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This cultivational conference is an absolute disaster and it has entirely to do with how Jiang Cheng vanished without a trace.
Nie Mingjue doesn’t know the heir of Yunmeng very well—Nie Huaisang seems to have struck up some kind of friendship with him during the Cloud Recesses but Nie Mingjue has never met him apart from seeing him at these conferences—but the disappearance of an heir is always a big thing.
Especially since everyone is in Lotus Pier at the moment and the suspects are many.
“This is so stupid,” Nie Mingjue mutters as he steps into his assigned rooms, Nie Huaisang close behind him.
“I hope Wanyin is alright,” Nie Huaisang mutters, his fan fluttering nervously.
“Didi,” Nie Mingjue starts but Nie Huaisang cuts him off with a glare.
“No. No! Do not start with that tone of voice. Wanyin is not dead, this is not happening.”
Nie Mingjue bites his tongue at that, because he doesn’t want to upset Nie Huaisang further but he doesn’t think that there are a lot of chances for Jiang Cheng. He has been missing for a day by now and from what Nie Mingjue has seen no one has organised a search party yet.
His parents are too busy fighting between themselves to spare any thoughts to Jiang Cheng.
“Has someone gone out looking now?” Nie Mingjue wants to know, resting Baxia against the wall and rolling his shoulders.
He would gladly accompany any search party should one be sent out if only to escape the awkward fights Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian are having.
“Not officially, no,” Nie Huaisang gives back, his voice trembling with worry. “Wei Wuxian seems to have rallied some people and is searching the outskirts of Lotus Pier but it’s nothing organised.”
“And they have no idea where he went to,” Nie Mingjue sighs out.
“None.”
Nie Mingjue hums.
“Do you think he ran away?”
“Wanyin? Never,” Nie Huaisang immediately says. “Every other heir yes but not Wanyin. He wouldn’t do that, he is way too responsible for that.”
“So either he had an accident or someone did something to him,” Nie Mingjue then sums up and Nie Huaisang nods sadly.
“That seems most likely,” he agrees, his eyes brimming with tears and Nie Mingjue holds out his arms for a hug which Nie Huaisang immediately takes.
“I’m sorry, I know you considered him a friend,” Nie Mingjue mumbles into his hair as he holds his brother.
Their hug gets interrupted when someone knocks at the door and Nie Huaisang is still reluctant to let go of Nie Mingjue.
And it’s not as if they care too much about this.
“Yes?” Nie Mingjue calls out, still holding Nie Huaisang tightly.
“Nie-zongzhu, I’m sorry to inform you but Jiang-zongzhu is asking everyone to leave,” the disciple tells him and Nie Mingjue does not envy him.
He wouldn’t want to be in his shoes when he tells Wen Ruohan that he has to get out of Lotus Pier.
“Understandable,” Nie Mingjue gives back, even though it’s anything but.
The elite of the cultivational world is in Lotus Pier at the moment and Jiang Fengmian could make use of all of them to search for his son but instead he’s sending them all home.
It’s not a very smart move and Nie Mingjue wonders how Jiang Fengmian managed to overrule Yu Ziyuan with this.
“Da-ge, we can’t just leave,” Nie Huaisang whispers as soon as the door is closed. “We can’t just leave and not look for Wanyin!”
“We can if we’re being thrown out,” Nie Mingjue tells him even though he doesn’t like it either. “We’ll have to listen to Jiang-zongzhu, you know that. It’s their decision.”
Nie Huaisang grumbles into Nie Mingjue’s shoulder but he doesn’t make himself be heard and so Nie Mingjue doesn’t ask. Sometimes Nie Huaisang just needs to get it all out without requiring any feedback.
Things after that happen quickly and before Nie Mingjue knows it they are all back in Qinghe.
He, his brother, his people and one very unwilling cat.
“Where did it come from?” Nie Mingjue asks, not for the first time and Nie Huaisang fans himself, watching the tiny cat press itself into a corner, hissing at all of them.
“I would guess you had it in your bag,” Nie Huaisang mutters, crouching down to get a better look at the cat. “We should probably inform someone at Lotus Pier.”
Nie Mingjue motions at Nie Zonghui to get started on that who nods and immediately leaves.
“You think it belongs to someone?”
“No, to be honest,” Nie Huaisang gives back and earns himself a scratch wound on his hand when he tries to reach out for the cat. “Look at it, it seems almost feral. I would hope that it didn’t belong to anyone.”
“What are we going to do with it then?” Nie Mingjue sighs out, briefly checking over Nie Huaisang’s hand.
“You keep it here,” Nie Huaisang shrugs. “Maybe it’ll give you a reason to come back to your room more often.”
“Didi,” Nie Mingjue sighs out.
He knows that Nie Huaisang is worried about him, but he tries to keep a good balance between work and down-time and he thought he was doing a okay-ish job.
“Just—maybe this will be good for you, too, if you can keep it,” Nie Huaisang decides and turns around. “I’ll inform the kitchens that you have a new pet now.”
“We are dog people though,” Nie Mingjue grumbles under his breath, not that anyone is going to listen to him.
Nie Mingjue feels comically oversized as he looks down at the tiny cat and he crouches down to feel less like a giant.
“Hi, little guy,” Nie Mingjue whispers, retracting his hand when the cat hisses at him. “I guess we’ll have to see if we can get along now. I’ll make you a little home, alright?”
The cat doesn’t answer him of course, pressing itself further into the corner and Nie Mingjue moves back to give it more space.
He improvises a cat bed with a blanket from his bed for now and vows to get some more supplies. They might be dog people but Nie Mingjue knows a few disciples have cats at home, so they can probably help him a bit with this.
