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Just when he thinks his day is over, the last of the visiting dignitaries having left the room, Lan Wangji is interrupted.
An angry Jiang Sect Leader bursts into the room with a shout of his name.
Because that is his default state and nothing out of the ordinary, Lan Wangji ignores him.
Still, Jiang Wanyin walks and stands in front of him, right in front of the dais, and a bit too close for the sect juniors standing guard next to him as they twitch in their positions.
“Sect Leader Jiang,” Lan Wangji says cooly.
Something that remarkably sounds like a hiss emits from Jiang Wanyin’s mouth.
Luckily, Jiang Wanyin is a Sect Leader, has been for enough time that he knows straight up attacking Lan Wangji is something that would not go over well, especially in Cloud Recesses. So he decides to speak instead.
“You,” spits out Jiang Wanyin, “are a bastard.”
Lan Wangji’s temper flares. For all the fights and arguments they’ve had over the years, Jiang Wanyin has not stooped low enough to insult his parents, much less when Lan Wangji doesn’t know the latest reason the Sect Leader has decided to fight him on. Before he can reply however, Jiang Wanyin continues.
“First you act cold towards my brother despite all his attempts at becoming friends. Then suddenly you decide in the middle of the war to become friendly and bother him after every battle, even after the fighting is over.”
The sudden topic change confuses even Lan Wangji, enough for him to take time to reply. The two Lan disciples next to him look at each other. Then slowly edge away from the two cultivators.
But Jiang Wanyin is not finished.
“Which you know, whatever, at least you were there in the end, when no one else was.” Jiang Wanyin glazes over the details.
Then the other man’s tone becomes steadily more enraged.
“But after he came back, after you acted as if you cared for him-”
“My care for Wei Ying is not an act.” Lan Wangji cuts in.
Jiang Wanyin ignores him, starts pacing around the room.
“-followed him around, fed him and took care of his injuries, helped clear his name, bowed at my family’s altar.”
Jiang Wanyin shoots him a hard look.
“You kicked him out? Never even suggested that he can stay with you? Left him alone?”
The Lan disciples on duty have mysteriously disappeared in the middle of Jiang Wanyin’s conversation.
If Lan Wangji were a different man, he would have winced at Jiang Wanyin’s words, and the sheer poison in them.
But Jiang Wanyin appears finished as he stops, turns to look at Lan Wangji as if waiting for a reply.
“How do you even know this?” Lan Wangji asks instead.
Jiang Wanyin scoffs. “What, you think just because I’m mad at him we don’t meet? He’s my brother you asshole.”
Which is unexpected, because Wei Ying had never mentioned the other man in the sparse letters he sends to Lan Wangji. But it is also not his duty to inform Lan Wangji of his every movement, and Wei Ying deserves the space he’s earned, as well as the improvement with his relationship with his brother, especially knowing how much the other man had loved his siblings.
It still stings slightly, that Wei Ying was close enough and free enough to visit Lotus Pier and yet has not come to Gusu nor even mentioned the possibility of doing so in the last year.
Lan Wangji addresses Jiang Wanyin’s words.
“I never kicked Wei Ying out.” He says finally.
I would have asked him to stay here and if he did he would have suffered, restricted in Cloud Recesses with all its rules. He could have refused. Or he could have cursed me, for asking him to return to a place and a people that have never done anything for him. And if he had wanted to, wouldn’t he have asked? I could never deny him anything he requests of me. Lan Wangji does not say.
Jiang Wanyin doesn’t take his reply easily. His voice is still enraged, but now there is the faintest hint of something else in it as well.
“Did you ask him to stay? Did you say he was allowed to? Did you give him any reassurance that if he wanted, he would have a place here?” He asks persistently.
Jiang Wanyin looks around the room, notes the absence of everyone else. Then his voice lowers even if his tone does not become any less fierce.
“Wei Wuxian has had three places to call home, and he has lost all of them. For the majority of his life, he lived somewhere where for the most part he was not wanted.”
Jiang Wanyin swallows.
“Despite our assurances, shi-jie and I could never convince him he had a place, not when my mother detested his being, not when his position was so contentious. All three of the families he has had have died or left him and that idiot probably thinks it’s because of him or that he’s to blame.”
Jiang Wanyin sees the look Lan Wangji gives him and scowls.
“He’s not, obviously. But Wei Wuxian will not take the chance again. He only looked after the Wens because there was no one else. He won’t take the risk with you, or Sizhui. Not for something so important. Not when it would break his heart yet again if it goes wrong.”
It’s the most Lan Wangji has heard the other man speak in the past 16 years. It is also the most civil the other man has ever behaved with him.
“Even if he doesn’t need it, Wei Wuxian should have someone to take care of him, especially considering how he has taken care of everyone around him for so long before this. I can’t look after my brother, not with so much between us still, not yet. But you can, and you want to, and despite it all he wants you to as well.”
Jiang Wanyin coughs. Then says brusquely. “So, get your head out of your ass and stop hurting my brother’s feelings. Invite him back to Cloud Recesses, tell him he is wanted and that you, specifically, want him. Tell him he is welcome, or if he is not then at least he has someone to fight for him. He deserves that.”
Jiang Wanyin looks at him once more.
“He loves you. You married him in front of my parents and ancestors. You are his husband. Act like it.”
Speech finished, the Jiang Sect Leader leaves.
Lan Wangji stays seated, still processing Jiang Wanyin’s words. There is a lot to consider, and there are inaccuracies in the words the other man has said. But all Lan Wangji can focus on is the overall message.
That if he asked Wei Ying to stay, he would have, or at least have considered it.
Unwittingly, hope bleeds into his heart.