Nobody knew what had happened that night.
When Lin Feng woke, it was already morning. A woman lay asleep beside him. He smiled at the memory of last night's whispering and entanglement, then reached out—only to recoil at the chill.
"Cold…" he muttered.
Sensing something wrong, he flipped her over. The woman's skin had begun to bruise and darken with lividity. She had been dead for some time.
Lin Feng sprang up. Before long, Madam Li from the Spring Blossom House dashed in. She froze at the sight.
"Madam Li, what on earth—?" Lin Feng asked.
The madam’s face drained of color. The moment she understood, she went limp to the floor, her eyes glazed. This single night had ruined them—the reputation of Spring Blossom House, everything, gone.
"Master Lin… this, this—" she stammered.
"She's one of your girls, isn't she?" Lin Feng asked.
"Yes," she whispered.
Lin Feng let out a short, hard laugh. He kicked the corpse aside, as if even the night before's sweet talk were already a lie. "Madam Li, why the long face? One girl dead. The fifty pieces of gold I gave you last night would have bought her life."
"Fifty gold… that was from you, Master Lin?" she croaked.
Lin Feng frowned. Perhaps the girl had been skimming, only handing over fifty gold to the madam—such things happened. "Who else would it be from?"
Madam Li scrabbled for words. "Master Lin, about that—"
"Drag her out. Feed her to the dogs," Lin Feng said, and turned to leave.
As he passed, he noticed Madam Li flinch inward, as if trying to slip by him. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
"I—I'm not, Master Lin, you must be mistaken," she wailed.
Her eyes darting made Lin Feng cold as a blade. He seized her by the collar and threw her aside. Her waist slammed against the floor with a sickening crack; she felt as if several ribs had broken. She dared not cry out. Kneeling, she beat her forehead against the boards, pleading for mercy.
"Tell me the truth," Lin Feng said. "How did this happen?"
Only then did Madam Li begin to tell the story in a trembling, broken voice.
The girl's name had been Si Si. She was from the Jiangchang garrison, betrothed as a child to a boy called Er Niu. Er Niu had gone to enlist and never returned; Si Si had waited for him. When her father fell gravely ill and the family sank into poverty, they borrowed two qian of silver from Madam Li—just enough to buy a straw mat for his burial.
Si Si worked at a teahouse and, saving every coin, went to Spring Blossom House to repay the debt. Madam Li, seeing how pretty she was, thought to profit. She offered Si Si a place in the house with wages five times higher than a teahouse's. Trusting the woman who had once lent money to bury her father, Si Si accepted.
On her first night at Spring Blossom House, a corpulent, indulgent local notable took a fancy to her. The patron's fee was high. That night Madam Li had Si Si bound and sent her up to his room. Si Si screamed and pounded on the door, but no one answered. Madam Li thought: after the first night she'll grow used to it—what harm was there? She told herself it was the only way to keep a young girl in the business.
Three days later, word came that the notable had died suddenly. Worse—he had been discovered to have a venereal disease. By then Si Si had already lost hope. The night before, she had gone alone to the lake and slipped beneath the water. When she was pulled out, life had gone from her.
Yesterday Madam Li had had her men wrap Si Si's body in a straw mat and throw her on the paupers' hill. But now, inexplicably, Si Si's corpse lay in Lin Feng's room—an arrangement that looked too deliberate to be accidental.
When Madam Li finished, Lin Feng's hand moved like a sword. He ended her with a single, sharp stroke. Her beating stopped. Even so, the color in his face had drained away.
Back at the Lin residence, Lin Feng grew more and more pallid by the day. His complexion faded; his strength waned. Xiao Meiren watched helplessly. Time had creased her skin—she kept her beauty now only with the aid of preservation pills—but Lin Feng's visits to her room had grown few. Men could be heartless. She loved him and resented him at once.
Madam Xiang, seeing how ill he looked, could not help but press him. "Master, at least call an alchemist to examine you," she urged. "If you're worried about others, ask Zhao Shuning. She isn't the most seasoned, but she knows alchemy."
After thinking it over, Lin Feng consented. He sent for Zhao Shuning.
Zhao had already prepared. She'd spread word that she lived in a nunnery in the rear hills; when men from the Lin household came looking, she hesitated only a moment before following them down. Approaching the Lin main compound, she kept to herself. When she stepped into Lin Feng's chamber and saw him on the bed, an involuntary smile tugged at her lips. So this was the man who'd let his appetite drag him into ruin.
Lin Feng dismissed everyone outside then said, "Shuning, whatever happened today—keep it to yourself."
"Understood," she answered.
These days he wanted to be called by a new title—"grandfather"—instead of his usual "Master Lin." Zhao Shuning placed her fingers to his pulse and removed the red cord. Her face grew grave.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Master… your condition has deteriorated, and—"
"And why?"
"Venereal disease," she said bluntly.
Lin Feng stared blankly at the ceiling. "I suspected. Can it be cured?"
Zhao Shuning nodded. "Yes. But it will take time and careful treatment. For an alchemist, it's treatable, but it's complicated. You need a long regimen to restore your system."
"Then treat it," he said hoarsely. "Can you do it?"
"I can. But… why not summon Madam Haitang? She's skilled as well. Why delay so long?"
"Haitang?" Lin Feng's jaw tightened. "I clashed with her over my plan to send Qingying to the border. I had her locked in the dungeon to think on her mistake. A few days ago someone said she had gone mad."
Zhao Shuning's eyes widened. "Madam Haitang—insane? Really?"
Lin Feng waved a hand as if dismissing any obligation to be concerned. "She treated you harshly before. Don't let old ties trouble you now."