99 Volume 4: The Country Called Lanhua

"Anyway," Ye held up his rolled up paper. "The wedding involves places that didn't exist before you were sleeping MeiMei. I wanted to show you the changes and then take you there to see for yourself."

"Changes?" Mei Hua eyes lit with curiosity.

"Hn, that's right." Ye unfurled the paper he'd been holding, which turned out to be a small map. "We've built towns and villages while you were sleeping."

"Really?! Like Blue Flower Village??"

His Mother was now completely distracted, much to Shi Ji's relief. Truly, when he was willing, Uncle Ye was the best ally to have when facing off against Mother. Shi Ji quietly straightened his clothes out while they were talking.

"Well, somewhat like them." Ye pointed at two large dots, one was on the south east side of the mountain while the other on the mid-north west side. "These are the biggest towns: Xifang and Dongbian respectively. Xifang Town's Magistrate is Wu TengFei—"

"WHAT!"

Ye grinned widely. "I thought you'd find that interesting. Pei Zhi is a proper Magistrate's wife now and everything."

Mei Hua looked at the dot representing Xifang, her eyes sparkling. "Does that mean… does that mean Pei Zhi lives on the mountain?"

"En."

"And—and I can visit her whenever?"

"En."

She immediately raised her hands and gave a squeal of excitement, not at all acting her age. Shi Ji flinched slightly because of his headache while Ye chuckled.

"We have to go Ye, we absolutely have to go!!!"

"Aya, yes yes, we will go. I was planning on taking you anyway. That's why I wanted Shi Ji to stay."

"Eh? Why? Does Shi Ji need to come with us?"

"It's a border town." Seeing Mei Hua didn't understand, Ye continued with a serious expression, "MeiMei, you will never be allowed near the borders without protection. Especially in Xifang and Dongbian, where security is thinnest because of the large influx of people. Preferably Jin would always go with you, but he's dead to the world right now. We all agreed years ago that if Jin couldn't be there, your sons—my precious nephews—would take his place."

Mei Hua's excitement dimmed noticeably and her face became slightly anxious. "Because of what happened?"

"That's right."

She bit her lip. "But if you're there—"

"What good is having me?" Ye eyebrows dropped, his lips twisting bitterly. "Was I able to save you when someone tried to kill you? No. I was there and couldn't do anything."

"Don't blame yourself." Mei grabbed his arm worriedly.

He gave a sad chuckle, patting her hand. "Not blaming, just stating a fact. No matter how the outside changes, the inside is still the same. I'm not that powerful, I never have been. But your sons have worked hard and are all strong in their own way. Outside of Jin, they're the most powerful on the mountains."

Mei Hua was silent for a moment.

"Doesn't this mean I'm going to be escorted every time I get near the border? Any time I want to be with Pei Zhi? I'll never be allowed to go by myself?"

"En, that's what it means."

Ye purposefully neglected to mention to MeiMei that she was going to get escorted everywhere, regardless of location. Jin had always kept an eye on her even before the attack, but now it would be much much worse.

Her shoulders slumped. "I'm not a child…"

"What's age got to do with it? The people who went after you were no joking matter. Be glad Jin and Shan Hui even agreed to letting you go to the border towns. If not for your younger sons, there's no way I could have convinced those two that they were being unreasonable. Safety is important, but being too restrictive will just breed resentment. Hn, so in the end we got a good compromise going." He smirked, thinking about how he'd managed to get his way against those tyrants. "I had to put my life on the line to deal with those two idiots at the same time. You're welcome."

Mei Hua carefully examined Ye's expression. "But you agreed to me being escorted in general, right? I'm a little surprised."

"Why? MeiMei, even if I like to cause trouble, I'd never do it at the expense of your well being. When Jin said you should always have someone protecting you, why wouldn't I agree?"

"But—"

"No, 'buts' Mei Hua." Ye looked her straight in the eye, his eyebrows firmly set. "I realize it was painful for you, but it was also agonizing for us to just sit by and watch you suffer. Think about how we—how I—felt. You think I'll sit around and let it happen again? That I'll let someone do that to you twice? Especially when some simple security measures can be put in place to prevent it?"

