He does not think he has ever had his mother's cooking before in either life and he. Is NOT going to cry about that in front of A-Zhan. But Mom can probably tell that there are Feelings going on. 

He has not, and she has her own Feelings about this.

Instead of talking about it she can just put an arm around him and they can lean against each other. "Does it taste alright?"

"It's wonderful, Mommy." Hug hug hug. 

Hughughug.

It does taste alright. She's a little relieved; it's been even longer since she's cooked than since she's flown. They eat their meal quietly, as the boys will be used to, but still quite snuggly.

He drinks the soup and snuggles his mother and brother and watches A-Zhan so he can help if it looks like A-Zhan is going to spill anything. 

A-Zhan needs a little bit of help when he tilts the bowl up too far and splashes on his face; he isn't accustomed to bowl-tilting.

Xichen wipes the soup off his face quickly and shows him how to hold the bowl better. 

Brother is so talented and helpful!! A-Zhan hums his appreciation and keeps drinking.

Aww.

Once they're done eating, she needs a little time to clean and pack away the bowls and then they can go.

They creep up to the building and Xichen points out which window to fly up to. 

She gives him A-Zhan and flies up to the window. Peers in, knocks quietly.

Meng Shi jumps a little and then rushes over to the window, pulling it open. She leans out and peers wide-eyed at the woman and her sword hovering in the air. Ah, and there's the strange boy from earlier, standing on the ground beneath her.

"Guniang," she whispers, remembering to bow at the last second. "I wasn't sure if you would really come. Is your sword able to hold all three of us at once?"

"Yes. It will be easier if you get on first and then carry your son. I can carry your bags, if you have them."

She has one bag packed with their clothes, A-Yao's books and toys, and a single bottle of perfume she's become attached to. The bag can be passed to Impressive Cultivator Lady, and then she... perches on the windowsill, not entirely sure how to mount the sword without falling.

Impressive Cultivator Lady can put the bag of stuff down between her knees and pick Meng-guniang up off of the windowsill, if she likes.

(!)

Oh, yes, she would find that very helpful.

Scoop.

A-Yao wants to be scooped too!!!

Meng Shi leans back towards the window to scoop him up, cultivator lady supporting her with an arm around her waist. Her hands shake slightly and she recognizes that she is scared both to be holding her son high up in the air and to be leaving this place in general. It has been a home, this room, albeit a poor one, and she had never envisioned a life of liberation that didn't also involve her husband looking after them. It's an intimidating transition to be making.

But so was having A-Yao in the first place, and she survived that just fine.

She does not drop her son from high up in the air.

And Lihua does not drop either of them. She flies them slowly and gently down to the ground.

A-Zhan starts squirming in Brother's arms, immediately wanting to be picked up by Mommy again.

Xichen lets go once Mommy is in picking-up range and not holding onto Meng Shi, then bows to both Mengs.

Meng Shi bows, and A-Yao bobs his head in a little bow from her arms. "Thank you," she whispers, which feels - incomplete. It feels wrong not to be providing payment of some sort; she hasn't actually done anything to deserve such a strange rescue.

"What should we do now?"

"The next step is to find the rogue cultivator Cangse Sanren and her family. Sect Leader Jiang might know where she is but we're trying to avoid too much attention too soon so we'll probably see if we can find anything out from rumors first."

.... that's a much broader-scale plan than she expected to receive from that question. She is unsure why the boy wants them to stick around for further plan-stages, but she won't object. Sticking with a cultivator will only be a good thing.

"I see. Do you mean to go straight there, gongzi?"