Chapter Text
When she and A’Yao got back to the guest pavilion, they heard the lovely sound of a guqin playing a portion of the classic song, “Three Stanzas on Plum Blossoms.” For a moment Yanli wondered why Lan Wangji was playing alone in their pavilion when he was supposed to be leaving for the Cloud Recesses, but when she saw A’Yao’s expression of awe, she realized she was wrong.
Meng Shi sat in the main room, playing a gorgeous instrument, its surface polished to a dark, mirror-like finish that reflected the ambient light with a subtle, warm glow. A delicate inlaid pattern of mother-of-pearl traced along the instrument’s edges, forming intricate designs of entwining vines. It was a unique and outstanding heirloom-quality piece that had definitely not been in the room earlier.
Meng Shi smiled as she looked up, her eyes softening when she saw her son. They had not been able to do more than greet each other earlier, and Yanli was of a mind to let them have their privacy for a full reunion, so she offered to go out to the garden for a while to rest.
“No, please, Yanli, this one would be happy to have you join us.”
Yanli nodded and then motioned at Liu Peng, who ran off to get tea and snacks.
“Thank you, Second Mother.” She eyed the guqin as Meng Shi walked around it to sit with them at the table, allowing A’Yao to assist her, although she clearly needed no help.
“Where did the fine instrument come from?” A’Yao asked, sounding suspicious.
“Second Young Master Nie came by not long after you left for the meeting, and said his brother wished to gift it to me. It is very fine. I have never played one of such quality.” Meng Shi looked over at it with stars in her eyes.
Yanli covered her mouth. “Is he courting you?”
A’Yao glared at the guqin.
“Don’t be silly, Yanli. It is simply a gesture to our sect, a recognition of our status.” Meng Shi shook her head fondly.
“Hmph,” Liu Peng said softly as she set down the tray.
“Liu Peng, do you have something to say?” Meng Shi asked with an arched eyebrow.
She looked abashed for a moment, but then squared her shoulders. “This is the guqin of the First Madam Nie. No one has been allowed to play it since she died, not even the Twin Jades of Lan. To gift such a treasure of our sect to you, personally, is a not a political act.”
Yanli, Meng Shi, and A’Yao turned as one to stare at the instrument.
“Hmmmm,” Meng Shi hummed, eyebrows furrowed.
“We are sending it back,” A’Yao said with fervor.
Liu Peng looked horrified by the idea.
“I don’t think we can send it back without an official rejection of his suit, A’Yao,” Yanli said softly.
“There is no suit!” A’Yao snapped, his nostrils flaring.
“Now, now, children. Sect Leader Nie is an important man, so we cannot be hasty in our decisions.” Meng Shi smoothed out her robes as she settled. “He’s also a very handsome man,” she added with a sly smile. A’Yao turned to her in horror, while Yanli did her best to control her face and Liu Peng looked extremely smug. “Pour us tea, A’Yao.”
He did so with a very unhappy expression, but Meng Shi turned her attention back to Yanli. “What is the situation with the Jiang, now that Sect Leader Nie has returned?”
“Still peaceful, at this point. Nie Popo stashed them in a guest area far from where we are, here. Sect Leader Nie is about as happy as you would expect with Jin Guangshan’s meddling, so he might request further explanations on how you came across the information, depending on what they find out about Jin Zixun.”
Meng Shi nodded solemnly.
“Was the Yunmeng Jiang contingent really that small?” A’Yao asked.
“It was. Less than fifty altogether, counting disciples and servants.”
“I am not sure how they all got out,” Meng Shi said with a sigh. “The Wen army was massive. Sect Leader Jiang sent ten of us along with Madam Jiang before the fighting started, but it was clearly going to be a blood bath by numbers alone. I was genuinely surprised when he and the other survivors met us a day later, on the road to Lanling. Lotus Cove was devastated. I had time to warn Sisi to get out, but the smoke could be seen for days. I’m sure he’s given a full report to the Nie, but from what I’ve heard, the invading force was led by Wen Chao and his bodyguard, Wen Zhuliu. ”
The Core-melting Hand. Yanli shivered.
