Chu Wanning's head reeled.
It was his own fault for being too preoccupied and not keeping his guard up while at Sisheng Peak, to the point that he didn't even notice that someone had gotten so close.
What was happening? Where'd the kid come from? Ah, wait was he that Mo something…Mo what again? Mo Shao? Mo Zhu? Mo…Yu?
He arranged his expression into one of "Strangers Do Not Approach" with practiced ease, quickly sweeping the startle and fluster from his phoenix eyes to be replaced with his customary lofty standoffishness.
"You——"
He was just about to open his mouth and deliver a scolding out of habit when his hand was suddenly grabbed.
Chu Wanning was flabbergasted.
All his life, no one had ever dared to casually grab him by the wrist like this. He was frozen in place for a moment, face full of gloom, with no idea how to react.
Rip his hand out, followed by a backhand slap?
…All he needed to do was yell "Molester!" and he'd be the very image of an offended lady.
Then, rip his hand out, no slap?
…Wouldn't he seem a little too easygoing then?
Chu Wanning was still frozen with indecision when the youth grinned. "What's this on your hand? It's so pretty, do you teach how to make this stuff? Everyone else already introduced themselves, you're the only one who hasn't said anything yet, which elder are you? Ah, is your head okay? From the tree just now?"
Getting pummeled with so many questions in a row, if Chu Wanning's head hadn't been hurting before, it was now.
His head throbbed like it was about to split open…
In his agitation, a faint golden glow began to gather in his other hand, Tianwen just about to appear. The other elders were horror-struck——was Chu Wanning out of his mind? Did he dare to whip even Mo-gongzi?
But Mo Ran grabbed that hand too.
Now both of his hands were captured by the youth. Mo Ran had no idea just how much danger he was in as he stood before Chu Wanning, holding his hands and looking up with a smiling face. "I'm Mo Ran, I don't know anyone here, but based on face alone, I like you best. How about you be my teacher?"
No one had anticipated this turn of events, and everyone grew even more horrified; a few of the elders' faces already looked as if they had turned to stone and cracked in half.
Xuanji Elder: "Eh?"
Pojun Elder: "Wow!"
Qisha Elder: "Oh?"
Jielu Elder: "Uh…"
Tanlang Elder: "Hah, this is hilarious."
Lucun Elder, in his full foppish glory, twirled a strand of hair around a finger and batted his peach blossom eyes. "Aiya, the little gongzi sure is bold, truly young and courageous, to dare grope even Yuheng Elder's ass."
"…Could you please not say it so nauseatingly like that?" Qisha said with disdain.
Lucun gracefully rolled his eyes, humming. "Hm, I'll say it in a more refined manner then, truly young and courageous, to dare grope even Yuheng Elder's derrière."
Qisha: "..." Just kill him and be done with it.
Out of all the elders, the kind and gentle Xuanji Elder was the most popular. His cultivation method was easy to learn, and he was magnanimous and upstanding, so most of Sisheng Peak's disciples studied under him.
Chu Wanning thought that Mo Ran would be no exception. Even if he didn't choose Xuanji, he would definitely go for the forthright and spirited Pojun; in any case, whoever he chose, it surely wouldn't be himself.
But it was him that Mo Ran stood in front of, mere inches away, face full of intimacy and fondness, things that he was wholly unfamiliar with. He felt like he'd been designated the comic relief role out of the blue, and found himself suddenly flustered for no reason at all and at a complete loss for what to do.
Chu Wanning only knew how to deal with "respect", "fear", and "loathing". Something like "fondness" was far too difficult.
He rejected Mo Ran immediately and without thinking.
Mo Ran stood in place, stunned, the pair of eyes under those long eyelashes unexpectedly dejected yet not resigned. He thought about it for a long while with his head down, then mumbled stubbornly in a small voice, "Well it's gonna be you anyway."
Chu Wanning: "..."
The Sect Leader watched from the side with amusement, and couldn't resist asking with a laugh, "A-Ran, do you even know who he is?"
"How would I know, he hasn't told me."
"Haha, if you don't even know who he is, then why are you so set on him?"
Mo Ran, still holding onto Chu Wanning's hands, turned and answered with a smile, " 'Cause he looks the gentlest and the most easygoing, of course!"
In the darkness, Chu Wanning's eyes flew open abruptly, vision swimming.
…What the actual hell.
He wondered what exactly had been wrong with Mo Ran's eyes back then, to find him gentle. He wasn't alone in that, either; the entire Sisheng Peak heard about the incident, and everyone had looked at Mo Ran-gongzi with concerned expressions of "what a foolish child".
Chu Wanning lifted a hand to press against his throbbing temple.
His shoulder hurt, his thoughts were a mess, his stomach was empty, his head was dizzy.
This nap wasn't happening.
He starfishes in a daze in bed for a while before sitting up. He was just about to light a stick of incense to help calm himself down when knocks came from the door again.
It was Mo Ran again.
Chu Wanning: "..."
He ignored it, didn't say get the hell in or get the hell out.
But this time, the door opened by itself.
Chu Wanning lifted his head gloomily, but the already-lit match between his fingers paused in mid-air without touching the incense, and after a while, went out by itself.
Chu Wanning spoke, "Get the hell out."
Mo Ran got the hell in.
He had a bowl of steamy noodles in his hands, freshly made.
It was simpler this time, plain noodles in pure white broth, sprinkled with chopped onions and white sesame seeds, some pork spare ribs on top, Napa cabbage, and a poached egg lightly crisped around the edges.
