6 The Jade Pendant

She LiangLin came to with a weak moan. His throat felt like he had swallowed sand, his body was aching in parts, numb in other parts. He tried to blink his eyes open but the lids were too heavy so he gave up. He could feel a thin blanket covering him from his toes to his shoulders, and he realised he was stark naked underneath – but he didn't have the energy to care.

"Lin'er, how are you feeling?" LiangLin recognized the voice to be one of his sisters, yet their tones were so similar, he couldn't distinguish which one was hovering over him at the moment.

Like shit. Instead, LiangLin managed to croak, "Water..."

The cold rim of a cup was pressed over his lips and he parted them, eagerly lapping at the lukewarm water that was poured into his mouth. Feeling invigorated, LiangLin cracked his eyes open and hissed. The candlelight shone in his eyes, blinding him momentarily. Dark blotchy patches danced before his field of vision before he could make out his eldest sister, LiBai sitting beside him, peering down at him, her sculpted brows furrowed with concern.

"What happened?" LiangLin hitched himself up, leaning into his elbows. The blanket slid from his shoulders below his navel. His skin looked almost see-through in the faintly lit room – like a corpse that had just been fished out of water. LiangLin groaned as he saw his state. He remembered the terrible tightness across his entire being, and the need to consume life-force – not just any life-force, that specific one that smelled like exotic flowers. Everything after that was muddled and hazy at best.

"You passed out with a fever," LiBai said, her eyes studying him, or more precisely, his forehead. LiangLin instinctively reached up to touch it. His fingertips brushed over raised edges of large scales and he froze. How could this be? How was the mark of a snake god showing? Why now?

LiangLin scrambled to get up and get a glimpse of himself from a mirror or in the least, a reflector. But his feet were still not awake from their slumber and he winced from the sudden sting at his hip and fell back on his elbows.

"You should stay still for now," LiBai said, as she pulled the blanket back over LiangLin. "You are not in a condition to work."

"But-"

"Ma ordered you to rest and stay in your room for now." LiBai said, pressing the words 'ma' and 'ordered', hammering over LiangLin's head that this was the orders of the patriarch herself.

LiangLin held back any protests he had thought of. He merely nodded obediently and sunk back on the bed. LiBai checked his temperature, her cool hands laying comfortably against his forehead. LiangLin sighed in content. The touch felt good, calming.

"Are you hungry? I brought some congee for you, Lin'er." LiBai said as she removed her hand and stood up, rummaging about in the room. There weren't many places she could have left the congee.

The bed LiangLin slept upon was pressed against the far wall, a table for two situated in the middle while a scarce bookcase and a flower vase seemed to be the only decorations within the otherwise mundane room.

LiangLin only slept here, there was no need to pack it full of diversions – something LiangLin suddenly realised to be a problem now that he was stuck within these four walls for god knows how long.

"I'm not hungry," LiangLin muttered, silently cursing his sudden bad luck! How did it come to this? He had never heard of any shapeshifters showing signs of their real form out of nowhere. He had never heard of any shapeshifters contracting flu or fever and passing out from it either!

"I'll leave it on the table and get back to work. You get some rest and eat something when you feel better. We will check on you later." With that, LiBai stepped out and closed the door behind her. As her footsteps disappeared behind the corner, LiangLin tossed the blanket aside and stretched his feet. He wriggled his toes, sending unpleasant needle-like prickles along his numb limps. Kicking his feet a few times he jumped up and pulled his clothes on. One of his sisters had been kind enough to fold his robes in a neat pile over the chair.

As he pulled his clothes on, something glinted in the candlelight before it hit the ground with a thud. It had dropped from within his clothes. Picking the pendant up, LiangLin studied it with curiosity. He was sure he hadn't seen this jade before, he would remember if he had stolen it. It was of deep, dark green jade, looking almost black in the dim light. Carved into a dragon, heavy in the hands, priceless by the feel of it.

How come it was here? LiangLin's face scrunched up as he thought about it. He had gone through every pendant he had stolen at the pier, and even the most valuable one he stole was mere trash compared to this jade.

Before his thought process was concluded, the pendant came to life. When at first, the dragon was coiled up in a ball, it now moved, uncoiling and wrapping itself around LiangLin's right wrist as he looked at it awestruck, frozen in place. As the dragon stopped moving, it now laid neatly against LiangLin's wrist, tight enough he couldn't remove it, but loose enough his blood flow remained sufficient.

What in the world-

LiangLin blinked as the ground seemed to shift from beneath him. He leaned over the small table, taking in a shaky breath as his head swirled. He looked up at the little mirror that stood idly on the bookcase. His hand shot up to his forehead. The mosaic scale was gone!

He turned his attention back over to the jade and as the ground regained its stability, he tried to pull the pendant turned bracelet off his wrist but it didn't budge. It seemed to tighten more the longer he tried to wrung it off his arm. When pulling it didn't work, he turned to hit it against the corner of the table. Precious jade or not, LiangLin was determined to get it off him, be it intact or in pieces!

The jade didn't even chip no matter how hard he tried to crack it against a sharp edge of the table, the bookcase, the bed, even the wall. He bruised up his wrist in the struggle, but the dragon seemed brand new and unbothered.

LiangLin gritted his teeth. What the hell was this jade? He had heard of magical artefacts, but this was something entirely new. Pulling his robes properly on, LiangLin hurried out of his room. Even though he might not know of these items, surely his father would.

He hurried to pass drunken patrons and his sisters who threw surprised looks at him, but none of them tried to stop him. After all, his body had returned to normal and not even a scale was present over his smooth skin. LiangLin kicked the kitchen door in and a smoke pillar hit him in the face.

"Dad? What did you burn this time?" LiangLin coughed and heaved as he waved his hand before his face and stepped into his father's lair.

"LinLin? Why are you out here? I thought we told you to stay in your room!" Master She emerged from within the smoke, his stirring spoon in one hand, waving it threateningly. "You shouldn't be walking around in your state-"

Master She's words died out as he realised the blue mosaic scaling was gone from LiangLin's forehead. Master She let out a relieved sigh and even managed to chuckle. "Oh, so you already feel better?"

"It depends," LiangLin said, rubbing his wrist dejectedly. "I have a little problem."

Master She tensed at the words and his jovial air was gone as fast as it had appeared. "What is it, LinLin?"

LiangLin pulled up his sleeve and showed his father the pendant. All blood seemed to have drained out of master She as his eyes bulged at the bracelet.

"Where did you get that? It wasn't there last night!" Master She nearly bellowed within the small kitchen.

"I found it in my robes. What is it, exactly?" LiangLin was surprised by his father's sudden outburst, the man was almost a saint, always jovial, smiling and nodding with an agreement to his wife's every whim. He didn't like the way his father was looking at the bracelet. This didn't entail anything good.

"That is a-"

At that moment, madam She stepped in, and seeing that her son was in full health and strength, said,

"AhLin, if you already feel better, take the wine bottles upstairs this instant. A new customer has ordered all the wine we have to be distributed to all the patrons within the brothel, he will pay all the expenses. Go, now! They are waiting!"

How could there be someone so generous? LiangLin pondered as his mother piled wine bottles over his stretched out arms and ushered him out the door. Master She called after him but LiangLin was already back in his work mode. Surely the pesky bracelet could wait. And if LiangLin was honest, the bracelet did look nice on him. Not to mention, it must have been priceless. It was only a little magical bracelet, nothing more!