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Lan Wangji tried to focus on his guqin but he was slowly realizing he should just give up on today’s practice. It was just impossible, utterly, completely impossible.
The echo of thumping music from the cafeteria building mixed with drunk student shouts was one thing, something he did not approve of but got used to over the last five days since the students have arrived. It was actually still music, for the most part, he could find patterns and rhythm in it, the shouts and occasional laughter was just slight outlier, like an error in a play.
But Nie Mingjue’s aggressive threats did not resemble harmony in the slightest.
“Meng Yao, how dare you heal only Xichen?! Are you planning on sabotaging our team?! Why is it always like this with you?!”
“I’m sorry, dage, your character has attack boost if the HP is under 60% so I thought...” he barely heard Meng Yao’s calm, apologetic reply over the loud sound of swords clashing in the game.
“I know you, bitch, you just like to see me die!”
“...Dage, I wouldn’t.”
“A-Yao, please, heal him,” Xichen calmly advised.
“I really didn’t plan to kill him, gege,” Meng Yao promised. “Especially, since we would probably lose the game if he died. Dage is our perfect slaughter machine, after all, just like you are our perfect cryo archer that freezes everything so dage can crush it more easily. If anyone is expendable here, it’s me.”
“You are not expendable, A-Yao,” Lan Xichen assured him. “We would have died at least a dozen times already if it wasn’t for your healing. Especially me.”
There was a moment of almost blissful silence with just the student party and game soundtrack in the background but, unfortunately, it lasted less than a few minutes.
“Xichen. Stop looking at A-Yao’s pretty eyes and help me defend the crystal! We’re at war!”
“Sorry, dage. It’s just those dimples,” Xichen let out a soft chuckle and Lan Wangji couldn’t help feeling happy for his brother. Even though he and Meng Yao were not together, the latter didn’t seem to mind his brother’s affection at all, and Lan Wangji hoped for the best.
He focused on the strings, trying to calm down and forget about all the noise outside. He barely managed to play half a passage when a roar behind the wall made his hand slip on the instrument, emitting a low, unpleasant sound.
At that point, he already knew that he would not be able to practice tonight either. He wished he had stayed at home instead of coming to their uncle’s resort. He really thought they were going to help manage the place while uncle Qiren was on vacation but instead, his father rented most of the cabins to a group of loud university students and Xichen brought his two friends along so he was spending most of his time with them.
Lan Wangji needed a walk. Preferably in a quiet place that the thumping music from the cafeteria nor Nie Mingjue’s shouts didn’t reach. Although, such a place seemed to be really far away.
He slipped through the living room and his brother’s little party almost unnoticed if not for Meng Yao’s observant eyes. He saw him pinch Xichen and whisper something. As a result, Xichen caught up to him by the door.
“You’re leaving, A-Zhan? I hope we weren’t too loud?”
Lan Wangji was tempted to tell him that yes, they were very much so, but at the same time, he wouldn’t want to ruin his brother’s night. He always cared too much.
“It’s okay. I just wanted to go for a walk.”
“Do you have your phone charged? It’s pretty dark, do you want a flashlight?”
“Have it. In my phone.”
Xichen smiled clearly satisfied.
“Will you be passing by a store on your walk by chance?” Without waiting for an answer he took out his wallet and passed Wangji a few bills. “Could you please buy me and A-Yao a huge bottle of martini, cheap vodka for Nie Mingjue, and some orange juice?”
“Drinking is forbidden in the Cloud Recess,” he responded calmly.
“Wangji,” Xichen sighed. “Uncle is not here and I think you have noticed that we are currently hosting a bunch of drunk students due to father’s management.”
“Drinking is forbidden in the Cloud Recess,” he repeated in reply.
“Wangji,” Xichen smiled innocently and he picked up a reusable bag he earlier left by the door. He put it in his brother’s hand, on the top of the money. “Please.”
If it was anyone else, he would never agree. But this was his brother who rarely broke any rules and who was hoping to get closer to the person he liked. Lan Wangji doubted it was a good way of doing things but also he could understand that Xichen cared.
“... Okay.”
“Thank you,” Xichen beamed brightly. “Have a pleasant walk, brother.”
It wasn’t pleasant at all, at least in the beginning. Xichen overreacted when he suggested bringing a flashlight, the moon was shining brightly tonight and left little to the imagination about the fact that uncle Qiren’s beloved resort had been turned into mayhem by the university students.
There were shoes and flags on the trees. In front of one of the cabins, there was a broken garbage can laying on the ground. Someone dumped flour on the pavement and now his every step left a trail behind. He took a few photos, just in case, because he was feeling like there might be a need to call his uncle back to the Cloud Recess if this will go on.
