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Lan Wangji was sat at the makeshift desk, frantically writing with his brush. Any outsider who saw him would see the perfect younger jade of Lan. But as Lan Xichen walked in, he noticed the slightly bent back and the frenetic nature of his brother’s brush strokes and realised that Wangji was panicking. Lan Xichen gently approached his brother “A-Zhan,” he started, tentatively reaching his hand to Wangji’s shoulder, but not quite touching it, “why are you copying out the Lan sect rules?”
“Punishment” replied Wangji as he continued to write with renewed vigour.
“A-Zhan,” stated Xichen, this time allowing his hand to touch Wangji’s shoulder to stop his younger brother from writing. Wangji paused momentarily, which Xichen took as his cue to talk further. “Why does didi feel the need to punish himself?” Xichen waited, expecting Wangji to state a smaller, more insignificant rule such as ‘Interacting with Wei Wuxian is forbidden’ so he was truly shocked when his didi stated, “Promiscuity is forbidden and One must not hurt plants and animals”.
“I don’t understand,” replied Lan Xichen, a little shocked.
“Wangji kissed Wei Ying,” Wangji replied before quickly returning to frantically write out the rules.
Lan Xichen thought he had misheard his brother; he took a few moments to process what he had just heard. He suspected, no, he knew that Wangji had a crush on Wei Wuxian, but never thought his brother would act on his feelings. He ordered Wangji to stop writing, which his brother ignored, so he followed up by stating “Lan Wangji. As head of the Lan sect, I order you to stop writing and listen to me.”
Wangji reluctantly placed his calligraphy brush back on the holder and turned to face his xiongzhang. Lan Xichen sat down opposite Wangji and looked at his brother, trying to level with his didi’s eyes. Xichen knew Wangji was reaching the point of a meltdown, and that left to his own devices he would punish himself for days. “As sect leader, I will decide on a suitable punishment for you. Please tell me more about what happened.”
Wangji just stared at his brother, so Xichen started the sentence for him “You were at the hunt and kissed Wei Wuxian, am I right? What did Wei Gongzi do?”
“Yes. Wei Ying doesn’t know it was me.”
“Are you sure?”
Wangji nodded then said “blindfolded”.
Ah, thought Lan Xichen.
“What happened after you kissed?”
“Wangji fled. Wei Ying found me, told me a maiden kissed him. Maidens always kiss him.”
“Wei gongzi told you that?” asked Xichen.
Wangji looked at Xichen to agree.
“You also mentioned that you hurt a plant or animal?” asked Xichen enquiring.
“Mmn,” replied Wangji, “a tree.”
“How?”
“Bichen”
Xichen raised his eyebrows. It wasn’t like Wangji to lose his temper, let alone use Bichen in anger. Xichen took a deep breath then stated, “You shall copy out the sect rules 10 times then ensure that Bichen is in good condition.”
Wangji nodded, “Once you have finished come and find me. You are not permitted to stay up past curfew to complete this,” finished Xichen.
Wangji gave a small nod then turned to return to copying out the rules. He had already copied the rules 4 times before Xichen arrived.
Xichen left the room and headed out to meet with some of the Lan clan disciples. He noticed that many of the Lan disciples were huddled around the bonfire which had just been lit, in the company of several Jiang, Nie and Jin clan members. Lan Xichen could hear them talking about the hunt, so he kept walking to the hall where dinner was served. Lan Xichen walked to the front of the tent where the food was and looked down at the dishes. The food was, yet again, the typical salty food from the Lanling region that the Jin clan regularly served up at events. Lan Xichen sighed; he was craving for plain foods like the Lan clan ate at home in the Cloud Recesses but knew that it was improper of a clan leader to complain about the food. He took a plate of plain rice and some green vegetables and tofu before taking a seat at a table with Nie Mingjue and Huaisang. Before sitting down, Xichen turned to Mingjue “Da Ge, Xiao di” as he bowed slightly. Mingjue instantly stopped criticising his younger brother’s lack of hunting skills and turned to Lan Xichen “Wangji?”
