Over the course of a single day Meng Yao plans the feast scrupulously, since multiple sects and sect leaders will be present. More importantly, his mom will be present, and he wants Mother's first public event in the cultivation world to go perfectly.

In this time of war, there is tragically only so much party planning that an individual can do. The requirements are very simple: adequate space and food and drink. Meng Yao still takes great care to ensure the preparation of those essentials.

He accompanies his mother to the celebration.

She is very nervous!!! She's never attended a feast of cultivators before, particularly not as a fierce corpse, and she really does not want to do anything wrong. She double checked some etiquette with A-Yao before the feast, and none of the protocols she's familiar with seem to be outdated. Hopefully that means she will not make a fool of herself.

She definitely will not make a fool of herself. He has complete faith in his mother's poise.

And anyone who has anything bad to say about her can be thoroughly dismembered later.

The feast is already full and lively when they arrive. Meng Yao was careful not to bring his mother before people she knew would already be there. He beams to see that A-Ying is already situated at one of the tables beside her wife. Would Mother like to sit with her?

...it doesn't seem appropriate for her to sit beside the Second Jade of Lan and the first disciple of the Yunmeng Jiang. So many people are here, watching...

He's sure it's alright. Truly, it's much better for A-Ying to be talking to someone she likes than any random person who might approach and annoy her. A-Ying is rarely decorous to those she dislikes. 

Well, she'll at least go say hi.

"Lan-guniang, Wei Ying." She bows. "It brings this one relief every time you both return safely."

"Ah! Yao-ge! Madam Meng!" Wei Ying exclaims, bouncing up to hug the both of them. "Don't worry too much, we're both really good at what we do! But your concern is still sweet."

Lan Zhan nods acknowledgement to them both.

"I did not intend to convey a lack of confidence." Hug! She smiles warmly. "Are you enjoying the feast? You are nicely dressed for it."

"It's good! We might not stay for the whole thing, though, I don't think Lan Zhan is enjoying it as much as I am." 

Lan Zhan does not deny this.

That is quite understandable. Of course their rest should be a priority after their noble exertions on the battlefield.

Meng Yao successfully coaxes Mother into sitting down to consider this conversation. He bows again to A-Ying and Lan-guniang and sweeps away to check on Sect Leader Nie.

How nice, that Meng Yao is having a good time parading around his undead whore mother. 

The disgraced Nie commander is fuming. He doesn't even give a shit about the woman, but it's unbelievable that all these supposedly respectable cultivators - like Wei Ying - keep openly associating with her with no apparent hits to their dignity.

The disgraced Nie commander has nurtured a grudge against Wei Ying ever since she ratted him out to Sect Leader Nie (for NO REASON, there had been no disagreement between them!!) for putting Meng Yao in his place, and watching her socialize with the aforementioned whore only makes him more irate. He doesn't want to kill her or anything absurd, but perhaps Wei Ying should take a turn being publicly humiliated. Fair is fair.

(His friend in the guard overheard Wei-guniang telling Meng Yao that Lan-guniang has shit alcohol tolerance. And everyone knows that Wei Ying drinks too liberally, not ladylike at all; she's bound to drag her esteemed wife into similarly unruly behavior at some point. The commander is just - skipping ahead, a little, making that inevitable shameful catastrophe happen a little earlier. So that he can watch.)

He flags down a servant.

The servant hurries over and bows. 

He has two teacups prepared. They do in fact contain tea, but not only tea. He's not positive that this amount of wine will be enough, but it's worth a try. He can always send over more drinks later.

He gives the servant the teacups. "Serve these to Wei-guniang and Lan-guniang. It looks like they ran out."

The servant bows. "Of course." 

He brings the teacups over to the table. 

Wei Ying accepts hers absently, putting it down without tasting it to go Dissuade a drunk who seems like he might be about to make poor life choices in her brother's mother's direction before she can be inconvenienced. 

Lan Zhan supports this course of action. She watches her wife carefully in case things escalate, and sips her tea.

It tastes -- weird? More bitter than she was expecting, and Lan Zhan wonders if something went wrong in the brewing. Might it get people sick? She should be sure, before she tries to get anyone's attention about this. Lan Zhan takes another drink and pays close attention to the way it stings at the back of her tongue.

And it tastes like -- 

She realizes at the exact same time the edges of her vision turn fuzzy. And -- someone needs to do something, needs to stop it, how much is enough to hurt the baby? she needs -- Lan Zhan stands abruptly. The world spins, around and inside of her.

"Wei Ying," she says, but she's no longer quite sure where Wei Ying is standing. Is she that blur, or that one? The blurs that were people are getting - darker, and closer together, and Lan Zhan tries to step forward towards them but can't tell if she succeeds. "Wei--"

Lan Zhan's vision goes black and her knees buckle; she collapses.

Wei Ying is at her side IMMEDIATELY. 

"Lan Zhan? Lan Zhan???"

Wei Ying gathers her wife in her arms and panics.

Meng Shi kneels beside them, eyes wide and concerned. "I don't know what happened, Lan-guniang -- after you walked away she put down her tea and stood up and fell, there was nothing else..."

People are gathering around them, murmuring to each other in alarm.

"Her tea?" She picks up the teacup and sniffs it. 

The cup smells faintly of tea, and more strongly of wine.