Clockwork Samurai by Jeannie Lin Read Free Book Online

trapped inside the inner palace every day, and now Chang-wei would be leaving as well.
    â€œDo you truly believe an alliance with Japan will help us?” I asked.
    His expression became thoughtful. “The Ministry used to exchange ideas with scientists in Japan, but not since your father left and Kuo took his place. Their studies took a different direction than ours. The study of firearms.”
    â€œFrom the
Yangguizi.
” Just the mention of the foreign devils left a bitter taste in my mouth.
    â€œNot everything from the West is evil, Soling.”
    I didn’t respond. The war against the
Yangguizi
had cost my father his life. I would never trust them.
    â€œJapanese knowledge with our factories to produce the weapons,” Chang-wei went on. “I’m not a strategist or a general, but it seems logical to me. Combine the efforts of our two nations against a common adversary. The Westerners haven’t attacked Japan, but it’s only a matter of time.”
    â€œThe Japanese won’t think kindly of you if you go bearing that message,” I warned.
    Chang-wei always forgot about politics and human pride. In his head, the world was a logical place where people would be compelled to make the right decisions if allowed to see them.
    In truth, people had the right decisions in front of them all the time and still chose wrong.
    â€œAirships and war vessels won’t solve all of our problems. Chief Engineer Kuo has risen through the ranks by feeding the court’s hatred and fear of the
Yingguoren.
His solution is to build higher walls around the ports,” Chang-wei said, agitated. “A dome around the inner palace to prevent attack. A greater army. Everything is focused within, like a tortoise retreating into its shell. It can’t be the only way. We have to look outward.”
    â€œI hope you’re right,” I murmured. “I really hope you are.”
    When I had returned to Peking, it was upon one of the Emperor’s dragon ships. For the first time in eight years, I had looked upon the city of my birth with hope. Chang-wei had given that to me.
    â€œThe Emperor refuses to consider an alliance with a nation that is beneath him. And Chief Engineer Kuo won’t abide by any ideas but his own.”
    â€œYet they are allowing you to go.”
    He smiled faintly. “Chen Chang-wei on another one of his mad schemes.”
    A wave of loneliness hit me. I wanted very much to be a part of his mad schemes. I had come to the capital to be a part of the fight, but now Chang-wei would continue with his battle, while I remained tucked away, hiding like a tortoise in its shell.

Chapter Five
    I tried not to think too much of Chang-wei leaving. It would drive me mad.
    Instead I absorbed myself in my duties in the physicians’ court, and the next days passed by uneventfully. I heard nothing else from the Emperor. Hopefully he’d forgotten about me.
    By the time I was to take my monthly leave, the natural rhythm and routine of the harem returned.
    Outside of the Forbidden City lay the Manchurian section of the city. My mother had found lodging in a modest courtyard house among the winding
hutong
alleyways. I was given permission once every month to visit her and my brother.
    The mechanical sedan chair took me through the palace gates and along the prescribed path through the streets. I always looked forward to these visits away from the protocols and rituals of the palace. Every time I saw my younger brother, I was reminded of exactly why we had come back to Peking.
    The property was not much larger than ours had been back in the village. It was comprised of three rooms around a central yard. Nothing like the mansion our family had once occupied in Peking, but that place had been long taken over by some other official. I wouldn’t have remembered it if I saw it. That time was a lifetime away from who we were now.
    But life had been good to us, all things