A foot note?
Teacher Jin sat in the corner of the library. He stared at the secondhand laptop. On the screen was the newly released disclaimer for The Seven Poisons Lab. The phrase "the literal one" was stuck in his throat. He could not swallow it. He could not spit it out.
He sighed. The air smelled only of cold vegetable pancakes.
A shadow fell beside him. Cheng Lingsu set a plate of vegan mezé by his hand. She pulled up a chair and sat. She did not look at the screen. She kept her head down and turned the yellowed pages of an old book of medicines.
"Teacher Jin," she began, her voice perfectly level, "might I be so bold as to suggest that your assistant is rather dreadfully restless?"
"Yes," Teacher Jin said with a bitter smile. "He nearly caused a disaster."
"He simply does not comprehend," Cheng Lingsu murmured, her fingertip resting lightly upon a certain line in her book, "that the deterrence of this world is divided into three distinct strata.
"The first is to brandish one's weapon. That is the province of the brute. Everyone sees it.
The second is to conceal it. That is the province of the politician. It invites speculation, which is far more perilous.
The third," she said, raising her eyes, her gaze as clear as water, "is to assure others that you possess a weapon, when in truth you hold but a few medical needles. That is precisely what we require."
Teacher Jin paused.
Cheng Lingsu extended her finger and tapped the air just above the words "the literal one" on the screen.
"You cannot delete it. The more you erase, the more it resembles an attempt at concealment. It is best to leave it be.
Should anyone inquire, you might simply reply: 'This refers to the needle of our laboratory. Small as it is, when placed upon the proper acupoint, it may yet cure.'"
She closed the medicine book and stood. She smoothed her plain, lake-blue cotton clothes.
"That your assistant misspoke was not due to malice, but rather a profound ignorance of su."
"And what," Teacher Jin asked, "is su?"
Cheng Lingsu replied, quite softly:
"Su is knowing that you possess nothing but a secondhand laptop and a paper bag of cold vegetable pancakes."
She smiled, pausing for a moment.
"It is only with such a foundation that one may safely utter grand words. Having nothing, one has nothing to lose."
Then she was gone.
On the table she left a line of small characters, written in the juice of herbs, like a marginal note:
"This laboratory examines instruments of conflict to understand their effects, not to recommend their use."
Teacher Jin looked at the line. He bit into the cold vegetable pancake. Suddenly, the phrase "the literal one" did not seem so hot in his mouth anymore.(AI)