There was a bed next to one of the cabins. A bed. And people were sitting on it, chatting, beer bottles in hands.
Lan Wangji quickened his steps and left as soon as possible. At least the road to the store was the same as it always was.
The clerk in the store informed him that there was no more martini, the students bought it all out. After hesitation, he purchased a bottle of rice wine instead, not wanting to show up empty-handed. His brother tended to make horrible puppy eyes when he was disappointed.
The walk helped him calm down. That was until he almost stomped over a person who was sleeping in the middle of the road.
A student was laying on the ground, completely drunk, tightly gripping his elegant fan in both hands. His clothes were dirtied with mud and grass, a hastily made crooked braid on the side of his head – disheveled. A true picture of student misery and proof of what would happen if one disobeyed the rules.
Lan Wangji was okay with getting Xichen some alcohol because his brother and his friends knew their boundaries and when to stop drinking but those students clearly did not.
He contemplated what to do with the body on the road. Honestly, he had no idea. He moved the body to the side of the road so no car would hit him. The boy was breathing but he had just passed out in the middle of the road, a good ten minutes’ walk away from the resort.
It definitely wasn’t okay. Lan Wangji knew he needed to text someone about it, he couldn’t just leave a passed-out drunk laying on the side of the road. He also didn’t really want to carry the boy back to the Cloud Recess.
Xichen was probably busy, his father never texted back, so he chose the only other option that came to his mind.
Lan Wangji
Uncle, I have found a drunk student sleeping in the middle of the road to the Cloud Recess. What should I do?
The student yawned and turned to the side. Lan Wanji was glad to see a sign that he was alive.
Suddenly, his uncle was calling him.
“What is going on there?! Drinking alcohol is forbidden in the Cloud Recess! Are you drunk too, Wangji?”
“No,” he replied calmly. He adjusted the bag on his shoulder, careful not to make the bottles clack. “Father has rented the place to some university students. I do think they drink. I even saw them holding beer bottles.”
“University students!” uncle Qiren gasped in absolute outrage. “And they are drinking?! Are they at least respecting the curfew?”
“No,” he answered honestly. “Uncle, could you please tell me what should I do with the body?”
“The body?!”
“I meant the drunk student. He is not very responsive.”
“Okay. Wangji, first of all, move him off the road.”
“Already did.”
“Good,” Qiren sighed with relief. “At least I can count on you to do the right thing. You should try waking him up, maybe splash some water on his face. If he doesn’t wake up, stay with him, just in case. Try calling your father, the other students should help you get their colleague back to his cabin. If it doesn’t work, go for Xichen, he’s resourceful.”
“Thank you, uncle.”
“Drunk students in the Cloud Recess...! That’s unimaginable! What a scandal! Wangji, tell me the truth, is it as bad as I’m imagining?”
“... It is... not good.”
“Gods! I’m coming there tomorrow. Please let me know when you get the drunk student back to his cabin.”
“Uhm.”
“Drunk students! An outrage! I should have never left!”
Lan Wangji thought about all the havoc that has been going on in his uncle’s beloved resort for almost a week that he didn’t know about yet. Tomorrow was going to be a tiring day.
Calling his father turned out to be useless, as always. He wasn’t a bad man, just ever since their mother passed away, he tended to be rather absent. Xichen, on the other hand, did pick up the phone immediately and was ready to look for the drunk boy’s friends right away. He asked Wangji to check if the drunk student had any ID on him. He didn’t exactly have a wallet but the student had a phone with a credit card tucked into the case. He turned out to be no one other than Nie Mingjue’s little brother, Nie Huaisang.
Lan Wangji could only imagine Nie Mingjue’s fury when he found out. With an exasperated sigh, he sat down on the grass on the side of the road and waited for Nie Mingjue to come, from time to time checking if the Nie Huaisang was still breathing. It was late already. He hoped this whole ordeal would be over soon and he could just go to bed and sleep.
Out of the blue, he heard someone humming. The sound of their footsteps was coming from the direction of the village, not the resort. When he turned his head, he saw a rather peculiar-looking figure approach, a tall boy, in a messy ponytail, dressed in dark colors with glow in the dark red nail polish that was visible from afar. He carried a huge cardboard box in his arms holding it in a firmly stable position even though he himself clearly was experiencing difficulties with keeping straight and zigzagged rather than walked. Another drunk student, he guessed. As the boy got closer, Lan Wangji noticed a flute poking out of his ripped jeans pocket and that his face was rather handsome.
It took the boy a while to notice Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang. When he finally did, the melody stopped instantly. He moved a few more steps closer until he was in front of them and cocked his head in slight confusion, clearly not sure what to make of what he was seeing. Eventually, he solemnly asked, “He isn’t dead, right?”
