A Phoenix Rising - An Untamed Story (Book 1 In Series)

Chapter 15

Jiang Cheng opened the door again to let Li MeiLi in. "I... I'm sorry. I'm intruding," she whispered apologetically upon seeing everyone in the room.

"It's fine," Jiang Cheng sighed, waving her into the room. "Actually... another woman might be helpful." He pointedly looked at Wen Qing, who blushed. "Li MeiLi, Wen Qing." The two women saluted each other.

Li MeiLi sidled up next to HanGuang-Jun. "Wen Qing?" she asked him in a loud whisper. "The Wen Qing who was executed fourteen years ago?"

Wei WuXian called up from the floor, "Yes, the Wen Qing, but not executed. Jin GuangYao hid her away and had her caretaker drug her for the past fourteen years."

Jiang Cheng growled. "Can we get back to the topic we were on before everyone barged in here? Why won't you say you'll marry me?"

Wen Qing flinched. "I didn't say I wouldn't marry you. I said I wanted to go home first!"

"Marry me. Now. Tonight. Tomorrow. Soon. And then we can go home together."

"Lotus Pier is not my home!"

"It will be once we're married!"

Wei WuXian sat up. "I can take you to the Burial Mounds, but... everything was destroyed there, too."

Behind him, Lan WangJi dismissed that idea with a curt, "No."

"I told you." Wen Qing spoke over Lan WangJi. "Not the Burial Mounds. Not Dafan Mountain. I want to go to my home."

Jin Ling blurted out, "Oh! Now it makes sense." And blushed as all eyes turned to him. "It's just that when I returned to Koi Tower from YunPing, the treasurer asked about a monthly payment for 'the orchid's wife'. He showed me records of payments going back years, first authorized by my grandfather and then my uncle. I thought 'the orchid's wife' was either a mistress or a caretaker for yet another bastard child. I stopped the payments.... I figured that if it was a mistress, she would find a new protector once the money stopped coming. Or if it was a bastard, the child would come claiming a position within the family soon enough. I never expected 'the orchid' was my Uncle Jiang!"

Wei WuXian burst out laughing. "That bastard Yao did have a flair for the dramatic. Orchid's wife indeed. Lotus's wife would be too obvious. QingJiejie, you had better marry my brother before he goes as crazy as Meng Yao was!"

"Please... just take me home!" Wen Qing begged. "Every home I have ever had has been destroyed. Just let me go back to Yiling for a few days. Then I promise I will go to Lotus Pier with you, Jiang Cheng. And I will marry you."

Jiang Cheng ground his teeth in frustration. "But the Yiling Supervisory Office was razed years ago. There's nothing left of the manor. Nothing."

Li MeiLi felt reluctant to speak up in such august company, but she had never claimed to be shy. "I don't know of any Supervisory Office, but I do know of a burned down manor in Yiling.... A few of the older Wei disciples turned it into a sort of a training area for us when they got tired of traveling around. There are some dorms for students to sleep, and some pavilions for eating and learning. That's where I learned to read and write, actually." She looked at her Master. "I could draw you a map of where it is, if that would help."

Lan WangJi, without opening his eyes, pulled his unresisting husband into his lap and wrapped his arms around his lover. This is all happening too fast. There was no doubt in his mind that the Wei disciples had made Wen Qing's former home into their training grounds. But even if there were two different burned out manors in Yiling, the fact remained that the Yiling Patriarch now had a functioning spiritual training ground. Thanks to Lan XiChen's and his machinations at the opening banquet, the YilingWei Sect was established. And Wei Ying had chosen his first true disciple.