Shú and Lán stumbled as fast as they could through the busy streets of Húchéng, turns out it's not easy to navigate a city that's on top of a lake with a wheelchair, but that would be a problem for another time.

They picked up some men as they ran and arrived at the clinic to find a big commotion. 

Chief Guard Baek was already there along with Saman Pa, his disciples and three other Lúse Family guards, they were trying to calm down a hoard of Taoist priests, disciples, and other imperial officials that had come to protest the clinic.

It was a tough situation, the protesters weren't armed but there were more than a hundred of them and they were blocking all entrances to the clinic, endangering patients and the physicians inside. They were hurling rocks and all manner of insults, a small cut was bleeding from the side of Saman Pa’s head.

“All of you! Calm down!” Saman Pa pleaded but the crowd only seemed to get more agitated by the monk’s words.

Baek spotted Lán in the distance and looked at him unsure of what to do. Lán had expected the West Wind Taoist Sect to try something like this to provoke a violent reaction out of the Lúse Family, so he had told Baek and the men guarding the clinic to never resort to drawing their swords.

But the situation was growing out of control, the protesters were almost at a breaking point to violence, and Lán could figure out that the West Wind Taoist Sect had tried to put them in a checkmate.

He took a second to listen and while the priests and officials were repeating the same things about the clinic's practices being unnatural, the West Wind Taoist Sect had gathered many regular people. These people were upset by totally understandable things, medicine is a tricky thing and while the clinic was exceptional, there were still cases that could not be solved or even ended in tragedy.

The West Wind Taoist Sect had fanned the flames of their anger with the rhetoric of how the practices at the clinic were unjust and based on sorcery. Now if the Lúse family reacted they would lose the faith of the people, but if the protest got out of control, the blame could be placed on the faceless hoard of people that let their emotions go unchecked.

Lán took a deep breath and addressed the men behind him.

“Give your swords to Shú, we are going in unarmed.” “Shú I need you to go and get more guards, were going to need reinforcements”

Shú looked at him worriedly “Ill be fine” Lán replied “If there’s something I've learned, is that nobody wants to punch a guy in a wheelchair”

Lán and his men carefully forced their way through the crowd. Once they got to the front, Lán asked some of his guards to change out of their armor into their civilian clothing. Then he formed two lines, placing the plainclothes guards in the front and the armored guards a few steps behind them, with the order to intervene only if the front row was physically threatened. 

Lán scanned the crowd and identified the people at the front that were the most agitated or leading the crowd. Then with the help of the guards in the front row, managed to slowly convince them to come inside the clinic to talk.

Once inside, they openly listened to their anger, thankfully Saman Pa and his disciples were extremely empathetic and carefully explained the intricacies of their cases.

Many needed a place to vent their frustrations about their life long illnesses, others just needed a shoulder to cry on.

Over the course of an hour or two, the protest was slowly dispersed, as more guards came in to replace the tired ones, the strategy they applied had a ripple effect among the crowd, as people were listened to, they came out more relaxed and started telling other people what was happening inside.

The protest was finished by agreeing to open a reception where people could lodge their complaints and suggestions, as well as a department where people could go to receive counseling about their grief from injuries, illnesses, or lost loved ones.

Most of the crowd left, leaving only the Taoist priests and a few imperial officials. They were clearly shocked by the result, expecting to have the Lúse Family on the backfoot. They left after a few more insults and bickering, finally ending the protest.

Lán sat with his men, everyone was clearly exhausted but in a good mood, since the situation seemed extremely dire.

“Chief Guard Baek” Lán said “From now on, this is how we’ll deal with protests of any kind, make sure that a similar reception is opened in the Great Library where all other governmental complaints can be received and investigated.”

Baek nodded in agreement “Young Master, there is still the threat of the West Wind Taoist Sect, they have taken things too far this time, we need to find a permanent solution for them.”

“I know, let me think” Lán leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes as he went into familiar halls of his mind.