“Sect Leader Jiang is lucky to have escaped the worst of it,” A’Yao said judgementally.
Yanli thought about it for a moment. “I think…I think if the Violet Spider had lived, she would not have abandoned the fight, or allowed him to do so either. They likely would have both died, or worse. But Sect Leader Jiang is not a man to take risks, or to stay and fight a losing battle. He would view his survival as more important, as he is the sect leader and his heir has not even been born yet.”
Both Mengs looked judgmental at that.
With a deep frown, Meng Shi put down her cup. Something about it made A’Yao go cautious and quiet, watching her carefully. “Mama?”
“There are secrets to share, and secrets to keep,” she said, glancing at Liu Peng.
“Oh, Madam! You are almost out of snacks! I’ll go to the kitchens to see if they have anything fresh!” Liu Peng said with a hasty bow, and quickly left. If Nie Popo had hoped the girl would spy on them (most servants were expected to, in great sects, as Yanli knew well), she would be sorely disappointed.
“Mama, watch this,” A’Yao said bashfully, then stood up and used his qi to draw a privacy seal and send it to the walls of the room.
“Oh! A’Yao!” Meng Shi teared up with joy. “You are a proper cultivator now!” She dabbed at her eyes as A’Yao sat down, filled with pride, and they clasped their hands together.
Yanli sipped her tea and looked over at the guqin while mother and son shared a moment. Yanli was going to have to corner Nie Huaisang and find out if his brother actually gifted it or if he was trying to meddle in his brother’s affairs…literally. With a sigh, she put the matter aside for the moment.
“Ah, so, there is the matter of the Jiang heir,” Meng Shi said, her frown returning.
“There is?”
“No, not that anyone knows.” Meng Shi looked at Yanli, her expression hard. “I admit withholding this information until A’Yao returned, for reasons you might guess when you hear what I have to say.” She took a deep breath. “I suspect I know why your mother did what she did.”
“What?” The bottom dropped out of Yanli’s stomach and she clutched her robes. “What do you mean?”
“I was hired a year ago. Young Madam Jiang confided in me that while marital relations were strong, nothing was taking. That is not too uncommon, as he is a bit older and she is young.” She looked extremely displeased at that. Then she sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “And then, there was a discussion conference held in Lanling Jin.”
She stopped there for a long moment.
“Second Mother?” Yanli asked, fear running through her veins. A’Yao’s expression had turned to stone.
“I altered my face enough to go unnoticed, but…Sect Leader Jin has always liked them pretty and young.” She spat the words. “There was a time when most of the sect leaders were off watching a competition, where he claimed to have a headache and returned early. That man forced his way into Madam Jiang’s rooms, locked us out, and…took his pleasure.”
Yanli covered her mouth in horror while A’Yao’s face went completely blank.
“She missed her next course,” Meng Shi said, and looked pointedly at Yanli again.
“No,” Yanli gasped.
“That foul reprobate,” A’Yao spat.
They all sat in horrified silence for a while. Yanli ran through the facts over and over before speaking to Meng Shi again.
“You believe that Sect Leader Jiang is incapable of creating issue from his own flesh.”
“Signs do seem to point that way. Your mother was a much smarter woman than the current Madam Jiang, who is a simple, innocent girl. I had to give her nerve-soothing medicine afterwards to calm her down, and even then it took me a while to convince her not to say anything to anyone about the assault. I am ashamed to admit to you that I used your mother’s name as a cautionary tale, but it at least made her realize how precarious her situation was. When it became clear she was carrying, she panicked again, but now she understands it is not just her life on the line, but her child’s.”
Yanli felt sick to her stomach. She had no love lost for the woman who took her mother’s place, but she certainly did not wish such a situation on her. On anyone.
“It makes sense that my mother would, ah, take matters into her own hands if she believed the problem was with her husband.” She grimaced.
