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Chapter Text

I’d kill for a hot bun and some shade. Jongsen thought, as he wiped the sweat off of his brow. All things considered he should be thankful. It had been a month since his sticky fingers had gotten him in trouble with the guard. 

He was particularly hungry that day and had gotten careless. By the laws, he should have lost a hand then and there, but the capital had been undergoing a massive infrastructure program and so he instead got pressed into hard labor.

He surveyed the grounds of the Imperial palace, a splendorous landscape he could never fully appreciate while hauling lumber and stone. He had been assigned to the smaller team refurbishing the palace walls within the complex. Ironically, he had hypothesised that his underwhelming physique had been a factor in this decision, as he was much less intimidating than some of the other convicts he had met.

This didn’t stop some of the residents from coming by and observing the work from a distance. In particular he had noticed that their retinue had been noticed by groups of finely dressed ladies on more than one occasion. They would watch at a distance, muttering and sometimes giggling between themselves.

Jongsen had mused that they must not have had much in the way of duties or entertainment if they were content watching some sweaty peasants toil in the summer heat. Then again perhaps it was merely a curiosity, as the palace was not known for “visitors” of his standing. 

I wonder what section of the palace I’m in anyway? The overseers weren’t keen on providing context for their little work detail, and Jongsen had long ago learned to not ask any annoying questions. He had three reasons to be sure he was not in the Rear Palace, but beyond this he was in the dark. 

Regardless, he was still pleased to have been put on this assignment. When he was a kid, he had spent hours on rooftops staring at the palace, the sweeping lines and curves of the architecture were a sight to be seen. His only other source of information had been descriptions in a scant few books he had devoured. And now, he had the opportunity to experience these buildings close up, even if he could only do so in the moments between his duties. 

I’ll have to mention this to the old coot, he thought to himself, Maybe he could tell me about the arch construction. He hoped that Big Brother was taking care of him, the half senile man never could take change particularly well. He had never known his parents, in his earliest memories he was already orphaned and on the street, but even then he had the blessing of not feeling alone. It was the longest time he had been away from them and he suspected current melancholy was him missing them.

But the wheel would not stop for his ennui, he had to keep his head down and plug away at his task. He wasn’t sure when, if ever he was planned for release, but he knew if he could last another month or so it would be easier to slip out of a worker barracks that was not in the middle of a heavily guarded royal palace. Head down, eyes focused, and don’t make a scene.

Unfortunately for Jongsen he always made a scene. Like that time he screamed at that street merchant for trying to scam some hungry kids. Or that time he distracted his friend’s would-be kidnappers with a well placed kick to the shins. Or that time he camped on a roof and doused a particularly haughty tax collector with what can only be described as “filth”. Jongsen would never admit it, but he had a hard time ignoring a problem when he saw it. And no matter how many times he would chastise himself he would always find himself in trouble if given enough time.

But this time would be different. Unbeknownst to Jongsen, he was about to drag himself into a mess he would spend the rest of his life climbing out of.

Chapter Text

The next day's section of wall was near a palace garden, complete with a small pond and a variety of local flora. The water seemed to have a positive effect on the local climate, as Jongsen didn’t feel nearly as hot today. The work on this section was lighter, enough so that early on he had been able to appreciate the mechanics behind the small crane the workers had constructed. Normally he might expect a lash for this, but the overseers didn’t have as much of a concern about missed timelines on this project and were content to spend some time chatting among themselves. 

Their distraction was further compounded when a group of young ladies took residence in the pavilion across the pond. While the apparent leader, a red haired beauty dressed finer than the rest of the entourage was content to gaze elegantly at the pond, some of her younger attendants were giggling and shooting glances at the workers. Though the red haired beauty was by far the most stunning of the group, there was no lack of lovely sights in the pavilion for the weary work group to marvel at.

However, none of these beautiful women were the target of Jongsen’s attention. Instead he stared at the pavilion itself, or rather one of the near columns of the pavilion. That thing is going to collapse within a matter of weeks.

Jongsen had caught a glimpse of some barely perceptible rot at the bottom of the column, almost completely obscured by the shrubs and flowers. It was the column closest to the pond and although he was unlikely to get a closer look at it he was certain that it was compromised.

What could have affected only the one column, he thought to himself. He recalled the storm they had suffered at the beginning of that spring, a monster of a storm that resulted in minor flooding in the dockworker district. If the heavy winds had rattled the foundation and the water level rose up it could have been soaking for a good day before the water receded. 

The rest of the structure appeared to be in good health, but the weakness on one side was bound to get worse the next time they had a storm. If anyone was unlucky enough to be taking shelter when the column broke, it might drag the entire roof on their head.

