Rulan returned to her guest pavilion while the commotion near the lower stables continued to spread through the temple.
Outside, soldiers shouted orders, armor clattered against stone, and servants hurried between courtyards.
The stranded noble families demanded answers from anyone unfortunate enough to be within reach.
Inside her private quarters, however, the closed doors reduced the uproar to a distant murmur.
Rulan stood by the paper window, considering what she had seen.
Someone had poisoned the communal feed and killed nearly every horse in the main stables.
Whether the intended target was the imperial party or the entire gathering remained unclear, but the result was the same.
The mountain’s transport had been crippled, and General Meng had sealed the gates.
Yet the lockdown had solved her most immediate problem.
She would not be forced back to the capital before she could speak to Lu Zhen again.
For the first time since arriving at White Cloud Temple, she had time.
Rulan turned toward Lian’er, who was arranging teacups on the table.
The maid’s hands were still trembling, and the porcelain made a faint clinking sound each time she set a cup down.
“The physician who examined my ankle yesterday,” Rulan said.
“What was his name again?”
Lian’er looked up, puzzled.
“Master Lu Zhen, Your Highness.”
“Where is he?”
“I assume he is at his medicinal garden near the eastern cliffside. I heard that he usually tends his herb beds in the morning.”
“Go and check. Ask the temple attendants near the eastern gateway whether anyone has seen him today.”
Lian’er hesitated.
With the horses dead and the entire temple under military lockdown, her mistress’s sudden interest in a mountain physician seemed rather difficult to understand.
Nevertheless, she bowed.
“Yes, Your Highness. I will go at once.”
Rulan settled on the daybed to wait.
Nearly fifteen minutes passed before Lian’er returned.
She entered with a puzzled expression, smoothing her sleeves as she approached.
“Your Highness, I spoke with the senior attendant who manages the eastern storehouses.”
“And?”
“They don’t know where he is. No one has seen Master Lu at his garden this morning.”
Rulan set down her teacup.
“Did they check?”
“Yes. When General Meng’s lockdown was announced, the attendants went to inspect the eastern grounds. His drying shed was locked, and his apprentice wasn’t there either. They assumed the two had gone farther into the mountain to gather herbs.”
That was possible.
Lu Zhen had mentioned treating villagers and laborers beyond the monastery.
He had no reason to remain beside his herb beds all day, and an early trip into the mountains would not ordinarily have attracted attention.
Still, Rulan found herself remembering the old physician’s expression when he took her pulse.
“What about his dog?”
Lian’er blinked.
“The dog?” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“Chestnut. The large golden-brown hound. Was he near the shed?”
“Oh.” Lian’er looked faintly embarrassed.
“I didn’t ask. The kitchen staff sometimes leave scraps for him near the eastern gate. I can inquire with them.”
“Go ahead.”
Lian’er left again.
Rulan rose and crossed to the window.
Beyond the courtyard walls, the eastern ridge was barely visible through the morning mist.
Somewhere among those trees stood the medicinal garden she had spent the past two days trying to reach.
When Lian’er returned, she looked more confused than before.
“The kitchen servants haven’t seen Chestnut either, Your Highness. Apparently, he usually waits near their doors at dawn for leftover food. He wasn’t there today.”
Lu Zhen, his apprentice, and the dog were all absent.
Rulan remembered the boy’s words beside the collapsed bridge.
Chestnut always knew when something went wrong.
The hound had certainly seemed well trained.
But his absence alone proved little.
If Lu Zhen had gone into the mountains, taking both his apprentice and dog would have been perfectly natural.
The question was where they had gone, and whether they intended to return.
Rulan leaned against the embroidered bolsters and considered the possibilities.
Perhaps the physician had an early house call.
Perhaps he had gone herb gathering, unaware that the stables would be poisoned.
He might even have decided that the growing military presence made this an excellent time to stay away from White Cloud Temple.
Or someone might have wanted him gone.
She had no evidence for the last possibility.
A missing physician was not necessarily an abducted physician, and she had survived too long by trusting her observations to start treating guesses as facts now.
A hesitant knock interrupted her thoughts.
Lian’er opened the outer door to find a junior temple attendant holding a small woven basket of fresh tea leaves.
He bowed and spoke quietly to her.
Whatever he said made her straighten.
After a few more words, the attendant bowed again and hurried down the corridor.
Lian’er closed the door.
“Your Highness, that attendant heard we were asking about Master Lu.”
“Has he seen him?”
“Yes. He says Master Lu left through the lower mountain gate before dawn.”
Rulan sat forward.
“The attendant was sweeping the eastern stone steps when he saw the physician carrying his medicine satchel. His apprentice followed with a travel pack, and Chestnut was on a leash.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Did he say where they were going?”
“The attendant asked why he was leaving so early in the cold. Master Lu told him he had an urgent house call in the lower valley.”
Rulan was quiet for a moment.
“Did he seem frightened? Was anyone accompanying them?”
“The attendant didn’t mention anyone else. He said Master Lu appeared quite ordinary.”
“Find out whether he saw them leave the gate itself, or merely pass the eastern steps. And ask whether anyone else was with them. Don’t make a spectacle of it.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Lian’er turned to leave, but Rulan stopped her.
“One more thing. Don’t tell anyone I was looking for him because of my health. As far as the temple is concerned, I wanted to thank the physician who examined my ankle.”
Lian’er nodded and departed.
Rulan walked back to the window and opened the wooden lattice a little farther.
Cool mountain air slipped into the room.
Before dawn.
The horses had collapsed after their morning feed.
Lu Zhen had apparently left before that happened, taking his apprentice, his medicine satchel, and Chestnut with him.
Perhaps he really did have a patient waiting in the valley.
His work took him beyond the temple, after all.
There was nothing extraordinary about a physician leaving early to attend someone who needed him.
But the timing bothered her.
Yesterday, he had taken her pulse and gone grimly silent.
He had written a prescription under the pretense of treating her ankle, then instructed her to take it precisely as directed.
Before she could return for a proper examination, he had left the mountain.
And now the temple was sealed.
Rulan rested her hand against the window frame.
She could not know whether Lu Zhen had heard something about the planned attack, sensed danger for reasons of his own, or simply had business elsewhere.
She did know that he had noticed something troubling in her condition and had been unwilling to discuss it in front of the guards.
That alone made finding him important.
She glanced toward the lower courtyard, where soldiers were still moving between the pavilions.
General Meng would be occupied with the stables, the grain stores, and the mountain gates.
Asking him to dispatch men after an elderly physician who had left on a house call would invite questions she had no intention of answering.
For now, she would have to learn what she could through the temple attendants.
Rulan closed the lattice and returned to the daybed.
She had finally found someone outside the Imperial Medical Bureau who might be able to tell her what was wrong with her body.
And he had vanished before she could ask.
Perhaps Lu Zhen had simply chosen a remarkably inconvenient morning for a house call.
Rulan looked toward the mist-covered eastern ridge.
Or perhaps there was a reason he had wanted to be off the mountain before dawn.