A crowd had gathered on the guild steps around a fresh broadside. Yan saw his name before he could read the whole headline: GOLDEN CORE QI SICKENS FAMILIES ACROSS THE RIVER.
Someone had drawn a crooked circle around two reported headaches. The notices said both patients lived across the river and had become ill during Yan’s breakthrough.
“Who put this up?” Yan asked.
A clerk held the paper flat against the stone while Bai leaned toward it. The headline had been written in thick black strokes, large enough to draw people from the market lane. A woman near the steps asked whether the guild had tested Yan already. A young man answered that two people had headaches. Nobody knew who had printed the claim.
“Don’t tear it down yet. Let me preserve a copy.”
Yan’s first impulse was to find the printer and make the author say the words to his face. He could feel his new core turning the anger into a sharp, ready pulse. He kept his hands at his sides.
Qinghe read the broadside twice. “The patients are real, according to the hospital references. The dates don’t look right.”
Gu pointed to the lower corner. “It cites no instrument readings and no physician’s conclusion.”
