Work Text:
A knock alerts Lan Xichen to the presence of another outside his door. "Come in." He replies, continuing to write his letter.
The door slides open, and a familiar, youthful face, smiling politely, peers in. "Ah, Sizhui. What can I help you with?"
"Sect Leader Lan, good afternoon." Lan Sizhui greets. He sets a stack of documents to one side of Lan Xichen's desk, receiving a polite thanks, before the junior rifles through his sleeves and produces another scroll.
"Apart from delivering those documents, I also wanted to consult you on something." He says. Lan Xichen sets his brush down and turns amiably to the younger disciple with a smile. "Yes, what is it?"
"This is Jin Ling's essay that he's submitted for our latest assignment." Lan Sizhui says, unrolling the scroll. "I have coached him through its writing, yet he did not receive a satisfactory mark for it. I read through your comments, Sect Leader, since you did assess him, and there are a few things I don't agree - perhaps more of don't understand."
Lan Xichen's lips thin very slightly, but at the presence of a young mind eager to learn and debate, what else can he do, but tend to it? "Which parts of it are you having problems with?"
"I feel that Jin Ling deserves a much higher grade than the one that you gave him. Some of the places you deducted marks from have very strange reasoning, such as here-" Lan Sizhui taps his finger, "I remember you marking me correct when I stated the same argument? And over here-"
Sizhui carefully lays out his arguments in explanation, and Lan Xichen's expression never wavers from its friendly mask as he agrees with him - but then states, "Young Master Jin's choice of words hold a different implication here-" only for Sizhui to disagree and retort the claim.
"Was Young Master Jin very upset about his essay grade?" Lan Xichen suddenly asks, instead of answering Sizhui's counterarguments. "Is this why you are here to ask me for clarifications, and perhaps," his eyes twinkle, "to persuade me to give him a better grade?"
Lan Sizhui nods. "Yes to the first question - he was quite disappointed, and I personally saw how much time he spent completing the essay."
"Hm." Lan Xichen hums. "That's understandable. And I'm sure he wouldn't want to anger his uncle with poor grades, would he?"
"Of course, Zewu-jun." Lan Sizhui affirms. "In fact, Jin Ling was rather worried that the drastic shift in his grades from this particular assignment would convince Sect Leader Jiang to personally arrive at the Cloud Recesses."
"Yes, well - Sect Leader Jiang already travels to the Cloud Recesses quite often, so his worry is unfounded."
"What does Sect Leader Jiang do when he's here?" Lan Sizhui asks curiously.
"To speak about relations between Gusu Lan and Yunmeng Jiang, but-" Lan Xichen's expression clouds just slightly, "-mostly to ask about his nephew."
Sizhui blinks at the flicker across Zewu-jun's face, before it straightens back into his signature geniality. "I'm afraid I won't be revising Young Master Jin's grade," Zewu-jun declares,"as I stand for what I have commented in reply - while his arguments are sound, he simply needs to improve in his word selection, or else the original meaning is lost."
"But Zewu-jun, how is his phrasing any different from the way you or Grandmaster Lan have said it in our lectures?" Lan Sizhui hastens to say. "I brought along my essay as well, we have phrased things similarly-"
As he leans forward to take his own essay off the stack of papers he delivered to the office, the letter Zewu-jun had been writing catches his eye.
'-rethink his enrolment in the Cloud Recesses, as his worrying lack of commitment to his work suggests-'
"Hang on," Lan Sizhui says, eyes trailing down the elegant script, "Is this-"
He catches Jin Ling's name in the letter, and his gaze darts to the end of the scroll - finding it addressed to Sect Leader Jiang.
Zewu-jun only just realises where Sizhui's line of sight is headed, and lets out a laugh that leaks a tinge of sheepishness. He swiftly takes one end of the scroll and, with a flick of his wrist, rolls it up. "The ink is dry. I should have closed it sooner."
"You find that Jin Ling has a worrying lack of commitment to his studies?" Sizhui pronounces evenly, his own eyes staring into Zewu-jun's own, "And that his place in the Cloud Recesses should be rethought? As if he does not deserve to be here?" He repeats the exact same phrasing he had read.
Zewu-jun regards him with the same smile plastered on his face. Sizhui's stare bores into his brown eyes.
"Zewu-jun," He says, more insistently this time, "What does that mean, in your letter to Sect Leader Jiang, about Jin Ling?"
Zewu-jun's smile widens, eyes disappearing into crescents. "I keep regular correspondence to the guardians of all the students in the Cloud Recesses, such that their progress is monitored." He explains. "There is nothing to concern yourself with."
"But you were suggesting that Sect Leader Jiang pull Jin Ling out of classes at the Cloud Recesses." Sizhui grinds out, straining to keep a polite expression on his face, "were you not?"
Zewu-jun's expression is unchanged.
"Sizhui, you are a very intelligent young man. But perhaps you jump too quickly to conclusions."
"But I am not!" Sizhui leans forward, expression imploring. He pulls his own essay out to show him - "If you would just see the similarities between my own assignment and Jin Ling's, where we have written the same things but received completely different assessments from you-"
"Thank you for delivering the documents, Sizhui." Lan Xichen states, smile still in place, as his gaze returns to his work. "You are dismissed."
