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Chapter Text

“Jiang Cheng, move over a bit. It’s too hot.” 

Wei Wuxian gave his shidi a slight shove. 

“You move,” Jiang Cheng shoved him back, albeit without much force.

He made a small noise but was much too tired to do anything else. 

It was summer again in Yunmeng, and that meant unrelenting, merciless heat. There was almost no escape from it, especially during the middle of the day when even the water seemed to evaporate from Lotus Pier’s many ponds and hung about in the air like a silvery, suffocating mist. 

They were supposed to be training at this hour of the day, but instead Yunmeng’s disciples were all to be found on the cool wooden floor of the training hall, wearing as little clothes as they each could manage without embarrassment. 

Which meant that Wei Wuxian was lying face flat on the floor, completely topless with his pants rolled up as far as they could go. 

But what was the point of it all when Jiang Cheng was pancaked right near him, invading his precious cold floor panels with his body heat? 

“I bet Lan Zhan would move if I asked him to,” he muttered, just loud enough for Jiang Cheng to hear him. 

Maybe it was the rather ridiculous image of the perfect, uptight Lan Wangji lying topless on the floor with them, but Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng both started laughing.

“You can’t go even one day without mentioning him,” Jiang Cheng said after a while, giving him another shove, this one actually forceful enough to move him slightly farther away. “No wait, even one hour. When he clearly can’t even stand you. Who was the one who pulled off his precious ribbon again, hmm?”

“That was an accident!” Wei Wuxian insisted, also giving Jiang Cheng another shove. “I apologized! And I even meant it this time!”

“Too late for that now,” Jiang Cheng waved a hand lazily at him. “After that little stunt, I bet he never wants to see you again.”

Wei Wuxian chose to ignore that remark and enjoy the fact that Jiang Cheng was now sufficiently removed from his space. “I bet it’s nice and cool in Gusu right now...” he mumbled.

“Probably both Yunmeng and Gusu would completely freeze over before you ever get invited back there again. So you mind talking about something else for a change?”

He felt like arguing, but he couldn’t really deny the truth of that statement. So he decided to change the topic as requested. 

“Is shijie coming with treats today? I would love some iced watermelon again.”

Before Jiang Cheng could answer, there was a loud crack at the door that managed to scare them all into a cold sweat and up off the floor. 

Sure enough, Madam Yu was standing there with Zidian already released and crackling with purple lightning. 

“Crap,” Wei Wuxian muttered. 

Madam Yu coming to berate them for lying on the floor half-naked like so many steamed pancakes was a daily thing, so this wasn’t really anything to be surprised about. 

What was unusual was the fact that she had Zidian out. 

She looked especially incensed today. Even more so than usual, if that was at all possible. 

All the disciples quickly tried to make themselves as presentable as possible, but Madam Yu fixed her gaze on only one person. 

“Wei Wuxian!” she shouted, and it was at this time he noticed that she had a letter in her other hand. 

Crap, he thought. So this was about that. 

The story was as follows. 

A few days ago, on the way back from a night hunt near Yiyang, they had come across a commotion in a farming village. Such commotions were a pretty common thing, usually two farmers or tradespeople having a disagreement, nothing that strangers ought to get involved in. 

Wei Wuxian had been occupied in teasing Jiang Cheng about losing the kill to him again, but then he heard the screams. 

A young girl was screaming for help at the top of her lungs, and nobody seemed to be helping her. What was he supposed to do, just ignore that?

When he managed to push through a crowd of villagers, he saw twenty or so cultivators, all dressed in blue uniforms, surrounding a young master who looked to be about the same age as him and Jiang Cheng. 

And there were two other cultivators dragging a girl out of a small cottage while she fought for her life. 

“Auntie, what’s going on here?” Wei Wuxian asked an older woman in the crowd of onlookers. 

The woman took one look at him and instantly clutched at his sleeve, her eyes brimming with tears. “Gongzi,” she said. “Please help! That’s the third son of the Tan family, the local cultivator clan in Yiyang. A few days ago, he came through here and saw Blacksmith Xu’s daughter. He immediately took a liking to her and insisted that she go with him. Then when she refused, he came back today with more people...”

That was all he needed to know. 

It wasn’t as if he didn’t think about the repercussions, but that lasted about one split second before he inserted himself into the situation. 

“The Tan family wrote to me,” Madam Yu said, positively shaking with anger. “They said that their third son is bedridden for the next two weeks!” 

“I needed to give Maiden Xu and her family enough time to escape,” he replied truthfully. He’d also given them all the money he had on himself at the time, but he thought it was best not to mention that. 

“Twenty-five of their retainers and disciples injured!” 

“I didn’t even use my sword and it’s not like I permanently crippled anyone.” 

“You, you...”

“Yes, it was all me. Jiang Cheng and the others didn’t lift a finger so there’s no need to punish them,” Wei Wuxian quickly added. 

Madam Yu looked mad enough to spit fire. 

“A-Niang,” Jiang Cheng finally spoke up beside him. “Wei Wuxian might’ve acted a bit...rashly, but it was for a righteous cause. Please don’t punish him too harshly.”

“That’s right!”

“That Tan creep had it coming!”

“Cultivators are supposed to protect people, not try to get whatever they want by force!”

“Shixiong looked so cool...taking on all those cultivators by himself...”

“They couldn’t even lay a finger on him, shixiong really is amazing...”

Madam Yu’s face twitched while the other disciples quickly spoke up for him too. 

By this time, other people had also heard the commotion at the training hall and come running. 

“A-Niang,” Jiang Yanli appeared behind her. “Don’t get so angry, it’s bad for your health. Especially when it’s this hot outside.”

Jiang Fengmian also appeared, with several retainers following him. “Sanniang, I’ll handle this and smooth things over with the Tan sect. You don’t need to worry about this.” 

Having almost everyone else in Lotus Pier trying to convince her to calm down ended up having the opposite effect. 

“Each of you, teaming up to let him run wild!” Madam Yu shouted, pointing Zidian at Wei Wuxian. “Sooner or later he’s going to offend someone who you can’t smooth things over with! Even if that Tan idiot needed to get punished, it’s not up to you to go do it! There are proper ways to do things! You can’t just go around offending everyone in sight!” 

Wei Wuxian looked down at the floor. He’d heard this speech innumerable times already, and was just waiting for her to mete out his punishment. 

Instead, Madam Yu laughed, which honestly scared him more than any type of punishment. 

“Well, it seems like you’re all on his side, hmm? Nobody’s on my side. I guess I shall have to recruit an ally for myself then.” She looked sideways at Jiang Fengmian before adding, “After all as they say, a man’s worst enemy is his wife.” 

Madam Yu turned to leave and said to Jiang Yanli, “Send for the matchmaker and ask her to come meet me. Today.” 

All the disciples turned around to stare at him. 

Wait, what?

If Wei Wuxian were to be honest, he would have to admit that the last eight or so years were some of the happiest of his life. 

Spending each and every day with the Jiangs, who showered affection on him as if he were one of their own... A small part of him wanted these beautiful days to continue forever. 

Perhaps that was part of the reason why he always reacted so badly to Jin Zixuan. Perhaps he viewed the older boy as a completely undeserving interloper who was going to steal away his shijie. 

But now that the old man under the moon had turned his attention to him of all people, he felt like the proverbial red string of fate was more like a rope looped around his neck. 

His teenage years full of joy and adventure were slipping away from him by the second, to be replaced soon by the progressively heavier weight of responsibility. 

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” said Jiang Cheng, one evening a few days later. 

Wei Wuxian was lying down in a small boat hidden among tall lotus leaves, some ways away from Lotus Pier. He was actually surprised that Jiang Cheng had rowed all the way out here to find him. 

“They haven’t even found anyone willing to marry you yet, and you’re already thinking of running away?” 

“I wasn’t running away, just thinking.”

He twirled his red hair ribbon around his finger while staring up at the cloudless sky. 

“Nie Huaisang knows already, for some reason,” Jiang Cheng said after a few minutes’ silence. “I have no idea how, but he sent me a letter asking for more details.”

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow at this. “What did you say?”

“I told him that you were staying here in Yunmeng no matter what.”

Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but laugh at this. 

Perhaps he wasn’t the only one who wished that these cloudless days would last forever?

He was kind of touched that Jiang Cheng cared that much. 

He rowed his boat closer to Jiang Cheng’s, who instinctively put up his guard.

“What are you doing?” he asked, shrinking away slightly.

“Come give your shixiong a hug,” Wei Wuxian replied, holding out his arms. 

“W-w-who would want to hug you,” Jiang Cheng shouted and hurriedly started rowing back towards Lotus Pier. 

He laughed and started racing his shidi back home.

Before they managed to reach Lotus Pier, they saw Jiang Yanli walking towards them on the footpath that traced along the stream. She held a piece of paper in her hand and was followed by several maids. 

“A-Xian! A-Cheng! There you are!” she waved at them. 

“Shijie!” Wei Wuxian waved back and rowed towards her. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

“It’s A-Niang’s list of requirements to the matchmaker. For a proper spouse for A-Xian.”

He immediately stopped rowing. 

Both Jiang siblings looked amused at him. 

“What are you afraid of?” Jiang Cheng scoffed. “It’s a piece of paper, not a dog.”

“Dog?!!”

“Don’t be cruel, A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli said. “I looked it over, and it doesn’t really seem too scary?”

“Oh? Let’s hear it then,” Jiang Cheng replied. 

“First, she must have an extremely high cultivation level for her age, as close to Wei Wuxian as possible.” 

“What? Why?” Jiang Cheng asked. 

“What? Are you afraid that you’ll end up third place around here?” 

His shidi responded by shoving him into the water. 

“Pfft hahaha...” 

“A-Niang said she wants someone who won’t get steamrolled by A-Xian,” Jiang Yanli helpfully explained. “Naturally a girl with higher cultivation level will be more strong-willed and likely to stand up to him. Second, she must be from an extremely strict family that places great value on moral rectitude.”

“Ha, guess you’re never going to get to drink alcohol again,” Jiang Cheng laughed. “Maybe she’ll even do something about your horrible sleep schedule.”

This time it was Wei Wuxian’s turn to shove him into the water. 

Jiang Yanli laughed and continued, “Third, she must be well-educated in all the necessary arts and rituals, intelligent, and capable of assisting in the running of one of the four major sects. Fourth, she must have enough patience to deal with someone who was deemed unteachable by Lan Qiren.”

“I’m starting to doubt that they’re going to find anyone who fits all these requirements,” Jiang Cheng remarked. 

“Fifth, she must be, above all, quiet. Because, ehm, A-Niang said she couldn’t stomach the idea of two A-Xians chattering away every day at Lotus Pier.” 

Wait, was his shijie joking earlier? Because that list really did sound very scary! He suddenly had visions of a quieter, more boring Madam Yu dragging him by the collar through the hallways of Lotus Pier. 

But now that he thought about it, that list... Didn’t it sort of remind him of someone? 

When he mentioned this to the Jiang siblings, his shidi also seemed to fall deep in thought. 

“Now that you mention it, it reminds me of someone too...”

“Oh? You already have someone in mind?” Jiang Yanli looked extremely happy. “If you let me know who it is, I’ll be sure to put in a good word.”

“...I can’t think of who it is.”

“...Me neither.” 

“Ah, well, if either of you remembers, please do let me know. Now then A-Xian, don’t you want to add a requirement or two of your own to the list before I take it to the matchmaker?”

From that list of requirements alone, it already seemed like whoever fit the bill would be scary enough to invade his nightmares. Did he really need to add to it?

Although, if he really did have to add something...

“I, uhh, do have something I’d like to add. She has to be kind to my shijie... and I guess Jiang Cheng too.”

“Aren’t you going to add yourself to that list?” Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes at him. 

“Oh, A-Xian...” Jiang Yanli sighed. 

Chapter Text

In no time at all, the news that the Yunmeng Jiang sect was searching for a bride for their top disciple spread throughout the cultivation world, becoming the most popular topic of the day. 

Although most would strenuously deny it if asked, the average cultivator loved to gossip about the famous few who excelled above all others. And Wei Wuxian did happen to be ranked fourth in his generation, so it was natural that he would become a topic of interest. 

Yet no matter how much gossip it generated, a few weeks passed with no actual offers coming in. 

Was it because nobody could fulfill the list of requirements, or was it because there was no interest?

Wei Wuxian suspected that it might be both. 

He might be the top disciple of the Yunmeng Jiang sect, ranked fourth out of the current generation of young masters, skilled in the six arts, and talented in every single way he could think of. 

But he was still the son of a servant, no matter how the Jiang family treated him. 

He also had no prospects to become a sect leader someday, unless he left the Jiang sect and set up his own. And that was something nobody, not even himself, expected him to do. 

In the end, the ever status-conscious cultivation families that had daughters who might prove satisfactory to Madam Yu probably decided to pass on him as a prospective son-in-law. 

The knowledge of this fact didn’t particularly bother Wei Wuxian. In fact, he felt liberated and soon started going about his day as carefree as he ever was. 

He let his guard down much too soon.

One afternoon several weeks later, he walked into Lotus Pier dripping wet after a refreshing swim, when he was waylaid by a group of at least ten servants. 

After getting forced back into his room for a change of clothing, he managed to learn that a family had expressed interest in him today. And that he needed to go see Jiang Fengmian in his study immediately. 

Wei Wuxian’s terror level immediately went sky-high. Usually when he was this panicked, there was a dog in front of him and he was screaming for Jiang Cheng to save him. 

Did something go wrong? It couldn’t be that some family out there was actually interested?

His expression of sheer panic must have caught Jiang Fengmian’s attention when he entered the sect leader’s private study, as the older man immediately sent for some calming tea and asked Wei Wuxian to sit. 

“A-Xian, is something the matter? This isn’t at all like you. Did you get in trouble again? Or is it this marriage business?” 

Wei Wuxian nodded slightly. 

“Oh, A-Xian...” Jiang Fengmian sighed and watched him slowly sip his tea. “Would you like to hear the proposal first? Then we can discuss your... current emotional state.”

He nodded again. He could feel the rope tightening around his neck already. Might as well make this quick and painless. 

“My very good friend Sect Leader Lin of Dongting sent a letter today expressing interest on behalf of his only daughter,” Jiang Fengmian explained. 

The Dongting Lin sect descended from a poet who lived on the shores of Lake Dongting around the same time as the founders of the Wen and Lan sects. They were for the most part an unremarkable sect, not particularly ambitious and content to spend their days in their ancestral home on the shores of the lake, cultivating and pursuing the literary arts. 

The current sect leader had five children, all sons except the second child, a daughter who the entire family looked upon like a radiant jewel. 

Wei Wuxian suddenly remembered that he’d heard people speak of her before. Specifically at Gusu, several of the other young masters had mentioned her to Jin Zixuan.

...Right before he’d punched Jin Zixuan in the face. 

He was actually rather impressed that he’d remembered that. Then again, that was one of his finest moments, so why wouldn’t he remember every second of it?

But back to the matter at hand, why would the family of such a famous beauty be interested in him of all people? 

When he mentioned this to Jiang Fengmian, his uncle merely smiled. 

“Don’t worry about it, A-Xian. Sect Leader Lin is only interested in finding a partner for his daughter who’s worthy of her. From what I hear, this daughter is the most talented cultivator the Lin family has ever produced and they’ve already had difficulty finding a suitable match.”

“Yes, but why me?”

Jiang Fengmian smiled sadly at him. “Is the prospect of finding a cultivation partner that unacceptable to you, A-Xian?”

“No, I mean... there must be so many better choices out there...”

“I see, so you don’t think that someone else would find you acceptable.”

Wei Wuxian was going to continue to argue, but he found that the words died in his throat. Usually, he was proud of how quick he was with his tongue, but right now he could not find anything to say.

“A-Xian,” said his uncle, pouring him another cup of tea. “You are a very remarkable person. I think any reasonable person would take a liking to you if they took the time to get to know you.”

“That’s not true.” He looked at the teacup but did not take it.

“Hmm?”

“Lan Zhan seems to get more annoyed at me every time he sees me.”

“Lan Wangji of Gusu?” 

“Of course. There’s only one Lan Zhan. Half the time he won’t even respond when I greet him, the other half he seems to act like he never wants to see me again.”

“Young Master Lan probably has his own struggles. We mustn’t be so quick to judge.”

Wei Wuxian suddenly realized that he’d gone off on a tangent about Lan Wangji again. He picked up the cup and fell silent. 

“A-Xian,” his uncle said after a moment’s silence, “no matter whether it’s A-Li, A-Cheng, or you, I would never force any of you into a marriage with someone you dislike.” 

He looked up and saw his uncle pour himself a cup of tea too. 

“Did you know that this is the eighth matchmaking meeting that my friend is about to attend for his daughter?” Jiang Fengmian asked with a smile. 

“Eighth?!”

“All the previous candidates proved unsuitable in some way.” He leaned forward and placed a hand on Wei Wuxian’s shoulder. “I suppose what I’m trying to say, is that I too would be honored to attend ten, thirty, or however many meetings with you until you find someone who makes you happy.”

He looked into his uncle’s kind eyes in disbelief. Somewhere lingering in the back of his mind was his fear of being a bother to any of the Jiangs, still left over from when he was a child. He couldn’t ask Uncle Jiang to go to such lengths, not for him. 

As if he was able to read his thoughts, Jiang Fengmian added, “Because you deserve as much as anyone to be happy. And even if I’m not here anymore, I’m sure A-Cheng would be glad to take over the duty.”

The thought of Jiang Cheng going to one of these meetings with him finally broke through the fog of terror and he couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Okay, I’ll go to the meeting,” he said. “...And I’ll try to behave.”

“That’s all I’m asking,” Jiang Fengmian nodded approvingly. “There’s absolutely no pressure, so just be yourself.”

Just be himself? He could probably manage that. 

His uncle called in a servant and asked for his calendar of engagements. 

“I see the Jin sect sent an invitation for a banquet five days from today.” 

Wei Wuxian inwardly groaned at the thought. The Jin clan’s banquets were remarkable for one thing - the overwhelming boredom one felt at such a large gathering of so many pompous idiots.  

Jiang Fengmian turned and smiled at him. “I think going instead to my A-Xian’s first matchmaking meeting is a good enough excuse to turn down the invitation, don’t you?”

Wei Wuxian laughed. His saintly Uncle Jiang could be quite devious too sometimes.

“Lin jiejie, I heard that this is your eighth time attending one of these meetings? This is my first time, so please be kind to me.”

Wei Wuxian lifted his cup and saluted Lin Erniang and her father, who sat across from them by a table already decked out with all of Yunmeng’s finest delicacies. 

Well, they did happen to be seated in the private room of the best restaurant in Yunmeng. If nothing else, he was going to get a fine meal out of this. 

Suddenly he thought there wasn’t anything particularly bad about going to matchmaking meetings, after all. 

Next to him, he could hear Jiang Fengmian suppress a chuckle. 

Lin Erniang was indeed as beautiful as the reports said. Dressed in the jade-green colors of her sect, she looked like one of those heavenly maidens that he’d only read about before in storybooks. 

It also seemed like she had even less interest than Wei Wuxian in being here, at this meeting.

She was staring at him with an air of complete indifference, not even sparing a glance at the very fine meal before them. 

So this was one of the girls Jin Zixuan would prefer over his shijie? Clearly the Jin idiot was blind after all. He couldn’t see how she was any better than Jiang Yanli. 

Lin Erniang hesitated a bit before also raising her cup and returning the gesture, but said nothing. 

Wei Wuxian suddenly felt a surge of sympathy for her. Surely after being dragged to one of these meetings for the eighth time, she must be feeling more or less dead inside. He wanted to help her get out of this meeting in some way, but didn’t know how. At least not without embarrassing Uncle Jiang and having Madam Yu chase him around Lotus Pier with Zidian. 

And he did promise Uncle Jiang that he’d behave...

He started mentally counting the seconds before this would end. He’d return to Lotus Pier to tell Jiang Cheng all about it. Then Jiang Cheng would laugh at him and scold him for wasting Uncle Jiang’s time and that’d be the end of it. 

After a moment’s awkward silence, her father decided to speak up. “Erniang, Young Master Wei also plays the flute, and is quite proficient from what I hear.” 

“Oh?” Wei Wuxian perked up. “Does Lin jiejie also play the flute?”

She nodded slowly. 

“That’s great!” he exclaimed and pulled his flute out of his sleeve. “How about I play a song for you?” 

He didn’t usually perform at meals in front of strangers, but the silence and awkward atmosphere at this meeting were slowly driving him insane, and he needed to do something about it. 

Lin Erniang’s eyes seemed to light up for the first time all evening. She nodded again. 

“Okay, here goes!”

He stood up and started playing a Yunmeng folk song, a cheerful tune that was one of his favorites. 

The clear notes of the flute echoed throughout the room... and were suddenly interrupted by a loud bang at the door. 

Wei Wuxian jumped and nearly dropped his flute when he saw who it was. 

Lan Wangji stood in the now open door, looking somewhat disheveled. His clothes were slightly in disarray and his very precious ribbon was looking decidedly crooked. 

Wei Wuxian’s mind was a complete blank. Did he somehow just summon him here from Gusu with his flute playing? What was he doing here... looking like that? He was sure that Lan Wangji’s appearance alone must be violating at least ten Gusu Lan sect rules that he did not care to name. 

It almost looked like he’d just hurried here on his sword and hadn’t bothered to take care of his appearance. 

Finally after a few seconds of staring at him, Lan Wangji spoke up. “Wei Ying, I... I...”

He... what? Wei Wuxian was confused. Had he done something horribly wrong recently that the ever proper Lan Wangji needed to show up in such a state at his matchmaking meeting to scold him for? He cursed his bad memory but couldn’t think of anything that would qualify. 

Lan Wangji couldn’t seem to finish his sentence. He looked to be in pain as he balled his hands up into fists. Wei Wuxian could see a tinge of red seeping onto his ears. 

At this time, Lin Erniang decided to speak up for the first time all evening. 

“Daddy,” she said, pulling on her father’s sleeve as she stared at Lan Wangji with stars in her eyes. “I want to marry him instead! Please!” 

Everyone stared at her in shock. 

