Wolf King And His Fox Consort [BL]

At that moment Xiao Zai approached them, asking out loud, "Who asked for grandmother?"

"Chu Hean's master," Chu Yun said, keeping his register low.

The Queen Dowager appeared over Xiao Zai's shoulder at the same time his eyes widened with a silent hiss.

"Why the aura of secrecy?" she asked, clearly amused.

Hua Nanyi shot Chu Yun an apologetic grimace. He understood she couldn't just hide the information from the Queen Dowager, and in any case, her own servants would inform her, and Hua Nanyi would then find herself in a compromising position.

"Answering her Royal Highness: an elderly man, accompanying a young woman, requests an audience with her Royal Highness, and says that her Royal Highness expects him."

The Queen Dowager's thin eyebrows rose in recognition, and a pleasant smile lifted the corners of her lined lips. "So it seems, tell the servants to show him to the Orchid Room."

Xiao Zai didn't need telling to understand the meaningful arch of Chu Yun's eyebrows. "Why don't I walk grandmother there?" He offered, already taking her arm.

"I'll go as well, the walk will do me good," Chu Yun said, making a point of massaging his lower back.

The Queen Dowager swept a knowing gaze between the two of them but said nothing, allowing Xiao Zai to walk her out of the courtyard and up into the wooden walkway. Chu Yun waited for a moment before calling over Tan Ruo.

"If anyone asks say we left to handle some urgent matters but will be back soon," he chanced a look at his father swinging  Xiao Fei back and forth in his arms. "Tell my father to put down my son."

Tan Ruo let out a strangled, nervous laugh, "I can't tell him that."

"Improvise," Chu Yun said, and left.

---

They arrived in the Orchid Room before Master Chen and the young woman accompanying him, who, Chu Yun could only guess, must have been one of his disciples.

He couldn't stop pacing in front of the door, betraying his own nerves. He hadn't given Harmonious Resonance, a second thought in the past months -- the last thing he expected was to have them come calling.

Neither he nor Xiao Zai had meddled in their affairs; they hadn't exposed the academy in any way, so he expected them to leave them alone.

The Queen Dowager watched him with a knowing eye, amused by his distress in a way that made him want to snap at her.

If she wanted to have him assassinated she would have to try harder than this.

Finally, the servants outside announced Master Chen, and the Queen Dowager bid them entry. Chu Yun remained at Xiao Zai's side, stiff as a board.

Master Chen looked no different than the last time Chu Yun had seen him. He walked with the aid of a beautifully carved walking staff, but he moved fluidly, the staff was more of a concession to his blindness than any physical impairment.

The young girl in his company looked almost feral. Despite her clean robes, her hair was matted and her wild eyes drifted around the room in as much wonder as suspicion. She glanced only briefly at the three of them before returning her attention to Master Chen, who she seemed to trust.

Chu Yun was sure she wasn't one of his disciples. They were all perfectly poised, and this woman had the manners of someone who had seldom interacted with civilised society.

The Queen Dowager eyed her studiously. "This is she?"

Master Chen nodded, his lips pressed into a tight line. He was displeased for some reason. "On the terms of the contract, and payment delivered to Harmonious Resonance, we have located and brought to her Royal Highness, the young human child who was taken into Xin to be raised in secret at the request of her parent, the late Prince Xiao Yao."

Chu Yun went very still. Looking at the girl in shock.

"This is Ru Long's twin?" Xiao Zai asked his grandmother, just as disbelieving.

"That is what Master Chen must prove to us."

The old master swallowed tightly, his fingers curling on his walking staff. He seemed to go tenser whenever the Queen Dowager spoke.

He went on to describe the pains Harmonious Resonance had gone through, on the terms of the contract, to find the girl according to the information they were provided.

The girl's life had been rife with tragedy.

She reached the family she was entrusted to, and who were supposed to keep her until they heard back from either Xiao Yao or the King of Su, with instructions from how to return her to one or both of them.

They never heard back, but that wasn't the tragedy, as they treated her very well. She was taken in by an up and coming family of Xin merchants, who doted on her despite her being a human, until a terrible fire destroyed the family home and killed the entire family.

Chu Yun's eyes met Xiao Zai's -- his shocked expression a perfect mirror of his own.

No, what were the odds?

"How-how did she survive the fire?" he asked, his voice thick with emotion. If he closed his eyes he'd be back there, surrounded by smoke and fire, choking on the smell of burning bodies.

"According to the family who took her in next, she was in the servant's quarters at the time, pestering an old nurse for sweets when the fire broke out," he sighed deeply, "the old woman struggled to get herself and the young girl out of the house, but according to some reports the fire wasn't of entirely natural causes, so escape was fraught."

He paused meaningfully, and Chu Yun felt bile at the back of his throat. He was certain now. His gaze drifted towards the girl, who looked back at him with no recognition in her eyes.

"The old nurse managed to get the girl to a house in a village nearby, after travelling through the night but succumbed of her injuries after telling her tale and begging the family to take the little girl in."

"And what has she said?" Xiao Zai asked, looking at the young woman who bared her teeth at him.

"As far as anyone knows, she hasn't spoken a word since that day."