“... No. Just drunk. His brother is coming to pick him up.”
“Oh, that’s good,” suddenly the mood improved greatly, the boy gave him a wide, beautiful smile. “Let’s wait for him together then!”
He carefully set the box on the ground and sat down between it and Lan Wangli, venturing into the other boy’s personal space far too deep for his comfort. He blinked in disapproval but only got a grin in return.
It took the boy less than ten seconds to notice the rice wine in his bag.
“Oh, my favorite! Can I have some? I should have some alcohol left in the cabin, I’m going to fix you something later as thanks,” he offered with a flirty wink and used a moment of distraction and lack of refusal on the owner’s part to snatch the bottle out of the bag.
“Drinking alcohol is forbidden in the Cloud Recess,” Lan Wangji said mechanically, almost as in reflex.
The boy started laughing. It was a nice sound. It made Lan Wangji feel a little more comfortable and happy on this ominous and nerve-wracking night which was not something he expected.
“You’re so funny! I mean, I too saw it on the gate with all the other rules but we’ve been partying literally every night and it’s the first time I hear someone say that!”
“No drinking in the Cloud Recess.”
“Really? But we’re not in the Cloud Recess. We’re on the road to the Cloud Recess,” the boy pointed out smartly with a mischievous smile on his handsome face. Lan Wangji couldn’t deny that his argument was someone valid.
The boy clearly wanted to open the bottle. Lan Wangji got struck by horror and all the consequences of drinking mentioned and seen in person flashed before his eyes. Everything his uncle told him. Nie Huiaisang laying on his side, on the ground, disgraced, in dirty clothes covered in soil. He knew Xichen was not able to hold his alcohol well and he really did not want to see his brother in this state. This boy, on the other hand, seemed experienced in drinking.
And Lan Wangji liked the way he smiled.
“You can drink. But only while you’re outside of the gate.”
“Okay~! Understood!” the boy answered gleefully. “It will be gone in an instant, trust me on this, I’m an expert!”
“Hm,” he hummed back more in resignation than anything else. The other boy didn’t wait a moment longer and opened a bottle and brought it to his mouth taking a few long gulps. “How shameless.”
“Want some?”
“No.”
“Huh. You’re so weird. But more wine for me. Why would you have it in the first place if you’re such a stickler?”
Something moved inside of the cardboard box. Lan Wangji’s eyes drifted off in the direction of the sound and then froze in shock.
There were rabbits in the box. Two rabbits, one while and one white.
“Why do you have rabbits in a cardboard box?” he asked seriously, doubting he could trust someone who brought rabbits to a place full of drunk students. It was dangerous.
“Oh, that’s actually... So I was sitting here in the Cloud Recess, helping my little brother find friends because he’s mean to anything that moves unless it’s a dog or our sister. So we were sitting, having a beer and some wine, and then I see a post online that there is a lab half an hour by bus from here and they have to put down the rabbits they did the testing on but they are not radioactive or anything and if someone can take them in, they should come by and save them. So I dropped everything and went there because the deadline was today and I missed it, of course, they were closed when I got there. So I begged the guard to let me in so I could save the bunnies but he didn’t like it because, well, I was and am still quite drunk from before, hahaha... but I begged so much he actually called someone from the lab, and after some more begging they let me save those two adorable girls!”
He took a deep breath and sighed, “But actually, I have no idea what to do with them! I’m pretty sure I will get thrown out of the house if I bring them home but I have to do this. Look into their eyes. They deserve to live and have a happy life, and I love them already, they are so cute!”
Lan Wangji was stupefied by the story. He looked at the boy. He looked at the rabbits. He didn’t know what to think. He suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotions he wasn’t comfortable with naming. The other boy kept babbling with an awkward smile glued to his face.
“I don’t really care if Madame Yu will have an excuse to throw me out, she’s the wife of my former legal guardian and doesn’t really like me, or that Jiang Cheng, their son and kind of my brother, will be pissed. I won’t let them make me feel bad about saving rabbits! If people want to hate on you, they will always find a reason so I really shouldn’t care about that!”
Lan Wangji immediately knew that it was a lie. The strange boy did care about what his family thought. But he still saved rabbits. He just laughed now and put on a brave face even though it pained him, in the same way, that Meng Yao gave an extremely polite smile to everyone that hated on him, to protect himself. Whenever Xichen saw that smile it made him upset. Suddenly, Lan Wangji understood his brother much better.
This boy was smart, brave, and determined. Even if he seemed a little chaotic, his heart was in the right place, Lan Wangji had no doubt about that. And he had the most beautiful, bewitching smile he has ever seen.