“Pfft... hahahahahaha...” Wei Wuxian couldn’t hold back his laughter and soon doubled over in a fit of giggles. Well, he couldn’t exactly blame her. If he was in her position, he’d of course rather marry Lan Wangji too. 

But this was just too funny. Who knew that things would turn out this way? 

“My sincerest apologies, Sect Leader Jiang, Young Master Wei,” her father stood up and bowed deeply to them. “My daughter is still young, so please forgive her offense.”

The older man did indeed look very humiliated by his daughter’s display. 

His brain was a bit low on oxygen after all that laughter, but Wei Wuxian hurried to indicate that he took no offense. “It’s okay, Sect Leader Lin. No offense... taken. Don’t worry. ...I’d rather marry Lan Zhan too,” he added without thinking. 

Both Lin Erniang and her father turned to stare at him with rather complicated expressions on their faces. Did he say something wrong? 

“A-Xian,” Jiang Fengmian stood up beside him, looked at Lan Wangji, and then back at him. “I understand now.”

“Hmm?” 

What did his uncle understand? 

In any case, this meeting was clearly over and he was itching to leave. After several years of rejecting all his invitations, Lan Wangji had suddenly showed up in Yunmeng. He couldn’t just leave the opportunity of kidnapping him for a day to show him all the sights untouched. 

He placed his hands together and bowed to his uncle. “Uncle Jiang, can I be excused for the rest of the day to show Lan Zhan around Yunmeng?” 

For some reason, Jiang Fengmian placed both hands on his shoulders and asked with the utmost seriousness, “A-Xian, is this what will truly make you happy?” 

Well, of course it would make him happy to drag Lan Wangji to all his favorite haunts in Yunmeng’s streets and streams. “Uncle Jiang, this is what I’ve wanted ever since I was fifteen,” he replied. 

Jiang Fengmian smiled. “Then go, with my blessing.”

“Please apologize to Madam Yu for me.” He imagined that she wouldn’t be very pleased with how this first matchmaking meeting went. 

“I don’t think she should have too much to complain about, considering.” 

“All right then! Sect Leader Lin, Maiden Lin,” he bowed to their two guests. 

Then he ran over to Lan Wangji, grabbed his hand, and dragged him out of the building. 

Wei Wuxian half-expected Lan Wangji to shake off his hand, since he’d mentioned many times about how he disliked touching strangers, but no such thing happened. 

Lan Wangji continued to hold his hand as he led him through the streets of Yunmeng, making small noises of assent whenever Wei Wuxian mentioned something that he’d wanted them to do. 

Was something wrong? First showing up all disheveled, now being unusually agreeable... This definitely wasn’t the normal Lan Wangji! Was he possessed or something?

Wei Wuxian ended up leading him aimlessly through the streets of Yunmeng as he tried to figure out what was going on. Eventually he looked up and saw that they now stood before the first tree he’d ever climbed here, back when he was a child and had an argument with his shidi. 

He stopped for a second and Lan Wangji chose this moment to grab his other hand as well and spin him around. 

“Lan Zhan, what...” he started asking but immediately stopped when he realized what he was looking at. 

Lan Wangji was smiling. 

...It was possibly the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his entire life. 

He was so stunned that he could only hear bits and pieces of what Lan Wangji was saying to him. 

“...banquet, mentioned that you were...”

It looked like sunlight on snow, like Gusu’s white orchids in full bloom.

“...my brother told me to go...”

It made his heart feel close to bursting, though he couldn’t say why.

“...Jiang Wanyin said you were in...”

It made him want to draw it on the board by his bed, so he could see it first thing every morning when he woke up, but he feared he couldn’t do it justice. 

“...proposal gifts to Yunmeng, then pick a day for our wedding.”

Wei Wuxian’s spirit, which had been floating up above the clouds, immediately came crashing back down to earth. 

...What did he just say?

But before he could ask, Lan Wangji wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. 

“Wei Ying,” he said, and his voice was shaking. 

Wait, what? 

Chapter Text

If Wei Wuxian declared that he was only the second most quick-witted disciple in Yunmeng, possibly nobody would try to lay a claim to being first. 

Always ready with a witty remark no matter how inappropriate, he had been proud of his ability to rise to the occasion. 

Which was why the feeling of being completely tongue-tied and drawing a mental blank was so foreign to him right now. 

But that wasn’t entirely his fault, okay? 

The fact that Lan Wangji couldn’t stand being in his presence was an immutable fact of life that his entire worldview was built upon, as fundamental as the sun rising from the east, or dogs being horrible vicious creatures, or Jiang Cheng always being second-best in everything. 

And now he somehow had to believe that Lan Wangji not only did not hate him, but actually wanted to...marry him? 

He’d sooner believe that the Wen sect were his friends, or that Jiang Cheng actually hated him.

After a minute or so of drawing a complete blank, Wei Wuxian finally managed to say something. 

“What?”

And then, as if he realized how insufficient that response was, he added, “You want to marry me?”

Lan Wangji froze and then pushed him away until they were looking at each other face to face. 

The smile that had robbed him of his wits just minutes earlier was gone, replaced by a look of worry. 

Wei Wuxian had never dreamed that he’d see such varied expressions on that face, and in such quick succession. 

“You...don’t want to marry me?” 

The corners of his mouth trembled and it almost looked like he was about to cry. 

Wei Wuxian had always been afraid of seeing girls cry, especially pretty girls. But now he realized that seeing Lan Wangji cry would be much worse than being in a room full of the most beautiful girls in the world crying their eyes out. 

“I do! I do want to marry you, more than anything,” he blurted out before he knew what he was saying. 

Wait, what actually was he saying? 

And why was his heart racing so fast? Not even doing two hundred laps around Lotus Pier’s training grounds ever made it pound this hard. 

At least Lan Wangji seemed satisfied with his answer. He nodded and even gave him another small smile. 

Wei Wuxian had to resist the urge to slap himself to stop his spirit from escaping his body again. 

Right now, what he needed to do above all was to calm down and look at the situation logically, before his mouth started racing ahead of him again.  

First of all, it looked like Lan Wangji actually did want to marry him. But how to explain that? 

Was he possessed? That was one explanation, but Wei Wuxian couldn’t detect any resentful energy on him. 

And besides, what kind of ghost would be so bored that they’d make the trip down to Yunmeng just to propose to him? Yes, he was incredibly handsome and charming, but really? It didn’t make any sense. 

He thought back to his past month of living dangerously with the specter of an arranged marriage constantly dangling over his head.

Actually, what if Lan Wangji was in the same situation? 

Surely he wouldn’t be any more enthusiastic about the prospect of an arranged marriage, given his personality. 

Wei Wuxian didn’t know how the family dynamics in the Lan sect worked, but he couldn’t imagine Lan Qiren and the Lan elders being any less terrifying than Madam Yu. 

Suddenly everything started to make sense. By announcing his engagement to the one person that his uncle despised above all others, Lan Wangji could blow up any plans they might have for him. On top of that, publicly declaring that he was a cut-sleeve should scare off any families that might want to express interest for their daughters. 

It was actually quite the ingenious plan, if Wei Wuxian could say so.

And it would rescue him from his own situation too. 

He broke out of his reverie and noticed that Lan Wangji was looking at him with a gentle sort of air that surprisingly suited him very well. If anything, it enhanced his already dazzling beauty. 

Wei Wuxian placed both hands against his cheeks and squeezed hard. 

In any case! All this headache-inducing stuff about marriage and sects and terrifying elders, he could just let tomorrow’s Wei Wuxian deal with. 

Right here, right now, he had Lan Wangji’s full and undivided attention, and wasn’t that what he’d always wanted? Why not just enjoy what he had right now? 

He smiled and asked, “Lan Zhan, what do you want to do now?”

“Mm, up to you.” 

“Hmm, you haven’t eaten yet, right? How about we go to one of my favorite restaurants around here? Of course it’s nothing compared to my shijie’s cooking, but the food isn’t that bad. It’ll be my treat.”

Lan Wangji nodded, and Wei Wuxian’s smile froze when he finally noticed that the all-important ribbon was still crooked and had been all this time. 

He raised his hand and was about to straighten it, but then he remembered Lan Wangji’s reaction the last time he touched it, when they were at Qishan. 

“Ehm, Lan Zhan... your ribbon... it’s crooked, can I...?” he asked haltingly, not sure what to do, and afraid that he was about to ruin Lan Wangji’s good mood. 

To his surprise, Lan Wangji took a deep breath and then said, “Starting from now, you can touch it.”

“Oh, okay...” Wei Wuxian carefully adjusted the ribbon into the right position. He had the feeling that there was more to that statement than he could understand right now, but he also wasn’t quite brave enough to ask. 

He then took the liberty of straightening out the rest of Lan Wangji’s clothes until he was again the picture perfect image of propriety. 

Lan Wangji said nothing but stared at him the entire time, his ears slightly pink. 

“All right then, let’s go!” 

“Mm, Wei Ying.”

Chapter Text

Evenings in Yunmeng were almost always lively, especially in the summer.

With the heat of the day almost gone, the streets started to fill with people who had come out to enjoy the twilight’s cool breezes. There were groups of children racing after one another. Older men and women could be found sitting in groups and gossiping over a game of Xiangqi. And there were plenty of young couples out for a stroll together. 

Wei Wuxian pointed out every interesting landmark along the way, from all the trees that he had climbed, to the shop windows he had accidentally broken, to the walls he’d once graffitied. 

As soon as they had stepped back on the streets, Lan Wangji was back to his usual self, silent and expressionless, though he did appear to be paying attention to all of Wei Wuxian’s stories. 

He also seemed to be looking at the couples passing by, for some reason. 

Eventually, after Wei Wuxian pointed out the place Jiang Cheng had once thrown up the first time they sneaked out for alcohol together, he spoke up. 

“What...do you like?” 

Wei Wuxian felt himself drawing a blank again for the second time tonight. 

What did he like? Wasn’t that an awfully broad question? There were plenty of things he liked, did he have to name all of them?

But wait... was Lan Wangji actually trying to make conversation with him? 

He felt indescribably happy for some reason he couldn’t name. 

“Uhh, good food and good company, I guess? And by good food, I mean really spicy food, the type that makes your entire mouth go numb for hours after you eat it. But that’s probably not for everyone. I did invite Nie Huaisang out for dinner once and he claimed that I tried to poison him. Which is complete nonsense since Jiang Cheng and I ate the same thing and were just fine. But then, he never did agree to go out and eat with us again after that...” 

He realized he was rambling again, but Lan Wangji did appear to be very interested. 

“Can you eat spicy food, Lan Zhan?” 

That was an honest question, since he’d never seen Lan Wangji eat anything but the tasteless greenery they served at Gusu. 

“Mm,” he nodded. 

“Are you sure?” 

Lan Wangji nodded.

“That’s great,” Wei Wuxian said as he pulled him into a large restaurant that opened right onto the main thoroughfare. “Because that’s all they serve here.”

This restaurant was a bright, airy place with a high ceiling and open windows. It was two stories tall, with plenty of tables on the first floor and private rooms on the second. 

It was also one of his places to eat, with a kitchen that served properly spicy food with all the works. 

He was always assured a warm welcome whenever he went. And sure enough, six or seven very pretty girls, all wearing matching black uniforms, immediately crowded around them as soon as he stepped inside. 

“Master Wei, it’s been so long since you last came back!”

“That’s right! You promised you’d come back sooner!”

“We missed you so much!” 

“My sister was wondering just yesterday when you’d come back again!” 

“Haha...well here I am,” Wei Wuxian said with a polite smile, nodding to each of them in turn. Even he wasn’t entirely sure why the serving staff doted on him so much. 

Well, he did happen to be the adopted son of the most prominent local family, a generous and loyal customer, always with gifts of makeup or hairpins up his sleeves, and could be counted on to easily dispose of any customer that was too handsy or otherwise disrespectful. 

But still...

“Who’s your friend? We’ve never seen him before!”

“And here I thought I’d never see anyone as handsome as Master Wei, I guess I was wrong!”

The girls immediately turned their attention to his companion. 

Lan Wangji had a rather strange expression on his face after entering this restaurant, which darkened considerably upon hearing the word “friend.” 

Without a word, he turned around and walked out of the place. 

Wei Wuxian quickly apologized to the girls, who now seemed to be in shock, before following him out of the restaurant. 

“Lan Zhan, what’s wrong?” he asked. 

To his surprise, Lan Wangji actually seemed somewhat upset. “I’m not eating there!” he declared, his voice cracking slightly. 

Wei Wuxian scratched his head in confusion, wondering what was wrong. 

Maybe the smell of spices inside was a bit too much for him? He said he could eat spicy food, but Wei Wuxian had some doubts. Could someone raised on rabbit food really handle traditional Yunmeng style cooking? 

“Okay, how about we go somewhere else?” he asked, casting about in his head for some other place they could go. 

“Mm,” Lan Wangji nodded. 

Wei Wuxian decided to take him to another place that served slightly more bland food. This restaurant was not as large as the first one, but they still got a very warm reception when they stepped inside. 

This time, after four or five very pretty girls crowded around to welcome them in a similar manner, Lan Wangji turned around and walked out again. 

After apologizing yet again, Wei Wuxian followed him out and wondered if maybe Lan Wangji simply didn’t like Yunmeng restaurants in general?

Perhaps he wasn’t used to how warm and attentive the restaurant staff here could be. The restaurant staff in Gusu tended to be much more mild-mannered from what he could remember, not that he ever saw Lan Wangji in any of those establishments either. 

Or maybe he disliked restaurants in general? He remembered Lan Wangji’s staunch refusals whenever he tried to invite him to dinner in Gusu. 

He realized then that the Second Young Master of the Gusu Lan Sect had probably grown up being waited on by servants who were scared to even breathe too loudly in his presence. He certainly wasn’t used to being spoken to in such a manner. 

“Ehm, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said in a defeated tone of voice, “let’s go somewhere else.”

Then when Lan Wangji gave him a sharp look, he put up his hands and said, “It’s not a restaurant, I swear. I didn’t know that you didn’t like restaurants.” 

Lan Wangji opened his mouth and seemed like he was about to say something, but then he closed it again and nodded. 

Wei Wuxian ended up taking him along the road that led back to Lotus Pier’s east gate. It soon came into view, with the sun setting behind the main buildings, a beautiful sight that he never got tired of seeing. 

There were several street vendors outside the gate. He stopped by one and bought two pastries, one for each of them. 

Wei Wuxian again reflected on how strange this day had been. 

When he imagined inviting Lan Wangji to Yunmeng to have fun, eating pastries by the side of the road wasn’t quite what he had in mind. 

But this wasn’t bad either, he thought as he watched Lan Wangji nibble on his pastry. 

He seemed to notice Wei Wuxian staring and looked up at him. 

Lan Wangji had very pretty eyes, he thought. Not that the rest of his face wasn’t also pretty, because it was. But wait, he completely lost his original train of thought. 

“It’s good,” Lan Wangji said. 

“What?” Wei Wuxian asked. 

“The pastry.” 

“Oh, right. The pastry. It is pretty good isn’t it?”

“Mm.” 

“Jiang Cheng says the pastries in Yunmeng are the best, but I don’t know if I can agree. There was this one time when I was six and it was winter in Yiling...one of the pastry vendors there gave me one to eat. I had to climb up a tree so I could eat it in peace away from the other children and the...dogs, but I remember it was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. Or maybe that was just because when you’re that hungry, anything would taste delicious.”

He was rambling again, and he had no idea why. 

Or why he was telling Lan Wangji this story now when he’d never even shared it with the Jiangs. 

And then he noticed that Lan Wangji had somehow managed to crush his mostly uneaten pastry into tiny little crumbs. 

“Lan Zhan, even normal people can’t hold a pastry that tightly or else it’ll crumble into pieces,” Wei Wuxian said before breaking his own uneaten pastry into two and handing one half to him. “I can go get some more.”

“No need.” 

“Are you sure? All right then.”

He took a bite and savored the slightly salty taste that filled his mouth. 

“I think I’d like to go back to Yiling someday, and try one of the pastries there again.”

He wasn’t sure whether he was hoping that it would taste like everything he remembered, or something else entirely. 

“I’ll go with you,” Lan Wangji said. 

Wei Wuxian looked at him in surprise. 

He’d always been so used to Lan Wangji calling everything he said pathetic or ridiculous, that it felt strange to be indulged for once. 

Strange, but not bad at all. 

Just like the rest of this day. 

“All right Lan Zhan, I’ll hold you to that promise!” 

He took another bite of the pastry and smiled, feeling a wonderful sort of happiness. 

Well, of course he did. He had good food and good company, what more could he ask for?

Chapter Text

Wei Wuxian had a very strange dream.

He didn’t dream very often when he fell asleep, and the usual type when he did involved sitting at the head of a table full of delicious food as far as the eye could see. 

No, in this dream he was dressed in a bride’s red wedding clothes and head dress. They didn’t seem to be his clothes, since they were so tight he couldn’t even breathe. But when he called out for someone to help him, the entire Jiang family materialized out of thin air and then collectively shoved him into a red sedan chair. 

“I’m finally going to be first around here!” Jiang Cheng laughed maniacally. 

“A-Xian somehow became a bride before me...” Jiang Yanli daintily wiped her tears away. 

“I’ve finally fulfilled my obligation to my friends... Farewell A-Xian!” Jiang Fengmian waved goodbye with a sigh of relief.

“Give my regards to Lan Qiren,” Madam Yu cackled before closing the curtains of the sedan chair. 

“Aaaaaaaaa!!!” 

Wei Wuxian woke up screaming. 

“Wei Ying!” asked a very familiar voice. “What’s wrong?”

He blinked once or twice before processing the scene in front of him.

This was his room at Lotus Pier. It was currently around nine o’clock in the morning, which was when he usually woke up. 

But instead of waking up to an empty room as he usually did, he could clearly see Lan Wangji seated at the table near his bed. 

He blinked a few more times and when he was sure he wasn’t seeing things, everything that had happened yesterday suddenly came flooding back to him. 

He still wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but he was somehow now engaged? To Lan Wangji of all people? Who didn’t actually hate him, but sure did give a very good impression of not being able to stand his presence until, well, yesterday?

Wei Wuxian sighed and rubbed his temples. 

Maybe that was the reason he dreamed that the Jiang family had also gone completely topsy-turvy. 

If they had, then maybe he was the one who’d gone completely mad. 

But instead, they had seemed mostly stunned last night when he turned up with Lan Wangji in tow, after a failed attempt to treat him to dinner at a restaurant. 

Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. 

Jiang Fengmian had already known for some reason and had told the entire family. Wei Wuxian wasn’t exactly sure how he could already know, but he was more distracted by Madam Yu’s skeptical glare, Jiang Yanli’s polite confusion, and the mixture of nausea, shock, disbelief, and anger that only Jiang Cheng could display with such great effect. 

It was clear that they had a great deal to say, but they held their tongue as Jiang Fengmian extended an invitation to Lan Wangji to stay at Lotus Pier for the time being. 

They might have a great deal to say, but it seemed like they didn’t want to do it in front of Lan Wangji. 

Truth be told, he didn’t particularly look forward to getting an earful from Jiang Cheng on what on earth was he doing, or from Madam Yu for blowing up all her plans. 

Maybe it was best to stick as close to Lan Wangji as possible for the time being? Until things sorted themselves out, of course, and he figured out why exactly Lan Wangji wanted to marry him all of a sudden. 

Besides, he thought as he looked at Lan Wangji sitting near his bedside, he did want to investigate further just how this new Second Master Lan that professed to not dislike him differed from the old one. 

“Ahaha, good morning Lan Zhan,” he said with an uneasy laugh. 

Looking at the time, Lan Wangji must’ve already been awake for four hours. He hadn’t been sitting here the whole time, had he? 

Wei Wuxian looked around at his room, at the haphazardly placed piles of books and paper, the half-empty jar of sweet osmanthus-flavored wine, and the board at the foot of his bed with its not-very-polite drawings. 

He felt a shiver go up his spine at the thought. Maybe he should consider waking up earlier...

Lan Wangji nodded and replied, “Good morning.” 

He had four or five books in front of him on the table, as well as a vase with a single lotus seed pod inside, stem and all. It for sure had not been there last night, so Lan Wangji must’ve brought it with him.

“Wow Lan Zhan, how did you know that seed pods with stems taste better than ones without?” Wei Wuxian jumped out of bed, popped a few seeds out of the pod, peeled them and was about to send them into his mouth. 

Then, remembering that he was technically the host here, he handed them to Lan Wangji. Who looked first at him and then the seeds in his hand, and took them after a moment’s hesitation.

“Someone once told me,” he replied. 

“Wow, I had no idea people in Gusu were so knowledgeable about these things! I’m quite impressed, really. Most people don’t believe them when I tell them, but the stem keeps the seeds fresher, so of course they would taste better than pods without stems,” Wei Wuxian rambled as he quickly peeled all the rest of the seeds and split them evenly between the two of them. “What do you think, Lan Zhan? Don’t they taste good?”

Lan Wangji nodded, chewing slowly. 

“That’s great!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed. He started pulling on a clean set of his purple Yunmeng sect clothes for the day. 

When he turned back around though, he noticed that all the seeds he’d peeled for Lan Wangji had completely disappeared. 

He’d actually finished them that quickly? Wei Wuxian was surprised. Well, maybe he just happened to be very hungry. 

Wei Wuxian popped a few more seeds into his mouth and mentally ticked through his schedule for the day.

By now, the other disciples must already be outside on the training grounds, practicing with either the sword or the bow and arrow. Once the crisp and cool morning air was replaced by noontime heat, they’d head to the Jiang sect’s dining hall for a quick meal. The afternoon was nominally for individual study, but all the disciples were more likely to be found outdoors in the rivers and canals, or indoors on the cool wooden floors of the training hall. Anything to beat the afternoon heat. 

Thinking about the training grounds, Wei Wuxian perked up. Ordinarily he was number one with both the sword and the bow and arrow, with little to no competition from the other disciples. But with Lan Wangji here, who could say what would happen?

“Lan Zhan,” he exclaimed, picking up Suibian from its rack. “I challenge you to a face-off at the training grounds! Me versus you! It’s time we decided who’s stronger! What do you say?”

Normally he’d expect Lan Wangji to dismiss this challenge outright, but new-and-improved Lan Wangji merely raised an eyebrow and seemed to be considering it. 

