Threads 253-Capital 5

Her target spoke first as they approached. “Oh, Lady Ling! I wondered if I would encounter you here.”

Mei Lanfen was an old woman with a kindly appearance. Her steel gray hair was drawn back in a bun, and her features bore more creases and wrinkles than usual for a cultivator, making her seem like a mortal in her late fifties or so. She was quite short, no taller than Suyin, and wore a simple but elegantly-cut blue gown.

Her qi felt like aged paper and fresh ink, and Ling Qi judged her cultivation somewhere in the fourth realm.

“When I saw your name on the guest list, I thought it would only be polite to greet you in person.” Ling Qi tipped her head in respect. “Thank you for writing back to me.”

“I’m always pleased to help a young lady learn,” responded Mei Lanfen, inclining her head as well. “And is this the other host?”

“This is Xia Lin of the White Plumes, recently placed under my lady’s command,” Ling Qi introduced, gesturing to her companion.

“My pleasure, Madam Mei,” said Xia Lin, bowing a little lower. “Lady Ling is doing me some kindness in introducing me to those present.”

“I am sure a girl of your talent will have little trouble,” said Mei Lanfen. “To be assigned to the heiress, you must be exceptional.”

“Madam Mei is kind,” replied Xia Lin.

“Xia Lin is modest,” added Ling Qi. “But I admit, I am a little overwhelmed here at the capital as well.”

“Xiangmen will do that,” the old woman said knowingly. “Nowhere else in the province do so many people gather. It is a heavy task, attending to their needs.”

“I can only imagine,” acknowledged Ling Qi. “You mentioned your position, but how does it work? Is your school a training facility for one of the ministries?”

“The Gold Autumn School is not so prestigious. We are only a preparatory school without government sanction or funding. We teach young men and women the necessary skills for entry into the ministries. This includes reading, writing, ethics, and some limited cultivation tutorials.”

“Really? That must be expensive,” Ling Qi observed. “Don’t people’s families teach those things?”

“Those that can, do,” said Mei Lanfen. “I will admit, the endeavor is not profitable, but old folks such as myself and my partners must spend our saved stones on something, yes? Spreading education and low cultivation among mortals is an unalloyed good.”

“That is most charitable of you.” Xia Lin studied the woman more closely.

“How do you choose your students?” Ling Qi asked.

“The Gold Autumn has subsidiary institutions among the mortal districts in the trunk. These schools are for younger children, and they allow us to pick out the exceptional and talented for the primary institution. It is a little crude, but we pick up many minor talents this way.”

“Something a bit like the Great Sects?” asked Xia Lin.

“Nothing so grand. Great talents such as Lady Ling and others detected by the Ministry of Integrity are beyond our small means to support, but even awakening at all is a boon to a mortal’s health and productivity, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Ling Qi replied, thinking back to those first days at the Sect when even a guttering spark of qi and a few exercises made her feel superhuman.

“Most people cannot accomplish more, and some cannot even accomplish that, but I think it is nonetheless worthwhile. We are all the better for it. However, it does make some of my students restless and adventuresome. There are those that chafe a bit at the provincial ministries.”

Ling Qi met the woman’s eyes. Kind, yes, but not without cunning. “The frontier is dangerous, and it will be some time before we require proper district ministries, but if you have recommendations for individuals who might find that situation agreeable, I will convey them to Lady Cai.”

“I will talk to some of my old students. It is not a common opportunity, even if it requires a harder constitution than most.” The old woman chuckled.

“Of course. Keep in mind that Lady Cai will likely have strict expectations on their character as well,” Ling Qi said carefully. “I won’t impugn the honor of your school, but Lady Cai will need only the most upstanding to set up the seeds of her ministries.”

Mei Lanfen smiled. “I have knelt under Her Grace’s light. I understand the primacy of virtue in building anew. Skills may be taught, and talent shored up with dogged effort and work, but an understanding of virtue is not so easy to instill.”

Xia Lin looked the old woman over in surprise. “You were a member of the ministries when Her Grace took control?”

One of the old woman’s half-closed eyes opened a little wider, a sharp golden glint flashing in the dim interior light. “I was a hard-headed girl. Under the old Directors and Ministers back then, I don’t doubt my stubbornness would have kept me in the lowest rank of the Ministry of Commerce all my life.”

“I see,” Ling Qi said slowly, understanding the implication.

“You worked under the Feng, then?” Xia Lin asked cautiously. “That must have been troubling.”

“It was, and Her Grace was not forgiving.”

“I have been in Her Grace’s presence. It is not easy,” Ling Qi contributed.

“Have you? Have you felt her Law, burning away every rationalization and self-deception, every little lie you have ever told yourself, until there is only raw truth squirming under the examiner’s furious light?” Mei Lanfen asked.

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Ling Qi blinked. The old woman didn’t seem to be boasting or showing anything but curiosity.

“Her Grace has not subjected me to such close scrutiny,” Ling Qi admitted. “What is that like?”

“It was not so bad when you have only small vices, small lies to expose, but I think it would have driven me mad to stay under it for too long. A person is not meant to see themselves and all they have done so starkly.” Mei Lanfen tapped her cane against the floor thoughtfully. “But… I saw the Minister at the end. After everything, all the crimes and cruelties and corruption exposed, do you know what she asked him?”

“I can’t imagine,” said Xia Lin with a frown.

“What do you regret?” Mei Lanfen relayed.