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Fate's Attendant 1.47

The timing of a fire now was suspicious. Hong Fei didn’t even bother with thinking it was mere coincidence—not when the house’s only effective Qi Blossoming-realm fighters were away. Chen Wenbin and Zhang Dehua had already headed out to raid the Ma residence.

There was the duchess present, but using her full strength would kill her. No one else should know that, however, so if the fire was a ploy in an attack on the estate, then the enemies had confidence in fighting one ...

Fate's Attendant 1.46

Hong Fei took shuddering breath once he was out of view. He paused in an empty corridor to wipe his palms dry. The meeting had gone better than he’d hoped. It helped that all three men were smart. All he’d had to do was provide a plausible framework for them to fill in the connections for themselves.

Now, the house would rally against both the Ma family and the Rock Knives. Hong Fei had thought about joining the raid himself, but the results would be more conclusive without him. The...

Fate's Attendant 1.45

Beitang Rong arrived early the next morning at the estate’s gate. The shízhǎng on duty, Cai Shi, dutifully attempted to turn him back, but the clerk insisted he had important news for the Yu’s steward.

That meeting in the visitor’s hall only lasted for about the time it takes one to drink of cup of tea before Chen Wenbin was sent for. Another short time passed after his arrival, and then the whole estate heard the xiàowèi’s roar.

The servants who’d stood nearby all l...

Fate's Attendant 1.44

Bravery is strange, Hong Fei thought, walking back to his courtyard with Auntie Ling. Passing through a garden along the way, he spotted Li Chun tending to the plants. Another servant—the one whose left hand trembled; it took a moment for Hong Fei to remember that people called her Soft Seven—was placing a cup of tea next to the gardener, so that Li Chun would have something to drink while he worked.

While some fretted and whispered and planned their departures, these two i...

Fate's Attendant 1.43

The salon’s interior was quiet; the shutters were closed and none of the lamps burned. The only illumination came from the now-open door, cutting across the floor and furnishings like a blade of light.

Auntie Ling stepped inside. She pursued the scent of the dream blossom wine, and Hong Fei followed on her heels.

Behind them, Chen De frowned at seeing the salon so lifeless. He had done nothing to bar the dūtóu’s and spirit beast’s way. He hadn’t told them he’d been thr...

Fate's Attendant 1.42

Hong Fei didn’t return to his courtyard. Instead, he continued to surveil the Ma residence through the rest of the night, and when Ma Mo left in the morning, he followed him to the Gallant Hero.

The staff there patted Ma Mo on the back, and the boss praised him for his heroism. It was too bad the hero’s broken arm meant he couldn’t help with the ongoing clean up. Ma Mo watched over the others as they prepared the shop to receive new sculptures from the Yu family’s workshops.

Fate's Attendant 1.41

That night, Hong Fei brought his people together in the salon. He handed Fortune’s Favor to Little Ruyun with strict instructions not to draw the sword. He would know if she did, and the repercussions would be serious. The young girl was then placed into Auntie Ling’s custody for the two of them to spend the evening studying.

Once the girl and giant badger were gone, he turned to Kang Lian. “You will take Sun Han into the city,” he commanded. “Both of you will wear inconspicuo...

Fate's Attendant 1.40

Over the course of the day, the consequences of Yu Yong’s misadventure unfolded like a fan—a series of actions one after the other. Visitors came to the Young Master’s salon. They brought gifts and amusements in hopes of lifting his spirits. They were turned away at first, because he was asleep. Later, he refused to see them.

Messengers were sent from the estate. The family’s agents were instructed to search for clues to the provenance of the mysterious pill Yu Yong had taken. 2025-10-10 18:27:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Fate's Attendant 1.39

Hong Fei had already reported to the steward and the duchess on his return to the estate, but if people were spreading lies, he needed to take action before those rumors took root.

“Walk with me,” he told Sun Han and Auntie Ling, exiting the salon.

The lack of a hot bath turned out to be a case of good fortune disguised as bad. Auntie Ling’s and his bandages would be put proudly on display. The mud caking his clothes would testify to the lengths they’d gone through to succ...

Fate's Attendant 1.38

Auntie Ling was tough; she ignored the sharp, shooting pain radiating from her paw as she forced her way through the forest. She considered herself stubborn, too. One had to be to live in a world of strife and misery. Yet, this was perhaps the first time she’d met anyone more stubborn than her.

Hong Fei had refused to let her carry the boy, who was currently slung over the summoner’s shoulder. He used Fortune’s Favor, the sword he never drew, as a cane to steady him over the uneve...