Chu Wanning was starving, but his face remained impassive. He looked at the noodles, looked at Mo Ran, then turned his face away without saying a word.
Mo Ran set the bowl down on the table and said softly, "I had the inn's cook make these noodles."
Chu Wanning lowered his eyelashes.
Of course Mo Ran hadn't made it himself.
"Try to eat some," Mo Ran said. "This bowl isn't spicy, and there's no beef or pea shoots."
Then he left, closing the door on his way out.
He felt bad about Chu Wanning's injury.
But this was about all he could do.
Inside the room, Chu Wanning sat by the window, lost in thought, his arms crossed as he stared at that bowl of spare rib noodles from far away, until the steam disappeared, until the noodles grew cold, with not a hint of warmth left.
Only then did he finally walk over and sit down, picking up the cold, already congealed noodles with chopsticks and slowly beginning to eat.
The case of the haunting of the Chen Manor was concluded.
The next day, they picked up their black horses from the boarding stables and headed back to the sect along the same road they'd taken coming here.
All over town, from the tea stands to the food stalls, everyone in Butterfly Town was talking about what had happened with the Chen family.
In such a middling town, a scandal like this was enough to be the talk of the town for at least a year.
"Who would've thought that Chen-gongzi had already married Miss Luo behind closed doors, sigh, poor Miss Luo."
"If you ask me, this wouldn't have happened if the Chens didn't strike it rich. You really can't let men get rich, or all the bad waters[18] in their bellies will flood out and drown the whole city."
A man was dissatisfied hearing that. "Chen-gongzi did nothing wrong, it was all on his dad and mom. I hope that bastard Landlord Chen's future kids and grandkids get born without assholes."
Someone else said, "The dead are pitiful for sure, but what about the living? Look at Chen-Yao, treasured daughter of the Yao family, she got the shortest end of the stick no matter how you look at it. That old, black-hearted Chen bitch swindled the poor girl, what should she even do now?"
"Remarry of course."
The person rolled his eyes, scoffing. "Remarry? Would you take her?"
The peasant that got scoffed at grinned toothily, picking at the gap between his teeth while saying, "If my woman's fine with it, then sure, why not. Miss Yao's real pretty, I ain't gonna mind the widow thing."
"Puh, keep dreaming, even as second-hand goods she's way out of your league."
Mo Ran's ears were perked up where he sat on his horse, energetically listening over here and peering over there. If not for Chu Wanning with his eyes closed and brows furrowed, "too damn noisy" all but written on his face, Mo Ran might have even scooted over to join in on the gossip.
Riding side by side, they finally made it out of the town proper and arrived at the outskirts.
Shi Mei suddenly let out a surprised noise and pointed to the distance. "Shizun, look over there."
A large group of farmers in coarse clothes were gathered in front of the destroyed temple, busily ferrying bricks around. They seemed intent on rebuilding the temple and reconstructing the statue of the ghost mistress of ceremonies.
Shi Mei said, worried, "Shizun, the previous ghost mistress is gone, but they're making another. Will this one cultivate into a deity and cause trouble too?"
Chu Wanning said, "I don't know."
"Should we go and try to talk them out of it?"
Chu Wanning answered, "Butterfly Town's ghost marriage tradition has been around for generations already, it's not something that can be changed by anything we say. Let's leave."
Then he galloped off, clouds of dust trailing behind.
It was already evening by the time they got back to Sisheng Peak.
At the main gate, Chu Wanning instructed his disciples, "The two of you go report in at Loyalty Hall. I will go to the Discipline Court."
Mo Ran didn't understand. "What are you going there for?"
But worry was written plainly on Shi Mei's face: "..."
Chu Wanning's expression was impassive. "To receive punishment."
The saying went that a crime was a crime, whether committed by a peasant or the emperor, but which emperor had ever actually been thrown in jail to await beheading for killing a man? It was no different here in the cultivation realm.
A transgression was a transgression whether committed by a disciple or an elder——these were just empty words in the vast majority of the sects.
In reality, an elder that committed a transgression might at most write an apology letter. Which idiot would actually go and obediently receive their round of whipping or some dozen strikes?
That was why Jielu Elder's face was green by the time he finished listening to Chu Wanning's confession.
"No it's just that, Yuheng Elder, you really…you really hit the client?"
Chu Wanning replied mildly, "Mn."
"You're really too…"
Chu Wanning looked up to shoot him a glare. Jielu Elder shut up.
"In accordance with the rules, the punishment for this transgression is two hundred strikes, three days of protracted kneeling in YanLuo Hall, and three months of confinement," Chu Wanning stated. "I have no disputes, and I am prepared to receive the punishment."
Jielu Elder: "..."
He glanced left and right, then hooked his finger. The doors to the Discipline Court closed with a thud, leaving only the two of them standing face to face in the silence.
Chu Wanning said, "What is the meaning of this?"
"How to say… Yuheng Elder, it's not like you don't know, the rules may be rules, but they don't really apply to you. The doors are closed, this stays between you and I, what say you we just let it slide? If I actually strike you, and the Sect Leader finds out, he'll have my old hide."
Chu Wanning didn't feel like wasting his breath on him, so he simply said, "I hold others to the rules, and I will hold myself equally to the same."
Then he knelt down right there in front of the hall, facing the plaque above the door that read "Discipline".
"Carry out the punishment."