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It was a normal day in the cloud recesses and the junior disciples had just finished their afternoon lessons. Sizhui was the last to leave the class as usual, tidying the tables and putting all the crumpled papers away before finally following his teacher out to have lunch.
Unlike every other day, there seemed to be quite a tiny commotion inside the usually quiet residence. When he and Lan Qiren arrived at the main hall, every male students were huddled together and were murmuring something to themselves.
Lan Qiren cleared his throat and all disciples broke away almost instantly and moved aside with their heads hung low, showing respect to the senior teacher. After everyone moved to the sides, Sizhui finally had a clearer view to the main hall as he peeked from his teacher’s back.
It seems they were having unexpected guests today.
One particular person amongst the guests noticed Sizhui’s presence and quickly waved his hand in the air almost too vigorously. “A Yuan!!! Lan Yuan! Lan Sizhui, come here!”
As expected from Wei Wuxian, even in the body of someone else, his spirit seems to be the same as he jumped around to grab the kid's attention without a care of breaking more than ten rules at once. Lan Qiren only sighed at the shameless act before allowing his best student to approach the group.
With respect, Sizhui bowed to each one of his seniors. “Zewu-Jun, Hanguang-Jun, Sect leader Jiang, Senior Wei. What brought all of you here?”
Everyone knew that although Lan Xichen is the sect leader of GusuLan, he was rarely found in the cloud recesses and was more often spotted helping people in need around rural villages and remote towns where help from cultivators is scarce. The same goes to the other twin Jade, Lan Wangji. Now that he had finally made it official with Wei Wuxian as cultivational partners, they prefer to hunt for ghouls and corpses together than to stay at one place.
Seeing the Lan brothers inside the cloud recesses is normal, but seeing someone from the Jiang sect and not as a visiting disciple, it certainly is a rare sight to see. That’s probably why all the other students were all huddled up near the entrance of the main hall to see the unfamiliar face.
“We’re here because of this brat,” Jiang Wanyin said with an annoyed face. He pulled out a boy who had been hiding behind his back all this time and sent the boy stumbling forward.
“That hurts!” the boy complained and rubbed his wrist carefully.
Sizhui immediately recognizes the last guest.
“Jin Ling!” he greeted excitedly.
The said boy in all yellow robe had glanced over in a flash, eyes twinkling in delight. But his usual tidy appearance is now replaced with dirtied clothes and messy hair so he held back from approaching the other.
“What happened to you?” Sizhui hurried himself to his friend and analyzed Jin Ling from up to toe. Without much thought, Sizhui used his handkerchief to wipe away the grime on the boy’s cheek.
Lan Xichen chuckled heartily. “Rulan was planning to practice his skills alone in the phoenix mountain when he encountered too many fierce corpse and resentful spirits. It was one against at least a hundred of them and because I was nearby, I decided to meddle.”
“Yeah yeah, we were there too! Lan Zhan and I were on a date when we saw him!” Wei Wuxian proclaimed proudly in front of the now murmuring crowd while Lan Qiren facepalms. Who even go on dates in a haunted place anyway? Lan Wangji wasn’t the least bit fazed by the stares he was receiving as he hummed in reply. “So since we were going to Gusu, we brought A-Ling with us to clean up and met Jiang Cheng on the way!”
Jin Ling looked embarrassed as everyone’s eyes were on him and his messy form. He should be thankful that only his head piece had been broken and not his entire skull while dealing with ten corpse in one go. Now that he's left without any ribbons to tie up his hair, Jin Ling looked like a street beggar with his unruly black mess of a hair covering almost all part of his face.
Then an idea, a brilliant one, struck him as he studied Sizhui's face and up to his white ribbon.
“Hey, can I borrow your forehead ribbon for a while? Thanks!” Jin Ling happily asked, or more like stated without the other's proper consent, and untied Sizhui's forehead ribbon.
As if on slow motion, everyone around them gasped and dropped their jaws when the ribbon ever so slowly became loose and dropped off Sizhui's head.
With quick hand movements, Jin Ling had managed to comb his hair into a ponytail, with only his fingers to help, before tying the ribbon around the bunch.
Now looking less like a hobo, he can show his face proudly to all the disciples without losing his face. Or so he thought.
Everyone, literally each and every single one of them present, were giving Jin Ling the same extreme judging gazes. Except for Sizhui, he looks partially dead and frozen somehow.
“What?” he questioned.
Jiang Cheng was the first person to grab him by the collar and tried to remove the ribbon off his hair. Jin Ling managed to dodge his uncle's attempt and slap the hand away from his head as he ran towards Lan Xichen and hid himself behind the taller male.
“Give the ribbon back to Sizhui now or I'm taking Fairy back with me and you'll never be able to see him again!” Jiang Cheng threatened and was ready to pull out zidian from his ring.
Wei Wuxian was secretly happy at the aspect of dogs getting banished.
“No! He's not even using it at the moment and it's not like any of you are going to give me a proper hair ribbon!” the boy shouted stubbornly. “And Sizhui didn't even say anything so why are you the one getting angry?!”
This time Jiang Cheng already pulled out the ring on his finger and soon the purple flare from his whip is already out in the open for everyone to see.
“Why can't you just tidy up your hair a little and copy Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji's hairstyle?!”
“I don't have my headpiece, I won't look decent! AND IM NOT THEM, I AM NOT GONNA LOOK COOL WITH THAT HAIRSTYLE!”
Wuxian inched closer to where the other kids are and asked them to take a careful look on Jiang Cheng. “Kids, this is one of the most famous weapon in cultivational world aside from Hanguang-Jun's guqin and Zewu-Jun's flute. I present to you a whip like no other, Zidian!”