“What do I get if I win?” he asked after a few seconds. 

Wei Wuxian almost blurted out “anything you want,” but reconsidered after realizing that might not be the best thing to say. Yesterday’s experiences had made him just a tad bit wary of letting his mouth run ahead of his brain. 

What exactly would Lan Wangji want? He thought back to all the gifts that he’d offered back in Gusu, from the rabbits to the portrait to the...book of pornography. None of which were received with pleasure. 

He really wasn’t sure what Lan Wangji would want! 

It wasn’t like he was missing anything either. The Lan sect was surely rich enough to buy him anything he could ever want. 

He held out the rest of the lotus seeds he’d peeled for himself, for lack of a better answer. 

“Okay,” Lan Wangji said without a moment’s hesitation. 

As he looked around for a bag to put the seeds in, Wei Wuxian mentally noted that Lan Wangji must really like lotus seeds a great deal! 

Not that there was anything wrong with that, of course. 

The training grounds were indeed already full of Jiang sect disciples busy practicing the martial arts before it became too hot to be outside. 

But instead of crowding around him as they usually did, they stood at a distance and looked on quietly when he showed up with Lan Wangji following close behind. 

Jiang Cheng’s expression was no less magical than it had been last night, but even he stayed silent as Wei Wuxian dragged Lan Wangji to the middle of the training grounds for a sword duel. 

It didn’t take him too long to figure out that while Lan Wangji was better than him with the sword, he was still more skilled with the bow and arrow. 

Well, that did make some sense. Lan Wangji probably put significantly more work than him into practicing with the sword. But he likely also never had the wonderful experience of shooting at kites every day for fun. Something about the Lan sect just seemed to indicate that they might frown on games like that. 

Still, he was true to his word and gave Lan Wangji the bag of lotus seeds when he lost their sword duel. It was only later, during their noon meal, that he realized that he’d forgotten to ask Lan Wangji for anything if he’d won, and he had indeed won their archery contest. 

But at that time, he was too distracted with telling Lan Wangji about everything the kitchens here made, scooping food from the best dishes onto Lan Wangji’s plate, and studiously ignoring Jiang Cheng’s increasingly complicated expression. 

He should’ve known Jiang Cheng’s forbearance wouldn’t last the rest of the day. 

After the noon meal, he led Lan Wangji around on a brief tour of Lotus Pier’s main buildings, before arriving at his usual summertime afternoon haunt - the training hall. 

Sure enough, Jiang Cheng and the others were already lying on the floor, in varying stages of undress. 

Wei Wuxian quickly pulled his top off and was about to start on rolling up his pants too when he felt a very cold aura behind him. 

“What are you doing?” Lan Wangji was staring very resolutely at his face. His own face was a pale bloodless color, though his ears were starting to turn pink. 

“What does it look like? We come here during the afternoons to cool off! It feels great lying on the floor. You should try it, Lan Zhan.” 

He looked sideways at the figure before him clad head to toe in the very heavy-looking Lan sect uniform. As if realizing what Wei Wuxian must be thinking, Lan Wangji took a step backwards. 

He moved quickly, but of course not quick enough to escape Wei Wuxian’s clutches. 

The next thing he knew, he had the outermost layer of Lan Wangji’s clothes in his hand, and Jiang Cheng had suddenly gotten up and was shoving the two of them out of the room. 

“I’ve had enough of the two of you, get out! Out!” Jiang Cheng shouted as he slammed the door shut. 

Which left him standing in the hallway, topless, and holding a piece of Lan Wangji’s clothes in his hand. 

He’d barely had enough time to address this rather unusual scene when Jiang Fengmian appeared, alone and with a strange expression on his face when he noticed the two of them.

“A-Xian,” he said after a few moments’ awkward silence, “I know you must be very happy and...excited, but a little bit more discretion please.”

Wei Wuxian stared at his uncle, not sure what he meant. 

Jiang Fengmian sighed and rubbed his temple with one hand, before opening the door to an empty room and gesturing for them to go inside. “Just...not in the hallways please.”

Chapter Text

After many days of summertime heat, Lotus Pier and the rest of Yunmeng finally welcomed a day of cooling rain. 

It came down in sheets during the morning, splattering against the tile roofs and gravel paths, before finally winding down in the late afternoon. 

Jiang Yanli sat alone in a pavilion at the center of a lotus-laden pond, brush in hand. 

After a day of staying inside and helping her father with invoices, correspondence, and other paperwork, she’d come outside for a walk after the rain stopped. Then, being struck by the beauty of the lotus flowers following a day of rain, she decided to try to capture the scene as best she could. 

“Xiaojie.”

She looked up and saw two maids enter the pavilion with trays of tea and cakes. 

“Lian-er, Xing-er,” she nodded and smiled as they put the trays down and poured her a cup of tea. “Did you bring the new cakes to A-Cheng, A-Xian, and the others as well?”

They exchanged glances and then giggled. 

“We went to Master Wei’s room before coming here.”

“Master Lan was there too.”

“That’s right! And after I put the tray down, I saw Master Wei pick up one of the cakes and feed it to him!”

“A-Xian certainly has been in good spirits lately,” Jiang Yanli commented. 

The two maids clearly were burning with curiosity and wanted to ask her for whatever she might know about her little brother’s new engagement, probably so they could gossip with their friends later. But once they saw that she wasn’t going to volunteer any information, they bowed and stood to one side to wait for further orders.  

Jiang Yanli sighed and returned to her drawing. 

There wasn’t much she could tell them in any case, since she had been just as stunned as anyone else when hearing the news. 

While her father merely seemed to be very happy for the new couple, her mother had remained silent about the whole affair so far. Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, had been rather vocal about his displeasure to anyone who would listen.

As for herself, Jiang Yanli was somewhat conflicted. 

Part of the reason why was that she found it difficult to separate her own feelings and experiences from the matter.

Ever since she was little, she hadn’t exactly had many good experiences interacting with the children of other prominent cultivation families. Being quiet, shy, and of middling talent and beauty, she quickly learned that the other girls deemed her not worth speaking to. The boys similarly deemed her not worth speaking about. 

Going to discussion conferences was always a humiliating experience, so she begged her parents to not bring her along with them. 

At home, she had few friends, since she was the only daughter of the Jiang family. Those of a lower station thought her unapproachable, no matter what her own feelings on the matter were. 

But she did have two very precious little brothers who loved her unconditionally. She returned that love with all her might, always feeling a wonderful sort of pride in her heart whenever she heard them praised as two of the most promising in their generation. 

She, more than anyone, wanted her A-Xian to be happy, but she couldn’t help but feel uncertain in his choice of cultivation partner. 

She didn’t know all that much about Lan Wangji beyond what she’d heard from others, but she knew he was quite literally held up as a model to all the other young masters from cultivation families. 

Would he be different from the ones she’d met in the past, or just more of the same?

And beyond her own personal feelings, could someone raised in the famously strict Lan family really be compatible with her A-Xian, who seemed to regard it as a challenge whenever someone told him not to do something? 

Lost in her own thoughts, Jiang Yanli didn’t notice that she had a new visitor. 

“Miss Jiang,” said an unfamiliar voice. 

When she looked up, she was shocked to find Lan Wangji of all people standing before her. 

“Master Lan,” she said, standing up. “What brings you here?”

“Miss Jiang,” Lan Wangji said, putting both hands together and bowing to her. “I was hoping that you could teach me how to cook.”

Jiang Yanli knew that many young ladies from prominent cultivation families, her mother for example, never set foot in the kitchens or lifted a finger to do what they considered servants’ work. 

As for the young masters, it was even more inconceivable that they’d be interested in the matter.

Which was why she was so stunned to see Lan Wangji asking such a thing now. 

“Me? Teach you how to cook?” Jiang Yanli wasn’t sure she heard him correctly.

He nodded. “Wei Ying said you are the foremost authority on the matter.”

He said it in such an assured tone of voice that she wasn’t sure how to tell him that Wei Wuxian wasn’t exactly the most unbiased judge in this case. “There are many, many people who are better than me at cooking, Master Lan.”

“But Wei Ying said...” Lan Wangji didn’t seem like he could be dissuaded. 

“Just because A-Xian said so, then it must be true?” Jiang Yanli was slightly amused. 

He didn’t reply, but she thought she could probably guess what he was thinking. 

She wasn’t sure how to tell him that Wei Wuxian said a great many things on any given day, the majority of which he himself forgot within the time it took for him to wolf down a bowl of her soup. 

But her intuition seemed to be telling her that the person before her right now remembered everything Wei Wuxian said, and not only remembered, but locked it all away like some great treasure. 

For some reason, she found that a bit endearing. 

“Is there any dish in particular that you wish to learn?” she asked, a bit curious now.

“Lotus root pork rib soup,” he replied, without hesitation.

“Oh yes, that one,” she laughed. “But Master Lan, every restaurant in Yunmeng serves that particular dish. There’s no need to go to the trouble of making it yourself if you want to treat A-Xian to his favorite soup.”

Lan Wangji’s expression darkened slightly at the mention of restaurants. 

“I would rather Wei Ying not go out to restaurants so frequently,” he said. 

Jiang Yanli felt her heart skip a beat. 

Was he actually so concerned for Wei Wuxian’s welfare that he would personally go to the trouble of learning how to make him a good, nutritious homemade meal so that he might no longer over-indulge himself so much at restaurants? 

Completely overcome with this display of genuine affection for her precious little brother, Jiang Yanli decided that maybe she would teach him, after all. 

“Could you come to the kitchens tomorrow after breakfast then, perhaps around seven?” she asked. “It ought to be cleared out by then and we can use it for a few hours before they need to prepare the noon meal.”

“Thank you, Miss Jiang,” Lan Wangji bowed again and turned to leave. 

Jiang Yanli nodded and looked back down at her painting, and noticed then that she had somehow absentmindedly drawn a large, beautiful peony in the midst of all the lotus flowers. 

She sighed and put down her brush. Maybe she’d already had enough of drawing today. 

Lotus Pier’s kitchens were located some ways away from the main living quarters, but close enough to the main gate to ease the way for the many deliveries that came in every day. 

It was a large building, suitable for a major sect such as theirs with its many mouths to feed. 

It was also one of Jiang Yanli’s favorite places, somewhere she felt safe and happy. 

And it was decidedly more busy than normal when she arrived at seven o’clock the next morning, full of maids who were trying very hard to look busy and not stare at Lan Wangji, who was already waiting alone near the entrance. 

She raised an eyebrow at the scene. It seemed like Lian-er and Xing-er had told their friends what to expect. 

“Miss Jiang,” Lan Wangji bowed to her. 

“Master Lan,” she replied, returning the bow. “Please, follow me.”

Once they settled into her usual spot in the back of the kitchens, she eyed Lan Wangji’s spotless white uniform and quickly handed him one of the smocks that they used here to protect their clothes. 

“Have you ever tried cooking before?” she asked as they pulled the smocks on.

“Yes,” he replied, to her great surprise. “But the results were not what I had hoped.” 

“I see. Well, everyone has to start from scratch when they first learn something. When A-Xian tried to cook a few years ago, he managed to ruin several pots and start a small fire.”

Lan Wangji immediately looked up at the mention of her little brother. “Did Wei Ying continue his cooking studies?”

“No,” she replied, smiling. “My mother banned him from trying again, and from coming back to the kitchens without supervision. But don’t worry, he wasn’t all that disappointed.”

“Mm.” 

“So you would like to learn how to make lotus root pork rib soup?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “I would like to learn how to make it taste exactly the same as yours.” 

“Exactly the same as mine?” Jiang Yanli felt amused again. 

“Mm. Wei Ying says your soup is the best.”

Remembering his stubbornness from yesterday, she decided not to argue that specific point with him. But still, she felt the need to convince him somehow that he did not absolutely need to copy her method, since there were indeed many people in the world who could make better soup than her. 

“Master Lan,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “I think when A-Xian says he thinks the soup I make is better than all the rest, it’s because after all these years of making it for him... it now reminds him of Lotus Pier, home, and family. And I think that if you want to make it for him as well, then you should try something new, something that in the future will remind him of you instead.” 

Lan Wangji seemed to consider her words and nodded. 

“But I would be happy to teach you the basic steps, of course.” 

“I would be grateful for anything that Miss Jiang wishes to teach me,” he said, bowing again. 

“Then let us go over the selection of ingredients first. There are two schools of thought on what type of lotus roots to choose. Some people prefer to use lotus roots that are crunchy, but I prefer ones that are on the starchier side...”

Lan Wangji turned out to be a stellar student, respectful and attentive, asking pertinent questions, and at times pointing out things that she’d never even considered before. In fact, he was so completely different from what she was expecting that she found herself slowly lowering her guard around him, and starting to speak to him like he was one of her little brothers. 

But then again, they were indeed going to be family soon, were they not? 

Once they finished cooking, Jiang Yanli set out a bowl and ladled some of Lan Wangji’s newly made lotus root and pork rib soup into it. 

“Time for the moment of truth. Let’s send this to A-Xian and see what he says,” she said with a mischievous smile. Then seeing how nervous he looked, she added, “Sometimes... there are some things that we can’t seem to put into words. But we can still put those feelings into the food we make and hope that they reach the ones we love. So I guess cooking is just another way to express ourselves, don’t you agree?”

Lan Wangji’s expression softened a bit. “Mm, like composing a song.” 

“Yes, exactly,” she agreed, remembering that the Lan sect was full of musicians. 

“Thank you for teaching me, Miss Jiang.”

“Ah, there’s no need to address me as Miss Jiang,” she said. Indeed, if they were going to be family, there really was no need to be so formal. 

But her breath caught in her chest when she saw him instead give her a very deep and very formal bow.

“Yes. Shizun.” 

Chapter Text

Recently, Jiang Cheng had been dealing with a bit of a persistent headache.

Well, if he was going to be honest, it was more than just a bit of a headache. 

It was one of those species of painful, throbbing headaches that only seemed to get worse whenever he saw the thing, or more accurately, the people who had started it. 

Yes, that was right. This headache wasn’t his fault, at all. 

This whole fiasco had started a month or so ago when they were coming back from a night hunt, when Wei Wuxian’s insufferable hero complex had acted up again. 

That itself wasn’t particularly surprising. Wei Wuxian, after all, had that particular knack of always managing to insert himself into other people’s business in a way that sent the aggrieved parties crying to Lotus Pier. 

But instead of giving him a good whipping and then dealing with the fallout as she usually did, this time Jiang Cheng’s mother was actually mad enough to inflict some real consequences on Wei Wuxian. 

At first, Jiang Cheng had thought she was just trying to scare his shixiong into behaving, and it really did seem to be working, at least for a while. 

But then they actually did find a family who was interested in him, and Jiang Cheng had started to panic as well. 

He might not want to admit it, but he’d gotten used to the way things were right now. His shixiong might be loud, annoying, and a huge hassle to deal with, but he knew there was nobody else in the world he’d rather have at his side in a fight. Wei Wuxian would always have his back no matter what, and he’d just naturally assumed that he could count on his shixiong’s support, now and forever.

It wasn’t like he was scared of no longer being his shixiong’s most important person anymore, okay? 

And it wasn’t like he thought it would be clever, when Lan Wangji turned up all in a panic and asked where Wei Wuxian was, to send him to ruin the matchmaking meeting that Jiang Fengmian had set up, right? 

After all, Wei Wuxian had always been unable to focus on anything else whenever Lan Wangji showed up. It wasn’t like he could ever suspect that his shixiong was actually a cut-sleeve who’d been in love with Lan Wangji of all people ever since they were studying in Gusu, yes?

The first thing Jiang Cheng had thought when his father had told the family about the new engagement was that it all made sense now. A horrible, ridiculous, twisted kind of sense, but at least he now knew why Wei Wuxian had always been so intent on bothering that cold fish ever since they were fifteen. 

The very next thing that Jiang Cheng felt was white-hot outrage at said cold fish. What happened to being the model young cultivator that practically every cultivation family in the country used as an example of “other people’s kids?” What happened to all three thousand rules that the Lan sect handed down, none of which Wei Wuxian was capable of following at all? Did they just not matter anymore? 

It wasn’t like Jiang Cheng had always been counting on Lan Wangji to rebuff his shixiong at every turn and send him back to him for whatever small amount of sympathy he could manage at the moment, okay? 

At first, he was at a loss as to what to do now that the previously exalted Second Master Lan had decided that he was going to come down from his lofty perch, all the way down to his shixiong’s level. 

But then he started noticing little things about Lan Wangji that seemed to indicate that he was on another level entirely. 

Like whenever Wei Wuxian displayed some gross amount of affection for him in public, Lan Wangji would always lift his eyes and then give Jiang Cheng a level gaze that seemed impassive at first, but would end up feeling more smug the more he thought about it. 

Whenever Jiang Cheng tried to speak to his shixiong alone about some matter or other, Lan Wangji always had the knack of showing up and immediately diverting Wei Wuxian’s attention away. And whenever Jiang Cheng tried to invite his shixiong out for a meal like he always did, Lan Wangji was sure to show up and convince him to do something else. 

This was all then followed up by that same infuriating gaze. 

Wei Wuxian never noticed, but of course he wouldn’t since he was an idiot. 

Jiang Cheng on the other hand absolutely noticed every aggravating little challenge Lan Wangji made towards him. 

So he decided to respond in kind, and started showing up like a bright purple third wheel whenever he noticed the two of them alone together. He even made an effort to be cheerful and fake polite to Lan Wangji, while returning that same level gaze right back at him. 

Here, he had to admit that the sight of the two of them still made him uncomfortable, but his desire to get even with Lan Wangji trumped any nausea he might have at seeing two men being affectionate in public. 

He could get used to it, he thought. And besides, being a cut-sleeve wasn’t some infectious disease that he could catch just from being around them. It wasn’t like he’d end up making eyes at Lan Wangji’s brother as some sort of super petty revenge the next time he saw him, right? 

Wei Wuxian, being an idiot, was surprised to see Jiang Cheng being friendly all of a sudden, but it seemed to make him very happy. 

Lan Wangji, on the other hand, was clearly not happy, which made Jiang Cheng very happy. 

All was right with the world again until one day, when he saw Lan Wangji standing alone for once under the eaves near the training hall, watching the rain come down. He had a small bag in his hands, and once he noticed Jiang Cheng was watching, he fetched a lotus seed out of it and put it into his mouth with an insufferable amount of elegance. 

“Wei Ying peeled them, do you have any?” he asked, and for a second he looked so smug Jiang Cheng almost felt like resorting to violence. 

He couldn’t just admit that no, Wei Wuxian had never peeled lotus seeds for him before. But he also couldn’t just stand there in silence, so he made an impatient noise and walked off, still amazed at how ridiculous and petty that question was. 

It was then that he realized something important. 

That’s right, Lan Wangji wasn’t on the same level as his shixiong after all. He was on the same level as Jiang Cheng himself. 

And it seemed like he wanted to make it a competition of who could annoy the other person more. 

But that was fine. 

Jiang Cheng loved competitions of all sorts. 

And he swore that he was going to win this one. 

The first thing Jiang Cheng tried to do was enlist his sister’s help. 

Surely his sister would be sympathetic to him, instead of this ridiculous intruder. 

He was in for a rather nasty shock when Jiang Yanli listened to him and then immediately sighed and said, “A-Cheng, you mustn’t be like this. Master Lan is a very kind and decent person. I must admit that I had some reservations about him as well at first, but after getting to know him better, I can see how much he truly cares for A-Xian. I think if you made the effort to be his friend, you would surely agree with me. Could you try, for both A-Xian’s sake and mine too?” 

Jiang Cheng gave his sister the most noncommittal answer he could and then hurried away. 

He had no intention of trying to become friends, not with this adversary who’d turned his entire life upside down and now somehow managed to get even Jiang Cheng’s only sister on his side? How dare he? 

But this was fine as well. He could manage without his sister’s help, if need be.

You see, having grown up with Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng knew him better than anyone else. Which meant he knew all of his shixiong’s deepest, darkest secrets, things he would never admit to another living soul if he could avoid it. 

He knew how scared Wei Wuxian was of dogs, how his hero complex was really a front for some deep-seated self-worth issues, and how he’d never ever touched a girl’s hand before no matter what his reputation might be.

Most importantly, he was possibly the only person who knew what Wei Wuxian was like drunk. 

When they were younger, when they used to sneak out together for alcohol, he’d seen his shixiong get drunk from just a jar or two of alcohol. Once he was drunk, Wei Wuxian always seemed to revert back to a mental age of three or so, calling himself “Xianxian” and willing to do just about anything if literally anyone showed him just a little bit of affection. 

Back then, Jiang Cheng used to be scared of Wei Wuxian going off on his own and getting drunk and then following child kidnappers away if they offered him some candy. But as they grew up, he had decided that he’d rather feel sorry for the kidnappers if that ever happened.

Now that they were older, it took a great deal more than just a normal jar or two to get Wei Wuxian drunk, but he suspected the outcome would still be the same. 

So he bribed Wei Wuxian’s favorite local wine seller to make some ultra-concentrated jars of the osmanthus wine he liked so much, stashed them in his room, and waited for his chance. 

That chance finally came one day when he saw his father call Lan Wangji away to discuss some matters, leaving his shixiong alone. 

Wei Wuxian was surprised when Jiang Cheng dragged him into his room, but he was very happy to see the wine. 

He was less happy when Jiang Cheng got impatient with how slowly he was drinking and held him down to force-feed it to him, but what could he do. 

Half an hour and four jars of wine later, his shixiong’s eyes were slightly unfocused when Jiang Cheng took out a piece of candy and waved it in front of him. 

When he tried to grab it, Jiang Cheng immediately held it out of reach and asked, “Do you want it?”

Wei Wuxian nodded vigorously, still reaching for the candy.

“Peel all these seeds and I’ll give you not one, but two pieces of candy,” Jiang Cheng said, putting a pile of lotus seed pods in front of him. 

It took a lot of work, but it sure was worth it to see the look on Lan Wangji’s face when he showed up five minutes later and saw Wei Wuxian happily peeling seeds for him with a stupid grin on his face. 

Why did people always say it was difficult to read Lan Wangji’s face? Jiang Cheng thought it was absolutely easy as he watched the man’s indignant fury grow worse by the second. 

