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Being the Lan clan’s only daughter is usually not as torturous as it sounds.
Despite the fact that Grand Uncle constantly berates her for breaking the rules, and she spends at least a quarter of the time being made to copy rules, life in the GusuLan sect is more fun than it seems. Uncle Xichen always spoils her, and whenever she makes Mama or Father mad, it takes only a pout to have her brothers taking the blame for her. Of course, Mama and Father never really fall for it when da-ge and er-ge try to shift the blame onto themselves, but Yanying values the thought anyway.
And Cousin Jin Ling always brings the best gifts when he comes to visit, even though he doesn’t visit often, and when he does it’s mostly just to go nighthunting with da-ge, er-ge and Jingyi-ge. Uncle Jiang comes on sect business sometimes too, and almost always has gifts for her, which is why she’s inclined to believe Mama when he says that Uncle Jiang isn’t actually on sect business and is just there to visit.
So yes, life as the only daughter of the Lan clan is so much more fun than people seem to think it is.
Except for the fact that literally everyone is way too overprotective of her.
Er-ge once told her the story of the time she’d wandered off as a toddler and somehow gotten herself taken in by a young couple living at the outskirts of Caiyi Town, where she’d basically charmed everyone who came across her for about three hours before half of the GusuLan sect had come crashing down on the poor innocent couple, weapons out and talismans blazing, before da-ge had finally managed to talk sense into Father and Mama and everything had been settled.
Really, Yanying thinks, she knows that as the only daughter of Han Guang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch, she’s probably had a target painted on her back since even before she’d been born, but is the overprotectiveness really necessary? She’s as capable of a cultivator as her two older brothers had been when they were her age, so she’s not exactly defenseless! She has her own sword and she’s trained in not only the GusuLan sword arts, but also in YunmengJiang's, and even LanlingJin's to a certain extent, making her far from an easy opponent.
But it’s her first nighthunt without a supervising senior, and she can already tell that Mama has sent Uncle Ning to follow her.
Uncle Ning himself isn’t being anywhere near as stealthy as she knows he can be, which leaves her wondering if he wants her to know that he’s there.
So she tries her best to lose him, which is, of course, when everything goes wrong.
She's just celebrating her ability to shake Uncle Ning off her trail when the hair on the back of her neck rises, and she senses the change in the energy of her surroundings.
Something's wrong.
Then pain blossoms across the back of her head, and her vision goes dark.
When Yanying wakes, the first thing she notices is the fact that her head hurts like nothing else, and that her wrists are bound behind her back.
Her sword is gone from her side, as are the talismans she keeps in her sleeves, but otherwise, nothing else is out of place.
She's in some dark room, seated on a chair with her ankles and wrists bound, and she should really be more frightened than she actually is. As it is, the only regret she has is ditching Uncle Ning, because help would be so much easier to come by if Uncle Ning knew where she was.
Ah, as it is it's not going to be hard to escape, at least. Her captor is clearly an amateur- he'd only taken her obvious weapons, but she still had the talismans that Mama insisted she keep tucked into her shoes, and the guqin strings that Father told her to keep coiled around her hair accessories and sewn into a small pocket in her sleeves.
She’s just gotten the strings out and successfully cut through the ropes binding her wrists and ankles when a man walks into the room.
Her sword is tied to his belt.
“Oh, the little maiden is awake,” the man says, sounding ridiculously smug, and Yanying has to channel all her willpower into not revealing that she’s technically free and could easily just punch the guy and run.
“What do you want?” She asks instead, forcing a quaver into voice.
The man looks pleased by her apparent fright, and the smiles that breaks across his lips sends anger through Yanying's veins.
Really, this was the man who managed to kidnap her?
"Nothing, really," the man says, shrugging. "Just… little mistress like you, clearly part of some rich cultivation sect… wonder how much your sect would pay to get you back, huh?"
Does this guy… not know who she is? Has she not been kidnapped for who her parents are?
"How- how much do you want?"
The man grins. "A thousand gold taels would be good."
Inwardly, Yanying rolls her eyes. It's not an insignificant amount of money, although it wouldn't be hard for GusuLan to afford. Still, Yanying would rather fight off this man by herself than let him get his way. Besides, Father and Mama would never agree to his demands- doing so would just tell the world that the GusuLan sect was a pushover, which was not a good idea.
It's not like Yanying's actually in much danger, anyway.
“What if we can’t afford it?”
The man rolls his eyes. “Look at that outfit, it’s obvious you’re a disciple of the GusuLan sect- there’s no way you can’t afford it. Even if you’re just some lowly junior disciple who can’t even defend herself, the GusuLan sect will protect their own.”
Outside the little shack, Yanying feels the resentful energy gather, and there’s a low groaning, like the wind through bamboo. Yanying hides her smirk even as she feels her hackles rise at the insult.
She drops the frightened act. The man is clearly working alone, anyway, and is so overconfident that it’s almost laughable.
Hah. Trying to ransom a powerful sect? Yanying’s going to make sure this guy never does it again.
