Chapter 233 - Old Memories

Inside a peaceful sitting room within a luxurious mansion, a young Kumin girl sat alone on a plush sofa. Her long, silky hair was tied up with a gray ribbon, with loose strands elegantly framing her diamond face. She was dressed in a loose blouse and an ankle-length pleated grey skirt, comfortable but presentable for visitors, with a few silver accessories to accentuate her beauty.

Her head was turned to the side as she stared idly out of the sash windows which looked out onto a manicured garden. Her hands were gently placed one atop another in her lap. Her posture was straight. She was a picture perfect example of a proper aristocrat’s granddaughter.

There was a quiet knock on the door, before a man dressed in a formal suit, pointy shoes and an extra-tall top hat entered the room. He scanned the room briefly before resting his eyes on the girl with a judging frown. She hadn’t even acknowledged his entrance.

“So you do know how to conduct yourself like a lady.” Corbin said, breaking the silence. “If only you could always be so well behaved.”

“My dearest Corbin, I’m always well behaved…” Char Char said eloquently. She couldn’t help but add, “When my company deserves it.”

“If you’re upset about our arrangements, I should remind you that you are the one to blame.” Corbin said tersely.

He referred to his continuing guardianship over her, a duty which Sansen Zhao had forced on him despite the vehement objections of both parties.

“My sincerest apologies. An important man such as yourself must have many responsibilities.” Char Char replied, maintaining a graceful, sincere tone. “Please attend to them, do not let me keep you.”

Corbin’s fingers tensed up in irritation around his cane, which Char Char discreetly noted with gleeful satisfaction as she added, “I’ve obediently remained in the estate these past two weeks, haven’t I? You’ve nothing to worry about, I shan’t leave.”

Without turning her head she raised her hand to wave him away, “You may go.”

The feigned dismissal, which both parties knew was a farce, was enough to cause Corbin to snap, “Lose the act, you spoiled brat! You think I want to-”

He was interrupted as a dignified elder gentleman entered the room, “Fighting already? We have not even had breakfast.”

Corbin drew away with a mortified expression. He bowed quickly to hide his face which was red with embarrassment. “Master Zhao, good morning.”

A bright, mischievous grin stretched ear to ear as Char Char fought back the urge to laugh. She looked away, coughing daintily into her hand to hide the expression from her grandfather, before standing up and curtseying. “Good morning, grandpa.”

Sansen Zhao glanced at each of the two in turn, fully aware of yet indifferent to the caustic dynamic between the two. “Officer Mackenzie has kindly visited this morning to update me on the ongoing situation in the city. He is currently taking some coffee in the third sitting room”

“Have they reconsidered Char Char’s house arrest?” Corbin asked, daring to hope.

“Unfortunately not.” Sansen said. He considered his next words carefully, “The investigation into the White Maiden is still ongoing.”

The was not news to the people in the room. Sansen’s involvement with the Pearl Lotus secret society and Char Char’s role in Deka’s resurrection made them some of the most informed individuals in the city on the fallout from that near-catastrophic event that was still fresh in everyone’s mind.

The corrupted God of Life had mysteriously and suddenly died in the midst of His rebirth, through no action of Lord Noga’s forces or his allies. Subsequent investigations came to the conclusion that His death had come about through godly intervention - The intervention of the mysterious and enigmatic spirit known as the White Maiden.

Had this been the whole story, the White Maiden would have undoubtedly been heralded as the saviour of the city.

However, in the immediate aftermath of the God of Life’s death, Lord Noga’s forces ported out to the White Maiden’s shrine and took Char Char and the two other individuals there away. They set up a perimeter, restricting anyone from praying to the White Maiden. They suppressed any and all news regarding the White Maiden’s involvement, instead attributing the success to Lord Noga directly.

Xiang and Rabbit, the two remaining worshipers at the White Maiden’s shrine, had been interrogated and shortly released. However Char Char had been locked in a room in the police station for three days without any explanation or information on what had happened.

She was treated well, but Char Char knew that she was a being held as a prisoner. From the small bits of information she could squeeze out of the officers who took care of her she knew that something had happened with the White Maiden. And as the White Maiden’s chief representative, Char Char was a dangerous and unknown agent.

Char Char would still be locked in the police station to date, were it not for her grandfather’s position and political connections. The tycoon negotiated for Char Char’s limited release with the conditions that she would remain on the estate in indefinite house arrest, and that she was not to see outside visitors.

Char Char knew from the strain in her grandfather’s voice and the subtle wrinkles around his eyes that this arrangement to see her home and safe had been extremely costly to him. She had thus faithfully respected the boundaries, so as to not cause further troubles for her grandfather.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Char Char asked, “If I knew what the White Maiden was accused of, maybe-“

She stopped mid sentence as her grandfather looked her in the eyes. Her Rebel intuition told her everything she needed to know about his emotional state. He was exhausted, and terribly anxious about a decision that he had just made with the officer. The look in his eyes was of cherishing the sight of someone he loved for the last time.

Char Char felt goosebumps on the back of her neck. She opened her mouth to speak she couldn’t find the words. Her mouth was dry.