The very proof that the drunk boy’s bravery was not just empty words was right here, in the box. He did save the rabbits. Even if he was still going to get yelled at or worse for it, he did it.
He couldn’t take his eyes off him.
“Can’t one of your friends take them in?” Lan Wangji suggested with slight hesitation.
“I don’t think so,” the boy pouted miserably. “In the worst-case scenario, I’ll just move out, I’m gonna miss my sister’s lotus root soup but hey, it would have happened sooner or later anyway,” he laughed. “Do you want to hold them? You look like you want to hold them.”
He simply nodded and the boy put down the bottle to get the rabbits out of the box. He placed the black one in Lan Wangji’s open hands.
The moment he looked into the rabbit’s blue eyes, and then at the grinning boy next to him, something cracked inside him. He felt happy, ridiculously happy.
Pets were forbidden in the Lan manor but he didn’t care about that anymore.
“I’ll take them home with me. If you’ll let me.”
“Whoa, really?! ...thank you,” the other boy said. “You’re a really nice person, you know that? I can see a big warm heart here under this coldish attitude!” His hand patted Lan Wangji’s chest, wherever the fingers touched, a strange feeling lingered on his skin. “So what’s your name, my savior?”
“Lan Zhan. Lan Wangji.”
“Huh?”
“My family uses curtesy names.”
“That’s so old-fashioned, oh my god,” the boy rolled his eyes in a tremendously exaggerated manner. “I’m calling you Lan Zhan, not some courtesy whatever. I’m Wei Ying. It’s only appropriate we call each other by real names if you’re raising my bunnies! Here, have another one!” another soft ball of fur got put in Lan Wangji’s hands. “You look so cute with those bunnies, Lan Zhan! I have to take a picture...! Fuck, my battery died.”
Wei Ying just called him cute. This information seemed to have shaken Lan Wangji’s world at its very foundation.
Wei Ying thought he was cute.
Familiar voices made him focus again. Xichen, Meng Yao, and Nie Mingjue were approaching them while chatting lively. Wei Ying has noticed them too, despite his questionable state.
“Oh, that’s the brother? That was quick!”
Lan Wangji suddenly felt that he should be very cautious about the rules in Lan manor after all, and realized that he would have to sneak the rabbits in, there was no other way. He would probably tell his brother about it eventually but the fewer people knew, the better.
He promptly put the rabbits back into the cardboard box and hid it behind their backs.
“Not a word about rabbits.”
“Hm? Why? Lan Zhan, are you going to buy my silence with another wine bottle?” he gave served him another cocky smirk.
“No. Quiet.”
“Okay, okay,” Wei Ying agreed with a soft giggle, taking another long sip of the wine.
As the group approached them, they ceased to chat, clearly shocked by the state Nie Huaisang was in. Wei Ying on the other hand seemed to barely be able to hold back a peal of laughter as he watched the trio get closer.
Lan Wangji understood where he was coming from. He couldn’t help thinking that his brother’s group of friends looked ridiculous and positively cartoonish. Nie Mingjue was a mountain of a man, tall and muscled. Xichen was also tall, but lean and slender, always looked elegant and radiant. And Meng Yao was so little he barely reached Nie Mingjue’s shoulders and Xichen could rest his chin on the top of Meng Yao’s head, which he saw his brother do plenty of times.
Nie Mingjue face was rather grim at the moment. He looked down at Nie Huaisang and sighed.
“How low he has fallen... I’m going to take him to bed and kill his friends for leaving him alone. Thank you for finding him, Lan Wangji,” he said and picked up Nie Huaisang as if he was a bag of potatoes. The fan that the unconscious boy was holding scratched his neck and it seemed to have triggered him in some way. “Meng Yao!” he yelled and his new victim jumped up to hide behind Xichen. “Did you give him another fan?!”
Before Meng Yao could answer, Xichen took his side by saying, “I hardly think a fan has anything to do with Nie Huaisang’s current state, dage.”
“Hmpf,” Nie Mingjue scoffed in disdain and was about to say something but Wei Ying started laughing loudly drawing their attention to himself.
“I think I saw him with the fan yesterday, you know. Because someone said that in kabuki actors pretend to use fans as cups on stage and this guy here wanted to test it, so we poured vodka on his fan and he spilled almost all of it on his clothes. So no, I say fans don’t get people drunk, it’s the opposite,” Wei Ying explained thoroughly.
Nie Mingjue seemed to be surprisingly impressed. “You sound reasonable. I like you,” he patted the boy on the head as if he was a pet that behaved well.
“New friend, A-Zhan?” Xichen asked with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Meng Yao peered from behind his shoulder and gave a small nod too.
“Hi,” Wei Ying replied with a smile.
