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“You’re making a fuss, Mo Ran. It’s not even that cold.”
“I am not. Now put this fox fur on. The twins were so kind as to send these as gifts.”
When Chu Wanning still didn’t look convinced, Mo Ran added in a softer tone, “For me, please?”
Chu Wanning looked at Mo Ran’s pleading eyes as he held up the fur. He sighed. Chu Wanning knew this was a losing battle.
He had to concede, however, that the bright smile that spread across Mo Ran’s face when Chu Wanning took the fur off his hand and placed it around his neck, was well worth it. Even after all these years it still warmed the heart within his chest.
“Lead the way then, since it was your idea. And don’t forget the dog.”
Mo Ran’s smile briefly faltered at the mention of the dog, but he called for Goutou anyway, before heading off into the wintry landscape that greeted them outside.
They walked side by side in silence for a while, as Goutou excitedly bounded off into the snow.
It was as though the world around them was in a peaceful slumber, covered in a frosty blanket. The only sounds were the crunching noises under their feet, and Goutou’s excited yips as he tried to get rid of the snow covering his nose.
After a while they reached the riverside, and Mo Ran spoke up, “Where did you say Xue Meng wanted to meet—”
But before Mo Ran could finish his question, the peaceful quiet got disrupted by angry, yet familiar, squawking noises.
“You are just as shameless as your brother, if not worse! At least he’s not hiding it!”
From behind a line of trees stomped Xue Meng into view. His hair was, ever so slightly, but unusually ruffled, and he seemed to have hastily fastened his sash.
The person Xue Meng had just yelled at followed him, seemingly unfazed by Xue Meng’s braying. He wore white, silken robes and fox fur around his neck, and his blond hair was unmistaken.
The older of the twins, Mei HanXue, bowed at Chu Wanning and Mo Ran from a distance before jumping on his sword and vanishing out of sight.
Mo Ran tried his best to hide a smile while Chu Wanning silently stood next to him, his face inscrutable.
“You can wipe that grin off your face, this is not what it looks like!”
Xue Meng pointed an accusatory finger at Mo Ran’s face who desperately tried to bite back his laughter.
Raising his eyebrow and smugly grinning he replied, “Oh, what did it look like? Because to me it looked like Mei HanXue tried to have a taste of peacock—which in itself does not surprise me, but what does surprise me is that he seems to be quite the lover, huh?”
It was evident from the various shades of colours appearing on Xue Meng’s face that he was just about to combust.
“Mo Ran, don’t tease him,” Chu Wanning interrupted calmly before Xue Meng could explode as his whole body had already begun to tremble.
Mo Ran looked at Chu Wanning and detected a small crease between his sword-like eyebrows, and realized that he himself was amused by Xue Meng’s display. He decided to behave and obediently kept his mouth shut, but Mo Ran’s lips nevertheless curled up into a small smile.
Xue Meng let out an exasperated huff and straightened his posture, but just as he was about to speak again, a loud bark erupted and Goutou hurled himself with his whole body against Xue Meng, making him topple over into the snow with a loud gawking sound.
“GAH!”
This time Mo Ran really couldn’t hold back anymore and held his stomach from laughter at this sight.
Chu Wanning called Goutou off, and eventually the dog let up licking Xue Meng’s face, and got off him.
“Unbelievable! First that…that ruffian plays around, and now this dog jumps me! Mo Ran! Of course that dog of yours has no manners! One dog teaches the other!”
Xue Meng got up and wiped the snow off himself, whilst still angrily muttering to himself.
Goutou meanwhile stood next to Chu Wanning, wagging his tail and barking happily.
When Mo Ran was done wiping the tears from his eyes, he asked, “So, what is it the esteemed Sect Leader asked us to come here for?”
For a moment it seemed like pink dusted Xue Meng’s cheeks, but he quickly composed himself and cleared his throat, “Since Daxue has officially begun, I wanted to, cough, ask Shizun if he wanted to enjoy an old yearly tradition I used to have with, cough, my family. And Mo Ran, too.”
And in a smaller voice he added, ”I guess.”
Despite his obvious embarrassment, Xue Meng raised his chin high when he finished his proposal.
Mo Ran looked at Xue Meng thoughtfully.