Mei Hua mouth opened and closed, stunned. It'd been so long since he'd used her full name that she'd forgotten what it sounded like coming from him. That he spoke it at all meant he wasn't going to budge, that he was serious. Any thought of fighting such restrictions began to dwindle. If both Jin and Ye were teaming up against her, there was no chance of winning.

Feeling disheartened, she comforted herself with the thought that they were only trying to protect her. It wasn't like she didn't understand. As the person who suffered, it's not like she wanted it to happen again either. It was just uncomfortable, suddenly having her freedom restricted.

"Al… alright." She finally nodded. "If it will make everyone feel better…"

"It will." Ye said and patted her on the shoulder affectionately.

"Don't worry Mother," Shi Ji added. "If myself, Yan Li, or Lu Shao escort you, we will make sure you have some privacy."

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"Don't expect that much from Jin." Ye said while rolling his eyes.

"Or Shan Hui."

Mei Hua laughed softly and then gasped.

"Oh no, Shan Hui! Did anyone send him a message?!" She slapped her forehead. "I don't think Jin contacted him. With him following me around all the time, he likely forgot! Oh… my poor baby…"

She was so distressed she completely missed the knowing look between Ye and Shi Ji. They both seriously doubted Jin forgot, and much more likely guessed he'd been putting it off.

"I heard he traveled all the way out to Jiang Hu." She bit her lower lip, muttering to herself and sounding a little depressed. "I wish he could make it to the wedding. If that stupid son of mine hadn't involved a child I'd put it off… ugh… well, whether he can make it or not, I should have insisted Jin send Shan Hui a message the moment I realized he was gone… but… ah… I forgot him too! Huu… how can I face my own boy now? I'm so ashamed!"

Shi Ji watched his Mother fretting and thought his Old Man was being stupid again. Who was going to take the fall when Shan Hui came back and discovered he'd been the last to be informed? Shi Ji absolutely wasn't going to be that Old Man's fall guy.

Walking forward, Shi Ji consoled his mother,"Ah, no worries, no worries! Look, I'll contact him right now!" With that, Shi Ji flicked his hand and thin piece of jade appeared in his palm. It wasn't much longer than his hand and perhaps half the width. He thought for a moment before tapping the flat surface and saying, "Shan Hui. Mother's awake. Return. Shi Ji."

To Mei Hua's astonishment, the words he spoke appeared on the flat jade piece. With a second tap of Shi Ji's finger, they disappeared. Unable to contain her curiosity, she grabbed it from him directly, flipping it over and over trying to understand what had happened.

"Where did the words—?"

Shi Ji chuckled at his Mother's puzzled wonderment. Taking it back from her, he pointed to the two circular designs on the back.

"It's an array device that lets us send messages over vast distances. Shan Hui has one like mine. If he were looking at it right now, he'd already see the message I sent."

Her mouth opened in amazement.

"…arrays can… do that?"

"Hn, they can. It's part of why I studied them."

Mei Hua stared at the "array device" for a long moment before asking, "Is it something only you and Shan Hui can use?"

"Not at all," Shi Ji explained kindly. "All of us can use it, including Father and even Ye. I made one for each of them. If I tweaked the array formula a bit, even a normal person could use it."

"That's…. That's… well, that's not an easy thing you did." She begrudgingly admitted, biting her lower lip slightly. Truthfully, she was still upset about those array tattoos on her son's body.

What nonsense about learning and experimenting or whatever? It just sounded stupid to her! But… well… she had to admit, he created something that imitated a high level Art that only strong cultivators could use. To be able to do that, to the degree that even regular people could use it too…

Shi Ji saw his Mother hesitating and more or less understood why. He cleared his throat and added lightly, "You know, Mother, I could make one for you and Pei Zhi."

Mei Hua immediately straightened. "Eh? You could?"

The younger man put his hands behind his back and shrugged slightly.

"It'd be easy but…"

"But?!"

"All my array work is based on what I learned through my tattoos and," He sighed, looking a little forlorn, "you clearly disapprove of them. It wouldn't be right to force you to choose between my arrays and your conscience would it? So I won't make them." He put his hands in a fist and bowed in a serious manner. "This son is unfilial for even suggesting such a thing and apologizes."

