The ripples

It began during breakfast. For a time Yue'er was visibly nervous and when I asked about it, she began crying and asked to take her along on our elopement. I told her, that she won't be abandoned. Then explained that she can easily join the alchemist association as a senior apprentice or even primary master gaining support (and protection) of one of the city's core forces. Yet she insisted on following us, which I promised to discuss with Shen Xiu.

The market was practically tingling with excitement. The school was buzzing, literally. Hushed voices, sneaky glances, sudden turns of the head. My gang (book carriers) was waiting at the entrance, almost swelling with pride. On our way to master Chen's dojo, we passed another focus of attention, sister Xiu, who was talking with one of the elders in the hall. Once she caught my eyes she has shown me four fingers (meaning her ascension to 4th Silver Stars). I was only bronze 2nd star yet (as of this morning).

Master Chen openly congratulated me for my invention, talking about a bright future before us. I said it was inspired by Nie Li's words and supported by my friends. In the end, master Chen told us to train in pairs, Nie Li was paired with Du Ze (showing him some move), my partner was Luo Shan (one of my gang). He asked if I can put a word (with a guild) about his platform. I said that they should be pressed from all side for now, but I would look for some short-term solution for the entire gang.

Once the class was over, I found things outside changed, I was invited to five different parties happening within the next two days. I had no time to rest, so I rejected them all including Chen Linjian and cousin Ye Hong (named so after Shen Hong). And then I met brother Fei right before the library's door.

"Little bro!" - the bastard called.

"Brother Fei! How are you doing?" - private and public relations are different things.

"Great, just great!" - he answered with the smile, which was fake like a 17 dollars bill.

"Good to hear, see you around." - the door was so close.

"You know, there's that party tonight ..." - it was definitely a trap (of the bad kind).

"There's a lot of them, you know Chen, Huyan, so I'll be late." - like not at all.

"Ahh, you are right, I'll be at Infinite Jade Dragon Stealing The Moon parlor." - he said with a sincere smile. It was the first-rate brothel, which only confirmed my suspicions.

"Jade Dragon, tonight - got it," - I agreed instantly. - "I heard good things about that place."

"I'll be waiting, little bro." - he confirmed, finally letting me pass.

As I took my usual seat in a well-lit section and send my minions to get my fix. It gave me a minute to consider the recent turn of events. Nie Li simply lacked the power to set things up, yet the usual xianxia twist of betrayal came after me. There is just so much I can do: neither going nor ignoring would help me - even in the best-case scenario Shen Fei must have got help from the Dark Guild.

Zi Yun arrived a couple of minutes later, along with the first batch of books. The comparison took around 15 minutes. After that, we proceded to flip through all the ancient books, searching for familiar Sigils. Knowing building blocks of Sigil we could easily identify a number of new sigils matching style of the known patterns. We even had a small competition going to see who would find a larger number of them.

A couple of hours later, big sis has joined us at the table checking our notes and showing her own. She even joined the race and won two more hours later, unsurprisingly. Along the way, we discussed these parties and I told them of my concern about Fei's trap. Zi Yun said that she would ask an uncle to send some experts to check things out. Shen Xiu said that she would bring mistress Feng (a black-gold ranked fighter that teaches martial arts to girls) and prepare some Inscriptions. I asked them to coordinate their efforts because it could turn very bad very fast.

Once it was decided, I asked if Zi Yun would be willing to look after my maid, Xiao Yue, because she would be a prime target for brother Fei's revenge. In result, they convinced me to spend a night at City lord's manor as well.