“Wei Ying, you’re drunk,” he said after he’d finally digested the scene in front of him. 

“Hmm? What’s drunk? Oh, you’re really pretty? Pretty like a flower,” Wei Wuxian replied, his voice a lot more high-pitched than usual. 

Lan Wangji looked even more mad, if at all possible. He leaned over, grabbed Wei Wuxian’s arm, and tried to drag him away from the table where they sat. 

“Wait, Xianxian hasn’t finished peeling seeds yet!” Wei Wuxian yelped, wrapping both arms around the table leg. 

By now, Lan Wangji’s patience was completely gone. 

Jiang Cheng nearly doubled over in laughter as he watched Lan Wangji sling Wei Wuxian over his shoulder and carry him off, while his shixiong whined loudly about not getting his candy. 

He popped one of his many freshly peeled lotus seeds into his mouth and decided he’d have to give Wei Wuxian an entire box full of candy later. 

Things quieted down for a few days after that, to the point where Jiang Cheng thought that Lan Wangji had given up and he was now indisputably the winner of their little competition. 

Seeing as how they’d never gone so long without visiting their favorite restaurant, he decided to ask Wei Wuxian one afternoon if he’d like to go. 

He immediately perked up at the suggestion, but then scratched his head and said that he’d already promised to eat with Lan Wangji tonight. 

Since Jiang Cheng was in a rare good mood, thinking that he was the victor in their contest, he decided to be magnanimous and say that Lan Wangji could go as well. 

“Ehm, but Lan Zhan dislikes restaurants,” Wei Wuxian said. 

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know, but he’ll literally just turn around and walk straight out if he goes into one!”

Jiang Cheng couldn’t believe his ears. Yunmeng’s restaurants were some of the finest all around, and certainly better than whatever they had in Gusu. Were they just not good enough for Lan Wangji or something? How dare he insult their local cooking like this? 

“Wei Ying? What’s wrong?”

Speak of the devil, Lan Wangji had turned up again, like magic. It was as if he had a sixth sense specially tuned to Wei Wuxian possibly going off to have fun without him. 

“Lan Zhan, want to go out to eat with Jiang Cheng and me tonight? Maybe you’ll like it better this time!” 

Lan Wangji’s expression immediately darkened. It seemed like he really did have something against their restaurants. 

If there was at least one place in Yunmeng where Lan Wangji absolutely would not go...

Jiang Cheng was now even more determined to drag his shixiong out to dinner. 

But it was not to be. 

Lan Wangji’s sixth sense must’ve picked up on the danger he was in, since the very next second he pulled Wei Wuxian closer until they were facing each other, and said, “Wei Ying, I’d rather not go out to eat.”

Then he gave Wei Wuxian a small smile. 

Jiang Cheng watched in shock as Wei Wuxian’s entire face went slack upon seeing that smile, as if his soul had temporarily escaped his body. Yes sure, even Jiang Cheng had to admit that Lan Wangji did have a nice smile, but was that reaction really necessary? 

The very next moment, Wei Wuxian had a familiar stupid grin on his face as he said, “Okay... Er-gege... Anything you want...”

It was then that Jiang Cheng realized what he was seeing. 

Wei Wuxian was acting as if he was drunk! 

He seethed at how unfair this all was.

It had taken him days of preparation and work to achieve the same effect that Lan Wangji could get just by snapping his fingers and smiling a little!

He also realized then that he’d completely misplaced the source of the pain he’d been dealing with the past few days. 

It wasn’t a headache he had, but rather heartache. 

Heartache at seeing one of his most important people grow up and move on, away from him. 

But being able to accept that both things and people change and being able to move on with grace and humility was part of growing up, he could hear a voice say to him in his heart. It sounded a bit like his father’s voice, kind and patient. 

Jiang Cheng put his foot down and stamped that voice out. 

Sure, maybe he could accept this and move on, but that didn’t mean he had to be nice about it. 

Grace and humility? Who did they think he was? He’d rather feed such things to his nonexistent pet dogs. 

Jiang Cheng pointed at the two lovebirds in front of him, who were still gazing into each other’s eyes, and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Fine! You win! Now get out of my sight!”

Chapter Text

"Seven o'clock! Time for dinner!"

Wei Wuxian could hear the gong sounding nearby and one of the older servants calling for everyone to head to the dining hall for their evening meal.

He could also hear other disciples scramble out of rooms nearby, their voices and laughter echoing through the corridors of the dormitory area where they lived. They spoke of starving after a day's worth of hard training, and how they were hoping for at least seconds or maybe even thirds tonight if Madam Yu was not around to glare at them.

Wei Wuxian was not one of them, instead staying in his room and absentmindedly drumming his fingers against his table. In fact, he hadn't been going to the dining hall for dinner at all recently.

The reason why soon showed up in the form of a knock at the door.

He scrambled up out of his chair and opened the door to find Lan Wangji standing there, carrying a rectangular wooden case that had a handle on top.

"Lan Zhan, come in! You don't have to knock!" he said, quickly ushering him inside.

Being head disciple, Wei Wuxian had his own room, unlike many of the others who had to share. It was quite large and spacious, with a bed, wardrobe, two chairs, and a table all made out of rosewood, like most of the other furniture in Lotus Pier. Unlike the dark wood used at Cloud Recesses that showed off the Lan sect's spartan tastes, the red, shimmering furniture here gave every room a more cheerful, lively feel.

He watched expectantly as Lan Wangji set the case on the floor and began to unstack the boxes inside of it. Inside of each box was a still-warm plate of food.

"You know, Lan Zhan, you still haven't told me where you've been going to get these dishes," he said in a low, slightly pleading tone of voice.

Lan Wangji merely gave him a look and continued with his task.

It was true, that despite his demonstrated dislike of restaurants, Lan Wangji had recently been disappearing every afternoon and turning up around dinnertime with his case full of food.

Where he might be going was an interesting little mystery, though one had to be extremely bored to really want to spend the time to get to the bottom of it.

Thing is, Wei Wuxian actually was that bored.

He had even stooped to secretly following him to see where he went, but that produced no results since Lan Wangji always seemed to disappear from his sight once he was in the vicinity of Lotus Pier's main gates.

And as for the food itself...

They ate in silence, since Lan Wangji still rigorously followed that whole rule about "no talking while eating." But every time they finished eating, he would always ask Wei Wuxian for his honest opinion.

"It's pretty good, better than yesterday's!" he said, after some thought. "The mapo tofu could use a bit more cooking and it's still not nearly spicy enough. And the lotus roots could be chopped a bit finer. The sliced potatoes too. And the fish could also still use some more flavor, I think. It's not nearly as good as shijie's spicy fish stew, where the fish is so good it literally melts in your mouth."

Lan Wangji nodded and seemed to make note of what he said.

That was another component of the mystery. The food didn't taste like any restaurant's he'd ever been to in Yunmeng, and he'd been to nearly all of them.

In fact, it had started out extremely bland, almost to the point where it sort of reminded him of the food at Cloud Recesses. But Lan Wangji seemed to be relaying whatever he said to whoever was making the dishes, since he could literally taste the improvement in the cooking each successive day.

Maybe in time, he'd even start enjoying this food as much as his shijie's cooking. Not that it wasn't good right now. Every single dish had clearly been prepared with a lot of care, but there was still a lot of room for improvement.

He leaned over and grabbed a jar of wine from underneath his bed.

Well, a good meal did need some good alcohol to go with it.

Lan Wangji narrowed his eyes at him as he poured himself a cup of fragrant osmanthus wine.

"Wei Ying, you shouldn't drink so much alcohol."

"What?" he asked in confusion, before remembering that Lan Wangji had been very opposed to even the sight of him drinking any alcohol after a certain incident a few days ago.

He didn't even remember what had happened, just that one moment he was being force-fed some very strong wine in Jiang Cheng's room. And then he must've blacked out, since the next thing he remembered was waking up in his own room, with his blankets wrapped so tightly around him that he almost couldn't breathe.

Neither Jiang Cheng nor Lan Wangji would tell him exactly what had happened, but it must've been bad if this was the reaction he was getting now.

But still...

"It's just one cup of wine, Lan Zhan. What's the big deal?"

Lan Wangji clearly looked unhappy, but he did not say anything as Wei Wuxian leaned over and put the jar back underneath his bed.

Thinking that was the end of it, he picked up his cup and watched as Lan Wangji did the same. Then the very next second, he almost choked on his drink as he realized that it was the tea that Lan Wangji always drank, not wine.

Which meant...

"Lan Zhan, did you steal my alcohol?" he asked in shock.

Was he really so opposed to him drinking any wine that he'd swap their cups when he wasn't looking?

Lan Wangji? The most uptight fuddy-duddy who ever lived, actually did something so underhanded? Who taught him how to do such a thing?

He felt his stomach sink a little as he remembered a certain incident involving a swapped book of pornography.

Okay, maybe he was the one who taught him, but still!

Lan Wangji did not reply but instead frowned and closed his eyes.

"Lan Zhan? Are you okay?" Wei Wuxian asked, concern now overriding his initial shock and outrage that he would do such a thing.

He responded by slumping forward, almost face-planting onto the table if Wei Wuxian hadn't caught him in time.

"Oof! Why are you so heavy? What are they feeding you in Gusu?"

Wait, he knew what they fed him in Gusu. But eating rabbit food shouldn't result in someone being so heavy that he felt like he was made out of solid rock!

"Lan Zhan, wake up," he said, patting Lan Wangji's cheeks. "Don't tell me you passed out from just a single cup?"

Lan Wangji resolutely refused to budge or wake up.

Not knowing what else to do, Wei Wuxian slowly moved him over to his bed and placed him in a more comfortable position.

But he couldn't just leave him there. It was now around eight o'clock, and if Lan Wangji didn't wake up within an hour then he would probably stay asleep until tomorrow morning.

Well, where was he supposed to sleep then if that happened? His bed wasn't big enough for two people! He couldn't just go to sleep on top of Lan Wangji!

Wei Wuxian decided that he needed to move him back to his own room, but he didn't think he could carry him all the way there. Most of his usual training focused more on being light and nimble on his feet and in reacting to his opponent. He'd never done any serious strength training before, at least not enough to drag Lan Wangji back to his room without hurting himself.

He went to the door and looked around, trying to see if he could press some passing disciple into helping him, either voluntarily or not.

He was in luck, and his eyes lit up when he saw a familiar figure walking by at the end of the hallway.

"Jiang Cheng! Psst! Come over here!" Wei Wuxian called out in a loud whisper.

His shidi didn't look very pleased to see him, but still walked down the hallway as requested.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Why are you whispering?"

Wei Wuxian didn't say anything, but instead gestured for him to come inside.

Jiang Cheng entered his room and froze when he saw Lan Wangji asleep on the bed.

"What did you do to him?" he immediately asked.

"I didn't do anything to him!" Wei Wuxian replied, outraged that Jiang Cheng would jump to such a conclusion. "He stole my alcohol and then fell asleep after drinking a single cup!"

"Lan Wangji? Stole? Your alcohol?"

His shidi clearly didn't believe a word he said.

"Okay, I know how it sounds but that's exactly what he did! He's been acting weird about alcohol ever since a few days ago."

He could've sworn that Jiang Cheng almost smiled at hearing that, but the very next moment his shidi coughed and walked closer to Lan Wangji, poking his face a few times.

"What are you doing?" Wei Wuxian hissed at him.

"Just checking to see if he's still alive. It's hard to tell sometimes with him."

"He's alive!" Wei Wuxian snapped, even more incensed.

"So it would seem."

This conversation was going nowhere, so he decided to get straight to the point.

"I need you to help me carry him back to his guest room."

"Why are you asking me? Go ask someone else."

Jiang Cheng didn't look at all happy to help. But that was to be expected. He might not be the helping type, but he always did come through in the end.

"Jiang Cheng, please. You're my wonderful, caring, helpful shidi, the only one I can ask for help whenever I have a problem. Who else could I trust with such a delicate request? Do you really want me to go ask shijie to help? Because you know I'm shameless enough to do it if you force me to."

Maybe it was the rather startling mental image of Jiang Yanli helping him carry a mostly lifeless body through the hallways, but Jiang Cheng finally broke down and agreed.

"Fine! Let's get this over with!"

Jiang Cheng didn't look any happier when they moved Lan Wangji off the bed and slung his arms around their shoulders, propping him up.

"Why is he so heavy? Is he just pure muscle or something?"

"I don't know, must be whatever they're doing up at Gusu. Do you think his brother's this heavy too?"

"What does his brother have to do with this?" Jiang Cheng glared at him as they tiptoed into the hallway. "And what are you going to say if someone sees us and asks us what we're doing?"

Wei Wuxian had to admit that the sight of the three of them right now would probably look rather strange to any passerby. But he also couldn't exactly tell the truth if they were stopped, since nobody would believe him.

"Don't worry, I'll just say he hit his head, or something."

"Are you sure he didn't actually hit his head? You better hope this doesn't get back to Gusu or you're going to have a lot to answer for."

Gusu...just the thought of Gusu gave him a headache so he usually tried avoiding it at all costs.

Luckily they didn't encounter anyone in the hallways, since it seemed like most disciples were still getting their seconds and thirds at dinner and hadn't come back yet.

After they deposited Lan Wangji in his own bed, Wei Wuxian made a mental note that maybe he should add strength training to his daily routine so he wouldn't be so out of breath after some extreme physical exertion like this.

Jiang Cheng didn't even wait for him to say thank you and immediately escaped from the room.

Wei Wuxian first sat down for a bit to catch his breath. There weren't any chairs in this guest room, so he had to sit down at the edge of the bed. Luckily Lan Wangji was still asleep, so he shouldn't mind.

After he felt well enough to go, he stood up.

Or well, he tried to, but then he felt a hand on his arm preventing him from doing so.

He looked around and saw that Lan Wangji was now fully awake, his eyes wide open and alert.

Wei Wuxian felt extremely annoyed. If they'd only waited twenty minutes then they wouldn't have needed to carry him back to his room like this.

But the next thing he felt was a very strong tug on his arm, and he suddenly found himself lying on top of Lan Wangji, staring straight into his eyes.

Wait just a second! Wasn't this the exact position he was trying to avoid? Was all his work wasted for some reason?

"Lan Zhan."

"Mm."

"You're awake."

"Mm."

Wei Wuxian glanced over at Lan Wangji's hand, which was still wrapped around his arm in an almost painful grip.

"Let go."

This time, Lan Wangji responded by tightening his grip.

"Ouch, that hurts!"

A panicked expression flickered across that normally impassive face and he immediately let go.

Wei Wuxian rolled off of him and then fell off the bed with a loud thud.

"Wei Ying! Are you okay?"

Well, he was sure he was going to be sore all over tomorrow and he could feel a dull pain in his tailbone area where he'd landed on the stone floor after falling off the bed.

"No, I'm not okay!" he groaned.

Then he watched in shock as Lan Wangji also rolled off the bed in a very inelegant manner and landed next to him with an even louder thud.

"What are you doing?" he asked, in confusion.

"You were hurt," Lan Wangji replied, his lower lip quivering with barely repressed emotion.

"...So you decided to get hurt the same exact way?" Wei Wuxian wasn't sure he could follow this logic.

"Mm."

He looked very downcast, almost like a child who'd seen his most favorite toy in the world break into pieces in front of his eyes.

Wei Wuxian couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was, but something about Lan Wangji's actions and words just didn't feel right.

"Lan Zhan... are you drunk?"

"No."

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked, holding up five fingers.

He responded by pressing his right cheek against that outstretched hand.

Okay, this definitely wasn't normal Lan Wangji that he was dealing with here.

Wei Wuxian quickly withdrew his hand, and he immediately looked sad again.

"Lan Zhan, you've caused me a lot of trouble this evening, you know. First you steal my alcohol, then I have to carry you to your room, then you grab my arm and won't let me leave. What am I going to do about you?"

Lan Wangji's lower lip quivered again. He adjusted himself into a correct kneeling position and looked downwards, as if mulling over his transgressions.

Wei Wuxian had to resist the urge to laugh. Even while drunk, he was still so serious. For some reason, he thought it was kind of cute.

"All right, I was just joking. I don't mind. In fact, it made me realize that I really need some strength training, so I'm going to go ask Uncle Jiang about that tomorrow."

Lan Wangji looked up and grabbed his arm again.

"I can help."

"You can help? With what?"

"Strength training."

"Oh thanks Lan Zhan, but I don't want to trouble you with...ahhhhh!"

He didn't get to finish his sentence since Lan Wangji stood up all of a sudden and dragged him up off the floor as well.

Far from looking downcast, he now looked extremely pleased with himself, as if he was very happy that he could be of help.

Seeing him like this, Wei Wuxian didn't have the heart to tell him no, which was a decision he soon regretted.

"Do a handstand," Lan Wangji instructed.

It was just a handstand? Well sure, he could do that.

"With only one arm."

Wait, what?

He didn't have too much time to complain and say no, he wasn't going to do this before he got manhandled into the correct handstand position.

Lan Wangji nodded approvingly and then got into the correct position as well.

About ten seconds later, Wei Wuxian felt his arm getting extremely tired after all the strain he'd put on it earlier.

"Umm Lan Zhan, how long do we have to hold this pose for?"

"Ten minutes, then we change hands."

"What?!"

He'd only thought he was humoring a drunk Lan Wangji. There was no way he was going to hold a one-arm handstand for ten whole minutes.

"Ehm, it's getting a bit close to your bedtime and I have to go attend to uhh...some head disciple stuff. Maybe we can postpone the strength training until tomorrow...?"

Lan Wangji pouted a little but nodded and jumped back up into a standing position in one fluid, practiced motion.

Wei Wuxian tried to do the same thing and almost crash landed, if not for Lan Wangji quickly catching him.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Lan Wangji's face was only inches away from his own.

"...Thanks," he said, his heart beating faster for some reason.

"You don't need to tell me thanks."

Wei Wuxian pushed him away, his face feeling very hot all of a sudden.

"All right then! I have to go...do my head disciple stuff. Checking to see if people go back to their rooms after dinner, making sure they're not doing anything bad, yeah... Good night, Lan Zhan!"

He quickly escaped out of the room and closed the door before Lan Wangji had a chance to say anything.

He waited a few seconds, but when Lan Wangji didn't follow him out he wondered exactly what he was waiting for.

Wei Wuxian rubbed his aching tailbone and decided that it was just his imagination running away from him. He did have a very active imagination after all.

"A-Xian? Are you okay?"

He glanced up and saw Jiang Fengmian standing there, a look of concern on his face.

Wei Wuxian noticed then that his clothes were in disarray after his little adventure this evening. He quickly readjusted them to make himself more presentable and bowed to his uncle, wincing a little in the process.

"Good evening, Uncle Jiang."

Jiang Fengmian looked at him, then at Lan Wangji's closed door, then back at him.

"Good evening, A-Xian. How...are you feeling?"

Wei Wuxian could never resist the urge to act like a three year old in front of his beloved uncle, so he whined, "I'm sore all over, Uncle Jiang! It hurts even to sit down."

"A-Xian, I know you're still very young, but remember, everything in moderation. If your body is telling you to stop, then it might be time to take a break for your own good," Jiang Fengmian said in a very kind and patient tone of voice. "Actually, why don't you take a break from training tomorrow to rest and recover? I...think it would be for the best."

Really? That was exactly what he needed. Without mulling over what the rest of his uncle's words meant, Wei Wuxian immediately grinned and bowed again. "Thank you, Uncle Jiang! You're the best!"

It was only after Jiang Fengmian nodded and walked off that he realized that he should've told his uncle that Jiang Cheng probably also was very sore and needed a day to recover too. Oh well.

Chapter Text

When Wei Wuxian stepped into the dining hall the next morning, stretching and yawning, he was greeted by several younger disciples.

They all looked at him with ill-disguised shock, probably because they weren't used to seeing him up and about this early.

He smiled and greeted them in turn, explaining that their shixiong just wanted a change of pace before sending them off to go do their morning exercises.

It wasn't as if he could just tell them the real reason he was up so early now was because Lan Wangji would go to his room and watch him sleep until he woke up. Just the thought of it made him nervous for some reason he couldn't really explain.

Speaking of which, he immediately spotted Lan Wangji calmly eating his breakfast alone at a table set apart from the rest.

He had the usual breakfast spread in front of him, plus two bowls of rice porridge. One of which, plain and unseasoned, he was currently eating. The other bowl, however, was bright red from the sizable amount of spices that had already been mixed in.

Wei Wuxian recognized it as the bowl that Lan Wangji would bring to his room every morning.

"Good morning, Lan Zhan," he said, yawning a little as he sat down in front of the bowl of spicy porridge and immediately tried a spoonful of it. "Ahh, this tastes delicious!"

Lan Wangji put his spoon down, having already finished his meal, and looked up at him. "Good morning."

The rice porridge really did taste amazing. The rice had been cooked to exactly the right amount of softness, while the spices gave it just the right amount of flavor without being too strong or too bland. If he was a judge, he would definitely give it a ten out of ten!

He quickly gobbled it all up before sitting back with a contented sigh.

"Wei Ying, about last night..." Lan Wangji started to say once Wei Wuxian had finished eating.

"Oh last night? Don't worry about it!" he replied, thinking that Lan Wangji wanted to apologize for stealing his alcohol.

"...what happened after I fell asleep?"

"What? You mean you don't remember anything?" Wei Wuxian's eyes widened in surprise.

"No."

"Ah, that's a pity."

Lan Wangji's eyes also widened slightly, but he remained silent.

Yesterday night's Lan Wangji had seemed so cute, so earnest, so... human. And so different from the stiff, uptight Second Master Lan he was so used to seeing!

It was as if being drunk had stripped away all the shackles his family's teachings placed on him, letting Wei Wuxian have a peek at what lay beneath the icy exterior.

And he really had liked that version of Lan Wangji very, very much!

"Well, I guess we solved the mystery of why alcohol is banned in the Cloud Recesses," Wei Wuxian said, trying to suppress a laugh. "If everyone in your family is like you, falling asleep after one cup, and then not remembering anything afterwards. I guess you learned your lesson then, and won't be taking my alcohol again in the future?"

"I would," Lan Wangji said, in a matter-of-fact way.

"What? So you liked it?"

