Work Text:
Jiang Cheng is aware that what he’s doing right now is effectively hiding himself away but he can’t stomach the thought of going out of his room and join Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue for dinner. He hasn’t been officially invited and he’s not going to assume and he’s probably as unwelcome at the dinner table as he is in the Unclean Realm as a whole.
Not that anyone said anything but the actions speak for themselves.
Nie Mingjue hasn’t looked at him past the wedding ceremony, Nie Huaisang is giving him the most fake smiles Jiang Cheng has ever received and they put him in one of the most removed rooms and it’s not even heated.
At this rate Jiang Cheng is going to die of sheer cold and he’s not going to mind it. It’s better than knowing that his own family gave him away like cattle and that his supposedly new family doesn’t care one bit for him.
So instead of going out of his room and finding the dining hall, he sits on his bed, shivering and wondering how long it will take him to die and how long it will take Nie Mingjue to notice that he’s a widower.
Probably longer than Jiang Cheng suspects.
Jiang Cheng has to bite back tears at that thought. He’s completely miserable and it’s not like anyone cares.
He briefly wonders if Nie Mingjue would allow him to write to Jiang Yanli or even Wei Wuxian but even if Nie Mingjue allowed that, Jiang Cheng doubts his siblings would care.
They married him off without another thought, without even pretending to listen to Jiang Cheng’s complaints and wishes and if he’s being honest, he doesn’t even want to talk to them right now.
Or maybe ever.
But since he doesn’t want to talk to his own family and his spouse clearly doesn’t want to talk to him, that leaves him with nothing to do but sit in silence in his too cold room.
Jiang Cheng’s chest aches, and it’s not only from the barely healed scars.
Dinner must be either in full swing or already over, Jiang Cheng thinks with a look outside his room, and just the thought makes his stomach grumble.
He’ll have to go look for the kitchen later this night to see if he can at least get a little bit of food. He can’t practice inedia anymore after all.
He does feel a little bit better with his mind made up like this and he just lay down on the bed, content to doze until night really falls when he hears someone come down the hallway.
Jiang Cheng tenses on the bed and when the footsteps come to a stop in front of his door he sits up, almost shaking with nerves.
Maybe Nie Mingjue sent someone to get rid of him already. Jiang Cheng wouldn’t be surprised.
He strains his ears to make out the hushed words, but the door is too thick, his normal hearing too bad and the people on the other side too quiet. Jiang Cheng can do nothing but sit and wait for the other people to make a move first, because he sure as hell is not going to get up and open the door.
It would be like inviting death into his room.
Jiang Cheng startles when there’s one sharp knock on his door and before he can even find his voice the door is being flung open to reveal Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang.
Both look less than pleased and Jiang Cheng shrinks in on himself.
“So this is where you hide away,” Nie Huaisang sneers at him, flicking his fan open and narrowing his eyes at Jiang Cheng. “You think our hospitality is not good enough for you?”
“I—” Jiang Cheng starts but when he sees Nie Mingjue’s displeased face the words die in his throat.
It’s not as if he can say anything to defend himself.
“Can’t even speak,” Nie Huaisang mutters. “How are you going to spy on us like this, huh?”
“Spy on you?” Jiang Cheng repeats, not really understanding what that is supposed to mean.
“Come on, don’t play dumb. We all know that’s the reason why you’re here, why you’ve been married off to da-ge. Let me guess, Wei Wuxian developed some pretty handy talismans through which you can report our every move to him, right?”
“If you think we’ll give you a reason to attack us, you’re mistaken,” Nie Mingjue now chimes in as well. “We managed to be civil with Wen Ruohan for years and never gave him a good enough reason to outright attack us.”
“I’m not—” Jiang Cheng blinks at them. “I’m not here to spy on you.”
“Yeah, right,” Nie Huaisang scoffs. “Because your family married you off without any ulterior motives. You think we’re going to believe that?”