Had things taken a turn for the worst? Had the house arrest not worked out? Were they sending her back to prison?

But why? She hadn’t broken any of her promises. She’d answered all the officers’ questions honestly and had obeyed everything they’d asked of her.

Had the White Maiden really done something so awful that it counteracted the fact that She saved the entire city from the corrupted God of Life? Char Char couldn’t fathom what could have happened.

Sansen Zhao tore his eyes away from Char Char as he said to Corbin, “He wishes to speak to Char Char in private. Please summon him from the third sitting room.”

“Ah-“ He added, “There’s no rush. Take your time - escort him here in twenty minutes or so.”

“Yes, sir.”

When they were alone, Sansen closed the door and strode over to the window that Char Char had been looking out. His hands were loosely clasped behind his back, but then restlessly crossed them in front of his chest, and finally he stroked his chin while supporting his elbow with his other hand.

Char Char stood beside him, her hands respectfully placed one on top of the other in front of her abdomen. She followed his gaze out the window.

“The peach blossoms are blooming more beautifully than ever before.” Sansen commented on the pink and white trees in the manicured garden just beyond the windows, “Though I have had to hire double the number of gardeners this year to tend to the weeds as well.”

He sighed, his mind fixating on the greenery outside the window as if they were the most pressing thing on his mind, “Sometimes I wonder why I bought this mansion, it costs such a fortune to maintain it.”

“Didn’t you buy it for grandma?” Char Char ventured the question, referring to her her grandfather’s only wife who had passed away when Char Char was still a child.

Bittersweet wrinkles formed at the edge of Sansen’s eyes as warm memories surfaced, “Ah yes. She insisted that it would be unfitting for a man of my stature to not live in an estate of a certain size. I thought it was an incredible waste of money. We quarreled for months on this, the closest she’d ever been to a nagging wife.”

He chuckled, “At the time I had found success and had friends in powerful places, but I didn’t yet understand what society expected from a business man. Your grandmother though, she came from wealth. She knew the rules of high society.”

“She was right, of course.” The edges of Sansen’s lips curled up as he looked out at the trees, “I think if not for her we would have stayed in the house next to the Xing’s pawnshop.”

“You used to live next to Yuzu’s shop?” Char Char blinked in surprise, “How long ago was that? Were you friends with her dad too?”

“Ah… No, the Xings came later, after the trade company was already blooming.” Sansen said. He paused, his eyes hardening as the topic changed to Yuzu’s parents.

It was clear that her grandfather had a shared history with Yuzu’s family, but Char Char had never known about it. Wasn’t Char Char the one to befriend Yuzu first from school, and their families met afterwards and grew close from there?

A vague memory bubbled up from deep in her past. A subtle nudge from her grandfather on the first day of school, saying, “That girl over there looks nice, you should make friends with her.”

The slender girl standing by herself in the corner was, of course, a six year old Yuzu.

Char Char’s eyes widened as she looked at her grandfather with a new understanding of their past. He noted her surprise through the periphery of his vision and nodded.

“When the Xings moved to Noga, I was tasked to help them.” Sansen said, “I had already bought the block of houses where I’d grown up, down by the river. So I set them up in the pawn shop and helped them establish their business.”

“I was originally planning to leave them to their own devices, write off the shop as a business expense. Tai - Yuzu’s father - insisted on repaying the debts, handing in payments every month even though I never told him what he owed me. I refused him, told him to keep it for his family. He wouldn’t hear it.”

“He was stubborn like a desert ox. If you ever meet a man from Banbajan, know that it is easier to move a mountain than to make them budge from their values.“ Sansen grinned, shaking his head at the memory, ”I once even threw the payment into the river - it was a small fortune, months of profits - to show him I didn’t want his money. He just laughed and told me the money was mine and I was free to do what I wanted with it.”

“Ah- I apologize, I’m rambling on old memories like an old man.” He sighed with a smile.

Char Char smiled back at her grandfather, thinking about her lifelong friendship with Yuzu. It was strange but fitting to hear such warm words about Yuzu’s father, who Char Char only remembered as being a very scary, loud and large man.

Like an older, gruffer Xiang. She thought humorously.

The thought of Yuzu’s older brother brought Char Char back to the present.

Yuzu was still missing, having disappeared through a portal at the White Maiden’s shrine just before the failed resurrection. Though Char Char had prayed many times to the White Maiden over the past two weeks, she had yet to receive a response.

Thinking about her friend, Char Char felt a pang of worry and guilt.

“Yuzu…” Char Char muttered softly.

“We haven’t been able to find her.” Sansen replied softly, “I’ve hired the best investigators that I can. We can only hope they’ll find her safe and sound before long.”

“I’m sure she’s fine.” Char Char replied with conviction, “The White Maiden said She’d protect her.”

Sansen nodded. His mind turned to the danger that had been averted at his ball prior to the Five Kings Festival. He’d recently learned that the White Maiden had protected him and his guests from disaster.

“Praise the White Maiden.” He replied solemnly, “May She guide Yuzu back to us.”