Chu Wanning tries not to judge children on first sight, generally, but she's already unimpressed. She has never been a fan of bragging.

But this is the child she promised Xue Zhengyong she would fetch, and so she intends to fetch him.

Wanning clears her throat.

He notices her and hurries over and bows, abandoning his friends. 

"Are you packed?"

"Almost, xianjun! Mother is fussing--you know how mothers are--"

She does not.

"We will set out this evening. Your uncle is impatient to meet you."

He nods seriously. "I understand, xianjun." 

There is some sort of commotion by the gates, behind Chu Wanning. Mo Nian cranes his neck to see, and his eyes go wide. He pales. 

She turns.

A teenage girl around Mo Nian's age is staggering through the doorway. She's covered in bruises and blood and her clothes are torn. One of her eyes is swollen shut. 

"You..." she croaks when she sees Mo Nian. "You should have finished me off when you had the chance." 

...

- First things first. Whoever this is obviously requires medical attention; Chu Wanning approaches her slowly. "You are hurt, please sit down. What happened to you?"

"He did," she says, pointing at Mo Nian. "Him and his--friends--" she coughs, and her arms come up around her ribs, wincing in pain. 

"Who do you think you are?" one of the men who works for the house demands, starting forward as though to throw her out. 

That man better not fucking try. Chu Wanning holds up her hand sharply. "Get her a doctor or get lost, do you have eyes?"

The man hesitates, then stops, glancing at Mo Nian. 

Mo Nian says, "That's just Mo Ran. She's Duan Yihan's daughter, but she's not entirely right in the head." 

"I'll right in your head!" she snarls, and stumbles slightly. 

"--I'll find a doctor," Mo Nian adds, glancing at her nervously, then scurries off as Mo Ran lunges for him and trips. 

Chu Wanning catches the girl with one arm; Tianwen lashes out with the other. The golden willow vine snags Mo Nian painfully around the shins and sends him tumbling.

"What did you do, Mo Nian."

Mo Nian, if given free choice of how to answer that question, would say something like "I didn't do anything." 

Mo Nian, if given free choice of how to answer that question without lying, would attempt to say something technically true but minimally incriminating. 

Mo Nian, if forced to tell the actual truth, would say what he did without any embellishments. 

Mo Nian, trapped by Tianwen in the hands of an angry Beidou Xianjun, says, "Fuck off, it's not like she matters!"

Tianwen releases him, only to crash back down around his back. "Imbecile."

The courtyard erupts into a higher level of chaos. Several servants run off to report to Madam Mo. 

A woman runs into the courtyard, sees Mo Ran, and runs MUCH FASTER over to her and Chu Wanning. 

"Ran'er! Ran'er, what--what happened--"

The teenager tries to put on a brave face. "I'm--I'm fine, Mom," she blatantly lies.

"Like hell you are! --Xianjun, do you know what happened, she's been missing for days--"

"Mo Nian was just telling us that."

"Mo Nian--" 

Her gaze lands on the boy lying within Tianwen's coils. 

"Mo Nian," she hisses, her voice gone venomous. "What have you done." 

Since it's her and not Chu Wanning asking the question, Mo Nian is physically capable of keeping his mouth shut. 

"What did you to do her. Where is she hurt."

He tells them. 

It's very, very damning. 

Duan Yihan screams and kicks him somewhere soft. He doubles over, whimpering. She doesn't give him another look before falling to her knees at her daughter's side. 

"Ran'er, Ran'er," she croons, and throws her arms around her daughter, cradling her close. 

"I will be fine," she chokes out. "We've survived a lot, Mom. I'll survive this." 

She leaves Mo Ran to her mother.

She walks over to Xue Zhengyong's nephew.

She recalls Tianwen, and uses the whip for a whip's intended purpose. Mo Nian's foul beastly friends can have some as well.

Madam Mo comes out before much longer, gets a slightly fuller explanation of what's been going on, and falls to the ground, begging for mercy for her son. 

Chu Wanning abstains from killing Madam Mo's cowardly rapist spawn, congratulations.

She stomps back over to Mo Ran and her mother, face dark. "Get up. We're going. I will carry her if you cannot."

Duan Yihan considers questioning this, looks at Madam Mo, and then wordlessly hoists her teenage daughter up in her arms. 

She's a strong woman for all her slightness, and though Mo Ran is big for a girl her age, and carrying her cannot be easy for a woman with no spiritual core, Duan Yihan makes no complaints. 

Mo Ran is another story. "I can walk," she protests. 

"Shush. It doesn't matter if you can or not, you're not going to." 

If Chu Wanning were more predisposed to riding her sword, she would whisk the both of them to Sisheng Peak immediately. As it is, they will have to look for a doctor in the area.

