Chapter Text
Five years later.
The journey to Cloud Recesses had been nothing but trouble. An uncomfortable run-in with Jin Zixuan had left a foul taste in his mouth. Of course he hated the guy, but was nowhere near as obvious about it as Wei Wuxian, who Jiang Cheng could only barely stop from decking the guy in the face. Yanli had been somber the entire trek up from Caiyi Town, with both of her brothers intermittently grumbling about what an asshole that peacock was. When they had finally made it to Cloud Recesses, only more unpleasantness followed.
“What do you mean you lost the invitation??”
“ME? I thought you had it!”
“What? No, it was in your bag back at the hotel—“
Ah. Shit.
With their invitation to Cloud Recesses misplaced and the Gusu Lan Sect’s gatekeepers refusing them entry, Jiang Cheng was momentarily at a loss for words. Beside him, Wei Wuxian is thoroughly explaining the situation for what felt like the hundredth time, but his words seem to fall on deaf ears. Jiang Cheng feels a tension headache coming on as he internally resigns himself to leading the rest of the Jiang disciples down the mountain to find a place to settle for the night.
Just as he was about to tell the rest of his party to give it a rest, a group of Lan disciples approaches from behind, led by a rather distinguished looking young man. The group following behind him carried one of their own on a stretcher—he appeared to be unconscious with some sort of crack-shaped burn marks on his face. One of the gatekeepers greets the group’s leader as “Second Young Master Lan,” as Wei Wuxian murmurs something about ‘wicked sorcery’ beside him.
Ignoring his brother, Jiang Cheng steps forward, saluting the man in front of them. “Second Young Master Lan, I am Jiang Cheng of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect. This is my sister, Jiang Yanli, and my brother Wei Wuxian. We are here to attend the lecture, but we’ve misplaced our invitation. We’re deeply sorry, and we’re wondering if you could allow us entry.”
“No invitation, no entry.”
The blunt refusal took Jiang Cheng and, he assumed, the rest of his group by surprise, and while no one knew what to say for a moment, as soon as he had recovered, Wei Wuxian was already arguing with the Young Master Lan in front of them. Again, they were met with those words.
“No invitation, no entry.”
Jiang Cheng’s mouth twitches slightly upwards in irritation but he knows better than to argue any further. Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, continues right on arguing, to the point that he finds himself fallen victim to the Lan Clan’s Silencing Spell. Jiang Cheng would find this hilarious if he weren’t so pissed off at the situation.
Eventually, he leads the group away from the gates. Despite being silenced, Wei Wuxian still manages to loudly protest, and Jiang Cheng is forced to physically remove his brother from the front of Cloud Recesses.
With two extremely unpleasant run-ins with prominent members from two different Sects underneath their belts, Jiang Cheng had a bad feeling about how their time at Cloud Recesses would progress. He sincerely hopes he won’t have to spend the entire time keeping Wei Wuxian out of trouble.
—————
He was going to have to spend the entire time keeping Wei Wuxian out of trouble.
A bone-deep exhaustion settled over him as he once again thought of the events of the previous night. After Wei Wuxian had set off alone to retrieve their invitation, Second Young Master Lan, or Lan Wangji, as they came to be acquainted, had come to retrieve them, making an exception as he allowed them into Cloud Recesses. Jiang Cheng was so relieved that he had waved off Yanli’s question of whether or not someone should go after Wei Wuxian and tell him it was all alright. “Let him figure it out on his own.”
Jiang Cheng would come to regret his own words when, later that night, Wei Wuxian had finally shown up. As his brother recounted his run in with Lan Zhan, Jiang Cheng found himself becoming more and more irritated at each new rule he had managed to break. Before the story was even over, Jiang Cheng interrupted. “I’m going to bed. If I have to listen to any more of this, I’m going to have an aneurism and die, and then I will haunt you for all eternity.” Shutting his eyes, he tuned out Wei Wuxian’s teasing of “ You can’t actually haunt me, Jiang Cheng, you know that!”
Bullshit. He would find a way. His current resentment toward his brother was strong enough to achieve the impossible.
He was still feeling particularly bitter about everything the morning of the Salute ceremony, excusing himself from their guest quarters early so that he could take a walk around Cloud Recesses and clear his head.
Having spent much of the early morning wandering aimlessly, Jiang Cheng was feeling a lot less irritable as he decided to head back to their quarters and gather his siblings, as well as their Sect’s gift for the Salute ceremony. He went over his salutation to Lan Qiren in his head, making sure he was prepared, and was only pulled out of his musing when he heard a voice call out from behind him.
“Jiang Cheng?”
