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Seeing Wen Qing, Wen Ning and the rest of the Wen remnants, was enough to make his blood turn to ice.
Lan Zhan watched as Wen Ning was chained up, trying to keep his fear from being visible-but failing.
Wen Qing had her arms bound in front of her and each of the Wen remnants were being led away to be hanged.
Wei Ying’s face flashed in Lan Zhan’s mind. He couldn’t allow this to happen.
He reached for the handle of his sword, his hand wrapping around the handle, not even sure what he was going to do when he had the sword out of his sheathe, but he froze, when he saw Wen Qing turn her head to stare at him and watched as she shook her head.
Lan Zhan felt ice go down to his stomach.
This was a suicide?
But as Lan Zhan watched Wen Qing, saw the resolve in her dark, sad eyes, he realized that that wasn’t exactly what this was. They had just decided that they were going to save Wei Ying. Protect him as Wei Ying had protected them.
Lan Zhan stepped back, overwhelming emotions surging through him.
Wen Qing said to him fast, as she was pulled away by the guards, “Lan Wangji, protect Wei Wuxian. And the boy.”
Lan Zhan felt his heart hammer hard.
He watched the Wen remnants be taken away and he hated himself in that moment, more than he could hate anyone.
He knew that he might be able to save all the Wen remnants, then run back to the Burial Mounds to retrieve Wei Ying and A-Yuan.
But there was too strong a possibility that the Jin guards and all the other guards would stop him and kill him or imprison him before they could get away.
Lan Zhan knew he had to go now. Knew he had a choice. Risk getting caught while rescuing the Wen remnants, then going after Wei Ying and A-Yuan.
Or leaving the Wen remnants to die, and going to the Burial Mounds and most likely succeeding in saving Wei Ying and A-Yuan.
And the worst part? Lan Zhan knew what his choice would be.
Lan Zhan’s lower jaw clenched.
Wen Qing and Wen Ning’s devotion to Wei Ying flashed through his mind. Their protectiveness-everything they had done for him.
Along with the knowledge that even the elders of Cloud Recesses were against Wei Ying, and that they would stop him, and imprison him from ever getting to Wei Ying, which was what made the choice for him.
He had to protect Wei Ying. And protect Wei Ying’s son.
Lan Zhan thought to himself, (Wen Qing, Wen Ning, forgive me.)
He turned from Koi Tower, where the Wen remnants were being taken, trying to not pay heed to the horrid pain in his chest as he ran down the steps, intent on getting to the Burial Mounds, fast.
He hoped……………he hoped Wei Ying could forgive him one day for this. If not? It was alright. What mattered the most was for Wei Ying and his son to survive.
He would arrive at the Burial Mounds in an hour on horseback.
So, after he had grabbed all the supplies he would need; his Guqin, which he concealed, his sword, Bichen, and food, bamboo containers of fresh water, rolled up blankets, maps of the world outside of the clans, compasses, a quiver of arrows, a bow, and had grabbed Wei Ying’s old sword, Suibien from Koi Tower, he stole a horse from the stables, packed everything to the horse’s sides, and rode off on the steed.
He knew he was committing a sin and a crime. To steal something? But he couldn’t abide by Cloud Recesses rules any longer.
He had to find Wei Ying and A-Yuan. They were more important than any rule that had been forced into Lan Zhan’s mind by his uncle and the other elders.
During that time?
Yanli, the sister of Jiang Cheng and according to some, the sister or master to Wei Ying, but she felt otherwise-for her, Wei Wuxian was her son, but she would not utter this to any, knowing how it would be regarded, witnessed something horrifying.
In the safety of the tower, grieving with Lady Jin, and holding her baby son, Jin Ling, close, Yanli resigned herself to grieving quietly for her dead husband, Jin Zixuan, until she heard sounds that made her freeze.
Screams.
And laughter.
Not a good sort of laughter.
Cruel laughter. Very, very cruel laughter.
And despite the whispers that she had heard, that Wei Ying was responsible for her husband’s death? Yanli couldn’t stand by and do nothing, not if the first child she ever had-Wei Wuxian, who she had loved, as soon as she had seen him, was in danger.