“They did it to get rid of me,” Jiang Cheng admits even though it hurts.
“So it was a power-grab by Wei Wuxian,” Nie Mingjue mutters to Nie Huaisang who nods.
“As expected. His fame on the battlefield clearly went to his head.”
“No, it’s because—” Jiang Cheng stops because a sudden realization strikes him. “You don’t know,” he whispers, pressing a hand to his stomach and he doesn’t know if that makes it better or worse.
“Know what?” Nie Mingjue demands to know and Jiang Cheng can’t help but to think how this is the first time he sees him since the wedding two weeks ago.
He knew he was just being disposed off when Wei Wuxian married him off but it still hurts that no one really cares for him anymore.
And all because of a stupid golden core.
“I can’t cultivate anymore,” Jiang Cheng admits, staring at the floor instead of looking at the Nie brothers.
“What?” Nie Huaisang laughs out, clearly not believing him but Nie Mingjue is quiet for a long moment.
“Wen Zhuliu,” he then finally says and Jiang Cheng nods miserably. “When they invaded Lotus Pier?”
“No, I—” Jiang Cheng hesitates because this is something he has never said out loud but he guesses there’s no reason to hide it anymore. It’s not like Wei Wuxian is ever going to care. “Afterwards. We were on the run and Wei Wuxian went to buy medicine for a-jie. The Wen soldiers almost found him so I—I created a diversion.”
“With yourself,” Nie Huaisang finishes for him, clearly catching on to what happened. “They brought you back and Wen Zhuliu melted your core?”
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng breathes out.
There’s a beat of silence in the room before Nie Huaisang crosses his arms in front of his chest.
“If you can’t cultivate anymore and you’re not here to spy on us then what are you here for?” he demands to know and Jiang Cheng lets out a bitter laugh.
“Did you not listen? I’m useless. I can’t be the heir, I can’t help defend Lotus Pier; the only thing I’m good for is creating an alliance. A-jie is getting married to Jin Zixuan, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are courting so your Sect was the only one left. Wei Wuxian insisted that we need this alliance.”
Jiang Cheng doesn’t mention how he screamed and cried to not be pushed off like that, that he didn’t want to come to this harsh land where he didn’t expect to find any friends, that rumors of Nie Mingjue’s temper gave him nightmares most nights.
He’s without a core; should anyone mean him harm, it’s not as if Jiang Cheng can defend himself.
“You weren’t asked,” Nie Mingjue breathes out and then tugs Nie Huaisang to the side where they have a whispered conversation.
Usually Jiang Cheng would be able to hear every word but normal hearing is just not the same and so he can’t make anything out apart from a few words here and there. He hears his name twice and he shudders with the thought of what they could be deciding right now.
He is useless and Nie Mingjue is the Leader of a Great Sect. It would be in their right to kill him.
Something must have caught their attention though because suddenly they are both staring at him.
“Wanyin, are you okay?” Nie Mingjue asks and then steps close to take Jiang Cheng’s hands in his. “You’re ice cold!”
“We don’t heat this part of the castle,” Nie Huaisang says. “We thought it would be a mild inconvenience to you, but you have no golden core!”
He seems genuinely sorry and Jiang Cheng can only blink at them. He thought they did it on purpose.
“It’s alright,” he manages to say, but before the words even fully leave his mouth, Nie Mingjue pulled the blanket from his bed around him.
“It’s not. Let’s get you somewhere warm, okay?” he asks and his whole demeanour suddenly seems different.
“I don’t understand,” Jiang Cheng mutters as he allows Nie Mingjue to steer him out of his room and towards the center of the castle.
“You can’t practice inedia either,” Nie Huaisang suddenly breathes out and then rushes off.
“He’s going to get you food,” Nie Mingjue explains and Jiang Cheng curls into himself in shame when his stomach grumbles loudly enough to be heard.
