Time passed by, and twenty cold winters had gone.
Speaking of the renowned generals of the Great Zhou Dynasty, in the south, there was Ning Fei, and in the north, Wei Lan — everyone in the world would call them as “Southern Ning, Northern Wei.”
Wei Lan’s second son, Wei Zhen, was already married with children by this time. The youngest grandson, Wei Man’er, was now at the age to start schooling.
Similar to the late Senior Chancellor Luo’s two sons from back then, the two sons of the Wei family were also serving as military officers far from home. Wei Lan wasn’t very concerned about Wei Man’er’s studies, but Yan’er had put a lot of thought into finding him a tutor.
“He’s going to be a military officer too,” Wei Lan shrugged off Yan’er’s seriousness, saying, “Do you really expect him to become a scholar?”
Yan’er replied, “Why can’t our Wei family produce a scholar?”
Wei Lan waved his hand and said, “You handle it. If my adoptive father hadn’t passed away, I would have considered sending little Man’er to Youyan.”
Six years ago, Luo Zhiqiu passed away in Youyan City. Long Xuan arranged a state funeral for him, giving this generation’s wise Senior Chancellor a grand burial, honoring him with fame after death. In the annals of history, Luo Zhiqiu had also been granted the title of “virtuous”.
Yan’er did not pursue Wei Lan’s train of thought further. The Luo family of Youyan was still influential in the court. Even the Crown Prince’s official wife was the young daughter of the Prince of Beiyun, Luo Qi. Descended from the late Empress Dowager Luo Zhiyi, the Luo clan would soon produce another Empress. Whenever the topic of the Luo family of Youyan arised nowadays, people had to remark on this. However, Yan’er did not want Wei Lan to associate with the Luo family. She had never mentioned this to Wei Lan because she knew that he regarded Luo Zhiqiu as his father, and Luo Qi and Luo Ze as his brothers. If she were to criticize the Luo family in front of him, she could jeopardize the bond they’ve built over decades.
Wei Man’er was a restless child—making him study was practically a death sentence for the little one. Unfortunately, with his grandfather unconcerned and his grandmother never showing him leniency, things were hopeless.
One day, while Yan’er had finally gone to the temple to pray for her family’s well-being, Wei Man’er seized the opportunity to present his homework to Wei Lan instead. “Grandfather, can you take me out to play later?” Rather than discuss his studies, the first thing out of Wei Maner’s mouth was a request to go play.
Wei Lan replied, “Going out to play is fine, but first tell me, what did your teacher teach you today?”
“Just a few characters,” Wei Man’er replied, “One, two, three, four, five.”
“Don’t take me for a fool,” Wei Lan chuckled at his little grandson, “You’ve been in school all this time, and you’re still learning one, two, three, four, five?”
“Not exactly,” Wei Man’er said, realizing that Wei Lan wasn’t buying it, “There are a few more characters also.”
“What are they?” Wei Lan asked.
“Let me say them, and you write them down, Grandfather,” Wei Man’er said to Wei Lan.
Wei Lan said, “Then you grind the ink.”
Wei Man’er hurriedly ground the ink for Wei Lan. Today, he had to write a hundred words. The little guy was smart enough to realize that whatever his grandfather wrote could count as his own writing. This way, he could write a little less.
Wei Lan took up his pen and asked, “So, what words did your teacher teach you today?”
“Mountain,” Wei Man’er said.
Wei Lan wrote the character for “mountain” on the paper.
“Wind,” Wei Man’er said.
Wei Lan wrote down the character for “wind.”
“Mist,” Wei Man’er said, adding the third word.
Wei Lan asked, “Which ‘lan’ is it?1“
“It’s grandfather’s name,” Wei Man’er said, “The teacher said, ‘Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’. 2“
Wei Lan smiled and wrote down the character for “mist” on the paper, silently repeating the words Wei Man’er had just said. Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’.
Wei Man’er said to Wei Lan, “Grandfather, the teacher said that the character ‘mist’ means the fog in the mountains.”
Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’. Wei Lan couldn’t shake off the familiarity he felt with these words. Why did they resonate with him so deeply? It felt like someone had said them to him before. Wei Lan pondered, feeling a headache coming on. Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’. Where had he heard this before? There must have been someone who told him.
