately. She didn't use a greeting. She didn't look around to see if the guards were listening. She took two fast steps toward him, her eyes searching his face.

Lu Ren stopped a few feet away from her. He looked at the way her fingers were trembling slightly against her silk robe. He didn't answer right away. He looked back toward the corridor behind him to ensure the servants hadn't followed him from the stables.

"Yes," Lu Ren said. His voice was low, barely louder than the breeze hitting the bamboo trees nearby.

Xiao Ruyan took a short, sharp breath. She stepped closer, her voice dropping even lower. "Is she safe? Did she get past the lower ridge before the patrol changed?"

Lu Ren nodded once. "She is fine. She crossed the boundary line before the sun was fully over the trees."

"And the traveler?" she asked, her eyebrows pulling together as she looked at him. "The one Lu Chen found in the woods? Was he with her?"

"He was," Lu Ren said. He pulled his hands back into his wide sleeves, his expression completely blank. "He was trying to build a fire when I found them. He doesn't know how to handle the dry moss in these valleys, but he was there."

Xiao Ruyan exhaled quietly. The tension in her neck seemed to drop, and her shoulders relaxed under the heavy green wool of her cloak. She let out a breath she seemed to have been holding since the middle of the night.

"Good," she whispered. She looked down at the gravel at their feet, her lips moving silently as if she were repeating the word to herself. "Good. That is something at least."

Lu Ren didn't move. He stood there, his tall frame blocking the view of the main path from anyone walking by the pavilion. He looked at her for a long time, his gaze steady and heavy. He knew more than he was saying. He knew about the extra silver he had left in the brush, and he knew about the look of doubt that had crossed his sister's face when he spoke to her. He knew that a girl who had spent her whole life behind wooden screens wouldn't survive three weeks on the southern roads without a proper name or an official pass.

Xiao Ruyan looked up and met his eyes. She didn't look away. She knew more than she showed too. She knew that Lu Ren hadn't just gone out for a morning walk, and she knew that the silence in the main house wasn't going to last past noon. The master of the house would be calling for his daughter soon, and the empty room would be found.

Neither of them spoke the words aloud.

"The kitchen is starting to prepare the morning tea," Xiao Ruyan said after a minute, her voice returning to its usual flat, polite tone. "Your father has already asked for the account books from the northern granary. You should change your boots before you go to the hall. The mud on the leather is dark and obvious he would be able to determine you went out."

Lu Ren looked down at his feet. The dark wet sand from the forest thicket was caked around the soles of his boots, completely different from the grey dust of the estate's courtyard. "I will change them."

"Lu Chen was out late too," she said, her eyes shifting toward the eastern wing of the house. "A-Fu said he was walking the walls until the third watch. He is staying in his room today. Xiao Chen is looking after him."

"Lu Chen does what he wants now," Lu Ren said flatly. "He doesn't ask for permission, and he doesn't explain himself to the servants."

"He gave her the gold, didn't he?" Xiao Ruyan asked. It wasn't a real question. She looked at Lu Ren's face, trying to find a crack in his calm expression. "The silver from the eastern chest. The locks weren't broken, but the numbers are so short."

Lu Ren didn't blink. "The accounting is my responsibility. If the numbers are short, I will adjust the ledger before the auditors arrive next month. You don't need to concern yourself with the chests."

"I am not concerned about the silver, Ren," she said, her voice sharpening just a bit. "I am concerned about what happens when the Master realizes that three of his children were awake while the house was supposed to be asleep. He is not a man who accepts coincidences."

"Then we don't give him any," Lu Ren replied. He took a step past her, his shoulder brushing against the green fabric of her cloak. "The girl is gone. The traveler is gone. Anything else that happens in this courtyard is just standard business."

Xiao Ruyan turned her head to watch him walk toward the side door of his private quarters. "And if they catch them before they reach the river?"

Lu Ren paused with his hand on the wooden doorframe. He didn't look back at her. His back was straight, his long hair falling squarely down the middle of his grey robe. "They won't catch them. Ryuji knows how to stay in the bush, and Qing knows how to keep her mouth shut when she is frightened. They have enough silver to buy passage on the wood."

"That silver won't buy a new identity if the provincial guards check the logs," she said.

"Then they will have to be lucky," Lu Ren said. He pushed the door open, the wood scraping lightly against the stone floor. "We have done what we can here. Go back to the main hall before the maids start looking for you. If you are found standing by my pavilion at this hour, the servants will start talking."

Xiao Ruyan didn't move for a moment. She watched the dark opening of the doorway until Lu Ren stepped inside and pulled the screen shut behind him. The click of the wooden latch was loud in the empty courtyard.

She stood by the stone pillar for another minute, her hands still tucked deep into her green sleeves. The wind blew through the bamboo, shaking the leaves with a dry, rustling sound. She looked at the mud on the stone path where Lu Ren had stood, then looked back toward the main house where the smoke from the kitchen fires was starting to rise into the grey sky.

She turned and walked back toward the central gallery, her silk slippers making no sound against the gravel. She kept her head down, her face perfectly calm as she passed two kitchen maids carrying heavy wooden tubs of water toward the well.

"Good morning, Lady Ruyan," one of the maids said, dropping into a quick bow.

Xiao Ruyan didn't stop. She gave a small nod of her head, her face smooth and expressionless. "The Master will want his tea hot today. See that the fire is kept up."

"Yes, Lady," the maid replied, continuing toward the well.

Xiao Ruyan walked into the dark hallway of the inner house, the shadows swallowing the green of her cloak.