Reputation grows like fungi in the dark, with rumor as its spore. Both good and bad accounts of Lin Wei's work spread through Chang'an. A noblewoman who once had been weakly favored by Fate gave birth to a healthy son after a stand she had made at Lin Wei's instruction; a merchant claimed that the physician's hands had prompted a miraculous recovery in his daughter. The Imperial Medical Bureau took notice.
Yet with praise came jealousy. A faction in the court used any advantage they could to bend fortune to their designs. Li Yun's remnants fretted and planned. The late general's affiliates, who remained loyal to the memory of Xiao Che's cause, continued to watch the city like wolves scenting a shifting wind.
Lin Wei kept her head down. Shen would not let her. He pushed her into positions where she could teach and where she could be recognized for skill rather than for origin. When the emperor ordered an inspection and a public demonstration of the bureau's techniques, their small triumph was sealed by the success of a risky delivery that saved both mother and child.