Staring in disgust at the rain, Mimi decides that taking the trip to town would be pointless and miserable.
"Mameki think it would be good for cubs to stay. Sit. Relax," the living parasol dances about the breakfast table, oddly graceful for only having one leg.
Chen and Dumplin clap disturbingly out of rhythm with the parasol, and Mimi can't help but laugh at the weird sight. Suddenly there is a knock on the door, and the parasol immediately freezes and disappears.
"Does anyone want to bet if it's Lan Sizhui or Lan Jingyi looking for breakfast scraps?" Mimi quips looking at her sisters before going to answer the door.
To her surprise, it was Wei Wuxian standing at her doorstep in the pouring rain, looking quite miserable as he stood there with what looked like a bouquet of what used to be flowers.
"Well, Master Wei, what can I help you with?" Mimi asks, politely holding out the door for him to get out of the rain.
He scurries past her, and Mimi summons a ball of foxfire to dry off the cultivator so that she would not have to deal with the puddles.
"Lan Zhan sent me actually," Wei Ying said cheerily, brandishing the dripping flowers before him in what she took to be him trying to be charming.
Mimi directs the fireball to dry off the flowers before she takes the bouquet, noticing a couple of weeds in the middle to make it look fuller.
"Would you like to join us for breakfast, Master Wei?" she asks knowingly. He is scenting the air like practically one of her kin.
"I couldn't possibly intrude on the Lady Shen's hospitality," he grins, winningly.
Curiosity perked, Mimi walks toward the kitchen and says over her shoulder, "Please, I insist. We have plenty."
Dumplin and Chen stare at their guest openly as he cheerily sits beside Chen. With amusement, Mimi realizes her sisters were sizing him up as she had done previously.
"How are we doing this morning, ladies?" he asks the girls.
Mimi fills up a plate, continuing to watch the interactions with amusement. Chen and Dumplin share a silent glance before Chen says, "Are you here because my sister gives us bacon?"
Master Wei looks taken aback and puts a hand on his chest in shock, "Your sainted sister invited me in out of the rain. I even brought her flowers. You wound me, child!"
Chen takes one look at the "bouquet" that Mimi had put in a vase and snorts, "Lan Sizhui gave us three bouquets. Of flowers."
"Lan Sizhui is my child; I will have you know. I told him to do that!" Master Wei puts his hands on his hips, but Chen is not impressed.
"Then why did Lan Jingyi give us three bouquets as well?" Chen challenges, and Mimi treats herself to another strip of bacon, enjoying this far too much to interrupt.
"Lan Jingyi is my son as well," Master Wei retorts, apparently not above arguing with children.
Mimi could tell Chen is highly debating shifting into her fox form by the glints of foxfire rising from her shoulders.
"Children," Mimi scolds, setting the plate in front of the cultivator and giving Dumplin a couple more pieces of bacon for not being involved.
Waving a hand under the table, she sneaks a couple on to Chen's plate as well. Seeing this, Chen grins at her from across the table.
"So . . . Master Wei," Mimi watches in slight horror as the cultivator devours the breakfast as quickly as the teenage boys had, "You mentioned your cultivation partner sent you?"
The black-cloaked cultivator pats his cloak and outer garments before his eyes grow large, "Oops, I forgot it."
"What did you forget?" Dumplin asks, joining the conversation for the first time.
"Lan Zhan told me to bring you an updated copy of the Gusu rules and history of the clan. I was so eager to be in Lady Shen's presence once again. I must have forgotten to bring them."
This surprises Mimi, "I would be grateful for any help I can get. That is very generous of HanGuang Jun."
Master Wei finishes off the plate and looks at Mimi beseechingly. Wanting to gather as much information as she can, Mimi takes the plate and refills it.
"Second master lan is very nice," Dumplin says readily, and Chen nods in agreement while staring at Master Wei as if she didn't understand why he is put up with.
Mimi ruffles Dumplin's hair playfully as another knock sounds at the door.
"Hmm, I wonder who that could be," Mimi says, perhaps it was the rest of the Gusu clan sect.
Mimi opens the door, and as if the black cultivator had summoned him personally, there stood the youngest jade twin sensibly using an umbrella.
