Chapter 36: What Was Lost, What Was Found

I led Ming Yu through the village, past the quarantine lines and the makeshift infirmary tents. The air was thick with the smell of boiled herbs and desperation. I barely noticed anymore.

Inside, Master Chen looked up from grinding roots. His expression was the usual: exhausted but trying not to fall apart in front of the patients. I offered him a nod, then gestured toward Ming Yu.

"Master Chen, this is Advisor Liu. He'll be helping us from today onward."

Master Chen gave a polite bow, then promptly returned to his pile of ginseng like he'd just been introduced to another ghost.

I scanned the room automatically looking for Yuling. Somehow she wasn't here.

odd…

She was always here. Always hovering behind me with an extra cloth, a sharp observation, or a deadpan "you look like hell" that somehow made everything better. But now?

Gone.

Ming Yu noticed the shift in my posture. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't see Yuling," I said, trying to sound casual but failing spectacularly.

"Who's Yuling?" he asked.

I turned to him, a little surprised. "She's the girl who saved me. Took care of me when I was half-dead and full of attitude. We've been working together ever since. Honestly? Without her, I probably would've tried to cauterize a wound with a soup ladle or something equally horrifying."

Ming Yu's eyebrows lifted. "She sounds formidable."

"She is," I said.

He reached for a stack of clothes on the table, sorting them absently. "We'll find her. Don't worry."

I nodded. 

"Mei Lin, is there somewhere private we can talk?" Ming Yu asked, his voice unusually tense.

I nodded and led him to an empty tent nearby. The moment the curtain fell shut behind us, he pulled me into a hug. His hand tightened at my back like he was making sure I was real. "I'm so glad you're safe," he breathed against my shoulder, like he'd been holding his breath for days.

"I'm okay," I mumbled, giving him a small, awkward pat. "Still in one piece."

He pulled away just enough to look at me, eyes dark and serious. "What happened to you? How did you end up here?"

My stomach twisted. "Wait… Yufei didn't confess?"

His expression shifted—still calm, but he looked confused, "Confess what?"

"Umm…She pushed me into the river. I floated all the way here, and Yuling found me and saved me."

He went completely still.

"She what?"

I nodded grimly. "We got into an argument. She accused me of seducing Lan Zhan. Then said I was trying to steal you from her. I told her to back off, and she lost it. Next thing I knew, I was in the water, and the current took me."

Ming Yu's face darkened—like, full murder-mode darkened.

"I'm going to kill her," he growled.

I blinked. "Okay, whoa. Maybe don't lead with royal homicide—"

"We searched for you for days," he cut in, voice cracking. "Wei Ying thought you'd been kidnapped. I was losing my mind. Lan Zhan sent out a secret message to Zewu-jun, and they discreetly dispatched scouts to every military post in the city."

My thoughts flickered: Great. So basically, an ancient-world APB went out for me. 

"Then out of nowhere," Ming Yu continued, "we got a message from Jian Yi saying you'd contacted him. Just that you were alive and in some village in Daqi. No other details. We left immediately."

I swallowed hard, the memory of cold water and crashing rocks still too vivid. "That day, it happened too fast. I tried to swim but the current was too strong."

"If something had happened to you—"

His voice broke.

I reached out, placing a hand on his sleeve. "I am ok. Really." My hand reached out and hugged him again. 

As much as I wanted to curl up in Ming Yu's arms and forget the world existed, we were still standing in a field full of plague tents. Minor detail. Also, let's not forget—I was technically married. Like, palace-married. To a prince. Which meant if anyone saw us being all huggy and kissy, we'd probably be executed. Or at least aggressively gossiped to death by every maid within a five-mile radius.

Ming Yu must've realized that too. He glanced around, cautious and composed, then leaned in and kissed me quickly on the forehead. Just once. Soft and fleeting.

"We'll talk later," he murmured.

My heart did a stupid little flip, but I kept it together. 

I nodded. "Let's go find Yuling. She's probably wondering where I ran off to."

We found Yuling back in the main infirmary, hunched over the grinding table with a mortar and pestle. She looked up as we approached—and immediately went pale.

"Where've you been?" I asked, trying to sound casual. "I wanted to introduce you to my… uh…"

Wait.

My what?

No, seriously. My what, Mei Lin? Boyfriend? Secret lover? Emotional support man? What are you even trying to say right now? 

I tripped over my own words like a nervous intern on day one. "My… husband's… advisor. Or, um… personal guard?"

Kill me.

