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"千里之行，始于足下。"
A journey of a thousand miles, begins at one's feet.
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"Can you believe it! They're planning on marrying me off!" A younger Wen Meixiao whined, complaining to Wen Qing.
"Quit complaining and stir." The elder replied.
"And what's worse is that I can't choose my husband!"
Wen Qing sighed. "As much as I feel bad for you, this is what you get for being such a trouble maker."
"I'm sorry that I just want a strong and handsome husband." She apologized, continuing to stir the soup. As she was an orphan, she had always lived in the temple alone, but due to boredom and loneliness, she visited Wen Qing and Wen Ning very often. This was just another typical day.
Wen Ning walked inside. "What's for dinner?" He asked.
"You'll have to wait for soup-per to find out." Wen Meixiao joked.
"Is it soup? The younger male deadpanned.
"I soup-pose so."
Wen Qing stepped out with bowls and spoons. The three set up the table and sat down, ready to eat until Wen Qing broke the silence. "Wen Mei, you aren't still working on that bow right?"
Wen Meixiao made a bubble in her mouth.
"What! You still are!" Wen Qing chided. "You remember what happened last time! You almost started a fire! And the other time, you actually did! Aish, you better not be studying about demonic weaponry still."
"..."
"YOU STILL ARE!" Wen Qing looked like she was about to have a heart attack while Wen Ning drank his soup without much complaints. "Wen Mei, you know that is very dangerous right!"
"You need resentful energy to create a possessed weapon! I can promise you I have no malice in me, not even a little! I am just curious!" She fought back, pouting.
"Curiosity is what killed the cat!"
"Sisters, let's stop arguing and eat.." Wen Ning suggested. The two females in the room huffed and ate in silence.
The next morning, the young teen set out for her everyday morning hunt. She wandered towards the large river, bringing a net and fishing rod with her. She did this every morning, looking for supplies washed up ashore to build her bow. She had actually succeeded in finding pieces of gold and other fine materials before, hence this being her daily morning exercise. She changed out of her hanfu earlier, wearing a male's outfit, and stepped onto the water to lower her net.
You're probably wondering why she's even gathering materials from the river. You see, Wen Meixiao wanted to make a demonic bow, but she was banned from the blacksmith. However, there were many fights uphill since the clan there had their practices by the river, and if Wen Meixiao was lucky, sometimes a whole sword would come washing down. She would then pick the sword apart and reuse it for her bow.
The trainees would practice in the afternoon, so counting the distance by water, any leftover materials would reach her in the morning.
Grabbing a floating arrow, she put it back on her bag when she heard a voice.
"Wen Meixiao! What are you doing here again!" She looked over and it was Wen Chao, along with his bodyguard 'Wen Zhuliu' and his many concubines.
"Mind your own business." She spat back, continuing her search, splashing around the water that only reached her knees.
"My, you sure are pathetic, scavenging for things like a hobo." He laughed. "Let's go."
The younger ignored him, knowing very well he was wrong. The only reason she didn't argue back was because there were actually valuable things that she actually found. Pieces of jade and sometimes even amulets and armoury. Of course, she would never tell Wen Chao that, then she would have competition scavenging.
"Father, did you know that girl is out scavenging again? How disgraceful!" Wen Chao blabbed to Wen Ruohan, the clan leader, who was sitting on his desk. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Don't worry son. We decided to let her be wed and then her husband's clan will have to take her in, away from us." He sighed.
"Great! Did anyone sent a letter yet?"
"We've sent some to the Jiang clan, the Jin clan and others, but so far it seems that their sons aren't available."
Wen Chao groaned. "Then what about that letter over there?"
Wen Ruohan opened it. "Dear Leader Wen, do you have a good-for-nothing in your clan? So do I! How about we pair both of them together? I know Nie Huaisang will never find a lover anyways. From Nie Mingjue."
The two looked at each other with a wicked smile. "Perfect."
Her arrow flew fast, hitting the target right on. "Do you think I can do the 'split the arrow'?" Wen Meixiao asked Wen Ning, who only shrugged. She shot the arrow again, only missing by millimetres. "Ugh!!!"
Wen Meixiao was an avid archer since her cultivation skills were poop. She figured she didn't need to learn cultivation if she was going to craft an evil bow.
They were currently at Qinghe Nie sect, preparing for this year's Archery contest. Every year they held it in different sects, and the only reason Wen Meixiao was allowed to come this time was to meet her 'potential' husband, otherwise she was not allowed to leave the sect.
Wen Ruohan told her she was to be wed with someone from the Nie clan. Wen Meixiao knew no one from the Nie clan except for Nie Mingjue and thought that everyone was strong as manly as him. So she agreed to go to meet her soon to be husband.
However she was let down as she realized she was marrying Nie Huaisang, a coward. She avoided him as much as possible and spent her time exploring and practicing archery with Wen Ning. It was her first time outside of The Nightless city and she was so exhilarated.
