Mayumi stiffened, instantly grasping the implication. What if Ya Huan's plight had been orchestrated entirely by the Ximen family? What if this girl was meant to infiltrate the Te household as an informant?
Before she could stammer an apology, Te Gaogui raised a hand.
"This is only caution," the heiress emphasized. "There is no evidence to condemn her." She poured another cup of tea and nudged it toward the Kyoshi Warrior. "Don't trouble yourself. If the Ximen family wished to plant a spy, they would have done so regardless. You have committed no fault."
The reassurance eased some of Mayumi's guilt. Lady Te then explained the secondary reason she accepted Ya Huan. Apart from the vacancy in her household, the girl had served not as a mere menial worker but as a close attendant to Jin Lian herself. Such proximity made her valuable, even if it came with risks.
"Besides, I don't mind another helper," Lady Te added lightly. "Unlike back at our old estate in Zigan, I have only Aunt Ayi and the coachman. Since my previous lady-in waiting, Tao Zhi, has retired to be married, so a reliable replacement is hard to come by here."
The quiet hum of the courtyard settled over them, and Mayumi realized no other servants dwelled within here. Her gaze drifted to Te Gaogui, who had begun studying the sword at Mayumi's side.
"A new blade?" the noblewoman asked.
Mayumi nodded slowly. "I can explain. It is not a gift."
Te Gaogui arched a brow. Her expression teetered between amusement and confusion. Even by the standards of provincial oddities, Mayumi's hesitance seemed undeniably absurd.
"I have not even asked anything of you yet," Te Gaogui remarked abruptly, steering the conversation elsewhere. "It is rather impressive that you secured the help of the White Scholar. What surprises me even more is that he chose to hire you. From my previous encounters, he is… not like the others."
The vast majority of Upper Ring scions or prospecting scholars received their education beneath the canopy of Earth Sage orthodoxy, the mainstream philosophy that supposedly guides Earth Kingdom governance for thousands of years. Their minds are shaped by this school of thought that dominates nearly every academy, every salon, every public debate. But those Legalists, how many remain? How many young scholars, if any still exist at all, would dare pledge their intellect to that infamous doctrine and proclaim such allegiance openly? If Shan is indeed the last of his generation to embrace that tyrannical and unforgiving school of thought that frightened nobles across history, then his very presence marks him as a singular figure. His conduct alone distinguishes him from the Upper Ring scions who depend on elegant rhetoric and the well-polished sayings of the First Earth Sage whenever the need arises. In truth, most would not walk the harsher road hardened by the cold and denounced machinery of statecraft, yet it is one he upholds with unwavering conviction.
Mayumi clarified that the sword he gifted her is purely professional. Jin Lian's humiliation at the scholar's siheyuan had already spread across the Upper Ring, so Lady Te naturally knew of the mysterious woman who had defeated a contingent of Ximen clan's Fubing soldiers.
"A fitting gift," Lady Te noted, seizing the opportunity to pry delicately into Shan's mindset. "Tell me, is there anything the White Scholar might appreciate as a present?"
It was a reasonable question. Recent rumors, which some suspect it could be intentional, had it that Shan's mentor Han Fei and the Te patriarch had conspired to arrange a marriage. Mayumi merely obliged, helping her benefactor in this instance. But aside from the scholar's disdain for seafood, there very isn't much to divulge. Common gifts such as expensive calligraphies and artworks are worthless to someone who can make those easily.
"He does enjoy tea," the swordswoman offered, though in truth, nearly everyone in the world enjoyed leaves boiled in water, herself included. She then recounted his indifference toward lavish gifts of expensive porcelain sent by noble families, the unmistakable pattern of disinterest.
"Interesting," Lady Te appears to contemplate.
Since she was already Shan's retainer, Mayumi decided to add a more candid observation.
"My Lady, I suspect his opinion of the major families is... less than favorable," she said diplomatically. Though she harbored no doubts regarding Te Gaogui's character, such sentiments are understandable given Shan's past dealings.
Lady Te conceded her own inability to 'read' the White Scholar. Frankly most people can only operate with the perception he wishes to display. "I considered sending him a box of the most exquisite Zigan tea, but that now seems futile," she said, knowing his lack of material greed.