He was a bit caught off-guard as he turned to see the source of the voice. In front of him was a shorter male, dressed in the same traditional white robes that all Lan Sect disciples and visiting disciples had to wear. The one difference in the visiting Sects’s robes were the emblems on each shoulder. Where the Yunmeng Jiang Sect’s robes depicted a deep purple Lotus, the motif on the robes of the person in front of him were embroidered in a dark grey-green, depicting the head of a beast.
The insignia of the Qinghe Nie Sect.
“Nie Huaisang?”
The face in front of him lit up with a smile, holding only a fraction of the nervousness he had grown used to in his childhood. Of course the person in front of him was Nie Huaisang. Traces of the young boy he once knew were still there in the small braids that were woven into his hair and the intricate metal fan he gripped in one hand. His face was familiar, but different—slimmer. Less awkward. More mature. He had really grown into himself.
“I thought that was you!” Jiang Cheng had to pull his gaze from Huaisang’s delicate features to meet the other boy’s eyes. “It’s good to see you.” After a moment of silence, Jiang Cheng realized it was now his turn to say something.
“It’s… nice to see you as well.” Smooth.
Huaisang lets out a soft huff of laughter, which immediately calms the nerves Jiang Cheng hadn’t realized he was feeling. “How were your travels?” As he asks the question, Huaisang flips his fan open, his smile turning coy. The picture painted on the outside is technically leagues better than that of the one from his childhood, though Jiang Cheng finds himself missing the shaky, imperfect lines of a smaller hand.
His travels? They had been terrible. Long and unpleasant. A pain in the ass. “They were fine,” he finds himself saying, despite the truth. “And yours?” This smalltalk was driving him crazy. He felt like he was on autopilot, programmed to say the most boring thing possible. Jiang Cheng lets out a secret wish that they could just go ahead and skip the unfamiliarity of not having seen each other at all in the past five years.
“They were nice. Gusu really is beautiful.” Jiang Cheng nodded in agreement. He could see why a landscape artist such as Nie Huaisang would love the region so much.
Huaisang looks pensive for a moment, hesitating before asking, “Is… Is Wei-xoing with you?”
At the mention of his brother, Jiang Cheng sighs. He knew his peaceful morning had to come to an end at some point. “Yes, and A-Jie too. Speaking of, I’d better go make sure he doesn’t sleep through the Salute ceremony.” It’s Nie Huaisang’s turn to nod in agreement, a fond smile on his face.
The two part soon after with promises that they’ll catch up later. When Jiang Cheng returns to his shared room, Wei Wuxian asks him why his face is so red, and he scowls. “Shut up,” he murmurs as he shoves his brother, ignoring a knowing look from Jiang Yanli.
———
Correction: Not only was he going to have to spend the entire time at Cloud Recesses keeping Wei Wuxian out of trouble, but it seemed like he was going to have to keep both him and Nie Huaisang in line.
The sweet, clever, soft spoken persona that Nie Huaisang typically presented seemed to disappear when he was around Wei Wuxian. This, of course, was something Jiang Cheng had observed his whole life—the way Wei Wuxian could corrupt anyone and everyone.
To himself, Jiang Cheng referred to it as “The Wei Wuxian Effect™.”
It was almost hard to watch. The two of them were inseparable—goofing off both during lecture and in their free time, getting up to all kinds of mischief. Most of the time, Jiang Cheng ignored them, choosing instead to study the Lan Principles or practice his sword forms. But other times, he literally had to get involved. He was the only thing keeping both his brother and his future partner from being forcibly expelled down the mountain.
He almost thought it couldn’t get any worse. But he was an idiot for thinking that thought into existence, because then, of course, the two of them would have to forcibly prove him wrong. And they did.
After Wei Wuxian’s stint at the Library Pavilion, the troublemaker himself found Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang idling around the back hills of Cloud Recesses. They were supposed to be studying, but it was more like Jiang Cheng was studying while Nie Huaisang doodled in the margins of his notes. Though he would never admit it, Jiang Cheng almost preferred this. When they actually were studying, Nie Huaisang was all distressed sighs and whining about how hopeless he was. But the look on his face when he was deeply focused, which was almost always when he was drawing, was… almost charming.
As bad as it sounded, Jiang Cheng liked Huaisang the most when he was in his element—that is, when he was passionate and confident and quiet.
“YOU GUYS! Guess what?”
So much for quiet…
Wei Wuxian throws himself down next to Nie Huaisang, practically buzzing with excitement. Jiang Cheng eventually relents, looking up from his studies. “What?” his brother has to take a moment to stop laughing before he can tell them.
“Lan Zhan told me to ‘piss off’!!”
…
“Why are you excited about that?” Jiang Cheng scoffs, rubbing against his temples where a headache has magically appeared all of a sudden. Huaisang laughs along with Wei Wuxian, hiding the bottom of his face behind his fan. At least he has some dignity.
