Stay Alive

Meng Weiyuan decided pretty quickly that the best way to cheer up Meng Mei was to distract her. He started asking her all sorts of questions ranging from her classwork to what kind of flowers she had seen recently.

It was a stupidly helpful strategy.

The more Meng Mei focused on answering the questions, the less she thought about the beasts and corpses that were crawling through every square inch of the camping grounds. In the meantime Zhu Huiqing stood guard and made sure that no beast got too adventurous.

“Are you enjoying your lessons with Guang-laoshi?” Meng Weiyuan asked.

“Yes, even though I’m terrible at the movements.” Meng Mei admitted. She figured that while she was talking to him she might as well be completely honest.

“Is that why you haven’t joined the swordsmanship classes yet?” He sounded almost surprised. It took Meng Mei a moment to remember that he was rarely home, he had probably missed all of those conversations.

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I’ve been trying to get better. Yong-ge has been practicing with me whenever he has time.”

Meng Weiyuan made a noise of understanding.

“Well you can always ask me or guard Zhu for help if you want to. We’re both pretty decent sworsmen.”

Meng Mei snorted at the understatement. Meng Weiyuan had literally beaten everyone on the camping grounds in the swordsmanship tournament last week.

When she looked up at him again, he looked inordinately pleased that he had gotten her to laugh.

‘So, how did you know about this stream? If the diligent guard Zhu hasn’t had a chance to leave the camping grounds while we’ve been here it’s surprising that you have meimei.” Meng Weiyuan finally asked the million dollar question. That answer was a little more complicated than the rest of the ones she had given.

She studied him for a long moment before deciding that there was no harm in telling him. It was unlikely they’d be staying on the camping grounds after this issue got resolved.

“Well you remember when I got in trouble for fighting Zhong Changming because he was bullying the…illegitimate son?” Meng Mei asked as she kicked the water a bit. Meng Weiyuan nodded, his expression growing annoyed at the memory.

“Yeah I remember, your jaw is still bruised.” He pointed out.

“Turns out the boy got put on washing duty out here. I snuck out a few times when I was left alone to go find him.” Meng mei shrugged.

Zhu Huiqing turned around to look at her curiously.

“Why would you do that?” He asked with an odd expression on his face.

“Because,” Meng Mei said as she looked up at him, “I had to make sure he knew that I didn’t care if he was illegitimate or not. I still thought it was wrong for Zhong Changming and his friends to bully him.”

Zhu Huiqing’s expression grew even more strange as he abruptly turned back around.

“I should go investigate the situation, it’s been too quiet here. I’ll be back with whoever I see.” He announced before he practically ran back out into the forest. Meng Mei watched him go in confusion.

“What’s wrong with him?” She asked aloud, not really expecting an answer. Behind her, Meng Weiyuan sighed.

“It’s….complicated. Guard Zhu is also an illegitimate child so he probably has some strong feelings about your words.” Meng Weiyuan explained as he stared at where Zhu Huiqing had disappeared into the treeline. Meng Mei's face scrunched up in confusion as she turned back to look at him.

“How do you know that?” She asked as she studied Meng Weiyuan a little closer. He just shrugged.

“It’s my job to know what kinds of people our personal guards are.” He said in lieu of a proper explanation.

Before Meng Mei could press him for any more details he started asking her a bunch of random questions again until he was sure that she was sufficiently distracted.

They couldn’t be sure how much time passed before Zhu Huiqing returned. Their only way to tell time, the sun, was still being blocked out by the strange gray clouds. When he did return however, they both sagged in relief.

Behind him was a large group of people. Judging by their clothes it seemed like they were mostly the servants who weren't cultivators. Meng Mei perked up at the sight of them. Maybe Lai Huang would be in that group!

Her hopes were confirmed when she saw a small boy push to the front of the crowd.

“Lai Huang!” She called happily. He made eye contact with her and immediately relaxed. He ran the rest of the way to her, the rest of the group hot on his heels.

“Guniang! You’re alright!” He exclaimed once he was close enough to really see her. “I was so worried. The last time I saw you, you were standing at the front of the crowd when the corpses were released.”

“Guard Zhu made sure I was safe.” Meng Mei reassured him. “How’s the situation?”

Lai Huang grimaced.

“The sect leaders and the guards are doing their best to fight off the beasts but…they just keep appearing.”

Behind him Zhu Huiqing nodded in agreement.

“It’s as the kid says. With how much yao energy is being released into the ground with each kill, it’s unlikely that the beasts will stop appearing.” Zhu Huiqing confirmed, his face grim.

“So what do we do?” Meng Mei asked in fear.

“We'll likely have to abandon camp.” Meng Weiyuan said after studying Zhu Huiqing’s expression. “Is that what the sect leaders have decided?”

Zhu Huiqing met his stare head on and nodded.

“Yes, sect leader Meng made the order that anyone who can use their sword to escape should do so.”

“What about the people who can’t use swords?” Meng Mei asked, sneaking a glance at the group of people around them. Zhu Huiqing didn’t meet her eyes, he was still locked in a staring battle with Meng Weiyuan when he answered.

“That depends on our next steps.”

He finally met Meng Mei’s eyes.

“Now, it’s up to us to make sure you all survive this."