A blatantly direct dismissal from Lan Xichen, of all people, is almost unheard of. Sizhui sits there momentarily in shock.
And then the pieces click into place.
He tucks his essay and Jin Ling's carefully into the qiankun pouch in his sleeves, where it will be difficult to extract. "You're trying to get rid of Jin Ling." He says calmly.
Zewu-jun does not look at him, is not looking at him, but his eyes flick in Sizhui's direction.
"Why? That's not fair. He hasn't done anything wrong. He may be blunt, and slightly pompous, but he has a good heart." Lan Sizhui breathes in deeply. "He's kind, and determined, and brave, and he's willing to change his opinions when presented with an alternative perspective. He's a hard worker and very worthy of admiration."
Zewu-jun looks at him, smile slowly spreading on his face.
"Sizhui, you like him, don't you?"
At such a blunt statement of his true feelings, Sizhui cannot help but blush. However, as Zewu-jun's lips curl in the faintest smirk, he composes himself.
"Just as you are interested in Sect Leader Jiang, after he has helped you out of seclusion."
Brown eyes sharpen.
"Yet you are trying to send Sect Leader Jiang's nephew away. And for what reason? Just because you don't like how much he talks about his own family?" Sizhui goes on calmly. "Is this childish behaviour really becoming of someone of your status, Zewu-jun?"
As if trying to prove him right, Zewu-jun's lip jut out in the slightest pout.
Lan Sizhui stares at him incredulously. "I'm right, aren't I?"
The feeling soon turns into deep, simmering anger. "I - care-" he breathes in deeply to steady himself, to control his emotions, "very deeply about Jin Ling." Sizhui confesses, "and you will not take him away from me."
Zewu-jun regards him with wide eyes. "A-Yuan-"
"If Jin Ling is expelled from the Cloud Recesses from poor grades, I could prove the biased marking that led to his poor performance using my own assignments as a basis of comparison. Sect Leader Jiang cares very much for his nephew as well." Sizhui glares back at Zewu-jun. "I don't think he will be very happy to know that Jin Ling was treated unfairly."
"And if he knew his nephew was being treated unfairly by you..." Sizhui continues calmly, letting his words hang in the air, "the esteemed Zewu-jun, his fellow Sect Leader, possibly his friend- how would his view of you then change?"
Zewu-jun's brown eyes narrow at him. "Surely he would be angry at you." Sizhui meets Zewu-jun's glare head on, "Disgusted and revolted that you would be so petty to someone that he loves." Lan Sizhui's hands curl into fists, gripping his robes. "Someone that he cherishes more than anyone else in the world. Someone he would die for. Someone he would kill for."
His voice has risen in volume, but it has not reached shouting levels just yet. A Lan does not shout in the Cloud Recesses.
Zewu-jun considers him silently. Then he speaks.
"You are indeed a Lan through and through, Sizhui."
He smiles and huffs out a faint laugh, as if thinking of a personal joke in his mind. Sizhui resists the urge to sneer at his Sect Leader, unsure if it is mockery or the admission of defeat.
"There's something I don't understand." Lan Sizhui begins airily - the way his tone resembles Sect Leader Nie is quite startling in its feigned nonchalance concealing contempt.
"If you wanted Sect Leader Jiang around you more, having Jin Ling in the Cloud Recesses would be an obvious advantage. Sect Leader Jiang would immediately jump at any mention of his nephew, and to send Jin Ling away would limit the opportunities you have to talk to him."
"But I suppose-" Sizhui says, feeling like he possesses lightning in his veins for how angry and unstable he felt, giving him the courage to say something so disrespectful - "we all make mistakes."
He stares directly at Zewu-jun, and forces himself to smile.
Zewu-jun regards him with a mixture of surprise, incredulity - and oddly enough, pride and approval.
"Sizhui, you are a very smart boy, a credit to Gusu Lan." He smiles in return. "Respect and humility," Zewu-jun alludes cheerfully to the rules, voice turning soft and gentle the same way he would speak to a very young child, "there is always something to be learned no matter the age. I suppose I can - tolerate - Young Master Jin's presence."
"He will certainly be in the Cloud Recesses for a long, long time." Lan Sizhui emphasises coolly.
"You make excellent points, Sizhui." Lan Xichen praises, replying to a previous thread of conversation. "I see that you have diligently absorbed the teachings of our rhetoric classes."
Their eyes meet once again in a silent exchange, before both smile simultaneously. Lan Sizhui reaches into his sleeves and presents Jin Ling's essay again. "Please amend Young Master Jin's essay."
"Of course, of course. Thank you for bringing this concern to my attention."
Lan Sizhui waits until Lan Xichen is done printing his altered comments elegant handwriting, before keeping Jin Ling's essay in his sleeves. He will be so happy when Sizhui shows him how he has convinced Zewu-jun to change his marks.
Their meeting ends harmoniously, and he can not be happier. Sizhui courteously bows in farewell, tone amicable as he bids "Good day, Sect Leader Lan," before his departure.
As the door slides shut, Lan Xichen reflects in the silence and can admit that perhaps he had been a little short-sighted.
Resourcefulness is, after all, a virtue.
Now that Young Master Jin is here to stay, he will have to make himself useful.