“He is in our room”
“He not eating?”
“He is being punished. He will be here later.” Lan Xichen could see that Nie Mingjue wanted to comment but Lan Xichen gave his Da Ge a piercing look to say, ‘don’t ask’. Huaisang was relieved that Mingjue insisted on observing the Lan clan’s silence at meals while in the presence of er-ge.
Once dinner was finished, Nie Huaisang quickly found a reason to leave, leaving Nie Mingjue to chat in detail with Lan Xichen about the hunt. One shichen after Lan Xichen left his brother to complete his punishment, Lan Wangji appeared in the dining hall and bowed to his brother “xiongzhang, Nie zongzhu”. To the others in the room, Lan Wangji was the picture of composure, but to Lan Xichen, Wangji was still a bundle of nerves. Xichen calmly turned to Wangji with a calm look on his face, “please show me Bichen, A-Zhan.”
Wangji took the sword from its sheath, holding it with both hands as he handed presented it to Xichen. The elder Lan carefully took the sword with both hands and inspected it, gently running his thumb along the edge looking for imperfections in the blade. “When we get to Caiyi I will have a swordsmith look over it to ensure these ridges are removed” stated Xichen. Wangji looked at him in response.
“It is late. I will ask a servant to bring your food for you to eat back at the room, the bok choy and stewed tofu are delicious,” instructed Xichen to Wangji, “I will meet you there later” he added before walking away. Xichen decided to give him another 2 incense sticks before he started to head back to his didi. As he walked back, he noticed that the bonfire with disciples around it was getting larger and rowdier than before. He made a mental note to return to the bonfire once he finished chatting to Wangji.
As Xichen entered the room that he and Wangji were given to stay in while they were attending the Phoenix Mountain hunt, he noticed that Wangji had already finished his dinner. “How was the food?” he asked politely.
Wangji simply looked back at his older brother. “I understand, I’ll never get used to this salty food either,” he replied.
Lan Xichen sat down on the chair and called his brother over to him with a hand gesture. Wangji slowly, tentatively walked over and looked down at his brother. Xichen then motioned for Wangji to sit on the floor in front of him. Wangji looked at him in disbelief, so Xichen motioned for him to sit down on the floor again. “Xiongzhang, I’m not a child,” Wangji stated, unimpressed.
“No, but you are my little brother, and I would like to comb your hair for you. Please sit down.”
Wangji sat down cross legged between his brother’s feet. Xichen immediately started to undo the guan and forehead ribbon and carefully placed them on the table next to him before he picked up a comb from the table and slowly started to gently comb Wangji’s hair, like when they were children. When Wangji was a child, after their mother passed away, Lan Xichen learnt that to soothe his little brother he should comb his hair or sleep next to him.
Once all knots were removed from Wangji’s hair, Xichen noticed that Wangji had begun to unravel the tight knot of anxiety in his stomach. Xichen took the forehead ribbon and placed it back on Wangji’s forehead, securing it at his temples before pulling his hair back in a simple topknot. The guan stayed on the side table.
“Zhanzhan,” Xichen started, he hadn’t called Wangji Zhanzhan since his little brother was 7 years old, “do you want to bathe and go to bed, or would you like to help xiongzhang?”
Wangji studied Xichen for a moment, before he eventually said “help.”
“Ok, I will ensure our disciples who are still around are going to bed, you go to the Lan disciples’ dormitories and ensure everything is fine.”
Lan Xichen knew that Wei Wuxian would be nowhere near the dormitories so it was unlikely that Wangji would come across him.
