Part 4 – The More the Merrier

At Wei Wuxian’s far too-familiar greeting, Sect Leader Ouyang was apoplectic. His meaty hand went to his sword once again.

“Wei Ying!” he exclaimed, booming. “How dare you greet Maiden Qingyang so casually? Show more respect!”

But Mianmian only smiled, laying a lotus-white hand on the sect leader’s hulking sword arm. “Thank you, but it’s all right. Young Master Wei and I are old friends.”

Her fond words and tone had the opposite of a conciliating effect on Sect Leader Ouyang. Looking more sullen than ever, he withdrew, as Mianmian and her followers stepped forward to greet Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian smiled broadly, openly appraising Mianmian, whose beauty had only improved with time, like the finest of wines. The two younger ladies accompanying her looked about the same age as the Lan Sect juniors, and were quite pretty as well—though both girls seemed to approve of his flippant address to their senior about as much as Sect Leader Ouyang had.

“Mianmian,” Wei Wuxian asked with a teasing glint in his eye, “should I call you ‘Sect Leader Mianmian’ instead? Are these two plucky girls your little disciples?”

The girls stiffened, affronted. But Mianmian just laughed lightly behind her hand. Her cinnamon eyes were so warm with delight at this unexpected reunion that Wei Wuxian figured he could say just about anything to her, no matter how roguish. The thought was certainly tempting! But out of respect for Lan Wangji, he held himself ruefully in check.

“It’s so good to see you again, Young Master Wei,” Mianmian said, a wistful sheen in her eyes. “I’ve never forgotten your kindness to me—not for a moment.”

Wei Wuxian blushed, the sincerity of her words catching him off guard. At his side, Lan Wangji was frostier than ever.

“…Shijie,” the girl in blue said with a frown, touching a hand to Mianmian’s sleeve as her companion gazed off in thought.

“Forgive me!” Mianmian said with a cheery laugh. “I got carried away. Young Master Wei, Hanguang-Jun—these are my little sisters in cultivation. Fan Yuhui,” she said, introducing the blue-clothed girl, who wore a tough look and her glossy black hair gathered high in two long-ribboned buns. “And Feng Sihe,” she added, gesturing toward the girl in pink, who had delicate features and a dreamy expression, the soft brown fall of her hair plaited loosely to one side.

“Ah, so you’re rogue cultivators then?” Wei Wuxian guessed, grinning. “Mianmian the rebel!”

Mianmian waved this off with another laugh. “Nothing so infamous as that! But it’s true we’re not affiliated with any sect. We roam the countryside, night-hunting wherever the opportunity presents—particularly in poor remote areas, where the larger sects tend to turn a blind eye.”

Grasping for an opportunity to rejoin the conversation, Sect Leader Ouyang interjected proudly, “The Baling Ouyang Clan follows up on all reports within its territory, no matter how small.”

As Mianmian gave him a polite, humoring smile, Wei Wuxian chuckled. “Easy enough, when your ‘territory’ is small to begin with!”

Feng Sihe tittered airily, as Fan Yuhui’s brows shot up in shock. Accustomed to Wei Wuxian’s audacity, Mianmian only shook her head. Lan Wangji might have frowned at the jab, but perhaps like Wei Wuxian he still carried a shred of spite from the Second Siege.

Outraged, embarrassed, and utterly thwarted in his efforts to impress, Sect Leader Ouyang turned nearly purple, his goatee aquiver. “Y-you! Cut-sleeve miscreant—”

“Sect Leader Ouyang,” Lan Wangji said icily, advancing with a hand to Bichen. “Watch your words.”

“…Hanguang-Jun,” the sect leader muttered, recovering himself at the threat. Woodenly, he bowed. “Out of courtesy to you and Zewu-Jun, I will let this insult slide.”

“Let it slide?!” Wei Wuxian burst out. “But the one hurling insults was you!”

The sect leader glared. Bidding a stiff farewell to Mianmian and her followers, he stalked off to collect his son.

“Mianmian,” Wei Wuxian asked brightly, as if nothing uncomfortable had just happened, “why don’t you and your little sisters come along with us to Lotus Pier? We’re on our way to a discussion conference, and it’ll be so much less dull if you are there.”

“Oh!” Mianmian said, wilting a bit as Lan Wangji’s icy stare fixed upon her. “…We’re night-hunting nearby this evening. But, perhaps after…?”

“Yes, yes!” Wei Wuxian beamed. “After that, catch up with us in Lotus Pier.”

Mianmian smiled, giving him a nod. As she and her sisters went on their way, Wei Wuxian heard a few murmured snippets—

“…Cut-sleeve?” Feng Sihe wondered aloud.

“That Hanguang-Jun,” Fan Yuhui muttered, “so scary…”

Mo Dao Zu Shi © Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Mianmian’s storyline diverges from the canon. Always liked Mianmian for how feisty and principled she was, defending Wei Wuxian against unwarranted accusations prior to the First Siege at Yiling. So I wanted to give her more importance and development here 🙂