Fate's Attendant 1.37

Night fell, and Auntie Ling was still on Yu Yong’s trail. The lantern Hong Fei had brought was nearly useless; the trees and the brush blocked the light on all sides. If the duchess were present, she would’ve likely demanded he keep searching despite the hindrance, but she wasn’t and wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of a nocturnal predator sneaking up on her.

Hong Fei felt himself being watched. Looking into the darkness, he saw glowing eyes gazing back at him. So far...

Fate's Attendant 1.36

From the Wing Span Bridge, Hong Fei and Auntie Ling saw how the Tistkil River pressed the city walls. The stone obstruction funneled the flood waters toward the barred gap that was the river’s normal exit from the city, as well as the main gate doors, which were left open to help the water drain. The current looked fast enough to pull a man from his feet. Auntie Ling could likely manage it, but Hong Fei preferred to not take his chances.

There was a second, auxiliary gate in the middl...

Fate's Attendant 1.35

Hong Fei strode toward his courtyard with Kang Lian. At first, she’d tried to fall in behind him as was proper, but he had no time for that nonsense. There was planning to be done.

“There will be chaos in the house,” he said, his mind running ahead. “Soldiers pulled from their regular patrols to go searching for the Young Master. There might be some who might take advantage, so keep your wits about you. Lock the courtyard down if necessary.” He considered the usefulness of his...

Fate's Attendant 1.34

Hong Fei awoke alone. Briefly, he was uncertain of his whereabouts. He’d dreamt of the steppe and the bloodshed there, and was confused by the sudden stillness around him. There was a sense of dislocation, as if he’d become unmoored from his own history.

At some point, the door to his bedroom had been closed. A gentle knock stirred his mind toward that direction, and he found his voice a moment later. “Yes?”

Little Ruyun answered. “Your breakfast is ready.”

“I�...

Fate's Attendant 1.33

Hong Fei changed clothes in the rain, the wind whipping them against. The window shutters and doors in the alley were all closed tight, so there was no chance of anyone catching him half-dressed.

When Auntie Ling was summoned, her brows rose in surprise, not expecting the sudden downpour.

“I thought about waiting to keep you from getting wet,” he told her, “but there’s a chance people might see me alone on the way back.”

The giant badger shook her head as if to say...

Fate's Attendant 1.32

“Good, you see it,” Zhang Dehua said. “The clerk wants us to do his work for him.”

The steward shifted in his chair, the cushion too soft for his liking. The visitor’s hall as a whole displeased him. Anyone coming to the Yu estate for official business usually meant trouble. He’d thought today might be an exception, but clearly not. “I’ll have my people look into it,” he remarked. His eyes noted the dūtóu’s servants waiting outside. “And I suppose you will, t...

Fate's Attendant 1.31

Little Ruyun sat on the steps of the salon with Auntie Ling beside her. The young girl held a children’s book between them, pronouncing the words associated with the pictures. Often, she stumbled—before the family’s troubles, she’d been mostly learning how to manage a household—but Auntie Ling was surprisingly patient and determined to learn the People’s language.

An order from the spirit beast was as good as an order from the courtyard’s master. Little Ruyun told herself ...

Fate's Attendant 1.30

Hong Fei sat in his chair, looking aggrieved, while Sun Han paced the salon. The scholar’s hat had gone askew, and it stayed that way unnoticed. The story of how Hong Fei had found Andrew’s corpse had greatly affected the young man.

Auntie Ling huffed to herself. She was correct yet again, she thought. This was always the way when humans talked to each other. All they did was make each other unhappy, and a badger was needed to set things right.

She approached Hong Fei to nudge...

Fate's Attendant 1.29

Yu Yong paced restlessly through the estate, moving from courtyard to courtyard, but no matter where he turned, there were guards nodding to him, greeting him, and reminding him of their presence. Rather than finding comfort in the security they provided, he felt stifled.

The cool night breezes normally helped him on nights like this one, but ever since he’d tasted the wilderness outside the city walls, the gardens weren’t enough. Every twig and every branch on the estate had been c...

Update: Two Stories, One Amazing Journey

Hey y'all.

We're coming up on two months since the transition to writing full-time began, and it's been a wild ride so far.

I've settled into a rhythm that I never could have imagined in my old life: writing Fate's Attendant in the mornings and editing Eight 5 in the afternoons. The ability to focus on just writing (with some job hunting thrown in sporadically) has been absolutely priceless for thinking deeply about the characters and the events in both books. As...