***
After Nie Huaisang quickly left the dinner table, hoping to avoid his brother who had been criticising him for doing a bad job at the hunt, he arrived at the bonfire where Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were sitting around drinking bottles of the local wine along with several disciples. While they had originally been talking about the hunt that day, once Huaisang came near he announced in a singsong voice “Guess who was in trouble today? You’ll never guess! It was Lan er gongzi. Did something to Bichen against the rules, in fact apparently Bichen will need to see a swordsmith!” Nie Huaisang loved a good gossip, and he was keen to find out why the usually goody-two-shoes perfect Jade of Lan was being punished. Unfortunately for Huaisang, the most information he could get was that Wei Wuxian found Lan er gongzi using Bichen to hit a tree. The talk soon drew to Wei Wuxian who had that day been kissed by a fine maiden while he was blindfolded. “Of course, this isn’t the first time this has happened,” bragged Wei Wuxian to Jiang Wanyin’s eyerolls “Yeah, it happens regularly in your sleep.” Wei Wuxian responded by swiftly elbowing the Jiang clan leader in the ribs.
Soon, spurred on by several empty bottles of alcohol, Nie Huaisang started to give odds on which fair maiden it was who had kissed Wei Wuxian.
“Hmmm, you say she was fairly strong in pinning your arms, let’s see, Nie Lanli is pretty strong, I’d give her odds of 3:1 it was her,” stated Nie Huaisang as he pulled out a stick of cinnabar and a borrowed a piece of talisman paper to record the odds on.
As the disciples ran through the list of potential maidens, the list became more and more wild as the jars of empty wine grew. Nie Huaisang started to become bold, thanks to a stomach full of alcohol, “What if it wasn’t a fair maiden, but a fine gentleman?”
After several random suggestions, each more outrageous than the last, a Lan disciple by the name of Lan Xuan, shouted out “Lan Wangji! What’s the odds-on Lan er gongzi?” earning a roar of laughter.
“Lan gongzi hates Wei Ying’s guts,” started Jiang Cheng turning to Wei Wuxian, “you’re always trying to eat his tofu, but he hates you so much. I don’t know why you don’t just leave him alone.”
“He liked it when I threw the flower at him,” argued back Wei Wuxian.
“He thinks you’re a moron” shot back Jiang Wanyin curtly.
“Right, right, er, Lan Wangji. Odds 75:1” stated Nie Huaisang as he added it to his list.
Suddenly Lan Xichen cleared his throat, “Lan disciples, you’re out past curfew. Lan Xuan, you know better to gossip, and Lan Bing; why is there a jar of alcohol at your feet, you know alcohol is forbidden!” The three Lan disciples at the bonfire all stood up, and immediately bowed to Lan Xichen “Zewu-jun” they stated in unison, “w-we will go back to the dormitories now” stammered Lan Bing. “Tomorrow morning first thing please report to me,” stated Lan Xichen to the disciples who all nodded before quickly scarpering towards the disciple dormitories.
Lan Xichen then turned to Nie Huaisang, “Xiao Nie, may I please see your list of odds?”
Nie Huaisang reluctantly handed over the list to see the Lan Xuan and Lan Bing had indeed handed over money to bet on who had kissed Wei Wuxian.
“May I keep this until morning?” he asked. Nie Huaisang didn’t know what else to say so he nodded, knowing that if he refused, he would have Da ge to answer to.
“Thank you, you are very kind. I understand you’ll need this to conduct your small business, so I shall return it to you tomorrow,” he told the meek Huaisang with a shallow bow.
Lan Xichen turned to the other disciples at the bonfire and said with a small bow “Jiang Wanyin, I was wondering if I could also speak with you tomorrow. Please come to see me when you are ready. I wish to chat about the rebuilding of the Lotus Pier.”
Jiang Wanyin stood up and bowed “Of course, Zewu-jun.”
“Come to Lotus Pier to see the rebuild,” butted in Wei Wuxian, “and bring Lan Zhan. I told him I’d teach him how to swim, but last time he came I never got chance.”
“That’s ‘cause he doesn’t want your naked ass harassing him under the guise of swimming lessons,” hissed Jiang Wanyin which started the two wrestling again.
As Lan Xichen turned to leave, Wei Wuxian shouted out to him “Lan gongzi, where is Lan Zhan?” Lan Xichen gave a little smile, “Lan Zhan is patrolling the disciples’ dormitory. Maybe you can see him tomorrow for it is past Lan curfew.”