"Wen Mei, they are calling us in." Wen Ning said, and both of them made their way towards the city. It was buzzing with people, some of them scared since they were wearing their Wen cloaks. As Wen Ning seemed uncomfortable with it and hid behind her, Wen Meixiao showed off her clan symbol proudly. She didn't blame them for feeling scared, it was her clan's fault they were too powerful.
While they were walking, she spotted a tiny lotus pond beside a resident home, and while squinting at it, she saw an undeniably real gem - citrine. After years of searching for valuables, Wen Meixiao had a special eye where she could spot valuable things from miles away.
The citrine, if used in a sword it would be inefficient, but demonically possessed weapons need an efficient conductor. The citrine would be perfect. She was not surprised that something as expensive as the jewel was lying in a dirty pond, since Qinghe was best known for its weaponry.
Quickly, she rolled up the large sleeves of her hanfu, knelt beside the pond and began grabbing for the gem in the water.
People were staring at them and Wen Ning was getting embarrassed because Wen Meixiao did this a lot. "Wen Mei, let's go, what are you doing!"
"Wait.." She said, moving her hand underwater before she felt something scratchy hitting her fingers. The moment she grabbed it, footsteps could be heard from ahead.
Sect leader Nie Mingjue and his half younger brother, Nie Huaisang were walking while talking with Wen Ruohan when they saw the sight: Wen Meixiao on her knees, arm in the water searching for something, and poor Wen Ning tugging on her hanfu.
"What is going on here?" Nie Mingjue demanded, and Wen Meixiao looked up, could see the glint of anger in Wen Ruohan's eyes. Gulping, she got her hand out, still clutching the gem and stood up politely.
"What do you have there?" Nie Mingjue questioned, and Wen Meixiao hesitantly opened her hand, revealing the beautiful, orange gem. Nie Mingjue started to laugh.
"So that's what you've been looking for! What a greedy yet clever girl!" He chuckled so hard, Nie Huaisang looked internally shaken. "You've found a good find!"
Wen Meixiao chuckled nervously, seeing the pent up anger in Wen Ruohan.
"What you did was absolutely shameless! Leave the gem!" Wen Ruohan scolded, crossing his arms yet Wen Meixiao refused to let go of the gem.
"It's okay, to be successful, you have to be a little bit shameless sometimes." Nie Minjue confirmed. "Keep it, it was your find,"
Wen Meixiao smiled smugly. It was a good thing Nie Mingjue was in a good mood today, if not she could only shuddered to think what he would do to punish her.
"Wen Ruohan, you are too serious, lighten up and have a drink with me!" Nie Mingjue chuckled boisterously. He turned around to leave before spotting Nie Huaisang. "Oh you're still here? Go do whatever you want-" he spotted Wen Meixiao- "actually you should go speak with her. Go make yourself useful."
Nie Huaisang nodded and slowly trudged closer to Wen Meixiao and Wen Ning, who eyed him suspiciously. Nie Minjue and Wen RuoHan sauntered away, but the latter looked at Wen Meixiao one last time, giving her the look of 'you better not embarrass me again'.
"So, we should head back to the competition..." Wen Meixiao awkwardly started up a conversation, and the two boys agreed. While walking, Wen Chao happened to pass with his concubines.
"Oh what's this? Wen Meixiao and her two cowards?" He laughed manically, and Wen Meixiao resisted the urge to shove the citrine up his throat but didn't, the citrine didn't deserve the cruelty.
"Leave us alone." She muttered, brushing past him. Ever since the first clan leader died, Wen Chao had been mocking her, claiming that she wasn't a real Wen, or that she wouldn't be here if old Wen wasn't sympathetic and that she should thank the Wens, not be an embarrassment. Wen Meixiao ignored him every time.
The three headed back to the crowd of cultivation students, all lined up with their bows. Wen Meixiao and Wen Ning lined up with the other Wen students, and Nie Huaisang did so too with his clan.
Nie Mingjue made a speech, explaining the rules of the contest when he spotted his brother in the crowd. "Nie Huaisang what are you doing there! You are not participating in the contest, you're going to make a fool out of yourself!!" He hollered and Nie Huaisang left the line, head hanging low in shame. All the other clan members laughed at him.
Wen Chao laughed too, before he spotted Wen Ning and Wen Meixiao in the crowd too.
"Wen Ning! Wen Meixiao! What are you doing here! You shouldn't be here!" Wen Chao demanded. "Especially you Wen Ning, going to embarrass us again."
Wen Ning shook his head because he really wanted to participate. "I-"
"OUT!" Wen Chao hollered.
Wen Meixiao spoke up. "Shut up! He's a great archer!"
"You shouldn't be here too!" He splat.
"What do you mean! Then why am I here!?" She shouted loudly. At this moment, everyone from all clans were looking at them.
"Girls are not allowed to participate! The only reason you're here, is to meet the Nie's!" Wen Chao was red and panting now due to all the screaming.
Wen Meixiao's face turned tomato red when she realized she was the only female in the crowd. "Whoops?" The whole crowd laughed at her reply, and with a scowl, she dragged Wen Ning away from the crowd.