A doctor in the area is located. He is...alarmed, by Mo Ran's injuries. She continues to insist that it's not as bad as it looks, despite the fact that literally none of the adults is buying it. 

The doctor is good, but he's not a cultivator; he can wrap her ribs and splint her leg, which turned out to have a fractured fibula, and give her an ointment for the bruises, and give her a medicine that should prevent the event from having Certain Unfortunate Consequences, but he can't make her bones not broken or her injuries heal quickly. 

She isn't going to be well enough to be moved by carriage or horse for a while. Chu Wanning can grit her teeth about the sword thing or she can wait for multiple weeks. 

Hm. No.

Chu Wanning produces a small paper talisman and flicks it into the air.

The talisman produces a small dragon, who lands nimbly on all clawed feet.

"Chu Wanning! It's been some time since you called on This Venerable One."

"Get bigger than that. We need to go to Sisheng Peak immediately."

He grows bigger, to about the size of a horse. "What's the hurry?"

"The hurry is that it benefits your continued existence to do what I say, and I say to hurry." Then, to the mother, "I am going to pick you up temporarily."

She lifts Duan-Yihan-carrying-Mo-Ran onto the dragon's back all at once, spiritual energy flowing through her arms. Once they are safely balanced there, she climbs up behind them.

"Go."

The dragon goes. 

Mo Ran is awestruck. She looks around at everything while they're in the air, for whatever short period of time it's visible, and has to deliberately restrain herself from bouncing or squirming on account of if anyone let go of anyone else she would probably die. 

Chu Wanning holds on to Duan Yihan tightly from behind. (For her passengers' safety, obviously. And for no other reasons. And her eyes are closed only because the winds are intense at this speed, and she is trembling only from the cold. She is not being afraid of heights, that would be extremely irresponsible of her and she does not have time for it right now!)

The dragon lands. Duan Yihan bows and thanks him. 

(Mo Ran looks excited and awestruck at everything; Duan Yihan is...more reserved and cautious.)

They dismount; the dragon is dismissed back into his talisman. "Get Tanlang Elder," Chu Wanning barks at the nearest disciple.

"--He's, uh, not here right now," one of Xuanji Elder's disciples says nervously. "The Sect Leader sent him to deal with a fever outbreak."

SIGH. "Where's Shi Mei."

"I'll go get her," he says, and sprints off. 

"Sect Leader will want to know you're back," another says nervously. 

"I will go see him once Shi Mei is here."

Shi Mei wasn't far. The first disciple quickly reappears with a very beautiful girl on his heels: about Mo Ran's age or older, her pear-blossom eyes wide with concern.

"Shizun came back so early! Is everyone alright?" She gets close enough to actually take in Mo Ran's appearance and her eyes widen further.

"No," she says curtly, and turns back to their guests. "Mo Ran, Madam Duan, this is my disciple Shi Mei. She can help with your injuries, if you will allow her."

Shi Mei bows gracefully.

"Of course," she says, glancing at her mother. 

Wow this girl is REALLY pretty. Almost as pretty as the heroic Xianjun who is second place in her personal pantheon after the savior-jiejie when she was four. 

"We would be honored," she says, bowing as gracefully and significantly more deeply than Shi Mei. 

Shi Mei can take them to a room nearby where they can have some privacy!

The heroic Xianjun will not be joining them. She has some crimes to go confess to the Sect Leader.

Where is he?

"Yuheng!" Xue Zhengyong calls out when he sees her. "You're back! Did you find them?"

"...Yes."

Chu Wanning kneels. Bows. Apologizes.

She did not bring him back his nephew.

She also hit his nephew and a few other teenage boys with Tianwen several times. She does not regret it and she will not personally go back again to retrieve him, but she will still accept punishment as the Sect Leader sees fit. 

"What? Why? What did they do?"

Her mouth presses into a thin line.

"There was a girl their age, residing in Madam Mo's establishment..." She recounts Mo Niang's crimes through gritted teeth.

The girl is here, now, with her mother. Shi Mei is seeing to them.

"He WHAT!?" 

Xue Zhengyong looks rather like he would like to apply some corporal punishment to the boys in question himself. His face is ashen pale. 

He closes his mouth; his jaw works for a moment before he says, "I assume you made very sure that they were the culprits." 

Nod. Xue Zhengyong knows what Tianwen can do.

He lets out a deep breath. 

"If my brother were here...he wouldn't abandon the boy. But my brother isn't here. And he wouldn't try to make the sect responsible for, for rehabilitating him, or hand him a cultivator's power unrehabilitated." 

She knows this is hard for him. She rises from her knees and thinks of putting a hand on his shoulder before thinking better of it. "You deserve better of a nephew.  I am sorry."