“Tell him I’ll come and see him tomorrow. We need to go looking at beautiful ladies in town,” Wei Wuxian called after Lan Xichen, who walked off, ever so slightly shaking his head.
As Lan Xichen returned to the room where he and Lan Wangji were staying, he noticed that his younger brother had already returned. They bowed slightly to one another before Wangji reported “Lan Li, Lan Xin and Lan Yi were all given punishment in the morning for keeping a messy room. Also, they were not in bed by curfew.”
Lan Xichen gave a small nod, “Thank you. A-Zhan, I’ll call a Jin servant to run you a hot bath. I think it’ll be good to take away some of the stress you still have.”
Wangji gave a small nod and saw his brother wander off out of the room.
After three incense sticks, Lan Xichen returned with Jin servants in tow, carrying a round wooden bathtub and several buckets of hot water.
After their baths, Lan Xichen got into bed, while Wangji sat in the lotus position. “If you can’t sleep, you can always sleep here next to me.”
Wangji opened his left eye and looked at Xichen.
“Just a thought, the offer is always there A-Zhan,” Xichen replied back as he allowed himself to drift off to sleep.
Xichen was dreaming about fighting a demon tiger in Phoenix Mountain with shufu when he woke to the noise of Wangji coughing up blood and vomiting.
Xichen immediately ran to Wangji’s side, grabbing his wrist to feel his pulse point. “I’m going to get a daifu” he told his younger brother as he raced out of the room, dressed only in his inner robes. Xichen ran to Jin Guangyao’s room, gave a light knock before entering, “A-Yao, Wangji is unwell, he needs to see the daifu.”
Jin Guangyao woke up, but Xichen had to repeat his request before A-Yao understood and took Xichen to where the daifu was staying.
As Zhang Daifu and Jin Guangyao arrived at the room where Wangji was staying, Xichen noticed that his younger brother was starting to look somewhat better. Zhang Daifu took hold of Wangji’s wrist and felt his pulse point, “hmmm, Lan zongzhu said you’ve been coughing up blood and vomiting. Your meridians are weak. You need to rest and take some medicine which I shall brew and bring to you. The medicine will calm you down and help you to sleep. You need to rest.”
Lan Xichen nodded, “thank you, daifu.”
Jin Guangyao turned to Xichen “A-Huan, I will ensure that daifu does this straight away. If there’s anything else you need, please tell me without hesitation.”
Lan Xichen hesitated.
“Anything, er-ge,” Guangyao pleaded.
“Not now, at breakfast, I was wondering if Wangji could have some plain congee.”
“Of course, I will have the cook bring it to his room first thing in the morning.”
Once Zhang daifu returned with the medicine, Wangji downed the bitter taste. As he put the cup back on the tray, Zhang daifu promised to bring more the following day. Xichen thanked A-Yao and Zhang daifu, who left with little fanfare. Xichen turned to Wangji.
“A-Zhan, do you want to talk about anything?”
Wangji said nothing in reply, so Xichen suggested that they get some sleep. As Lan Wangji got into his bed, he was joined by Xichen. Xichen could feel Wangji’s stare boring into him, despite the darkness they were in. But Xichen knew, just like when they were children, the only way to calm Wangji at night when he was worked up was to sleep next to him. Just to feel him there was enough to calm him.
The next morning the Twin jades of Lan woke early as is custom. Lan Xichen encouraged Wangji to meditate some more while he went to administer the punishments for the previous night’s infractions. As he was getting the betting list which he took from Nie Huaisang, he noticed that it had moved from his robe pocket to the table – that explains why Wangji was so stressed last night, thought Xichen. He knew he had to get to the unruly disciples who would be waiting for him, but he first interrupted Wangji from his meditation “A-Zhan, I know you saw the betting list.” Wangji opened his eyes and looked at his brother. Xichen reached out to touch Wangji’s shoulder “I want you to know that they don’t think it was you. No one knows except you and I, unless you want to tell anyone else.” Wangji blinked at his brother and gave a slight nod. “Right, I need to see the disciples after last night’s display of debauchery,” Xichen said before he stood up and walked out of the guest room they were staying in.