He was not expecting to hear this, from Lan Wangji of all people.

"No. Too sweet, rather unpleasant."

"Fine, fine, I admit that your Gusu Emperor's Smile is much better, but you shouldn't be drinking if you can't handle it."

"You didn't appear to handle it much better," he replied lightly.

Wei Wuxian was about to argue that no, he was able to handle it much better than someone who turned into a log after just one cup, when a servant approached them and informed Lan Wangji that the sect leader wished to speak to him.

Instead, he was left staring dumbfounded when Lan Wangji nodded and left without another word.

He couldn't really figure out what made Lan Wangji tick.

On the one hand, he was now much nicer than he'd ever been, willing to humor him on just about everything.

But there were a few very glaring exceptions to that rule, such as his unwillingness to go to restaurants and this new aversion to seeing him drink alcohol. And for those specific exceptions, he was as stubborn as a rock and nothing seemed to be able to change his mind.

He couldn't figure out what exactly made Lan Wangji carve out those specific exceptions. He'd always thought himself very clever, but now he was faced with a mystery that he couldn't make heads or tails of.

"Trouble in paradise?" Jiang Cheng sat down in Lan Wangji's vacated seat and picked up a meat bun from one of the plates.

"What?" Wei Wuxian was jolted out of his thoughts and back to the present. "Oh, you remember how Lan Zhan fell asleep last night and we had to drag him back to his room? Well, he doesn't remember any of it, just that he stole my alcohol."

"That's not so surprising, you don't remember what happens after you get drunk either."

"What? I don't get drunk," Wei Wuxian insisted.

Jiang Cheng gave him a disbelieving look and continued to chew on his meat bun.

"In any case, he's threatening to do it again if he catches me drinking."

"Maybe he just finds you really difficult to deal with when you're drunk. I can actually sympathize with him... I can't believe I said that, but I do."

"I don't get drunk!"

"Sure, if you say so. Just don't you dare ask me for help carrying him again. I refuse."

"Jiang Cheng..."

"Don't you whine at me. And if I catch you asking my sister for help, I'll tell A-Niang."

Being threatened with Madam Yu was only second to being threatened with dogs in Wei Wuxian's fear index, so he immediately clammed up, unable to believe how both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji were being so difficult this morning.

"This meat bun is really good, like much better than usual," Jiang Cheng said, reaching for seconds.

"Hey, that's my breakfast!" Wei Wuxian said, trying but failing to slap his shidi's hand away.

"Why is your breakfast so much better than everyone else's?" Jiang Cheng asked in between bites.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "Maybe someone in the kitchens likes me."

Jiang Cheng gave him a withering look.

"Master Wei."

One of the Jiang family servants came up to their table and bowed to both of them.

"Yes, what it is it?" Wei Wuxian asked.

"You have a delivery from Nie Huaisang of Qinghe. We placed it in your room."

"Qinghe?" Jiang Cheng asked, frowning. "Nie Huaisang? What's he up to?"

Wei Wuxian also had no clue what Nie Huaisang might have sent him, and for what reason.

But he did have a bit of a bad feeling about this, since he couldn't recall his old classmate ever offering him something without wanting something else in return.

Well, there was only way one way to solve this particular mystery.

He shrugged and said to Jiang Cheng, "Let's go take a look."

The delivery in question was a very large rectangular case that looked quite sturdy and weatherproof. Whatever it was Nie Huaisang had sent, he'd taken care to pack it well.

There was also a letter addressed to him sitting atop the case.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng exchanged glances, then the former picked up the letter while the latter went about opening up the case.

Nie Huaisang's letter was short and to the point, written in his neat yet flowery hand.

Wei-xiong,

Congratulations on your engagement!

Forgive me for once having had doubts that Lan Wangji would ever return your feelings back when we were classmates in Gusu.

I had clearly underestimated Wei-xiong's charm!

Please accept these as an early wedding gift.

Perhaps you will find them useful.

There's no need to thank me.

...

...

...

But, if you insist, please remember to invite me to your wedding.

My brother has been breathing down my neck lately and I need a good excuse to get out of Qinghe for a bit.

Your friend,

Nie Huaisang

By the time he finished reading the letter, Jiang Cheng had also succeeded in opening the case and said in surprise, "Oh, it's full of books."

Wei Wuxian stared down at where Nie Huaisang had underlined the word "friend" three times, his heart pounding hard.

Feelings? What did Nie Huaisang mean about his feelings?

He didn't have much time to think it through since the very next moment, he was caught off guard by Jiang Cheng shoving one of Nie Huaisang's books into his face.

"Wha... Jiang Cheng, what are you doing..." his voice trailed off once he noticed how ashen his shidi's face was, like he'd just gotten spooked by a ghost or something.

"I need some air..." Jiang Cheng mumbled, walking past him and out of the room without a backward glance.

"What's going on?"

Wei Wuxian looked down at the book in his arms and almost dropped it when he saw what it was.

The page it was currently opened to featured a very high-quality and detailed drawing of two semi-nude figures entwined in a passionate embrace.

He flipped through the book, finding the same two figures in various other settings and... positions.

But unlike all the other books Nie Huaisang had provided in the past, the drawings in this one featured two men.

As someone who fancied himself a connoisseur of books such as these, having read enough of them to fill even Gusu's huge library pavilion, Wei Wuxian's curiosity was naturally piqued.

"It doesn't look that different," he mumbled to himself, holding the book up to the light coming in through the windows for a closer look. "But who knew you could use that for that..."

"Wei Ying?"

At the sound of the very familiar voice behind him, Wei Wuxian immediately let out a small scream.

Why was Lan Wangji here already? Usually when he went to go talk to Uncle Jiang, it took much longer than this!

And why didn't he knock before entering?

Wei Wuxian mentally slapped himself upon remembering that he himself had told him yesterday that he didn't have to knock.

He looked down at the book and then back up at his visitor, remembering his expression years ago when he ...saw one of these books.

"What are you reading?" Lan Wangji took a step closer, frowning a little.

"Nothing!" Wei Wuxian yelped, his voice slightly higher than usual, as he quickly stuffed both the book and letter inside his clothes.

Lan Wangji evidently wasn't fooled, since he narrowed his eyes and then looked over at the still-open case behind them.

Wei Wuxian's heart started pounding hard enough to burst through his chest.

If he had been mad enough back then to want to fight inside the Lan family's precious library pavilion over just one book, what would he do now if he saw an entire case full?

Wei Wuxian suddenly had a horrible mental image of having to explain why his room had exploded to Madam Yu.

Then he had an even more horrible mental image of explaining the same thing to Lan Qiren.

He felt like crying. He was too young to die, really, he was!

Lan Wangji took a step towards the case.

Wei Wuxian quickly flipped through all his options and decided that there really were no good options that wouldn't result in a great deal of pain.

But wait, there was one thing he could do, he thought, remembering his conversation with Lan Wangji from earlier this morning.

Yes, there was only one way out of this situation.

"Lan Zhan?"

Lan Wangji's attention was focused on the case, so he was caught off guard when Wei Wuxian called out his name, grabbed him by the collar, and then shoved a nearly full jar of wine into his face.

"Mmmph...!"

Lan Wangji coughed and spluttered for a few seconds, and then Wei Wuxian was there to catch him when he collapsed as expected.

He moved Lan Wangji over to his bed with some difficulty and laid him down.

"Sorry Lan Zhan, but it's better for both of us if you don't remember anything about this," he said, looking down at the figure in white. "I'll make this up to you somehow later, okay?"

Chapter Text

So what was he going to do now?

Wei Wuxian stared down at the case, mulling over his various options.

Ideally, he wanted to get it out of his room before Lan Wangji woke up.

Even though he'd end up with no memory of what happened, Lan Wangji probably wasn't going to be in a good mood when he woke up. Leaving the case sitting out here in the open was just asking for trouble.

He leaned over it and grabbed its handles, testing its weight.

"What on earth were you thinking, Huaisang-xiong," Wei Wuxian muttered under his breath as he realized the case was too heavy to carry by himself.

He absolutely needed someone to carry the case out with him. But Jiang Cheng had already warned him against asking for any more help. And Wei Wuxian might be shameless, but even he couldn't stomach asking Jiang Yanli for help with something like this.

Completely absorbed in his own thoughts, he didn't notice that he had yet another visitor standing at his door.

"Good morning, A-Xian," said Jiang Fengmian, knocking on the door and entering. "I came to see how you're feeling this morning..."

His voice trailed off as he noticed Lan Wangji sprawled out on the bed.

Wei Wuxian looked at his uncle, then at Lan Wangji, then at the case.

He felt like his head was close to exploding. If his uncle found out what he was up to, then news of this scene might end up traveling through the grapevine to Gusu, where he could only imagine how they would react.

Was the universe conspiring against him or something? Wei Wuxian had always thought surprises were the spice of life, and needed to stave off boredom in case things became too routine or mundane.

But the situation here was a bit too much for him to handle!

"Ahh...good morning, Uncle Jiang..." Wei Wuxian smiled weakly, hoping his uncle wouldn't ask too many awkward questions. He quickly rearranged Lan Wangji into a proper Gusu Lan sleeping position. "Lan Zhan is tired, so he's resting for a bit."

"Curious, he seemed fine just ten minutes ago," Jiang Fengmian remarked, a look of concern on his face.

"Oh you know how Lan Zhan is, always doing his best to not show any weakness," he replied, kicking himself for not remembering that Lan Wangji probably came to his room immediately after meeting with Uncle Jiang.

"Mm, that is true," Jiang Fengmian nodded and smiled. "And he must trust you a great deal to let his guard down when he's with you."

"Haha I guess..." Wei Wuxian said, feeling a rush of guilt for the stunt he'd just pulled a few minutes ago.

Lan Wangji clearly did trust him or else he wouldn't do something as un-Gusu Lan as drink alcohol in his presence.

And here he took advantage of that trust by force-feeding him alcohol.

"And this is..." Jiang Fengmian turned his attention to the case full of books.

"Nothing! Just some umm, study material from Nie Huaisang!" Wei Wuxian hurriedly flipped the case's lid closed.

"A-Xian," Jiang Fengmian sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Even your Master Lan is all worn out, so perhaps it's best to rest first? ...Studying can wait for another day. As I mentioned last night, your health is more important."

"Yes, Uncle Jiang," Wei Wuxian replied, nodding vigorously.

"As cultivators, we might be more resilient than non-cultivators, but even we have our limits."

"I'll be more careful in the future," he promised.

"That's good to hear," Jiang Fengmian smiled, and then his expression turned more serious. "I am preparing the sect for an important night hunt coming up in a few days. Can you promise me that you'll be in good enough condition to go? You are Yunmeng's head disciple, after all, and must set a good example for the others."

"I will do my best!" Wei Wuxian placed his hands together and bowed.

"I know you will."

Jiang Fengmian squeezed his shoulder once and turned to leave.

Wei Wuxian breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the floor next to the case once his uncle had left and closed the door behind him.

That...had turned out better than he'd thought it would. Maybe with a bit of luck, he could extricate himself from this situation without any more pain.

His confidence restored, Wei Wuxian flipped the case's lid open again and looked down at the books inside. If the case was too heavy for him to move right now on his own, he could just take out half the books first and hide them somewhere.

He fetched a few volumes out of the case, looking at their titles with a quizzical expression.

"I raised a disciple to adulthood and now he wants to do me, Who dares speak ill of shixiong, I died and reincarnated as my worst enemy's lover..."

Wei Wuxian read the titles out loud and had to stop himself from bursting into laughter.

He had to admit that they didn't sound bad.

In fact, he was kind of curious now.

But wait, did his uncle get an eyeful of these titles before he had managed to flip the lid closed just now?

Wei Wuxian decided that he probably didn't, given his lack of reaction.

He picked up a volume titled Secret Passion of the Demon King and opened it, flipping through its pages.

Until it was suddenly yanked out of his hands.

"Lan Zhan... you're awake."

Lan Wangji was indeed awake, and as expected, did not look very happy. He glared at the book in his hand, and then back at Wei Wuxian.

"Lan Zhan... I can explain..." Wei Wuxian gulped.

He hadn't expected Lan Wangji to wake up so early! Last time he had been knocked out for at least twenty minutes, and it had been barely five minutes since he fell asleep!

"This book..." Lan Wangji started to say.

Wei Wuxian looked down at the books in his lap and then up at the one being held in front of him. He debated if he should try to snatch it back, but then decided that might just make Lan Wangji even angrier.

He remembered very well what had happened the last time Lan Wangji had seen books like these.

"They're not mine, I swear!" he exclaimed, quickly shoving the books in his lap back into the case. "I just found them in this case... in my room... just now..."

"...it's boring," Lan Wangji said, finishing his sentence.

"...I promise I'll get rid of them as soon as possible..." Wei Wuxian continued to ramble, before his brain came to a screeching halt. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"It's boring!" Lan Wangji repeated angrily, and then threw the book onto the floor.

Whatever Wei Wuxian was expecting, it was not remotely in the neighborhood of Lan Wangji critiquing his taste in cut-sleeve erotica.

All the half-formed explanations in his head melted away and he could only ask weakly, "You've read that before?"

Lan Wangji ignored him and started rummaging around in the case.

"Also boring," he said, tossing a few more books out.

"...You've read all those books before?" Wei Wuxian could see the foundations of everything he ever believed in crumbling before his very eyes.

The answer was evidently yes, as Lan Wangji went through the case and tossed the vast majority of the books haphazardly all over the floor.

Wei Wuxian wasn't sure what to think. Was this some deep dark secret that he'd accidentally stumbled on? He was sure Lan Wangji would never reveal that he read any kind of erotica while sober.

Not that he was one to judge, given how much he'd read in the past. And he did feel guilty for taking advantage of Lan Wangji's trust and getting him drunk just to save his own behind.

Then, should he do the right thing and try to pretend that none of this ever happened later?

Wei Wuxian mentally slapped himself again.

But never mind that. Right here, right now, Lan Wangji was still drunk and angry and staring down at what remained in the case.

He really needed to figure out some way to stop him from getting even angrier, before this situation took a turn for the worse.

"What about this book, Lan Zhan? How's this one?" he asked, holding up another book.

"That one... is okay," Lan Wangji said after some hesitation.

"Okay, let's read it together then!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed, hoping that reading a book he liked might improve his mood.

"No!" Lan Wangji snatched the book away.

"What?" Wei Wuxian was confused.

"You're not allowed."

If he wasn't just imagining things, he almost thought that Lan Wangji was upset with him for wanting to read something that he himself had already read!

Telling Wei Wuxian that he couldn't do something was a surefire way to make him want to do it, more than anything.

"Lan Zhan, er-gege, aren't you being a bit unfair? You've already read all these books, and you won't let me take a look at even one?"

Lan Wangji ignored him and looked away.

Wei Wuxian had to try hard not to laugh at how childish he was being.

"Er-gege, I really want to take a look, can I, please?" he pleaded, grabbing ahold of his white sleeve and tugging on it.

Lan Wangji looked up at him, and he actually had the nerve to look like the aggrieved party in this situation, his eyes a bit red and his ears slightly pink. His lips quivered a little as he said haltingly, "I... I can show you."

"Oh, you wanted to show me the book yourself?" Wei Wuxian replied brightly. "Sure, that's fine too..."

His voice trailed off as he noticed Lan Wangji starting to emit a killing aura.

The very next second, the book in question exploded into a million little pieces.

"Lan Zhan, what are you doing?" he exclaimed, completely confused now. He'd thought they were finally getting somewhere, but then his mood had suddenly worsened.

Lan Wangji picked up another book, also exploding it into tiny little pieces.

"Okay, okay... Er-gege, if you hate these books that much we can just get rid of them, all right? So you don't have to see them anymore! Wait, I know! Let's just put them all back in the case, take them outside to some secluded corner of Lotus Pier, and bury them. Is that all right?"

It wasn't an ideal solution, but he really needed to convince Lan Wangji to stop what he was doing. At least before someone came to his room to investigate the loud noises coming from inside.

Lan Wangji looked at him, hesitated a bit, and then nodded.

Wei Wuxian hurried to pack all the books back inside the case before he changed his mind.

"There, all done," he said, closing the lid and latching it shut. "Lan Zhan, you're going to have to help me carry it outside though since I don't think I can do it myself..."

Wei Wuxian ended up being rather speechless when Lan Wangji leaned over and easily picked up the case with one hand.

What in the world?

Lan Wangji was stronger than him and Jiang Cheng put together?

He stood there now, staring at Wei Wuxian and not looking the least bit strained from carrying the case all by himself.

"All right then, umm... follow me."

Wei Wuxian shrugged and led the way out of his room.

After all the surprises during this rather stressful morning, he was really starting to feel tired. He never expected Lan Wangji to be this difficult to deal with while drunk.

And he also had nobody to blame but himself.

Wei Wuxian thought back to a conversation from earlier this morning and decided that if he really was this difficult to deal with, then maybe it'd be best if he avoided drinking alcohol in Lan Wangji's presence from now on.

Chapter Text

The hallways near Wei Wuxian's room were mercifully empty when they left his room, giant case of erotica in tow.

At this hour, most of the other disciples were probably lined up outside in the training grounds, doing their morning exercises under the watchful eye of Madam Yu.

Wei Wuxian shivered a little. Just the thought of her was enough to send a jolt of fear through his body, but at least there was little to no chance of running into her right now.

In fact, he really didn't want to run into anyone, not even any of the servants right now.

For one, he was extremely tired in both mind and body, and didn't feel up to explaining what he was doing.

And secondly, he had no way of predicting what Lan Wangji might say or do.

Normal, sober Lan Wangji was usually one of the most predictable people he knew, like an eighty year old man stuck in an eighteen year old body.

And...the current, not-so-sober version seemed like the complete opposite.

Unlike him, Lan Wangji actually had a spotless reputation that needed protecting, one that probably would be in danger if they ran into anyone else.

What if he just continued to straight up blurt out his reading habits to other people? Even worse, what if he also offered to show them the books like he did just a few minutes ago?

Just one look was enough to send Jiang Cheng fleeing from the room. Surely Lan Wangji offering to show him even more of those books wouldn't be good for anyone's health.

Wei Wuxian didn't want him to be completely unable to face the other residents of Lotus Pier after he finally sobered up.

Especially when this entire fiasco wasn't his fault at all.

Wei Wuxian looked sideways at him, noting that he'd been thankfully very quiet and obedient ever since they left his room.

He still didn't know what to make of this discovery that Lan Wangji had read all the books in the case he was carrying.

It was shocking, to be sure... The last time he could recall being this surprised... Well, it was when he found out that Lan Wangji wanted to marry him.

Something clicked in the back of his mind, but before he gave any more thought to what it was, he noticed that they'd arrived at the gardener's quarters.

Lotus Pier's gardener, a kindly old man of about sixty, had doted on Wei Wuxian and his adopted siblings ever since they were children.

He was currently not here, but surely he wouldn't mind if Wei Wuxian borrowed one of his tools and then returned it shortly afterwards?

He grabbed a sturdy-looking metal shovel and went over his mental map of the area, searching for a suitable location to start digging.

After years of more or less climbing all over the place, Wei Wuxian knew the entirety of Lotus Pier like the back of his hand.

He knew which places would be out of the way enough that nobody would stumble on them, because he'd already spent a great deal of time in those places hiding from Madam Yu, whenever the occasion called for avoiding her wrath for a while.

He finally chose a spot near the perimeter walls where he had once helped Jiang Yanli try to grow a secret vegetable garden.

Back then, his shijie had said she wanted to personally grow the ingredients for a new dish she was studying. Only then could she know for sure that it would be the best that she could possibly make it.

After catching her hauling buckets of water over to the garden, Wei Wuxian managed to convince her to let him help and that he was sure to keep it a secret, since they both knew Madam Yu would not approve.

In the end, Madam Jin and her son coincidentally arrived for a visit just as everything was ready. Then Wei Wuxian watched as said idiot son turned up his nose at his shijie's cooking and refused to try it.

Jiang Yanli lost interest in gardening after that episode, and he suspected that obnoxious peacock had everything to do with it.

Nowadays the original garden looked much less like a garden and more like just an abandoned plot of loosened earth, though the poles where his shijie had once cultivated string beans still stood upright.

"All right, this place is good enough," Wei Wuxian said and prepared to start digging.

Or he would have if Lan Wangji hadn't dropped the case and snatched his shovel away.

"Lan Zhan?" he asked in confusion.

"I'll do it," came the reply.

"What? No, I'll do it," Wei Wuxian hurriedly said and tried to snatch the shovel back. He doubted that Lan Wangji had ever done any physical labor in his entire life, and he feared for what that white Gusu Lan uniform might end up looking like if he let this continue.

Lan Wangji held the shovel up, and seemed to look at him with amusement when he couldn't reach it.

"Are you making fun of me for being just a tiny bit shorter than you, Lan Zhan?" Wei Wuxian didn't find this amusing at all.

"Mm."

"Why you..." Wei Wuxian tackled him, conveniently forgetting that he had been worried about Lan Wangji's uniform just a minute ago.

But that didn't turn out quite as expected either, since he didn't factor in Lan Wangji's ridiculous arm strength.

He not only failed to wrestle the shovel away, but also ended up watching in shock as Lan Wangji grabbed both of his wrists with one hand and then removed the now not-so-white ribbon with the other.

Wait, what?

That ribbon?

When Wei Wuxian finally realized what was happening, Lan Wangji had managed to tie his hands together with the ribbon and was in the process of tying him to one of the poles.

"Lan Zhan!" he yelled, flailing a bit and trying to struggle free. "What are you doing? You can't just tie me to a pole like this! What do you think I am? Your donkey?"

"Shh..." Lan Wangji made a shushing sound at him.

Wei Wuxian wanted to continue to argue, but then decided against it after he had a brief moment of mental clarity.

What on earth was he doing, rolling around in the dirt and arguing with someone who was clearly not in full possession of all his mental faculties?

And besides, if someone heard him yelling and came to find him like this, then he'd be the one who wouldn't be able to face the other residents of Lotus Pier!

He really didn't understand himself sometimes.

As he constantly reminded everyone, he was clever, quick-witted, and an absolute genius the likes of which few had ever seen.

But as soon as he came within sight of Lan Wangji, he found it difficult to focus or to even apply logical decision-making.

