Chapter Text
Shi Mei was sitting down at a table with Xue Meng in Mengpo Hall eating some soup and noodles.
“Hey, Young Master?” Shi Mei prodded. Xue Meng (who was looking intently behind Shi Mei) looked over at him.
“What?”
“What are you looking at?”
Xue Meng used his chopsticks to point behind Shi Mei, in a direction of where their Shizun sat to eat. Mo Ran was there talking to their Shizun. They seemed to be arguing about ribs. Their voices rose higher with each comeback.
Shi Mei looked over at Xue Meng who was fuming.
“How dare that damn mutt talk to Shizun that way.” He gripped his chopsticks angrily.
“Young Master, I’m sure that Shizun can handle it.” Shi Mei stated calmly. And with that, he went straight back to eating. Xue Meng did the same.
It quieted down a little, but it wasn’t long before the ruckus behind Shi Mei started up again. Xue Meng looked up and saw Mo Ran’s whole life flash before his eyes. Shi Mei looked up at the Young Master, saw his face, and looked behind him.
Mo Ran had his chopsticks inside of his Shizun’s bowl of tofu and vegetables. Shi Mei’s mouth opened in shock. Mo Ran was stupid, but he was apparently stupid enough to put his used eating utensils inside of their Shizun’s bowl of food!? Shameless, that boy.
Shi Mei looked back over at Xue Meng, who seemed like he was going to faint from anger.
“First he slings profanities at Shizun, then he sticks his used chopsticks into Shizun’s bowl!? What is he thinking?!” Xue Meng grumbled.
Shi Mei was astounded.
“He slung profanities at Shizun? When did that happen??”
“It happened when you brought him back from whatever brothel house he was gallivanting around in,” Xue Meng told Shi Mei with contempt laced in his words.
“He wasn’t in any brothel when I went and got him, he was in a restaurant,” Shi Mei corrected Xue Meng.
“Well he was probably at a brothel house before he went to the restaurant! You’ll never know until he tells you. Which he won’t tell you, so that’s how I know,” Xue Meng declared. Shi Mei made a weak smile, knowing that he was unable to change his gongzi’s opinion.
Xue Meng looked back at where his Shizun sat to see both Mo Ran and his Shizun walk out of Mengpo hall. Shi Mei looked back down at his food. Xue Meng sighed and started eating again. After a few moments Shi Mei spoke up.
“Hey Young Master… Have you noticed anything wrong with Mo Ran lately?”
Xue Meng gave Shi Mei a look of confusion.
“Anything wrong? What do you mean?” He asked.
Shi Mei sighed, “Anything different. Has he been acting differently at all?”
Xue Meng looked up in thought.
“No, nothing. Other than cursing at Shizun, I haven’t noticed anything different about him. Why are you asking? Do you think that he’s acting any different?”
Shi Mei bit his lip.
“He seems to dislike Shizun more than usual…”
Xue Meng raised an eyebrow.
“He seems to ‘dislike him more’?? He’s always disliked Shizun,”
“Yeah, I know that, but.. He seems more forward with it now,”
“More forward?? Where are you getting this from? How can you tell that he’s changed in four days? Three of which he was in bed recovering. Maybe he doesn’t like Shizun as much because he got whipped eighty damn times,” Xue Meng explained.
Shi Mei gave it some thought. That could be a possible reason… just not Hua Bi’nan’s theory. Anything but that. Mo Ran being reborn into this timeline from when he was a cruel and murderous tyrant? No thank you.
“Young Master is probably right. This one wouldn’t like it if he got whipped eighty times…” Shi Mei looked down at his food again and began eating. Xue Meng watched him for a moment, then continued eating as well.
–
Shi Mei was currently making dinner for Mo Ran. He hadn’t shown his face since lunch time, hours ago, so he went and asked his Shizun where he was. He packed the lunch in a medium container (he considered Mo Ran’s appetite beforehand) and set off towards Red Lotus Pavillion.
His Shizun had told him that Mo Ran was carrying out his punishment in Red Lotus Pavillion’s library, and since Shi Mei was training under his Shizun, he could get access to Red Lotus Pavillion.
He entered the library silently and heard someone muttering. He walked over by the sound and saw Mo Ran rolling around in a pile of books laughing his ass off.
“A-Ran… what are you doing?” Shi Mei startled Mo Ran and he scrambled to hide whatever he was doing.
“Uh.. u-um… wiping the floor..!” He lied.
“Ahem.. with your clothes..?”
“Uhh.. I couldn’t find a cleaning rag.. Anyway, what are you doing here so late? Did you slip up on something and Shizun sent you over here for punishment?” Mo Ran asked politely.
“No, no that didn’t happen… you didn’t come to your room tonight, so I figured that you were in here,” Shi Mei began to help pick up the scattered books on the floor. Mo Ran looked elated. A slight blush appeared on his cheeks at the thought that Shi Mei came looking for him.
“I didn’t have anything else to do, so why not come see what you’re doing?”
Mo Ran’s face turned red.
“Then uh.. Please have a seat ! I’ll get some tea–”
“No don’t… I snuck in here so I’ll get in trouble with Shizun if he finds out,”
“Oh… okay,”
Shi Mei finished helping pick up the books. He grabbed what he set aside, which was the container of food he made.