The three female disciples were asked to clean their room and copy out the rules five times for their untidiness and being late for curfew. The male disciples were asked to copy the rules ten times. Lan Xichen then headed to the dining hall for breakfast. He expected to be the only one there but was surprised to see Jiang Wanyin sat there staring at a bowl of congee. Xichen walked over to him and bowed “Jiang zongzhu, trouble sleeping?”
Jiang Wanyin looked back and gave a small bow before nodding, “can’t sleep.”
“Anything I can help with?”
Jiang Wanyin shook his head before inquiring, “You said you wanted to talk about rebuilding the Lotus Pier?”
“Ah, yes, I hope you don’t mind if I eat my breakfast first, then join me for a walk,” Xichen suggested.
After they had both finished their congee with various toppings of preserved vegetables, they left the dining hall and went for a walk around the grounds. Lan Xichen first started inquiring generally how Jiang zongzhu had been faring, and asked about the status of the rebuild, Lan Xichen eventually gained the courage to bring up what he really wanted to say as the entered a clearing, Lan Xichen stopped “Jiang zongzhu” as he bowed low, “I apologise on behalf of the Lan clan for what happened to Wei Wuxian on the night hunt yesterday. It was irresponsible of my disciple to act like that without permission to a member of your clan.” Lan Xichen stayed bowed as Jiang Wanyin processed what he had just heard “It was a member of the Lan clan?” asked Jiang Wanyin in a very surprised tone, “but, we thought it was definitely a Jin clan member!”
“I can assure you it was a member of the Lan clan, and I have punished him in line with Lan clan rules. Please tell me if you would like me to administer a further punishment, Jiang zongzhu.”
Jiang Wanyin remembered what the Lan punishments were like when they studied at the Cloud recesses and shook his head. “No, no it’s fine.”
Lan Xichen rose from his bow. “I assure you that he has nothing but the best intentions towards Wei Wuxian.”
“Who is it?”
“I cannot tell you, however, I have encouraged him to be honest with his feelings and make an attempt to court Wei gongzi, but it seems he is reluctant to.”
Jiang Wanyin looked at Lan Xichen, trying to study his face to see if it would give any clues as to who kissed Wei Wuxian.
“Is she good enough for Wei Wuxian to court?” asked Jiang Wanyin.
“I’m sure Wei Wuxian would get along very well with him,” quipped Lan Xichen. “If the Jiang clan is willing to arrange a period of courting or betrothal, I shall continue to encourage him to admit to his feelings.”
“We would be open to discussions of courting or betrothal if Wei Wuxian is willing,” offered Jiang Wanyin.
“Perhaps I may be presumptuous to mention Wei Wuxian’s invite yesterday to the Lotus Pier. I would be able to bring the disciple in question with me if he is willing to confess to his feelings.”
Jiang Wanyin agreed that he would send the Lan clan an invite once they had arrived back at Lotus Pier.
As they walked to near the dining hall again, they were spotted by Wei Wuxian “Jiang Cheng, there you are. Lan zongzhu, have you seen Lan Zhan? I wanted to invite him to go fishing with Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng and myself.”
“Lan er gongzi doesn’t want to go fishing with you, he doesn’t eat meat. Anyway, who said we were going fishing today?” scowled Jiang Wanyin.
“Lan Wangji is in our guest room, he’s been feeling a bit unwell, I think he’s not used to the food; however, Lan er gongzi and I would love to watch you fish later.” Wei Wuxian gave a big smile before he left them to go find Nie Huaisang.
***
Later that day, Wei Wuxian, Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng came to the room where the Twin Jades of Lan were staying like a hurricane. The brothers both looked up from where they were busy answering correspondence. Lan Xichen knew why they were coming, but he had not yet told Wangji. He quickly turned to his didi and whispered “A-Zhan, I saw Wei Wuxian this moring, he invited us to go fishing so I said we would watch.”