“Sorry, brother. I gave him your alcohol,” Lan Wangji admitted honestly. “He wanted it.”
“Oh, that’s no problem,” Xichen smiled in return. “We’re already halfway to the store, what do you say, A-Yao, should we go for a walk?”
“I would be happy to come with you, gege. Dage, do you want something?”
“No,” Nie Migjue grumbled tossing a glance at his unconscious little brother. “I’m going to call it a night and watch over him. See you. And Meng Yao,” he hesitated for a moment. “Thank you for giving Huaisang fans. I still don’t like the idea but at least apparently, it made him drink less.”
“I’m not sure what to say to this, dage...”
“I’m allowing you to give my brother fans but only the party ones,” Nie Mingjue announced. Having said that, he turned and marched off in the direction of the cabins leaving his two friends stupefied.
“So I’m dying to know,” Wei Ying spoke up immediately when Nie Mingjue was out of the earshot range. “What is the difference between party fan and normal fan?”
“Party fan is more fancy and colorful,” Meng Yao explained. “Or at least that’s what I’m going to tell him because there really isn’t any difference. And that boy really likes his fans so he should be allowed to keep them.”
Xichen watched Nie Mingjue go with a sigh. In the meantime, Meng Yao’s perceptive eyes have already fallen on the cardboard box. Lan Wangji gave him a stern, determined look and Meng Yao immediately understood. He gently touched Xichen’s arm.
“Gege, we should go. I think the store is about to close.”
Lan Wangji knew Meng Yao’s help would cost him being forced to tell both him and his brother the truth rather sooner than later but he could live with that. He knew they would find out anyway.
“Oh, it’s so late? I haven’t noticed. A-Zhan, will you be okay if we leave?”
“Uhm,” Lan Wangji hummed in response.
“Good. Have fun with your new friend.”
They said their goodbyes and walked off, quick to resume their previous chat on the way. Their fingers kept brushing against each other but none of them took initiative to take the other’s hand.
“What a cute couple,” Wei Ying summed up with a beam on his face.
“My brother and Meng Yao are not together.”
“What?!” Wei Ying let out a scandalized gasp. “No way! They must be hiding from you, Lan Zhan, the same way you hid just the bunnies.”
“No. Bother would tell me.”
“Hmpf,” Wei Ying pouted. He rested his chin on the crook of the bottle he was holding close to his chest. “So why are they not together? Is your family homophobic or something? I get it I once mentioned a guy was hot and my brother gave me hell for it, it sucked,” he sighed.
“... I think it’s the height.”
“What?”
Wei Ying blinked. He cocked his head curiously and clearly impressed that Lan Zhan did some investigation on his own, but he seemed also both puzzled by the outcome and relieved that Lan Wangji chose not to comment on the subtle coming out that took place. It was a lot of emotions at once, Lan Wangji needed to pause for a moment just to look at Wei Ying’s expressive face.
Also, to be honest, Lan Wangji did not know what to say to Wei Ying’s casual coming out. The fact that Wei Ying could also find man attractive made him a little nervous but for an entirely different reason than what angered Wei Ying’s brother.
“The height,” he repeated after he regained his composure.
“You really need to give me more than that, you know. Did they tell you something? Do you know something? What does height have to do with anything?”
“No. I just know. Xichen is tall. Meng Yao is short. If Meng Yao wanted to kiss Xichen, he would have to jump up or pull him down and Meng Yao is too polite and too well-mannered to do either without invitation. Xichen would have to lower his head to kiss Meng Yao which is a complex effort that gives him time to think about how it would ruin their friendship and how he should not put Meng Yao in this position.”
“Wow, Lan Zhan. You really thought it through. Are you... you know, shipping them?”
“No.”
“Really?”
Lan Wangji looked up at him and said earnestly, “I just want my brother to be happy with the person he loves. And what’s shipping?”
Wei Ying burst with laughter. Lan Wangji just looked at him in awe, completely mesmerized.
“You are so funny, Lan Zhan! I’m so happy I ran into you!”
Suddenly, Wei Ying’s arms wrapped around him in a tight hug. Lan Wangji gulped in shock. The audacity of drunk Wei Ying was something incredible. But at the same time, as much as he didn’t like to be touched by others, he loved this.
Unfortunately, for Wei Ying it didn’t seem to be as spectacular and important as it was to him because he let go quickly and turned back to his bottle.
“So what are you doing here, Lan Zhan? You seem way too fun to be one of those pretentious economy students my brother came here to meet!”
“... No.”
“Hm...? What was that?”
“My family suggested law. So I’m studying it.”
“It sounds so boring!” Wei Ying rolled his eyes. “And you don’t seem happy about it at all, Lan Zhan.”