“I don't mind whipping you for another three hundred times if you won't shut up!” the owner of Zidian bellowed toward Wuxian who only laughed freely while hiding behind Wangji's figure.
Jiang Cheng was steadily approaching Xichen with a tight grip on his whip, ready to scare the kid in hiding into giving up the ribbon. But it seems that sect leader Lan had an entirely different approach as he motioned Jiang Cheng to stop with a swift hand gesture.
Xichen turned his body around to face LanlingJin's future leader.
“Rulan, do you know the meaning behind the forehead ribbon that Sizhui, Jingyi, and everyone else here are wearing?”
It was the kind smile that stopped Jin Ling from running away and these days Lan Xichen had been showing up with his uncle so he wasn't entirely a stranger to the boy.
Jin ling shook his head a few times.
“For us, seniors and juniors of GusuLan, the forehead ribbon means a lot to each individual, like a pride that we carry everywhere, so not anyone can touch it and not just anyone can take it off from another just like that.” Xichen tried explaining calmly.
The boy was about to refute since he had witness Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji do weird stuff with the forehead ribbon but Xichen saw his line of sight towards the couple and spoke in their place.
“Wangji and Wuxian’s case is different. They have known each other for a long long time, and they trust each other immensely. Their relationship is special.”
“Like, you need to be really good friends to share?”
Xichen really wanted to tell the kid but held it back. “That is correct. But on another important note , they are married so I believe they agreed to share without needing to ask one another. Sizhui might be your friend but don't you think that he might be hurt because you decided to snatch an important possession from him? It is his pride after all.”
There's a look of guilt on Jin Ling’s face as he stared down on his muddied boots to avoid eye contact with everybody else.
“Is it really that important?” he asked after gathering enough courage to look up.
Xichen offered a fatherly smile, even looking proud by the boy's progress so far.
“Yeah, I'll let you learn about the meaning later after lunch is over.”
Jin Ling dejectedly nodded and side glanced his uncle to see that Jiang Cheng had already withdrawn his whip and looking at him with amusement.
Sizhui didn't look as surprised as before when Jin Ling approached him yet again.
“I- I am s-sorry,” he stammered. It's not like he is feeling extremely guilty or scared at the other's reaction but he hadn't been the one who apologizes first so it was awkward for him to say sorry. Jin Ling pulled the end of the ribbon and soon his long black hair slipped down and reacher his waist.
He grabbed unto Sizhui's limp hand and placed the ribbon in his open palm. “I won't steal it from you anymore.”
Jin Ling was about to leave when Sizhui's hand grabbed unto his wrist this time. The action managed to stop Jin ling from walking away and they were caught in a staring competition.
With a tiny cough from Lan Qiren, half of the disciples had ran off in fear as the remaining brave ones stayed to see the end of today's drama.
“I said I'm sorry, are you still mad? I w-”
“Use it!” Sizhui hastily said. “You get my permission, so use it.”
Jingyi was too scared to approach the seniors so he stayed back and shouted from afar. “Idiot what are you doing?!”
That's exactly what the adults were also thinking about with concern.
“You didn't know about it so it's fine.”
“Lan Yuan…”
“Besides, aren't we great friends? I really do trust you so I'll let it slide this time,” Sizhui answered with a bright grin that looks all too familiar to Wei Wuxian.
Jin Ling was caught speechless for a while as Sizhui made his way around the other boy and began carding strands of Jin Ling's hair with his fingers. The ponytail was up in no time, nice and tidy, all thanks to Sizhui and his forehead ribbon.
“I would have paid good money to see Sizhui react exactly like Lan Wangji when a certain idiot pulled on his ribbon,” Jiang Cheng commented offhandedly.
Wangji glared viciously and Jiang Cheng only averted his eyes elsewhere.
“There, decent and proper!” Sizhui proclaimed as he took a step back to see his creation. “Now you look like usual.”
Jin Ling muttered a quiet ‘thanks’ but its enough to make Sizhui smile with pride.
“You are allowed to use it anytime you want but under one condition. You must stay with me for a very very long time so we can go on night hunts together until we grow wrinkly and old and until we can't raise our own swords.”
Jin Ling narrowed his eyes. “What kind of a condition is that? We're too old to make such childish friendship promises.”
“So you're saying you wouldn't want to be my friend until we grow older?” Sizhui's smile dropped as he speak.
Jin Ling began to panic since it was weird to see the other without a smile. “That's not what I meant! It's just, Urgh fine, fine! Let's be together for a long freaking time! You know what, I'll bring Fairy too and we'll camp in forests until every fierce corpses in the world are gone. Happy?”
There’s a blush creeping up Jin Ling's pale cheeks and immediately, a blooming smile replaced Sizhui's pout as he hugged Jin Ling in front of his seniors and friends.
“Great! You promised so no take backs! Come, let's go have lunch together with Jingyi and the rest!”
After saying that, Sizhui had taken Jin Ling's hand and dragged him across the main hall and out of every one's prying eyes.
“Sizhui xiong is too nice,” a disciple commented when the pair had left. “If it was me, I would have screamed and fainted on the spot.”
The rest of them agreed pitifully and sauntered away from the scene.
Lan Qiren was also too speechless to say anything else as he nodded his head slowly towards his guests and soulessly left the main hall towards the area of cold spring.
“Why can't you act more like Sizhui back then,” Wuxian suddenly slapped Wangji's chest. “Instead of trying to kill me with your gaze in front of every other people, try telling me nicely that it's not allowed!”
“I… never mind.”
Xichen could only chuckle knowingly and patted his younger brother's back.
“But Sizhui is one sly kid.” Wuxian said with a devilish grin. “He used the opportunity well. That's my son alright!”