23. Unbelievable

Yanli slowly came to in a bright room of immaculately pleasing feng shui. She blinked and stared at the ceiling for a while before her brain kicked in.

A woman who was old enough to be someone’s grandmother gracefully walked up and leaned over her with a thoughtful hum. She was dressed in the signature blue and white robes of the Gusu Lan, and had an inner clan forehead ribbon.

“Ah. Good. Are you ready to sit up?” Her voice was soft in the quiet building, but she did not wait for an answer, gently tugging Yanli into a sitting position. When she was settled with a pillow at her back, the doctor took her wrist. Yanli instinctively pulled away, earning her a chastising look.

“I know you are cultivator, Miss Meng. Your heart was stressed by the ill-advised adventure you went on, so we are monitoring your golden core to insure recovery.”

“Oh.” She looked at her wrist for a moment, thinking that it was unsurprising that the Gusu Lan doctors would notice a golden core, of all things, even a weak one like hers. With a sigh, she held it out again. As the woman took her pulse and checked her qi, Yanli finally looked around and saw Meng Yao and A’Cheng completely asleep on the floor, nestled up together on a thick mat.

“They would not leave you, even at the request of Grandmaster Lan,” the woman murmured, with a tone of approval in her voice.

“They are good men,” Yanli replied fondly.

“They are exhausted boys, is what they are.” She sighed before lowering Yanli’s hand. “It is almost dawn, and the sect will be waking up soon. I don’t think Grandmaster Lan will put off meeting with you for much longer.”

“Lan Wangji still has not returned?” Worry threaded through her fatigue.

The doctor shook her head. “No, and there is quite a tussle about what to do going on with the elder council. It was on my orders that you and your brothers were allowed to rest through the night, but I can only do so much.”

“Thank you, Lan Daifu.” Yanli bowed as best she could. The doctor gave her a nod and stood up. “I will go order breakfast for all of you. I suggest you get them up and presentable before the sun has crested.” She pointed out an open window to a range of mountains in the distance, barely outlined by the breaking light of dawn, then left as quietly as she came.

Yanli marshaled her forces and got A’Yao and A’Cheng awake. They had already changed into the borrowed clothing the Lan provided, so Yanli stepped behind a screen and did likewise. She wondered at her own brazenness; her mother would have shrieked with fury at Yanli changing clothes in the same room with a nearly grown brother and a man who was, technically, unrelated to her. But her mother was dead, and poverty and familiarity had inured her to such things long ago, possibly during their first night on the run. She understood why commoners often came across as brash and uncouth to the gentry: they had no time or money or energy for anything but the most practical approach to any situation.

They ate the plain but savory breakfast in silence, at least until A’Yao had two cups of tea and blinked his way to full consciousness.

“The doctor said Grandmaster Lan wants to meet with us,” she opened the conversation as A’Cheng stuffed a whole boiled egg in his mouth.

A’Yao nodded. “Lan Xichen ran interference, and your health was the deciding factor.” His smile was weary, but genuine. She loved it when his dimples showed up.

“At least it serves some purpose,” she said with a chuckle.

“JieJie,” A’Cheng (of all people!) admonished her.

“Ah, I am doing well, DiDi.”

A’Cheng grumbled and attacked another egg.

“They think we are a family of rogue cultivators who settled in Yiling, so they are being gracious. But until Ying’er shows up with Lan Wangji, the situation will be delicate.” A’Yao sighed.

“We can be delicate!” A’Cheng protested with his mouth full, then curled up at the twin looks of displeasure from her and A’Yao.

As they cleared away the dishes, a knock came at the door.

“Here we go,” A’Yao whispered, leading her to the bed. “Try to look fragile and confused.”

She held back a snort as she sat down on the edge. A’Yao and A’Cheng stood to bow properly as Lan Xichen and the man who could only be the austere and admired scholar Lan Qiren glided into the room. Yanli was beginning to wonder if the Lan had feet, or wheels.

He stopped abruptly and looked the three of them over critically, until coming to some conclusion and walking over to stand next to his nephew.

“I am informed that you are much recovered from your ordeal,” Lan Qiren said with a bow. “I am gratified to hear it.”

She bowed from where she sat. “While I am still tired and weak, I feel much better. I thank the Lan for their hospitality and support.”

That, apparently, was the end of the social niceties. A disciple who had followed them in started pushing furniture around and several more chairs were brought in. By the end of it, they were all sat in an informal circle, with Yanli still perched on the edge of the bed.

“My nephew says that you claim to have come here from the Burial Mounds.” Lan Qiren addressed Meng Yao, as he was the eldest male of the family. It continued to rankle Yanli a little, but she knew that was just how things were in her world. She had just gotten used to being treated with more respect in Yiling. She looked over at A’Yao and gave him a small nod to continue. He turned his focus to Lan Qiren.

“Yes, although I must clarify that we never claimed that. Your nephew overheard Miss Meng rambling from exhaustion before she passed out.”