“... I like rules. But...”
“Do you really want to be a sleazy lawyer?” Wei Ying asked seriously. “Be honest, Lan Zhan. Not that all the lawyers are sleazy, some are cool but do you really want to become one?”
He got quiet for a second until he said, “I would rather study music.”
“Then go, study music. It’s your life,” Wei Ying replied, as simple as that.
“My family would preferer I was a lawyer. I think. They suggested it.”
“Well, is it their life?” Wei Ying asked as he fished out vodka and orange juice from the bag, without asking for permission. “Let me tell you something, Lan Zhan. You think that they care, sure maybe they do. But they are not allowed to make decisions for you, especially the decisions that you will be stuck with for the rest of your life. No matter how disappointed they will be, it is nothing compared to the pain of you living the life you don’t like until you die. You live for your sake, not for theirs. If it’s family, they probably already have a fixed opinion about you, little would be able to change that, so don’t worry. You won’t stop being their good boy for once standing up for yourself. Just like I won’t stop being trash in Madame Yu’s eyes, no matter how good scholarship I’ll get,” he finished with awkward laughter.
Lan Wangji didn’t know what to say to that. Wei Ying had a point. And he could just stare, thinking.
“So music, ha? That’s so cool! You are so cool, Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying’s mood switched and now he was beaming with enthusiasm. He was trying to change the subject, it was obvious but Lan Wangji let him.
“Wei Ying, you play... flute?”
“Huh?” for a moment he was puzzled by the question but then remembered the flute in his pocket. “Oh, right, just a little. I’m pretty good, but, man, you wouldn’t believe what I can do with a kazoo. My brother wants to murder me every time I take it out!” he spoke with pride.
“Will you play something?”
“Sure.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Wei Ying took the bamboo flute out of his pocket, brought it to his mouth, and started playing. Lan Wangji got worried about the open wine bottle that rested on Wei Ying’s lap but as it turned out, it was already empty. The other bottles were still safely closed.
Wei Ying was good. Not on the professional level but very good. He messed up a few notes, but all in all, he was making the piece he was playing sound pleasant enough to one’s ear, that Lan Zhan wanted to find out how good he would be if he was sober.
He kept playing play piece after piece, effortlessly, clearly enjoying himself. Lan Wangji didn’t interrupt him, paying attention to every single note.
Finally, Wei Ying put the instrument down and grinned.
“So how was I, Mr. Soon-To-Be-Professional? Did I smite you with my amazing skill?”
“... You made forty-seven mistakes.”
Wei Ying let out a scandalized gasp and accusingly pointed his flute at Lan Wangli, poking his chest with it. “So cruel, Lan Zhan! I can’t believe you!”
“But it was amazing. You have talent, Wei Ying.”
“Now, that sounds about right,” the boy smirked and out of the blue leaned on Lan Wangji’s side. “I got tired Lan Zhan, let me rest a bit.”
His body was stiff, he had no idea how to react. Wei Ying’s cheek rubbed against his shoulder, messy dark hair was caressing his face.
“So, you play music, Wei Ying? Did you go to music school?”
“Just the basic one, when my sister wanted to learn piano. She got bored after a year so I stopped going too. But I still play flute for fun, it’s awesome. And kazoo. I can make it sound like a saxophone!”
“Uhm.”
“I miss the time when school was easy, when I could just come to class and get perfect grades... I’m in a med school now, you know,” Wei Ying said switching the subject and getting a little more serious. “It’s hard actually. I pretend like it’s coming easily now too, and it is easy in a way but I still have to study a lot, more than I ever had in my life. And the classes start again in two weeks and I’m so exhausted already just from thinking about it,” he mumbled into the material of Lan Wangji’s shirt. “But I like it a lot and... okay, I’ll tell you, but shush, no word to anyone, especially my brother!”
Wei Ying raised his head and was staring into his eyes with strange determination. Lan Wangji nodded a little hesitantly, especially since he had no idea what Wei Ying was talking about.
“Pathology is the dopest shit I’ve ever tried in my life,” Wei Ying confessed in an animated voice. “Especially, dead bodies. But other things about it are so cool too, I could spend the whole day just looking at deteriorated tissues in the lab. But huh, everybody wants me to be a surgeon or something nice, I don’t care, I’ll just choose a specialization without telling them!” he smirked with satisfaction. “And then it will be me and dead bodies and deteriorated tissues for the rest of my life!”
Lan Wangji needed a moment to process it all. He wanted to say something but had no idea what. There was no rule about the dead bodies and it seemed like a needed work in society. However, Wei Ying’s enthusiasm was indeed a little disturbing.
