Chapter 80: The Summons
The months following Meng Wei’s departure passed with a quiet cadence, and my body slowly adapted to its new boundaries.
My fourth rib still seized if I rose too quickly from a bench, and enduring prolonged public hearings at the village well required a toll I could ill afford. Yet I had come to understand the terrain of my own limitations. I adjusted my habits accordingly spending my late afternoons on the porch rather than straining on the drill grounds.
Before leaving for the clinic that morning, Suyin had laid out a wide, woven basket of dried medicinal botanicals on the porch bench. Willow bark, angelica root, two varieties of ginseng, and a small jar of aged tangerine peel. She had asked me to reduce them to a coarse powder for her evening tinctures, kissing the crown of my head as she passed and warning me with a quiet smile not to over-grind the roots.
I was halfway through processing the willow bark when heavy footsteps sounded on the gravel path.
I recognized the stride immediately. Xu Bing.
He rounded the eastern corner of the yard on foot, clad in his muted garrison tunic. Stopping at the edge of the porch, he offered a crisp bow.
"Squad Captain."
"Xu Bing," I acknowledged, setting down the pestle. "Step up."
He mounted the wooden steps but remained standing at the far end of the porch. His hands were folded neatly behind his spine.