He gave up and leaned back against the pole, waiting for this to all be over.

If Wei Wuxian had thought that Lan Wangji would untie his hands after they finally got rid of that case of incriminating material, he would soon find out that he was sorely mistaken.

Instead, he found himself being dragged back to the more populated areas of Lotus Pier, his hands still bound.

"Lan Zhan..." he said in a pleading tone of voice. "Aren't you going to untie me?"

Then, seeing as how he was completely ignored, he decided to try a different strategy.

"Lan Zhan!" he cried, his voice much sharper this time. "If you don't untie me, then I... I won't play along anymore!"

Lan Wangji immediately turned around and said, "Okay. Let's play."

We Wuxian meant that he would stop humoring him just because he was drunk, but Lan Wangji seemed to have selective hearing of the worst sort, only hearing what he wanted to hear.

They'd already arrived back at the living quarters and Wei Wuxian could hear the other disciples coming back from their morning exercises.

Panicking, he tried to push Lan Wangji into an empty room.

"Lan Zhan, let's just play hide-and-seek then for a bit, okay...?" he said in a loud whisper.

"Shixiong!"

It was too late, and suddenly he found himself facing a crowd of Jiang sect disciples, all of whom were looking at him with some degree of worry on their faces.

"Shixiong, what happened to you? Why are you two covered in dirt?" asked one.

Wei Wuxian tried to force a smile. Well, it was true that both of them were covered in dirt from their little tussle in the garden.

"It's nothing, we just umm, fell in a hole..."

"You were tied up, not near the hole," Lan Wangji cut him off.

He felt like his head was close to exploding again. Did Lan Wangji have to follow the rule about not telling lies even when he was drunk?

By now the other disciples were starting to notice that Wei Wuxian's hands were still tied together.

"Who knew shixiong was into this sort of play..." someone muttered.

His sixth shidi nodded and mumbled, "We heard shixiong was so unwell you couldn't come to train today, and we were worried..."

So on top of everything else, all his fellow disciples thought he was sick?

Lan Wangji froze and then turned to look at him.

Wei Wuxian's heart skipped a beat when he saw the worried expression on that perfect, beautiful face. He hadn't seen Lan Wangji look this troubled since, well, when he thought his marriage proposal was rejected.

"No, I'm not sick...ack!" Wei Wuxian yelped as Lan Wangji slid one arm underneath his legs and another below his back, picking him up. "I'm just a bit tired and sore! I can walk!"

His fellow disciples looked on in stunned silence as Lan Wangji carried him off.

Wei Wuxian stopped struggling as soon as they turned a corner and were out of their sight.

"Lan Zhan."

"What is it?"

"You're sober now, aren't you?"

"Mm."

Wei Wuxian exhaled loudly and asked, "Ehm, do you remember anything?"

"I heard that you were ill and..." he started to say, before Wei Wuxian quickly interrupted him.

"I'm not sick at all, really! I just ran into Uncle Jiang last night and mentioned that I was a bit tired. I haven't gotten sick in years, just ask Jiang Cheng!"

Lan Wangji hesitated and frowned at the mention of his shidi.

Seeing that they had arrived back at his room, Wei Wuxian took the opportunity to jump out of his arms and stand again on his own two feet.

Lan Wangji still looked worried and somehow decided to not ask any questions about why they were covered in dirt, what they'd been doing for the past hour, or even why his precious ribbon was still tied around Wei Wuxian's wrists.

"If you're tired, then rest," he finally said, before reaching out to slowly unwind the ribbon.

Wei Wuxian nodded vigorously and massaged his aching wrists.

"You too, Lan er-gege. I'll come find you later for dinner."

"Mm."

Wei Wuxian closed the door to his room and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was finally all over, and he wasn't sure if he even gained anything out of this weird little adventure.

One thing was certain though. He was never drinking alcohol in Lan Wangji's presence again.

As for everything else...

He dug around in his uniform and found Nie Huaisang's letter as well as the original book he'd been looking at before Lan Wangji walked in.

"Resentment of Chunshan..." he read the book's name out loud and flipped open its cover.

Well, if all of Lotus Pier thought he was sick, he might as well just stay in his room today and study all that remained of Nie Huaisang's present.

Did Lan Wangji seriously think that he wasn't going to find a way to read these books?

He should've known that Wei Wuxian always got the last laugh.

Chapter Text

When Wei Wuxian finally woke up, the first sign they had of the happy news was a loud thud coming from inside his room.

Jiang Fengmian had been standing just outside his doorway, consulting with the old doctor who'd treated both his boys ever since they were small children.

When he heard the noise, he immediately pushed the door open, only to see Wei Wuxian sprawled in a heap on the floor by his bed.

"A-Xian!" he cried out, hurrying to his side. "You mustn't leave your bed so soon."

Wei Wuxian looked dazed, his eyes slightly out of focus. Still, that didn't stop him from looking around the room and then grabbing Jiang Fengmian's arm.

"Uncle Jiang, where's Lan Zhan? And Jiang Cheng? Where are they?"

Jiang Fengmian sighed as he helped Wei Wuxian back into bed, gently but also clearly not tolerating any dissent.

"A-Cheng still hasn't woken up, but the doctor says that he is in no danger. As for Master Lan, the Lan sect sent several people to take him home while you were all still unconscious."

Several emotions flickered across Wei Wuxian's face in that moment in quick succession: relief, surprise, and then a sense of loss. He blinked several times, and then, as if he wanted to change the topic, raised his arm and looked at his wrist in confusion.

"We had to seal off your spiritual energy while the medicine is doing its job of healing your meridians, A-Xian. I just spoke to the doctor, and it should only be for a few more days."

"Oh..." Wei Wuxian stared blankly at his arm for a while, speechless for once.

Jiang Fengmian gave him an understanding smile. For someone as strong and talented as his A-Xian, suddenly being without any spiritual energy at all must feel very strange indeed.

"Now that you're awake, would you like to tell me what happened in that night hunt?"

He had been waiting an entire day to ask that question, ever since he saw the Yunmeng Jiang's lotus signal flare appear above the mountain temple where his sect's juniors were investigating.

Jiang Fengmian's first reaction at the time had been surprise.

He couldn't remember the last time a group of their juniors ran into any trouble during a training trip like this. Even other sect leaders frequently expressed their awe at how intelligent and resourceful his head disciple was, and he was very much inclined to agree with them.

However, his surprise was replaced soon by worry when he made his way up the mountain on his sword, and saw a crowd of his sect's juniors standing near the outskirts of the temple's grounds.

And then that worry was replaced by panic when he saw that Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, and Lan Wangji were not with them.

When pressed on the matter, the juniors gave him scattershot replies about their shixiong telling them to run, strange disappearances, and a painted wall inside the temple.

Since they were all too traumatized to provide much useful information, he rushed inside the temple with several retainers, his guard up against anything unnatural that he might find.

To his surprise, the place was completely empty, with nary a soul to be found.

It was simply a very ordinary temple, except for one rather extraordinary interior wall covered with a beautifully painted mural.

It depicted a heavenly palace surrounded by brightly colored clouds, with around a hundred people in its courtyards, hallways, and rooms.

The juniors outside had already mentioned this wall, so Jiang Fengmian approached it warily, but could not detect anything strange about it at first glance.

When he was about to take a closer look, he was suddenly interrupted by all three boys somehow appearing out of thin air in front of the wall and then flying towards him, as if they had been suddenly and forcefully ejected from somewhere.

All three appeared to be unconscious at first, but Wei Wuxian managed to regain just enough consciousness to grab his uncle's arm and mumble something about destroying the temple.

"We demolished the temple as you asked, A-Xian," Jiang Fengmian said, pouring two cups of tea. "Now will you tell us why?"

Wei Wuxian grimaced slightly and looked down at the teacup his uncle handed him. He seemed to be deep in thought for a while before he asked in a small voice, "Uncle Jiang, will you promise not to get angry with me?"

"Why do you think I would get angry with you?"

He likely had no idea how much he resembled his mother, and in a way that Jiang Fengmian found hard to bear if there was even a trace of sadness on that face.

There was no way he could ever be angry with him.

"Both Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng were very angry with me," he said in an even smaller voice, still looking away. "I've never seen either of them so angry before..."

"Oh? Even Master Lan?" Jiang Fengmian had to admit that piqued his interest.

Try as he might, he couldn't imagine Lan Wangji getting angry with his head disciple, not with how smitten that boy clearly was.

Wei Wuxian nodded, clearly looking very unhappy.

Jiang Fengmian sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "A-Xian, why don't you tell me exactly what happened? Then we can decide if their anger was reasonable or not."

Wei Wuxian hesitated for a moment and then launched into his tale.

As the one who sent the sect's juniors out on the night hunt, Jiang Fengmian already knew the background of the story.

A few days ago, he had received some visitors from the Zhang family from nearby Wuchang city. They were a well-known scholar family and came bearing gifts, hoping to receive help on a pressing matter.

About a month or so ago, the third son of the family had been traveling west from Wuchang to visit some relatives in Chengdu. However, both he and his manservant had mysteriously disappeared along the way.

Panicking, the family managed to track the two all the way to the mountains near Baling, where all traces of them vanished. There were no bandits in that area, nor did any of the locals recall seeing any of Master Zhang's many belongings showing up in their markets.

After some further investigation, they did hear about a certain abandoned temple up in the mountains that all the locals knew to avoid. It was a place of ill repute, and rumors had it that sometimes unsuspecting travelers who wandered in to spend the night ended up disappearing by the following morning.

Suspecting that they were dealing with something more supernatural in origin, the Zhang family decided to come to the Jiang sect for help.

In other smaller sects, something like this might be given to a more experienced retainer or dealt with by the sect leader himself. However, Jiang Fengmian had every reason to believe that his sect's juniors could handle it, so he sent them off on a training trip to gain more experience.

"We questioned all the townspeople that we could get to talk to us," Wei Wuxian explained. "They said the temple had been abandoned for at least a century and that everyone who lived nearby was too scared of going up there even during the day. When we asked why they didn't ask some cultivators to come look at it before all this happened, they said they couldn't afford it and nobody in their families had gone missing, so why bother?

"Lan Zhan wasn't too happy when he heard that, and frankly I wasn't either. But we couldn't just start arguing the point with them, so I rounded everyone up and we went up the mountain to take a look at this temple.

"It was evening when we got up there, and it was just as all the townspeople had described. Completely deserted and nothing too unusual about it at first glance. It was just an ordinary temple with a single room, an empty altar where some long-forgotten god was once worshipped, and four walls.

"But once you thought about it, there were two strange things about this temple. First one was of course that painted wall. If the temple had really been abandoned over a hundred years ago, then why was the paint still as bright as if it had been painted yesterday?

"And secondly, the temple itself. If a building has nobody taking care of it, you would expect it to fall into disrepair within a few years. But this one was still standing after a hundred with no cracks in the walls, no vegetation creeping onto its grounds even though it's surrounded by a forest on all sides.

"Lan Zhan agreed with me that it was strange, but we couldn't detect any signs of resentful energy at that point. So we decided to stay the night and see what would happen, since all the stories pointed to people disappearing at night.

"At first nothing strange happened and I told everyone else that they could go to sleep for now while I kept watch. Lan Zhan insisted on staying up with me though, and then Jiang Cheng did as well.

"The two of them didn't seem too interested in talking to each other, so I tried to keep the conversation going as long as I could. But then I looked at Lan Zhan and asked him if he was okay staying up past the Lan sect's usual bedtime, and he looked at me and said he would be fine. When we looked away from each other though, we saw that Jiang Cheng had disappeared.

"In the few seconds during which neither of us was keeping an eye on him, he had simply vanished.

"I immediately woke everyone up and told them to search for Jiang Cheng, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Then Lan Zhan pointed something out to me. He said that when we came in during the evening, there were one hundred and eight people in the wall mural.

"Well, we both counted again. There were now one hundred and nine people on the painted wall."

Even while recounting what had happened, the panic on Wei Wuxian's face was obvious.

Jiang Fengmian could also feel a cold sweat breaking out from hearing the story, both from learning how close to danger his son had come and from fear of what his A-Xian was about to do next.

He poured the two of them another cup of tea and asked, "What did you do then?"

Wei Wuxian gulped down some more tea and then said, "I ordered everyone out of the temple and told them to send up the signal flare. And then I started pounding on the wall and yelling for it to let me in too.

"Lan Zhan got really angry at me and tried to pull me out of the temple, but I was too fast for him and pulled his ribbon down over his eyes. And just like that, as soon as he broke eye contact, I was inside."

"A-Xian..." Jiang Fengmian sighed. "That was very reckless. Master Lan was correct. When you did not know what it was you were dealing with, you should have waited outside with the others for help."

"You're right, Uncle Jiang. It was reckless of Lan Zhan to follow me inside when he had no idea what we were dealing with," Wei Wuxian replied, visibly angry.

Jiang Fengmian felt as if his belief that he could never get angry with Wei Wuxian was starting to be tested, but he decided to hear the rest of the story before passing judgment.

"Jiang Cheng wasn't very happy to see me, and we all spent a few minutes shouting at each other before we calmed down enough to look around at the situation that we were in.

"We seemed to be in an alternate world of sorts, one that looked exactly like what the mural depicted. It was all very bright and shiny and beautiful, except for the bodies lying scattered around the place, all in various states of decay. We counted them up and there were exactly one hundred and eight.

"That was one cause for concern. The other was that we could all feel our spiritual energy being slowly drained from our bodies. It seemed like whatever this thing was, it was in the habit of taking in travelers into this alternate world and then slowly feeding on them, like a spider and its web. Jiang Cheng then found this room with more murals, and we finally got a better idea of what this thing that had trapped us was.

"Over a hundred years ago, this used to be a temple dedicated to worshipping some sort of local mountain god. There was a caretaker who lived nearby, one who was very fond of painting. He was the one who originally drew the mural on the interior wall behind the mountain god's statue when it still stood on the altar. And he was the one who welcomed travelers if they wanted to spend the night there and rest.

"Unfortunately, this caretaker welcomed one night a pair of travelers who beat and robbed him before leaving him for dead. He died before the night was over, and then his ghost seemed to unwilling to move on, instead melding into the temple that he cared for until they were one and the same.

"We tried to talk to him and got no response, so we tried to find a way out but couldn't find anything that would work. Meanwhile, we were starting to run out of spiritual energy so our time was almost up. So I came up with a different plan.

"This caretaker clearly loved his paintings a lot, so he probably wouldn't be very happy if someone were to draw something else on top of them, right? Luckily Lan Zhan had some ink in his qiankun bag for drawing talismans, so I borrowed it and started drawing on the murals."

Jiang Fengmian had a bad feeling about this.

"What did you draw?" he asked gingerly.

"Ehm, well, there's something that Jiang Cheng saw a few days ago that produced quite the effect on him, so I figured that the caretaker, being an artist who only drew holy paintings, would have an even bigger reaction..."

Jiang Fengmian was immediately reminded of the case full of books that Wei Wuxian had sitting around in his room a few days ago.

...So Jiang Cheng was reading them too? Was this out of curiosity? He did tend to be easily influenced by his shixiong...

He decided that maybe it was time to have a talk with his son.

"And well, you probably saw what happened afterwards. We got knocked out and ejected from the place, so I guess my plan worked after all."

Jiang Fengmian decided to not discuss the specifics of Wei Wuxian's brilliant plan, and instead focused on a more pressing matter.

"A-Xian," he said, in the most patient tone of voice possible. "Why did you rush into danger without knowing what lay ahead?"

"Jiang Cheng was in danger," Wei Wuxian protested. "I couldn't just sit and wait for help to come."

"And in so doing, you put yourself in danger as well. A-Xian, I know you care very much for A-Cheng, but what about those who care about you? Tell me, how did you feel when you saw Master Lan come after you?"

"I... I..." he stammered, being at a loss for words for once. "I was upset."

"A-Xian, you need to learn to love yourself before you can love others."

Those words seemed to hit Wei Wuxian with the force of a lightning bolt. He was speechless for a while, his face turning white and pink in patches.

"I just thought if anything happened to Jiang Cheng on my watch," he said after half a minute's silence, "there'd be no way I could face you or Madam Yu or shijie... I mean, you took me in from the streets and raised me..."

Jiang Fengmian felt a great pain in his heart at hearing these words.

Cangse Sanren had chosen Wei Wuxian's courtesy name at his birth, wishing him to be free from envies and all the attendant burdens that came with such things.

After taking the boy in, he had tried to raise him the same way that his parents would have if they had the chance. But instead, he now had on his hands a child who was deeply weighed down by the obligations that he felt to his adoptive family, to the point where it made him reckless with his own well-being.

It almost made Jiang Fengmian feel like he had failed in some way.

"A-Xian, listen to me," he said, "when we took you in and raised you, our feelings did not come with any price tags or obligations. They were freely given. But if you feel that you must do something to repay us, could you promise us something? Promise that you won't do something like this again, that you'll never be this careless again about your own health and safety. Can you do that?"

Wei Wuxian's face was still alternating between different shades of white and pink, but he nodded obediently.

"I promise, Uncle Jiang."

"Good. We will all hold you to that promise," Jiang Fengmian smiled, his heart feeling a bit lighter. "Especially your Master Lan."

At the mention of Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian looked troubled again.

"I hope he's not too angry with me..."

"I don't think he'll be able to stay angry for long," Jiang Fengmian replied, before standing up to leave. "Rest for now, A-Xian. I have to go check on A-Cheng."

"Oh, Uncle Jiang, one more thing!" Wei Wuxian called out, rummaging around in his sleeves a bit before pulling out two pieces of cloth. One was a beautiful handkerchief, made of green silk and embroidered with plum blossoms. The other was a piece of rough cloth that looked like it had been torn off of a sleeve.

"If you could, please return this to the Zhang family," he said, handing the two pieces of cloth over. "The handkerchief we found on their son's body. Lan Zhan tore the other piece off the servant's sleeve. We thought that the servant must also have his own family who are worried for him."

"Thank you, A-Xian, I will do just that," Jiang Fengmian replied.

Chapter Text

Wei Wuxian had another strange dream.

He dreamed that he was in Gusu again.

It was a place that he had once completely sworn off, though now he was almost pleased for some reason to see the white walls, black tile roofs, and stone paths, all illuminated by the light of a full moon.

He leaped up onto the roof of one of the taller buildings and gazed around, thinking that it was on a night just like this that he met Lan Wangji for the first time. He sighed and sat down, wondering what Lan Wangji might be dreaming of at this very moment.

If he had to hazard a guess, then it was probably something involving sect rules.

He shuddered and then decided that maybe it was best not to imagine what went on in Lan Wangji's dreams.

The very next moment, he blinked and suddenly saw a familiar figure in white standing on a nearby rooftop, facing away from him.

"Lan Zhan!" he cried out, but Lan Wangji remained motionless, as if he was ignoring him.

Panicking, Wei Wuxian ran towards him and reached out, only to see Lan Wangji vanish into nothingness, leaving him grasping nothing but air.

"Aaaaaaa!"

Wei Wuxian woke up screaming again.

He looked around, his heart still pounding hard.

This was his room in Lotus Pier, and it was currently six o'clock in the morning.

But unlike last time when there was someone here to ask him what was the matter, this time his room was empty.

Wei Wuxian sighed and rubbed his eyes a few times before sitting up in bed, only to scream again when the door to his room was suddenly kicked open.

"What are you screaming for this early in the morning?" Jiang Cheng yelled back at him, standing in the doorway while still in his underclothes. "You want to wake up everyone in Lotus Pier?"

"Jiang Cheng!" he exclaimed, happy that his shidi had come to listen to his woes. "I had a dream about Lan Zhan just now, and..."

His voice trailed off when Jiang Cheng turned around and walked out at the very mention of Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian blinked once or twice before scratching his head and getting out of bed.

Maybe Jiang Cheng thought he was being silly, screaming about Lan Wangji at six in the morning.

And now that he thought about it, maybe it was a bit silly.

Lan Wangji had been gone for only three days, and here he was acting like a young maiden pining for her first love.

Wait, what?

Wei Wuxian clapped his hands against his cheeks, forcing himself to wake up, since he clearly wasn't in complete possession of all his wits.

But that wasn't entirely his fault.

While Lan Wangji was still here at Yunmeng, Wei Wuxian had spent a great deal of his waking hours thinking about him in some way or other.

That wasn't anything surprising, really, since Lan Wangji chose to spend the vast majority of the time in his company.

But now that he wasn't here anymore, and it was time to go back to his regular life, Wei Wuxian still found himself spending a great deal of time thinking about him.

There just wasn't any way to shake the feeling that there were a great many things missing without him here.

And his current mental state could also be because of that talk he had with his Uncle Jiang two days ago.

A-Xian, you need to learn to love yourself before you can love others.

Now that word was bouncing around in his head like an especially persistent insect, constantly demanding his attention and distracting him from whatever else he was doing.

He didn't want to admit it, but he had in fact been thinking about that word for two days now. And while he was probably inexperienced in such matters, he suspected that the first instance of it differed a lot in meaning from the second.

Learning to love himself?

He could maybe comprehend that from the looks of anger and concern he had seen on so many faces after he did something that was admittedly very reckless.

But as for the second meaning of the word...

Really, what exactly was love, especially that sort of love, supposed to be like?

If someone had asked him that question before, he would've just laughed and dismissed it as unimportant.

But now, if he tried to respond in the same way, he could only feel the laughter die in his throat, while something deeper down in his chest ached.

"Ahhhh, what's wrong with me?" Wei Wuxian exclaimed to nobody in particular.

He stood up and started pulling his clothes on.

After being stuck in his room recuperating for two entire days, maybe what he needed was some fresh air to clear his mind.

As it was now fast approaching autumn here in Yunmeng, the morning air had a bit of a chill to it.

It was probably even colder up on that mountain in Gusu, Wei Wuxian thought as he made his way to the dining hall for some breakfast.

Lan Wangji always got up even earlier than him. Was he dressing properly for the cooler temperatures? He must be recuperating from the night hunt too. It wouldn't be good if he caught a cold as well.

Wait, what was he worrying about? Of course Lan Wangji would dress properly for the weather. There was nobody more responsible than him.

"Shixiong!"

"Shixiong! How are you feeling?"

"Shixiong, are you all better yet?"

