Chapter Text
White petals from magnolias in bloom descended in a dance as frantic as the beating heart in Wen Ning's chest. The spring sky was slightly cloudy and the temperatures had yet vestiges of the winter in the mountainside. He had heard the region of Gusu in general was warmer than Qishan yet the residence of the prestigious Lan Sect was colder, like he imagined was like touching the white fluffy clouds above. Beyond them, the mist swirled around the distant buildings.
The young man in white and red shivered as he sat on his luggage, an auburn wooden chest decorated with the known sigil of a crimson sun and the three characters of his courtesy name neatly written on the side. His eyes darted from side to side, staring at the small crowd slowly gathering in front of the main hall's doors.
He wished his sister could have walked with him.
It wasn't that relatives were not allowed to accompany the guest disciples at the entrance for a final goodbye. A big imposing man was pestering at —Wen Ning gathered from their loud words— his younger brother with orders and threats at that same moment. But the Cloud Recesses had sex segregation, thus a woman even with Wen Qing's status was forbidden to set foot at the premises.
He didn't particularly envy the nagging and yelling he was witnessing, but he figured at least the boy in Nie robes wasn't as lonely as he was while the brother was there. He considered talking to him when the scary man was gone.
He did not dare, but he took solace on the fact he wasn't the only one alone.
It seemed the other big sects had come in groups. The most extreme case was LanlingJin, a mass of gold and white which was basically an entourage around a single handsome boy. The Sect Leader's son, he figured. A good-looking pair in purple and lotus blossoms also spoke and joked among themselves in the opposite corner, as if they wanted to stay the farthest away from the peony-clad sect. Didn't YunmengJiang have alliances with them?
In any case, Wen Ning just couldn't approach either group. The idea paralyzed him. As soon as he opened his mouth, he knew those proud young masters would cringe and ignore him at best or bully him at worst. He felt like he had been shackled in his soul and his body would not respond.
So he glanced longingly from afar, his hands clasping and twitching.
Then a terrible thing happened. The Nie younger brother moved on his own and greeted one of the purple boys! He saw him exchanging salutes and getting introduced to the other, as if socializing with new people was easy! Wen Ning's stomach sank.
Of course. Those important clan kids knew or had at least seen each other, didn't they? Wen Ning was just the sect leader's nephew and not outstanding enough to make himself a name among his peers. His sister's name might get recognized, but his not so much. He then realized that the brusque man was likely Chifeng-Zun and this was the second master Nie who was his age. Just like the central boy in gold was the Jin heir, one of the purple boys should be the Jiang heir as well.
He had no right. His Fourth Uncle was wrong and should have not sent him in this mission. He had no business interacting with these important kids. Even the minor sect disciples were grouping together like old friends. He should stay there, wooden chest under him and magnolia trees above, until he was saved by the Lans. Could he make it through a year on his own avoiding social interaction and just learning low key, he wondered?
The minutes stretched like hours. His mind was floating far from the conversations and beyond the pain of not being included.
At some point, he felt eyes on him. Wen Ning looked up. The loudest purple boy was trotting in his direction. What? Why? Is he coming his way? Is he going to walk past him and greet someone else? Is he going to mock him? Oh no, oh no! Please don't talk to me, please don't talk to me, please don't talk to— Darn, he stopped!?
"Hi!" the boy chirped, his smile a sun bursting in the mountain mist.
"....H-Hello-Hi?"
Instead of turning around and apologizing for mistaking Wen Ning for someone else, instead of saying something cruel, the lad kept chatting. His long ink-like ponytail bounced as he spoke. His face was so beautiful and glowed when he smiled.
"Are you the only one from your sect? Don't be here alone! Come with us, okay?"
There had to be a trick, it was too good to be true. Even if this wasn't a sick joke, maybe it was pity. The boy would likely regret it immediately when he saw how dull he was. So Wen Ning crushed the spark of warmth inside and immediately tried to sabotage it to avoid future embarrassment.
"Ah... Oh... I'm fine... You, uh, you don't have to... I mean..."
"Of course you're not fine, you look like a sad kitten! Aren't you bored, just sitting there?"
"I-I..."