Bummed out that she couldn't participate, she and Wen Ning were walking away when she spotted Nie Huaisang who was also rejected. "Oh hey!" She called out to him. "What are we? The rejection trio?" The three of them laughed.
"What do we do know? I don't think I want to watch the competition." Wen Ning asked, still glancing at the path the came back from, as if he was hoping he could go back to the contest.
"Do you want to practice archery together?" Wen Meixiao suggested.
"No, I'm not really good at archery..." Nie Huaisang replied.
"Cultivation?"
"I'm not really good at that either..."
"Well that's okay, I'm not that great at it either." She laughed, and it was true, her cultivation was not the best. Probably because she spent too much time on her bow than actually using it to do cultivation.
"We could go eat," Nie Huaisang suggested. "I know a good congee place."
"Food, I'm in!" Wen Meixiao cheered, following him as he lead the way.
"Uh guys, are you sure? W-we just ate a few hours ago..." Wen Ning asked but ended up following them anyways, scared to be alone in a foreign place.
"Wow this place is nice." The Ravenette complimented.
"I'll pay for the food, it would be rude to make a women pay." Nie Huaisang started, before he saw Wen Ning. "Guests too."
The three began eating when their food arrived, Wen Meixiao doing mostly all the talking. "This is my first time being here, in Qinghe."
"Really?" Nie Huaisang replied with a mouthful of congee.
"My second time outside of Qishan, the first time was in Molin, we were studying there for a while, I think you were there too."
"Oh yeah, I was!" Nie Huaisang exclaimed. "I rarely saw you, probably because I stuck with my friends all the time."
"I don't blame you, I didn't even know you existed until the last day." Wen Meixiao chuckled.
"I wasn't there..." Wen Ning pouted.
"Ah yes, you were a year too young. Who knows, maybe you can go soon." She consoled. "Actually, the place I want to go the most would be Gusu Lan. I heard it's beautiful there."
"Oh Gusu? I've been there like ten times." Nie Huaisang smirked.
"I can't believe you've been to GusuLan Sect three times! I can't even go once!"
"I've been to a lot of places, name any place."
"Jiang Sect-"
"Been there."
"Yao Sect-"
"Done that."
"Meishan Yu Sect?"
"Went there like ten times! Come on, tell me other places that I should go instead." He boasted.
"Hell."
Nie Huaisang almost choked. "Hey, you know I'm not dead yet!" Wen Meixiao only replied with a laugh.
"Sorry to break your banter, but Wen Ruohan is calling for me, I have to go. Wen Mei, you should too, after you finish your food." Wen Ning added before getting up. "Thank you Gege for paying." He thanked Nie Huaisang before leaving.
"Well, I guess I should go soon." Wen Meixiao sighed before reaching for her spoon.
"Oh there you are!" A foreign voice called out, and both of them turned their heads to see a tall boy with a red cloak, followed by a boy in purple.
"Wei Ying, how was the contest?" Nie Huaisang asked, and Wen MeiXiao took notice that they were close friends.
"Simple as a pimple. I snatched a good spot, and of course I beat Jiang Cheng- ow!" The said boy had hit him in the arm.
"Jiang? Jiang sect?" Wen Meixiao asked, it was obvious the boy in the purple was Jiang Wanyin, but the dude in red..
"Are you from the Jiang sect?" She asked.
"Yup, and proud." The boy in the red cloak responded.
"Don't lie! You're wearing red!"
"Hey, I can wear whatever I want! Anyways, I'm Wei Ying, courtesy name Wei Wuxian, an adopted disciple of the Jiang sect, that's Jiang Cheng, courtesy name, Jiang Wanyin."
"I don't need you introducing for me!" Jiang Cheng hissed.
"Oh, so you're adopted. I'm Wen Mei, courtesy name, Wen Meixiao. I'm also an adopted disciple, but from the Wen sect." Wen Meixiao introduced, content that there was someone else who was also an adopted disciple like her.
"You're adopted too?" Wei WuXian asked, eyes sparkling with curiosity. He slid into the spot that was formerly of Wen Ning. "Hello waitress, two more bowls of congee, the money's all on Nie Huaisang." He ordered and Jiang Cheng politely took the seat next to Wen Meixiao.
"You never told me you were an orphan." Nie Huaisang commented.
"Well now you know. Although I sometimes wish I was found by the Nie sect." She muttered, eating a spoonful of congee.
"Why?" Nie Huaisang asked.
"Because they are well know for their weaponry, and women can be blacksmith's. In my clan, I'm not allowed to use any equipment to build my own weapons." She rambled on.
"True, my clan is very well known for our weapons." Nie Huaisang boasted again.
"But your cultivation sucks, Nie Huaisang." Wei Wuxian said, bringing out a bottle of alcohol.
They all chuckled lightly. "I also wouldn't mind being found by The Lan sect, I want to be able to play an instrument!" She rambled on. "Or maybe the Jin sect, they're rich."
"What about the Jiang sect?" Wei Wuxian asked.
"Well, what do they have?"
"A great, funny disciple named Wei Wuxian!" He answered.
"No thanks."
Everyone laughed again. That was how they all met.