THE YILING MATRIARCH

Chapter 2 : Disturbing the peace with a smile

The woman's head bobbed in understanding, now putting on another polite smile as she spoke about her beloved son, who had wanted to become a disciple of a respected school since he was a child, yet could not due to 'certain circumstances'. Lan Sizhui couldn't help but wonder what those circumstances were.

Just as she spoke of how refined and intelligent her son was, an overly large teen not much younger than Lan Sizhui came bursting in through the door unceremoniously, promptly hanging onto the woman's sleeve as if he were still a small child. He began ranting about someone by the name of Mo Xiemei and that she had been bullying him as tears threatened to fall from his dark, beady eyes. Lan Sizhui noticed out of the corner of his vision how his fellow Juniors had looked shocked at the boy's undignified behavior, and while he had to agree with them, said nothing as their hostess tried calming her son down so as to not embarrass herself in front of their esteemed guests.

Outside the screen doors, another commotion rang out at what sounded like someone was being chased or was leading the chasers around until a black and red form tripped on the doorway and would've taken a hard fall onto the floor if not for Lan Sizhui extending his arm to catch the person. When he was given a better look at the individual, he saw it was a young woman with brown, wind-blown hair pulled up into an uneven bun and cool gray eyes that popped out to him thanks to some poorly done makeup on her face. The young man felt himself blushing a little at their proximity for a brief moment before releasing her arm, yet the girl continued to stare at him. What was wrong with her?

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Before Wei Meifeng had tripped headfirst into the world's version of a slap to the face, she was having the time of her life chasing who she had dubbed as "The Pig" and his little friend down the main street of town into the Mo family's estate. For a boy as large as he was, his weight certainly did not get in his way of running away at full speed, and Meifeng was absolutely entertained. When they arrived at the home through the large doorway into a courtyard, Piggy had disappeared inside while more servants instantly surrounded her and tried to catch her before she could demount her steed she had named Little Apple.

The key word being tried.

Once off Apple, Meifeng was like the wind and escaped the grasping lunges of the men all the while laughing like a, well, like a mad woman. The experience, while fun to watch as they failed to catch her again and again, gave her the opportunity to get used to her new body. One thing she had noticed instantly about Mo Xiemei's body were three things: She didn't have a large energy core anymore, meaning her ability to use any cultivation would be greatly weakened, but she was used to that from her first life. Meifeng noticed she was also slightly shorter than her previous body, which wasn't actually that big of a deal since it would mean now that her opponents would underestimate her more than before.

Not that Wei Meifeng was too tall before. She had just been an inch or two above the average standard, but had been no where near as tall as her male friends.

However, the thing she noticed the most was something so upsetting she just might cry. Her breasts were smaller! Why was fate being so cruel to her!? Her wonderful C-cup breasts that had turned many heads over the years were now a pitiful A-and a half; no one looked at bumps that looked more like bug bug-bites than actual cleavage.

At least her eye color had changed with her incarnation; the body that was currently in her possession had had dark brown eyes that reminded her of muddy water.

Another fact that proved that the Gods were out to get her was that doorway! She had been dead for a while, at least thirteen years according to her estimates, so her body's reflexes had a lot of catching up to do. Due to this, Meifeng felt herself falling into the room, only to be caught by who she had heard Piggy mention as one of the 'guests'. The arm that caught her was clothed in an almost glowing white silk robe, the color reminding her of mourning clothes with a light blue cloud pattern. She had fallen into a room filled with Juniors of the Lan clan!

Staring into soft golden brown eyes that were wide with confronted confusion, Wei Meifeng thought it'd be best if she continued acting like a lunatic so that none of the Lan disciples paid her any attention, so she gave her best big, crazy smile to the man as she moved closer until their noses were only a few inches apart. "Ah, were you the one that's hiding my stuff, mister? Xiemei thinks that isn't nice and wants them back now." Knowing what the Lan clan was like, having a girl so close to them, even if they are a crazed lunatic, wasn't something they were used to and she had never failed to get a blush out of them using this method of invading their personal space until she got what she wanted.

"Somebody! Get this lunatic out of here now!"

Ah. That must be Piggy's mother, the leader of the Mo family. Her voice was also offensive to the ears, reminding Meifeng of a squealing sow. Keeping with her identity as Mo Xiemei, she quickly started crying and clung to a supporting column of the house in desperation as hands pulled at her limbs to let go. Clinging only tighter to the pillar, Meifeng cried and begged to be left alone since she wasn't doing anything wrong. Which was true. However, she still had an act to put on, and her audience needed to be entertained by something else other than faked politeness and bad tea.

"No! Xiemei hasn't done anything wrong! Though Xiemei might be willing to leave if Cousin Ziyuan gives me back my things!" Watching the pig's face light up red was gratifying, yet he was a good actor as he pretended to be insulted by such an accusation. Of course, the mother was also outraged, asking when her son had ever taken her belongings. "That's right. You didn't 'take' Xiemei's things, you stole them! And in the middle of the night too while Xiemei was asleep! You disgrace! Thief!" Maybe the whole thing was a bit overkill, or maybe it wasn't, but not a second after saying such things did an object come flying at where her head would've been were it not for her quick reflexes, ducking behind the Lan member that had caught her. "Ah! Now you're trying to kill Xiemei! Murderer!" Meifeng felt a large hand coming for her, only for it to be stopped dead in its tracks by the person she hid behind.

"Please Young Master, can we talk? I think the Young Mistress is in need of rest." Lan Sizhui looked back and forth between the two family members, searching for a way to ease the tense situation. From the moment the young woman had spoken, obviously different in the way she acted that he recognized as having lost her mind despite her young age, he had felt a sudden desire to defend her from her overweight cousin even though their family quarrel did not involve him.

Mo Ziyuan had most definitely lost his temper by this point, and in his anger was attempting to strike at Lan Sizhui before his mother had intervened, apologizing for his actions as simply being stressed from being accused of something so outlandish. She pointed out that Xiemei had mental problems ever since her mother had passed away when Xiemei was still young and was prone to proclaiming nonsense, a statement to which Meifeng loudly snorted.

"Why would Aunt Mo say it's nonsense when it's not!? I'm the victim here, but no more! If Cousin Ziyuan tries to steal from me again, I'll hurt the arm that touches my things!" With the swing of her arm acting out a cutting motion, Meifeng watched as Piggy started trying to attack her once more, only to be ushered out of the room by his mother as he exclaimed that someone 'like her' can't bully him.

With this last matter coming to a close, Lan Sizhui said he and his group would be using their back courtyard to set up for tonight's Night Hunting and instructed the residences' occupants that no one disturbed the seals that would be placed around the house to prevent any zombies from venturing inside. They also happened to inform the Mo household that no one should go outside while they were summoning spirits to take care of the zombies terrorizing their lands.

This last bit intrigued Meifeng, as summoning spirits to combat the undead had been classified as a forbidden art when she was alive; recalling the irony of their words and the past, she had a very strong feeling that something interesting would happen tonight. 

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A/N: What's this? Another edited chapter release!? Happy days! I'm most likely gonna be busy during this month so I thought I'd go ahead of my schedule and post this for everyone who has been so patient with me and kind enough to wait for me to fulfill my promise to update this story since it's been so long. Hope you enjoy the edits I've made to this story thus far!!