"Ah—! No— But—!" Mei Hua sputtered, brows squished together, glaring at her son. This was bribery! This was a threat! He was using her friendship with Pei Zhi to get her to approve of his stupid tattoos! She didn't want to! She didn't! But she definitely absolutely wanted that device he'd made to send messages to her friend!

After almost a full minute of sputtering with indecision she finally calmed down.

In the end, wasn't Shi Ji an adult now? If he wanted to mar his beautiful skin with tattoos, wasn't that HIS business? If he stayed single his whole life because of it, he'd only have himself to blame right? What's it to her? Why punish herself because of actions he did that she wasn't involved in? That's right, that's right! The more she thought about it, the less upset about the tattoos she became.

Mei Hua squinted at her son and returned his serious manner with her own, "It's more unfilial to offer something to your Mother and then not go through with it." She cleared her throat. "As to the tattoos…. Just make me some of these array device thingies so Pei Zhi and I can use them, and I'll just pretend I never saw those tattoos."

Shi Ji bowed again, "This son will obey."

When he stood up straight, he had a huge smirk on his face. This immediately earned him a smack Mei Hua.

"You stinky brat! Bribed and threatened me and even dare to look pleased about it!" She scolded, annoyed that he'd won her over.

Rubbing the spot where she hit, he pouted slightly. "…Mother, how could you accuse your own son like that? I never threatened you."

"Aya, but you're fine with bribing me?!"

She went to hit him again, but Ye interrupted: "Yes, yes, this all very moving—"

"Where is it moving?!" Mei Hua objected.

"—but let's get back to the point. You know, the wedding that's coming in a few days?"

"Oh right..."

Ye cast her an exasperated look before lightly shaking the map he'd been holding while the squabbled. "Continuing from before… besides the towns and villages, you should know we're a proper country now. We even have a name: Lanhua."

"…Lanhua… after flowers?"

"Blue flowers."

Mei Hua laughed, "That makes sense."

The whole mountain range was called the Blue Flower Mountains after all.

"There's already traditions forming that are specific to Lanhua. Some are based off Blue Flower Village and some are things people brought with them and modified. For instance," he tapped the two large towns on the map, "there's the practice of the wedding procession. It starts at the groom and brides homes and then meets in the middle. Or as near to the middle as possible. Since the groom and bride live in the Palace, that makes things awkward, right? But they have a way for dealing with this too, since sometimes neighbors marry. In that case, they pick opposite ends of their village or town and meet in the middle. So I thought, this is a Prince getting married, let's go big. We'll have Yan Li start in Xifang and—"

"Jia Ying starts in Dongbian! I like that!" She clapped her hands in approval.

Ye grinned. "I thought you would. We'll meet in the Palace, the nearest to the center for our purposes. On the groom side, which is the side you'll be on, you'll be in the front of the procession—"

"Guh! Shouldn't it be the Groom? Why do I have to be in the front?!"

"What are you nervous about? Jin will be there too. Groom and Bride parents always lead."

"Oh." She exhaled in relief. "That's alright then."

It was never in her nature to be the center of attention. That's why having Pei Zhi was so important during her birthday parties. Her friend was a buffer to all the people. In this case, Jin would function as her buffer instead. Between the two of them, everyone always paid attention to Jin, so she was confident in his ability to distract everyone from staring at her.

"Like I was saying, you'll both be in the front, then Yan Li, then any close friends and siblings, extended family acts as something akin to guards around them and then lastly are acquaintances and well-wishers making up the rear. Depending on the wealth of the family, gifts or snacks are passed out to well-wishers watching the procession. Naturally, we'll do the same. Bride and Groom family meets in the middle and holds a huge party. This happens an hour or so before sunset. And then at sunset, everyone sends the couple off for their first wedding night, usually with a lot of heckling, in a decorated room that's isolated from the party goers."

Mei Hua listened carefully and then asked, "Will the procession be alright with the lack of extended family?"

Ye frowned, eyebrows lowering along with the map in his hands. "What am I? A rock on the side of the road?"

"Well, but… there's only one of you…"

"Aya, and what about the rest of the fairies? Are they not family?"