“Indeed. She would hardly be the first woman to do so,” she added, sounding genuinely regretful. “However, in this case, it was not Madam Jiang’s choice at all.”
“What you are saying is that, technically, there is no Jiang sect heir. Nor will there ever be one, from the main line. It dies with Jiang Fengmian.” A’Yao spoke softly, a satisfied gleam in his eyes. Meng Shi patted his arm, then leaned over to take Yanli’s hands in hers. Her expression remained somber but was lightened by compassion and care.
“I do not tell you this as any kind of leverage against the Jiang. I hesitated to tell you at all, as there isn’t much it would accomplish other than getting another woman executed, as I’m sure Jin Guangshan would claim it was voluntary on her part. But I feel it is important for you to know about your own mother, so you might gain some peace from understanding her motivations, at least in part.”
Yanli nodded, and just then Liu Peng returned from her overly-long trip to the kitchens with a tray filled to bursting with pastries, candied nuts, and slices of fruit. She set it down triumphantly and went to set up the hot water kettle for tea. Her appearance effectively ended the conversation, so A’Yao asked for more specifics about the meeting with Jiang Fengmian.
Ying’er and A’Cheng showed up not much later, looking like they had gotten into a scrap, with Ying’er sour-faced and petulant. Yanli decided to do him a favor and ignore his mood, but gave A’Cheng a smile of approval. He nodded once, firmly, then stomped off to go clean up.
Ying’er got distracted by the guqin and mourned that Lan Wangji was not there to see it. Meng Shi offered to play it for him, causing him to blush when she said she would choose songs to “ease his aching heart.”
By the time A’Cheng reappeared, they were all well into the snacks and talking about skipping a formal dinner. She had her family around her, and while the future was uncertain, Yanli wanted to enjoy their company in the frankly luxurious opulence afforded to a visiting sect leader for as long as she could.
Meng Shi played a few more songs while A’Cheng happily fussed over their tea options, which was itself an embarrassment of riches. Ying’er sighed heavily like a maiden whose beloved had gone off to war (which was, unfortunately, too close to the truth) and A’Yao shifted between smiling adoringly at his mother and giving Yanli warm looks of contentment over several games of weiqi with the boys.
A few days earlier, Yanli herself had sent Liu Peng to buy her embroidery supplies from the market, and the girl had returned with a finely made standing frame, extremely high quality needles, and a box filled with silk threads which, combined, had likely cost five times the amount of money Yanli had given her. It had Nie Huaisang’s fingerprints all over it, but she decided to accept the “anonymous” gifts and had spent her time embroidering around the hems of the clothes Nie Huaisang had given them.
Meng Shi paused to look over her work. “Oleanders?”
“Mn. They are one of the few flowers that thrive near the Burial Mounds. We had bushes of them growing all along the back of the siheyuan, a peculiar breed with peach blossoms that start blood red at the center, and leaves so dark green they were almost black.” She held up the edge of a sleeve she had finished.
“Oleander is very poisonous,” Meng Shi said neutrally, although her gaze was admiring of the work.
A’Yao sat up with a thoughtful expression, then nodded once, firmly. “A suitable motif for the Yiling Wei sect, and the daughter of the Violet Spider.” He smiled at her. “Strong and hardy and beautiful and dangerous.”
Yanli scoffed, not feeling particularly dangerous, but blushed all the same as her brothers poked at each other, grinning.
“Yiling Oleander blossoms for the Yiling Wei sect, then,” she said softly, running her fingers over the embroidery. The boys cheered and Meng Shi looked almost as pleased as her son as she sat down and played an old Yunmeng tune, “Oleander in Twilight.”
It was the most pleasant, lovely evening she had experienced since the terrible day they had all run into the Burial Mounds.
The next morning, Nie Mingjue sent a messenger to the guest pavilion to let them know that a contingent of 10,000 Qishan Wen forces was headed into Qinghe, obviously aiming for the Unclean Realm, under the command of Wen Xu.