“Wanyin, we didn’t know,” Nie Mingjue says once they reach a dining hall and Jiang Cheng is being pushed down in front of a hearth.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jiang Cheng mumbles, holing his hands as close to the flames as he dares. He has been horribly cold.
“It does. We thought Wei Wuxian dethroned you because his fame went to his head and he sent you here to spy on us.”
Jiang Cheng frowns.
“Why would you even agree to this marriage if you thought that?”
“Your Sect is not the only one who needs alliances. And we can’t afford to anger the other Sects right now, our losses were high. Lan Wangji seems positively enchanted with Wei Wuxian and of course Jin Guangshan would never be on our side. We’re in a tight spot ourselves,” Nie Mingjue admits, rubbing a hand up and down Jiang Cheng’s back.
“And we suffered a grave betrayal not too long ago,” Nie Mingjue adds, more quietly. “We weren’t keen on letting that happen again.”
“I’m sorry,” Jiang Cheng says, because this betrayal still seems to hurt Nie Mingjue. “But I’m not here to—I have no use anymore, so creating an alliance is the only thing I’m good for.”
“You’re still trained as the heir, though,” Nie Mingjue says with a frown. “You could at least be an advisor.”
At that Jiang Cheng huffs out a bitter laugh.
“I don’t know if you’ve met Wei Wuxian yet but he’s not the type to listen to anyone, least at all me.”
“His loss then,” Nie Huaisang says as he steps back into the hall, a steaming bowl in his hands. “Here, eat this. We didn’t mean to starve you.”
Jiang Cheng wants to down the entire bowl immediately but Nie Mingjue’s hand on his arm reminds him to go slowly. It’s probably wise, with how hot the stew still is.
“I’m sorry,” Jiang Cheng says, his eyes suddenly burning with tears.
“For what?” Nie Mingjue asks, taking up his soothing motion of rubbing his hand over Jiang Cheng’s back again.
“I know I’m useless and you don’t deserve to be settled with me. I’m sorry about that.”
“Well, I’m not going to lie and say this is what I wanted, but it sounds like we were both unwilling participants in the wedding,” Nie Mingjue admits and Jiang Cheng nods once.
“I will stay out of your way,” Jiang Cheng promises. “If you could just—a warmer room maybe, or maybe you’d be happy if I freeze to death, I would understand, I just—” he rambles on, right until Nie Huaisang slaps him with his fan.
“Shut up, Wanyin,” Nie Huaisang snaps at him. “Of course you’re getting a warmer room and you don’t have to stay out of our way.”
“But I’m not welcome here,” he says because he knows that he isn’t.
“That was when we thought you were here to spy on us,” Nie Mingjue gently tells him.
“Now that we know your family did this to get rid of you and still get a profit out of this, things are different,” Nie Huaisang promises. “Da-ge has a soft spot for people whose family treats them like shit.”
“Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue sighs out, but he gently nudges Jiang Cheng to finally start eating. “He’s not wrong, you know,” he then sheepishly admits. “The wedding doesn’t mean anything, though; we don’t have to be husbands. We can try for friends instead, how about that?” Nie Mingjue asks him and Jiang Cheng is ashamed to find that he’s crying into his stew.
“I don’t want to inconvenience you,” he sobs out, crying only harder when Nie Huaisang slings his arms around him.
“You’re not. You married in, so that makes you a part of this family already.”
“And family is not an inconvenience,” Nie Mingjue promises him which makes Jiang Cheng scoff.
His experience has been quite different.
“Not anymore, at least,” Nie Mingjue amends and presses their arms together. “We got off on a totally wrong foot. Let’s make this right, okay?”
“Okay,” Jiang Cheng agrees because he would like that.
He would like to at least try for friends.
“Alright then. Hi,” Nie Mingjue says and bows slightly to Jiang Cheng. “I’m Mingjue. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Wanyin,” Jiang Cheng hoarsely gives back. “Likewise.”
It might not be much but at least it’s a start.