[2HA Recap] Chapter 5: This Venerable One Did Not Steal

[wistmanswords]

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Last time on 2ha, we met Shi Mei properly, and then Xue Meng came back! Yay!

This time on 2ha, Mo Ran is lying in the title of the chapter. Goodness me, this isn't boding well.

Content warnings: Genre-typical whorephobic and homophobic attitudes.

What happens: Shi Mei senses incoming drama and quite reasonably bails out. Xue Meng takes Mo Ran to the Loyalty Hall, where Mo Ran discovers that Rong Jiu, instead of meekly allowing Mo Ran to rob him of all his valuables, has come to complain. Rong Jiu also brought back up in the form of his sugar daddy, a wealthy salt merchant who goes by Chang Da (Eldest Chang), who Mo Ran mentally renames Da Chang (Large Intestine).

The only authority figure present is Madam Wang, who usually defers this kind of business to someone else and is really confused about how to handle it. Meanwhile, Rong Jiu is crying, Chang Da is furious, Xue Meng is annoyed, and Mo Ran is apparently just going to power through.

Rong Jiu's distress - which could very well be genuine, since according to Chang Da he has to BUY HIS OWN FREEDOM FROM THE BROTHEL - is mocked by Mo Ran, who insists he's never met Rong Jiu before in his life.

(I have a whole damn rant on the treatment of sex workers in fiction but I will spare you that... for now.)

So it turns out Mo Ran is doubling down because Sisheng Peak has very harsh punishments for lechery and theft. Chang Da starts listing off what Mo Ran stole from Rong Jiu--

He cleared his throat, saying, "All of you, listen well. Jiu-er lost two units of pearls, ten gold ingots, a pair of gold plum blossom bracelets, a pair of jade hairpins, and a jade butterfly pendant. Just search Mo Ran for these items, and the truth of my accusations will be made clear."

--holy fuck, Mo Ran, that's SO MUCH STUFF?!

Anyway, Mo Ran agrees to being searched for the missing items, but says that if he's searched and the items aren't found, Chang Da has to crawl off Sisheng Peak. We also get some backstory! In Mo Ran's previous life, Rong Jiu and Chang Da colluded to "seize Mo Ran's cultivation", and Mo Ran fell for it. He got even back then, but this time he thinks he dodged the trap by bailing out of his relationship with Rong Jiu.

The search turns up nothing, and an increasingly frantic Chang Da declares that Mo Ran must be playing a trick, or otherwise have a confederate assisting him. He demands that Xue Meng should also be searched. This is a mistake, because Xue Men promptly has Chang Da and Rong Jiu thrown off the mountain for the presumption.

As soon as they're gone, Xue Meng points out that he doesn't believe Mo Ran... and this attitude is almost immediately proven correct, as the concealment charm Mo Ran was using runs out and to hide all the stuff he stole from Rong Jiu scatters across the floor.

Great job, Mo Ran.

Mo Ran suddenly realises that his uncle is away, and since his aunt Madam Wang really hates these kinds of decisions, another person in Sisheng Peak would normally have stepped up. Another person who Mo Ran really, really doesn't want to see. And Xue Meng is having exactly the same realisation.

Seeing the flickers in his eyes, Xue Meng's air of disdain became even more obvious.

"Dad does spoil you overmuch, but here at Sisheng Peak, isn't there someone who doesn't coddle you?"

Mo Ran considers this. And then he makes a run for it.

New characters:

• On screen:
• Chang Da, Rong Jiu's sugar daddy. Should just buy Rong Jiu's freedom himself tbh. Not a nice dude, but also? NOT WRONG.
• Madam Wang, Mo Ran's aunt and wife of the sect leader at Sisheng Peak. She hates conflict and hates making decisions and would rather farm all the tasks that require public speaking out to other people, which I can't relate to but do understand.
• Mentioned:
• The mysterious Someone Else... could it be...

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