“Gah, Jiang Cheng, you don’t understand! I got the Second Young Master Lan to challenge me to a duel and tell me to piss off!! It’s exciting! It’s probably the most emotion he’s ever shown on his face, and he did it for me!” Wei Wuxian looks elated. Jiang Cheng wants to strangle him.
With a dramatic sigh, Wei Wuxian slings an arm around Nie Huaisang’s shoulder. “It’s a shame, though, I couldn’t stop him from ripping apart the book Nie-xiong lent me.” At these words, Huaisang’s laughter stops, and he looks pointedly at Wei Wuxian with wide eyes.
“What book?” Jiang Cheng asks, unable to look away from the mortified look on Huaisang’s face.
“Wei-xiong, don’t—“
Wei Wuxian grins devilishly, turning to look Jiang Cheng right in the eyes.
“Porn, A-Cheng —have you heard of it?”
Nie Huaisang has given up with his fan—he hides his face in his hands, ears turning scarlet. Wei Wuxian rambles on, unrelenting. “You see, when two men love each other very much…”
Jiang Cheng almost feels just as mortified as his betrothed. Speaking of betrothed, he realizes, in this moment, how much he really didn’t need to know about Nie Huaisang’s pornography habits. His brain shuts down. He grabs his notes and leaves without a word, trying very hard not to listen to Wei Wuxian’s continued teasing or Nie Huaisang’s pitiful cries.
————
Besides learning that Nie Huaisang is a certified gremlin, there was another development from Cloud Recesses that Jiang Cheng can’t stop thinking about.
Her name is Wen Qing. And he, for some reason, can’t seem to keep his eyes off of her.
Ever since the disastrous Salute ceremony, in which Wen Chao had so rudely interrupted him and almost started a multi-Sect bloodbath, Jiang Cheng found himself always, unconsciously or not, looking for that bright flash of red. And it wasn’t just that she was pretty, or her hair looked soft, or that she had the biggest eyes he had ever seen—she was smart, well-spoken, and serious, yet caring. The way she looked after her younger brother resonated with something deep within Jiang Cheng’s chest that he couldn’t quite explain.
This had never happened to him before. He was absolutely enamored with her. Admitting that to himself was difficult. It made him feel confused. It made him feel…
Guilty.
Not only was he one-sidedly projecting his feelings onto her, but he also had his own obligations to think about. Obligations to his family. His parents. His Sect.
Obligations to Nie Huaisang.
But what if, for just a moment, he could forget about those obligations? When they had gone out to deal with the water demon—when she had come to his aid. When his eyes had met hers as she softly yet deftly dealt with the wound on his leg. All those obligations had been so far away.
He’s still thinking about the gentle way her hands had felt on his leg later that night, once they’ve returned to Cloud Recesses. He, Nie Huaisang, and Wei Wuxian are one pot deep into their victory Emperor’s Smile. The victory really only belongs to him and his brother, but Huaisang is along for the ride nevertheless. He’s currently blitzed out of his mind, leaning on the table as he sloppily braid’s Wei Wuxian’s hair.
“What do you think, Jiang Cheng? Does this hairstyle suit me? Am I as adorable as A-Sang?” Wei Wuxian’s hands come up to frame his face and Huaisang has to stop for a moment, covering his face as he lets out an undignified snort.
Jiang Cheng scoffs, downing his glass of liquor. “Only a moron would find you adorable. Idiot.”
Wei Wuxian lets out an indignant huff, mock-insulted. “Lots of people think I’m adorable, Jiang Cheng. It’s just that no one can live up to your standards.” Despite the pout directed at him, Wei Wuxian still refills Jiang Cheng’s glass.
“...What standards?” Nie Huaisang’s tone sounds harmless, innocent even, as he tilts his head. Jiang Cheng would almost be tempted to believe his tone if he didn’t already know the guy was plastered. These two always had ulterior motives, even when absolutely shit faced. Wei Wuxian’s smirk takes on that quality that Jiang Cheng doesn’t like, the look of someone about to ruin his entire day.
“Wei Wuxian, don’t you dare—“
“Beauty,” his brother begins, smugly, as he stands up, walking around the table with his hands held strictly behind his back. He almost appears to be channeling Lan Qiren, stroking an invisible beard as he dictates an important lesson to Nie Huaisang, who listens dutifully. “Natural beauty.”
“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng rises to his feet, only slightly shaky in his stupor, his hands clasped into fists. It continues.
“Virtuous and caring.” Jiang Cheng lunges at his brother, who effortlessly avoids him, twirling away. “And comes from a good family.”
“I’ll kill you!” His hands just barely miss Wei Wuxian as he ducks, hiding behind Nie Huaisang, who’s absolutely shaking with laughter, unable to keep his eyes off of Jiang Cheng. His face, traitorously, feels incredibly warm. He lets out a growl.