Jongsen continued to look at the pavilion, face shrinking into a particularly ugly scowl as if he had the misfortune of snacking on a particularly sour lemon. Big Brother had called this his “stink face” and, try as he might to avoid it, he always seemed to fall into it before he did something ill advised.

So if I tell the overseer he’s almost certain to ignore me, he reasoned, and even worse if it does collapse later I’m going to be a dangerous inconvenience. Jongsen quickly disregarded the idea of approaching anyone else, he’d likely be beaten to a pulp before he could say as much as “Good afternoon”. Which leaves one option, keep your stupid mouth shut. This was the only logical course of action. He had considered all other options and they ranged from ineffective to actually insane. And yet…

Jongsen stared at the pavilion for entirely too long, his scowl deepening as he rubbed his chin. It was a bad habit, and if Big Brother had seen him he would have been rather rudely brought back to reality. But there he stood, hyperfixated on the pavilion mind continuing to churn thoughts in his head. And there his gaze remained, completely unaware of the pair of obsidian eyes staring just as intently at him.

Chapter Text

Slipping out of the barracks was easy — the workers were too exhausted to let anything interrupt their sleep. There were guards stationed outside but the moon was faint tonight, so Jongsen was able to slink past unnoticed. One of the benefits of his small frame was being able to creep around much more effectively.

He had deduced his barracks was somewhere within the military district as there were always a few loitering officers in the evenings when he arrived back. So he quietly made his way to the most warehouse looking buildings in the area. He was hoping he had remembered which warehouses had rations in them and which ones contained more interesting items.

Food, Food, … food I think? He thought, as he passed by each warehouse. 

Then, he spotted it, and paused. Jongsen was pretty sure he was at the right place and, after waiting for the next patrolman to pass by, he slunk into the warehouse unseen. While he could see well in the dark, the inside of the warehouse was nearly impossible to make out. He started feeling around for what he needed, starting with what he thought would be easiest.

After a little fumbling he was able to get a hold of some loose rope, string, and cloth. Jongsen was unsure what they were intended for but he decided it was not his problem today. He then tried to sniff the air for his big prize. Ah, hello beautiful. He slowly and quietly wedged a crate open and pulled out a bag of gunpowder. If he was doing this he may as well get to have some fun with it.

After slipping back out of the warehouse, goodies in tow, he retraced his steps from that morning. When he finished avoiding a few more patrols, he eventually made his way to the courtyard with the pavilion. Just as he’d hoped, this area was far enough from the buildings that he should have relative privacy.

Thinking it would be a shame to bring the whole building down for one column, Jongsen clambered up the side and started chipping a few holes into the beam at the top and middle. I just need to weaken the column in the middle and top and I should be able to separate and pull it down from the rest of the structure. 

In calm weather the remaining columns would be more than enough to support the roof while also being unsightly and impossible to ignore. All he had to do was put a few cracks at the top to make sure it didn’t pull the roof with it, and in the middle to break the integrity so he could pull it in on itself. He’d even throw a few at the rotted base for good measure.

Carefully folding the powder into the strips of cloth, he made his makeshift “charges”. While he did enjoy the excuse to blow something up, he also needed to be able to make progress quickly enough to not get caught in the act. Therefore he had reasoned that he had no choice but to use the gunpowder, as simply chopping at the column like a tree would be too time consuming and risky. Still he took care to use small amounts and slightly wet the area around each charge. He wanted a boom, not an inferno after all.

If he had more time to look into the warehouses he might have tried looking for something to use as a fuse, but he didn’t have that luxury. So instead he was going to have to set these off in sequence and then hope that turning away was enough to not get hurt. 

Jongsen started with the top — he had used the most here because he really wanted to get a good separation from the top. Jongsen had “appropriated” a small piece of steel and an appropriate stone from his worksite, and used some of the woodchips he had made to get a small fire going. With that he lit a small wick and tried to get the top charges at once but he wasn’t able to get the last ones off in time. 

Making more of a popping noise than a boom, the charges went off. Raising an arm up he was able to keep the debris and splinters out of his eyes, then looked at his handiwork. Sure enough there were some significant fractures between the top of the column and the roof. That should be enough.

He then got to work on the middle and bottom of the column, working quickly lest his “relatively” quiet explosions attract some attention. Then tying the rope around the middle he worked the rope over the side railing and pulled down. He wasn’t the most impressive physical specimen so he was hoping that he could get some extra leverage to bring it down.

Just as he was starting to think he might need a few more charges, the column cracked through the middle and after a little more elbow grease the column collapsed down into the pavilion. The release in tension had thrown Jongsen forwards into a bush but he was too pleased with himself to be inconvenienced.