Lan Wangji looked at him in horror in response. “You can finish that later A-Zhan. I think this will be good for you. Wei gongzi still has no idea it was you.”
There was a knock at the door, so Lan Xichen opened it, bowing briefly. The three rambunctious men outside returned the bow with a chorus of “Zewu-jun” before being allowed in.
As soon as they were allowed in, Wei Wuxian bounded over to Lan Wangji ignoring all protocol “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, look, I found you some food you’ll like” as he pulled a qiankun bag out of his sleeve pocket. “Zewu-jun said you weren’t used to the food here so A-sang and I went into town to get you some foods like you have in Gusu.” Wei Wuxian had a huge smile on his face as he held out the qiankun pouch with two hands for Lan Wangji to take.
“Thank you” Lan Wangji responded, ears slightly red at the tips, although only his elder brother noticed.
“Open it, open it” chorused Wei Wuxian with a cheeky smile on his face. He had especially made the trip by sword just for Lan Wangji and protocols be damned, he wanted Lan er gongzi to be able to eat some now.
Lan Wangji looked at his brother who gave him a tiny nod. He started to open the qiankun pouch to find plain steamed buns, Osmanthus cake in the Gusu style, vegetarian gluten balls and even a bowl of plain noodle soup kept warm with a talisman. Wei Wuxian had a big grin on his face as he saw the foods all come out of the qiankun pouch and added “And they’re all vegetarian, but if you want some fish later we can get the cook to steam some for you.”
Lan Wangji stood and gave a small bow to Wei Wuxian “Thank you”, as Jiang Wanyin added in “take his as a small apology for all the times he has harassed you.” Lan Wangji just looked at Jiang Wanyin before turning to his brother.
“It was certainly very kind of you to get these foods for Wangji, Wei gongzi. I hope you didn’t feel obliged to do anything after I told you Wangji wasn’t used to the food this morning?”
“This is what I ought to do for my friend,” Wei Wuxian replied bashfully, “try some, Lan Zhan.”
“It is not mealtime. Snacking is forbidden,” Wangji replied.
“I’m sure Wangji will enjoy the foods you brought for his lunch. It is very thoughtful of you Wei gongzi. Wangji is fortunate to have a friend as considerate as you,” replied Lan Xichen, “Now, did you say we were going fishing? Have you got the fishing poles?”
“Fishing poles? In Yunmeng Jiang we catch fish with our hands,” Wei Wuxian replied with a giggle. “Let’s go! Follow me!”
They looked a strange bunch as the Twin Jades of Lan, Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian walked over to a stream where Wei Wuxian had heard they could catch some fish.
As they were walking, Wei Wuxian made sure to stay close to Lan Wangji. Wuxian grabbed Wangji’s arm and moved closer. Lan Wangji looked at him, which made Wei Wuxian smile before he started talking “Lan Zhan, I hear it was a pretty Lan girl who kissed me. Do you think if we get married, I can live in the Cloud Recesses? Then we could hang out every day.” He ignored Lan Wangji’s reaction which was to continue to stare ahead before Wei Wuxian continued “Ah, Lan Zhan, her lips were so soft, but she was so strong. She’s obviously a strong cultivator…. Definitely in the top ten kisses I’ve had!”
“Yeah, she was number one because it’s the only one you’ve had,” snorted Jiang Wanyin, which resulted in Wei Wuxian instantly letting go of Lan Wangji’s arm and running after Jiang Cheng to play fight him.
Once they settled down, Jiang Wanyin added “No seriously Wei Ying, apart from shijie and your mother, who the hell has kissed you? Your face is too thick!” which earned him another sharp nudge to the ribs, as the two continued to play fight.
Once they got to the fishing spot, Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen found a large boulder bordering the stream to sit on. Once they were comfortable, they looked over to find Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin removing their outer robes until only their inner clothes were left. Wei Wuxian started to roll up his pants, encouraging a flustered Nie Huaisang to do the same. Lan Xichen quickly glanced over to his brother who was starting to look flustered at the sight. Wei Wuxian jumped in the water with gusto then waded over to the boulder where the Lan brothers were sat seemingly having a conversation just by looking at each other. “Lan Zhan,” started Wei Wuxian holding out his hand, “take off your robes and join me.”