She gently placed her baby down into his crib near Madam Jin.
Madam Jin looked at her daughter-in-law. “Yanli?” She asked, startled.
Yanli said apologetically to her new mother, “Please, forgive, Madam Jin. But I want to know what those sounds are. Please watch my Jin Rulon for me.” She hadn’t told her new mother where her baby son’s courtesy name came from. Madam Jin didn’t know that “Rulon” was made up by Yanli’s Wei Wuxian.
And all the best that the Jin matriarch didn’t know that.
She made her way out of the part of Koi Tower, where she had been and went through the courtyard, as the guards bowed to her.
Her eyes widened, as they caught sight of the huge orange pillar of flame roaring, and heard the screams of a woman ringing out in the air.
She gasped, running in the direction of the bedlam.
Tears pricked her eyes as she saw a series of bodies hanging from the walls. These were people she had seen in the market before. Wen people. People that her Wei Ying had been protecting.
Her eyes went back to the horrifying pillar of flame, hearing the woman scream.
She noticed a laughing Jin guard feet from the pyre, watching and she ran up to him.
Catching sight of her, he gasped, his cruel smile leaving his face as he turned to her, bowing to her.
“Lady Jin,” the guard said respectfully.
Yanli didn’t even have the strength to nod to him as she demanded, confused, terror and confusion consuming her, “Who is that burning?! What is happening?!”
“That?” The guard asked, looking at where the woman was burning on her pyre, “Why,” he grinned, a sneer on his face, “That’s Wen Qing, of course. Her brother was taken away to be disposed of. And the rest of the Wens have been hanged like they deserved. And the witch herself?” The Jin guard’s sneer became hideously gleeful, “She’s being burned, like she should have been the moment she was born.”
Yanli felt bile in her throat, as she was struck speechless, not believing this cruelty from the Jins.
She looked back at where the pyre was, actually relieved when Wen Qing’s screams at last stopped. At least her pain was over.
But Yanli’s had only just begun, because when she looked closer, and saw who was assembled around the stake where Qing had been burned, she felt her heart fall. Because she recognized someone who was right near the pyre, grinning, watching the remains of Wen Qing burn.
Wen Qing, a doctor who had aided Yanli and her family so many times.
It was Jiang Cheng, Yanli’s baby brother. And he was grinning up at where Wen Qing was burning.
He had enjoyed hearing the screams!
Horror and more horror mounted in Yanli’s chest as she backed away, shaking her head, disbelieving.
She ignored the Jin guard’s concerned questions of if she was alright and she quickly ran back to the tower.
In her bones, she already knew what she was going to do.
She couldn’t…………she just couldn’t live here with these people.
She couldn’t live with a brother who reveled at the pain of those that had helped them, of people who had been oppressed before their slaughter.
She couldn’t live with a clan who enjoyed torturing people below them, at their mercy.
And she couldn’t let her baby boy grow up with people like that.
Yanli made her way back to where she’d been before and assured Lady Jin that she was fine-a lie, of course.
Wen Qing’s screams and the smell of burnt flesh would forever remain in Yanli’s memory.
She then asked Madam Jin if she could have some time alone with her baby to grieve. While Madam Jin appeared pained at this request, she nodded and left.
Yanli somehow managed to dismiss the guards and when she was sure that she and her baby were alone, she picked Jin Ling up, grabbed what food and water she could, and carried him out of the tower.
She understood that it was cruel to take her son away from the son’s grandmother, but she couldn’t let him stay here with these people.
She carried her second son to the stables, planning on grabbing Jin Zixuan’s horse, the fastest and most reliable horse there was.
She wasn’t aware of it, but she was being watched.
When she reached the entrances of the stables, a woman’s voice spoke, making Yanli gasp and whirl around, startled to see Mian Mian there.
“Lady Jin,” Mian Mian said, a sad smile on her face, though it looked almost as if she was trying to bring some grim humor to this situation, “I see you intend to go on an afternoon ride. Mind if I join you?”
At Yanli’s shock, Mian Mian nodded to her new Lady, “It’s alright,” she said, “I’m not going to tell Madam Jin or any of the guards you’re leaving. If anything, it’s the opposite. I’m coming with you.”
