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29 - Bǎnlì (Chestnut)

Wei Ying was feeling well enough to show us around the town. The streets were pretty lively. It seemed pretty nice, a but louder than Caiyi but I feel like I could handle it. People did not come too close anyway, as they usually found me to be a bit intimidating. Wei Ying made it a bit easier for people to come up and say hello. Almost every vendor we passed had something nice to say about Wei Ying, and when we passed a lotus pod stand, the vendor handed Wei Ying two sacks full of pods.

"Here is your monthly shipment Wei Gongzi," The woman said.

"Thank you, my Shijie has been waiting patiently, and I will remember to bring you some of my fresh wine," he said.

"I am looking forward to it," the woman told him.

Wei Ying smiled and walked on. He passed the two bags to one of the disciples standing at the gate entrance of the Jiang Sect.

"Wine?" I asked him.

"The wine here in Yunmeng, I am it's creator," Wei Ying said, "people like it. I have a bone alcoholic version so children can taste someone sweet. The lotuses we have produce such a wonderful taste. Even people from the Lan sect who are not drinkers, can get a taste of it without getting drunk."

"You are very smart," Brother told him.

Wei Ying shook his head, "even then I make the wine here, Emperor's Smile is still my favorite," he said with a wink.

"I will have to ship some over for you," Brother said.

Wei Ying looked at him, "you'd do that?"

"Of course," Brother said.

Wei Ying was going to say something, but was suddenly very quiet and still. He turned his attention to a noise of to the distance. When I looked, there was a medium sized black dog close by, and barking. Wei Ying froze in horror. I was confused by it but Wei Ying suddenly jumped behind him clinging to my robes.

"Dog! Save me!" He said.

Brother looked at the dog then back at Wei Ying. Yanli came running over and I saw her talking to the person with the dog before coming over to us.

"A'Xian, it's gone, the dog is gone," she told him.

Wei Ying suddenly let me go and collapsed to the ground. I caught him before he hit the ground. He was trembling like crazy.

"What happened?" Brother asked.

"He is afraid of dogs," Yanli explained, "after his parents passed away, he spent a couple years on the streets. He'd often fight with dire hounds for food. He had many scars on his arms and legs that are pretty sensitive to the touch. When he first moved into Lotus Pier, Jiang Cheng had to get rid of his dogs. A'Xian's fear is pretty bad...as you can see."

I nodded and looked at him, "will you be okay?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yes, just give me a moment."

"Just take your time, I am right here," I said.

"You won't tell anyone about this, right?" He asked.

"I will not," I assured him and looked at my brother.

"Your secret is safe," Brother said.

"Will you be okay? I should get back so my father won't worry," Yanli said.

"We can take it from here," Brother told her.

We eventually managed to get Wei Ying up in his feet. His eyes scanned the area just to check if he was safe, "I will keep them away from you. I promise you," Wangji said.

"Thank you," he said, "are you both okay with heading back?"

"Sure, I have to meet up with the other sect leaders soon anyway," Brother said.

After we got back, brother went to the meeting but Wei Ying and I went over to where Yuwang and Ruoxi were. We wanted to spend some time with them. When we got there, we saw that there was a third rabbit but it had brown fur. Upon closer inspection, there were a couple burrows in the ground.

"Babies!" Wei Ying said looking into one. He then looked at the brown rabbit and carefully picked it up, "male...does that mean your bunny has babies too?"

I checked where Yuwang was and saw she had babies as well, "well, now we have two families."

"They don't mind sharing a man," Wei Ying teased.

I rolled my eyes, "we should name him."

"Hmm, we should huh?" Wei Ying said setting him down, "how about Bǎnlì (Chestnut)?"

"Bǎnlì?" I repeat and looked at the bunny, "he does seem to be like a cute little Bǎnlì."

"What will we do with all these bunnies?" Wei Ying asked, "I don't think Bǎnlì is a spiritual bunny."

"He isn't but he offspring could potentially be," I said, "we will probably have to just leave them be, but we can ask Xiongzhang for an opinion."

"Maybe, I have a little charm I could use as a barrier to keep other bunnies from getting in, it could help keep the population down," Wei Ying suggested.

"Might not be a bad idea," I said, "but it should be more for protecting them."

Wei Ying nodded and placed a ward around the area. It would keep other animals out and keep the bunnies inside safe and contained.

"Bǎnlì, Yuwang and Ruoxi must be very happy to share you," Wei Ying said, "I wouldn't want to share my man with anyone."

I shook my head, "shameless."

"Said the man who was shamelessly staring at me not long ago," he said.

I smiled, "I can stare at you all I want. As my soul bond, you should be happy."

"Oh I am," he said, "I am super happy."

"That's good," I said.

"Lan Zhan, this war with Wen Ruohan, how are we supposed to stop him?" He asked.

"I do not know, but we will find a way. We just need some way to stop him from using the yin iron," I said.

"To bad there isn't something to counteract it. Like use it the tool against him," Wei Ying said, "I said to you before I have encountered Resentment a few times. I don't want to manipulate it, but it allows me to. Is there a way I can help with that?"

"It sounds nice that you are considering it as an option but I do not want you tampering with the energy. We know only enough as it can be harmful. If it reacts to you, it should give you more of a reason to stay away from it...I mean that in the nicest way possible," I told him.

He nodded, "I know, I just wanted your opinion. The Yin is all negative energy. Spiritual energy, is used right, can overpower yin energy very efficiently. Your sect is known for it's Yang energy through your music technique. Isn't there something you can use with that information?"

"I would need access to our library for books on music," I said.

"I don't know if we have anything but we can look at the library here," he said.

"I suppose we can, maybe there is even something we can find that would be useful," I said.

"Then let's go take a look," he said.

I nodded and walked back to the sect with him. We then made our way to the library.