"He did not regret it, and the girl almost died. I would not feel safe letting him near Shi Mei. I do not think anyone should feel safe letting him near their disciples."

"No, of course not," he says immediately. "Obviously he can't be brought here. I only wish we had found him sooner, before he had the chance to grow into such a beast." 

She is sorry. She doesn't know what to say.

"...What's she like? The girl. Is she--obviously she wouldn't be alright, not after something like that, but--" 

"Mo Ran seems to have a resilient and filial spirit. She was more concerned with her mother's distress than anything else."

His face softens slightly. 

"Do you think they would be alright to take visitors?"

"Probably. Go ask them, if you want."

"It's not as bad as it looks," Mo Ran tells Shi Mei. 

(She's wrong, and also it looks plenty bad enough.)

"Mo Ran, it's okay to admit that something hurts," Shi Mei says gently, straightening from her examination. "You are already being stronger than many young cultivators I've treated before, did you know that? If you tell me where the pain is worst, I can help."

"My leg, I guess." 

She helps. She has bandages, and salves, and gentle cultivation that whispers over Mo Ran's skin. She gives Mo Ran a draught for pain, herbs to protect against diseases, herbs to prevent pregnancy.

She doesn't mention that the other doctor already gave her that last one. Probably the cultivator kind is better. 

"I think I feel better," she reports after a little while. At a sharp look from her mother, she adds, "I'm not just saying that! It's a good painkiller, Mom." 

"Alright. But you aren't doing anything the least little bit strenuous until this skilled and generous young lady says you may."

She pouts slightly and makes no promises. 

She laughs slightly. "I'll let you know as soon as I think it's a good idea."

"Thank you, Shi Mei-guniang." 

She blushes. "Oh, no need to be so polite! I'm just glad I could help. Madam Duan, do you need anything?"

"I'm fine. All that happened to me was worrying about Ran'er."

"I'll just get you both some water."

She steps outside to fetch some.

And the sect leader and Chu Wanning arrive. 

The sect leader bows. "Duan Yihan. Mo Ran. I am horribly ashamed of what my nephew did to you." 

Duan Yihan looks at him for a long moment, then says, "You had no part in your nephew's upbringing. You could not be said to be blamed." 

"It is still my responsibility." To Mo Ran: "How are you recovering?" 

She glances at her mother, then beams at Chu Wanning. "Better than if xianjun hadn't come along! She got me a doctor back there and then asked Shi Mei-guniang to look at me, I've never met a cultivator doctor, and she made sure Mo Nian didn't wriggle out of what he had done." 

Xue Zhengyong smiles. "Shisheng Peak is somewhat redeemed by Yuheng Elder's actions, then. What are your plans going forward?" 

"There hasn't been nearly enough time to make any kind of plan besides making sure Mo Ran gets better." 

"They could stay here for now. They don't have another home."

"Of course," he says. 

He hesitates, giving Mo Ran a searching look. 

"I haven't exactly made a secret of my search for my brother's lover and child," he says slowly. "People will ask questions, when Mo Nian isn't brought to Shisheng Peak. And I don't really want the sect to be associated with that kind of crime, even indirectly. But people don't know the name Mo Nian, don't even know that my brother's child was a son." 

It takes a moment for the implications to sink in. 

When they do, Duan Yihan drops to the floor in a kowtow. 

"If you were to offer such an opportunity to my daughter, I would be in your debt for all of time," she whispers. 

"Get up, get up!" he says hastily. "It's not like Shisheng Peak doesn't take in orphans and such sometime; we don't even know what Shi Mei's birth name is. She's named that because people didn't have anything to call her but shimei, at first." 

"Are--are you serious?" Mo Ran asks, her voice wobbling. When Xue Zhengyong nods, she lurches to her one good foot and hugs him. He startles, briefly, but then hugs her back. 

Aw.

Shi Mei reappears in the doorway with water canteens.

"...did I miss some good news?"

"Apparently I'm his long lost niece now."

Hhuh. "C..ongratulations, then!"

Xue Zhengyong quietly takes Shi Mei aside and explains The Situation since she knows enough at this point to be worth filling in. 

Mo Ran hugs her mother tightly and--is restrained enough to not just jump on Xianjun and hug her. Even if her expression suggests that she is very tempted. 

Chu Wanning does not perceive this. She is not a huggable person.

Mo Ran is mostly a good patient, mostly because her mother insists on hovering over her and guilting her into not doing anything that would make her a bad patient. Word is spread over the mountain that Xue Zhengyong's older brother's lover and child have been brought to the mountain. Mo Ran gets lots of visitors, and gets along swimmingly with most of them; she's a vivacious and gregarious girl, despite all her experiences so far. 