Fate's Attendant 1.28

The last remaining Rock Knife had fled; the alley was empty when Hong Fei and Auntie Ling checked it. A search of the surrounding streets turned up a similar result.

By the time the two of them came back, the other servants had been roused from their residences behind the back courtyard. A few screamed at seeing Hong Fei and Auntie ling at the door. The giant badger looked to him to see if she should wait outside, but he nodded for her to enter with him.

“Calm yourselves,” Hon...

Fate's Attendant 1.27

Hong Fei peeked around the door’s jamb. The Rock Knives stood over the body of an older man who’d had his head bashed in. To the right, a plump woman in servant’s clothes stood with a hand pressed to her mouth in shock. She appeared to have just entered from the corridor behind her.

Missing-Fingers rushed toward the servant, who in turn fled back into the corridor.

Split-Face watched her go, then stepped away from the body on the ground to keep the pooling blood from touchin...

Fate's Attendant 1.26

Hong Fei awoke from a dream in which he was an old tree whose trunk had cracked open. Qi seeped out of him like a golden syrup, and the hungry ghosts of his dead comrades crowded around to lap it up with their tongues.

He rubbed his eyes, then grabbed for the tea cup on the table beside him. He barely tasted the tepid contents before starting to stand, only to be stopped when he realized a blanket had been placed on his lap.

Wouldn’t that have been foolish? To trip in his hurry ...

Fate's Attendant 1.25

If gray numbers required the removal of nodes from the web, then might yellow be the color of adding them? Hong Fei considered the idea that it involved matching people to a thing they were meant to do or a person they were meant to meet.

After escorting Lin Yan back to her shop with Little River Stick in tow—Hong Fei learned the place was called Local Bounty of Treasure Carvings—he was tempted to head straight to his courtyard to ask Auntie Ling. What he did instead was search thro...

Fate's Attendant 1.24

Ma Mo wove a restless path between the merchants specializing in fine furnishings for the well-to-do residents of the middle city. Ostensibly, he was supposed to be guarding the Yu family’s own Gallant Hero Marble Sculpture Gallery, but the man simply couldn’t seem to stay in one place for long.

He’d likely return to another scolding from the gallery’s boss, but it seemed that Ma Zhi’s influence extended even to the family’s businesses—there’d been no reports so far to t...

Fate's Attendant 1.23

The next morning, Hong Fei felt a shift in his lower cauldron. He’d been half-asleep and dreaming of a giant badger dancing dizzily around a cherry tree. The members of his old troop were in the branches throwing knives, which missed because their heads were gone and they couldn’t see past their own deaths.

Then he recognized a familiar feeling—his lower cauldron had strengthened. It was almost strong enough contain essence in earnest. He could be considered at the fourth tier of ...

Fate's Attendant 1.22

Kang Lian and Little Ruyun arrived at the courtyard in the company of the xiàowèi, Chen Wenbin. The murmur of his voice carried down the corridor ahead of them—a steady rhythm of his assurances.

He promised that no one would bully the mother and daughter. If anything untoward should happen, the two of them need only report it. The estate didn’t tolerate irregularities. Just the other day, a number of soldiers had been punished at Hong Fei’s instigation…

The conversation ...

Fate's Attendant 1.21

Hong Fei shut the doors to his courtyard, then leaned his back against them, letting himself slide down into a sitting position. Auntie Ling offered a huff, to which he replied, “Yes, it’s been a long morning.”

He touched his face and winced at the sting of the cuts. They’d thankfully been shallow and stopped bleeding. Kang Lian had demonstrated a surprising deftness when treating them. Apparently, her deceased husband had often come home with similar cuts from working with ston...

Fate's Attendant 1.20

A tame spirit beast wasn’t so rare as to be unheard of, especially in a remote city surrounded by wilderness, but they were uncommon enough to cause a stir. People stopped to stare, and word spread about the fierce creature.

There were faster routes to the Yu estate, yet Hong Fei chose the busiest instead. Auntie Ling also did her part by scowling at those passed by. The Rock Knives would surely hear about her presence. She might even give them pause before they attempted something fo...

Fate's Attendant 1.19

“Where’s the woman?” the man with gravelly voice asked. “She owes us.”

“You’d best take that up with the steward of Duke Yu,” Hong Fei replied. “She works for his estate now.”

The man stared. His mouth opened and closed like a fish. “W—what?”

“Don’t understand me?” Hong Fei taunted. “Did they find only half your brain when they sowed your head back together? Kang Lian is beyond you now.”

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with!...