"It's never presumptuous to be careful! I do appreciate your consideration for everyone's safety, even if it's not necessary."

"Recently you have endured many conversations about whether others consider you dangerous, Mother. It isn't presumptuous at all for that to have left an impression."

"You are both very sweet. I suppose there has been a lot to adjust to very quickly."

"I should say so! You died, and now everything is different. Anyone would have to adjust to that." 

"I am sure there are still more things that are changed that I have yet to encounter or consider. It would be nice if there could be some simple list, wouldn't it?" She shakes her head. "But everyone has been very kind and accommodating. I am grateful."

"I'm sure the war looms largest on most of our minds. But of course for you everything that's changed about Meng-gongxi must be similarly important." 

"It is a big adjustment for both of us."

"A positive adjustment."

Handsqueeze. "Yes. A positive adjustment."

"I think you're dealing with this much better than most cultivators would. For one thing, I don't even know if cultivation is possible in a body like that, and for another, well, we're all taught to be extremely wary of anything involving negative energy. Suddenly being sort of made of it would be--a shock. So you might actually have an advantage there." 

"I had not considered that," she says after a pause, smiling. "Jiang-guniang is quite insightful."

"You're very kind." 

(Elsewhere: 

"No, Shijie, I am not going to go say gooey things to your fiancee for you." 

"But I can't go myself! I promised I'd do my very best, A-Cheng!" 

"I don't think Lan-guniang wants me to say gooey things to her, even if I preface them with 'Shijie says.'"

"Ugh. Fine. If I write her a letter, will you deliver it?" 

"Will it get me away from your pining for five minutes?" 

"A-Cheng!") 

Which is how Jiang Cheng ends up outside Lan-guniang's tent, letter in hand, saying, "Lan-guniang? It's Sect Leader Jiang. May I come in?"

How unprecedented. "Enter."

He enters. "Shijie gave me this letter for you," he says, holding out the folded piece of paper. "She's sort of climbing the walls, which is impressive when they're made of fabric. I think we're all looking forward to the wedding." 

She takes the paper from him with careful reverence, cradling it in both hands like some priceless artifact. "Thank you," says Lan Zhan without looking up from the folded letter.

"You're welcome. Uh. I feel the need to tell you to be good to her, like, not because I think you won't if I don't tell you to but just on general brother principles." 

"Mm."

He bows and leaves. 

She opens the letter.

Dear Lan Zhan, 

As you know, I am not the biggest fan of your sect's 3000 rules (which is really too much even if each one was reasonable) but this one is definitely the worst. It hasn't even been one week yet and I miss you so much. And the baby. Give the baby my love! Tell the baby their other mommy loves them very much. Ah, silly me, telling the baby I love them before I say it to you. I love you Lan Zhan!!! I miss you a lot! Love you love you love you. Ugh, this being separated thing sucks SO MUCH. 

I imagine by now your brother has probably told you what happened on the trip I was supposed to be taking with Meng Yao. I want to say first of all that I did NOT somehow orchestrate things so this would happen when I couldn't explain myself to you in person. I am really sorry about that part, even though it is definitely not my fault. 

Also it does NOT count as demonic cultivation. I had NO IDEA putting the Yin Iron in contact with a corpse would have the effect it did even if it's kind of staggeringly obvious in retrospect. Robbing a grave causes undead too and that's not considered demonic cultivation. I'm sorry anyway, even though it's definitely not demonic cultivation at all it kind of does look like it from the outside and that might cause problems for you. I don't want to cause you problems. Although probably it's inevitable that I will cause you problems given who I am as a person. I hate the idea of causing you problems and being unable to kiss you and cuddle you about it. 

