Wei WuXian grinned, “I’ve shown my face.”
Luo QingYang understood. If the YiLing Patriarch had shown his face, the cultivators would definitely spread the news after they saw him. The others would only think that he’d taken this place as his own territory. Which cultivator would have the guts to come over and provoke him?
Luo QingYang smiled, “So this was the case. When I saw how scared MianMian was, I thought she ran into some spirit. If there was any discourteousness, please don’t mind.”
Wei WuXian thought, No, no, no, I think we’re the more discourteous ones here. Yet on the surface, he spoke in all seriousness, “Of course not, of course not. Please also excuse us for scaring little MianMian.”
Luo QingYang’s husband picked up his daughter. Sitting on her father’s arm, MianMian glared at Wei WuXian with puffed cheeks, clearly mad from the embarrassment but too ashamed to say it. She wore a light pink dress, with deep black eyes that looked like crystal grapes adorning her sweet, snowy face. Seeing this, Wei WuXian felt a strong urge to go squeeze her cheeks, but as her father was watching, he only pinched her dangling pigtail, grinning with a hand behind his back, “MianMian looks so much like you when you were young, Maiden Luo.”
Lan WangJi glanced at him and said nothing. Luo QingYang broke into a smile, “Young Master Wei, don’t you feel guilty saying it? Do you really remember what I looked like when I was young?”
The smiling face seemed to overlap with that of the young girl back then who wore the pink gauze robes. Wei WuXian didn’t feel the slightest bit of shame, “Of course I do! You weren’t so different from right now. Right, how old is she? I should give her some money to ward off evil spirits*.”
*TN: The folklore of an old couple using money to ward off evil spirits from their child eventually led to the tradition of giving red envelopes of money to children on New Year’s Eve.
Luo QingYang immediately declined with her husband, “It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Wei WuXian laughed, “It’s not, it’s not. I’m not the one who’s paying anyways. Haha.”
The couple paused in surprise. Before they knew what was going on, Lan WangJi had already put something into Wei WuXian’s hand. Wei WuXian took the heavy coins from his hand and insisted on giving them to MianMian. Seeing that she couldn’t decline it, Luo QingYang turned to her daughter, “MianMian, go thank HanGuang-Jun and Young Master Wei.”
MianMian, “Thank you, HanGuang-Jun.”
Wei WuXian, “MianMian, I was the one who gave them to you, wasn’t I? Why didn’t you thank me?”
MianMian offered him a furious glare. No matter how much he teased her, she refused to talk to him as she looked down and tugged on a red string hanging around her neck, pulling out a delicate little perfume pouch. With much care, she put the money inside. Soon, the group had gone down the mountain, and Wei WuXian could only say goodbye to them with some regret, continuing on another path alongside Lan WangJi.
After their silhouettes disappeared, Luo QingYang lectured her daughter, “MianMian. You were so impolite. That was someone who saved your mother’s life.”
Her husband was shocked, “Really?! MianMian, you heard her? Look at how impolite you were!”
MianMian mumbled, “I… I don’t like him.”
Luo QingYang, “If you really didn’t like him, you would’ve thrown away the money a long time ago.”
MianMian buried her small, ruddy face against her father’s chest, whining, “He did bad things!”
Luo QingYang didn’t know whether to laugh or not. Just as she was about to speak, her husband mused, “QingYang, I heard you mention this HanGuang-Jun before. I remember he was an important person from a prominent sect. Why would he appear at such a small place and hunt such small prey?”
Luo QingYang explained to her husband patiently, “This HanGuang-Jun is different from the other famous cultivators. He always appears wherever the chaos is. As long as there’s a haunting, no matter the level of the night-hunt’s target or if he’d receive credit, he’d always provide assistance.”
Her husband nodded, “What a true cultivator.” He continued to ask, both anxious and confused, “Then what about that Young Master Wei? You said he saved your life, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention such a person? Has your life ever been in danger?!”
Luo QingYang took over MianMian, an unusual gleam in her eyes. She smiled, “That Young Master Wei…”
On the other path, Wei WuXian spoke to Lan WangJi, “Can’t believe the little girl from back then already has a daughter who’s a little girl as well!”
Lan WangJi, “Mn.”
Wei WuXian, “But this isn’t fair. Back then she should’ve seen that you were the one doing bad things to me. Why does she find me more disagreeable?” Before Lan WangJi answered, Wei WuXian spun in a circle and faced Lan WangJi, walking backwards as he continued, “Oh, I know. She definitely likes me in secret. Just like a certain somebody from back then.”
Lan WangJi brushed the nonexistent dust from his sleeve, his voice cool, “Please give me back my forehead ribbon, Wei YuanDao*.”
*TN: To those who don’t remember, the poem goes “mian mian si yuan dao”, which translates roughly into “the ceaseless bounds of grass yearn for miles and miles on”. WWX tells her his name is YuanDao, since then it’d mean MianMian yearns for him.
Hearing the unfamiliar name, Wei WuXian only understood after a moment of thought. He clicked his tongue, laughing, “Hey, Second Young Master Lan, you’re drinking vinegar*, aren’t you?”
*TN: Drinking vinegar is an idiom for being jealous in Chinese. It’s just a really accurate metaphor so I thought I’d keep it the way it is.
Lan WangJi looked down. Wei WuXian stopped in front of him, one arm around his waist and the other lifting his chin, face serious, “Tell me the truth. How long have you been drinking from this bottle for? How have you hidden it so well? I couldn’t smell a single trace of the vinegar.”
As usual, Lan WangJi cooperated and raised his chin, only to feel a certain naughty hand slide to his chest. As he looked down, however, Wei WuXian’s hand had left already, holding a particular object. He feigned surprise, “What’s this?”
It was Lan WangJi’s money pouch.
Wei WuXian spun the delicate little pouch in his right hand as he pointed at it with his left, “HanGuang-Jun, oh, HanGuang-Jun, to take without asking is to steal. What did they call you back then? Heir of a prominent sect? Leading all disciples by example? What a disciple, who drinks strong vinegar in secret and stole the perfume pouch a little girl gave me to make it his own money pouch. No wonder I couldn’t find it wherever I looked, after I woke up. If the perfume pouch hanging at little MianMian’s chest weren’t the exact same as this one, I wouldn’t even have remembered. Just look at you, tsk tsk. Tell me. How did you take it from me when I was unconscious? How long did you spend taking it?”
Tiny ripples flashed across Lan WangJi’s face as he reached out to grab it. Wei WuXian tossed the money pouch, avoiding his hands as he stepped back, “Grabbing it by force since you can’t argue against me? Why the embarrassment? Getting embarrassed by something like this—I finally know why I’m so shameless. We’re really destined to be together. It’s definitely because all my shame is left in your care so that you can store it for me.”