“You didn’t come to Mengpo Hall for dinner, so I made you some,”
Mo Ran’s face lit up with excitement.
“Wontons!?”
“You really aren’t tired of them? I’m impressed. No, sadly, I didn’t bring any wontons. Red Lotus Pavillion is a bit far away from the kitchen area, and they’d be all stuck together by the time I made it here. So I made this stir-fry in its stead,” Shi Mei opened the container and a delicious scent wafted through the air.
Mo Ran looked into the container. There was a scale of red foods neatly placed, shunfeng pig ear salad, savory yuxiang pork, diced kungpao chicken, smashed cucumber salad, and a bowl of rice to finish it off.
“You added peppers, am I now done with my recovery?” Mo Ran asked half jokingly, half serious. Shi Mei chuckled.
“No, you’re most definitely not done with your recovery. I only added a little so you don’t go insane from a lack of spice in your life,”
Both Shi Mei and Mo Ran loved spicy foods, so of course Shi Mei would understand Mo Ran’s agony if he didn’t have any spices in his food.
“I only put in a little bit for flavor, it’s better than having no spice at all,”
Mo Ran started to eat the satisfying dinner.
“It’s so good, I’m gonna cry!” Shi Mei smiled slightly.
“The food will be all cold if you start crying now. Cry when you’re done.”
Mo Ran ate messily. Like a starving dog. Their Shizun hated it. Shi Mei didn’t seem to mind. He just wished that he’d be a bit cleaner, but he wouldn’t ask him to do that.
–
Mo Ran had finished as quickly as he started. A content sigh left his lungs and he licked his lips.
“Which is better, wontons or stir-fry?” Shi Mei asked. Mo Ran thought for a bit before coming to his ultimate decision.
“Wontons most definitely,”
Shi Mei shook his head with a smile.
“Here, A-Ran, let me help you change your bandages and reapply the medicine.” Shi Mei took a medicinal salve made by Madam Wang out of some random pocket and took off the lid. Mo Ran turned around and took his outer robe off. Shi Mei carefully spread the medicine on Mo Ran’s back. Being gentle and making sure that he got every cut. After he lathered the salve on, he bandaged Mo Ran up with fresh gauze and asked him to put his clothes back on.
“Uh.. Shi Mei?”
“Yes?”
The atmosphere was calm and collected ,and it was just the two of them inside the library. Mo Ran seemed like he had something important to say to his dear shixiong.
“You’re uh… you’re very nice to me,” His face gradually turned red. Shi Mei smiled.
“No worries, it’s nice being nice,”
“I-I’m also going to be really nice to you… When I get super strong, I won’t let anybody hurt you. Not even Shizun,”
Shi Mei faltered a bit before replying with,
“Oh thank you. I’d very much appreciate that,” Mo Ran started to fidget a little. Was this kid always this sappy?
“Shizun told you to clean and catalogue all of these books tonight?” Shi Mei asked, changing the subject entirely.
Mo Ran sputtered, “Uh yeah.. It’s not too bad, I just need to hurry it up a bit,”
“Really? Then let me help you out," he suggested.
“No need, we have class in the morning, and plus, if Shizun finds you, he’ll punish you! It’s getting late, you should head back,”
Shi Mei laughed softly, and tugged his hand.
“I’m sure he won’t notice if we’re super quiet–”
“What are we doing super quietly?”
It was Shizun.
While Shi Mei and Mo Ran were distracted talking to one another, they didn’t notice Shizun walk into the library. His gaze was frigid as he stared at his two disciples. His eyes lingered on their clasped hands before looking away.
“Shi Mingjing and Mo Weiyu, you two have some nerve.” Shi Mei took his hand away from Mo Ran’s
“Shizun…”
Shizun took a step toward Shi Mei, who had his head lowered.
“Shi Mingjing, there are barriers surrounding all of Red Lotus Pavillion. Did you really think you could just walk in here unannounced without me noticing?” Shi Mei kept his eyes on the ground, frightened by his intimidating teacher.
“This disciple was wrong,” He declared quietly.
“Shizun, Shi Mei just came over to help me with my bandages, he was just about to leave, please don’t punish him!” Mo Ran urged. Shi Mei knew what Mo Ran was trying to do and quickly spoke.
“Shizun, this had nothing to do with Mo-shidi. This disciple was in the wrong and will accept any punishment,”
Shizun stared at the two of them silently.
“You two seem so close. It makes it seem like I’m not a good person,"
Mo Ran looked up and Shizun gave him a look that told him to shut up. The three of them were silent for a while before Shizun told Shi Mei to copy the sect rules ten times then turned to leave.
“Understood… Shizun, Mo-shidi’s injuries aren’t fully healed yet… It may be brazen of me to ask if Shizun could be a bit easier on him,” Shi Mei asked tentatively.
Shizun stood in the doorway of the library for a long moment.
“Don’t speak such nonsense. Why are you still here? Leave.” Shi Mei took his words seriously and left with a quick bow. An angry Shizun was worse than an annoyed one, and Shi Mei didn’t want to give his shidi too much trouble.
–
When Shi Mei entered the disciples quarters, all was quiet. He slipped into his room and went to sleep.