Chu Wanning visits once, after a week, just to see how she's recovering.

Mo Ran lights up like a firework when she sees her. 

"Xianjun, Xianjun! How have you been doing!"

"Fine. I wanted to make sure you've been healing well."

"I've been doing much better, Xianjun! Mother scowls so whenever I try to do anything stupid." 

"Why do you try to do stupid things?"

"Don't you ever just really want to get up and run around when you've been sitting still for a long while?"

"No. But I believe that that's normal for children."

Pout. "I'm not a child, Xianjun!" she protests. 

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen!"

"That is still young. Young enough to become a proper disciple, if you train here. Is that your plan?"

It was the assumed plan for Xue Zhengyong's nephew, but Xue Zhengyong's niece will not face the same pressure.

She nods, smile turning a little shy with excitement. "How could I not?" 

"It will be difficult. You are behind the other students your age."

"Of course it won't be easy. Nothing's ever easy. But then I'll be able to help so many people! I want to beat up horrible bullies and save innocent people like you!"

She sniffs, a little endeared and a little annoyed. "I'm not in the habit of needing to be saved."

"--I mean, saving people like you saved me, not saving innocent people, of whom you are one such. I mean, you are! And I would if you needed it! But I don't think you need it!"

"Ah. Yes, many other people out there need help."

"Yeah." 

"Thank you for bringing my mother away from there. And not just me. Even though I was the one who was hurt."

"Part of helping innocent people is not separating them from their loved ones unless necessary. And I don't believe your mother was particularly safe there either."

"She was...valuable to them. A famous dancer, in her youth, and more sought even now than a prostitute her age would be. But after I prevented Mo Nian from being taken away to a better life--no. Not safe anymore."

"She will be safe here."

BEAM. "I know. Thank you so much, for us both." 

She nods awkwardly.

Okay great, good talk, Chu Wanning has nothing left to say and she’ll be going now.

A few days later, when Chu Wanning has failed to show up at Mengpo Hall for dinner, there is a knock at the door of the Red Lotus Pavilion. 

Chu Wanning is busy working. She scowls and ignores the disturbance.

She knocks again, and if there's still no answer she slides the door open just enough to set the tray down inside and leaves.

...was that the door?

Chu Wanning hisses and calls Tianwen to her hand as she rises, preparing to beat off intruders. Did she not punish the last interloper badly enough for the warning to stick?? What the fuck is wrong with people -

But when she reaches the door she only sees a tray sitting on the ground. Chu Wanning frowns and crouches to inspect it, sniffing the air.

There is a lingering hint of the perfume Duan Yihan uses. 

??

Huh. And what's up with the tray itself?

There is food on it. 

If Chu Wanning is the kind of person to pay attention to personal cooking styles she may observe that it was not cooked by any of the usual workers at Mengpo hall but, uh, she probably isn't. 

Chu Wanning is the kind of person to pay attention to whether food is spicy or edible or tasty. This food is tasty.

She makes an appearance at dinner the next day to stiltedly thank Duan Yihan for the food before fleeing into the night.

"You're welcome, Xianjun," she says earnestly before Chu Wanning can complete the fleeing action. 

NO SHE DIDN'T HEAR THAT she refuses to hear any earnestness. Chu Wanning's ears are Closed.

(aaaaa)

Chu Wanning makes sure to attend dinner religiously for a few days. If she misses a meal, Duan Yihan might be generous again and then Chu Wanning might have to Feel Something about it. 

After several more days someone slips a letter under the door of the Red Lotus Pavilion. 

...

...what does it say?

The note is from Mo Ran, talking about how she's recovering and random things she talked about with or overheard from various Shisheng Peak disciples, and also interesting birds and butterflies she's observed through her window. 

There's a postscript by Duan Yihan apologizing for bothering Chu Wanning but it was this or Mo Ran would probably have tried to sneak out to visit her, so. 

Oh no, this is adorable. Cute. Oh no.

Mo Ran is so excited about everything; Chu Wanning doesn't understand how anyone can be so cheerful and earnest so soon after nearly dying a horrific death. (She reminds herself that not everyone can turn into a bitter crone the moment they experience suffering - Wanning is probably an outlier in that regard - but still).

Chu Wanning visits Mo Ran to sternly caution her against sneaking out.

Mo Ran lights up the moment she sees her. 

"Xianjun!" she calls, waving energetically, albeit in a manner careful not to jar her still-healing ribs. 

Chu Wanning frowns at her anyway. "Stop that. Don't move around so much, do you want your bones to heal or not?"

Pout. "My arm isn't broken, Xianjun," she protests.