Yet Shan was also hardly a spiritual man either. He avoided temples, lacked any visible religious devotion, and did not follow any imported Air Nomad teachings or the superstitions of Earth Kingdom folk traditions. Many scholars would at least pray to something or someone before participating in the Civil Service Examination.
"Lady Ti, if I may inquire, would it be reasonable to suspect that Shan harbors ambitions for a higher post within the city's hierarchy?" Mayumi measured each word with deliberate intricacy, testing the waters with practiced subtlety. Though the heiress appeared momentarily perplexed, she nevertheless paused to consider the question.
"He is a Zhuangyuan-ranked scholar," Te Gaoguo replied, her tone firm and assured. "Like all who attain such distinction, it is only natural that he should seek further advancement and prestige. Even lacking noble lineage, one with his credentials is all but guaranteed a path toward the uppermost echelons of Ba Sing Se's authority."
Yet the true nature of Shan's origins remained hazy, whether he hailed from the Lower Ring or from some forgotten quarter of the city, no one could say with any certainty.
"Well, I cannot say more," Te Gaogui concluded. "But what matters is that his talents will carry him to places above my potential. With Director Han Fei as his mentor, it would not surprise me to see the White Scholar serving alongside the one who governs this city. Yet, even I can sense his impatience. Some of the finest scholars across history would lament that no matter their merit, there is always a ceiling they cannot breach without severe upheaval."
It was at this moment, Mayumi spoke something she wished she hadn't said, an amateur mistake due to her upbringing in a backwater village.
"Do you think he harbors ambitions for the royal thro—?"
"I believe what you meant is whether he possesses the ambition to ascend the city's bureaucratic hierarchy, whether he intends to pursue the rank of minister, or perhaps even that of Grand Chancellor," Te Gaoguo interjected, the correction delivered with seamless poise. "For a man of such caliber to embark upon so illustrious a path is hardly anomalous. Indeed, if one consults the long history of the Earth Kingdom's civil examinations, such an outcome is not only plausible but expected. I assure you, neither the Te family nor the people of Zigan would harbor the slightest resentment toward the advantages his merit might confer."
Slightly taken aback, both by Te Gaoguo's effortless transition and by her own momentary slip of the tongue, Mayumi inclined her head at once. In a city where a careless phrase could be twisted into treason, prudence is as vital as breath itself. One poorly chosen word, even whispered, might lead a citizen straight to the executioner's cleaver.
Thus she reined in her voice, guarding each syllable with the vigilance of a seasoned warrior. The Te clan clearly had designs upon the White Scholar, and so she approached her next inquiry with even greater caution, wondering what precise advantage the heiress sought to secure through an arranged union with a newly minted Zhuangyuan.
Yet the answers remained frustratingly nebulous. There were murmurs of an official alliance between Ba Sing Se and distant Zigan, an arrangement meant to dissuade the latter's expansionist neighbors. As for Ba Sing Se itself, it seemed eager to inaugurate a new policy of courting far-flung, independent states with which it shared no border. Such agreements, ostensibly mutual in benefit, for reasons unspoken required Lady Te to wed a rising scholar destined for one of the highest ministries in the realm.
Of course, that last point would carry far less weight had Lady Te herself attained the far more coveted Zhuangyuan rank, a distinction that opens the path to true political authority and the power to steer a city's policies toward other warring states scattered across the fractured realm.
"Originally, Father intended to send me to Ba Sing Se's imperial harem, the usual route for noble families who wished to inch closer to the throne," Lady Te murmured as she refilled her teacup, her expression dimming at the memory. "I was merely one of countless daughters destined for that place, my fate sealed the moment I entered the world. But that life behind palace walls never came to pass. Wars multiplied like infestations as the realm splintered beneath the gaze of... ignorant dullards. And the Earth King? He wandered off on some diplomatic errand to the west."
To Lady Te's admission, it was a bewildering time. The realm's collapse spared her from a lifetime of gilded confinement and unspent potential, yet it thrusted her homeland Zigan into mortal peril. Thus, the Te clan still had to court the favor of powerful forces such as Ba Sing Se.
For a moment, both women sat in contemplative silence. So many of these upheavals had unfolded before their births or during their infancy, leaving their generation to inherit a nation squandered by those unfit to wield authority. Merely decades ago, the realm, however flawed, had been a unified entity. It was at least not drowning in endless massacres and atrocities that dominates the present. And while they both drank tea in a tranquil courtyard, at this very moment countless others cry out in pure suffering, their blood soaking the soil along with severed limbs, and bodies piled high up to the sky.