A chorus of voices greeted him as he stepped into the dining hall, distracting him from his thoughts.

"Of course I'm all better," Wei Wuxian replied as he took a seat and watched his sixth shidi place a tray of food in front of him. "As if some trifling ghost could do any lasting damage."

"That's wonderful!"

"I knew it! Shixiong is the best!"

"So you can come back for morning exercises today? You promised to spar with us!"

"Mmm, not yet. The doctor said he'd check Jiang Cheng and me first thing tomorrow morning and if we're all better, then they'll unseal our spiritual energy. And then we can finally get back to our training."

He put a spoonful of porridge into his mouth and then frowned.

"Is something the matter?" asked his sixth shidi. "Is it the porridge? I tried to season it just the way shixiong likes it..."

"No, everything's fine."

Wei Wuxian forced a smile and picked up another spoonful, even though he privately thought that nothing was fine, and it would never be fine again.

Everything was going haywire, and he had no idea what he should do.

Even his breakfast didn't taste nearly as good when Lan Wangji wasn't here?

"So...shixiong, you haven't told us how you actually beat that ghost in the painted wall," said one of the other juniors, sidling up to him. "Can you tell us? We've really been dying to know..."

Wei Wuxian almost choked on his spicy porridge.

There were definitely at least a few rules on the wall in Gusu about not corrupting the youth.

He put down his spoon and stood up to shoo all the gathered disciples off to their morning exercises.

It was only after they all left, somewhat unwillingly, that he wondered why his immediate reaction was to think of all those horrible rules that he definitely disliked a great deal?

He stared down at his breakfast and decided that he'd lost his appetite.

Since he was supposed to spend the day resting and not doing anything too strenuous, Wei Wuxian walked aimlessly around Lotus Pier for a while, enjoying the fresh morning air and trying to clear his head.

Or well, that was his plan until he saw a most welcome personage reading a book outside in her favorite lakeside pavilion.

"Shijie!" he cried out, waving and running up to her.

Jiang Yanli looked up and smiled when she saw him.

"A-Xian, you look much better today," she said, while putting her book away and standing up to get a better look at him.

"I feel much better! Almost at peak condition! I could go beat up another hundred ghosts right now for you to see!"

"I know you can. Our A-Xian is the strongest and smartest there is."

Without going too much into detail as to whether or not that was accurate, Wei Wuxian nodded and felt a little better.

Praise from his shijie always cheered him up.

"But you seem to be a bit out of spirits?" Jiang Yanli was still peering up at his face.

For a few seconds, he continued to feel the usual urge to put on a fake smile and pretend that everything was fine.

But looking at logically, was there even any point? His shijie clearly would be able to tell that he wasn't telling the truth. He didn't want to give her any unnecessary worries, since his shijie was one of the best people in the world. She didn't deserve that.

But he also couldn't just straight up confess what was bothering him, since he found it a bit... embarrassing.

That feeling in and of itself was something new, but placed against all the other very unfamiliar feelings driving him to distraction, it didn't count for much.

"I guess I am a bit out of spirits," he mumbled, looking down at his sleeves and finding the floral pattern embroidered there fascinating all of a sudden.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll see Master Lan again soon," she said, giving him a sympathetic look. "The Gusu Lan sect is famous for having some of the most learned physicians in the cultivation world. I'm sure he's already up and about just like you and A-Cheng."

That was true.

Lan Wangji was probably already walking around beneath the white magnolia trees, though they must already be out of bloom this time of year.

What did Gusu look like in late summer? He'd gotten himself kicked out of the place too soon to see.

"Shijie, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." Jiang Yanli took her seat again and gestured for him to sit down on the lacquered bench across from her own.

"How do you think it feels to like someone? I mean, that kind of like."

Jiang Yanli seemed somewhat surprised by the question at first, but then she quickly recovered and looked thoughtful.

"I think, when you like someone, and it's that kind of like, then that someone becomes your most important person. They fill up your thoughts, and every little thing reminds you of them. Their every word, every gesture, every glance becomes precious to you. Does that help?"

Chapter Text

"There you are!"

When Jiang Cheng found him some time later, Wei Wuxian was still sitting in the lakeside pavilion, in a bit of a daze.

He vaguely registered that his shijie had left a while ago to assist her mother in some Lotus Pier business, but everything else was still all a blur.

"What's wrong with you?" Jiang Cheng asked. "Actually, never mind that. I don't really want to know."

"Jiang Cheng, you're here." Wei Wuxian blinked and seemed to finally notice his presence.

The newcomer crossed his arms and looked down at him.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head harder than we thought?" he asked, his tone still mocking, but with a trace of worry in his voice. "Do I need to call the old physician to check on you again?"

Instead of replying, Wei Wuxian dug around and removed a book from inside some folds of his clothing.

Jiang Cheng immediately took a few steps back when he saw what it was.

"Why are you still carrying that thing around? Keep it away from me!" he hissed as his face turned several shades paler.

Wei Wuxian knew that his shidi wasn't a huge fan of these books, but he just had to know. He ended up following him out of the pavilion, waving the book around.

"Jiang Cheng, is it possible for someone to turn into a cut-sleeve just by reading these books?" he asked, completely serious.

"No, of course not!"

"Oh, I see..."

"What do you mean, you see?!"

"If this doesn't work, do you think there's any other way to do it?"

"What's up with these questions?!"

"Please, I really need to know."

"Of course not!" Jiang Cheng replied, his face contorting as he spoke.

Well, that was that. If there was one thing his shidi could be counted on, it was telling him the bare, unvarnished truth.

And Wei Wuxian's impeccable logic now told him that if he hadn't been somehow magically converted by the cut-sleeve erotica or anything else, then he must've been one all along.

He sighed and, seeing as how Jiang Cheng was still eyeing the book in his hand as if it was poisonous snake, put it away again.

"Thanks for the help, Jiang Cheng."

His shidi looked like he didn't know whether he should punch him or call for expert help.

After going through what looked like an internal struggle, he changed the topic and said, "The doctor said we should both get some fresh air today."

"Hmm, what did you say?"

"Fresh. Air," Jiang Cheng repeated himself, accentuating the words.

"Oh...that sounds good."

Jiang Cheng slapped his forehead and then muttered something about some people not being fit to be seen in public.

And then he grabbed Wei Wuxian by the collar and started dragging him out of Lotus Pier.

"Wait, where are we going?"

Wei Wuxian was surprised at this sudden change in direction.

"Fresh. Air," Jiang Cheng repeated, gritting his teeth.

Jiang Cheng ended up dragging him all the way to the pier and shoving him into one of the sect's boats docked there.

It was a beautiful late summer day, with light breezes and not a cloud in the sky as they slowly drifted downstream to what was once their favorite escape from Lotus Pier.

This entire area, like most of the rest of Yunmeng, was full of lotus ponds. And around this time of year, the lotus seed pods were heavy and ready to be harvested.

But where they once seemed to delight in taking lotus seed pods from their rightful owners without permission, today Jiang Cheng stopped the boat near a man harvesting pods and exchanged a few words with him.

Wei Wuxian heard bits and pieces of it, something about payment, seed pods, and Lotus Pier.

The man laughed and nodded, telling them to help themselves.

Jiang Cheng then broke off a heavy-looking seed pod and turned to glare at Wei Wuxian with the same complicated expression that had been on his face all morning.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked before tossing the pod at him.

That pod then hit Wei Wuxian square in the face and knocked him into the water.

When he came back up to the surface, his shidi was now looking at him with a very incredulous expression.

"Wei Wuxian, what exactly is wrong with you today?" Jiang Cheng exclaimed, hauling him back into the boat. "You've been acting weird all day. Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

Well, to be quite honest, Wei Wuxian knew exactly what was going on with himself.

But knowing was one thing, and fully comprehending it was something else.

It had already been an hour since he'd come to this realization, but it still felt somewhat unreal.

It was as if he was just an onlooker to a truly confusing play featuring some very thick-headed characters, the type that he would usually dismiss as too contrived and unrealistic.

Or maybe he was in shock? That quick trip into the semi-cold water did seem to wake him up a bit.

...Or maybe if he said it out loud?

His shidi did look very worried, and he did deserve a decent explanation.

"Jiang Cheng," he said, after taking a deep breath. "I think I'm in love with Lan Zhan."

And just like that, the full force of those words finally hit him like a thunderclap straight from the heavens.

He had been a bit uncertain when he said it, maybe even a little scared. But now that it was out there, all he felt was a certain lightness in his entire being, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his mind, and everything now made much more sense.

He felt relieved. And he felt...happy.

But he didn't have all that much time to savor these new feelings, since his shidi immediately shoved him back into the water.

When he came back to the surface, Jiang Cheng was now a very bright shade of red that did not go with his purple sect uniform at all.

"Jiang Cheng, w-what are you doing?" Wei Wuxian spluttered, trying to climb back into the boat.

"What am I doing? Really? You're going to ask me that? That's what I should be asking you! What do you think you're doing?"

His shidi looked mad enough to spit fire, for some reason that he couldn't comprehend.

"What do you mean?" Wei Wuxian asked, truly confused.

This only served to make Jiang Cheng even more incensed.

"You! And that cold fish!" he shouted, not seeming to care that the lotus pond's owner had stopped working and was now staring at the two of them open-mouthed. "These last few weeks! Making a public spectacle of yourselves! Being all over each other! Everywhere you go! You can't even seem to stop when he isn't around! And neither can he!"

Wei Wuxian had been trying to figure out where this rant was coming from, but then he detected some information that was very much of interest to him.

"Wait... Lan Zhan likes me too?"

Jiang Cheng's face now turned a light shade of purple. He tried to shove Wei Wuxian back into the water again, but this time the target of his pique was ready for him.

"You shouldn't keep shoving me into the water!" Wei Wuxian protested as he quickly ducked and scrambled away to the other side of the boat. "I'm injured!"

His shidi continued to glare at him, and Wei Wuxian couldn't help but notice for the first time his very striking resemblance to his mother.

But unlike with Madam Yu, he just couldn't bring himself to be scared of Jiang Cheng, even if his shidi looked like he wanted to give him a good whipping right about now.

"Yes, you complete idiot, of course he likes you!" Jiang Cheng shouted across the boat at him. "Why else do you think he would want to marry that thick skull of yours?"

"I thought... it was some sort of plan... to escape an arranged marriage..."

Jiang Cheng looked like he couldn't believe his ears.

"Even if the Lan sect wanted to arrange some sort of political marriage, don't you think they would try to arrange one for his brother first? This is the Lan sect we're talking about! You copied all their rules more than the rest of us, so you should know how much they care about giving priority to elders!"

Try as he might, Wei Wuxian couldn't really find any fault with that logic.

Several weeks ago, he had decided to let tomorrow's Wei Wuxian deal with all the headache-inducing stuff involving sects and marriage, all so he could bask in Lan Wangji's undivided attention without thinking too hard.

But now that it was no longer possible to kick that mess down the road anymore, he found himself wondering... what on earth had he been doing for the past few weeks?

The initial happiness he'd felt just a few moments ago was almost all gone by now, replaced by a rising panic.

He believed Jiang Cheng when he said that Lan Wangji liked him.

His shidi was many things, but a good actor was not one of them. No, Jiang Cheng was straight in multiple senses of the word, and couldn't tell a good lie if his life depended on it.

"What have I been doing?" Wei Wuxian put forth the question to nobody in particular. "Really, what have I been doing?"

He tried to remember every single thing he said to Lan Wangji the past few weeks, but that only served to cause him to panic even more.

Had he said anything to hurt Lan Wangji's feelings? Did he somehow make Lan Wangji think his feelings weren't returned? Was that why he wasn't here right now, with him? Was he going to call the whole thing off?

"Wait, are you telling me that you had no idea?" Jiang Cheng asked in disbelief. "Then why did you agree to marry him?"

"I don't know..."

His shidi probably wouldn't believe him, if he said that to this very day he still had no idea how it happened.

But he felt, from the very bottom of his heart, that he was glad that it did.

"So those rumors...they're not true?" Jiang Cheng seemed to have calmed down by now, and was instead looking at him with something akin to pity.

"What rumors?" Wei Wuxian enjoyed a bit of gossip now and then, but he really hadn't heard any rumors lately.

"That you and Lan Wangji have been, ehm, reenacting those books you love so much, every day," Jiang Cheng said in a manner that clearly showed his distaste for the subject. "Sixth shidi even swore that you enjoyed being tied up, among other things."

"Wait, what?"

Chapter Text

"That's what I heard," Jiang Cheng said in a tone of voice usually reserved for discussing the weather.

"You heard?" Wei Wuxian scrambled back over to his shidi's side of the boat, completely forgetting his concern over getting shoved overboard. "What? How? Has Lan Zhan heard about them too?"

If he had... Wei Wuxian could feel his panic levels spiking further. There was absolutely no way someone like Lan Wangji could not be offended by rumors like that.

"I don't know," Jiang Cheng replied with no small amount of distaste. "I'm not his minder. But it's not like any Jiang sect disciple is dumb or suicidal enough to ask him about...his habits. And besides, he has been awfully busy lately."

"Busy?"

"Really, you are completely clueless, aren't you?"

If his eyes weren't deceiving him, he was detecting more than a tiny bit of smugness from his shidi.

It was as if Jiang Cheng was enjoying the fact that he knew more about the topic at hand so much that he'd already forgotten to be angry about it.

"He's been studying how to cook every day with my sister, and gets to the kitchens earlier every morning than even any of the servants to make breakfast. He's also been exchanging long letters with the Lan sect about you, and has been discussing with my father how to proceed just about every day. Don't tell me you didn't know any of this?"

This sudden avalanche of information caught Wei Wuxian so unawares that he had to sit down to collect himself.

...So that was why his breakfast tasted so much better recently? And his dinners too. That must have been where Lan Wangji disappeared to every afternoon.

He cringed as he remembered how freely he criticized the cooking, not knowing that the chef had been sitting right in front of him.

And as for the Lan sect, just the thought that he might be causing trouble between Lan Wangji and the uncle he respected above all others?

"I'm a really terrible person," he said in a small voice, not looking at anything in particular.

"You are," Jiang Cheng agreed, but then he seemed to reconsider his choice of words once he saw how miserable Wei Wuxian looked. "But you do have your moments, I guess. And you know that cold fish will still like you no matter what. My sister thinks you can do no wrong. Probably my father too. And my mother doesn't entirely hate you. I think."

Wei Wuxian looked up at his shidi. Maybe it was because the sun was in his eyes, but he thought that they felt a bit red and watery. That and the sudden warmth he felt in the vicinity of his heart.

"Jiang Cheng, are you trying to cheer me up?"

"What? No, of course not." Jiang Cheng immediately turned up his nose at the very idea, but then seemed to reconsider his words again. "Since when have you ever needed someone to cheer you up?"

Well, no matter if his shidi meant it or not, Wei Wuxian did feel a little bit better.

In fact, he already knew what he had to do.

Instead of wallowing here in self-loathing, he needed to take a more active role in his own affairs.

First, he needed to go to Gusu, find Lan Wangji, and sort out all the misunderstandings between the two of them. If they refused to let him in the front door, then he'd just camp out until Lan Qiren gave in.

And then he needed to come back and have a serious discussion with the other Jiang sect disciples about why it was a very, very bad idea to be spreading false rumors.

Or, that was what he'd planned on doing, if not for the entrance of a new character into the comedy of errors that was his life right now.

"Pardon the interruption, but do you know the way to Lotus Pier?"

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng both turned to look at the shore, where a man in white currently stood.

It was obvious from even a cursory glance that this new visitor was from the Lan family.

Both his white sect uniform and his ribbon had the distinctive blue cloud-shaped patterns sewn into them. The silvery sword he carried at his waist only served to complete the picture.

He looked about the same age as Lan Qiren and was very handsome in a refined, scholarly sort of way.

He also wasn't anyone Wei Wuxian could ever recall seeing before.

But that wasn't much of a surprise, since the Lan family was rather large, with more side branches than he cared to count.

In any case, this man was clearly a Lan elder of some sort. And if he was looking for the way to Lotus Pier, there might be a chance his business there was about him.

Which meant that he should probably at least try to make a good impression right now.

Forcing back his urge to immediately interrogate the man about Lan Wangji's current condition and location, Wei Wuxian stood up and placed his hands together before making a bow.

"Lotus Pier is upstream that way," he said, inclining his head westward.

"I see," the man replied, peering curiously in the direction that he'd indicated, though from this vantage point all one could see was an endless parade of lotus ponds. He then turned back to the two of them and asked, "I gather you two are both Jiang sect disciples?"

The man had a soft yet commanding sort of voice, as if he was accustomed to having his every word obeyed without question. It reminded Wei Wuxian somewhat of Lan Wangji's elder brother.

Jiang Cheng had been standing behind him in icy silence this entire time, but he remembered his manners and also gave the man a very stiff, formal bow.

"Jiang Wanyin of the Yunmeng Jiang sect."

"Wei Wuxian of the Yunmeng Jiang sect," he quickly added after his shidi had spoken. "May we ask who we are addressing as well?"

The man immediately looked at him with great interest as soon as he reported his name.

So much so that he had to clear his throat and remind the man again of his question.

"Ah, forgive me." Their guest then hesitated for a few moments before replying, "Lan Qiren, of the Gusu Lan sect."

Whatever Wei Wuxian was expecting, this was not it. And unless there was a second Lan Qiren running around in Cloud Recesses, which was highly doubtful, then this was most definitely not his real name.

"I see..." he said, not sure of what else to say.

But if anything, this piqued his interest.

Any Lan elder willing to break the rule on not telling falsehoods over something like this was certainly interesting enough to talk to.

His shidi, on the other hand, did not look very amused.

In fact, Jiang Cheng looked like he was completely done with the situation and never wanted to see a Lan again.

Wei Wuxian decided that for the sake of his shidi's health, it might be for the best if he handled this on his own.

He placed a hand on Jiang Cheng's shoulder and silently mouthed just leave this to me.

His shidi then rolled his eyes and watched as he jumped off the boat and landed gracefully at their visitor's side.

"Lan Qiren-xiansheng, I would be happy to accompany you back to Lotus Pier, if you'd like," he offered cheerfully.

"That would be wonderful," his guest replied with a smile.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Wei Wuxian could remember what he once told himself about being on his best behavior, right before that one matchmaking meeting that went completely haywire.

Things such as remembering that you're representing not just yourself but the Jiang sect right now, don't say anything that would get yourself punished with more than two hours' kneeling by Madam Yu, and if you absolutely must then wait at least half an hour before revealing your true colors.

He ticked through all the rules, deciding that he was absolutely going to follow them this time around.

Yes, he was going to show the Lan sect that he could behave like a respectable and normal human being, one that they wouldn't consider it a punishment to be associated with.

His mind made up, Wei Wuxian cleared his throat and asked in very nice and respectful tones, "What brings you to Yunmeng today, Lan Qiren-xiansheng?"

"I had heard that there was a person at Lotus Pier that it was absolutely imperative I go meet," came the reply.

"Who is it? I know everyone at Lotus Pier and I'd be happy to introduce you," Wei Wuxian quickly volunteered.

"I would very much be in your debt," the man replied, bowing slightly.

He didn't volunteer a name, and Wei Wuxian thought it might be awkward to pry.

"So, do you happen to know Lan Zhan, ehm, Lan Wangji?" he asked instead, unable to stop himself from bringing up his real concern.

The man smiled at the mention of the Lan sect's second young master.

"I know Wangji very well," he replied. "I assume that you are eager to hear how he is doing? Rest assured, he was very much recovered the last I saw him."

Wei Wuxian immediately breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

"I'm sorry, it was my fault that he got injured," he said in a small voice. "I rushed into a dangerous situation without thinking."

"Is that so? Wangji said that it was his own fault he got injured. But perhaps we should not focus solely on where to assign blame. You two both learned something from that incident, did you not?"

Far from the reproach that he was expecting, Wei Wuxian could only hear sympathy in the Lan elder's voice. He nodded and replied, "Yes, I won't do something like that again."

"Good, then there is no lasting harm done. And besides that, we must thank you and the Jiang sect for looking after him these past few weeks."

"Oh, there's no need to thank us!" Wei Wuxian quickly shook his head and waved his hands. "It was great having him here. We had so much fun!"

The Lan elder smiled again and asked, "You don't think Wangji is too cold, reserved, or unapproachable?"

Well, it was true that the average person might think Lan Wangji was all those things. And maybe he did too once upon a time, but did it ever really matter to him?

He couldn't say that it ever did.

Not when they were still classmates and he was trying every single day to get his attention, or now when a single smile from him made it impossible to look away.

"Not at all. In fact, if people want to criticize Lan Zhan for being too anything, it should be that he's simply too good," Wei Wuxian insisted. "Sometimes I wonder how it's possible for one person to be as kind and honest and forthright. And besides, anyone who thinks he's cold and unapproachable has clearly never seen him smile before."

The Lan elder hesitated for a moment and then asked, "You can make him smile?"

Wei Wuxian was about to nod and say yes, but then he was struck by how shameless that must sound, so he coughed and said, "I've seen him smile twice already. You know, at first I wondered why he doesn't smile more often because he has such an amazing smile. But then I realized that if he did, then I probably would never be able to get anything done."

His guest laughed and then looked at him with a smile that seemed tinged with a touch of sadness.

"I think my wife would have really liked having you as a son-in-law."

On this topic, Wei Wuxian felt obliged to immediately speak up.

"I'm afraid I'm already spoken for."

"Yes, naturally," the man laughed again. "It has been a long time since I last had a chat like this with anyone. It is really quite wonderful. Yunmeng is just as lovely as the stories as well."

"You came too late to see the lotus flowers, Lan Qiren-xiansheng. But at exactly the right time to taste freshly picked lotus seeds," Wei Wuxian exclaimed, waving his hand at all the ripe lotus pods ready to be harvested. "Did you know that Yunmeng's lotus seeds are the best in the world? Have you ever tried them?"

"I am afraid that I have not left Cloud Recesses for the past twenty or so years, so I have not had the good fortune to try Yunmeng's freshly picked lotus seeds."

Wei Wuxian found the idea of staying cooped up in Cloud Recesses for that long so horrifying that he couldn't help but completely forget his manners and ask why.