Yanli’s eyes somehow got wider at this announcement.
And there was more shock, at seeing what Mian Mian held in her possession. Bags full of things. rolled up blankets for sleeping, bamboo containers for water or full of water, and packets of food. Not to mention a sword that she had slipped into her sash. The sword of Yanli’s dead husband. Jin Zixuan’s sword, Suihua.
There were also multiple daggers tied to Mian Mian’s belt.
Seeing her lady looking at the knives and the sword, Mian Mian said dryly, “Two women traveling alone, with just a baby, my lady? I’m afraid we must carry weapons, even after we find Wei Ying and his son, for our own protection.”
Seeing the further surprise in Yanli’s eyes, Mian Mian gave a broken chuckle and it struck Yanli’s heart hard. She had never seen Mian Mian so sad before.
“I can’t serve these people any longer, Yanli,” she said, “I can’t. To do what they’ve done to all the Wens. Almost all of them elderly men and women and sick? Burning Wen Qing alive? And,” she added some steel in her voice as she said, “And I won’t believe even for a moment that Wei Wuxian has done the things that they say he’s done.”
Yanli, despite everything, felt some warmth enter her chest at that.
She was so glad that someone else believed in Wei Ying the way she did.
No, Mian Mian would never waver in her belief in Wei Wuxian.
“You are certain of your choice?” Yanli asked, not wanting to take Mian Mian from her clan.
Mian Mian nodded. “I am,” she said, “I can’t believe that Wei Wuxian killed Jin Zixuan. He might not even have killed Jin Zixun. And if he did kill Jin Zixuan? Then it had to have been an accident.”
Yanli felt a weak, watery smile cross her face. That was exactly what she had been thinking. That if Wei Ying had in fact killed the two prominent Jin clan family members? Then it was an accident. It had to have been.
But Yanli couldn’t even believe that Wei Ying had killed them, even on accident. But if he had? Then it was an accident.
Mian Mian said quickly, “I’m happy to leave the Jins. I can’t be with them after what they’ve done. Come, I’ll get Jin Zixuan’s stallion ready. I’ll grab Madam Jin’s mare.”
Several minutes later, after everything Mian Mian had grabbed, was tied to the sides of the horses they were taking, both Yanli and Mian Mian rode away from Koi Tower, with baby Jin Ling strapped to Yanli’s back.
They rode in the direction of the Burial Mounds.
Finally reaching the Burial Mounds, Lan Wangji tied the horse’s reins to a tree, left the animal there and ran through the cluster of trees, towards the encampment that Wei Ying and the Wen remnants had made.
As soon as he walked in, seeing all the walkways, bannisters, and gardens and sheds that the Wens had made, Lan Zhan felt his heart hurt.
This had been Wei Ying’s work. He had saved the remaining Wens and had brought them here. Even if this was an inhospitable environment, they had made a life here. Wei Ying had risked his life and mind to protect the Wens, had shed sweat and blood to make a life for them here.
And now……………
Lan Wangji’s jaw clenched. All of Wei Ying’s efforts to protect the innocent and the helpless………now in ashes.
And Lan Wangji’s uncle and brother both had been a party to that.
Letting loose a pained breath, Lan Wangji trudged forward, searching the area for Wei Ying and A-Yuan.
He hadn’t needed to search long.
He found Wei Ying in the room that had been made for him, on a blanketed bed, unconscious.
As soon as Lan Wangji saw Wei Ying, his heart filled with absolute tenderness.
He was safe. His love was safe.
There were long, thin, gold needles sticking out of his right arm.
Lan Wangji closed his eyes, pain overtaking him as he realized what had happened.
To protect Wei Ying, Wen Qing had used her needles to keep Wei Ying asleep, and then she, Wen Ning and the rest of the Wen remnants had given themselves up to save him, so that Wei Ying would not be used to be blamed again.
Something that Lan Wangji was certain was self-hate crawled through him.
Wen Qing had done all that for Wei Ying. And Lan Wangji had left her to die.
He opened his eyes and stared sadly and longingly down at Wei Ying. He knew he could do nothing about that now.
He wouldn’t let Qing and her brother and the rest of the Wen remnants’ sacrifice be in vain.
