Meng Xiāng's mother was an intimidating woman. She had to be, she was the Libaogong palace mistress after all. She and her husband were in charge of practically everything.
In fact she was such a dominant force that nobody referred to her as the palace mistress or as Meng Guoyao's wife. She was Madam Meirong, queen of the red palace.
"Xiāngxiāng!" Madam Meirong barked, "quicken your pace before the servants trample you."
Meng Mei obediently sped up. Madam Meirong was the one person that she was absolutely certain that she could fool. She had appeared in SoS many times as Zhong Changming's unreasonable mother-in-law. Her relationship with her daughter was displayed often as Meng Xiāng went out of her way to impress her mother at every possible convenience.
There was one thing that Meng Mei could respect Meng Xiāng for and that was her admiration of her mother. Madam Meirong was one of the most powerful cultivators of her generation and her daughter dreamed of following in her footsteps.
"Silly girl. When will you learn to listen to your mother. You are the heir to our Libaogong and the YuHu sect combined. You will be leaving here to start your cultivation journey at YuHu soon. You must break this habit of running off to play in the dirt. You are not some slave girl." Madam Meirong admonished Meng Mei as they climbed up a set of stairs.
Her face was pinched in a displeased frown and she was smacking her paper fan against her hand rhythmically. This was clearly a topic she had gone over many times with Meng Xiāng.
Madam Meirong was a peerless beauty despite being well into her life. Her cheekbones were high, her face narrow, and her eyes a glittering brown. Her hair was pulled into an elaborate bun that sat at the top of her head. She really almost looked like a fox spirit.
"The last time you ran off like this I told you that I would make you copy down our Libaogong's rules by hand, did I not?" Madam Meirong continued.
Meng Mei bowed her head in a show of shame and acceptance.
"Yes A-niang, you did." She confirmed in a steady voice. Meng Xiāng would always look suitably cowed by her mother but she never sounded like it. It was one of the many reasons Han Xiaolian felt that she could never trust her. If your voice didn't match your face then there was no way to tell what you were really feeling.
"And so I must subject you to such since you defied my orders yet again. You will be staying in the library until you finish copying the entire rulebook. I will have servants bring you food and such. I hope you use this time to reflect on how your actions do not match the ones of a proper sect heir."
They had finally reached the top of the stairs. Madam Meirong turned to face Meng Mei fully.
"For once, behave."
And just like that Meng Mei had been left at the top of the stairs without even a single attendant. She sighed and walked over to the large double doors. Opening them revealed the library.
The sight of so many scrolls and books stole Meng Mei's breath away. The library was absolutely gigantic. It had been placed near the very top of Libaogong to allow it the highest ceilings possible.
She took a step into the library, almost reverent in her movements. Once she was inside though, it was going to take a large force to get her back out. She paced down the countless rows of shelves and took out scrolls randomly to inspect their contents.
"Hey system, point me in the right direction?" She asked after her exploration failed to find where she was supposed to do her transcriptions.
[Of course A-Mei!! There is a desk by the eastern most window with the supplies ready for you. Meng Xiāng prepared the materials beforehand in case she got caught]
Meng Mei nodded and quickly followed the system's directions. She didn't know how long the Libaogong rulebook was, and she was not excited to find out.
She did indeed find a desk with a bunch of supplies laid out by the eastern most window. So with a very drawn out sigh she sat down and started prepping her materials.
The rulebook wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was really just about a hundred and fifty pages long, so it was still a lot but it wasn't insane.
She had to do some practice strokes with the brush to get the hang of writing her characters with it. Once she felt comfortable she cracked open the booklet and held down her scroll with little jade carvings at each corner. There was a dragon, bird, tiger, and tortoise. She did her best to put them in their corresponding directions but there was only so much she could do.
"System. Would it be possible for you to play some background music?" She whispered offhandedly as she started copying down the first rule. She'd been addicted to listening to music whenever she did something in the modern world.
[If it would help A-Mei accomplish her goal then this system can do almost anything ( ´◡‿ゝ◡`)]
After that little gloat soft flute music rang through Meng Mei's head. Just enough of a background noise to get her settled down and ready to work. She did briefly pause though.
In every transmigration story she had ever read the system had never been such a lively thing. Nor had it been so helpful or so versatile. It was usually just an avenue for information and receiving quests.
"Thank you system." She murmured after she recovered from her musings. She wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth after all. If the system wanted to give her music then she was going to let it give her music.
[Of course A-Mei!! (๑>•̀๑)]
With a satisfied little smile Meng Mei started copying down the rules in earnest. She expectedly learned a lot about Libaogong as she read. They weren't a really strict sect but they did have a lot of cited reasons for their rules.
Like rule 27 for example.
'No spirit dogs allowed inside of the main building of Libaogong (a repeat of the destruction of the murals would be less than ideal. See scroll 34B19 for more details)'
The numbers after the scroll referred to the shelf, row, and number on the scroll. There were a few times that Meng Mei did get up to go check the sources because the rules could get so random.
When she was about halfway through the book an attendant knocked loudly against the library doors. She shouted that it was okay to enter and the doors creaked open a moment later.
"Little Miss! I've brought you dinner!" A kind voice rang out as the attendant came inside.
"I'm over here! By the window!"
She heard some shuffling about until a woman finally appeared in front of her. The woman couldn't have been over 35 but she had the air of someone much older. Maybe she was a cultivator? Meng Mei felt her body relax at the sight of the woman despite not recognizing her.
[A-Mei!! A-Mei!! That's Meng Xiāng's Amah. The original owner of the body adored her and only spoke to her kindly, she is the one you have to try the hardest to convince!! I believe in you!! ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)]
"Amah," Meng Mei finally greeted the woman warmly. "Thank you for making your way up here."
'Amah' gave her a strange look and Meng Mei started sweating internally. Had she already messed up?
"Bah! What are you saying child. Of course I would come up here for you." 'Amah' poked her in the forehead. "Now put those books away and eat! I will not let you starve!"
Meng Mei relaxed again. 'Amah' spoke so much like her grandmother in the modern world.
"Thank you Amah."
'Amah' waved her off and set the food tray down in front of her.
"Eat. I will keep you company." She decided, plopping down across the desk. "Tell me, did you see any interesting clouds today?"
And so Meng Mei started lying through her teeth.
[New Tutorial Quest: Take Over The Role
• Description: Meng Mei must successfully convince Meng Xiāng's family that nothing has changed.
• Duration: 6 day(s) 21 hour(s) 48 minute(s)
• Upon completion Meng Mei will be able to find out the whereabouts of Lai Huang
• Failure to convince Meng Xiāng's family will result in Meng Mei's death and the passing on of her role.]