He could dimly recall one time when Xue Zhengyong and Madam Wang did take Xue Meng and him out into the snowy plains by the riverside once Daxue was in full swing. There would have been enough snow already to play around in it, and Mo Ran found himself getting hit by snow attacks from Xue Meng. He’d form them into round balls and aim them at an unassuming Mo Ran. But he soon caught on, and then both were entangled in a fierce fight that ended with Xue Zhengyong covering both boys in swaths of snow, only for them all to get scolded by Madam Wang. They’d then try to see who’d be faster at breaking the ice on the riverbed before getting dried off and heading together to the market for some candies they’d share.
A small smile formed on Mo Ran’s lips as he reminisced.
“What is the tradition?” Chu Wanning asked tentatively.
Xue Meng’s face brightened when Chu Wanning didn’t outright refuse him. Excitedly he explained what they used to do around this time of year, and one could see the childlike wonder emerge, softening Xue Meng’s features.
“Cough, it’d be easier to just show Shizun.”
Mo Ran shot a knowing glance at Xue Meng and both immediately dispersed in between the line of trees, and frantically began gathering snow in their hands, forming them into little balls.
Excited about the commotion, Goutou barked as he watched them, his tail wagging furiously. Eventually he also scampered off to dig in the snow, making it seem like he was busy playing along with the others.
Chu Wanning watched them, unsure of what to do or what to expect, when suddenly a small flurry projectile came rushing towards his head.
Naturally, as a cultivator, Chu Wanning blocked the snowball with ease and the mere flick of his finger.
“No cultivation allowed!”
Both shouted in unison from where they were hiding among the trees.
Chu Wanning frowned, but remained rooted to the spot.
Meanwhile Mo Ran and Xue Meng were maneuvering between the trees, throwing snowballs at each other in quick succession, trying to get a hit on the other.
“You still throw like a weakling!” Mo Ran shouted teasingly, trying to coax Xue Meng out of his hiding spot.
“Weakling?! I’ll show you weakling!” Xue Meng yelled and came running.
Bingo. Mo Ran grinned and aimed at Xue Meng’s head. Xue Meng barely managed to dodge as the snowball hit the nearby tree trunk instead. He cursed under his breath and prepared for a counter.
However, when he peeked out from his hiding spot, Xue Meng saw Mo Ran pointing at Chu Wanning who was still just standing there. It was as though for once they came to a wordless agreement, and both began aiming their snowballs at Chu Wanning instead.
At first it looked like he was about to tell them off, but then Chu Wanning unexpectedly ran for the trees as well. Mo Ran and Xue Meng focused on each other again, as Chu Wanning diligently began forming his own snowy arsenal.
That was when things began to amp up. Something seemed to have flipped inside of Chu Wanning because as soon as he joined the fray, he did not hold back.
All of them fought valiantly, while Goutou ran around barking excitedly, trying not to get hit in the crossfire.
Eventually Chu Wanning’s attacks turned too vicious for either of them to handle while attempting to outmaneuver the other. But since neither Xue Meng nor Mo Ran had any intention of losing, they formed a tentative alliance against the common threat that presented itself in the form of Chu Wanning.
However, they didn’t manage to last long in this formation, and it immediately began to crumble as they fought about who moved first, and whose instructions to follow.
“Why do we have to go this way?! If we go there, he’s less likely to hit us!”
“But if we go that way, we give up our vantage point here!”
As the two of them squabbled amongst each other, Chu Wanning silently took aim.
In a flash, Xue Meng and Mo Ran, in quick succession, felt a snowball hit the backs of their heads. Mo Ran barely had a chance to react when he heard Xue Meng grunt next to him. The surprisingly strong impact caught them both off guard, and they found themselves tumbling into the snow with a yelp.
“That’s quite enough of that.”
When Mo Ran looked up, he saw Chu Wanning standing over them, shaking out his hands and hiding them back into his sleeves. His face showed his usual, seemingly cold and disproving demeanor, but Mo Ran knew better by now. He was able to detect the slightest quirk of Chu Wanning’s sword-like eyebrow, and the smallest curve upwards at the corner of his lips.
Xue Meng and Mo Ran both got up, and patted down their robes to get rid off the snow having clung to them
“Shizun has once again proven just how outstanding he is,” Mo Ran replied with deference, but when Chu Wanning turned to him, he was greeted by a smug grin.
Before Chu Wanning could scold him for his insolence, Xue Meng piped up, “Don’t mind him, Shizun. It seems both of us still have much to learn indeed.”
“Ah yes, please teach us more about the ancient art of throwing snowballs, Shizun. Maybe that way Xue Meng will finally get good at it,” Mo Ran quipped with a smug grin towards Xue Meng, who began seething.
