Black Greed

FORTY THREE

"LengShui-dashi, welcome back." One of the elders greeted Wei MeiLan upon her return.

"Thank you, Elder Deng. Did something happened while I'm away?" The Valley had went to some changes after it's destruction from the last event. She expanded the domain in order to make the lives of every family residing won't be in tight situation when it comes to food gathering. They can hunt and fish on the nearest river and forest.

The old man shook his head. "Nothing had occured for the past days you left. But that was fast than we all expected."

"Hanguang-Jun helped. Besides, my brother is back, so my assistance is not needed anymore," She sighed. "I don't know if I should have broadcasted that he's my brother or what, but I guess it's better that he's in discreet."

"Your dead brother is back? Is it possible?"

"If he's back, then he's not dead. Well, physically dead but not spiritually, or something similar of that?" She scanned the surroundings. "It's irrelevant now. All I need to do is look forward for a better future for our beloved valley, am I right?"

If the Jiang couple were still alive, this place wouldn't exist as her home. It can end up as a vacation home for her and her brother if he want to go to a place undisturbed.

She wouldn't leave the family she had been accustomed to after the death of their parents. "If there's any problems, just call me."

She went back to her home to find Lan XiChen waiting for her. "That was fast."

"Your brother aided them, so I guess it's fine now. Also they got a good help from a certain person too." She took her cloak away.

"Is that so?"

"Don't worry about them. Just visit them if you have time to check on them. Handling lots of young cultivators might not be your brother's forte. He's too stiff all these years. I wonder how SiZhui gets along with him." She sat in front of him.

Lan XiChen chuckled. "That's his own charm. Besides, you know that my brother took of SiZhui since he was young. Of course, they'll understand each other."

"I really don't understand what did my brother found on him that he's too fond of him."

"Then what did you find in me that you liked? You and WangJi are almost the same with the attitude of being cold, excluding your harshness with words, but you put up on me." Lan XiChen smiled at her.

Wei MeiLan stared blankly at him with disbelief in her tone. "How about you return to Cloud Recesses and do your job instead of flaunting like a peacock here? You must have a lot of spare time enough to come here instead of visiting the children who are currently under your brother's care."

Lan XiChen chuckled. "Still stiff as ever; I'll pay a visit on them for some time, I heard that he dragged the Mo child that Second brother exiled."

"That Mo kid is fine, really. Smart lad, just too jolly enough to be mistaken as crazy," Wei MeiLan shrugged, dismissing the thought. "He's gonna be useful in their investigation so you don't need to worry."

"Hmm," Lan XiChen hummed. "Is that so? Perhaps the rumor that he's not in his right mind is just gossip."

"Who knows? I usually only care how a person performs during night hunts, but if they put attitude on it, enough to kill someone, then we really need to talk. That Mo kid saved the young cultivators, so I think dissing him as insane is quite a cunning move."

"Why are you always on second brother's matters?"

"His extracurricular activities and acquaintances pisses me off. Some of the misfortunes that occurred have been was by his own set of people that have been annoying just by existing. If you want to know more, it's better to ask him. If he tells you, then he trusts you, but if he denies it, well, have fun figuring it out."

Wei MeiLan stood up. "If everything's going to be fine, what's your next step?"

Lan XiChen smiled. "Ask you to be my cultivation partner. Will you accept?"

"You have a different way of proposing to the person you liked," She crossed her arms at her chest. "Fine, I will accept that. But once that everything is stable, including you."

"What do you mean, including me?" Lan XiChen asked with confusion.

"Lan Huan," Wei MeiLan spoke sternly. "If you keep your grounds open as it is, you're the only one who'll take the most damage than anyone. I'm not saying that you should side on one because of the bond that you have for many years, but I want you to reassess again your choices in life so that you won't end up getting disappointed in yourself and to the person you trusted."

"So," Lan XiChen concluded. "I should be wary, always?"

"If you put it that way, then I don't know what to say next then," Wei MeiLan gazed at the window that shows a good landscape of nature. "Remember Lan Huan, betrayal is one of the things I hated the most. You can set me aside or make me down, I—we—have lived enough and experience almost every pain in this world. I can understand if my brother chose to take care of the fallen Wens back then, he didn't betrayed me but lived up to the YunMeng clan motto as we had grew up to.

"I can understand if A'Cheng gets angry with my brother or to me; he knows nothing after all. I can understand if you think it's not the time for us yet, it can still wait. But if you, the one I loved the most, betrayed me because of selfishness, I won't forgive you. Not even an tantamount of forgiveness you will offer in your lifetime can appease my anger towards you.

"Lan Huan, if you don't heed on my warning, you'll experience heartache enough that you will crave for your own eternal misery. Remember what I've told you so that you can save yourself as I try to save everything and not fall into chaos."