“One is forbidden to hurt plants or animals” replied Lan Wangji.
“I’m sure if you catch it then return the fish to the stream you can join in,” offered Lan Xichen with an encouraging look.
Lan Wangji turned his head to Lan Xichen with a piercing glare before Xichen added “However considering you were not well last night; it is probably best to not get wet today.”
Wei Wuxian turned away looking disappointed and started to teach Nie Huaisang how to grab the fish before it swam away.
While the trio of Jiang Wanyin, Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang caught fish, or tried to in the latter’s case, the Twin Jades of Lan took their qin and xiao out and played on the boulder where they were sat.
As Wei Wuxian caught the tenth fish of the day, he started a water fight with Jiang Cheng. Before Lan Wangji knew it, a drenched Wei Wuxian came to sit next to him, almost on top of him, on the rock. Lan Wangji tried to move across towards xiongzhang but Lan Xichen wouldn’t move any further, forcing Lan Wangji’s outer robes to get wet. Lan Wangji tried not to look at Wei Wuxian sat so close to him in nothing but his inner clothes which were wet, clinging to his body in all the right areas.
“Lan Zhaaan” Wei Wuxian whined, looking up at Lan Wangji who was still subtly trying to move away from the dripping Wei Wuxian.
“Lan Zhan, will you eat some fish for lunch?” he asked with a smile.
“Killing is forbidden.”
“But they’re already dead, you didn’t kill them,” Wei Wuxian responded with a pout. Soon Jiang Cheng was also on the boulder, trying to drag Wei Wuxian back into the stream “What did I tell you about annoying Hanguang jun, huh? Just can’t stop yourself, can you?” Jiang Cheng added as Wei Wuxian landed back into the stream with a splash that rained onto Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji.
Eventually the dripping wet Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang started to walk back to the main area, carrying fish and their outer robes. The Twin Jades of Lan looked elegant as ever in comparison. They would all start returning home to their respective locations tomorrow, but Lan Xichen was happy that today he managed to allow Lan Wangji to spend time with Wei Wuxian.
As they finally got back to the main camp, Jiang zongzhu and Wei Wuxian, now dry and clothed again went to clean the fish.
Lan Xichen turned to Nie Huaisang “A-Sang, do you have a moment?”
Nie Huaisang squirmed but agreed. “Thank you A-Sang for lending me this page yesterday. I know you need this to conduct your little business.”
“Any chance you’ll tell your favourite xiao di who it was?”
Lan Xichen just gave a little shake of his head in response. “He will talk when he is ready, but I will talk to him. Maybe he will be willing to confess to Wei gongzi soon.”
The following day when it was time for the clans to leave Phoenix Mountain and return to their respective homes, the Lan disciples were packed and ready to leave early. Jiang Wanyin went to say goodbye, accompanied by Wei Wuxian.
“I wish you a safe trip, Lan zongzhu” said Jiang Wanyin with a bow.
“Thank you, Jiang zongzhu,” Lan Xichen replied with a bow, “I look forward to seeing you again soon.”
“I shall organise an invite soon,” Jiang Wanyin replied.
Wei Wuxian looked over at his shidi, “The Lans are coming to Lotus Pier soon?” he asked with a crooked smile.
Wei Wuxian moved closer to Lan Wangji, “Lan Zhan,” he said with a big smile “make sure you come too. I’ll teach you how to swim. And we can go pheasant hunting. And we can…”
He was interrupted by Jiang Wanyin, “Pheasant hunting? The Lans are vegetarian you moron!”
Unperturbed Wei Wuxian added “And we can go to Yunmeng to find pretty girls. Not to mention try all the excellent foods….”
Lan Xichen gave a small glance over to his younger brother, before turning to Wei Wuxian with a smile “We look forward to attending Lotus Pier in the future.”