It was just that I'd been so casual with Yuling the past few days, like two girls against the world, trading secrets and smallpox trauma. My brain had apparently decided that was the moment to relax. Big mistake.

I cleared my throat and attempted to salvage my dignity. "This is Advisor Liu. Prince Wei sent him to assist. Advisor Liu, this is Yuling—she's the one who saved my life."

My face was burning. Hopefully the fever-chic look was in this season.

Ming Yu's expression shifted—just for a second—but whatever flickered across his face was too fast to catch.

Yuling, meanwhile, looked like she'd seen a ghost. "Advisor Liu," she said, her voice shaking. "Thank you for coming to help."

I tilted my head, frowning. "Yuling, are you okay? You're really pale. You didn't catch smallpox again, did you?" Panic tingled at the edges of my voice. She'd mentioned surviving it once—was it possible to get it again? Or was she just exhausted? Because honestly, I was exhausted.

"I'm fine, Mei Lin… I mean—Your Highness," she corrected, casting a quick glance at Ming Yu like he was going to reprimand her on the spot for casual titles.

I winced. "You promised you wouldn't call me that," I said gently. "And don't worry—Advisor Liu isn't the scary-formal type, right?"

I turned to Ming Yu with a smile. He returned it, warm and affectionate, and that stupid fluttering started in my chest again.

Yuling's eyes narrowed, just slightly. Her gaze moved between the two of us like she was doing math I didn't want her to solve.

"Advisor Liu," she said, all polite efficiency, "I can prepare your tent for tonight."

Then she turned to me. "Mei Lin, since we received so many supplies, you should check where we'll be storing them. I'll catch up with you over dinner."

Wait. Did she just assign me work? Was this her way of ending our girl talk era?

I blinked. Break time: officially over.

"Alright," I said with a sigh, turning to Ming Yu. "I'll see you in a bit."

What got into her? I wondered, eyebrows slightly furrowed as I walked away. That was not our usual "besties-who-share-dried-herbs-and-trauma" energy. But there was no time to unravel her mood swings right now.

I headed toward the supply carts and started flagging down soldiers like a very determined and underqualified quartermaster. With some very enthusiastic pointing and a decent amount of bossy finger-waving, we got everything unloaded and stashed in the storage tent. Rice, dried meat, medicine bundles, even fresh linens. Enough to last us maybe a week—assuming no one decided to get suddenly heroic and try to save everyone in the kingdom with our stash.

Still, it was a relief. We actually had a fighting chance now—if the number of patients didn't explode. A big "if," obviously.

When I finished and dusted off my sleeves, I headed back toward the main tent. Just as I reached the curtain, I heard Yuling's voice—low, urgent, cracking a little.

"Please… if you still care about me, I'm begging you. Please don't tell anyone."

I froze mid-step.

Then pushed the curtain aside like I hadn't just overheard something straight out of a palace drama.

Yuling jumped like she'd been caught stealing royal jewels. "Mei Lin, you're back!"

Ming Yu looked… frustrated. And surprised. Maybe even a little guilty? Hard to tell—his face was doing that polite-mask thing again.

And suddenly the air in the tent felt weird. Heavy. Like I'd just walked into the tail end of an emotional storm.

Okay. Pause. Rewind.

"If you still care about me"?

Hold up. Ming Yu knows Yuling?

Cue mental detective board. Red string. Pins. Scribbled notes.

Yuling said she'd once been sent to the Daqi palace… and they'd tried to make her a concubine. Ming Yu is Jian Yi's cousin. His sect is based in Daqi.

They could have crossed paths.

They must have crossed paths.

Since when did he care about her?!

Wait. Waitwaitwait.

Were they lovers?

My heart flailed dramatically like a fish in a bucket, but on the outside I stayed cool. Calm. Totally chill. Probably. Hopefully.

"Yep," I said, strolling in with the world's most forced smile. "I'm back."

Ming Yu glanced at me—measured, unreadable. Yuling looked... relieved?

"Good news," I added brightly, channeling my best fake-positive energy. "I think we've got enough supplies to last about a week."

"That's good," Yuling replied with a smile so warm and genuine, it nearly short-circuited my paranoia. "Should we go eat now?"

And just like that, she was back to being the sweet girl who saved my life and shared her only pillow with me.

So I nodded. "Yeah. Sure. Let's go."

Because what else was I supposed to say?

Hi, sorry, quick question—were you and my maybe-sorta-almost-boyfriend in love before I fell into this fever dream of a world?

Nope. Not touching that. At least not until I had something stronger than tea in my system.