“She should not be too chatty and should have a gentle voice—“ Wei Wuxian lets out a yelp as he flinches away from Jiang Cheng’s grasp, walking backwards away from the table, “—but she should not be too capable.”
“WEI WUXIAN!” Jiang Cheng lunges, tackling Wei Wuxian so that he falls backwards onto his bed. Nie Huaisang lets out a delighted shriek as he hops up and runs toward them.
He almost manages to close his grip around the neck of the asshole who just will not shut up, but he’s thwarted at the last second by Huaisang’s small hands holding him back. Wei Wuxian is cackling at this point. “There’s more, she should not burn through money—“
The scene is interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. All three pairs of eyes look over to see Lan Wangji staring incredulously at them. Instantly, they all shift, sitting down casually on the bed as if nothing at all was happening. Wei Wuxian tosses his now-disheveled braids over his shoulder. Huaisang fans himself with a nervous smile.
“What are you doing?” As if it wasn’t obvious, Lan Wangji asks the question pointedly at Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Cheng becomes very interested in what the ceiling looks like.
“Lan Zhan! What a nice coincidence! Why not join us for a drink?” If he hadn’t been so nervous, Jiang Cheng would have smacked his brother in the head for not even trying to pretend they weren’t all sloshed.
As if on cue, Lan Wangji responds coldly. “Alcohol is forbidden in Cloud Recesses.” He takes a moment to look around the room, at the mess on the table, the knocked-over furniture from their scrambling, and then his eyes land back on the three on the bed. Nie Huiasang lets out a nervous laugh, though Jiang Cheng suspects it was accidental.
“The three of you need to go to the punishment chamber to be disciplined.”
Jiang Cheng sees Huaisang’s eyes go wide, his fan coming to a sudden stop at the word ‘punishment.’ He turns to Jiang Cheng, brows furrowed, a small frown on his face, and Jiang Cheng is hit by an idea in that moment. “What chamber?” he slurs out, pitching forward drowsily, sending a wink in Huaisang’s direction. Seeming to have caught on, Nie Huaisang groans and slumps down, and suddenly the two of them are, apparently, passed the fuck out.
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian whines, his pout almost audible. “Those two are obviously too drunk to walk. Why don’t you just sit down and have a drink with me? We can talk!”
“If you refuse to come, I will come back with help and force the three of you to the punishment chamber.”
Okay. Change of plans. Jiang Cheng bolts up, grabbing Nie Hauisang’s hand and pulling him from the room, grunting and dry heaving like he’s about to hurl. Again, Huaisang catches on rather quickly, and he seems to be a decent enough actor. The two boys push past Lan Wangji, running out of the yard of the guest quarters and not stopping until they’re far enough away to feel safe from the disciplinarian’s wrath.
He doesn’t even feel bad for abandoning Wei Wuxian. It’s what he deserves for airing Jiang Cheng’s dirty laundry like that. With a sigh, Jiang Cheng takes in some of the crisp nighttime air, already feeling considerably more sober. He turns to Huaisang, congratulations for their stellar performance on his lips, when he realizes that the other boy might not have been acting after all.
Nie Huaisang is crouched down, leaning against a nearby tree as he pukes his guts out. Jiang Cheng is spurred into action, muttering a quick “shit” as he bends down, steadying Huaisang with one hand and holding his hair back with the other. Once Huaisang is finished, Jiang Cheng moves to help him up but is met with resistance. Again, Jiang Cheng tries to help him up. Again, he is unsuccessful.
Shaking his head, Huaisang pulls his hand away, refusing to budge even a little bit. While he’s frustrated, Jiang Cheng manages to withhold yelling, instead sitting down across from Huaisang after a while. The tear tracks on Huaisang’s cheeks take him by surprise at first, though he supposes it’s only natural to feel miserable after getting sick everywhere.
“Are you… okay?” His question is hesitant, almost as if he doesn’t really want to know the answer. He didn’t really sign up to be somebody’s drunk babysitter tonight, though he supposes Huaisang is better than Wei Wuxian.
Huaisang, who, by the way, seems to be completely ignoring him. He seems lost in thought, mumbling something to himself. Jiang Cheng inches closer so that he can hear, and then wishes that he hadn’t.
“...Natural beauty. Virtuous and caring. Comes from a good family… She should not be too chatty and should have a gentle voice. She should not be too capable… She should not burn through money…”
What the fuck?
Huaisang finally seems to notice Jiang Cheng crouched in front of him, and his eyes shoot up, finding Jiang Cheng’s and locking on. His stare starts out intense, almost burning a hole in Jiang Cheng’s chest, and then softens, almost glazes over as he sniffles.
“She?” he asks, and it’s the most miserable-sounding pronoun Jiang Cheng has ever heard. Fuck.
Before he can even think about responding, Huaisang pitches forward, gagging, and then vomits all over Jiang Cheng’s boots.