“You really have no idea who I am, do you?”
The man scoffs. “I know that you’re a stuck up little brat of a junior disciple who was too overconfident and got herself kidnapped. Do I need to know anything else?”
Yanying grins, and stands, letting the ropes "binding" her fall to the ground. "Yeah, you should know not to underestimate me."
Yanying lunges forward, snatching her sword from where it hangs, fastened to the man's belt, and then barely has the time to do much more than stick a paralysis talisman to the man's forehead before the door bursts open.
There is a feral roar, the flash of a sword glare and the sound of a flute, and Yanying smiles.
"Father, Mama, Uncle Ning" she acknowledges. "What took you so long?"
"Wei Ying insisted on letting you handle yourself," Father says.
"If you want to night hunt alone, then you have to prove that you're capable of it, A-Yan. Ditching Wen Ning at the first chance you get is not proving anything."
Yanying sighs. "Yes, Mama."
Then Mama grins. “On the other hand, you technically rescued yourself without help, so that’s one point. Still, you shouldn’t even have been caught by such a lousy kidnapper in the first place.”
Then Mama turns his gaze on the man lying immobilised on the floor, and Yanying sees the way the man’s face pales, the way his eyes go wide and frightened.
The man whimpers. “You- you are- you are the Yiling Patriarch’s daughter?”
Yanying grins, wide and bright, the smile she’d learnt at her mother’s knee.
“And Han Guang-Jun’s,” she chirps.
The man’s gaze fixes on the space behind Mama, where Father is standing, expression carved from jade and pristine as ever. The only tell to his anger is the barely-there crease of his brow and the coldness in his eyes.
Mama, on the other hand, is wearing an almost sadistic smile, his eyes glinting red in the dark light and fingers running fondly across Chenqing’s length.
Mama brings Chenqing up to his lips slowly, and just as the first note makes itself known, the man’s eyes roll up into the back of his head and he falls straight into unconsciouness.
Mama rolls his eyes and lets the hand holding Chenqing fall back down to his side. “Well, that was anticlimatic. Really, Lan Zhan, my sweet, sweet Lan Zhan, why are the criminals nowadays so weak? Back in the past it would take at least half a song before one of them fainted in fright!”
“Mn,” Father says, sheathing Bichen and pulling Mama to his side, kissing him briefly as Yanying looks away, shuddering. Why do Mama and Father always do this in front of her? How da-ge and er-ge stand the constant kissing is an utter mystery to her.
“We will take him back to Gusu for punishment,” Father says, already producing binding ropes from his sleeves. “Brother will want a say in the decision.”
Uncle Ning takes the ropes from Father, shuffling over to the unconscious man and tying him securely before slinging him over one shoulder like a sack of meat.
Mama leans over to check the talisman still attached to the man’s forehead, and shrugs. “The talisman should be good for the trip back- even if he wakes, he shouldn’t be able to break out of its effects. Nonetheless-”
Mama pulls another talisman from his sleeve and fixes it to the man’s back, where it flares red for a second before fading. “There. That should keep him nice and unconscious until we reach Gusu.”
Yanying grins, and dusts off her hands, tucking her guqin strings back into her sleeves. "Well, that's settled! Let's go home."
"Wait."
That's Father, who looks… well, not angry, but frustrated, at the very least.
Yanying feels a shiver go down her spine. Father usually leaves the reprimanding to Mama, who is scary enough in his own right, and Yanying can count the number of times Father has actually been upset with her on one hand.
"You will copy rules when we get back," Father says, amd Yanying winces.
At least it's just the rules- she can write them really quickly and get it over with-
"Twenty times," Father continues, and Yanying freezes. Twenty- surely this slight misbehaviour didn't warrant-
"While doing handstands," Father finishes, and Yanying almost stumbles back in shock.
"Father- I didn't even- it wasn't that bad-"
"Twenty-two times."
Yanying clamps her mouth shut.
Father nods, and stares unnervingly at her. For once, Yanying cannot read him.
"Disrespect to seniors," Father begins, and Yanying has to bite her lip to keep her protests in. "Being unaware of your surroundings while nighthunting. Blatant disobedience of your seniors' wishes. Lack of concern for others. Overconfidence in one's abilities."
Yanying winces with every stated rule. She's really screwed this time. And she can't even talk back, because everything that Father has stated is true.
She bows her head. "Yes, Father."
Father's hand rests on her shoulder then, and when she looks up, Father's gaze is gentle.
"Otherwise," Father begins, and Yanying can't help the way she perks up. "Well done, freeing yourself without aid. Your actions were well thought out.”
Oh, that is effusive praise indeed, coming from Father. Yanying smiles, and lunges forward to hug him.
Father freezes for a scant moment before he wraps strong arms around her as well, and Yanying can’t help the grin that splits her cheeks when Father nuzzles a scent mark onto her. Warm arms embrace her from behind, then, and Mama’s lotus-and-spice scent envelops her, and Yanying closes her eyes in contentment.
Maybe the overprotectiveness isn’t a bad thing after all.