~*~*~
The short and rude answer from Lotus Pier regarding the cat boils down to Keep it. They didn’t even ask what it looks like and Nie Mingjue doubts that they asked anyone if a cat was missing.
Nie Mingjue kind of understands because Jiang Cheng is still missing as well so they are probably not in the right headspace to inquire after a cat but it could still be that someone is missing their tiny friend.
“It seems as if we’re going to have to be friends now,” Nie Mingjue says to the tiny cat.
It’s hidden under the blankets Nie Mingjue provided it with and it’s not as if Nie Mingjue made any kind of progress with it. He’s not allowed to touch it and he barely gets to see it during the day. But he’s not giving up on it; he is trying to get the cat used to him so he takes his paperwork into his room most days now and handles the correspondence from his floor.
His back is not too happy with him but today the cat stuck its tiny head out for almost ten minutes and Nie Mingjue counts that as a win.
“Jiang Fengmian is such a horrible person,” Nie Mingjue mutters under his breath as he reads over a letter from Lotus Pier.
It’s an official notice, informing everyone that Wei Wuxian is now appointed heir of Lotus Pier and Nie Mingjue feels sorry for Jiang Cheng. As far as he has heard there still hasn’t been a coordinated search effort for him and Nie Mingjue can only hope that he either died quick or that he ran away to a better life.
“Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang yells a moment before he barges into the room, effectively startling both Nie Mingjue and the cat.
Nie Mingjue levels him with a look but Nie Huaisang seems unrepentant.
“It still hasn’t lost its wariness?” Nie Huaisang asks as he crouches down in front of the blanket dump.
“Well, it was keeping me company, right until someone caused a ruckus,” Nie Mingjue grumbles back because he was enjoying the quiet company the cat kept him.
“Sorry,” Nie Huaisang sheepishly gives back and then flicks his fan open. “Listen, I have a proposition,” Nie Huaisang then says and immediately Nie Mingjue is on his guard.
“This doesn’t sound good,” he says but motions for Nie Huaisang to sit down.
“We’ll see,” he says. “I don’t think Wanyin is dead,” Nie Huaisang starts with and Nie Mingjue raises his eyebrows at him.
“He hasn’t been seen for close to a month now,” Nie Mingjue reminds him and raises the letter he was just reading. “Wei Wuxian was just appointed heir.”
“Do not remind me,” Nie Huaisang hisses out and then takes a deep breath. “I still don’t think that he’s dead. He didn’t run away, I know that, he’s not the type for that. But something must have happened.”
“You think someone abducted him?”
“Or something else happened. But that’s not my point.”
“What’s your point then?” Nie Mingjue wants to know, holding out a hand for the cat when it sticks its head back out again.
“My point is that we’re going to harbour Wanyin when we find him, right?”
“Excuse me, what?” Nie Mingjue asks for clarification but he knows he understood him correctly when Nie Huaisang smiles at him.
“You heard me. When he should find his way here or when we should come across him, we’re going to harbour him here for as long as he wants, right? We will not hand him back over. I mean, look, Wei Wuxian is already heir, there is not even any reason for Wanyin to go back now.”
“It’s still his family,” Nie Mingjue sighs out but Nie Huaisang shakes his head.
“No. They didn’t even search for him. Absolutely not.”
Nie Mingjue of course agrees with him but he can’t say it quite so openly so he stays quiet for now.
“So? We’ll keep him, right?” Nie Huaisang asks after a few minutes and Nie Mingjue finally nods.
“Yes. If he wants to, then yes.”
“Perfect,” Nie Huaisang says and claps his hands together. “Wanyin, time for you to turn back,” he then says and turns towards the cat.
“What?” Nie Mingjue breathes out, completely confused and it doesn’t get much better when instead of a cat there’s suddenly a very naked Jiang Cheng in the blanket nest.
“I knew it,” Nie Huaisang breathes out and throws himself at Jiang Cheng. “I knew you weren’t dead.”
“Hi,” Jiang Cheng rasps out, awkwardly patting Nie Huaisang’s shoulder. “I’m very sorry,” he then adds with a look to Nie Mingjue.
“What is going on?” Nie Mingjue wants to know and Nie Huaisang turns around to him, a pout already on his face.
“Da-ge, do not go back on your word!”
“I’m not, I just want to understand!” Nie Mingjue heatedly gives back and watches as Jiang Cheng pulls the blankets closed around him once Nie Huaisang lets go of him.
“I got cursed,” Jiang Cheng says, his voice a bit raspy. “And I hid in your bag.”
“Why? Everyone was there, we could have surely broken the curse,” Nie Mingjue says and watches how Jiang Cheng curls in on himself.
“I didn’t want to,” he whispers. “I thought—this is my chance to get away. And the curse is broken now anyway.”
“And how did that happen?” Nie Mingjue wants to know and watches as Jiang Cheng blushes slightly.
“The cure was to feel safe and to trust someone,” he admits.
“Huh,” Nie Mingjue huffs out while Nie Huaisang seems smug as anything.
“Please, you just said I could stay,” Jiang Cheng mutters and Nie Mingjue sighs.
He did just say that.
“And you can, if you want,” he promises Jiang Cheng. “I won’t even inform your parents if you don’t want.”
“Not yet,” Jiang Cheng decides, clearly already more trusting now that Nie Mingjue promised him again.
“Alright,” Nie Mingjue sighs out and he can already feel a headache forming, because someone could argue that he’s keeping an heir against his will.
This will bring a bunch of problems for Nie Mingjue, he’s sure of that, but when Jiang Cheng smiles tentatively at him he finds himself thinking that it might just be worth it.