Chapter 486 — The Furnace Room

CHAPTER 486

The Furnace Room

Shi Feng held out for one long breath.

It was the longest breath he'd taken since the Kowtow Hall, and it didn't help. At the end of it Sima Lan was still sitting on the edge of his bed with her hands folded, and the quilt was still turned down, and the lamp had not become any less bright.

Shi Feng tried to think through his choices instead of staring at her.

Sima Lan wasn't blushing, and she showed no intention of leaving. He couldn't order her out after inviting her to stay. Worse, she'd already seen that he didn't know what to say. Shi Feng was embarrassed, but it was his own question that put him in this position.

He glanced at the door. It was a perfectly good door. Four times she had walked out through it.

Shi Feng thought, Lin Langtian said to ask only what you know the answer to. He never said what to do when the answer changes.

This was an important gap in the lessons. He promised himself he would bill Lin for it.

“Sima Lan,” Shi Feng said.

“Yes, Employer?” Sima Lan asked.

Her voice was calm. She sounded completely in control, which made his embarrassment worse. He watched her hands. They had not moved.

He put both palms on the table and stood up.

“I just remembered,” Shi Feng said. “Something in the furnace room.”

It was said with perfect gravity. A Palace Master's pressure had once pushed him down onto one knee, and he'd got up from that with less effort.

Sima Lan did not smile.

“Which furnace?” Sima Lan asked.

“The main one,” Shi Feng answered without hesitation.

“At midnight?” Sima Lan asked, plainly unconvinced.

“It needs watching,” Shi Feng said.

“Old Soot is already watching it,” Sima Lan said.

“Then it'll have company,” Shi Feng replied, determined to keep his excuse.

She considered this seriously. Then she nodded, once, and rose from the bed.

Shi Feng felt his shoulders tense. He had no idea what he'd do if she came closer. She walked to the peg by the door, took down the old paper lantern, lit it from the lamp and held it out to him by the handle.

“Take this,” Sima Lan said. “The third step is loose. It's chargeable to your account.”

He took the lantern. Her fingers did not touch his.

“Thank you,” Shi Feng said.

“It's in the contract,” Sima Lan said.

He walked to the door. He felt sure she was watching every step, and that she'd remember this retreat. At the threshold he stopped and looked back, because it was the one thing a sensible man would not have done.

She was still standing by the peg. The lamplight lay along the line of her jaw and her folded sleeves.

Then, slowly, one corner of her mouth went up.

It was a small, sharp, satisfied smirk. She'd finally made him retreat instead of leaving the room herself. Shi Feng had never seen her look so pleased with herself, and he knew at once what that smile meant.

She had won.

For the first time, she'd won this round of teasing. She wasn't going to let him leave without knowing it.

“Good night, Employer,” Sima Lan said.

The door closed between them with a very quiet click.

Shi Feng stood in the dark yard holding a lantern.

Above the sect the midnight bell began to ring. Twelve strokes, slow and deep. On the ninth, a shutter across the lane moved. On the tenth, it moved again, and a very careful eye appeared in the crack. The eye belonged to Wu Qiang, who was supposed to be asleep.

Shi Feng looked at the shutter.

The shutter closed.

He turned and walked toward the furnace room with his back very straight. Behind him, the lamp in hut nine burned on. Her shadow on the paper window did not move for a long time.

The main furnace room was warm and smelled of old coal. The big furnace squatted at the end, banked low, and on the hearth beside it Old Soot lay curled on a bed of warm ash. Its gold-rimmed eyes opened a crack. It looked at the lantern, then at Shi Feng, then at the lantern.

“Not a word,” Shi Feng said.

Old Soot blew a small, thoughtful puff of smoke.

Shi Feng set the lantern on the shelf. He knelt, opened the furnace door, and began to feed the flame.

He forced himself to concentrate on the herbs and the order of their addition. Every time he remembered Sima Lan sitting on the bed, he checked the heat again. Alchemy was familiar. Her new answer to his teasing wasn't, and he didn't want to think about it tonight.

By the third hour, the flame was perfectly steady.

That was the only thing in the room that was.