Jiang Gunian Made A Change

Part 16

Jiang YanLi called over a young disciple and asked him to run to the Jiang camp and have Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi come to the Nie camp. While she waited, 'White ribbon, overly gaudy sheath, laughing like a donkey' ambled his way over to her. "Jiang Gunian," he oozed, "If you're looking for male company... you can do much better than that son of a whore."

She tried to remain impassive. "You should not disparage the Jin sect leader like that. It's rude."

The man brayed as if she had said something witty. "I can give you what you need." He offered and proceeded to tell her exactly what he was capable of.

She shrank in upon herself, having never been so degraded in her entire life. She wished fervently for her mother to arrive in a blaze of fury, step in and whip this scoundrel into his place. Or for her brothers to defend her. Or some other Nie cultivator to shut the man up.

No one was coming to her aid. She tried to stop listening to his perverted talk, to straighten and pull back her shoulders, to stop blushing.

To rescue herself. "Enough," she made her voice as firm as she could. It must have been firm enough as the man snapped his jaws together. Or maybe not... there was a flash of white out of the corner of her eye.

"Is this man bothering you, Jiang Gunian?"

She bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, Lan Er'Gongzi. I appreciate the silence." She spied the Nie heir and her newest advisor arriving. "Ah. I'm sure Nie Gongzi will take care of it from here."

"Are you sure, ShiJie?" Wei WuXian asked, while idly twirling his sword. "I'm sure Lan Zhan and I can handle one measly cultivator."

Jiang YanLi smiled at her younger brother, enjoying the way the 'White ribbon, overly gaudy sheath, laughing like a donkey' paled. "Thank you for the offer, but I think it's best to leave punishing Nie cultivators to their leader."

Nie HuaiSang jovially agreed. "Of course, Jiang Gunian, I'll order punishments. What happened?"

"This... person... accused me of spending money to purchase Meng Yao's stud services for the evening and offered to service me in his place. The offer was... quite detailed and too base to even be stated in the poorest brothel. I do not appreciate having my honor stained like that, nor my conversations with my aides treated as if I was...." Her voice trailed off, face once again bright red with embarrassment.

"I see," Nie HuaiSang smacked his mouth with his fan. "I could order his tongue removed, if you think that an appropriate punishment."

"Whip him," she ordered. "And those men who laughed at his crudeness instead of coming to my aid." She pointed to the other two men on Meng Yao's hit list. "And keep them out of my sight."

"Yes, great leader," Nie HuaiSang bowed and motioned to some others to follow him.

Meng Yao was clutching two boxes to his chest, watching his tormentors being taken away. "You didn't have to do that."

"I cannot have men under my command who think it's acceptable to talk like that to or about any woman," she corrected him. "Or about any of my advisors. A'Xian, Meng Gongzi has a way to communicate with outsiders." She stepped back and let Meng Yao explain how the boxes worked.

Apparently it was quite easy: a paper placed in one box was transported to the other. Only people carrying the 'key' could open a box. Keys were usually rings, and the boxes opened when the ring touched the lid. As it was a method of communication unknown to anyone outside the Unclean Realm, Wei WuXian had never heard of it, and so was unable to prevent its use with his talisman.

"Clever," was all Wei WuXian said, though his face indicated he was going to figure out exactly how the boxes worked, and make improvements on them. Then he and Lan WangJi left on their quest.

And she was left to wait.