"Oh! That's— I didn't mean—" Mei Hua panicked and then said in a small voice, "Sorry. I wasn't thinking when I spoke."

Ye's eyes twinkled slightly with mischief. He wasn't actually upset, knowing that Mei Hua was only concerned because both sides lacked a human biological extended family. But it'd been a long time since he got to tease her, so he kept a stern expression.

He snorted and then said somewhat stiffly, "All the fairies and beasties, not to mention Tree Spirits, will be replacing the role of extended family. Especially on Jia Ying's side, since she has even less 'real family' than Yan Li. Apparently."

"Aw, Ye…" She pouted. "I already said I was sorry…"

"Uncle, it's fine if you bully us but don't bully Mother!" Shi Ji held his Mother's shoulders defensively, slightly pulling her away, giving his Uncle the stink eye. "You know she didn't mean it the way you're taking it."

Ye tried to maintain his disapproving look but wasn't able to, laughing heartily instead, "Hahaha! You could kill with that glare Nephew!" He reached out to stroke MeiMei's head, "MeiMei, how could I be really upset at you? It's fine, it's fine, I'm teasing. It's been ages since I last got the chance you know."

Mei Hua eyed Ye for a moment and then, seeing he really wasn't angry, exhaled in relief. Immediately after, her eyebrows scrunched together and she smacked him for 'being mean'.

With his lips curved upwards in amusement, Ye rolled up his map and stuffed it in his wide sleeve, after casually flourishing his robes; of which showed no sign of the scroll, he begansaying, "Everyone knows more or less where everything is in both towns but you MeiMei. So today I wanted to take you to Xifang and show you the route we'd be taking."

"A tour of Xifang? That sounds fun!" Her brow furrowed, "…I wonder if Shuya would want to come along…"

"You called?"

"Gah!" Ye and Shi Ji jumped in surprise.

Ye exhaled and then squinted at Shuya. "Must you always pop up out of nowhere like that? Can't you give innocent people and fairies a little warning?"

"Dearest Duke Lin Ye," Shuya shimmed over to him and twirled a finger on Ye's chest, causing the fairy to wrinkle his nose slightly, "would you greet people normally if you could innocently prank them instead?"

Ye frowned, then his expression smoothed and he nodded, as if he'd been enlightened. In truth, if he could just pop into existence like Shuya did, he'd be pranking people all over the place...

Shuya chuckled and then turned to Mei Hua, "Little Sis, what did you want to ask me?"

"Have you heard of that new town on the border? We're going there today, did you want to come along?"

"You mean Xifang?"

"Ah…. You've heard of it?"

"Of course, I've already been there."

"….really, when?"

Shuya eyes narrowed and gave a sly chuckle. "I've been playing hide and seek with someone lately. He hides all over the place, even in the big towns like Xifang. When I was "seeking" him, I got to visit that place. It's quite lively, I'm sure you'll like it."

Mei Hua blinked at the mention of a game, brow furrowing slightly. "…Big Sis you aren't… frustrating someone to death are you?"

The Tree Spirit's eyes widened in mock horror. "I would never!"

"You would most definitely."

"Harrumph!" Shuya stuck her nose up in the air and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll have you know, if my behavior could have frustrated him to death, he'd have died ages ago! But he's still alive and kicking!"

Mei Hua rubbed her temple, knowing this Big Sister of hers was incorrigible. "Anyway, do you want to go to Xifang?"

Shuya reached out and hugged Mei Hua, rubbing her face on the shorter woman's head. "Ah, I want to, but I can't! I absolutely MUST win this game of hide and seek!"

"Eh? What do you get if you win?"

"Hehehe, I get a date!"

Mei Hua tilted her head while still inside Shuya's embrace. "…this guy is someone you like?"

"Immensely."

"Ah, and you didn't even introduce him to me? What if he's not a good guy?"

"Of course he's a good guy! He puts up with me, doesn't he?" Shuya rubbed her face in Mei Hua's hair again, messing it up further. "I'll introduce him to you officially when I've thoroughly caught him, so don't worry. And you might have met him without even realizing it already, he's a Big Boss on the mountains you know."

This time Ye couldn't help being a little curious. "Really? A Big Boss? Do I know him?"