The fear of such horrors happening to her own people in Zigan did not help Lady Te live a carefree life in Ba Sing Se, the greatest drawback for any nobles who genuinely cares for the commonfolk.
"My Lady," Mayumi said at last, breaking the quiet. "I am no scholar but a warrior, and the most I have ever solved were petty quarrels between fishermen. It is reasonable that Zigan should seek allies with armies, but do you not fear that such ambitions might one day become Zigan's ruin?"
The Kyoshi Warrior acknowledged her limitations despite her love of ancient texts. Even without scholarly training, she recognized the familiar cycle of dynastic rise and collapse. No matter how fractured the realm, there is always the possibility that one contender would unit all under heaven. But that would come at the expense of local powers.
"I will do whatever is required for my people's wellbeing," Lady Te replied softly, though a hard edge underlay her tone. "Unlike a certain someone responsible for plunging Zigan and the rest of the realm into this era of war, I at least understand what true peace demands."
Mayumi heard this part before. When working at Grandma Jin's restaurant, no shortages of patrons spoke coarsely about the singular figure granted so much power to shape the world. It seems some nobles too harbors the bitterness.
Eventually, weariness seeped into Te Gaogui's voice as she attempted to return to their earlier topic, selecting a gift that the White Scholar would not disdain. But that conversation was abruptly suspended when a nearby clay vase toppled and shattered, prompting Mayumi's hand to fly to her hilt as she sensed something stirring behind the curtain at a room's entrance.
"No need, Kyoshi Warrior," Te Gaogui said at once.
A small, round shape shifted behind the fabric. Mayumi kept her grip on her weapon, unwilling to trust that the host's reassurances were sound. No one else was meant to be in this courtyard. If the intruder is not a thief, it might be something far worse, an ill spirit.
She braced herself as the creature finally pushed through the curtain. The tension fled her body at once.
Woof!
A dog, nothing more. Despite its diminutive size, it barked ferociously at the unfamiliar visitor. Mayumi's gaze lingered on its silhouette, the creature was so abundantly furred that its legs are entirely obscured.
"Xiao Hu, sit!" Te Gaogui commanded. The energetic pup instantly fell silent. She scooped it up with both arms, offering it to Mayumi, who brushed her hand through its long, silky coat. Beneath the softness, she felt surprisingly sturdy muscle.
"It is a dog… correct?" Mayumi ventured. Childish though the question sounded, one could never be too careful.
"A local breed," Te Gaogui added. Yet her expression dimmed. "A betrothal gift too, though nothing was ever agreed upon."
A scion of an Upper Ring household, it seemed, had attempted to secure Lady Te's hand by offering a mere puppy in exchange for dominion over Zigan and all its prosperous revenue. The scheme unraveled once his secret paramour and the children she had borne him, came to public light.
"If only life were as simple as this little one," Lady Te sighed, rubbing the creature's soft belly. "He may be just an animal, but I know he would never harm me."
Old values cling stubbornly, even in halls that pride themselves on merit.
"Lady Te," Mayumi spoke with courtesy. "There is one gift that might suffice."
"Go on," the noblewoman replied, idly caressing her dog's head.
"Recently, Shan shattered his only inkstone and has yet to replace it."
Mayumi refrained from detailing how the inkstone met its end. To admit that Shan had cracked it with his bare hand would sound like nonsense. She revealed only the portion involving Jin Lian's insult, the offence that provoked the inkstone's destruction.
"If I may be frank, I consider Jin Lian an even greater nuisance than Ximen Qing," Te Gaogui remarked. "At least the latter knows better than to ransack another's residence. In any case, I appreciate your candour. Have no fear, the White Scholar will not discover your involvement."
While an inkstone is a scholar's everyday tool, someone of Te Gaogui's stature must procure one worthy of the Upper Ring's refinement. It is fortunate she hailed from Zigan, a rich land with artisans and craftsmen of rare skill.
Mayumi rose and bowed, offering thanks with all the grace she could convey. The heiress's generosity warranted no less. To her surprise, Lady Te escorted her personally to the gate, as though their vast difference in status had momentarily dissolved, ignoring the ideals of Earth Sages who preached strict obedience to hierarchy.