Work Text:
Lan Wangji was laying on the bed and he woke up with yet another set of bandages on his chest, his brother must have patched him up. He remembered looking for a dizi but he was unable to find one and then everything was a blur. His chest was hurting, there must have been a fresh wound, a fresh branding iron wound because he remembered the heat that he pushed onto his chest, he remembered holding the branding iron of Qishan Wen Sect.
Lan Wangji sat up, he looked outside, his bed was now next to his window, as a bedridden person he needed his bed to be there to see outside, to see his A-Yuan play. His A-Yuan… He swore not to lose his A-Yuan like he lost his Wei Ying. He squeezed his bed sheets:
“Wei Ying…”
His pain was still very fresh, how could he forget the guy who stole his heart? He looked at the little boy that was playing with a loud junior, it was Lan Jingyi. Lan Jingyi was such a loud boy that Lan Wangji wondered if this was karma for his uncle and all those elders.
His uncle and the elders… His love to Wei Ying taught him one good lesson:
BETRAYAL
That was what he learned after loving such a man, after suffering 33 discipline whips. He injured the elders when they raided the Burial Mounds after he rescued A-Yuan. He didn’t want to see Wei Ying’s home tarnished but… Their homes were wrecked, lotuses were burned, Suibian and Chenqing were gone. There was nothing left from his Wei Ying except for the little child who still had the straw butterfly on his hand as he was in a coma. A-Yuan, now Lan Yuan, Lan Sizhui, didn’t remember his days at Burial Mounds. That was better for him anyway. Upon these events, Lan Wangji saw how the world betrayed Wei Ying. Wei Ying helped them through the Sunshot Campaign, he overcame the Yin Iron and such an object could be destroyed thanks to what he did. But the moment Wei Ying diverged, the moment his opinion wasn’t their opinion, he was tossed aside, like a piece from a chess board. Lan Wangji looked outside and smiled bittersweetly at the children that were playing around, he allowed them to play around Jingshi, he said he wanted to hear their voices so the children were allowed to play around Jingshi during the day. Lan Wangji felt his tears as he remembered the betrayal of his own sect. How could he forget that? His own uncle gave the order:
“Beat him up!”
Lan Xichen’s golden core was sealed and even then, he was held by ten disciples whose cores were fully operational and they even had to use their spiritual energy to hold Lan Xichen down. At 33rd blow, they released Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji fell on his lap. That was his memory of being beaten up by his own sect for love.
So, they had to love but it was wrong when it was for Wei Ying; they had to respect but it was wrong if they respected Wei Ying’s contrubition in the Sunshot Campaign… Who was right and who was wrong? Who was white and who was black? He didn’t know. He took out Wangji and started playing Inquiry:
“Wei Ying, are you there?”
There was no answer.
“Wei Ying, do you hear me?”
There was no answer.
“Wei Ying, are you okay?”
There was no answer.
“Wei Ying, where are you?”
There was no answer.
“Wei Ying, I’m sorry.”
There was no answer.
Lan Wangji took a deep breath and put away Wangji. He was playing Inquiry every day to find Wei Ying’s soul, so far nobody could reach to that soul.
Lan Wangji felt like a Broken Jade now, in fact when he looked at his hand he realized that he broke his own Jade Pendant by crushing it, so now his hand was bleeding and he didn’t want anyone to see him like that but Lan Xichen came into his room and saw it:
“Wangji?”
Lan Wangji looked at him:
“Brother, Jade Pendant, broken.”
Lan Xichen didn’t have to hear anything else, he cleaned the wound and patched up his brother:
“Wangji, I’m worried for you.”
Lan Wangji looked at him:
“Betrayal.”
Lan Xichen gulped:
“Wangji?”
Lan Wangji:
“Elders betrayed father when he married mother. We all betrayed Wei Ying when we killed him. They betrayed us when they beat me up.”
Lan Xichen pulled him into a hug and he was so gentle with Lan Wangji and said:
“Wangji, don’t worry, Xiongzhang is here.”