"I suppose the reasons are many," he replied. "Before, it was penance. Then, mourning. And later, a desire for solitude."

There was clearly a great deal behind those words, but Wei Wuxian decided it was best not to pry.

But that did sort of explain part of the reason why he'd never seen this particular Lan elder before, if the man had been in seclusion the entire time.

"Well, I'm sure whoever it is you've come to see at Lotus Pier will be very happy that you've come all this way and out of seclusion to see them! You know, I still haven't forgotten how Lan Zhan refused all my invitations to come to Lotus Pier when we were younger!"

"You invited Wangji to come here?"

"I sure did," Wei Wuxian replied, and launched into a retelling about all his various misadventures trying to get Lan Wangji to notice him.

His guest seemed very much amused by his stories, nodding and laughing at all the right places.

In fact, he was such a good audience that Wei Wuxian didn't realize that they'd already arrived back at Lotus Pier until the front gate was right ahead of them.

And then, something else immediately caught his attention.

There was a large group of white-robed Lan sect members standing just inside the gate, led by Lan Xichen and...

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian yelled, practically launching himself at the one person who'd taken up most of his thoughts the past few days.

"Wei Ying!" Lan Wangji caught him after they collided with such force that he had to take a few steps backward.

Wei Wuxian was too scared to look up at his face, settling instead for throwing his arms around him.

All the panic and self-reproach of the past few days came bubbling up to the surface, and he found himself unable to stop the torrent of words that came bursting out of his mouth.

"Lan Zhan, you're not still angry with me, are you? I promise I won't do anything like what I did in the temple again! You know that I like you too, don't you? And your cooking too! I really like it! It's not too bland at all, so forget everything I said about it! And all those rumors, they're all completely untrue! I've never even seen you naked before, well, except for that one time in Gusu, but that doesn't count! Not that I don't want to, of course. I really do!"

"Ahem," Lan Xichen cleared his throat.

Wei Wuxian remembered with a sudden jolt that there were other people here, listening to his half-formed explanations.

He slowly turned around and saw that in addition to the group from the Lan sect, the entire Jiang family minus his shidi was also here.

Except for his uncle and shijie, everyone else was staring at him with varying degrees of disbelief.

Then, just when he thought this situation couldn't get any worse, he heard a few gasps and saw that his guest had also entered Lotus Pier's main gate.

And just like that, the Lan sect group no longer paid him any mind.

"Father," Lan Xichen bowed to the new visitor.

Following his lead, the others also bowed.

"Sect Leader Lan, welcome to Lotus Pier," said Jiang Fengmian.

So...he had actually been gossiping about Lan Wangji with Lan Wangji's father this entire time? And on top of all that, he had managed to blurt out a complete disaster of a confession in front of both of their families?

What happened to making a good impression and acting like a normal, respectable human being? Was it too late to pretend to still be injured and hide in his room?

He had vague ideas about making a run for it when he felt a strong grip around his hand.

He looked up and saw Lan Wangji nod slightly to him while squeezing his hand, as if to reassure him that he wasn't facing all this alone.

That's right. He wasn't alone.

Wei Wuxian took a deep breath and also bowed. "Sect Leader Lan."

Qingheng-jun smiled at him and nodded.

"Well met, Master Wei."

Chapter Text

Three weeks ago

The sun was setting over Lotus Pier by the time Yu Ziyuan finally returned from a night hunt, with her maidservant Yinzhu in tow.

The Jiang sect, like other major sects, was responsible for a very large area, with requests for assistance coming in just about every day.

While it was usually something simple that could be assigned to a disciple for training purposes, sometimes they received a request too thorny to be entrusted to anyone else.

At such times, Yu Ziyuan was obligated to personally go forth.

Not that she had any complaints with the task, as maintaining Lotus Pier's good name and reputation in the cultivation world was her number one concern.

And if she happened to enjoy going on trips that took her mind off things, where she could personally beat a fierce corpse or evil spirit into submission... Well, nobody really needed to know.

She alighted from her sword, frowning a little as she breathed in the hot and humid air that immediately surrounded her.

Summer days in Yunmeng were long, hot, and for the most part unpleasant.

At times, it made Yu Ziyuan long for the relatively cooler environs of Meishan from her youth, where two rivers amidst low mountains always kept the days and nights from becoming too oppressively hot. But those days were long gone, and the weather here was simply one more in a long list of things that simply had to be borne.

Her other trusted maidservant Jinzhu was waiting at the gate for her. That was to be expected, but Yu Ziyuan certainly did not expect to see the young woman's barely suppressed excitement.

Had something happened? If she remembered correctly, the only thing of note scheduled for today was a matchmaking meeting that had probably already ended in disaster. Certainly not anything that one of her maidservants would ever get excited about.

"What happened?" she asked, taking the wet handkerchief that Jinzhu offered to dab at her temples.

"Madam, you'll never believe what happened today!" Jinzhu exclaimed.

"Then explain, and I will be the judge of that," Yu Ziyuan replied, wondering what on earth had happened that was so unbelievable. Had her son decided that he'd finally stop fooling around like his shixiong and take his training more seriously? Had Wei Wuxian suddenly decided to behave like a responsible adult? Or could it be... he'd actually found someone willing to marry him?

When she heard what it was that'd occurred today, Yu Ziyuan really didn't know quite what to think. In fact, her first reaction would have been to regard it all as a rather bad joke, if not for the fact that nobody in the Lan sect had a sense of humor.

The light was on in Jiang Fengmian's study when she stepped inside the open door and demanded, "Explain."

Her husband had evidently been expecting her, since he already had two cups set out on the table in between the two lacquered chairs at the back of the room. There was also a pot of what smelled suspiciously like her favorite chrysanthemum tea.

Yu Ziyuan recognized this particular setup for what it was - an attempt to placate her ahead of some news that she might find unpleasant.

Nevertheless, she was actually curious to hear what the explanation would be this time, so she sat down and watched as her husband poured out two cups of hot tea.

"There is not much to explain, Sanniang," Jiang Fengmian replied. "Lan Wangji of Gusu unexpectedly arrived in the middle of the meeting. And it appears that A-Xian and Master Lan wish to marry, so I have given them my blessing."

So it was true.

Although she hated to admit it, Yu Ziyuan was actually rather speechless at how this had turned out.

Truth be told, she had originally put out the call for matchmakers mostly because she was out of other ideas as to how to force Wei Wuxian to behave.

She had never actually intended to have anyone take her up on the offer.

There was just something about the prospect of forcing some unknown, faceless girl out there to marry their complete disaster of a head disciple that didn't quite sit well with her. So she had set the requirements artificially high, not believing that any family with a girl who was acceptable would ever be interested.

But now that an offer had come in from a completely unexpected quarter, she wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"And the Lan sect?" she asked. "Have they given their consent?"

Jiang Fengmian sighed and looked down at his tea.

"I have not contacted them yet, but I do not expect negotiations to be easy. As a starting point, given the... differences in family background, I believe that we will have to let A-Xian marry into the Lan sect."

Yu Ziyuan raised an eyebrow at this.

Her husband was only stating the obvious, given that one party was the son of a major sect leader and the other the son of a servant. But hearing it come out of his mouth was something else, since Jiang Fengmian was always loathe to admit that Wei Wuxian was lesser in any way than their own son in the eyes of other people.

"You're willing to let him go?" she asked.

"You and I both know how the Lan sect is. They will not accept the alternative. For the sake of A-Xian's happiness, I am afraid that we have little other choice."

Yu Ziyuan did not particularly like the Lan sect. She saw little to admire in their self-satisfied moralizing or hidebound approach to, well, everything.

But her husband was telling the truth. Cloud Recesses would likely become the laughingstock of the cultivation world if they allowed their second young master to marry into another sect under circumstances like these. Meanwhile, nobody would bat an eye if Lotus Pier let their head disciple go.

When it came to their reputation, the basis on which a sect derived power and standing in the cultivation world, there was little room for argument or personal feelings.

Speaking of personal feelings, Yu Ziyuan did not particularly like Wei Wuxian either.

His mere presence at Lotus Pier was a source of friction in her marriage. And beyond that, she still found it hard to believe that he actually meant to go through with this.

Only two years had passed since he was unceremoniously removed from the place, and now Wei Wuxian wanted to go back to Gusu? And since when had their head disciple displayed any cut-sleeve tendencies?

In fact, only her sincere belief that Lan Wangji would never consent to such a thing prevented Yu Ziyuan from thinking that this was just some harebrained scheme on Wei Wuxian's part to escape her clutches.

Yet when she questioned her husband about this, Jiang Fengmian shook his head and replied, "Both from what A-Cheng told me and what I heard myself, it seems like A-Xian has had his heart set on Master Lan for a very long time. I see no reason to doubt his sincerity."

"And the Lan boy?"

Her husband hesitated for a moment and seemed thoughtful, with a faraway look in his eyes.

"When I saw Master Lan, I was reminded of a dear old friend of mine, one who was truly loyal and dependable. And also one from whom it was hard to get more than ten words out of on any given day. Yet whenever he looked upon his beloved, his face seemed to light up in a way that was unmistakeable to anyone who had eyes."

Jiang Fengmian shifted his hand slightly across the table until it was covering hers.

"Sanniang, while some of us might not be very adept at communicating our feelings in the usual way, that does not make them any less real."

Perhaps it was because he had been holding a hot teacup just now, or for some other reason that she did not want to name, Jiang Fengmian's hand felt scalding hot to the touch.

She let it rest there for a few seconds before withdrawing her own hand.

It was time to leave, for she had already heard everything that she needed to hear.

Wei Wuxian might be one source of friction in her marriage, but she was not so naive as to believe that he was the only such source.

As she stepped out of the room, Jiang Fengmian called out to her and said with a twinkle in his eye, "Sanniang, I thought you would be pleased with this particular match. After all, Master Lan fulfills every one of your very specific requirements."

Yu Ziyuan made an impatient noise and turned around with the ghost of a smile on her lips.

Was her husband trying to be cheeky with her?

Well, she didn't entirely dislike it.

Ten days ago

Yu Ziyuan frowned as she looked down at the finely carved weiqi board in front of her, one that was already mostly covered with white and black pieces.

"You seem to be in a good mood today," she remarked to her daughter, who sat across from her.

Jiang Yanli held a white piece in her fingers, smiling as she deliberated her next move.

"Hmm, I suppose I am."

"You have my curiosity," Yu Ziyuan replied.

This daughter of hers was usually somewhat melancholy, no matter how brave a face she always put on for her brothers. Had something happened?

Jiang Yanli placed her white piece down on the board and then waved at the plate of sesame cakes she had brought with her to their weekly match.

"Have some cakes, A-Niang."

Yu Ziyuan eyed the cakes briefly before turning her attention back to the game.

Sesame cakes did happen to be her favorite treat, and these specimens did happen to look perfectly made, but this round of weiqi demanded her full attention.

Yu Ziyuan did not particularly like this game nowadays, not when there were few people other than her friend Madam Jin in Lanling who could give her a proper challenge.

Of the denizens of Lotus Pier, her son was often too aggressive and too predictable in his gameplay. Wei Wuxian was creative and displayed some flashes of genius, but was unable to see very many moves ahead.

Her husband, most infuriatingly, simply let her win.

As they grew up, the boys mostly lost interest in the game, so what was once a family event was now just Yu Ziyuan meeting her daughter for a weekly match.

Unlike the boys, Jiang Yanli had no major weaknesses in her strategy. However, she was too timid and defensive, often waiting for her opponent to make a mistake instead of pushing for a win.

Yu Ziyuan sometimes thought that if they put all three of the children together, then maybe they could make one very decent weiqi player.

"A-Niang also seems to be in a good mood," Jiang Yanli remarked.

A good mood? Well, she couldn't deny the truth of that.

Today, her daughter had brought a different style to the game, so much so that she had to change her strategy on the fly to adjust to how much more assertive her opponent was than usual.

For once, she was playing an interesting game.

"Maybe it is A-Xian's happiness that is infectious," Jiang Yanli said with a smile. "I see him often at the training grounds now with Master Lan, honing their sword-craft. Something about how he won't let Master Lan be better than him at the sword forever."

Yu Ziyuan continued to deliberate her next move in silence. She had suspected for a long time that one of the major reasons why Wei Wuxian acted out was because he simply wasn't challenged enough by his training or duties.

So was that why things had been so quiet lately, because he now had a sparring partner worthy of him?

"A-Cheng too," Jiang Yanli continued. "I see him just as often at the training hall now, working on his own skills. Something about how he won't lose to either A-Xian or Master Lan."

Yu Ziyuan looked up, forgetting momentarily all the strategies she'd been thinking through.

"So he's finally taking his training seriously? It's about time."

"A-Cheng will make a very fine sect leader someday," her daughter nodded happily.

Yu Ziyuan picked up one of the sesame cakes and nibbled on it, only to find that it was wonderfully delicious, from the crunchy outer layers to the sweet osmanthus filling inside.

"Is this a new recipe you tried?" she asked, placing her black piece on the board. "It's not bad."

"Ah, but I did not make those cakes. Master Lan did."

Jiang Yanli had a mischievous sort of light in her eyes as she took in her mother's obvious surprise.

Yu Ziyuan tried to imagine Lan Qiren's reaction at seeing one of his precious nephews preparing food in their kitchen, something that was possibly even more delicious than the sesame cake itself.

"It must be quite the wonderful cake, if it can make A-Niang smile," Jiang Yanli commented.

"It is acceptable." Yu Ziyuan finished off the cake and added, "Give Master Lan my thanks. I was just...surprised."

They played the next few minutes in silence until the game was over, much too soon for Yu Ziyuan's taste.

"Game over," said Jinzhu, who was in charge of keeping score. "Xiaojie wins by three points."

She stared at the board, stunned but not displeased. This was the first time her daughter had ever beaten her at this game.

"Well done," she said, and she truly meant it.

A few hours ago

"What are you doing?"

It was slightly after six in the morning when Yu Ziyuan noticed a group of disciples sneaking out of the kitchens, one of them carrying a tray of food.

Recently, she had been on yet another night hunt, rushing back only when she heard that something had happened to the sect's juniors.

She also didn't often come to the kitchens, making an exception this time only because she wanted to make sure that the day's menu did not conflict with the doctor's advice.

So she had no idea if there was a legitimate reason for this, or if these disciples were up to no good again.

"Madam Yu!"

The disciples immediately stood up straighter when they saw her and started shooting furtive glances at each other, as if trying to will one of them to stand up and speak for the group.

Yu Ziyuan did not particularly like policing the disciples like this, but someone at Lotus Pier had to instill some sense of order and discipline.

Finally, their sixth ranked disciple decided to step up.

"Madam Yu," he said, his voice shaking slightly. "We, umm, thought that dashixiong wouldn't be used to the kitchen's food since Master Lan has been making his breakfast every day, so we tried to put something together for him. Since he did get hurt trying to keep the rest of us safe..."

Only part of that statement made any sense to her.

"Wei Wuxian?" she asked, puzzled. "But he won't be up for another three hours or so."

Everyone knew their head disciple had the worst sleeping schedule ever, that it was hard to wake him up before nine, if he bothered going to sleep at all.

"Dashixiong has been getting up at six every day recently," another disciple quickly spoke up to correct her.

"That's right, he's always up bright and early now!"

"It's like dashixiong's a completely different person now that he's engaged!"

"He used to go out to restaurants all the time, but he hasn't stepped foot in one for weeks and just stays in to eat Master Lan's home-cooked meals!"

"He actually does head disciple duties sometimes, like checking on us after dinner and making sure we're not up to anything bad..."

"I couldn't believe it, but he's even refusing to drink alcohol now..."

"I couldn't believe that either, but then there's also... also..."

The final disciple's voice trailed off and he looked around at his friends, his face a bit red.

"Also...what?" Yu Ziyuan asked.

"Nothing!"

All of them replied in unison as they bowed to her and scurried off with the tray of food.

Yu Ziyuan was a bit too busy trying to process all this information to take much notice of their absence.

That Wei Wuxian had somehow transformed from a headache into a model head disciple in the space of three weeks was something that she had some trouble wrapping her head around.

But the facts were there and there was no denying them.

What was more, his influence on the other disciples had not diminished one bit. While he had once taken the lead on being a nuisance and goofing off, now the others seemed to be following him on the more righteous path.

She had seen with her own eyes her son throwing himself into his training with great fervor, while the others also focused on their studies with renewed enthusiasm, as if afraid they'd be left behind.

After finishing her business at the kitchens, she walked slowly back to her quarters, half-expecting a servant to come to her at any point with another scathing letter detailing Wei Wuxian's misdeeds. Maybe then she would know that the world hadn't gone completely topsy-turvy.

But none came, and she was greeted only by her two trusted maids, who presented her with a stack of night hunt homework to look over.

As she covered the sheets of homework with critiques, Yu Ziyuan was beset by a feeling so completely alien to her, that she couldn't really put her finger on what it was.

It was only an hour later, when she finally set her brush down, that she realized what it was.

"Do you hear that?" she asked her two maids, who stood to one side.

Jinzhu and Yinzhu exchanged glances before replying, "No, Madam. What do you wish us to hear?"

"It is the sound of peace and quiet."

At that moment, another servant came running up and bowed.

"Reporting to Madam, a group from the Lan sect has arrived and requested an audience."

Yu Ziyuan sighed and stood up from her writing desk.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Present time

When the group from the Lan sect had finished filing into Lotus Pier's main hall and settled in, Yu Ziyuan noticed that Wei Wuxian stayed at Lan Wangji's side, their fingers still intertwined.

Truth be told, if not for that outburst just now, she might have wanted to check with Zidian to see if he was somehow possessed. But there was something about that particular confession that was just so uniquely Wei Wuxian, that she decided not to bother.

The usual niceties were exchanged between the two sects, followed by a discussion about the technicalities of the marriage, something which she had little interest in.

But when the Lan sect inevitably steered the conversation to the subject of Wei Wuxian's character and previous exit from Gusu, she had no choice to pay attention, especially when her own name was brought up.

After a Lan elder listed all the punishments their sect had doled out for rule-breaking two years ago, one of their younger disciples hurried to add, "Wei Wuxian doesn't even have any respect for his own sect's rules, why would he care about the Lan sect's? Everyone knows he gets dragged to the Jiang family shrine every other day to kneel, but nothing ever changes his bad behavior and nothing ever will. I'm sure Madam Yu would agree."

He smirked a little after delivering that speech, as if he had said something very clever and worthwhile.

Yu Ziyuan stood up, Zidian crackling loudly on her finger.

"Who are you?" she asked the disciple who had spoken up.

"Su She, of the Gusu Lan sect," he replied, bowing slightly.

"The Gusu Lan sect prides itself on being the model of propriety, a shining example for all the rest of us to gaze upon," she snapped at him. "Is this how they teach their disciples, to interrupt when their elders are speaking?"

The disciple in question was no longer smirking, but Yu Ziyuan's anger was not abated.

It was true that she frequently punished Wei Wuxian when he stepped out of line, but that was a matter of enforcing discipline, an internal Lotus Pier matter that wasn't for any of these busybodies to gossip about.

But for them to come here to her territory, spread lies about one of her Lotus Pier disciples, and then dare to speak for her?

That was disrespect.

She scanned the crowd until she was looking directly at Wei Wuxian.

This was her first time seeing him after the temple incident. He looked a bit paler than usual, and was biting his lip, clearly doing his utmost to not start an argument then and there.

Yu Ziyuan knew she owed him a debt of gratitude for saving her son. She also knew that the idiot had no sense that he was owed anything at all, something that made her even madder, if possible.

"Wei Wuxian is the most incorrigible disciple I have ever had the misfortune to come across," she said, looking him straight in the eye. "For years, I have tried everything I could think of to get him to behave, and nothing has worked. Not beatings, copying scriptures, kneeling in the family shrine, nothing. I have been at my wits' end with him, because nothing has worked. Nothing!"

She then turned around to glare at the Lan sect instead.

"So imagine my surprise when after this engagement is announced, I hear that Wei Wuxian has somehow reinvented himself as a model disciple. Instead of going out constantly and stirring up trouble, he stays in and finally does the things a head disciple is supposed to do! He learned enough discipline to regulate his own schedule and take his training seriously! For your Master Lan, he even gave up alcohol!

"The Jiang sect has only one rule, and that is to attempt the impossible. If you do not appreciate how impossible it was for him to change any of his habits before or the enormity of what he has done, and will continue to subject one of my disciples to this sort of abuse, then I will have to announce my opposition to this marriage."

At this, Qingheng-jun, who had remained mostly silent until now, stood up and bowed to her.

"Madam Yu, you have my word that nobody in the Lan sect will mistreat your Master Wei."

"That's right, Sanniang," Jiang Fengmian also spoke up. "As long as we are around, no harm will come to A-Xian."

Yu Ziyuan briefly acknowledged the two of them before turning back to Wei Wuxian.

"Wei Wuxian, listen up! Don't you dare bring any dishonor on the sect that raised you! And if that still isn't enough for the high and mighty Lan sect, then remember that Lotus Pier's doors are always open. It isn't as if we can't afford to feed and clothe you!"

Later, as soon as the Lan sect had left the hall and they were alone again, Jiang Yanli immediately threw her arms around her mother.

"A-Niang," she sobbed, staining the front of her mother's purple sect uniform with her tears.

Yu Ziyuan was a bit taken aback by this display, and was about to chide her daughter for losing her composure, when something much more unexpected happened.

"Madam Yu! Shijie!" Wei Wuxian cried, also running up and throwing his arms around the two of them. "I... I won't forget this!"

Yu Ziyuan was completely taken aback this time and unsure how to respond, when her husband joined in as well, wrapping his arms around the entire group.

It was at this time that her son finally returned and stepped into the hall.

Jiang Cheng froze when he saw them.

He exchanged glances with his mother, and it was hard to tell which of the two of them was more shocked.

But when his sister turned around a bit and called out to him between sobs, "A-Cheng, you too," he hesitated for only a moment before joining in the group hug.

Yu Ziyuan sighed and did something she'd never thought she would do.

She gave up, and leaned into the hug.

Yu Ziyuan still did not particularly like Wei Wuxian.

But, she thought as she stood there surrounded by her family, that she didn't need to be the villain in this story.

This was fine too.