Wei Ying kept on babbling about how different types of diseases deteriorated organs with passion and devotion to the subject that made Lan Wangji open his eyes widely in awe, even though in the beginning he felt a little reluctant, he couldn’t help growing feeling of admiration. “Wei Ying,” he interrupted a long story about a great dissection he watched last year. “Do this. You are going to be an amazing pathologist.”
“Well, of course, I’m doing it, I don’t need your special blessing!” he scoffed but then immediately brightened up. “Thanks, Lan Zhan. It’s good to know at least you won’t be pointing at me for being the creepy doctor. But you! You’ve gotta leave the law school, immediately! Don’t go to classes in two weeks!”
“... Okay,” Lan Wangji agreed, it was much easier than he thought it would be. He wouldn’t go to the classes. He didn’t want to. And Wei Ying said it was okay. But should he trust him?
“Tomorrow check if there is any additional registration open. If not, take a gap year, enjoy yourself. Practice so you can make them all fall to your knees next year!”
He nodded again, ignoring his doubts.
“Good,” Wei Ying hummed with satisfaction. “So as I was saying, the liver was... Oh, wait! Let’s go sit by the lake! It should be right there, right?” he pointed at the wall of trees. “Come on, Lan Zhan! I’ll take the alcohol, you take the bunnies!”
He promptly stood up and marched off in the right direction, having even less balance in his posture than before. Lan Wangji followed him without a word.
“And when we get there, you will practice sweeping people off their feet on me, in a good ambiance! Can you play the flute, Lan Zhan? I wanna hear you play!”
“I don’t play the flute. But I brought my guqin with me. It’s in my cabin.”
“Oh, yes!” Wei Ying pounced with enthusiasm. “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan! You’ve gotta bring it by the lake! Music sounds best by the lake and in the mountains and we are in the mountains by the lake so it’s just perfect. Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan!” he urged him.
“Okay.”
“Go back to your cabin and bring the guqin. I’ll meet you by the lake, I think that there is a wooden bridge if I go straight from here and then right when I get to the water. We can meet there.”
Lan Zhan nodded and turned around. He hoped that Wei Ying would be okay. However, despite a possibly immense quantity of liquor in his blood, he seemed to be quite reasonable, so Lan Wangji hoped he would be alright and wouldn’t end up like Nie Huaisang.
He looked down at the box he was still holding. He had rabbits. And they were cute. He couldn’t help a small smile that appeared on his face.
He left the box in the safety of his room, placing it inside a bowl of water and some carrots he found in the kitchen. The rabbits looked sleepy so he decided to leave them there.
His guqin was nowhere to be found. With an exasperated sigh, he headed to the room where Xichen was staying, hoping it would be there, his brother did like to borrow it from time to time. As he was about to turn on the lights, he noticed that there was someone in bed so he retreated his hand from the switch without pushing it. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness but then he could see clearly that his brother was in bed, soundly asleep, still dressed in jeans and shirt. By his side laid Meng Yao in pajamas, with eyes wide open and staring at Lan Wangji.
His guqin was on the floor, by the window, next to an open bottle and two glasses.
“Lan Wangji?”
“...”
“You two should be really careful about drinking, you know,” Meng Yao warned. “Your brother didn’t even manage to finish one drink and he fell asleep and he mentioned it was running in the family. But don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“... Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. I may be shady and not exactly a good person but I will always protect your brother.”
“... How are you here already? You went to the store.”
“We took a shortcut back. And it’s already very late, you know. I understand that you’ve been enjoying your new friend’s company?”
“...”
Meng Yao chuckled in his pillow, “Xichen will be happy, you know,” he added after a moment with a gentle smile.
“... Good night, Meng Yao.”
“Good night, Lan Wangji,” he replied, closing his eyes.
The other boy went across the room to fetch guqin as quietly as possible. He was about to get out before he stopped, deciding that now was a good time to ask something he’s been wanting to ask for a long while now. “Meng Yao, how do you feel about my brother?”
The dark distinctive eyes shot open and looked at him for a moment, the other boy visibly hesitated what to say. His left hand’s fingers clenched on the sheets. Finally, he took a deep breath and he stated clearly, without a shadow of a doubt, “He is the light of my life.”
Having said that, he promptly turned around, going as far as to cover his head with the blanket, ending all discussion.
Lan Wangji wanted to thank him again but Meng Yao probably wouldn’t want that. Instead, he left, going in the direction of the lake. It was quiet out, the music was still playing in the cafeteria but the students have eased on the volume, there also seemed to be fewer of them left at the party.
Wei Ying wasn’t waiting for him at the bridge. For a moment, Lan Wangji panicked, his first conclusion being that Wei Ying left, followed closely by the worry that he got lost on the way. He looked around but there was no sign of the other boy and his mind started running some wild scenarios.