“You dog! You only ever won because you were cheating!” Xue Meng cried indignantly.
“I never cheated, you are just bad at this game, Mengmeng.”
“You—”
Chu Wanning felt a headache coming on witnessing these two behaving as though they were children again, and decided to take a walk along the river bank instead.
The sun had started to set, sending its last rays dancing across the frozen surface of the river. Chu Wanning halted to watch them for a while, when the sound of laughter made him turn around once more. From a distance he could see Mo Ran and Goutou run away from an angry Xue Meng, chasing them around in the snow.
For just the briefest moments, Chu Wanning could imagine what they must have been like as children, playing around as Xue Zhengyong and Madam Wang had watched them with warm smiles on their faces.
A pang of grief gripped his heart at the thought of both them. It had been years, but the pain of losing them never fully subsided.
He still remembered how—after the Great Battle and the Wave, once Mo Ran and Chu Wanning had recuperated—eventually a letter from Xue Meng had reached them. They hadn’t dared to come out of seclusion at the time, and thus hadn’t been able to go back to Sisheng Peak.
Chu Wanning distinctly remembered the rain pattering loudly against the window as he held the letter in his hand. Somehow a deep foreboding feeling had taken hold of him, and Chu Wanning couldn’t bring himself to open it.
Mo Ran had been busy in the kitchen, putting a kettle on the stove for some tea.
When he put down the can, after having poured Chu Wanning and himself a cup, Chu Wanning finally found the courage to read it.
Once Chu Wanning had taken in the first few sentences, an unnatural stillness seized him in place. He remembered having stared at the words for a long time. He knew what they had meant, and yet they made no sense to him at all.
How was that possible?
But what weighed the most on Chu Wanning that day, was the immense guilt. It bore down on his chest, making it harder and harder to breathe until the sound of a tea cup smashing on the ground startled him.
“Wanning, are you okay?”
Mo Ran’s voice brought him out of his reminiscence, and he turned his face away from the river to meet Mo Ran’s concerned, but warm look.
“Mn. I’m fine.”
Eyeing him for a beat longer, Mo Ran eventually suggested that they should head home to get warmed up, and that he had dinner prepared for them.
And so, after saying their goodbyes to Xue Meng, both of them returned to their little abode.
***
Once they got home, Mo Ran immediately got a fire going, and practically ushered Chu Wanning to sit down in front of it while he went to finish cooking the sweet potato congee, as well as some other delightful side dishes. He had also made sure to stock up on candies for dessert—Mo Ran could count the times on his hand in which Chu Wanning had tried to sneak one of them before dinner.
Absent-mindedly, letting the smell of Mo Ran’s meal fill his nostrils, Chu Wanning stared into the fire, feeling comfort wash over him, warming him from the inside as well. Goutou also padded up to him, and with a plop and a content sigh, he curled up next to Chu Wanning.
After having finished Mo Ran’s dinner, Chu Wanning had already started to feel a drowsiness set in, when he felt a pair of hands encircling his waist, and a warm body pressing against his back.
Chu Wanning tensed up briefly, but the familiarity of the touch soon had him melt into it.
“I miss them, too.”
Chu Wanning frowned slightly, but didn’t respond.
They sat like this in front of the fire for a while, just silently enjoying each other’s presence, each other’s smells, each other’s warmth.
“Do you think they would have approved?” Mo Ran finally broke the silence, and his words wrapped around Chu Wanning’s heart, tugging on it with their entire weight.
“Never mind, you don’t have to reply.”
A pause.
“Yes,” Chu Wanning breathed, his voice barely above a whisper.
Suddenly, hot tears dripped onto the backs of Mo Ran’s hands, and he tightened his hold on Chu Wanning.
“Me, too,” Mo Ran whispered into Chu Wanning’s ear, and kissed the top of it gently.
Another heavy blanket of silence enveloped them for a while, until Mo Ran quietly broke through.
“Shizun?”
Chu Wanning exhaled silently before collecting himself again, “Hm?”
“Let’s do this again next year. I’m sure Xue Meng would like a rematch.”
Even though Chu Wanning could not see Mo Ran’s face, he knew from the sound of his voice that he was smiling.
With that, Chu Wanning felt his own lips curl up ever so slightly, “Sure.”
And while the world outside had already embraced the colder days—as the snow-covered branches gently swayed in the evening’s wind, sending snowflakes adrift—their little world inside, their home, would always hold warmth.