He would get Wei Ying and A-Yuan out, find some place safe where they could live together. And if Wei Ying could accept-if he could forgive Lan Wanji standing back and doing nothing, then maybe all three of them could live together.
He knew that was thinking too far ahead.
What mattered right now, was getting Wei Ying and A-Yuan somewhere safe.
Whatever Wei Ying felt for Lan Wangji? If it was anything close to what Lan Wangji felt for Wei Ying, or not, that could wait.
Wei Ying and A-Yuan’s safety could not.
Now that the remnants of the Wen clan, save for A-Yuan, were all dead, the rest of the clans would be coming to the Burial Mounds for Wei Ying and the boy.
Which led Lan Wangji to wondering where A-Yuan was.
He didn’t want to leave Wei Ying’s side, but he needed to find A-Yuan as well.
He left the room reluctantly and searched for Wei Ying’s son. He found the boy, soon afterwards.
The boy was on his back, eyes closed, slumped up against a rock.
Kneeling down, Lan Zhan inspected the boy. The boy was clearly breathing, just tired and asleep. Lan Zhan pressed the back of his hand against the boy’s forehead. He didn’t feel hot. He was just tired. Lan Zhan nodded, relieved. He reached out and picked the boy up, carrying the boy to his father’s bed.
He rejoined Wei Ying and placed A-Yuan down onto the bed next to his father.
He nodded as he decided to carry A-Yuan out first. He would secure the boy to the horse’s saddle, then he would bring Wei Ying out.
He scooped A-Yuan up and brought him out, placing him on top of the horse’s saddle, laying him over it and tying him there. Then he went back for Wei Ying.
Lan Zhan arrived back at Wei Ying’s bed, and lowered himself down, pulling all three darts Wen Qing had used on Wei Ying out of the unconscious man's arm, tossing the darts away, and then scooping Wei Ying up in his arms and Lan Zhan’s chest squeezed painfully.
His beloved was so thin, so light. Had he been eating?
Lan Zhan’s eyes then caught sight of that damned flute secured in Wei Ying’s belt.
He wanted to destroy that evil thing. He wanted to grab it and ram into onto the rocks of this place, making it splinter to pieces.
He wanted to throw it as far away from Wei Ying as possible.
But he knew he couldn’t do that right now. That wasn’t his most important concern at the moment.
Besides, could he really say for sure that the demonic cultivation that Wei Ying was practicing was any more evil than any of what the Jin clan had done?
If anything……………what the Jin clan was doing? Seemed a thousand times worse than anything that Lan Zhan had seen demonic cultivation wielded by Wei Ying specifically, do.
Still, he was glad that he had brought Wei Ying's sword, Suibien with him.
Lan Zhan just felt his resolve become firmer. His loyalty was to Wei Ying, no one else. Not to the Lan clan, not to the Jins, not to Jiang Cheng, who spurned those who had helped him so easily, the way he had Wen Qing and Wen Ning-the way he had Wei Ying, who had helped win the war against the Wens.
Lan Zhan was loyal now, only to Wei Ying.
Lan Zhan carried his precious cargo through the woods, to where the horse he had secured, was.
As soon as he reached where the horse was, he cursed himself for not bringing two. One he could ride and lead the other one by rope, and the other one that he’d be leading, to carry Wei Ying and A-Yuan on, by tying both of them to that horse.
But too late for that now.
Carrying the far too light Wei Ying over to the horse, he pushed Wei Ying up behind A-Yuan, then he untied the horse from the tree, and got up into the saddle himself, getting behind Wei Ying and A-Yuan, gripped the reins of the horse, just glad that he had selected a very big and muscled horse, and his heels dug into the horse’s side and the horse took off, letting out a loud snort as it did.
Regardless of how crowded it was on the saddle of the horse that Lan Zhan had stolen, he was just glad that neither Wei Ying, nor A-Yuan were slipping off.
Halfway away from the Burial Mounds, as Lan Zhan desperately tried to think of where he could take Wei Ying and the boy, he heard the sounds of horses in the distance.
His heart skipped a beat, his eyes looking to the still unconscious cargo in front of him, fearing for them both.
He had to get them away from here.
