"I'm sorry. He deserved better. You both did, I don't know what sickness it was you died of but I bet a cultivator doctor could've fixed it." 

Part of her wonders if A-Yao had lost the pearl Guangshan gave her, or if it had been stolen from him before he got to Lanling. But even aside from how clearly he still resembles her, even if that could be an explanation -

Kicking anyone down a flight of stairs, any boy just asking for a home - that already isn't the man she thought she knew. That isn't the man she told A-Yao his father was.

"Perhaps I was too naive," she murmurs. 

"--I don't think it's naive to assume that someone isn't as terrible as Jin Guangshan is. Most people aren't that terrible. Most Sect Leaders, even! I mean, I don't know that many leaders of minor sects, but Uncle Jiang took me in just because my parents were his friends, looked for me when he found out they had died and took me off the street when he found me. And--I guess I don't have any kid-related stories about Zewu-Jun and Chifeng-zun, but they're good. Chifeng-zun tore one of his subordinates a new one when he caught the man being cruel to Yao-ge about you. And Zewu-Jun is--I've never caught him caring about stupid things when there were things that mattered at stake. You just got unlucky and got, like, the worst one. Except probably Wen Ruohan, who is just legitimately the worst." She looks down and kicks at a random clump of dirt. "It's probably dumb, but I feel so stupid--Yunping and Yunmeng are so close together, we could've come and gotten you, except I know logically there was no way to know...and logically there are a ton of people who need rescuing as much as you two did. But you're the one who's Yao-ge's mom, and Yao-ge's the one who's Yao-ge."

She presses her lips together and doesn't allow herself to sigh. "I suppose I assumed I knew how to tell whether people were cruel, from how they treated me. I... should not have assumed... I wish I had not given A-Yao false hope."

"I think he'd probably be better off if he could just uncomplicatedly acknowledge that he's way, way too good for Jin Guangshan but, like, I'm not gonna be that jerk who says that someone's preferences are wrong and they should instead have other ones. It's just--really sad how I don't think he's going to get what he wants. If Sect Leader Jin actually loves anyone besides himself I've never seen any evidence of it. And I can't offer him a better dad. Just a sister. I don't know if offering him other family is even going to help with that specific thing, but--he still deserves it." 

"Thank you." She bows. "He does deserve family. Everyone deserves family. I am glad he's had you, even if only for a short while."

Meng Shi would really like some time to herself to cry without being seen. She is not interested in humiliating herself any further at the moment, but she must stay close to Wei-guniang for everyone's safety. "If it would not bother my lady, I would like to sit for a moment."

"Of course, of course! And, um--you don't have to call me that. I mean, I'm not--if you don't feel safe--but your son is my sworn brother, and I--just, it's fine, whatever is fine." 

Blink. "Oh. Would you prefer that I call you Wei Ying?"

She inclines her head. "If--if it wouldn't be uncomfortable or anything."

Tremulous smile. "Oh, no. You are very welcoming. Thank you, Wei Ying."

And now she will sit very neatly and fold her hands in her lap and bow her head until her face is hidden, and cry.

Aaaaaaaaah? Aaah? Aaah? 

She flails internally for approximately five seconds before sitting down next to the other woman and hugging her. 

-- oh?

Oh, that's. Very surprising but nice, actually. Wei-guniang - Wei Ying turns out to be good at hugs.

Meng Shi leans in appreciatively as much as she can without starting to cry onto Wei Ying, which would be very improper.

"Thank you. I'm sorry."

"Hey, you died, and came back, and found out someone you trusted was instead horrible and bad things happened to your kid. Crying makes perfect sense." 

"Was it -- because of me, what I was, that he was so cruel to him? Do you know?" Will it be different, now that I am free, is what she really wants to ask. Intellectually, she knows that to be foolish. Even could she so easily shed her whore's reputation, which she cannot, she is now also an undead creature. Even were it possible to return to Guangshan's affections, he kicked her son down his steps. Meng Shi is sickened and ashamed to feel any shade of longing for a man who hurt her son.

Her attachment to the one hope of salvation and freedom she had clung to for nearly fifteen years is not so easily discarded. Apparently.

Wince. "Uh--him in particular, I don't know. Some...people have been mean about that, though. Yao-ge has never been ashamed of you, though."

Shaky, unhappy nodding. 

"M'sorry people are stupid about this. He's great and you're great." Hug. 

Hug.

Meanwhile, Meng Yao touches down and requests entry to the command tent.

The guards are sort of surprised to see him. 

Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen look up when he enters. 

"Meng-gongxi! You're back sooner than expected, is everything alright?"

He smiles and bows to the both of them. "Zewu-Jun, Sect Leader Nie. Everything is alright and we are in no additional danger, yet something very unexpected has happened that may alarm many people."

"What happened?"

"Wei Ying and I were ambushed upon our arrival at my mother's grave. The Wen soldiers who waited for us had rigged an explosion in the graveyard and - destroyed the grave." He lowers his eyes and grits his teeth. "We were surrounded. And while I distracted the soldiers, Wei Ying saw fit to hide the Yin Iron inside my mother's body. And --

My mother is now functionally alive. She is aware, and herself, and remembers her life before. Neither of us were aware that this was possible."

They both openly stare for a long moment. 

"--I have never heard of such a thing to be possible either," Lan Xichen says eventually. "It seems like a--strange effect--for the Yin Iron to have. None of the records have suggested it to be capable of something so benign." 

"You are right, Zewu Jun. Wei Ying applied a few talismans once the body began - reacting, that seemed to facilitate such a fortunate outcome. 

We are both confident that she won't pose any danger."