“Grandfather, can we go out to play now?” Wei Man’er, eager to go out and play, did not notice his grandfather’s distress and tugged on Wei Lan’s sleeve.
“Don’t make trouble!” Wei Lan suddenly became sullen and scolded his grandson sternly.
Wei Man’er, who had never been scolded by Wei Lan before, was frightened by his sudden outburst and dared not move.
Wei Lan stared at the character “lan” on the paper, racking his brain, feeling like those four words were immensely important to him. Seeing his grandfather gaze vacantly at the writing on the desk, Wei Man’er tried calling out to him a few times. When Wei Lan did not respond, the little one quietly slipped away, sneaking out of the room like a liberated colt, heading straight for the backyard to play.
Wei Lan remained in the study, deep in thought, muttering “Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’” over and over again.
“Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’, do you like it?”
Suddenly, just as Wei Lan felt his headache intensifying, this sentence finally surfaced in his mind. Yes, that was it, this sentence “Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’, do you like it?” — someone must have said this to him before. But who? Wei Lan’s brief moment of elation was dashed as he was stymied by this new question. Who said this to him? Wei Lan desperately tried to remember, but in his several decades of life, he couldn’t recall who among his acquaintances had spoken these words to him.
Yan’er returned from the temple and found Wei Man’er in the backyard, having turned himself into a muddy little ape.
“Grandfather is still in the study,” Wei Man’er decided that in order to avoid being punished, he would file a lawsuit against his grandfather first, “Grandfather is ignoring me.”
“Ignoring you?” Yan’er took Wei Man’er to the study to find Wei Lan. She was curious to see what game this grandfather and grandson were playing.
“Grandfather!” Before entering the study, Wei Man’er shouted from outside, hoping to alert Wei Lan, “Grandmother and I are here!”
“Husband…” Yan’er pushed open the study door and said, “I’m back. Are you…”
Yan’er’s words caught in her throat. Both she and Wei Man’er saw Wei Lan lying face down on the desk, completely unresponsive to their entrance.
“Is grandfather sleeping?” Wei Man’er asked Yan’er.
Yan’er took a few steps toward the desk and suddenly cried out in horror. On the paper was a pool of deep crimson blood spreading across the page, like a startling red flower blooming.
From that day on, Wei Lan fell severely ill. His condition worsened over the months, with no signs of improvement.
“You want to see Brother Shiyi and the others?” Yan’er became angry when she heard Wei Lan’s request.”What’s the use of seeing them when you’re already ill? Are they doctors?”
“Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’,” Wei Lan suddenly said to Yan’er.
“What?” Yan’er was taken aback. “What did you say?”
“Mountain and wind form ‘Lan’,” Wei Lan repeated. “Someone must have said this to me years ago, but I just can’t remember who it was.”
Yan’er felt another wave of inexplicable dread. “Can’t you stop obsessing over these trivial matters? ‘Mountain and wind form ‘Lan”. I could have said that too!”
“No,” Wei Lan insisted, “You never said this to me. I’ve always felt like I forgot someone very important to me. ‘Mountain and wind form ‘Lan”. Someone must have said this to me back then.”
“Husband!” Yan’er pleaded with Wei Lan, “Can’t you just avoid these fanciful thoughts?”
“Please invite them to come,” Wei Lan said. “I feel like my illness is beyond cure.”
- ‘Mist’ is pronounced ‘lán’ in chinese. ↩︎
- 山风为岚 – shān fēng wèi lán: literally, “Mountain wind become/form ‘Mist’”. If you remember, when LW named WL, he said to WL “Mountain and Wind form ‘Lan’, do you like it?” (sorry I can’t recall exactly how the previous translator translated this sentence), because Lan 岚 is a combination of the word mountain 山 and wind 风 in chinese. The sentence also uses the homophone 为 (form, become) for Wei instead of the character used in Wei Lan’s name 卫 (protect/defend).
It’s also interesting to note that Luo Wei’s courtesy name is Yunqi (云起 – yúnqǐ = rising cloud), which sounds very close to another way to say ‘mist’ (云气 – yúnqì = mist). ↩︎
Boundless Dao 
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