Maybe Wei Ying didn’t want to listen to guqin, after all. Maybe he didn’t enjoy their chat. Or maybe it just wasn’t important.
Or maybe, Wei Ying was drunk and forgot.
Maybe, he didn’t like him at all.
“Lan Zhan.”
He looked up to see Wei Ying on an oak tree branch, his back resting on the trunk, bottle of vodka swinging dangerously in his hand, already half empty.
“Wei Ying. Do you need help getting down?”
“Not now. Sit down and play, as you promised. I waited so long, Lan Zhan!” he whined. “Wait, where are the bunnies?”
“In my room. They wanted to drink some water and sleep. I left them some carrots.”
“You are such a good boy, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying smiled at him showing off his teeth. “You are going to be a good daddy to my bunnies, without a doubt! So, what cool songs can you play on this? Disney? Muppets?”
“... I can play Hedwig’s theme,” he confessed, not really expecting to start with this kind of song.
“Good!”
He started with Hedwig's theme and since Wei Ying was rather enthusiastic, he kept playing other songs, classics, the ones he and Xichen learned for fun, the ones he knew from school, everything. From time to time, Wei Ying’s flute would join him shyly, if the boy recognized the melody. Eventually, it got quiet for a long while. He glanced up and his eyes found Wei Ying asleep on the tree, with a blissful smile on his face.
The sun was slowly rising over the lake.
He remembered that he had never gotten down to texting Uncle Qiren back. He looked up at the tree branch on which Wei Ying had dozed off and realized he had not even one single regret about the whole night.
Xichen looked like he was on the verge of dying. He was sipping the herbal tea Meng Yao fixed for him, paling at every louder sound.
Meng Yao was busy shutting all the curtains in their cabin, his own steaming tea was waiting at the table.
Lan Wangji decided that it was as good a time as any.
“Brother, I need your help.”
“Yes, A-Zhan?” Xichen asked in a hoarse voice, raising his eyebrows quizzingly.
“I have taken responsibility for a living being.”
Meng Yao dropped the drape he was holding and ran to the table. “I thought you met a boy yesterday, not a girl. And how did you make a baby this quickly?” he asked and Xichen looked up at him in sheer horror. “I’m joking, gege. At least, I hope I am,” he added, tossing a glance at Lan Wangji.
The boy sighed and left the room only to come back after a few seconds with two rabbits in his hands. Xichen gasped.
“Wangji, are you planning on taking them home? I’ll support you but uncle will never allow it...”
“I know. That’s why I need your help with keeping them secret.”
Xichen reached out to pet them, with a pensive expression on his face. “We’ll keep them hidden for a while. If he finds out... Then we’ll see. Unless you have any smart ideas, A-Yao?” he asked.
Meng Yao was looking at the rabbits as if he wanted to touch them badly but was scared to try without permission. Lan Wangji felt a little ridiculous about the need to say it out loud that yes, petting bunnies was okay. However, just as he was about to clarify it, Meng Yao spoke on his own.
“I don’t think I should meddle in your family affairs but since you’ve asked me...” he said slowly. “I remember you talking about an apartment in your trust fund that you wanted to move into with Lan Wangji if he was willing to, and when you’re both students. Keeping rabbits would be easy if you lived there.”
“That’s actually perfect,” Xichen grinned. “I wanted to move out but the food at the manor is so good and I don’t know a thing about cleaning and housework... but what do you say, Wangji?” he asked with a radiant smile. “A-Yao, you can touch the rabbits, don’t hold back,” he added.
Meng Yao didn’t have to be told twice. With a shy beam on his face, he let his fingers drown in the soft fur.
Lan Wangji actually liked the idea of living together with his brother. They got along well, and he would be able to keep the rabbits without any issues.
“There is just one problem, brother,” he said, calmly. “I do not plan to be a law student anymore. I’m not coming back to the law school.”
Xichen’s eyes widened. “Will that make you happy?”, he just said, after a moment.
“Most likely. I need to check if there is any last-minute admission to the music academy.”
“Does it have anything with the boy you were with last night?” Xichen asked without any hostility or worry, just with genuine interest.
“Possibly,” Lan Wangji admitted, averting his eyes.
“I’m glad, A-Zhan,” his brother grinned in return.
“See, Lan Wangji?” Meng Yao spoke up. “I told you yesterday that he would be happy.”
Meng Yao sported his courage and picked up one of the rabbits and embraced it. Xichen beamed at the sight while still petting the other rabbit.
In his heart, Lan Wangji knew that everything would be better now, that he had rabbits.
And Wei Ying as a friend. At least a friend. Maybe something more, if Wei Ying would let him.