It is also not my fault that Wen Ruohan managed to figure out a way to track our piece of Yin Iron precisely enough that he could figure out where we were going and ambush us. It is my fault that I went 'well, hm, I thought Xue Yang would think a dead body was a place nobody would ever look, therefore nobody less twisty than me would look on a dead body, therefore hiding the Yin Iron on a dead body is a good idea,' and it is extra special my fault that I then went and did it. That was really disrespectful and I have apologized to both Meng Yao and Meng Shi about it a lot. But! My experimental Yin-Iron-suppressing talismans worked, like, implausibly well, under the circumstances, and that is also my fault, sort of? If either of them wants me to apologize more than I have I will but I think it worked out pretty well in the end!

Speaking of how well it worked out, I floated the idea with your brother, and he needs plausible deniability, but when the war is over and we've recovered the other Yin Iron pieces from Wen Ruohan (or if Xue Yang ever coughs up the location of his piece), do you know where your mother is buried? Because I was thinking, wow, I'm so happy for Yao-ge, but if I had to pick just one dead mom to bring back it would be Lan Zhan's, and then it occurred to me that maybe the circumstances could be replicated. 

Unfortunately, considering there are four Yin Iron pieces in total, I have no idea what happened to my own parents' bodies after the night-hunt that killed them. I've thought about Uncle Jiang, but he was kind of conflict-avoidant and I don't know that he'd be happy coming back in such controversial circumstances, especially considering we've only got four shots at this. 

I love you, I love you, I love you. 

I think you might like Meng Shi. She's very nice, and also, like, polite and stuff. Yao-ge is very protective of her, which, like, so valid. 

Maybe the point of the two-week rule is that then you have two weeks worth of missing your beloved pent up to let out on your wedding night. Because that is definitely happening. I LOVE you and I MISS you and I am going to put my hands on you in places that don't even EXIST. 

-Wei Ying

She sits down.

The idea of her mother coming back to life as a fierce corpse is -- overwhelming. 

Wrong, firstly. Fierce corpses are - demonic, even if unintentionally, and - unorthodox - and she would be needlessly disturbing her mother from her peace, forcing her to live as an abomination, that would be gravely wrong...

Is Mother at peace? 

Lan Zhan doesn't know. She what Mother would want. Mother hadn't been raised Lan; likely, she would not have so visceral an objection to becoming a monster as Lan Zhan would herself. Perhaps she would not object, would not feel violated. What a terrible thing to have to guess.

Lan Zhan misses her. Lan Zhan wants to see her so badly, and she - she knows that it would be immoral to allow that to govern her decisions, she knows she need to lock that away, but.

Well. She'll talk to Brother about it. What's most important is that everyone is safe, and Wei Ying is content. Lan Zhan sits down to write a letter in reply, her free hand coming to rest on her stomach. "Your other mother says hello, little one," she whispers as she dips her pen in ink. "She will be with us again very soon."

Later that evening, she has a Lan disciple deliver Wei Ying her answering letter. It expresses relief that Wei Ying is safe and happy, eagerness to see her again, love, so much love. Consternation about the necromancy. So far this has not caused Lan Zhan any problems and she is really not worried about this situation in terms of the problems it might cause for her. She just wants Wei Ying to be careful and safe and not a target of the cultivation world, please. However, she will accept apology hugs and kisses when they are reunited.

She cannot wait for the wedding. She cannot wait to see how beautiful Wei Ying will look at their wedding ceremony. Does Wei Ying know how beautiful she is? This letter will do its best to serve as a proper reminder. Wei Ying is the most beautiful, and the most lovely and thoughtful, and both her baby and her Lan Zhan miss her very much.

Wei Ying cannot read the whole letter at once; she has to pause to squee into her pillow. The next day she sends back another letter full of endearments for Lan Zhan and the baby and wedding details extracted from Shijie and an aside that yeah necromancy is objectively pretty concerning but honestly Meng Shi seems, like, really remarkable amounts of okay? Judgment suspended on how well that generalizes. Lan Zhan is also going to look so beautiful at their wedding!!! Wedding!!! They're going to be married and this is So Good And Important. 

Lan Zhan keeps both letters folded under her pillow.

The next day, she seeks out her brother.