After checking to see if anyone was around he brushed himself off, and splashed some water on his face to clean himself. He then found himself a nice ditch near the wall and stowed his leftover gunpowder. It would be a shame if I couldn’t get a little more use out of this. 

Carefully making his way back to the barracks he slipped back into his bedroll. There, a little light mischief and no one will ever be the wiser. Getting himself comfortable after a hard night's work, he closed his eyes and prepared himself for a well earned sleep.

I am perhaps the dumbest boy alive. Jongsen was staring at the ceiling, thoughts racing and adrenaline pumping. Of course they’re going to investigate, even if the patrols didn’t hear you it’s likely that at least one person in the nearby houses got startled by the noise. And then there's the fact that you chose the method that was least likely to look like an accident. 

He cursed his absolute stupidity. All he needed to do was keep his head down and he’d have been fine. But now there would be an inquiry, questions, interrogations — so on, and so forth. Staring at the ceiling, he hoped he could, just this once, not get mixed up in this.

Chapter Text

The courtyard had been abuzz all morning. Soldiers had already cordoned off the area and were waiting for superiors to investigate the crime scene. Fengsui had seen the pavilion, littered with debris and missing a column, but otherwise standing. It had been little trouble to convince Lady Lingli to check out the scene, they were both inquisitive by nature and to have such an interesting occurrence happen outside their residence was too mysterious to ignore. 

Gathering the rest of the ladies in waiting, Fengsui followed her mistress out the door towards the pavilion. They approached the guards who were about to halt the group before Lady Lingli preempted them. “As an Imperial Sister I do believe I have a right to examine my own grounds.” She smiled wryly. “I do promise not to make any trouble for you or your commanding officers.”

The guards looked to each other hesitantly, then parted for Lady Lingli and Fengsui to make their way forward. The rest of the ladies, while intrigued, were not as bold as their lady and head lady-in-waiting, and so stayed a few paces away from the scene.

“Such a strange target for sabotage would you not agree” Lady Lingli posited to Fengsui. Fengsui crouched down next to the pillar. There were several small scorch marks she could make out, and a quick taste test confirmed that there was gunpowder residue as well.

Fengsui grinned, “Oh yes, I would have to say that I’m perplexed by this whole affair”. Fengsui was delighted to finally have a real puzzle after so long. Not only was the nature of the incident bizarre, a seemingly random pavilion in the Outer Court, but she could not conceive of a single motive for the crime.

There were plenty of more valuable targets within the Palace Complex so it’s unlikely the work of a malicious saboteur. And if it was a thrillseeker why the small charges in a place deep within the palace?

Fengsui went to check the base of the pillar. Similar to the column, it showed signs of scorching, residue and also… 

Fengsui laid down prone on the ground to get a better look. Not particularly ladylike but I’ve gotten away with worse. Beneath the scorching appeared to be a small layer of woodrot. 

“Find anything interesting?” her lady asked her, “Anything worth sharing?”. 

Fengsui stood up with a giddy grin “I have a few ideas, but I can only speculate. For now I’ll keep it to myself”. Fengsui looked for any more evidence and found it almost immediately, a trail of gunpowder leading away from the scene. And then you got sloppy didn't you?

She followed the trail towards the wall. Given that yesterday was the day before the new moon, the culprit likely didn’t even see the trail he was leaving. Along the palace wall was a little ditch with some dirt hastily thrown upon a midsized pouch. If she was right this would contain…

Gunpowder, and based on the pouch itself the culprit probably filched this from one of the warehouses… but hold on now. Fengsui looked closer at the pouch and noticed there wasn’t just gunpowder, but some other residue inside. Without much of a thought she attempted to isolate some and tasted it. 

Doesn’t seem like a poison or other organic compound, not quite salt… wait is this just rocks? She took another look at the residue, and then compared it to the stone wall in front of her. As much as she could match cut stone to some dust, she was pretty sure she had a match. 

Just then she thought back to yesterday and the strange worker boy who spent minutes staring at the pavilion. He was a smaller boy, not much taller than herself, with shaggy black hair and a young face that had unkept peach fuzz on the chin.  While the other girls had giggled about his sweet peasant crush, she had noticed that he wasn’t staring at any of them, but around them. At the building itself.

Fengsui grabbed the pouch and came back towards Lady Lingli. After a few words her lady addressed one of the guards “I would like Officer Gaoken to oversee this matter personally, my head lady-in-waiting will reach out to him to conduct this investigation.” The guards bowed in acknowledgement, and Fengsui headed towards the Military District. 

I wonder what he will be like, I do hope he is interesting. Fengsui had a skip in her step, she had not been this excited in a while. She couldn’t wait to interrogate this poor boy. She chuckled. Perhaps if he’s lucky I shall make him my pet.