The ponytail boy took the stuttering as a yes, and locked his arm around Wen Ning's sleeve. He was suddenly dragged across the waiting space. The two faces that awaited there were not as friendly. The purple boy with a bun crossed his arms and frowned. The Nie boy examined him from behind a fan with a quizzical look in his eyes. The ponytail boy didn't seem to care.
"Let's introduce each other! I'm Wei Ying, courtesy name Wuxian. What's your name, young master Wen?"
"I'm... um... Wen N-Ning." He tried again, his cheeks warming up. "Sorry. Wen Ning! Courtesy name... Qionglin..."
As expected, the name didn't ring a bell for neither of them.
"Jiang Cheng, courtesy name Wanyin."
"And I'm Nie Huaisang. Nice to meet you!"
They exchanged bows. At least Wen Ning learned which of the boys was the clan heir.
"Are you QishanWen or one of the branching sects?" Jiang Wanyin asked. That was a fair question. After the rebellion, many cultivators with their last name who disagreed with Fourth Uncle's approach had left to found new minor sects, more in tune with Wen Mao's ideals.
"QishanWen..."
"Cool!" Wei Wuxian grinned. "Now we have someone to ask for hangover medicine for you if we try that famous Emperor's Smile, Jiang Cheng!"
"Shut up!" Jiang Wanyin punched the other disciple on the shoulder lightly.
Wen Ning couldn't help but thinking that those two had a strange relationship. That was the sect leader's son! Were everyone in Lotus Pier that informal? Or was just Wei Wuxian who was disrespectful? It seemed his confusion was visible because Nie Huaisang closed his fan and leaned towards him while the other two bickered.
"Apparently Sect Leader Jiang raised Wei-xiong here as a son for some reason," he whispered in his ear. "But rumors aside, Wei-xiong is not only like a brother to Jiang Fengmian's children but also head disciple by own merit, and daishixiong to all juniors including Jiang-xiong."
"Is that so?" Considering the allegedly head disciple was raving about some wine jars he wanted to buy, it was hard to believe he could be so distinguished in the sect. But it did make sense for them to act so familiar, if they were family in all but name.
"First time in Cloud Recesses, Wen-xiong?" asked Nie Huaisang aloud.
"Yes."
"So like the Yunmeng group, huh? This is my second year..." Nie Huaisang moped. "My cultivation is quite low, see."
"Judging from what your dage was screaming about," Jiang Wanyin shrugged, "that's on you alone for being so lazy, Nie Huaisang."
"Eh, you'll be fine," Wei Wuxian smirked. "I don't train on my sword as much as I should either, and I can more than manage anyone on a duel."
"Don't compare yourself and your high bragging to the rest of us mortals, you dumbass."
"Well, our sabers are just different! Easy for you two to say with those regular, lighter, non-threatening pretty swords. I want to see you with a saber! Just sparring half an hour is exhausting in a physical and spiritual way."
Like most of his family, Wen Ning was average on the sword at best and barely knew the basic problems about QingheNie Sect's sabers —particularly the trend of their owners dying young from cases of qi deviation—, so he had nothing to contribute to the conversation. He just listened and made mental notes about the others' personalities and facts. This was fine. They probably didn't find him interesting enough to keep engaged, but they didn't hate him either! Progress!
Minutes passed faster as more petals danced and more words were shared, until a group of older young disciples in white arrived to welcome the guest cultivators. In part Wen Ning was relieved that Lan Qiren wasn't going to meet them on the first day, but that was going to build up his anxiety. One of the Lan disciples was holding a list and he started to read names aloud.
One of the first ones to be called was Jin Zixuan. They started to escort the LanlingJin cultivators to their rooms in pairs.
"Why them first?" Jiang Wanyin grumbled between gritted teeth. "They're not better than our sects!"
Wen Ning nodded although he wasn't personally offended. His surname had more strokes of the brush than for instance Jin or Jiang or Nie, so he had expected to be in the lower tier of the list. Despite being historically one of the Big Five, they were not that important as they used to be anyway. Yet Jiang the least strokes from the group and had two less than Jin, thus they were not following that sort of order. He couldn't deny there was either a different sorting method, favoritism, or the Lan Sect just wanted to get the biggest group settled first.
"Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian, come forth!" the disciple called after the Jin disciples.