"HanGuang Jun," Mimi bows and quickly stands aside so the cultivator could get out of the rain, "Please come in."
He practically glows, Mimi thinks, as the cultivator bows respectfully before collapsing his umbrella and stepping across the threshold with unearthly grace.
"Would you like any breakfast?" Mimi asks as the cultivator silently looks around until he spots Master Wei in a tug of war with Chen over a piece of bacon.
"Wei Ying," he scolds quietly, and Master Wei quickly lets go of the strip of bacon and sits straight in his seat.
Slowly turning around, Master Wei puts his hands out in supplication, "Lan Zhan, I was just telling the Lady Shens' of your generosity."
"But you forgot," Dumplin says questioningly.
Lan Zhan carefully pulls three massive tomes from somewhere in his robes and hands them to Mimi.
"Thank you, HanGuang Jun. You have no idea how much I appreciate this," Mimi stares down at the books and lovingly caresses the spines.
She sets down the books on the kitchen counter and pulls up a chair to the table, "Please sit down."
Lan Zhan seems to debate this for a moment until he sees Master Wei's halfway filled plate. This decides him, and he sits upon the chair next to Dumplin.
"Would you like anything to drink or eat?" Mimi offers, preferring to lean against the counter beside the books.
"We have delicious apple juice?" Dumplin offers as she shows him her glass.
The cultivator's face softens a little, and he nods at Mimi, "Apple juice."
Mimi quickly pours the cultivator a glass and sets it in front of him. He seems perplexed at the large glass but does not comment. Politely taking a sip, he seems to marvel at the taste before putting it down. Mimi made a quick note to ask Mameki what he put in the apple juice. A horrifying image of Mameki crushing apples with his foot stumbles through her mind before she manages to repress it.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Dumplin bounces off her chair and runs into the other room. She quickly returns with a stack of watercolors. Due to her small height, she has a little difficulty getting back into the chair. Mimi is about to assist when the white-cloaked cultivator gracefully exits his seat and sets Dumplin on the chair before resuming his own seat.
Dumplin holds up her stack of watercolors to the cultivator, "Look what I made!"
Lan Zhan gently takes the stack of watercolors and sips at the apple juice as he closely examines the sketches. Mimi knew that Dumplin had taken to sketching Cloud Recesses and the people within it. She thought it was ridiculously cute until she remembers one particular sketch in that stack the legendary cultivator might not like. She is about to subtly try and take the drawings before said sketch appears on the pile's top. The cultivator freezes and looks closer. It was an innocent sketch with all things considered. The mind of a five-year-old is a strange place, after all. Mimi realized that Dumplin had probably seen it while she was in the library or the cultivation field. It is a beautiful watercolor of Lan Zhan himself playing the guqin with his cultivation partner laying his head on his shoulder. Both cultivators wore peaceful expressions as they rested together.
Mimi is about to apologize when Lan Zhan praises the child with, "This is lovely. May I keep this?"
Dumplin nods her head excitedly and beams at Mimi, who gives her a thumbs up from behind Lan Zhan.
"I didn't get to see any kids' drawings," Master Wei sulks, but turns to Chen, "Zewu-Jun has informed me that you are doing very well in your classes. That you were summoning fire like your sister!"
"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says softly, and the black-cloaked cultivator immediately looks up to see his cultivation partner passing him the drawing from across the table.
Master Wei looks down at the drawing, and a sound between that of a squeal and an aww comes from his mouth.
"This is beautiful! We can keep this?!"
"En," Lan Zhan reaches for the portrait back.
"Would you like me to frame it for you?" Mimi asks, gesturing at all the pictures on the walls, "I frame all of my sister's works."
Lan Zhan seems to deliberate this, not seeming to want to let the drawing out of his possession, before he nods. He is about to hand it to her when Mimi waves her hand, and a black frame immediately surrounds the picture. A little unsettled by her use of magic, Lan Zhan puts the frame into his sleeve and continues to leaf through the watercolors.
As quickly as it had come, the rain stops. Seeing this, the two cultivators soon take their leave, and the house is quiet again.
"I'm not sure that I want to trust the weather," Mimi says, looking at the cloudy skies, "do you ladies want to go to the library?"