Live Again, Love Anew

Chapter 9- Playdate

Summary

Wei Ying scores himself and Lan Zhan access to the women's quarters. Their target happens to be closer than they thought.

Beginning Note

Sorry for skipping updates last week. We camped just a few miles outside of the nearest city, so I expected the connection to be better.

We're nearing the end of the arc and things are gonna happen fast now, so enjoy!

Wei Wuxian

Wei Wuxian has just solved an age-old question: How long does it take to make a friend, and similarly, how long does it take to be invited to their quarters? The answer happens to be a week and two days. Wei Wuxian credits the short time to his peerless charm and boundless amounts of charisma.

Which is why Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan are now following their newest friend, Yingtai, back to the quarters she shares with her mother and younger sister. Yingtai wasn't by any means hard to befriend, and even though the friendship was formed for purely selfish reasons, Wei Wuxian is sure they'll stay friends for a long time. She was a little shy at first, but soon enough she opened up, and now asks Lan Zhan for help with calligraphy on occasion.

As for the reason they are going on a playdate and not investigating... well. It's because they're one and the same.

This playdate gets them a few hours of access to the women's quarters. The woman's quarters is where Mao Fenfang lives. They didn't just choose Yingtai randomly. Families would usually live in a separate part of the Cloud Recesses, but if wives lose their husbands to sickness, accident, or more commonly, night hunts, they are allowed to move back to the women's quarters with their children if their children are below a certain age.

Yingtai's father died three years ago, so all it took was a quick check in the archives to find out where she lived, and a week and two days later, boom. A reason to enter the women's quarters and a few hours of free time to investigate Mao Fenfang.

Yingtai stops in front of a door, bringing Wei Wuxian back to the present. The stop is only brief though, Yingtai simply looks back to see if her two friends are still following, and she opens the door and steps inside with an, "I'm home, Mama!"

Yingtai steps into the small apartment without waiting for a call back, prompting Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan to follow after her. The room they enter is a small dining room, with a wood burning stove off to one side (Currently not burning, but most likely used at night to stave off the coming autumn chill.), and a few cushions on the other side of the room surrounding a low table, making a small sitting area.

A woman on the shorter side with a baby on her hip enters the dining room through a door that presumably leads to a bedroom.

"Welcome home, A-Ying- oh! Who are your friends?" The woman, Yingtai's mother, wears a bright smile, and is a ball of energy, seemingly not hindered in the least by raising two children by herself. The complete opposite of her shy and polite daughter.

"Lan Zhan and Wei Ying." Yingtai answers back in the same calm and quiet voice she uses around Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan.

"Lan Zhan?" The woman questions. "Like, Second Young Master Lan, Lan Zhan?"

Yingtai looks a little confused, sharing a quick look with Lan Zhan before answering, "Yes?"

"Oh gods." The woman says looking startled, dazed, and flustered at the same time. "I've had future Elders over, but Young Masters?" She mumbles. She slowly turns her attention to Wei Wuxian. "Which means you are... Oh gods." She finishes dumbly. In a complete 180, she suddenly perks up with a wide smile and says. "A-Ying, make tea. Second Young Master Lan, do you want tea, or some snacks, oh, and you, Young Master Wei, what would you like?" Her smile is now so wide that her eyes are closed.

Her expression looks awkward and her movements are stilted and she seems to be slowly encroaching on Lan Zhan's space, so Wei Wuxian sweeps in and says, "We don't need tea, uh... Mrs. Zhu."

Mrs. Zhu blinks blankly. "You don't?"

"We just came to play with Yingtai, so we don't need tea..." He shares a quick look with Lan Zhan and their friend, who is looking a little embarrassed by her mother's antics. "But snacks might be nice." He smiles.

-----

Snacks in hand, Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan, and Yingtai leave the apartment with Mrs. Zhu standing in the doorway waving goodbye.

Yingtai nibbles on her snack cake like a little bunny, making Wei Wuxian inwardly squeal. Lan Zhan takes similarly small bites, but looks more dignified despite the cake dwarfing his hands and crumbs dotting his chubby cheeks.

And Wei Wuxian is so busy stuffing his face and observing his friends that he bumps into the woman next door as she exits her apartment. He mumbles a quick apology and carries on, but freezes at Mrs. Zhu's words.

"I'm sorry Sister Fenfang! I should have had them sit down and finish eating!" Mrs. Zhu laughs.

"Mao Fenfang?" Wei Wuxian questions Lan Zhan, but 'Sister Fenfang' manages to catch the words.

"Oh! Have you heard of me?" Mao Fenfang crouches to be at eye level with Wei Wuxian. Her records say she's 34, but Wei Wuxian's quick glance doesn't agree with that assessment. She looks at least a few years younger, if not in her mid-twenties. She has long, brown, curly, hair that is pulled back in a ponytail. Her eyes are a light brown, a shade darker than Lan Xichen's, but lighter than Aunty Yue's.

She doesn't act fully like an adult either. Her voice is light, and her words are informal. If you asked Wei Wuxian to describe the Lan Elders, they would all be craggly old women and hunched over old men, not... a girl in a woman's body with enough charisma to rival Wei Wuxian in friendliness.

"So you must have heard of me from your parents, right?" Mao Fenfang says, oblivious to Wei Wuxian's scrutinizing eyes. She taps her chin with one of the scrolls she has clutched in her arms. "I went night hunting with them and A-Shan a few times, but I didn't think I made that much of an impression..." She mumbles. "But oh well." She stands and more securely gathers the scrolls in her arms. "No reason to worry about it now." She turns to Mrs. Zhu. "Well! I'm off to class! I'll be back in an hour to watch the little ones so you can have tea with Miss Tang and Mrs. Su."

"It's fine!" Mrs. Zhu assures. "Just get to class! It starts in five minutes doesn't it?" She adds on with an amused grin.

"Five minutes?!" Mao Fenfang squeaks, leaving without another word at a pace just slow enough that she won't be breaking rules, but not by any means a calm walk.

Mrs. Zhu just shakes her head and goes back inside leaving Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan, and Yingtai out on the cobbled path.

"Hey, Yingtai." Wei Wuxian decides to break the silence. "Wanna play hide and seek?"

Yingtai, who loves hide and seek because it's a game of being quiet, patient, and calm, perks up. "Hide and seek!" She happily squeals with a smile.

"You and Lan Zhan can hide first." Wei Wuxian says, turning to face the wall. "Ready?" He calls behind him. He hears a hum from Lan Zhan and another excited squeal from Yingtai. "One... two... three... four..." He counts to ten to give ample time for Yingtai to be gone before he drops the charade and turns to Lan Zhan, who has walked a few steps, but is still behind him.

"Found you." Wei Wuxian jokes. "And how convenient." He continues, a grin on his face. "We both know how good Yingtai is at hide and seek... so why don't we wait for Mao Fenfang to get back so she can help us."

"It would be much easier to find Zhu Yingtai if we had help." Lan Zhan says with a nod, resigning himself to following along with Wei Wuxian's antics.

"So now that we have an hour to waste..." Wei Wuxian muses, an amused glint in his eyes. "Why don't we have a look around."

With a quick glance to the path around them and the surrounding apartments, Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan silently slide open the door to Mao Fenfang's apartment and slip inside.

End Note

Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment with any revised predictions now that you guys know what Mao Fenfang is like.

(Anyone catch the hint I put?)

(^v^)