Shuya's expression brightened and she let go of Mei Hua, who promptly tried to smooth her hair out, and eagerly answered, "You do! He goes by Wushan Lu Fan now, but I think all the Beasties call him the Revered One. The most popular buck in the forest, as handsome as a star, with a body that shakes the trees and rustles the leaves, the pinnacle of masculinity, and—hohohoho—the one who's loved me for millennia!"

Ye raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Lu Fan? The guy so old he's got moss growing on him? That's the guy you're chasing after?"

Shuya glared at the fairy. "Old—! If he's old, what's that make you?!"

"The same thing it makes you." Ye responded teasingly with a laugh, not the least bit upset. It was funny to him that a tree was bothered about age, especially one that was much older than him or Lu Fan! "If he likes you so much, why is he running from you?"

"He's not running away from me, we're playing a game."

"Uh huh. A game where he runs."

Shuya glared at him before saddling up to Mei Hua, looking aggrieved. "Little Sis… your fairy is bullying me."

Mei Hua stifled a laugh. "Even if he did, which he didn't, what do you think I can do to stop him? He even bullies Jin, yet he's still standing here today without a scratch on him."

Seeing that her Little Sister wasn't going to stand up for her, Shuya pouted, then glanced at Ye darkly. She huffed, declaring, "Fine. If you won't stand up for me, I'll just prove him wrong. I'll catch Lu Fan and have him explain everything clearly!"

She pointed at Ye dramatically, "I'll have you eat those words!" and then promptly vanished in a flurry of leaves.

Ye almost doubled over laughing.

Shi Ji, who'd been silent through the entire exchange, couldn't help saying, "Is that really… the oldest, wisest tree in the forest?"

"Well… she's nothing if not honest with herself," Mei Hua rubbed her chin. "She must really like that Lu Fan person, to act that silly. I mean, she's never been afraid of acting outrageously, but not usually to that degree. It must really be love..."

"Love?"

"Hn, love makes people stupid." She chuckled. "Even someone with a high level of self control won't be able to stop themselves from acting like an idiot. The best they can do is just try to hide it. But like I said, Shuya is honest. If she likes you, she'll like you to a ridiculous degree. If she hates you, she'll hate you from the bottom of her heart. So if she loves someone, she'll love them very… mmm… zealously." Mei Hua looked a little worried as she muttered, "Let's hope Lu Fan is as patient as she claims he is otherwise…"

"I wouldn't worry about that ol' Moss-for-brains," Ye had stopped laughing, but his eyes showed mirth. "He used to be a huge player when he was younger, but now all he does is gripe about being surrounded by children. Shuya is the oldest thing in the forest, so for once he won't feel like a child is flirting with him. I don't know why he's playing hard-to-get, but I bet he's secretly happy about the attention after being single for so long."

Mei Hua brows lowered. "He's a player?!"

"Used to be. There's no one to flirt with now, they're all babies in his eyes. He even calls me a stinky brat sometimes." Seeing his MeiMei not looking at all reassured, he could only shrug and say, "Even if you don't like him, what are you going to do about it? They're both well past being adults and straight into ancient relics. Who's going to tell them no?"

Mei Hua pursed her lips, eyes narrowed slightly. Even if that was true, she couldn't help feeling bothered. She didn't know what it was like to have siblings, but she suspected what she was feeling was the exact kind of feeling a younger sister would have upon finding out her older sister was dating a scumbag. She just wanted to find the guy and kick him to death.

Ye tilted his head, "Anyway, it doesn't look like Shuya is going to come with us to Xifang. Was there anyone you wanted to ask to come along?" When she shook her head, he smiled and said, "Then let's go. Lu Fan won't leave Lanhua, so don't worry about him running someplace we can't find him. When we're done, if you like, I can help you find him and then we can threate-- I mean, have a nice conversation with him about Shuya. What do you think?"

Mei Hua face visibly lifted at this notion.

Somewhere far to the south, a buck covered in vines (and perhaps a little moss) sneezed several times and gave a great shudder. He looked around suspiciously for signs of that mischievous tree. Despite there being no signs of her, he still decided to relocate. That had been an intense rush of foreboding that had come over him just then, and he hadn't gotten this old by ignoring his instincts.