To Be Together

A Request

The disciple goes his separate way when they reach the main building. Madam Wang leading them to where the woman most likely is. And auntie is right. She's no longer in the room she was resting in but in a living room with a table set with food for her to enjoy and the sect leader and Xue Meng accompanying her.

Xue Zhengyong smiles at his wife as she enters first. Wanning next. Lastly Mo Ran. The woman eats as she watches them.

"Good you're here." Sect leader says. They all sit down. "This is Qing Su. She has a request for us." He explains. He looks at her. "This is my wife." He motions to madam Wang, who gives a bow. "Mo Ran is my nephew and a cultivator." He motion to Mo Ran who gives a smile, making the woman blush, along with a curt bow. "And this is Chu Wanning. One of our strongest cultivators."

"He- she taught me and my cousin." Xue Meng adds. Qing Su lets out a loud gasp. Eyes sparkling when looking at Chu Wanning. "And she's the one who saved you and the rest of the group."

"Is it true my lady?" She asks Wanning.

"..." All eyes go to Yuheng, who sat and stare as if this has nothing to with him. Eyes on nothing in particular. Madam Wang pokes Wanning who sat besides her, the elder flinching. Wanning blinks, forgetting at the moment he looks like a lady. And in every sense of the word he is. At the moment. With Madam Wang stripping him to get ready for the party she gave him a lesson on the body of a woman. Though there is something she was holding back from mentioning. When asked she shook her head, saying it might not be important to Wanning considering the circumstances. So Wanning let it go. Even that morning as he had to get dressed, he took a moment to look in the mirror. A woman's body is very different that a man's. But it's nothing he can't handle.

"Yes." Wanning says softly with a small nod, looking away. It's not really a big deal if she knew the truth. But for a civilian it might be too much to, and she doesn't need to know the truth.

"Amazing. This might work." Qing Su says. She moves away from the table, going down on her hands and knees, forehead pressing into the floor. "Please help us." She begs. They all stare at her. She's in new clothes and most of the food has been eaten. She even sounds desperate. She must be if she's bowing on the floor to them.

"Help you with?" Xue Zhengyong asks, not one to turn down a person in need.

"It's... hard to explain."

"Then get up and explain," madam Wang says kindly, "we have time. Tell us the problem and we'll help try to fix it." Slowly Qing Su gets up. She looks them in the eyes.

"It... starts near the beginning of this year. My father is the head of our town. And one day he got a complaint from people, mostly about woman going missing. We tried to investigate but it came out to nothing. They were not taken, they have not been killed as we haven't found bodies, and they didn't run away. They are just gone. The problem got worse as time went on. It wasn't just us but in our sister town too." She says.

"Sister town?" Wanning asks.

"Yes. Do you have paper?" She asks looking at them. Xue Meng and Madam Wang go to get the materials. "Our town is one part of a larger settlement. My uncles run the other parts."

"What do they do?" Wanning asks.

"My father is the eldest so he got the town, which has many crafters and artisans. We make tools to make more tools, furniture, jewelry and boxes to put those in, hair pins and accessories and many other things. My first uncle is in charge of the other place, which is a large farm comprised of other families farms and ranches. My second uncle is in charge of the scholars. A whole town of scholars and schools. There are even buildings for research. They deal with basic knowledge and more advanced things. Then there is my third uncle, the last one born. He's in charge of making the fabrics, cutting the wood, getting everything ready to be sold for the artisans to use." She says. "Thank you." She smiles as she handed the things she asked for. She draws on the paper. "For generations there has been nothing this... problematic." She adds, handing the paper over to Wanning who takes it.

It's a map, a horrible one but it does the job of showing them the lay out of their large settlement. There is one large road that leads to the main town, the one her father runs. That one in the forefront of the road, then there's the second uncles town a bit way from the first. Then the third and first uncles town. The main road cuts through all of them. Going from big town to open farmland. "People are missing from these sister town too?"

"Yes. But we can't find the culprit. At this time we have to assume it's not human."

"You said this town has been there for generations, surely there's long history, perhaps some bad blood?" Xue Zhengyong asks. Qing Su raises an eyebrow.

"Of course. There are many stories from my own family and our workers families." She answers. "It's not unheard of." She says.

"If you've been there for generations, and this is now just happening, why ask us. Is there no sect closer?" Mo Ran wonders.

"We have sent letter after letter for the past two months once we learned this was a bigger deal but none have gotten back to us. We've asks daoists who have wandered into our town for help too but it hasn't fixed anything." Qing Su says frustrated, hands balling her skirt into her fists. "My sister was the latest one. She went to ask for help but never came back." She says, tears falling. Quickly she wipes them away.

"Do you know if there is a pattern to the disappearances?" Wanning asks.

"Yes. It's all woman who have gone missing. Once every week, at the beginning then it ramped up to one every three days. We have also learned that all of the woman missing have traveled the back roads. The main road leading to our town is always busy and many travelers camp when the sun gets low. We have vendors that sell produce from the farm on that road so it's no problem for travelers to rest before getting into the city. If we don't want to bring attention to or if someone of a more nobler status wants to come into the city we tell them to take the back road. It curves with a mountain and a lake nearby. It's dangerous at night because there are no lanterns to light the path but most of us know it by heart." Qing Su explains. Wanning blinks. They know a lot more than he thought they would. And yet they can't find the ghost or spirit that's causing this? Qing Su gives a look at Wanning then away.

He narrows his eyes at that. Does she want to say something?

"There's something else but it's better to tell... the madam and lady more in private. But will you help me?" She asks looking at Zhengyong in the eyes.

"Yuheng?" Xue Zhengyong wonders.

"I'll take it." Wanning says with no hesitation. Zhengyong smiles, knowing Wanning would agree.

"Then let's wait outside boys." He says standing to his feet, fan in hand as he leisurely makes his way out the room to leave his wife and Wanning with her. Mo Ran reluctantly leaves. He thought he would have the time to talk to Wanning, not if he's going on a mission. Xue Meng walks out along with his father.