Yanli readjusted her perceptions in that moment. Meng Yao was sitting there as properly and naturally as any young master of the gentry, a polite smile on his face and his entire posture radiating confidence. He had never looked quite so adult before.

“I see,” Lan Qiren stroked his beard. “But do you deny it?”

“No, we do not.” He gave a shallow nod, pleasant smile locked in place.

“Hmph. You understand how preposterous that is, of course.”

A’Cheng puffed up a little, but withered under Yanli’s quelling glare.

“We do,” A’Yao conceded.

“Can you explain it, then?” Lan Qiren demanded.

“Only so far as to tell you that it is true. I could relate the whole story, but I doubt you would believe it.”

Lan Qiren raised an eyebrow. “Is it so outlandish?”

“It is. Also, without Second Brother here, it is nearly impossible to explain.”

“Oh? How so? I invite you to at least try.” Lan Qiren settled back like he was in a teahouse, paying to hear the latest romance novel.

Meng Yao turned to A’Cheng. “I have actually been waiting to hear some of it myself.”

A’Cheng, to his credit, did not squirm, but did at least look chastised. He lowered his head for a moment, then dropped out of the chair to kowtow to Yanli first, then Meng Yao.

“This Meng Cheng is sorry to have caused my elders such difficulty!”

They were all close enough that Yanli could reach down and pull him to his knees. “Your apology is accepted, as you see the error of your ways. We will discuss punishment later. Right now, we need you to get up and explain to Grandmaster Lan what you and Ying’er did.”

He nodded and got back into his chair. “We needed spiritual swords.” He stopped there with a grimace.

“Ah.” A’Yao turned to the Lans. “Our home was attacked some months ago by bandits while I was out. It was sheer luck that anyone survived, but in the fighting, our honored grandfather was murdered. The boys are convinced that if they had spiritual weapons, they would have been better able to defend us.”

It was a masterful display of lying by omission, and Yanli was reminded once again just how smart Meng Yao was, under his artfully bland exterior.

“Mn!” A’Cheng nodded. “Since we can’t afford to have them commissioned, Ying’ge decided to go find some masterless swords in the Burial Mounds.”

Lan Qiren looked appalled. “He did, did he? Why on earth would any sane person think that?”

“You don’t know our brother,” Yanli offered with a smile.

“Hmph.” He motioned for A’Cheng to continue.

“He created some cleansing talismans, which we used to clear a radius of space around us. He made enough to stick to the trees as we went up the mountain so we’d have a way back. We did not find any masterless swords, but we did find the Demon Subdue Palace.”

Yanli watched Lan Xichen mouth “Demon Subdue Palace” in alarm.

“It was all broken down and dark, but there was an old pool in there. It was nasty. But Wei Ying said that there were swords at the bottom, so we went in.” He wrinkled his nose. “It was so disgusting! Looked and tasted like blood, not water.”

If anything, Lan Xichen looked even more horrified, not less, and Lan Qiren’s eyebrows were lifting higher on his head with every word.

“Anyway, we got in and whoosh! We were sucked into the ice cave with the killer guqin. Never found any masterless swords, either,” he amended with a heavy, regretful sigh.

Lan Qiren’s mouth was hanging open in a very undignified manner for a moment before he caught himself.

A’Yao was back to smiling pleasantly and blinking innocently.

“What he’s leaving out is that they drugged us to keep us asleep when they snuck out. We woke up midmorning, figured out what had happened, and went chasing after them, following the cleared trail left by the talismans. When we got to the old palace and saw the blood pool with their boots next to it, we thought—” A’Yao stopped there and closed his eyes for a long moment, his smile fading. A’Cheng looked abashed and Yanli primly folded her hands in her lap to stop the shaking.

“We thought it was a recovery operation, to be honest. I went in to retrieve their bodies, and likewise ended up in the ice cave with Lan Yi’s guqin. JieJie followed soon after.”

She shrugged. “My brothers were all gone. I was going to get them back, or die trying.”

“JieJie!” A’Cheng yelled, horrified.

“How could I not, A’Cheng?”

He put his face in his hands in shame.

Lan Qiren was rubbing his temples, and Lan Xichen was back to looking pale and horrified.

“So, let us start with these impossible talismans that cleared the resentful energy in the Burial Mounds.” Lan Qiren glared at A’Cheng.

“Not all of the resentful energy. Just in a modest circumference,” Meng Yao answered deferentially, obviously trying to ease the blow.

“They did not last too long, either! A few shi at most,” Yanli offered.

Lan Qiren did not look appeased, but just then, a disciple slammed open the door without even knocking.

“What is the meaning of this?” Lan Qiren snapped, standing up, while Lan Xichen looked shocked beyond words.

“Acting Sect Leader! Young Master Lan!” The disciple was panting heavily and looked utterly terrified. “Lan Wangji eloped!”