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

Chapter 24

Lan SiZhui hugged the child gently to his chest. "I will mind if you continue to steal. But I won't condemn you for anything you did before Father and Baba brought you home."

"What does condemn mean?"

"It's kind of like between blame and punish."

"So I won't get beat for stealing yesterday, but I will if I steal tomorrow?"

Lan SiZhui looked helplessly at his Baba. He had no idea how to respond to that.

"You won't be beaten for stealing tomorrow, either," Wei WuXian affirmed. "If you steal, I will find it out and I will make you take it back or work to replace it. If there is something you want, ask for it. If what you want is reasonable, you will get it or we will give you some chores to do to work for it. But I promise you this: I will never hit you. And I will never ask someone else to hit you for me."

"XianGege? Did you ever get beat?" XiaoShu asked.

"Oh loads of times!" Wei WuXian boasted before remembering that he was supposed to be alleviating the children's fears. "But I was a very naughty child, and my adopted mother wanted me to be more obedient like Jiang WanYin. I was forever getting in trouble and being punished for it. My adoptive father would make me kneel on pebbles for hours." He narrowed his eyes at the child in his arms, but the smile in his voice and on his face stopped him from appearing stern. "I recommend that you be handsome like me and smart like me, but I don't recommend that you be naughty like me!" Seeing Li MeiLi walking down the terrace stairs, he abruptly changed the subject. "Why don't you and Liu pick the prettiest flowers and give them to your aunt over there?" He pretended to drop the boy to the ground; XiaoShu shrieked happily at the stomach churning sensation and ran to find a pretty flower. Liu wiggled out of Lan SiZhui's grasp and went off to find her own, prettier, flower to give.

Momentarily freed from children, Wei WuXian walked over to greet his disciple. "The closing banquet is tomorrow night," he informed her. "You have a choice to make: one, wear your new uniform; you will walk in behind me. But before that, bring your belongings from the dorm to the Blooming Gardens. You'll be staying there overnight. We'll set protection spells all around it to keep you safe. Or if you prefer, you can stay with ZeWu-Jun."

"Stay the night alone with him?" Li MeiLi gulped.

"Or two," he continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Wear one of your other robes, and walk in with Lan XiChen as his acknowledged wife to be. I personally think that is the better option for you, but if you choose that, I definitely think he will ask you to sleep in his room."

"What about a third option where I don't attend this banquet at all? I didn't go to the opening banquet, after all."

"Not an option. If tensions are going to spill over about the Demon's Lair, the perfect time to do so while I'm here at Koi Tower will be at that banquet. You're involved with this now, unfortunately. You need to stay near either Lan XiChen or myself so we can protect you." He let out a double 'oof!' as first one child and then the other barreled into him. "Say hello to your Aunt MeiLi," he ordered.

Two little fists offered up flowers as their owners called out 'hello'. Li MeiLi smiled broadly as she accepted them. "Do you have any idea of how you're going to stop the tension?" she asked after they ran off to play some more with the juniors.

"I've had hundreds of ideas, but I don't think any of them will work."

"At least Cloud Recesses will give you sanctuary until you can find the solution."

Wei WuXian stared at his disciple as thoughts spun in his head. "What did you say?"

"I said, at least you have sanctuary at Cloud Recesses. Why?"