The two boys in purple grabbed their luggage. Wen Ning's mouth must have turned into a pout, because Wei Wuxian reached his shoulder with his free hand. He tensed under the callous fingers.
"Don't look so gloom, Wen Ning!" he laughed. "Let's have some fun tomorrow after class, okay?"
"A-Ah, yes!" Wen Ning blushed in a daze. "See you tomorrow!"
"Same to you, Huaisang!"
"Fun in the Cloud Recesses?" Nie Huaisang snickered behind his fan. "Sure, let's try if we can even do that."
Wei Wuxian waved goodbye to them and to the other small sects before Jiang Wanyin barked in annoyance.
"He's an interesting fellow," Nie Huaisang said to Wen Ning as he closed his fan. "Wei-xiong, that is."
"He's very f-friendly."
The second master touched his chin with the tip of his fan, as if he wanted to add something else about Young Master Wei's character that only he could see in his analysis. But there was no time to hear his thoughts.
"Nie Huaisang and Wen Qionglin, come forth!"
"Ah! My chest!" Wen Ning stopped on his tracks to look for his abandoned suitcase. Embarrassed, he ran to catch up with the disciple who was going to escort them.
It turned out that Huaisang was his roommate, as they were the only ones from their sects and members of a famous clan. His classmate didn't seem either thrilled or disappointed to share with someone as clumsy and apparently bland as Wen Ning.
They were taken to a simple, minimalist bedroom with only two beds and the bare necessary furniture for doing homework, hygiene and care, and sleeping. Nie Huaisang, who was used to the stoic style of Gusu, just paraded inside.
"I call dibs on the bed on the left," he said as he quickly sat on it.
"Ah, okay..."
They unpacked their belongings, and Wen Ning let his companion talk about his painting brushes and fancy fans he had brought. Then the bells rang and it was time to go to bed.
It was too early, though. Wen Ning rolled in bed, already missing his family and remembering his last conversation with his Sect Leader.
"A-Ning," Fourth Uncle told him while he poured fermented berry wine into a red jar. "It's not like I don't want you to do well, but I'm not sending you to Gusu to be a top ranking student no matter what A-Qing says." The man smiled. "I want you to learn, simple as that. Learn as much as you can. GusuLan has great healing techniques you can explain to your sister and the other junior disciples. I also want you to grow up, learn about the other sects, and socialize!" He made a pause, considering the sad puppy eyes on his nephew's face. "Well, as much as you're able."
"Jiejie told me to make friends, but I don't know how to..." Wen Ning mumbled.
"Don't look at me, I never had problems at your age!" He guffawed. True, even if he was a civil war hero and an important cultivator, his uncle could befriend a rock. "There's another reason why I'm sending you to Gusu right now, A-Ning. This year, most of the big sect heirs and notable young masters of their generation are attending. You are their age as well, and as my kids are adults you're my only relative I can send. I need you to make an impression on them so us Wens aren't left behind in the future."
He thought the only impression he could make was one of mediocrity, disability, and blandness.
"No no, you're perfect," Fourth Uncle assured him, looking at him in the eye while he knotted the rope around the jar's cloth lid. "I don't want an arrogant, proud little prick to represent us. That's the mental image people my age have of the Wen Sect from 20 years ago. That was Wen Ruohan. You, boy, embody the new QishanWen you were born in and the virtues I want them to associate with us."
"Virtues? Me?"
"You're humble, hardworking, polite. I know you're brave and can be a firecracker when it comes to it, but most times you're a sweet lad with good morals."
"A firecracker...? Brave...?"
"Just be yourself and behave, and I'll be proud of you." He tussled Wen Ning's hair.
Back to the present in his hard white bed, Wen Ning pondered if Fourth Uncle hadn't sent him to Gusu because he was harmless and pathetic. He had built up a new version of the sect focused on medicine and support. All these young masters from warrior upbringings would learn to see QishanWen as a laid back bunch instead of a threat.
Make the new generation forget that Sect Leader Wen murdered his distant relative and previous sect leader in such a dangerous, dishonorable way, whether Wen Ruohan had been cruel or not.
Regardless of heavy history and uncertain future, Wen Ning lulled himself to sleep by thinking about Wei Wuxian's smile and promises of friendship. Maybe those months in there wouldn't be so bad.