Work Text:
Lan Xichen is no fool. Jin Guangshan’s heart attack came at a time when most of the clans were getting ready for large night hunts and Jinlintai was crawling with activity. The Jin Sect needed a leader as quickly as possible to make sure hunts happened and people were paid and nothing fell by the wayside. Jin Guangyao would not have been anyone’s first choice for successor, but there was no time to search for another bastard with a higher-class mother.
Jin Guangshan died in March and Jin Guangyao was in his place before April even arrived. Jin Guangyao is never the beneficiary of “fortuitous circumstances.” He had told Lan Xichen as much during their time on the run. Jin Guangyao earns his promotions through hard work.
But for all that Lan Xichen knows exactly how Jin Guangshan died, he has no evidence, so he can do nothing about it.
Just as he has no evidence of the way Jin Guangshan treated the female Lan disciples when they visited Lanling. No complaints, formal or informal, made their way to his ears. A tragedy of how segregated the Lan Sect is. Lan Xichen can barely speak to the young women outside of lectures, and they have never confided anything in him.
He has no way of knowing how often Jin Guangshan’s hands wandered or how many disciples were invited to take tea late at night. He has no way of knowing how penetrating Jin Guangshan’s gaze was when Lan Xichen was out of the room. All Lan Xichen knows is how some disciples’ backs stiffened when a trip to Jinlintai was planned. How the women traveled through the tower in tight packs. How a tension eased out of the women’s quarters when the news of Jin Guangshan’s death arrived.
He did notice once that a number of female disciples broke curfew to have a long conversation in hushed tones, but he did not eavesdrop. Nor did he comment when the next day, one of the disciples dropped out of training.
(He made sure the Lan sect gave her a generous gift for her child’s three month celebration.)
All Lan Xichen has is a suspicion with neither the standing nor the power to demand an investigation.
So when Jin Guangshan died, conveniently, in March, in a way that was just shameful enough to need covering up, Lan Xichen said nothing. He has another suspicion with neither the standing nor the power to demand an investigation.
The air in the Cloud Recesses is lighter. The disciple who dropped from training has asked to return now that her daughter is a few years old. And all of the disciples are excited to go to the new Jinlintai.
Lan Xichen has always known that there are things Jin Guangyao has done that might not look righteous to an outside observer, just he knows that there are facts he is not privy to.