THE YILING MATRIARCH

Chapter 8 : Time Immemorial - Part 1 : First Glance

Meifeng's wallowing continued as Lan Wangji spoke, "Do not bother with her. Once she is done crying, bring her in and show her to her room." Hearing this, Meifeng hastily pointed her steed away towards freedom, yet her hope of sweet escape had run traitorously towards Lan Wangji... who was holding out in his left hand a ripe apple for the creature to take. Why was her life so unlucky!?

As the wind sung in her ears as she passed under the looming gate, somehow time seemed to stop in its place, only to rewind the seasons back as a memory came to the forefront of her mind of the first time she had seen the glorious Gusu Lan Sect. It had been twenty years ago, sometime during the early months in the eighteenth year of Xuanzheng that Wei Meifeng's life as a bright prospective disciple had begun. Taking in the awe-inspiring site that would be her home for a year as she studied with the respected Lan Clan, she entered alongside her adopted brother, Jiang Cheng, and good friend, Nie Huaisang.

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A fifteen year old Wei Meifeng, young and as carefree as a summer butterfly, walked just a little bit ahead of her best friend and brother-figure, Jiang Cheng, who rolled his eyes at her shameless manner behind her even as he was used to it by now. Asking her to be any different was like telling the sun not to shine or the seasons not to change. The two had been running late to their first lesson since coming to Gusu Lan since Meifeng had woken late, and now that they were within minutes of the Study Hall, and a short rest break was required to catch their breath.

"If you get up late again tomorrow, I won't wait up for you." Jiang Cheng commented, straightening out his robes that had bunched up while running as he only slightly glared at the girl. She however only laughed at his seriousness, correcting her hair into its normal half-high ponytail, letting the last chocolate stands fall over her shoulder.

"We aren't that late. Besides, the worst they could possibly do to us is make us stand in a corner!" Jiang Cheng said nothing at her reply, his gaze fixating on another arriving student as he passed by them. Wearing clothing the color of a ripe lemon, the duo recognized the person as Jin Zixuan, the heir leader of the Lanling Jin Sect, and the fiance of their older sister. This fact burned Wei Meifeng's consciousness since the other boy was more peacock than human, strutting along as if he were above everyone.

His half-assed greeting also irked her to no end, but Cheng's presence reminded her she had to be on her best behavior for the Jiang Clan's reputation. Bowing in respect until Jin Zixuan was gone, both stood at full height and watched his diminishing form. "Well, isn't he becoming more presentable..." A thought came to her mind about the cocky teen, along with a grin that Cheng quickly set to discouraging her, recognizing the expression, and urged her along.

At a building called the Orchid Room, Meifeng and her companion ran into Nie Huaisang, who watched as the siblings walked down the path towards him, admired how close his friends seemed to be even though they were not true siblings. At Huaisang's side, his traveling companion welcomed the two for coming to Gusu to study, since it was fairly simpler than their home in Lotus Pier. Meifeng, of course, laughed a little at this. "I wouldn't say it's boring, but we had to get up way too early!" Huaisang was a little curious about what Meifeng had meant, but all had laughed at the lazy girl as they entered the room. Huaisang began warning her of the many rules Gusu Lan had of misbehavior, but as soon as Meifeng's attention turned from them to walk inside, her breath was taken away instantly.

It was not because of the room itself that caused her breath to catch, but by a person who was already waiting in the room, poised eloquently like something out of a painting she remembered seeing in the Jiang Sect leader's office, and twice as beautiful.

The person was a boy the same age as her, wearing the Lan Clan's white clothes that she would come to mentally compare to mourning clothes on the other members, but he seemed to make them look good. His long hair was like someone had dipped spider threads into a pot of soot and was half-pulled into a bun as long bangs framed around a serene face that held perfect control in deep golden eyes like the gentle bellies of goldfish that Meifeng loved to watch swim from lily-pad to lily-pad underneath its protective greenery.

Watching him slowly turn his head towards them, she watched as his face contorted into an expression of... was that annoyance she saw, or something else? In any case, the look caused her previous awe to disappear into indifference towards the stranger.

Joining her friends as they sat, she watched as a crowd of multitudes wander in until the room was full of unrecognizable faces, yet what Meifeng had not seen was that the boy hadn't stopped looking at her. 

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I swear I didn't mean to paint any fluff at this point, but this scene just came naturally to me and I was planning some similar scenarios later on. Be prepared for some serious full-face blushing moments between Lan Wangji and Wei Meifeng in later chapters (cause these two will be as thick as bricks despite the obvious romance in the air LOL).