Then, two horses emerged from the brush, and when Lan Zhan saw who was on the horses, his eyes widened.
Mian Mian, one of the Jin clan’s retainers and Lady Yanli.
The horses were brought to a stop next to Lan Zhan’s horse by the riders and Mian Mian and Yanli, after they recovered from their shock at seeing the Second Jade of Lan here, they both smiled brightly.
“Lan Wangji,” Yanli said, relief practically flooding from her, and her eyes traveled down to where Wei Ying and his son were slumped, and she looked back up at Lan Zhan, understanding all over her face and she nodded, as if she could read Lan Zhan’s mind, “We’re all leaving together.”
It wasn’t a question.
Lan Wangji’s eyes widened, and he noticed the baby that was tied to Yanli’s back.
Yanli said, confirming the shred of suspicion in Lan Wangji’s mind, “We’re leaving. Mian Mian and me. And I won’t let my son be raised by a clan like that. We’re all leaving. And I can’t let the Jin clan corrupt my Jin Rulan.”
Lan Wangji’s shock remained, but he nodded, understanding.
He turned to Mian Mian. “And you?” He asked gently.
Mian Mian shook her head. “If my clan treats someone as noble and good as Wei Wuxian as if he’s a demon?” She said, a surprising amount steel in her voice, “Then it’s a clan I want no part of.”
Lan Zhan nodded, still shocked, but now feeling endless admiration for these women and what they had given up.
Mian Mian said, nodding to Wei Ying, “Put him on my horse behind me, tie his arms around my middle. And you can carry the child. And you’ll be able to ride better.”
“No,” Yanli said, causing both Lan Zhan and Mian Mian to look at her, surprised and confused, till they saw the soft, tender, motherly look in Yanli’s eyes, as she looked at Wei Ying. She continued, “Mian Mian, take Jin Rulon and tie him to your back. I’ll carry my A-Xian.”
There were many questions that both Mian Mian and Lan Zhan thought at this, but they were sure that they understood at least a little, when they saw the motherly expression on Yanli’s face, as she looked at Wei Ying.
It wasn’t as if Madame Yu, Jiang Fengmian’s wife had been all too loving or maternal to Wei Ying.
Lan Zhan considered that and decided that should Wei Ying ever return Lan Zhan’s feelings, he would ask Yanli for permission to marry Wei Ying.
Or as close as they could have to a marriage when they had cut all ties to their clans.
So, Yanli untied the miraculously still sleeping Jin Ling and handed him to Mian Mian, who took him and tied him to her back. And carefully, Lan Zhan lifted Wei Ying off of his horse’s saddle, placed the unconscious Yiling Patriarch behind Yanli, having Wei Ying lean forward, his chest against Yanli’s back and he tied Wei Ying’s arms in front of Yanli’s stomach, securing him there.
When both Wei Ying and Jin Ling were safe and secured and no chance of them falling off, Lan Zhan made sure A-Yuan wouldn’t fall from in front of him off of the saddle, and he looked at the two women in front of him, questioning silently if they were ready.
Yanli nodded to him and then to Mian Mian, and they steered their horses away from the Burial Mounds, and away from Langling territory, and rode away, as the sun began to set.
When at last, the rest of the clans began to invade the Burial Mounds, intent on killing the Yiling Patriarch, they would find no one there.
And their questions of where Yanli, Lan Wangji, Mian Mian and of course, the Jin clan heir, Jin Ling, had disappeared off to, would be unanswered.
And because the clans isolated themselves, believing nothing else mattered but their clans, they would not hear the rumors in the future, from the many different villages far away from where the clans flourished.
Rumors of six travelers together. Travelers consisting of two men, two women and two children, one of these children growing into a small youth and one of these children growing into a toddler, the two women both protective of the children, and one of these men, the man in question who they were protective of, dressed supposedly in mostly black, with a red ribbon in his hair, and one of the other men, who was said to where mainly white and pale blue, was, if the rumors were right, completely and utterly devoted to the young man in black with the red ribbon in his hair. And if the rumors were true, rumors which never reached the self-important clans who never bothered with the outside world, the man with the red ribbon in his hair, loved the other man back endlessly as well.